When Sony ramp up their PSN sub price and fleece everyone big time for cloud saves and online play, feel free to go buy your latest AAA's on Nintendo Switch 2 instead.
Annual subscription key code for Switch Online is only £12.99.
That will be the monthly cost of Essential by then, but as you say, it's an easy to switch to Switch 2 (no pun intended). It's nothing like comparing a Ford with a Ferrari.
It's just like going from a Ford Focus to Vauxhall Astra. You can hardly tell the difference. Just a plastic badge on the hood.
I will be playing next gen games on a PC or Geforce Now and pay the sum total of £0 per year for my cloud saves and online play, whether via Steam, Epic, Ubisoft or Xbox storefronts etc. So I don't have a lot of skin in this game.
@RoomWithaMoose Ferrari are in the same market as Ford. They both sell cars but are in a different niche.
On no planet are they targeting the same customers and competing with each other.
I should know the Internet well by now, and that you always will find people who will argue the sky is green and the grass is blue, but I'm still shocked that people are trying to argue that Nintendo has any relevance to this discussion.
It's embarrassing to this website. Nothing Sony do in this regard would cause people to buy a Nintendo instead. They are essentially selling entirely different products.
I have one and even after 6 pints on a Friday night after work, I still wouldn't be hammered enough to ever consider it as being in the same market as my PS5 Pro or PC. Come on guys, be sensible for once.
With the new Xbox likely having access to multiple PC market places, charging for online play or cloud saves on the Xbox store front will be untenable.
So I'm not sorry if people don't like to hear the truth, I'm giving it to you anyway:
Sony will be the only one charging, and boy are they going to ratchet up the cost and exploit their AAA home console monopoly and give a right pasting to those of you who won't entertain switching and are essentially a captive audience.
I have my doubts that there are many PS gamers with a £60 to £80 desire to play these games, who wouldn't have just picked up an Xbox at a car boot sale to play it years ago.
If such players exist, I hope the release cadence of the Halo back-catalogue is at a higher rate than the FF7 games.
I assume the draw is the graphics upgrade which will appeal to PS5 and Xbox players.
Although I've already played one remaster.
I don't see much of a draw for PS5 fans being thrilled at "finally getting to play it", as there have been ample opportunities over the years to pick up used Xbox's for the price of a packet of crisps and play it.
With Starfield having failed in the sense that it clearly won't become an established IP like Fallout and Elder Scrolls, it's pretty much common sense that Bethesda need to be working hard on both an Elder Scrolls and Fallout games.
So not the most surprising story.
Can't knock them for trying a new IP though. We always whinge about sequels.
Still it's weird to think that the PS5 generation is unlikely to see a new Fallout or Elder Scrolls game. I don't see either coming until the PS6 is in our hands. At best I see which ever is release first being a simultaneous release on PS5 & PS6.
These things happen. PS4 never actually saw a new GTA game, and PS5 won't see an Uncharted.
@EfYI well I think the obvious one is that it's not a PC replacement. Not all games are on GFN and your can't tinker and mod games as much, although there are mod support in a number of games now.
You also can't use it for word processing etc or Web browsing. It's more a mega console.
Typically one would say buy a mini PC for £400 which does all your office tasks, photo editing and light video editing work.
Then pay £200 a year for Geforce Now that gives you £2500 RTX5080 gaming rig performance and free upgrades for life.
Essentially GF Now is far cheaper than the delta between an entry level laptop and an absolute monster PC.
The issue is still that some games are missing. E.g. Want to check out Outer Worlds 1? Alas it ain't on it. Neither are Rockstar and a lot of WB games.
Will GTA 6 be on it? Who knows.
For a console gamer though it's handy to get a cheap key and a month sub when the console version is awful. GFN is not quite "your only game system" just yet unfortunately.
As I said yesterday, there is no way I'm paying that price for a busted product, when for £33 I can get a month of Gamepass and GF Now Ultimate and play a vastly superior version.
Reach was my favourite by a country mile. Good fan service for those who'd played the previous games.
As I've said in other posts, they are good games but not the system-sellers they are made out to be.
Always suffered from repetitive scenery. The original had repeated copy-paste sections where the scenery would repeat half a dozen times and you didn't know if you'd accidentally gone back the way you came.
Even later games had the same annoying repetitive mechanic of "you are on tram type platform. Tram moves 20 metres then oh noes it's deactivated, you have to get off, kill enemies and activate a power generator to get the tram going again".
REPEAT x 10. I lose the will to live.
Occasionally there were sections where you are running down the side of some giant construct etc but whilst they break up the monotony and repetition, they aren't enough.
As for the last game Infinite.....what an absolute heap of boring garbage. I bounced off that hard.
1 to 5, including Reach (I never played ODST) are 8 out of 10's though. Worth checking out if you have the patience for the dull repetitive stuff.
I skipped the game at launch but played it 5 or so years ago, I believe that was before the major expansion that added NPC's. Cost me £7 or something!
I actually found it surprisingly decent. I just played it solo and generally enjoyed the environmental story telling and audio logs in various locations that told a story in the absence of NPC's.
Got my money's worth.
I wouldn't pay £50 for it or anything like that, but at a sale-price I'd recommend people give it a go if they like Fallout.
I do recall exploring a house that some whale had built and it was pretty impressive, but I had zero interest in getting into all that.
Game development costs are only going in one direction.
Whilst it is undisputed that Microsoft have lost the console war, I don't think it is necessarily a win for Sony in the long term.
Their business model will come under increasing pressure when they become a lonely little walled off enclave, with the rest of the free world on the outside playing on open PC-based formats. Whether PC in the home, game streaming like GFN, or whatever Xbox are offering.
Sony have to release enough very expensive, very long lead time exclusives to make it worth investing in their hardware. I'd say they are already borderline on that this generation, and relying heavily on remasters. With soaring costs, the numbers increasingly aren't adding up, and the release cadence definitely isn't adding up.
There may come a time when I say "nah I can just wait for the PC release of Horizon 3" and it's not worth dropping £1200 on a PS7 come 2035.
@Fiendish-Beaver yup and actually if one has a decent internet connection and uses the same website:
Rather than paying £59.99 for the juddery PS5 version of Outworlds 2....
Just pay £33 for the PS6 patched version instead, and get to experience that three years early.
How?!?!
One month of Gamepass Ultimate for £12.99 One month of Geforce Now Ultimate for £20
Boom! Play it on an RTX5080 top spec gaming rig worth £2500. If you can finish it in a couple of weeks, you can spend the remaining two weeks playing Avowed.
@DennisReynolds no they were never doomed as they made a good game.
There was some threat to sales, not massive, but enough to warrant taking action given the current climate and the way the wind was blowing.
I'm criticising the idea of boycotts by the way, and not taking the side you think I am.
Boycotts for such reasons are daft. The culture in the media/entertainment industry is well known. As I said, the senior leadership at SP privately share the fired employees views, as will most of the staff.
Unless you share their extreme ideology, everyone at ALL of these firms hate you.
I know they hate me, but shall I never buy a western game again? Of course not. I just accept it for what it is and stick to the basic principles of only buying good games.
GoY's weaker sales are nothing to do with any of the politics you've all been hammering in the comments.
It's a sequel where there will be some drop off from those who played the original, there is some fatigue over the setting, and general loss of interest in that open world Ubisoft formula, which if we are honest, is what the game boils down to behind the artistic flare.
Everyone wants it to be about their politics. Sorry but it ain't.
@DennisReynolds I'd put it to you that SP would have stood for that 5 years ago (so long as the "right person" was mocking the demise of the "wrong person") but changing tides and consumer sentiment changed that.
The employee felt very comfortable saying such things publicly in front of their work colleagues, because they knew it would receive approval and was in effect a virtue signal within their hivemind circles, despite the abhorrent nature.
That tells me everything I need to know about the corporate culture at SP, and that the firing was motivated by the potential damage to sales, not because they viewed it as distasteful (I bet senior managers are posting the exact same stuff on their burner accounts).
I was still going to buy the game anyway if it was good though. I know exactly what extremist views are held by the corporations and staff in the Western games industry, so if I cared about that I'd never buy another Western produced game.
@CallMeDuraSouka yes the Portal had a range of issues, not least the notorious refresh/stutter problems. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but there are some tech deficiencies and Sony are far from the best streaming service out there, although they have impressively overtaken Xbox.
Yes, I prefer streaming from GFN than playing locally on my PC.
Same experience using Ultimate (4K, 120fps, HDR) but with zero fan noise, no excess heat during the UK summer heatwave, and brand new games aren't installing their vile root kit DRM's with all the associated problems on my machine!
Plus my own PC and GFN were using RTX4080, whereas a month back I got a £1000 RTX 5080 upgrade at the amazing price of £0, versus buying the card myself.
@Oram77 regardless of what claims are made, I don't for one minute believe it is matching GoT. Maybe launch DAY sales, but not launch week/month or longer term.
I say that as someone who prefers Yotei. But Mark my words, it won't sell as well. I bet 20% down at 1 year.
I am a big game streamer, mostly using GeForce now ultimate which is genuinely like renting a £2500 PC for £200 per year, and without any heat, noise, electricity drain or upgrade costs. I actually prefer it over my real PC of a similar spec.
The Portal is an absolutely fantastic idea, but poorly implemented and with a middling service behind it.
A future iteration with GF Now quality levels will be incredible.
It makes me wonder why anyone would want to pay two or three times the price, for a heavier and hotter device with a fraction of the battery life, with worse graphics, just for the 1% of time they spend using it outside of a network and therefore can't stream.
The days of handheld gaming devices that have onboard processing, are numbered in my opinion.
@themightyant fair shout. That's one of the reasons I buy a lot of PS5 games versus the a cheaper PC key.
I get an optimised experience that is tuned for the hardware and don't have to spend hours tinkering and watching "optimised settings" videos.
You've probably hit the nail on the head in terms of identifying what any new Xbox console would need to do in order to justify its existence versus simply buying PCs or using game streaming services.
If it does not receive that developer support, in terms of the plug and play optimised version of games, then it’s hard to see what its rightful place in the market would be.
Xbox will have access to significantly cheaper PC game keys. I routinely pay 25% less for games at launch if I buy on PC.
Sony aren't massively subsidising PS5 Pro etc, if indeed they are subsidising it at all.
A new Xbox will therefore be more expensive than a PS6 simply because the hardware is higher spec.
So you pay more up front, for a superior device, and will have significantly cheaper games that in the long run will mean you pay less in total and have better hardware versus PS6.
So you pays your money..... As the saying goes.
Personally I will just get a PC though or use GF Now. I'll buy the PS6 as well anyway. Not sure where an Xbox console would fit in. It's redundant aside from those who want an easy to use sofa/TV box.
SSD - well yes it's obviously good, but I have a "big deal" feeling given that I've been using solid state for almost a decade on PC. Nice that consoles finally joined the 21st century I guess.
Dual Sense - thoroughly disagree. I care little for the features that tend to get in the way of gameplay (e.g. trigger resistance) rather than helping. I prefer the XSX joypad with it's trigger haptics and select it over Dual Sense for use with my PC. I'd rather the touch pad be replaced by four buttons whilst we are at it.
Visuals are extremely important and it's rose tinted specs that lead us to believe we've hit diminishing returns. I own a PC and PS5 Pro because I do notice the difference in visuals. Even going from a £450 console to a £799 console (which in PC terms is a peanuts upgrade) I see a big upgrade.
I'd moved on to PC and DC by the time some of these titles were originally released.
I played the SH2 remaster with no preconceptions as I'd not played the original, and it was interesting as it felt like a very early 00's game, but a very good one for that era.
I'd like to see a modern interpretation though as the remasters decent graphics couldn't hide its origins. If you'd been on a desert island for 30 years, you could have played it blind and within a few hours guessed it was a remaster of an old game, rather than a new title.
@Kitsmith I don't know how well Ridge Racer Arcade sold a few months back, and how popular 4 has been on PS Plus, but I'd hope if the sales/downloads were strong, that they'd consider producing new titles in the classic style.
The issue appears to be that AAA racers at full price are expected to be GT/Forza/Ride type collectathons with hundreds of cars, loads of tracks and a big online scene.
Where as arcade racers are expected to have a low budget and be indie games.
Example being FZERO where Nintendo don't feel they can make a £60 first party title from it, so instead leave that space to the "Fast" series of games like Fast Fusion.
@0niguy I totally take your point in that console gamers are more negative to new hardware, although it's not strictly true what you say about PC.
Firstly, historically new console hardware was a line in the sand. You were immediately cut off from new titles unless you found a significant lump sum to buy the new device, and your old games were unplayable unless you kept the old hardware cluttering the place.
Furthermore with regards the lump sum, console gamers don't have an upgrade culture, so having to spend more on hardware is jarring.
PC gamers are used to regular minor upgrades and always had a backwards compatibility.
However it is far from harmonious in the PC world.
There has always been anger that lazy developers and reviewers all have the latest new hardware, and so developers use new hardware simply to bypass optimisation.
Therefore a new hardware release means that new games that should run like a dream on your 2 year old hardware, suddenly run like a three legged pig.
There have also been long running conspiracy theories too about NVIDIA deliberately gimping old cards at driver level, to "encourage" upgrades.
Finally with a lack of competition, GPU upgrades have increasingly been offering far smaller improvements, but at far greater price tag increases. £/$ per frame has been skyrocketing. Pay more, for less. Something console gamers have coming now that Xbox is no longer providing competition.
You can see all the hardware review channels absolutely slating and raging when they review new cards, the comments are a storm of rage too.
If a game doesn't sell, you won't see any further releases in the series. High production costs and thin margins from middling sales make investing unattractive.
This can affect specific games, or even entire genres.
It's the same with Netflix. People get angry when they watch a series they enjoy and it gets cancelled. That's understandable for them to feel angry, but unfortunately not enough people watched it to justify the production costs of further output.
Doesn't matter how artistic or well produced something is. It can be great art but will go extinct if it doesn't pay the bills, where as slop like Transformers or Fast and Furious that put bums on seats will persist.
So no matter how much critical acclaim Yotei receives, it has to shift copies. Anyone who loves the game and wants more, should absolutely be obsessed with sales figures.
2, for those whose priority is "games" rather than power/performance, don't buy a PS6. The concept of "generations" truly is over, and the games on PS6 will for most of its life be available on PS5 too.
So if you all care about are "games", you can save money and stick with your PS5.
The days where generations were defined by games being released that weren't available/possible on prior hardware are over. E.g. when you bought Motorstorm on PS3, and your jaw hit the floor as it was obviously leagues ahead of anything PS2 could do. Not happening anymore.
You don't buy an RTX5080 because there are special games only available for that card that can't remotely run on an RTX4080 for example. That's where consoles are now.
@shiningpikablu252 I wouldn't call it "scummy" in fairness.
As I was saying in a post yesterday, this is the inevitable future of gaming and not really anyone's fault.
The problem with Switch 2 is that modern games require not just larger capacity, but also blistering transfer speeds. I know that from having got bent over for my MicroSD Express! Shipping every game on cards with that type of performance, size and price just isn't cost effective.
The best outcome for those who want resale value, is the "physical key" option.
Games have long since been incomplete on the disc, so if you are preserving anything, it's either incomplete or broken (noting this title is a long way off of fixed and notoriously broken).
Eventually games will reach such a size that the cost of multiple large capacity physical disc media simply won't be cost effective, especially when you add the cost of the optional disc drive.
A 32mb pen drive containing a key would be far cheaper. You can still trade it in or sell it used, and yeah there is nothing of use on the darn thing if the servers get shut down, but hey, same with most discs.
Don't get me wrong, I spent most of the 80's and 90's coming back from town on the bus, opening my game boxes and taking in the scent of that fresh manual. SNES games in particular were exquisite! But hey, things move on. Sucks but there it is.
@dskatter not wishing to open the physical media can of worms again, but it's going to get complicated with future generations.
I absolutely understand why being able to buy or sell used games is so important for so many gamers, and I don't want that to end.
We've already seen the issue with Switch 2, where gamecards with the size and speed to run modern titles are prohibitively expensive. Hence the cheaper "licence key cartridges" that are essentially just blanks.
That's the future of handheld gaming; 10 years from now all games will be downloaded onto internal storage from Steam/Nintendo's network, and cartridges will act as licence keys-only.
The new Playstation handheld will almost certainly work this way, and possibly without even having key-cartridges. Download only, no reselling or buying used.
We are also heading that way with home consoles, given that games can no longer run off optical disks due to them being too slow.
Game size is going to be a problem before long. I predict PS6 games running into 200 or 300gb by the end of the generation. That's multiple of the more expensive large capacity discs required.
Given the preservation argument is non-existent as the games are broken/incomplete on the disc, wouldn't you be happier with just a licence key on a 10 cent/pence 32mb USB stick?
That way you can still resale your games on the used market, with the bonus of making your games and console cheaper?
Rather than shelling out for an optical drive and expensive discs, better to spend that money on an NVME expansion for your PS6 and have a USB licence key device in the plastic game case?
Not played multiplayer for a long time but it was way better back in the day (20 odd years ago) when you had a list of servers, often run by clans, and could add them as a favourite and play with the same people every night. You eventually settled on a realm that suited your skill and made friends etc.
A lot of people think S2 didn't sell well because it didn't sell out.
But in reality a console selling out is a massive bungle by the manufacturer.
It simply means they got the pricing wrong and sold it cheaper than the market would tolerate.
Nintendo have priced S2 correctly so that there is just enough free stock for those who want one, and they've earned full profits rather than scalpers taking half their cut.
Used to buy one a month. When I went Digital I became more selective. I buy 3x AAA's a year now at most. But then I play games like WoW that consume a lot of gaming time, and my extensive back catalogue.
Half of them were from Russia and had invaded via crossing over to Alaska and moving south. Committing all manner of atrocities on the way. They were no better than the settlers who established the colony.
Hard to distinguish groups following assimilation. Just like we can't go through the UK and differentiate the baddie Norman's from the people they subjugated.
Of whom many of the "victims" of the Normans were descended from baddie Romans and were living on stolen land.
It's utterly pointless and boring declaring goodies and baddies based on our contemporary personal biases.
This whole thing is about people applying their moral biases.
The south had as much right to break away from the Union, as the entire country had to break away from the UK.
Regardless it would have been a dull game, and I'm not interested in Ubisoft pushing their subjective contemporary interpretation of those events on me. They were right to avoid it.
Me thinks stories of tepid sales are greatly exaggerated! Perhaps copium by those who despite having 8 years to do so, didn't save their pennies and couldn't afford it.
Still maintain MK was mediocre though, so definitely no fan boy.
@nessisonett as a Brit, wasn't the entire USA quite literally a treacherous breakaway state/territory though....
If we were the baddies in the war for independence, why are the North suddenly the goodies in the Civil War?
Where is the consistency there?
Back to the topic though, I don't find that compelling for a mainline game. Perhaps as DLC... Plus I feel we've had enough set in the Americas so it would have felt tired.
Prefer something set in India or Africa during colonial times.
I played Battlefield 1942 back in the day, and Vietnam. But mostly I played the Desert Combat mod.
COD was an enjoyable movie like story experience, but for me it had no place in my multiplayer game-time, as Counter Strike and Battlefield covered all the bases. Not to mention Enemy Territory (RTCW mod) did the COD style of play before COD so we played that on the network at work on lunch break!
The kids of today probably aren't aware that Battlefield has unfortunately drifted closer and closer to COD with each iteration, and lacks the epic scale of the original.
Still with them being so similar these days, it's only common sense to let MS cover the marketing tab for COD, whilst Sony boosts Battlefield. All sales on PS5 lead to royalties for Sony.
Meanwhile crusty old gamers like me can reminisce about the good old days where not everything was about zero-attention-span twitch gameplay.
Regarding Xbox/PC gamers buying or not buying games....
I obviously wouldn't buy first party titles given they were included in the pass, but of course I would buy third party titles like Far Cry, AC or SH2.
I'd consider it daft to not buy a game I really wanted, on the off chance it might appear on the pass at some unknown point in the future.
Same reason I say PS Plus is useless due to lacking day one releases. If I care enough to want to spend my precious time on a game, I'll buy it at launch. So any game appearing on Plus that I don't own, is something I didn't think was worth my time in the first place.
I find it bizarre and weird that people who don't have Xbox's, let alone Gamepass, seem to have this idea that I've been "trained" not to buy games.
Utter rubbish. If I like the look of a game, I buy it! I don't have an XSX anymore but use Gamepass on PC. I play first party titles using it and hidden gems like South of Midnight.
It's exactly what I'd do if I were Sony. If I were a shareholder, I'd be furious and demanding firings at the very top if that did not happen!
I will add this page to my bookmarks and link it in a response in a few years time when you are complaining about having to pay more for PS Plus, and the PS6 being expensive and holding back games due to some penny pinching spec decisions!
That article/discussion on Push Square will happen! As will the Digital Foundry video on "it's a shame they were skimpy on....".
I'm not tied to this ecosystem like most readers, and can flex to PC, but as per the under cooked PS4/XO gen, it will still hold back games for everyone. Bad for the wider industry and consumers.
If the FTC were concerned about MS having too dominant a market position, what’s their view now RE Sony?
Sony now have a home console ecosystem monopoly, including what will be the very same monopoly on mass market Cloud streaming that was cause for concern with Xbox.
PS Plus will see big hikes such that the top tiers will be cracking £300 to £400 per annum.
Sony will already be looking at culling some of the PS6’s specs, skimp a bit on RAM here, SSD size there, slightly lower clocks allowing a cheaper cooling system and cheaper PSU.
Combined with a huge price increase relative to PS5.
PC and Nintendo are not realistic competitors to keep Sony honest. The typical PlayStation buyer isn’t tech savvy enough for PC, neither are they looking for the Nintendo type experience. Plus they are locked into their ecosystem, they won’t suddenly start buying Steam games and playing via GF Now. Sony knows that…
Contrary to the fears, the deal actually worked out nicely for PS gamers in the short to medium term. Not only will they retain access to Activision games, they are regaining access to Bethesda games AND as a bonus gaining access to Microsoft's original exclusives, when it was previously unimaginable that they'd ever been seen on a PS console.
It was Gamepass/Xbox gamers who got royally screwed.
Of course in the long term everyone will be screwed as Sony will capitalise on their monopoly of the console ecosystem market at the first opportunity.
My advice would be for people to take a serious look at moving into PC gaming either by purchasing a PC or using Geforce Now. I'm sorry to say that the future of consoles does not look great.
Console gaming is going to mean paying a lot more, for less.
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Re: PS6 Could Be the Only Next-Gen Console Charging for Online Multiplayer
@RoomWithaMoose sure mate. Whatever you say.
When Sony ramp up their PSN sub price and fleece everyone big time for cloud saves and online play, feel free to go buy your latest AAA's on Nintendo Switch 2 instead.
Annual subscription key code for Switch Online is only £12.99.
That will be the monthly cost of Essential by then, but as you say, it's an easy to switch to Switch 2 (no pun intended). It's nothing like comparing a Ford with a Ferrari.
It's just like going from a Ford Focus to Vauxhall Astra. You can hardly tell the difference. Just a plastic badge on the hood.
I will be playing next gen games on a PC or Geforce Now and pay the sum total of £0 per year for my cloud saves and online play, whether via Steam, Epic, Ubisoft or Xbox storefronts etc. So I don't have a lot of skin in this game.
If you are happy then good luck to you pal!
Re: PS6 Could Be the Only Next-Gen Console Charging for Online Multiplayer
@RoomWithaMoose Ferrari are in the same market as Ford. They both sell cars but are in a different niche.
On no planet are they targeting the same customers and competing with each other.
I should know the Internet well by now, and that you always will find people who will argue the sky is green and the grass is blue, but I'm still shocked that people are trying to argue that Nintendo has any relevance to this discussion.
It's embarrassing to this website. Nothing Sony do in this regard would cause people to buy a Nintendo instead. They are essentially selling entirely different products.
Re: PS6 Could Be the Only Next-Gen Console Charging for Online Multiplayer
/sigh
Switch 2 is not a direct competitor to PS6.
I have one and even after 6 pints on a Friday night after work, I still wouldn't be hammered enough to ever consider it as being in the same market as my PS5 Pro or PC. Come on guys, be sensible for once.
With the new Xbox likely having access to multiple PC market places, charging for online play or cloud saves on the Xbox store front will be untenable.
So I'm not sorry if people don't like to hear the truth, I'm giving it to you anyway:
Sony will be the only one charging, and boy are they going to ratchet up the cost and exploit their AAA home console monopoly and give a right pasting to those of you who won't entertain switching and are essentially a captive audience.
Re: Expect More Halo Games on PS5, Dev Says Series Is 'on PlayStation Going Forward'
I have my doubts that there are many PS gamers with a £60 to £80 desire to play these games, who wouldn't have just picked up an Xbox at a car boot sale to play it years ago.
If such players exist, I hope the release cadence of the Halo back-catalogue is at a higher rate than the FF7 games.
Ideally annual releases to catch them up quickly.
Re: Halo Confirmed for PS5, Remake of First Game Out in 2026
I assume the draw is the graphics upgrade which will appeal to PS5 and Xbox players.
Although I've already played one remaster.
I don't see much of a draw for PS5 fans being thrilled at "finally getting to play it", as there have been ample opportunities over the years to pick up used Xbox's for the price of a packet of crisps and play it.
Re: Bethesda Is Working on New Fallout Games, Todd Howard Confirms
With Starfield having failed in the sense that it clearly won't become an established IP like Fallout and Elder Scrolls, it's pretty much common sense that Bethesda need to be working hard on both an Elder Scrolls and Fallout games.
So not the most surprising story.
Can't knock them for trying a new IP though. We always whinge about sequels.
Still it's weird to think that the PS5 generation is unlikely to see a new Fallout or Elder Scrolls game. I don't see either coming until the PS6 is in our hands. At best I see which ever is release first being a simultaneous release on PS5 & PS6.
These things happen. PS4 never actually saw a new GTA game, and PS5 won't see an Uncharted.
Re: The Outer Worlds 2 (PS5) - Mechanically Fantastic RPG Struggles to Be Memorable
@EfYI well I think the obvious one is that it's not a PC replacement. Not all games are on GFN and your can't tinker and mod games as much, although there are mod support in a number of games now.
You also can't use it for word processing etc or Web browsing. It's more a mega console.
Typically one would say buy a mini PC for £400 which does all your office tasks, photo editing and light video editing work.
Then pay £200 a year for Geforce Now that gives you £2500 RTX5080 gaming rig performance and free upgrades for life.
Essentially GF Now is far cheaper than the delta between an entry level laptop and an absolute monster PC.
The issue is still that some games are missing. E.g. Want to check out Outer Worlds 1? Alas it ain't on it. Neither are Rockstar and a lot of WB games.
Will GTA 6 be on it? Who knows.
For a console gamer though it's handy to get a cheap key and a month sub when the console version is awful. GFN is not quite "your only game system" just yet unfortunately.
Re: PS5 Pro Is Definitely Not the Best Place to Play The Outer Worlds 2 at Launch
I have a Pro.
As I said yesterday, there is no way I'm paying that price for a busted product, when for £33 I can get a month of Gamepass and GF Now Ultimate and play a vastly superior version.
Less money for the publisher, developer and Sony.
More money in my bank account. Their loss.
Re: Rumour: New Halo Game Heading for PS5, Will Almost Certainly Be Announced This Week
Played them all on Xbox.
Reach was my favourite by a country mile. Good fan service for those who'd played the previous games.
As I've said in other posts, they are good games but not the system-sellers they are made out to be.
Always suffered from repetitive scenery. The original had repeated copy-paste sections where the scenery would repeat half a dozen times and you didn't know if you'd accidentally gone back the way you came.
Even later games had the same annoying repetitive mechanic of "you are on tram type platform. Tram moves 20 metres then oh noes it's deactivated, you have to get off, kill enemies and activate a power generator to get the tram going again".
REPEAT x 10. I lose the will to live.
Occasionally there were sections where you are running down the side of some giant construct etc but whilst they break up the monotony and repetition, they aren't enough.
As for the last game Infinite.....what an absolute heap of boring garbage. I bounced off that hard.
1 to 5, including Reach (I never played ODST) are 8 out of 10's though. Worth checking out if you have the patience for the dull repetitive stuff.
Re: Fallout 76 Finally Gets a Native PS5 Version Next Year
I skipped the game at launch but played it 5 or so years ago, I believe that was before the major expansion that added NPC's. Cost me £7 or something!
I actually found it surprisingly decent. I just played it solo and generally enjoyed the environmental story telling and audio logs in various locations that told a story in the absence of NPC's.
Got my money's worth.
I wouldn't pay £50 for it or anything like that, but at a sale-price I'd recommend people give it a go if they like Fallout.
I do recall exploring a house that some whale had built and it was pretty impressive, but I had zero interest in getting into all that.
Re: Mark 10 Years of Fallout 4 with a PS5, PS4 Re-Release Next Month
@Oram77 in fairness Bethesda have at least been releasing new games. One may not love Starfield, but it's a decent competent game.
ND get stick because remasters are literally all they have released!
The last new ND game I purchased at launch and actually enjoyed was Uncharted 4 in 2016! If I'm being generous I could say Lost Legacy in 2017!
I don't even want to talk about the "other" game.
Re: Xbox Boss Believes Sony's Strategy of Console Exclusives Is 'Antiquated'
Game development costs are only going in one direction.
Whilst it is undisputed that Microsoft have lost the console war, I don't think it is necessarily a win for Sony in the long term.
Their business model will come under increasing pressure when they become a lonely little walled off enclave, with the rest of the free world on the outside playing on open PC-based formats. Whether PC in the home, game streaming like GFN, or whatever Xbox are offering.
Sony have to release enough very expensive, very long lead time exclusives to make it worth investing in their hardware. I'd say they are already borderline on that this generation, and relying heavily on remasters. With soaring costs, the numbers increasingly aren't adding up, and the release cadence definitely isn't adding up.
There may come a time when I say "nah I can just wait for the PC release of Horizon 3" and it's not worth dropping £1200 on a PS7 come 2035.
Re: The Outer Worlds 2 (PS5) - Mechanically Fantastic RPG Struggles to Be Memorable
@Fiendish-Beaver yup and actually if one has a decent internet connection and uses the same website:
Rather than paying £59.99 for the juddery PS5 version of Outworlds 2....
Just pay £33 for the PS6 patched version instead, and get to experience that three years early.
How?!?!
One month of Gamepass Ultimate for £12.99
One month of Geforce Now Ultimate for £20
Boom! Play it on an RTX5080 top spec gaming rig worth £2500. If you can finish it in a couple of weeks, you can spend the remaining two weeks playing Avowed.
Re: Sep 2025 USA Sales: Ghost of Yotei PS5 Boycott Fails, Sequel Sells 'Great'
@DennisReynolds no they were never doomed as they made a good game.
There was some threat to sales, not massive, but enough to warrant taking action given the current climate and the way the wind was blowing.
I'm criticising the idea of boycotts by the way, and not taking the side you think I am.
Boycotts for such reasons are daft. The culture in the media/entertainment industry is well known. As I said, the senior leadership at SP privately share the fired employees views, as will most of the staff.
Unless you share their extreme ideology, everyone at ALL of these firms hate you.
I know they hate me, but shall I never buy a western game again? Of course not. I just accept it for what it is and stick to the basic principles of only buying good games.
GoY's weaker sales are nothing to do with any of the politics you've all been hammering in the comments.
It's a sequel where there will be some drop off from those who played the original, there is some fatigue over the setting, and general loss of interest in that open world Ubisoft formula, which if we are honest, is what the game boils down to behind the artistic flare.
Everyone wants it to be about their politics. Sorry but it ain't.
Re: Sep 2025 USA Sales: Ghost of Yotei PS5 Boycott Fails, Sequel Sells 'Great'
@DennisReynolds I'd put it to you that SP would have stood for that 5 years ago (so long as the "right person" was mocking the demise of the "wrong person") but changing tides and consumer sentiment changed that.
The employee felt very comfortable saying such things publicly in front of their work colleagues, because they knew it would receive approval and was in effect a virtue signal within their hivemind circles, despite the abhorrent nature.
That tells me everything I need to know about the corporate culture at SP, and that the firing was motivated by the potential damage to sales, not because they viewed it as distasteful (I bet senior managers are posting the exact same stuff on their burner accounts).
I was still going to buy the game anyway if it was good though. I know exactly what extremist views are held by the corporations and staff in the Western games industry, so if I cared about that I'd never buy another Western produced game.
Re: PS Portal Still a Huge Success as Sony Reportedly Preps PS6 Handheld
@CallMeDuraSouka yes the Portal had a range of issues, not least the notorious refresh/stutter problems. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but there are some tech deficiencies and Sony are far from the best streaming service out there, although they have impressively overtaken Xbox.
Yes, I prefer streaming from GFN than playing locally on my PC.
Same experience using Ultimate (4K, 120fps, HDR) but with zero fan noise, no excess heat during the UK summer heatwave, and brand new games aren't installing their vile root kit DRM's with all the associated problems on my machine!
Plus my own PC and GFN were using RTX4080, whereas a month back I got a £1000 RTX 5080 upgrade at the amazing price of £0, versus buying the card myself.
Re: Sep 2025 USA Sales: Ghost of Yotei PS5 Boycott Fails, Sequel Sells 'Great'
@Oram77 regardless of what claims are made, I don't for one minute believe it is matching GoT. Maybe launch DAY sales, but not launch week/month or longer term.
I say that as someone who prefers Yotei. But Mark my words, it won't sell as well. I bet 20% down at 1 year.
Re: PS Portal Still a Huge Success as Sony Reportedly Preps PS6 Handheld
I am a big game streamer, mostly using GeForce now ultimate which is genuinely like renting a £2500 PC for £200 per year, and without any heat, noise, electricity drain or upgrade costs. I actually prefer it over my real PC of a similar spec.
The Portal is an absolutely fantastic idea, but poorly implemented and with a middling service behind it.
A future iteration with GF Now quality levels will be incredible.
It makes me wonder why anyone would want to pay two or three times the price, for a heavier and hotter device with a fraction of the battery life, with worse graphics, just for the 1% of time they spend using it outside of a network and therefore can't stream.
The days of handheld gaming devices that have onboard processing, are numbered in my opinion.
Re: Sep 2025 USA Sales: Ghost of Yotei PS5 Boycott Fails, Sequel Sells 'Great'
Boycotts against good games never work.
Whether it's due to monetisation policy like day one DLC, or political and social issues. If the game is good, it will sell well.
Whereas if the game is bad (Dragon Age), even the vocal online supporters of the product don’t actually put hard cash down on the counter top.
That being said, threats of a boycott clearly worked in this instance, as it resulted in the company taking action against bad employees.
At that point, those threatening a boycott quite rightly stood down and bought it.
Still, I suspect that sales were a bit soft compared to its predecessor.
Re: PS6 Could Be Less Than Half the Price of Microsoft's 'Very Premium' Next-Gen Xbox
@themightyant fair shout. That's one of the reasons I buy a lot of PS5 games versus the a cheaper PC key.
I get an optimised experience that is tuned for the hardware and don't have to spend hours tinkering and watching "optimised settings" videos.
You've probably hit the nail on the head in terms of identifying what any new Xbox console would need to do in order to justify its existence versus simply buying PCs or using game streaming services.
If it does not receive that developer support, in terms of the plug and play optimised version of games, then it’s hard to see what its rightful place in the market would be.
Re: PS6 Could Be Less Than Half the Price of Microsoft's 'Very Premium' Next-Gen Xbox
Xbox will have access to significantly cheaper PC game keys. I routinely pay 25% less for games at launch if I buy on PC.
Sony aren't massively subsidising PS5 Pro etc, if indeed they are subsidising it at all.
A new Xbox will therefore be more expensive than a PS6 simply because the hardware is higher spec.
So you pay more up front, for a superior device, and will have significantly cheaper games that in the long run will mean you pay less in total and have better hardware versus PS6.
So you pays your money..... As the saying goes.
Personally I will just get a PC though or use GF Now. I'll buy the PS6 as well anyway. Not sure where an Xbox console would fit in. It's redundant aside from those who want an easy to use sofa/TV box.
Re: Remedy CEO Out in Aftermath of FBC: Firebreak Disaster
It's like if Burger King decided to sell flat pack furniture! Why would you do that?!
Stick to what you are good at, not dabbling in areas where you have no experience.
Re: PS5 Has Been 'Special' Thanks to SSD, DualSense Features Rather Than Visuals
SSD - well yes it's obviously good, but I have a "big deal" feeling given that I've been using solid state for almost a decade on PC. Nice that consoles finally joined the 21st century I guess.
Dual Sense - thoroughly disagree. I care little for the features that tend to get in the way of gameplay (e.g. trigger resistance) rather than helping. I prefer the XSX joypad with it's trigger haptics and select it over Dual Sense for use with my PC. I'd rather the touch pad be replaced by four buttons whilst we are at it.
Visuals are extremely important and it's rose tinted specs that lead us to believe we've hit diminishing returns. I own a PC and PS5 Pro because I do notice the difference in visuals. Even going from a £450 console to a £799 console (which in PC terms is a peanuts upgrade) I see a big upgrade.
Re: The Silent Hill 2 Remake Now Represents a Quarter of the Series' Total Sales
I'd moved on to PC and DC by the time some of these titles were originally released.
I played the SH2 remaster with no preconceptions as I'd not played the original, and it was interesting as it felt like a very early 00's game, but a very good one for that era.
I'd like to see a modern interpretation though as the remasters decent graphics couldn't hide its origins. If you'd been on a desert island for 30 years, you could have played it blind and within a few hours guessed it was a remaster of an old game, rather than a new title.
Re: You Can Get Three Months of PS Plus Premium When You Buy a PS5 Direct from Sony
Crusty old gamers like me retire or die off. New young kids are coming into gaming all the time.
If you are buying your first PS5 now, you are almost certainly in the latter category.
They have no games library built up, no backlog to play, and are time-rich and cash-poor.
These are the people for whom these subs excel.
Re: Ghost of Yotei Sales Fall Off In Japan, But PS5 Exclusive Still Sticks Around in Second Place
I don't think these numbers tell us much.
I sense there is a lot less interest in this title than GoT, but that does not prevent it selling bucket loads and making a large profit.
Re: Anime-Inspired Racer JDM: Japanese Drift Master Is Coming to PS5, But Only After Xbox
@Kitsmith I don't know how well Ridge Racer Arcade sold a few months back, and how popular 4 has been on PS Plus, but I'd hope if the sales/downloads were strong, that they'd consider producing new titles in the classic style.
The issue appears to be that AAA racers at full price are expected to be GT/Forza/Ride type collectathons with hundreds of cars, loads of tracks and a big online scene.
Where as arcade racers are expected to have a low budget and be indie games.
Example being FZERO where Nintendo don't feel they can make a £60 first party title from it, so instead leave that space to the "Fast" series of games like Fast Fusion.
Re: PS6 Manufacturing Scheduled to Get Underway in Early 2027
@0niguy I totally take your point in that console gamers are more negative to new hardware, although it's not strictly true what you say about PC.
Firstly, historically new console hardware was a line in the sand. You were immediately cut off from new titles unless you found a significant lump sum to buy the new device, and your old games were unplayable unless you kept the old hardware cluttering the place.
Furthermore with regards the lump sum, console gamers don't have an upgrade culture, so having to spend more on hardware is jarring.
PC gamers are used to regular minor upgrades and always had a backwards compatibility.
However it is far from harmonious in the PC world.
There has always been anger that lazy developers and reviewers all have the latest new hardware, and so developers use new hardware simply to bypass optimisation.
Therefore a new hardware release means that new games that should run like a dream on your 2 year old hardware, suddenly run like a three legged pig.
There have also been long running conspiracy theories too about NVIDIA deliberately gimping old cards at driver level, to "encourage" upgrades.
Finally with a lack of competition, GPU upgrades have increasingly been offering far smaller improvements, but at far greater price tag increases. £/$ per frame has been skyrocketing. Pay more, for less. Something console gamers have coming now that Xbox is no longer providing competition.
You can see all the hardware review channels absolutely slating and raging when they review new cards, the comments are a storm of rage too.
Re: Ghost of Yotei Is Sony's Biggest PS5 Launch Since Spider-Man 2 in Europe
@Titntin FWIW I agree.
If a game doesn't sell, you won't see any further releases in the series. High production costs and thin margins from middling sales make investing unattractive.
This can affect specific games, or even entire genres.
It's the same with Netflix. People get angry when they watch a series they enjoy and it gets cancelled. That's understandable for them to feel angry, but unfortunately not enough people watched it to justify the production costs of further output.
Doesn't matter how artistic or well produced something is. It can be great art but will go extinct if it doesn't pay the bills, where as slop like Transformers or Fast and Furious that put bums on seats will persist.
So no matter how much critical acclaim Yotei receives, it has to shift copies. Anyone who loves the game and wants more, should absolutely be obsessed with sales figures.
Re: Talking Point: PS6 In 2027 - How Do You Feel About Sony's Next-Gen Console?
1, it isn't coming in 2027.
2, for those whose priority is "games" rather than power/performance, don't buy a PS6. The concept of "generations" truly is over, and the games on PS6 will for most of its life be available on PS5 too.
So if you all care about are "games", you can save money and stick with your PS5.
The days where generations were defined by games being released that weren't available/possible on prior hardware are over. E.g. when you bought Motorstorm on PS3, and your jaw hit the floor as it was obviously leagues ahead of anything PS2 could do. Not happening anymore.
You don't buy an RTX5080 because there are special games only available for that card that can't remotely run on an RTX4080 for example. That's where consoles are now.
Re: Confirmed: Oblivion Remastered's PS5 Physical Edition Requires 'Additional Download' to Actually Play
@shiningpikablu252 I wouldn't call it "scummy" in fairness.
As I was saying in a post yesterday, this is the inevitable future of gaming and not really anyone's fault.
The problem with Switch 2 is that modern games require not just larger capacity, but also blistering transfer speeds. I know that from having got bent over for my MicroSD Express! Shipping every game on cards with that type of performance, size and price just isn't cost effective.
The best outcome for those who want resale value, is the "physical key" option.
Games have long since been incomplete on the disc, so if you are preserving anything, it's either incomplete or broken (noting this title is a long way off of fixed and notoriously broken).
Eventually games will reach such a size that the cost of multiple large capacity physical disc media simply won't be cost effective, especially when you add the cost of the optional disc drive.
A 32mb pen drive containing a key would be far cheaper. You can still trade it in or sell it used, and yeah there is nothing of use on the darn thing if the servers get shut down, but hey, same with most discs.
Don't get me wrong, I spent most of the 80's and 90's coming back from town on the bus, opening my game boxes and taking in the scent of that fresh manual. SNES games in particular were exquisite! But hey, things move on. Sucks but there it is.
Re: PS6 Release Date Touted for 2027, Cheaper But Less Powerful Than Next Xbox
@dskatter not wishing to open the physical media can of worms again, but it's going to get complicated with future generations.
I absolutely understand why being able to buy or sell used games is so important for so many gamers, and I don't want that to end.
We've already seen the issue with Switch 2, where gamecards with the size and speed to run modern titles are prohibitively expensive. Hence the cheaper "licence key cartridges" that are essentially just blanks.
That's the future of handheld gaming; 10 years from now all games will be downloaded onto internal storage from Steam/Nintendo's network, and cartridges will act as licence keys-only.
The new Playstation handheld will almost certainly work this way, and possibly without even having key-cartridges. Download only, no reselling or buying used.
We are also heading that way with home consoles, given that games can no longer run off optical disks due to them being too slow.
Game size is going to be a problem before long. I predict PS6 games running into 200 or 300gb by the end of the generation. That's multiple of the more expensive large capacity discs required.
Given the preservation argument is non-existent as the games are broken/incomplete on the disc, wouldn't you be happier with just a licence key on a 10 cent/pence 32mb USB stick?
That way you can still resale your games on the used market, with the bonus of making your games and console cheaper?
Rather than shelling out for an optical drive and expensive discs, better to spend that money on an NVME expansion for your PS6 and have a USB licence key device in the plastic game case?
Re: PS6 Release Date Touted for 2027, Cheaper But Less Powerful Than Next Xbox
2027 is highly unlikely based on the discussion on Digital Foundry.
I’d tend to agree with their reasoning.
Re: Call of Duty Is Trying Everything It Can to Make You Play Black Ops 7 Over Battlefield 6
Not played multiplayer for a long time but it was way better back in the day (20 odd years ago) when you had a list of servers, often run by clans, and could add them as a favourite and play with the same people every night. You eventually settled on a realm that suited your skill and made friends etc.
Re: PS6 Out 'in a Few Years' as Sony, AMD Discuss the Future of Games
I'm looking forward to the new console although I'm concerned that with MS gone, Sony will trim the spec and raise the price.
As with my PS5 and Pro, I fund the next console by selling the old one. I'm only interested in the upgrade cost, not the total cost.
Increased new prices means I get more for selling the old console too, as all prices inflate.
Re: PS4's Record-Setting US Sales Pace Is Being Comfortably Beaten by Switch 2
A lot of people think S2 didn't sell well because it didn't sell out.
But in reality a console selling out is a massive bungle by the manufacturer.
It simply means they got the pricing wrong and sold it cheaper than the market would tolerate.
Nintendo have priced S2 correctly so that there is just enough free stock for those who want one, and they've earned full profits rather than scalpers taking half their cut.
Re: Want More Silent Hill on PS5? You May Not Have to Wait Long
I'd like a new SH indie game similar to that Twin Peaks game that someone was making using retro PS1 style graphics.
Actually I'd just like that game to be finished!
Re: People Don't Buy Anywhere Near As Many Games As You Think
Used to buy one a month. When I went Digital I became more selective. I buy 3x AAA's a year now at most. But then I play games like WoW that consume a lot of gaming time, and my extensive back catalogue.
Re: Rumour: American Civil War Assassin's Creed Game Cancelled Due to Fear of Controversy
@IamJT which indigenous people?
Half of them were from Russia and had invaded via crossing over to Alaska and moving south. Committing all manner of atrocities on the way. They were no better than the settlers who established the colony.
Hard to distinguish groups following assimilation. Just like we can't go through the UK and differentiate the baddie Norman's from the people they subjugated.
Of whom many of the "victims" of the Normans were descended from baddie Romans and were living on stolen land.
It's utterly pointless and boring declaring goodies and baddies based on our contemporary personal biases.
This whole thing is about people applying their moral biases.
The south had as much right to break away from the Union, as the entire country had to break away from the UK.
Regardless it would have been a dull game, and I'm not interested in Ubisoft pushing their subjective contemporary interpretation of those events on me. They were right to avoid it.
Re: Aug 2025 USA Sales: Massive Month for Single Player Games, PS5 Can't Catch Switch 2
Sat here on holiday with my S2 on my lap.
Me thinks stories of tepid sales are greatly exaggerated! Perhaps copium by those who despite having 8 years to do so, didn't save their pennies and couldn't afford it.
Still maintain MK was mediocre though, so definitely no fan boy.
Re: Rumour: American Civil War Assassin's Creed Game Cancelled Due to Fear of Controversy
@nessisonett as a Brit, wasn't the entire USA quite literally a treacherous breakaway state/territory though....
If we were the baddies in the war for independence, why are the North suddenly the goodies in the Civil War?
Where is the consistency there?
Back to the topic though, I don't find that compelling for a mainline game. Perhaps as DLC... Plus I feel we've had enough set in the Americas so it would have felt tired.
Prefer something set in India or Africa during colonial times.
Re: New PS Plus Game Alan Wake 2 Offers All Its DLC at a Bargain Price
I appreciate the heads up too. Snapped up the upgrade at £4.50. Wouldn't have noticed otherwise.
Re: Now Xbox Owns Call of Duty, Sony's Investing Its Marketing Budget into Battlefield 6 Instead
I played Battlefield 1942 back in the day, and Vietnam. But mostly I played the Desert Combat mod.
COD was an enjoyable movie like story experience, but for me it had no place in my multiplayer game-time, as Counter Strike and Battlefield covered all the bases. Not to mention Enemy Territory (RTCW mod) did the COD style of play before COD so we played that on the network at work on lunch break!
The kids of today probably aren't aware that Battlefield has unfortunately drifted closer and closer to COD with each iteration, and lacks the epic scale of the original.
Still with them being so similar these days, it's only common sense to let MS cover the marketing tab for COD, whilst Sony boosts Battlefield. All sales on PS5 lead to royalties for Sony.
Meanwhile crusty old gamers like me can reminisce about the good old days where not everything was about zero-attention-span twitch gameplay.
Bring back real BF!
Re: Silent Hill 2's PS5 Console Exclusivity Is Coming to an End
Regarding Xbox/PC gamers buying or not buying games....
I obviously wouldn't buy first party titles given they were included in the pass, but of course I would buy third party titles like Far Cry, AC or SH2.
I'd consider it daft to not buy a game I really wanted, on the off chance it might appear on the pass at some unknown point in the future.
Same reason I say PS Plus is useless due to lacking day one releases. If I care enough to want to spend my precious time on a game, I'll buy it at launch. So any game appearing on Plus that I don't own, is something I didn't think was worth my time in the first place.
I find it bizarre and weird that people who don't have Xbox's, let alone Gamepass, seem to have this idea that I've been "trained" not to buy games.
Utter rubbish. If I like the look of a game, I buy it! I don't have an XSX anymore but use Gamepass on PC. I play first party titles using it and hidden gems like South of Midnight.
I still purchased Hell is Us on my PC!
Re: Red Dead Redemption 2 Still Coming to PS5, It's Claimed
This is in competition with "a Switch Pro is about to be announced" for the award of the most repeated story in history!
Re: PS6 May Go Uncontested as Rumours of Next-Gen Xbox Cancellation Force Microsoft to Comment
@DennisReynolds Sony's goal is to make money. It's actually an obligation to their investors.
They don't care about us. You are just a piggy bank and they will hold you upside down and shake every penny out of you if they can.
The only thing stopping them, your only shield, was Microsoft. You are cooked.
As I say though, waste of time arguing. Let's wait for the push square article and your comments.
Re: PS6 May Go Uncontested as Rumours of Next-Gen Xbox Cancellation Force Microsoft to Comment
@DennisReynolds it's forecasting.
It's exactly what I'd do if I were Sony. If I were a shareholder, I'd be furious and demanding firings at the very top if that did not happen!
I will add this page to my bookmarks and link it in a response in a few years time when you are complaining about having to pay more for PS Plus, and the PS6 being expensive and holding back games due to some penny pinching spec decisions!
That article/discussion on Push Square will happen! As will the Digital Foundry video on "it's a shame they were skimpy on....".
I'm not tied to this ecosystem like most readers, and can flex to PC, but as per the under cooked PS4/XO gen, it will still hold back games for everyone. Bad for the wider industry and consumers.
Re: PS6 May Go Uncontested as Rumours of Next-Gen Xbox Cancellation Force Microsoft to Comment
If the FTC were concerned about MS having too dominant a market position, what’s their view now RE Sony?
Sony now have a home console ecosystem monopoly, including what will be the very same monopoly on mass market Cloud streaming that was cause for concern with Xbox.
PS Plus will see big hikes such that the top tiers will be cracking £300 to £400 per annum.
Sony will already be looking at culling some of the PS6’s specs, skimp a bit on RAM here, SSD size there, slightly lower clocks allowing a cheaper cooling system and cheaper PSU.
Combined with a huge price increase relative to PS5.
PC and Nintendo are not realistic competitors to keep Sony honest. The typical PlayStation buyer isn’t tech savvy enough for PC, neither are they looking for the Nintendo type experience. Plus they are locked into their ecosystem, they won’t suddenly start buying Steam games and playing via GF Now. Sony knows that…
Re: 'Told You So': Ex-FTC Chair Lina Khan Is Having the Last Laugh Over Xbox's Activision Acquisition
@Questionable_Duck yeah you make a good point.
Contrary to the fears, the deal actually worked out nicely for PS gamers in the short to medium term. Not only will they retain access to Activision games, they are regaining access to Bethesda games AND as a bonus gaining access to Microsoft's original exclusives, when it was previously unimaginable that they'd ever been seen on a PS console.
It was Gamepass/Xbox gamers who got royally screwed.
Of course in the long term everyone will be screwed as Sony will capitalise on their monopoly of the console ecosystem market at the first opportunity.
My advice would be for people to take a serious look at moving into PC gaming either by purchasing a PC or using Geforce Now. I'm sorry to say that the future of consoles does not look great.
Console gaming is going to mean paying a lot more, for less.
Re: New PS5 Games for October and November 2025
Now that GoY has been released, I'm not seeing anything else from Sony/MS that interests me and is still due to come out this year.
GoY and Borderlands 4 will keep me busy though.
As far as releases in the big pre-Xmas window are concerned, it's actually Nintendo that have me excited with Metroid and Age of Imprisonment.
On that note, I currently have the two Galaxy remasters to play through.