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I just hope they also add it to PS4. I prefer Apple Music over Spotify, but it’s annoying that it’s not on the PS4 which is connected to the sound bar. Would also save me from buying a Bluetooth receiver.

One of the most important reason for a brand logo is recognisability.

This new logo is about as recognisable as a pebble on a beach.

Some surprises, some expecteds, some “mehs” and some “what the cauliflower cheese?”.

One thing that does disappoint me is how the art styles of many of the games shown is so similar, that when the quick fire summary video at the end is shown so many mould into each other you’d think it was all one big series bar a few.

I can’t understand how in the space of a year this whole “Free Upgrade” thing has transitioned from “nice to have” to an “unquestionable essential”. I don’t recall free PS4 upgrades for all those PS3 games also released on PS4 during the last generational overlap. This “no excuse” position that Push Square seems intent on pushing is a pile of BS the size of Olympus Mons and screams of Entitlement. You want an excuse? They don’t want to, they don’t have to, they’re not obligated to give it to you, I could go on and on. You have the option to buy for whichever platform you want it for or you’re welcome to wait if you don’t have access to a PS5 yet.

The fact they seemingly originally promised a free upgrade and then changed course, is frustrating at most.

Oh and the No Disc in Collectors Editions is tone deaf stupidity. Can’t wait to hear their excuse for that one as I need a good laugh. Probably to make it appeal to their all-digital PS5 buyers.

Hoping by 2023, a smaller redesigned version will be announced. Although the miniaturisation of the PS2 remains Sony’s most impressive work.

The big question for me is did all these Japanese-developed games actually sell badly, or did they not reach incredibly high sales expectations? The Tomb Raider reboot was deemed a “failure” by Square Enix last gen for “only” selling 3.4 million copies in the first 4 weeks. I was always a bigger fan of the smaller “b-tier” games that publishers released in between their flagship titles as they tended to experiment more and less inclined to follow customer expectations (I.e. must have crafting, must have open world, must have stealth and open combat, etc).

I will reserve judgement on this statement until tangible examples become reality.

This really be an opinion / soapbox piece; otherwise it has no right using the words “should/shouldn’t” as it’s driven totally be the author’s viewpoint.

It’s a complex argument; on the one hand publishers have been reselling upgraded releases of previous-gen games for years and you could argue that if you are creating an enhanced product, then you have every right to sell it for a price if you desire.

What has happened in this case is that other publishers have set a precedent of expectations by offering free updates. It seems Sony decided on a different path. Some see it as being greedy, others seeing as common sense business. At the end of the day, opinions and views are going to differ, but there is no “right or wrong way”.

@ShogunRok How big and challenging are the forced stealth sections? That one in the main game was the equivalent of a squirt great big dump in an otherwise decent game (although Spiderman remains the biggest offender so far), so want to ensure it gets shoved out of the way easily and quickly.

AC7 felt like the shot in the arm in the series needed. Although I still feel the series’ golden era remains the PS2 era titles. Still surprises me they were never all rereleased when such collection releases were so popular.

Looking forward to the remaining AC7 DLC and the new title. Just hoping by the time it comes out the PS5 will have undergone a redesign and a price cut.

Is it actually cheaper to buy new copies than buying the cash cards? I always imagined CEX being overloaded with second hand copies although they are still offering GBP 10-14 for PS4 copies.

@lolwhatno Thanks for the salute!

Probably will buy the expansion digitally; when depends on the price. The question is if the expansion will offer something fresh and new, or just more of the base game with a slightly varied background.

The last game was the first open world stealth action adventure game with crafting and collectibles that I ever played, and actually succeeded in wearing out my enthusiasm for the genre.

Honestly I’d be more interested in a sequel set on the Japanese mainland with an emphasis on cityscapes (of the time) with plenty of tea rooms, bath houses and geishas / geikos.

I voted 8 but only cos I had to round up for a 7.5.

The game looked amazing and was very well made. Saying that however this was the first open world stealth action adventure game I ever played and honestly I can see some people’s frustrations. The game occasionally felt a bit like a slog and whilst I did all side quests, I wanted to know more about the characters.

Saying that, many side quest paths could have been so much shorter. Took me ~80 hrs to Platinum; could have spend 50-60 hrs and nothing of value would have been lost.

I started SD Gundam G Generations Genesis on the Switch. Bit disappointed that even in historical missions based on the events in Gundam media I am forced to use original characters and MS made for the sub-series. That’s what SRW OG was created for.

Alongside that playing through Doom (2016) on PS4 for fast paced fun, if anything it’s proven to me that despite the lower resolution and FPS on the Switch version, it ran very well and was just as enjoyable.

I can only remember these free upgrades being offered during this generational transition. In the past I always expected re-releases on new platforms to require a complete re-purchase. It’s the fact that other titles have been offered as free upgrades that the bar was set that it is now expected everywhere.

I always expected this to return and that the freebies were simply a way to entice people to upgrade to a PS5.

Was on the verge of buying through all my PSP wishlist titles until I saw this update yesterday on Twitter. Already own most of what I want though. The annoyance though is that not all Vita compatible titles actually appear on the Vita but need to be bought on PS3 and manually transferred. Heck, this varies between regions! For example, Gradius Collection can be played via this method in North America but not in Europe.

Now wondering whether to risk £15 for Afterburner Black Falcon in Europe. Can confirm worked in NA but game removed from PSN NA.

Also PS3 PSN sucks as they no longer have a section to list PSP games (or Vita or PS1 Classics); you need to find a list online and search manually.

This means they either have eyes on several new remakes or will finally give Bluepoint the opportunity to work on something of their own creation.

Are the 2 founders who worked in Metroid Prime still there?

@zupertramp Never underestimate the desire some people have to feel superior over others by either owning something they don’t or accomplishing something they haven’t (like pushing back against an Easy Mode in Demon’s Souls / Dark Souls).

Either that or they already had niggling buyers remorse and such events only cause those niggles to grow.

Seems a bit too “done up” on the right; more what I’d expect on a Red Carpet event.

On the other hand, since reading a comment here comparing the left image with Buzz from Home Alone, I can’t help but agree there is an uncanny resemblance.

At the end of the day, I’m not bothered about the Horizon series so she could look like a buck-toothed burn victim or something out of Keeping up with the Kardashians for all I care.

I’d be interested in a reduced price for Miles Morales on PS4; although trying to find a physical copy in the wild has become tough.

I recently remembered that despite being a big fan of the series, I hadn’t played a Tales game in so long. So recently fired up Tales of Berseria. First impressions make me think the series has been pretty stagnant which is probably why the latest has taken so long to arrive and seemingly has changed quite a bit.

Outside of that hoping to finally finish Castlevania: Symphony of the Night after multiple attempts although I fear the PS4 version’s music is quieter; plus PS4’s subpar d-pad doesn’t help. Maybe should restart on the PS Vita.

Second for Skies of Arcadia re-release of some kind, plus some of Sega’s 3D arcade games from the Model 1/2/3 ranges. Would love a re-release of Wing War should the licensing not be an issue.

Considering I gave up on Ubisoft’s games back during the 7th Gen this news has about as much impact to me as EA announcing they’re leaving the industry and moving into the Casino market.

Also “3 to 4”? More like 1 game with 3 to 4 different skins.

Any bets that Beyond Good & Evil 2 will be FTP now?

Never played Part 2 (and no intention to) but I am inclined to agree with them that up to Part 1 & Uncharted 3, Naughty Dog just couldn’t get gun combat down. It was fine in Uncharted where there was plenty of AK’s to grab and Nathan’s lovely hair was a literal bullet sponge, but in Last of Us it was a nightmare where I dreaded firing a single round whilst the enemy would fire off shot gun shells repeatedly from their Santa’s Sack ammo pouch.

Can’t remember the combat in Uncharted 4 though; game’s a bit of a blur.

Wish the sales would creep into the PS3 & PS Vita stores, but that hasn’t happened in years. At least there’s Cross-Buy for a few.

Also I find myself browsing from the bottom upwards of the sale sections on the console store as I find the more interesting and cheaper stuff on sale is down there whilst the top is mostly the usual AAA tat.

Don’t mind about no multiplayer but the “linear” comment concerns me. Is this like FFXIII Linearity where the game is mostly corridor traversals or more that the story is linear but you still can traverse open worlds to get there and obtain side quests and such on the way?

Glad to see the PS4 version didn’t get canned. I didn’t expect it since Zesteria was a dual release but a long time with no info got me worrying; although I never got round to playing it so I ended up buying the Trilogy pack (also only way these days to get a non PS-Hits copy of Berseria these days) and ended up with a PS4 copy.

@Ward_ting Thanks for the info.

Totally agree, GoT looked nice technically but in a push for realism you kind of realise that Tsushima as an environment isn't all that varied. Not to mention by the end the constant storms were making my travels less pleasant (I thought using the best tactics to wage a successful guerilla campaign was something I'd be rewarded for with bit of sunshine).

I'll try to give Horizon another good shot in the near future.

Slightly miffed that I bought this on sale a few weeks before they announced they were giving it away for free.

Still have to play it properly, although played the first couple of hours 1-2 years ago and I don’t know why but something felt off. Felt somewhat the same playing Ghost of Tsushima this year; a game I felt was twice as long as it needed to be and whilst it kept drawing me back, I finished each session like I had just completed a few tasks on my work checklist.

Honestly starting to come to the conclusion I just am not too keen on open-world stealth action-adventure games with crafting and collectibles; which narrows down to more than half of major AAA releases these days. That’s a concerning thought...

Well that allows me to stagger some planned purchases a little more.

Question, will PSP titles still be available to buy on the PS3 & Vita stores though?

For me personally, the most disappointing thing to come out of all this are the number of utter snobs so far up their own rectal cavities who believe that this is a non-issue and believe any game over a certain age is not worth anyone’s time or worry.

These are the people who have absolutely zero respect for video games as an art form or the result of people’s hard work. To them, they are just a disposable product to temporarily provide entertainment as long as it adheres to their own standards and tie them over until the next fad arrives.

@RBMango I know I was doing the same to spread the costs. Still available on NA PSN but need to then grab PSN cards from a place like Play Asia and then have to use a different Vita.

@get2sammyb Literally found out on Twitter about 30 min ago. Several titles published by I think Monkey Paw Games (Arc the Lad Trilogy, Sonic Wings Special, Gaia Seed, both Tombas, plus a few others) have been removed from the UK PSN store at least. They are still on the North America Store though but it’s infuriating for many as some of the titles are extremely expensive to buy physically.

It’s already begun, several PS1 classics were removed in the last 1-2 days including both Tomba’s & Klonoa; all before I could grab them.

Thanks for the Heads-up Sony...

@Jbuggydroid Because as good as the Switch is there are many who prefer the Vita. Smaller form factor, better battery, better d-pad. It has a relatively small but dedicated following and many Indy games have found success on the Vita due to its fan base and their openness to communicate.

A console is only “dead” when the people playing it stop.

The PS3 and PSP stores shuttering I can understand, but the Vita shuttering just seems like a desperate attempt by Sony to erase it from existence. It’s not like the PS5 is an adequate replacement for the Vita; if anything it’ll push people to the Switch as portability remains important for some people.

Or in my case the Vita being Sony’s only decent d-pad. I never buy 2D games on my PS4 if another option exists purely because of the split d-pad and the PS4’s inability to use non-Sony licensed 3rd party pads.

I still hope (in some vain) that Sony will give the Vita store a reprieve for now.

Interested in ReZ VR and a few others. Pity I bought HZD like 1-2 months ago when it was last on sale. After finding Ghost of Tsushima a little bit of a slog with its open world gameplay, been in no rush to jump into HZD.

A good game and only my 2nd Platinum after Spiderman; though one that I felt was longer than it needed to be.

The game definitely had something that kept enticing me to continue. Yet when I look back on it now it’s not as fondly or memorable as other games. Parts of it were but it felt like there was a lot of filler. If many of the character side quests had been halved in length and the Legend exp rate was faster, I think it would have felt a less bloated game.

Oh and the final moral choice felt so out of place to me. Really broke the flow for me. I expected it but felt it cheapened the ending.

I used to like renting from the PS Store, guess I’ll have to rely on Amazon from now on.

My only concern remains durability. I know its an issue only really for collectors but I always worry about cardboard cases due to the increased chance of damage, especially corners when in mail transit.

One option I’d say is to reduce the size of the case to the bare minimum to contain only the disc / cartridge. PS5 / XBX disc cases could be the size of CD cases with half the thickness, whilst Switch cases could be tiny.

Another option would be offering digital games at a reduced price at launch. I’m sure if digital games were say £10 cheaper than physical, a lot more people would go the digital route.

I always wondered if the game would be resurrected once more time had passed. Glad to see it come out.

I do however hope that whilst the gameplay remains tactical, they allow us to soak up a bit of damage on the easier difficulties and not fall under the c**k-up cascade scale.

Can’t tell if its 1st or 3rd person; hope its 3rd person.

@naruball We can’t find it; the world hasn’t built an electron microscope powerful enough for the violin warranted for this.

The difference with the milk analogy is that the supermarkets provide a “purchase point” as well as bottling, labelling and distribution to customers. I don’t think these scalpers are obtaining the PS5s directly from Sony and providing the boxes plus an accessible method of buying them.

They are simply putting up an additional barrier at extra cost. I’m not after a PS5, yet I wouldn’t care if their computers blew up in front of them.

They are like Toll Booths; they block your journey unless you pay up or take the long way round.

I once read that a major reason for GTA V’s constant success was that it was usually cheaper to find new copies of the game on sale to source the Shark Card funds bundled inside and sell the game rather than buy the shark card directly. Although yet to fully corroborate that.

Would suggest that many CEX across the UK would be using GTAV cases to construct the walls with an overflow of copies.

Hopefully this means more older titles will reduce in price further for a cheap second hand “rental”. Although I still need yo play through BLOPS 2 & 3 but those Strike Force missions are a serious annoyance.

Whilst I imagine this will go down in gaming industry as a prime example of Premature Release amongst other things, question is will those lessons be learnt or just result in another “Lets All Laugh at an Industry That Never Learns Anything Tee Hee Hee” episode?

Also how long before the first “I’m enjoying it and thus so should everyone else” comment?

As already stated, whilst an important statistic it does come with some caveats. Many games are released only digital first (or only ever) and thus many people will jump rather than wait.

Then there are the sale hunters like myself who generally prefer physical but will buy the game digital during a good sale and they only expect to play the game once with no real emotional attachment. Basically a replacement for game rentals.

Then there are the doublers, also like myself, who will buy a game digitally that they own physically already, cos it was cheap and allows for easy plays (arcade games usually).

And then the Collectors, who buy cheap digital cos they don’t want to devalue their precious sealed babies.

If you haven’t got one, looking for more bang for your buck and don’t care about having the shiniest graphics, definitely I’d say get one. The huge library and plenty of exclusives is enough to warrant a purchase. Plus I’m skeptical of the PS5’s backwards compatibility. The fact every game’s PSN page was a warning that it may not work as intended on PS5 suggests that Sony haven’t rigorously tested every PS4 title on it. Buy PS4 on the cheap now, pick up PS5 in around 2+ years time when the library is bigger and both the console and game prices may have dropped.

@gingerfrog Wish I could buy your 64GB card at least.

Probably best to scour Twitter and Facebook for Vita Fan groups. Whilst small compared to other console groups, they are tight knit and looking for good / fair deals on the consoles, games and memory cards. Many own multiple consoles (highest I’ve seen was 48 Vitas).

Glad I got my Pro then, even though I still lack a 4K TV. Still, its a bit of a shame as it was the only way to experience all PS4 titles at their highest quality.

My experience on by 1st Gen UK PS3 and its PS2 BC was mixed with only 1 game playing better and at least 3 having serious issues. Since then have kept clear of emulation and limited it to only consoles with the required hardware built in.

I bought my fourth Vita (Crimson Red Slim) just a few months ago from Amazon Japan. It wasn’t cheap at £280 incl shipping and taxes but I’ve wanted one for a long time and prices were only going up.

My suggestion is that you should only consider buying a Vita if you are a fan of JRPGs, Visual Novels, PSN Classics and indie titles; plus portability is a plus for you.