I know it is effectively being done by a satellite/third party studio, so arguably not taking resources away from Witcher 4, but in my view if they have any good ideas worth my money, I'd rather they be collated into Witcher 4.
Why waste good side quest story ideas on a side show?
I can see why they might want a bit of cash flow to bridge the gap though.
Plus perhaps with the TV series having spritzed a nasty stench over the IP, they might want to release a palette cleanser to create a more recent positive vibe. Don't under estimate the damage that can do - I won't touch a Star Wars game anymore, no matter how good a "game" it is. Witcher is perilously close to that.
Agree that F isn't a good advert and reason to get me excited over annual releases.
Still, in general I'd prefer annual releases of 12 hour games, than the trend with many franchises where we wait many years for 100+ hour titles that I never finish.
I think Capcom are treading a good middle ground with RE, where we see a release every couple of years albeit a mixture of new titles and remasters, and the game length is fairly digestible, to the point that they are short enough such that replaying it is viable, rather than other games that extend their life through endless collectathons.
Not good news, but my PS5 Pro is looking like a fairly smart purchase now.
It's going to be my primary gaming device a lot longer than planned, and the longer I have it, the more the purchase cost is spread in terms of cost per hour of use.
Plus when the PS6 launches, I will likely be able to get a higher price for the Pro when I sell it, than I'd have originally expected.
When I bought my new PC last year, I invested in 64GB too.
Slightly smug feeling, but it was all luck rather than foresight.
I loath exclusives. That's speaking as someone who has always owned all the consoles and maintained a high spec PC.
So there is no FOMO motivation from me, as I can play any game I please regardless of what platform it is on.
What is important is that I want to play the game on the best hardware available, or at least what I perceive to be the best hardware/experience for my preferences.
As an example, and ignoring illegal options, how was Breath of the Wild only being available on a potato beneficial to any gamer worth their salt?
I'd like to see a complete de-coupling of the hardware and software side of the business. Similar to PC but industry-wide.
Game developers compete against other game developers, and hardware manufacturers compete against other hardware manufacturers.
If your hardware e.g. PS6 can't sell on it's own merits, but can only sell via exclusive access to a piece of software, then I'd suggest you get out of the hardware business and go sell burgers instead.
All that is achieved by such arrangements is the perpetuation of mediocre hardware, that consumers would not otherwise purchase if they had freedom of choice.
That includes peripherals. It annoys me to this day that I had to buy a PSVR/PSVR2, which I consider some of the worse headsets on the market with garbage out-of-date last-gen fresnel lenses, in order to play RE7 and RE8 in VR. Those titles would have been commercially viable and profitable if sold on all systems, and would have delivered a vastly superior experience to the consumer on some of the better hardware out there.
Too many times I sit here playing good games on mediocre hardware, when also sat next to me is a system/peripheral that could do the game a lot more justice and give me a more fun experience. How is that pro-consumer?!
It's forcing an unnecessarily inferior experience on the consumer.
We've seen games delayed before, with claims they are finished and that the additional time will allow more polish. Then they release in a pretty botched state.
Once they have decided to delay, they might as well delay it by enough time to ensure it is in an acceptable state. I hope this delay is enough.
This better not release with stutter, performance mode frame rate drops beneath the VRR window, and game breaking bugs...
@SeaDaVie yes my most memorable games are mostly all walking sims.
Soma, Edith Finch, Gone Home, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Still Wakes the Deep, Ethan Carter etc.
They offered practically no resistance, but had stories that stuck with me.
I've played my share of challenging games, especially back in the 8 bit and 16 bit era - games that would make Souls players cry. Like many "difficult" games they primarily challenge your time and patience. I don’t find that memorable at all, I’m more likely to delete them these days.
Whereas games like Soma, challenge me in different ways. For example challenging how I perceive things such as consciousness. That is far more memorable than banging your head against a wall for hours on end.
@Czar_Khastik yup Titanfall 2 was ironically the best COD campaign ever made.
Kienda is in for a treat, as well as feeling depressed that the game was essentially sent out to die, sandwiched between worse games that were better marketed, and we never got the sequel that it setup.
@LifeGirl There is a video out there purporting to show the incident.
I suspect these posters have viewed it and that is what they are referring to.
My concern these days is that often when such incidents occur, internet grifters dig up past footage of unrelated accidents that look like they fit the description of the current event, and then post it to earn clickbait money.
Plus in this day and age AI is a problem too.
So I've not drawn any conclusion as to who the video supposedly shows crashing.
That said, whoever was in the video, was clearly reckless and cared not about innocent members of the public who may have been using the highway.
It's wrong to attribute that to a specific individual without evidence of course, especially as I've seen no mainstream news sites showing even caps from the clip and confirming the footage is genuinely related to this story.
99% of people who buy Larian's games haven't heard about this drama or don't care.
The 1% that do care will lap up their next game anyway.
We've seen the behaviour of gamers all too many times before. A developer could kick them in the nuts and spit in their mothers face, and they'd still throw wads of cash at them!
The biggest hypocrisy of all is outrage over studio conditions. Absolutely no gamer ever, refused to buy a decent game due to how the devs employees were treated.
I've always suspected that consoles are price inelastic. It’s a luxury and you either want it or you don’t. If you want it, you will generally pay whatever the price is.
When the cost is spread a multiple years of ownership, these types of price variations are pretty much insignificant versus spend on games and subs.
By the time this releases, it will be well over a decade since they last released a decent new game (Uncharted 4), and what they’ve shown of this one does nothing for me.
Even Uncharted 4, like TLoU 1, was more about the exploration and environments to me, as I’ve always felt ND combat was workmanlike but nothing exceptional.
I’m sure this will sell based on their name and the media circling the wagons again and giving it hype, but I think it will be profitable but below projections and ultimately disappointing to Sony.
That people will miss time with family and seeing their children growing up, for a product that will release and rapidly be forgotten, seems a bit sad to me.
Good game, even though in many respects I prefer AC Shadows, including the more realistic graphical style which on balance has had more "wow" factor for me, and the English VO of the protagonists.
I know that won't help me win any popularity contests.
@Fizza I feel there is a difference between AI creating period authentic assets for a historical game, versus the endless fake videos and photos I see on social media on a daily basis.
I wouldn't like clothing or cosmetic companies using AI models for example, because it feels inauthentic.
Then again I also hate regular car commercials (with no AI but other techniques like green screen or cgi) where they portray driving a car through the centre of London with no traffic jams and are able to park directly outside their restaurant etc, for the same reason I dislike AI models.
On the subject of green screen, I think I’m in a majority when I say that I dislike the effect in movies and TV, versus good old-fashioned on-location filming.
Video games are by their very nature a fake facsimile of the real world. They are quite literally concentrated green screen/CGI. But I certainly do not feel that AI created accurate assets are inauthentic.
I would like some more human involvement in character design though, rather than just telling AI to design a 30-year-old man who is physically fit. In that instance, I’d still like characters to be based on real actors.
It's amazing how many major game series have (excluding enhancement patches that don't count) actually skipped two generations.
There will be no mainline Elder Scrolls on PS4 or PS5.
OK you will probably get a "pity version" on PS5 but we will be well into the PS6 then.
Anyway, my only other take is that Avowed raised the bar a long way in terms of first person fantasy combat. Bethesda can't ignore that or pretend it hasn't happened, so if they haven't done so already, they need to tear up their work and start again from scratch.
Nothing wrong with AI assets in games. As I've said before, the day will come when you can ask AI to generate furniture items for your medieval castle or victorian home in your game, and it could bang out hundreds of period accurate pieces in record time and at low cost.
We will look back and think how ridiculous it was when people used to do that by hand.
It's not like human artists are doing original work. They are doing exactly what AI will do and looking at photos of museum pieces etc.
It's a shame that worthy uses get mixed in and tarred with all the AI slop out there.
It's been my observation that in both games, film and TV, there is too much evolution for the sake evolution.
The old "modern audience" chestnut. All we know about the "modern audience", based on the franchises targeting them, is that they mysteriously don't seem to spend as much money as the old audience...
I see it as a destructive evolution, with certain individuals saying "we must evolve", but a bit like the story of the emperors clothes, no one sits down to seriously challenge and ask "really? why exactly?".
A lot of firms would have saved a lot of money if only someone had asked the question and others had listened.
Success is hard to come by. If one creates something that is not just successful but becomes a household name, one might want to consider that perhaps it had tapped into something and found a successful formula.
It's a bold person who tinkers with that. 9 times of 10 the audience taste hasn't changed.
A lot of popular characters and stories today, can be traced back thousands of years to stories told around camp fires. All variations of the same thing. The stories settings have changed, having obviously been adapted to contemporary times, but the intrinsic nature of popular characters and plots have evolved surprisingly little.
@Weez I think many people are a bit selective with how they apply suspension of disbelief.
On the one hand many such individuals actively defend/campaign for games set in Medieval worlds to have the same demographic make-up as London in 2025.
Indeed, they even go so far as to criticise anyone who feels that this breaks their suspension of this belief. Their usual argument is “it has dragons in it, if you can accept that then you can accept the stuff you are complaining about”.
Yet on the other hand, they find a young female explorer wearing a bit of make-up to be a step too far. I’d respond by using their own argument against them, in that the game has many supernatural elements and Lara herself exhibits unrealistic climbing skills, strength and physical durability (she'd be fracturing arms and legs all the time), so it’s a bit odd to be complaining about a little eyeshadow and lipstick.
I liked Camilla in terms of voice. The writing wasn't her fault and she did a good job with what they gave her. Her only weakness was the mo cap. She didn't move like a woman who was as physically trained as Lara was, when walking around in cutscenes. She moved like a woman who was slim and fragile from Hollywood actress diets, rather than like some other actresses who have trained for physical roles e.g. Scarlett Johansson. As someone who does a lot of sports photography, that type of thing sticks out like a sore thumb. Perhaps others didn’t notice but I can tell from form, posture and subtle movement.
I don’t read anything into who the voice actress is for the new one, for much the same reasons. I'm sure most experienced actresses could do a good enough job. It’s all going to come down to mo cap and the writing again and that’s my greatest fear.
The trailers do hint at a return to the original Lara Croft and that would be great for me, as I prefer the bad ass version, but I’m not going to put too much faith in some pre-rendered slop.
Hoping we see some gameplay and some real dialogue soon.
Not opposed to this type of racer, especially those who don't have a Switch and can't play the Fast series of games (the latest one was mediocre though).
But at this point the licence is dragging it down, rather than selling it.
Better to create a new IP or speak to Sony about using Wipeout.
Outstanding game. My GOTY by a country mile. So many memorable moments and so much atmosphere. Absolutely worth a buy, this is not a "wait for PS+" game even though I was lucky to play via Gamepass.
Sad thing is that if it wasn't on Gamepass I'd not have played it and missed out. Don't make that mistake.
I really enjoyed Assassin‘s Creed Mirage, no regrets about buying that one at launch, but those of you who did not are in for a good treat and getting your money’s worth this month.
If only it had been released in the state that it is now, and on the hardware we have available to ourselves in 2025 both in terms of PS5 Pro and PC.
The classic cautionary tale of developers releasing games before they are ready, and having ambition and vision that exceeds the available hardware of the day.
Seriously annoyed about MS canning this. Well partly...
Perfect Dark Zero had some problems, but there were flashes of brilliance. Storming into the nightclub with all the civvies fleeing was awesome.
Joanna Dark is the type of cool AF, kick ass, 90's era female protagonist that the industry desperately needs now, as an antidote to the modern day Mary Sue girl-boss nonsense that has done so much damage.
Of course that's not to say that this game would have been it. In truth it would most likely have been the same old garbage we have been served for the past 10 to 15 years.
Hope the IP gets picked up in the future and we get something true to the original personality of Dark.
As a TR fan, I'm waiting to crushed and disappointed.
If it were commencing development now it would be great. Unfortunately this game has been produced during the period of creative and cultural rot.
Noting the past trilogy was fun to play, but let down by writing, story, characters, I'm deeply concerned.
I feel anxiety rather than excitement. I don't want the franchise terminally damaged by a stinker. My nails have been chewed down to the knuckles already.
@MrPeanutbutterz no, I'm amazed so little effort was put into the PS5 port, such that the Switch version is identical. Given what modders have done with GTA IV as an example.
That said, I question the wisdom of investment in a firm who is heavily reliant on renting the rights to IP's and Sports (which can easily be lost), versus owning their own (they've trashed what little they owned).
Personally I like headroom between the vsync cap and what the console (or my PC) could potentially run at when unlocked.
It means the machine is running cooler, less thermally stressed, pulling less power, less noisy fans etc.
That's one of the reasons I don't use frame gen on my Nvidia card (that and latency), as it requires vsync off so your card is essentially in a runaway state.
Same thing happens when you aren't capping your console. It's at 100% load permanently.
I mean these always end up in subjective arguments but I can't resist engaging.
Edith Finch - absolutely outstanding game but it's an old PS4 title.
BG3 - the bungling performance especially in the third act can't be overlooked no matter how great everything else is. I don't think they should be given a pass for that. Give it a 9 if you like.
AW2 - Another great game but I think there are many issues and weakness that prevent a perfect 10. Unlike BG3 I wouldn't even go for a 9, it's an 8.
I see people mentioning Hogwarts. That to me is a genuine 10. In terms of a gaming adaption, who the audience is and what it does, I can't fault it.
@SuperYlvis Yeah the thing with Nintendo is that they have very few games that interest me, but the few good ones they have (in my eyes) are must-buys for anyone who is into gaming.
So as a gamer it's worth me buying all platforms to ensure I don't miss out on the all-time classics.
As I've said many times, people need to consider the whole-life cost of owning a console which includes the money you get back at the end of it.
I was shocked with how much people were willing to pay when I sold my old Switch OLED, so in total it cost me very little to own.
With inflation being what it is, and given how I keep my stuff in absolute mint condition, my Switch 2 will have cost me barely anything when the day comes to sell it.
@4fold I often find myself feeling a bit fed up with VR, as 80% of games are horror, 10% are puzzle games where you manipulate objects and put them in holes like those children's toys with the square, round and triangular blocks, and the other 10% are the rest (mostly dross tech demos).
I don't want to touch another VR horror or puzzle game again. I'm done with it.
No doubt horror is 1000x more intense in VR, but I actually find it exhaustingly intense. I'd rather play RE4 remake on my TV than in VR, even though I'd accept that the VR version is "better" on paper.
Oh and that Paradise Hotel game.....absolutely screw that game and screw the developers! Got about 90 minutes in and was done!
No surprise that I skipped Ghost Town on Quest 3 when it came out a while ago, and will probably skip it here too!
Off to play Pools VR this evening. That's about as intense as I can handle.
Another one of those games where I believe there is a "fake" interest in a sequel.
A lot of the time there are only a handful of crusty old gamers like me who even know what the first game is, and just a tiny vocal minority (of what is already a tiny minority) care enough to want a sequel but have very loud voices.
The original was released 22 years ago. I still remember that time like it was yesterday, but let's think about it...
You had to be 10 years old to play it. So barely anyone younger than early 30's knows or gives a monkey's about the IP.
Any sequel has to stand on it's own two feet as a good game in its own right, and not rely on the name - which has practically no value to the majority of gamers.
In which case why constrain themselves with the IP. Make something original.
@Medic_alert Yup I remember back at the beginning of the generation, playing games like AC Valhalla that utilised the extra hardware advantage and ran better on XSX.
With far superior backwards compatibility, with FREE performance boosts for older games, and none of that awful nonsense we have on PS5 of having separate PS4 games and all the awkwardness around that, there was no doubt in my mind that the XSX was superior and would be my main console.
Yet here I am five years later having sold my XSX and being exclusively PS5. They bungled it.
@somnambulance worth pointing out that I was earning something like just under £3 an hour back when PS1 launched.
My nephew got a job at M&S a couple of years back and was on something like £12 an hour!
So you compare that to the figures I posted showing that a console has increased 2x in cost, but the amount you get paid for a bottom level job has increased 4x over the same period...
That's why I had a bicycle and "what's a mobile phone?". Where as he has a Corsa SRI, an iphone and "what's a bus?"...
I know we've seen the stories about the unachievable profit margin targets at Microsoft, but I truly believe they are trying to get out of the first-party console hardware market, and will likely attempt to disengage from Gamepass and run that down too.
I believe rather than saying they are pulling out and causing uproar amongst fans and those who have invested in the ecosystem and hardware, they are simply setting it up to fail and have people abandon it naturally.
When the numbers remaining are small enough, they will officially pull the plug.
They've decided they want out of hardware and to leave it to third party partners, and I believe they also want to become a regular publisher selling £70 games rather than subscription model on which they lose money.
Barely anymore in real terms, than the cost of my PS1 with memory card + bus fare when I bought mine in Dec '95.
I also bought Wipeout at the same time, and that cost me £90 in today's money.
I don't get all the whining about pricing these days. It's all based on ignorance and misinformation.
Gaming is still relatively cheap. The difference is that during my student days in '95, I wasn't drinking and partying, but working every hour I could get at my supermarket job.
Instead of posting on web forums about how unfair the price is.
As far as RAM goes, following the Kobe earthquake I bought 4mb (4 x 1mb sticks) second hand from a local computer shop, for £25 per mb.
That's £52 per mb in todays money. Do the maths on that one to see what 64gb would be in today's money!
Granted it was worth it, as the chain gun in Doom actually sounded like a chain gun with 8mb and a load of imps on screen, versus 4mb when it sounded like manually reloading a single shot rifle.
Comments 582
Re: The Witcher 3 Really Could Be Getting a New Expansion on PS5 in 2026
I know it is effectively being done by a satellite/third party studio, so arguably not taking resources away from Witcher 4, but in my view if they have any good ideas worth my money, I'd rather they be collated into Witcher 4.
Why waste good side quest story ideas on a side show?
I can see why they might want a bit of cash flow to bridge the gap though.
Plus perhaps with the TV series having spritzed a nasty stench over the IP, they might want to release a palette cleanser to create a more recent positive vibe. Don't under estimate the damage that can do - I won't touch a Star Wars game anymore, no matter how good a "game" it is. Witcher is perilously close to that.
Re: Silent Hill Producer Aims to Release One New Game Per Year
Agree that F isn't a good advert and reason to get me excited over annual releases.
Still, in general I'd prefer annual releases of 12 hour games, than the trend with many franchises where we wait many years for 100+ hour titles that I never finish.
I think Capcom are treading a good middle ground with RE, where we see a release every couple of years albeit a mixture of new titles and remasters, and the game length is fairly digestible, to the point that they are short enough such that replaying it is viable, rather than other games that extend their life through endless collectathons.
Re: PS6 Could Be Delayed Due to RAM Price Chaos
Not good news, but my PS5 Pro is looking like a fairly smart purchase now.
It's going to be my primary gaming device a lot longer than planned, and the longer I have it, the more the purchase cost is spread in terms of cost per hour of use.
Plus when the PS6 launches, I will likely be able to get a higher price for the Pro when I sell it, than I'd have originally expected.
When I bought my new PC last year, I invested in 64GB too.
Slightly smug feeling, but it was all luck rather than foresight.
Re: Game of the Year: Best PS5 Story Game of 2025
I consider South of Midnight to be better than all of them, so I'm not casting a vote.
I don't think titles deserve a vote just because something better isn't eligible due to timed exclusivity nonsense.
Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Believes Exclusives Make Consoles 'Sing'
I loath exclusives. That's speaking as someone who has always owned all the consoles and maintained a high spec PC.
So there is no FOMO motivation from me, as I can play any game I please regardless of what platform it is on.
What is important is that I want to play the game on the best hardware available, or at least what I perceive to be the best hardware/experience for my preferences.
As an example, and ignoring illegal options, how was Breath of the Wild only being available on a potato beneficial to any gamer worth their salt?
I'd like to see a complete de-coupling of the hardware and software side of the business. Similar to PC but industry-wide.
Game developers compete against other game developers, and hardware manufacturers compete against other hardware manufacturers.
If your hardware e.g. PS6 can't sell on it's own merits, but can only sell via exclusive access to a piece of software, then I'd suggest you get out of the hardware business and go sell burgers instead.
All that is achieved by such arrangements is the perpetuation of mediocre hardware, that consumers would not otherwise purchase if they had freedom of choice.
That includes peripherals. It annoys me to this day that I had to buy a PSVR/PSVR2, which I consider some of the worse headsets on the market with garbage out-of-date last-gen fresnel lenses, in order to play RE7 and RE8 in VR. Those titles would have been commercially viable and profitable if sold on all systems, and would have delivered a vastly superior experience to the consumer on some of the better hardware out there.
Too many times I sit here playing good games on mediocre hardware, when also sat next to me is a system/peripheral that could do the game a lot more justice and give me a more fun experience. How is that pro-consumer?!
It's forcing an unnecessarily inferior experience on the consumer.
Re: 007 First Light's PS5 Release Date Has Been Pushed Back a Couple of Months
We've seen games delayed before, with claims they are finished and that the additional time will allow more polish. Then they release in a pretty botched state.
Once they have decided to delay, they might as well delay it by enough time to ensure it is in an acceptable state. I hope this delay is enough.
This better not release with stutter, performance mode frame rate drops beneath the VRR window, and game breaking bugs...
Re: Cronos: The New Dawn Update Will Add a New, Easier Difficulty Setting in Early 2026
@SeaDaVie yes my most memorable games are mostly all walking sims.
Soma, Edith Finch, Gone Home, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Still Wakes the Deep, Ethan Carter etc.
They offered practically no resistance, but had stories that stuck with me.
I've played my share of challenging games, especially back in the 8 bit and 16 bit era - games that would make Souls players cry. Like many "difficult" games they primarily challenge your time and patience. I don’t find that memorable at all, I’m more likely to delete them these days.
Whereas games like Soma, challenge me in different ways. For example challenging how I perceive things such as consciousness. That is far more memorable than banging your head against a wall for hours on end.
Re: Vince Zampella, Call of Duty Co-Creator and Respawn Boss, Tragically Dies Aged 55
@Czar_Khastik yup Titanfall 2 was ironically the best COD campaign ever made.
Kienda is in for a treat, as well as feeling depressed that the game was essentially sent out to die, sandwiched between worse games that were better marketed, and we never got the sequel that it setup.
Re: Vince Zampella, Call of Duty Co-Creator and Respawn Boss, Tragically Dies Aged 55
@LifeGirl There is a video out there purporting to show the incident.
I suspect these posters have viewed it and that is what they are referring to.
My concern these days is that often when such incidents occur, internet grifters dig up past footage of unrelated accidents that look like they fit the description of the current event, and then post it to earn clickbait money.
Plus in this day and age AI is a problem too.
So I've not drawn any conclusion as to who the video supposedly shows crashing.
That said, whoever was in the video, was clearly reckless and cared not about innocent members of the public who may have been using the highway.
It's wrong to attribute that to a specific individual without evidence of course, especially as I've seen no mainstream news sites showing even caps from the clip and confirming the footage is genuinely related to this story.
Re: Embattled Divinity Dev to Host Q&A with Fans After Tough Week
Nothing burger.
99% of people who buy Larian's games haven't heard about this drama or don't care.
The 1% that do care will lap up their next game anyway.
We've seen the behaviour of gamers all too many times before. A developer could kick them in the nuts and spit in their mothers face, and they'd still throw wads of cash at them!
The biggest hypocrisy of all is outrage over studio conditions. Absolutely no gamer ever, refused to buy a decent game due to how the devs employees were treated.
Doesn't happen.
Re: Japan's New Language Locked PS5 Hasn't Made a Massive Difference to the Format's Domestic Fortunes
I've always suspected that consoles are price inelastic. It’s a luxury and you either want it or you don’t. If you want it, you will generally pay whatever the price is.
When the cost is spread a multiple years of ownership, these types of price variations are pretty much insignificant versus spend on games and subs.
Re: Naughty Dog Forces Crunch to Get PS5 Exclusive Intergalactic 'Back on Track' for Mid 2027 Release
By the time this releases, it will be well over a decade since they last released a decent new game (Uncharted 4), and what they’ve shown of this one does nothing for me.
Even Uncharted 4, like TLoU 1, was more about the exploration and environments to me, as I’ve always felt ND combat was workmanlike but nothing exceptional.
I’m sure this will sell based on their name and the media circling the wagons again and giving it hype, but I think it will be profitable but below projections and ultimately disappointing to Sony.
That people will miss time with family and seeing their children growing up, for a product that will release and rapidly be forgotten, seems a bit sad to me.
Re: 2016's The Division Now Runs Smoother Than Ever on PS5
I really liked this game. It was super atmospheric at the time.
I think it was Ubisoft doing what they do best, which is creating fantastically detailed and "lived in" feeling worlds.
Re: The FIFA Video Game Will Return, on Netflix of All Places
More red flags than a Chinese military parade.
EA won't be worried.
Re: Ghost of Yotei Wins Big in PS Blog's Game of the Year Awards
Good game, even though in many respects I prefer AC Shadows, including the more realistic graphical style which on balance has had more "wow" factor for me, and the English VO of the protagonists.
I know that won't help me win any popularity contests.
Re: Divinity Dev's Comments on Generative AI Trigger a Total Social Media Sh*tstorm
@Fizza I feel there is a difference between AI creating period authentic assets for a historical game, versus the endless fake videos and photos I see on social media on a daily basis.
I wouldn't like clothing or cosmetic companies using AI models for example, because it feels inauthentic.
Then again I also hate regular car commercials (with no AI but other techniques like green screen or cgi) where they portray driving a car through the centre of London with no traffic jams and are able to park directly outside their restaurant etc, for the same reason I dislike AI models.
On the subject of green screen, I think I’m in a majority when I say that I dislike the effect in movies and TV, versus good old-fashioned on-location filming.
Video games are by their very nature a fake facsimile of the real world. They are quite literally concentrated green screen/CGI. But I certainly do not feel that AI created accurate assets are inauthentic.
I would like some more human involvement in character design though, rather than just telling AI to design a 30-year-old man who is physically fit. In that instance, I’d still like characters to be based on real actors.
Re: 'The Majority of the Studio's on It': Bethesda Gives an Update on The Elder Scrolls 6
It's amazing how many major game series have (excluding enhancement patches that don't count) actually skipped two generations.
There will be no mainline Elder Scrolls on PS4 or PS5.
OK you will probably get a "pity version" on PS5 but we will be well into the PS6 then.
Anyway, my only other take is that Avowed raised the bar a long way in terms of first person fantasy combat. Bethesda can't ignore that or pretend it hasn't happened, so if they haven't done so already, they need to tear up their work and start again from scratch.
Re: Divinity Dev's Comments on Generative AI Trigger a Total Social Media Sh*tstorm
Nothing wrong with AI assets in games. As I've said before, the day will come when you can ask AI to generate furniture items for your medieval castle or victorian home in your game, and it could bang out hundreds of period accurate pieces in record time and at low cost.
We will look back and think how ridiculous it was when people used to do that by hand.
It's not like human artists are doing original work. They are doing exactly what AI will do and looking at photos of museum pieces etc.
It's a shame that worthy uses get mixed in and tarred with all the AI slop out there.
Re: Yakuza Dev 'Exploring a Solution' for Botched Kiwami PS5 Upgrade
Got to wonder at that price, and once store/payment provider fees are deducted, how much money will they actually take from charging.
Re: 'How Do We Help Her Evolve?': Crystal Dynamics on Reimagining Tomb Raider's Lara Croft for a New Era
It's been my observation that in both games, film and TV, there is too much evolution for the sake evolution.
The old "modern audience" chestnut. All we know about the "modern audience", based on the franchises targeting them, is that they mysteriously don't seem to spend as much money as the old audience...
I see it as a destructive evolution, with certain individuals saying "we must evolve", but a bit like the story of the emperors clothes, no one sits down to seriously challenge and ask "really? why exactly?".
A lot of firms would have saved a lot of money if only someone had asked the question and others had listened.
Success is hard to come by. If one creates something that is not just successful but becomes a household name, one might want to consider that perhaps it had tapped into something and found a successful formula.
It's a bold person who tinkers with that. 9 times of 10 the audience taste hasn't changed.
A lot of popular characters and stories today, can be traced back thousands of years to stories told around camp fires. All variations of the same thing. The stories settings have changed, having obviously been adapted to contemporary times, but the intrinsic nature of popular characters and plots have evolved surprisingly little.
Re: This Is the New Voice of Lara Croft in the PS5 Era of Tomb Raider Games
@Weez I think many people are a bit selective with how they apply suspension of disbelief.
On the one hand many such individuals actively defend/campaign for games set in Medieval worlds to have the same demographic make-up as London in 2025.
Indeed, they even go so far as to criticise anyone who feels that this breaks their suspension of this belief. Their usual argument is “it has dragons in it, if you can accept that then you can accept the stuff you are complaining about”.
Yet on the other hand, they find a young female explorer wearing a bit of make-up to be a step too far. I’d respond by using their own argument against them, in that the game has many supernatural elements and Lara herself exhibits unrealistic climbing skills, strength and physical durability (she'd be fracturing arms and legs all the time), so it’s a bit odd to be complaining about a little eyeshadow and lipstick.
Re: 'If I Don't Belong in the Games Industry, I'll Have to Look Elsewhere': Keita Takashashi Moves Back to Japan After To a T Flopped
It may be fantastic in reality, but at a glance I see red flags that my pattern recognition associates with bad games.
I therefore dismiss it within 20 seconds.
Re: This Is the New Voice of Lara Croft in the PS5 Era of Tomb Raider Games
I liked Camilla in terms of voice. The writing wasn't her fault and she did a good job with what they gave her. Her only weakness was the mo cap. She didn't move like a woman who was as physically trained as Lara was, when walking around in cutscenes. She moved like a woman who was slim and fragile from Hollywood actress diets, rather than like some other actresses who have trained for physical roles e.g. Scarlett Johansson. As someone who does a lot of sports photography, that type of thing sticks out like a sore thumb. Perhaps others didn’t notice but I can tell from form, posture and subtle movement.
I don’t read anything into who the voice actress is for the new one, for much the same reasons. I'm sure most experienced actresses could do a good enough job. It’s all going to come down to mo cap and the writing again and that’s my greatest fear.
The trailers do hint at a return to the original Lara Croft and that would be great for me, as I prefer the bad ass version, but I’m not going to put too much faith in some pre-rendered slop.
Hoping we see some gameplay and some real dialogue soon.
Re: Expedition 33 Breaks the Game Awards Record for Most Gongs in a Single Show
Agree with the first poster RE "game of the moment".
It's a good game, but it isn't perfect and ain't all that.
It's worthy of being on GOTY lists, but it ain't heads above everything else and in "cleans up" territory.
Re: Star Wars Racing Games Are Back in Galactic Racer, Out for PS5 in 2026
More pre-rendered slop that tells us nothing.
Not opposed to this type of racer, especially those who don't have a Switch and can't play the Fast series of games (the latest one was mediocre though).
But at this point the licence is dragging it down, rather than selling it.
Better to create a new IP or speak to Sony about using Wipeout.
Re: Xbox Game South of Midnight Comes to PS5 Next Year
Outstanding game. My GOTY by a country mile. So many memorable moments and so much atmosphere. Absolutely worth a buy, this is not a "wait for PS+" game even though I was lucky to play via Gamepass.
Sad thing is that if it wasn't on Gamepass I'd not have played it and missed out. Don't make that mistake.
Re: Lara Croft Returns in Two New Tomb Raider Titles on PS5
Pre rendered slop. Tells me nothing unfortunately.
Re: 9 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for December 2025 Announced
I really enjoyed Assassin‘s Creed Mirage, no regrets about buying that one at launch, but those of you who did not are in for a good treat and getting your money’s worth this month.
Re: Poll: How Would You Rate Cyberpunk 2077, 5 Years Later?
If only it had been released in the state that it is now, and on the hardware we have available to ourselves in 2025 both in terms of PS5 Pro and PC.
The classic cautionary tale of developers releasing games before they are ready, and having ambition and vision that exceeds the available hardware of the day.
Re: Xbox Ruthlessly Cancelled Perfect Dark, But Take-Two Just Hired Its Directors
Seriously annoyed about MS canning this. Well partly...
Perfect Dark Zero had some problems, but there were flashes of brilliance. Storming into the nightclub with all the civvies fleeing was awesome.
Joanna Dark is the type of cool AF, kick ass, 90's era female protagonist that the industry desperately needs now, as an antidote to the modern day Mary Sue girl-boss nonsense that has done so much damage.
Of course that's not to say that this game would have been it. In truth it would most likely have been the same old garbage we have been served for the past 10 to 15 years.
Hope the IP gets picked up in the future and we get something true to the original personality of Dark.
Re: New Tomb Raider Reveal Confirmed for The Game Awards
@Nepp67 Yeah Lara exhibited rare flashes of badassery in 2013 and Rise (none in Shadow), but ultimately degenerated into a feeble wet whiner.
Rise is a such a darn good "game" though, it's worth playing despite the degeneration of her character and awful writing.
Re: New Tomb Raider Reveal Confirmed for The Game Awards
As a TR fan, I'm waiting to crushed and disappointed.
If it were commencing development now it would be great. Unfortunately this game has been produced during the period of creative and cultural rot.
Noting the past trilogy was fun to play, but let down by writing, story, characters, I'm deeply concerned.
I feel anxiety rather than excitement. I don't want the franchise terminally damaged by a stinker. My nails have been chewed down to the knuckles already.
Re: PS5 Players Ponder Avowed Port as Xbox RPG Delays Its 'Biggest Update Yet'
I really enjoyed it. Combat was excellent and the best I’ve ever experienced in a first person RPG.
Quests were pretty good too, as was world exploration.
I’d buy it on Pro if an enhanced version is released, despite having access via Gamepass.
Re: Red Dead Redemption PS5 Another Subpar Re-Release from Rockstar
@MrPeanutbutterz no, I'm amazed so little effort was put into the PS5 port, such that the Switch version is identical. Given what modders have done with GTA IV as an example.
Re: Red Dead Redemption PS5 Another Subpar Re-Release from Rockstar
It's actually amazing how the Switch 2 version is practically indistinguishable even on a large 4k TV.
With the added flexibility of hand held, it made more sense to me to play it there.
My PS5 Pro only really has trophies going for it.
Re: Sounds Like Saudi Arabia Will Own Almost All of EA After Buyout
I don't like or buy EA games so I don't care.
That said, I question the wisdom of investment in a firm who is heavily reliant on renting the rights to IP's and Sports (which can easily be lost), versus owning their own (they've trashed what little they owned).
Re: Ghost of Yotei Gets 'Incredible' PS5 Pro Frame Rate Boost Thanks to New Patch
Not sure what I will do.
Personally I like headroom between the vsync cap and what the console (or my PC) could potentially run at when unlocked.
It means the machine is running cooler, less thermally stressed, pulling less power, less noisy fans etc.
That's one of the reasons I don't use frame gen on my Nvidia card (that and latency), as it requires vsync off so your card is essentially in a runaway state.
Same thing happens when you aren't capping your console. It's at 100% load permanently.
Re: Don't Expect Intergalactic PS5 to Launch Until at Least 2027
@themightyant yes just heard the latest episode of his own podcast where he discusses it.
This entire story is fake news and misinformation.
He was just giving personal views and not breaking news. The media lied for click bait.
Re: Video: All the PS5 Games We Think Are 10/10
I mean these always end up in subjective arguments but I can't resist engaging.
Edith Finch - absolutely outstanding game but it's an old PS4 title.
BG3 - the bungling performance especially in the third act can't be overlooked no matter how great everything else is. I don't think they should be given a pass for that. Give it a 9 if you like.
AW2 - Another great game but I think there are many issues and weakness that prevent a perfect 10. Unlike BG3 I wouldn't even go for a 9, it's an 8.
I see people mentioning Hogwarts. That to me is a genuine 10. In terms of a gaming adaption, who the audience is and what it does, I can't fault it.
Re: PS5 Is Edging Out the Switch 2 in the UK So Far This Year
@SuperYlvis Yeah the thing with Nintendo is that they have very few games that interest me, but the few good ones they have (in my eyes) are must-buys for anyone who is into gaming.
So as a gamer it's worth me buying all platforms to ensure I don't miss out on the all-time classics.
As I've said many times, people need to consider the whole-life cost of owning a console which includes the money you get back at the end of it.
I was shocked with how much people were willing to pay when I sold my old Switch OLED, so in total it cost me very little to own.
With inflation being what it is, and given how I keep my stuff in absolute mint condition, my Switch 2 will have cost me barely anything when the day comes to sell it.
Re: Mini Review: POOLS (PSVR2) - Niche Horror Is a PSVR2 Showcase
Made me feel sick so I quit after the first chapter. There is something wrong with the image but can't put my finger on it.
Is very creepy and unsettling though. Will give it that.
Re: The Room Devs Return to PSVR2 with Spooky Puzzle Thriller Ghost Town in Early December
@gaston I've seen play through footage and it is the same old baby puzzle game play, turning dials, plugging things in etc.
Re: Bloodlines 2 Publisher Accepts the Blame Over $37 Million Failure
The Chinese Room have produced some great stuff in the past.
Like so many developers this generation, they were wasted and produced nothing of value, due to bungling direction from publishers.
Many of Sony’s studios being notable examples.
A wretched, wasted and lost generation in so many ways.
Re: The Room Devs Return to PSVR2 with Spooky Puzzle Thriller Ghost Town in Early December
@4fold I often find myself feeling a bit fed up with VR, as 80% of games are horror, 10% are puzzle games where you manipulate objects and put them in holes like those children's toys with the square, round and triangular blocks, and the other 10% are the rest (mostly dross tech demos).
I don't want to touch another VR horror or puzzle game again. I'm done with it.
No doubt horror is 1000x more intense in VR, but I actually find it exhaustingly intense. I'd rather play RE4 remake on my TV than in VR, even though I'd accept that the VR version is "better" on paper.
Oh and that Paradise Hotel game.....absolutely screw that game and screw the developers! Got about 90 minutes in and was done!
No surprise that I skipped Ghost Town on Quest 3 when it came out a while ago, and will probably skip it here too!
Off to play Pools VR this evening. That's about as intense as I can handle.
Re: Beyond Good & Evil 2 PS5 May Not Be Dead Just Yet
Another one of those games where I believe there is a "fake" interest in a sequel.
A lot of the time there are only a handful of crusty old gamers like me who even know what the first game is, and just a tiny vocal minority (of what is already a tiny minority) care enough to want a sequel but have very loud voices.
The original was released 22 years ago. I still remember that time like it was yesterday, but let's think about it...
You had to be 10 years old to play it. So barely anyone younger than early 30's knows or gives a monkey's about the IP.
Any sequel has to stand on it's own two feet as a good game in its own right, and not rely on the name - which has practically no value to the majority of gamers.
In which case why constrain themselves with the IP. Make something original.
Re: Poll: Five Years of PS5 - How Would You Rate Sony's Console?
@Medic_alert Yup I remember back at the beginning of the generation, playing games like AC Valhalla that utilised the extra hardware advantage and ran better on XSX.
With far superior backwards compatibility, with FREE performance boosts for older games, and none of that awful nonsense we have on PS5 of having separate PS4 games and all the awkwardness around that, there was no doubt in my mind that the XSX was superior and would be my main console.
Yet here I am five years later having sold my XSX and being exclusively PS5. They bungled it.
Re: Sony Is Actually Advertising PSVR2 This Black Friday
@YuGiOh as an owner of both, I can agree that the Quest 3's pancake lenses are a clear generation ahead of the fresnels on PSVR 2.
The image quality on the Quest is vastly superior as a result.
Obviously the graphics quality is better via the PS5 Pro so it kind of sucks that whichever system I use, I have to deal with some compromise.
But yeah given the choice if both worked with PS5 Pro, there is no way in a million years I'd ever use PSVR 2 again.
Re: Suddenly the PS5 Pro Doesn't Look That Expensive Anymore
@somnambulance worth pointing out that I was earning something like just under £3 an hour back when PS1 launched.
My nephew got a job at M&S a couple of years back and was on something like £12 an hour!
So you compare that to the figures I posted showing that a console has increased 2x in cost, but the amount you get paid for a bottom level job has increased 4x over the same period...
That's why I had a bicycle and "what's a mobile phone?". Where as he has a Corsa SRI, an iphone and "what's a bus?"...
Re: You Can Buy a Fully-Fledged PS5 for the Same Price as a Less Powerful Xbox Series S Right Now
I know we've seen the stories about the unachievable profit margin targets at Microsoft, but I truly believe they are trying to get out of the first-party console hardware market, and will likely attempt to disengage from Gamepass and run that down too.
I believe rather than saying they are pulling out and causing uproar amongst fans and those who have invested in the ecosystem and hardware, they are simply setting it up to fail and have people abandon it naturally.
When the numbers remaining are small enough, they will officially pull the plug.
They've decided they want out of hardware and to leave it to third party partners, and I believe they also want to become a regular publisher selling £70 games rather than subscription model on which they lose money.
Re: Suddenly the PS5 Pro Doesn't Look That Expensive Anymore
Boomer post incoming....
£570 for a Pro.
Barely anymore in real terms, than the cost of my PS1 with memory card + bus fare when I bought mine in Dec '95.
I also bought Wipeout at the same time, and that cost me £90 in today's money.
I don't get all the whining about pricing these days. It's all based on ignorance and misinformation.
Gaming is still relatively cheap. The difference is that during my student days in '95, I wasn't drinking and partying, but working every hour I could get at my supermarket job.
Instead of posting on web forums about how unfair the price is.
As far as RAM goes, following the Kobe earthquake I bought 4mb (4 x 1mb sticks) second hand from a local computer shop, for £25 per mb.
That's £52 per mb in todays money. Do the maths on that one to see what 64gb would be in today's money!
Granted it was worth it, as the chain gun in Doom actually sounded like a chain gun with 8mb and a load of imps on screen, versus 4mb when it sounded like manually reloading a single shot rifle.