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.

Started playing on Christmas Day and whilst an enthralling game, there are some aspects that hold it back for me. Most notably are the inability to draw the camera back (on obsession with many modern games to have a close up, off centre camera), the roll move is too easy to mistakenly activate in the heat of battle and horse-back combat seems worthless as the enemy always fling you off (probably cos a spear man always seems to appear at the last second).

I haven’t really played open world games like this outside of Breath of the Wild but I doubt this game is going to convert me to more of them.

I own but yet to play FFVII Remake so yet to see which of the 2 will be my PS4 GoTY.

Makes me wonder if sales of the baseline game isn’t where Ubisoft sees their profits, but rather the season passes and DLC that come later. Income from the shell price is just a nice bonus.

So they think their game isn’t worth spending so much of your time on it so they offered a way to pay more and save half your time.

In a properly designed game where enjoyability was the main priority, there’d be no place for such a feature.

And of course the post-release update is a crass move. Wonder if any reviews will be amended?

All I learnt was that I really don’t play much of the major PS4 titles as I think I could only vote for like 3 categories as I actually had played the games.

That and I do need to get back to 13 Sentinels.

This does concern me as I was hoping to buy Trails of the Skies 2nd Chapter soon, despite repeatedly waiting for a sale (only been on sale once in like 3 years and I missed it). Moment it returns will buy it straight away.

Sorry but there’s no option for “Not Yet, but may buy one in the future”. The only option there says “plan to buy one as soon as possible” and I don’t think 2+ years classified as “soon”.

Don’t worry guys! They have a Road Map! 🙄

I’d be more interested if they had a development path where the last 3 steps were “Complete Game”, “QA testing and Debugging” and “Release Game” in that order.

Or maybe it’s a trick and the door actually can’t be opened and the item either reduces stats or brands the player somehow. Then again, I imagine the Souls community is not one they’d want to peev off.

It’s all a ploy by Insomniac that the Spiderverse is far expansive than we thought. Spider Brick hails from the Construction Universe where he fights to defend New Build City’s classical architecture from villains like Cementor and The Glasser.

Honestly, they aren’t wrong. I get my screen protectors for my phone installed at the store to save me the hassle and if they screw up, they try again at their own cost.

I thought this was par for the course these days. Release the game now but the add all the missing content later (sometimes free, sometimes not) and you’ll eventually get the game you payed for.

The Cold War setting did make me interested in the game, yet ironically what turned me off was actually the non-accurate aircraft designs (most likely to avoid licensing costs; although I doubt Antonov would have gotten in a huff over including an An-22).

Makes me wonder, how does the UH-60 look like in Modern Warfare (2019)?

The one thing that always gets me when the cost of game development comes up, why do they have to be so expensive? Do you need contracting horse nuts? Do you need individual eyelashes rendered? Do you need hours upon hours of cut sevens a with full motion caption animations? And when you consider many top tier games nowadays have special editions, pre-order bonuses, sponsorship deals, DLC and micropayments, you have to wonder how a profit can not be turned unless the base price is increased on top of that?

I hate turning cynical but sometimes I feel it is possible to make a good game on budget, it’s just publishers choose not to and drive the excess to make it look like a price hike is needed. And with some big budget games posting record returns already, why do we need to raise it further?

I will be interested how this turns out. I remember a similar situation when the 6th Gen started but then prices dropped back down. The market will decide what the base price will be.

Somewhat concerning as it feel Sony’s gaming division has been distancing itself from anime games and its “quirks”. Also having been a Crunchyroll subscriber for years I do feel in recent times less shows have been licensed with greater emphasis on their original shows that feel less like the “homegrown” content. Of course this division could go a completely separate way; plus if Funimation and Crunchyroll unite I only have to pay 1 subscription....I hope.

Sounds like outside of the choose your own characters from the world, which I always felt was an aspect that was gonna sink or swim, the game feels like just another edition of “The Ubisoft Game”. Basically the question is if you want more of what you’ve already enjoyed multiple times prior or something fresh?

It’s interesting. In the past a Playstation Launch would be loaded with new, Japanese developed exclusives to make the most out of the console. This time, Demon’s Souls is the closest thing and even that’s a from the ground up remake. I still remember buying PS2 & PS3 games well into their successors’ lives. Wonder if the same will happen here or if developers will jump faster?

Kinda sounds a bit like what Project Aces would have put together (although I imagine they would have upped the melodrama and music). Still sounds interesting but will wait for a sale as I’d just play the campaign only.

Do you need to play multiplayer to unlock anything in single player?

I need to grab Tales of Berseria. Have it physical but when ordered turned out to be the Playstation Hits variant. I imagine finding a sealed non-hits version will be tough now.

Yeah I made the error and thought he meant beating PS4’s lifetime sales.

Despite the correction, considering we are in a major economic recession and pandemic, I find it hard to believe there are enough people willing to put down £360 to £450 for a console that’s yet to prove itself. It will sell, I don’t doubt that. But record sales I’d be surprised.

Then again, the PS4 sold well at the start and that took a while before some major killer apps appeared. So maybe people just enjoy having shiney new toys. Can only wait and see how Gen 9 plays out.

This actually concerns me, as I felt from the trailer that some of the backgrounds looked a little lacking with action concentrated in just a few square metres around the playable character. I just imagined it had at least another 3 years of development time.

Well there’s still time; I’m predicting a late 2022 release at the absolute earliest.

I remember buying my first X360 PS Vita and PS4 games before owning the console. I think I had a PS4 game for almost 2 years without the console.

I wonder if Monster Boy will look much different. Although I only own it on Switch at the moment.

It’s rather nice that more titles are being offered upgrades than I originally thought; although with regard to Control they may as well just rereleased it as a PS5 title.

Although I prefer new games rather than remakes, I support this one if true as the original game hasn’t aged well and it’s first remake is tied to the GameCube and not widely available.

My only concern is this is Konami we’re talking and they seem to be kings at screwing the pooch somehow.

Been playing since Friday; seems online retailer broke street date! Now having to order another copy though as I only discovered yesterday GAME was offering the artbook 😓

I remember the early model PS3s made my playing of Odin Sphere (back when it was just on PS2) more enjoyable due to faster loading times. I guess smoother frame rates can be beneficial to some games. A friend told me Last Of Us on PS4 fixed up my issues with aiming due to the 60fps.

They probably can make the majority of their income just from the people who religiously buy the game every year and dive into Ultimate Team. They could probably afford to only bother improving the game every 3-5 years.

Okay, that is was one heck of a power play by Microsoft. Knew they were out for exclusives but this I did not expect.

Next gen will be interesting. Will Sony now seek to develop its own WRPGs or acquire another studio?

There was one highlight of the stream; I recognised the Cross Body Salsa that couple were dancing in the Spiderman MM segment!

If they play alright on PS4 and all the PS5 offers a bit more tarting up and some quicker costume changes then I can hardly imagine why I should even think of dropping an extra £459 squids for the “honour”. The more I find out the more I feel that owning a PS5 in the first year is gonna feel like a status symbol and barely anything else.

I may be in the minority, but this event sucked away the minute bit of interest I had in the PS5 for the foreseeable near future. FFXVI was the only new reveal and looks very early in development. I’m thinking a 2023 release date based on SE’s history. Everything else was already revealed or is a re-release in some form or another. Console launches used to be a showcase event of jaw dropping new ideas, IPs and concepts. What the heck happened?

Also I remember when the PS4 was praised for its £350 launch price (with a disk drive) and now its £450 and getting praised? I guess that’s devaluation against the dollar but I still can’t imagine spending more than £350-£400 on a console (and diskless isn’t an option).

Guess it’ll be a repeat of my PS4 experience. Wait until a price drop, potential enhanced model and a worthwhile library that actually takes advantage of what the console is capable of.

@Rob_230 Both 365games.co.uk and Base.com have them at approx. £40. Other sites I’ve yet to check are Smyths Toys and The Game Collection.

@Enuo It’s a shame the Vita version was canned as I much prefer VN’s on a handheld. Feels more like reading a book.

Was considering preordering as I feared this would have a limited release but everywhere with it before had a £49.99 listing. Finally found a sub-£40 listing and this review made me put money down. Have been trying to avoid preordering non special editions but desperate to play this and any brick and mortar store likely to ask for £50.

Pity us on the Eastern side of the Atlantic aren’t getting the art book.

Well get used to this till at least 2025 when that exclusivity deal is set to end (though they’ll probably extend it again). When Sega’s NFL2K series was still around EA actually had innovate (gasp!) to entice people to buy their game. But no, when Sega decided to offer NFL2K 05 at a budget price, EA solved thing the way it usually does. Throw oodles of money at it (not to the developers of course).

But I’m a not a sports game (or sports for that matter) fan so I’ll just sit on the stands and watch this play out.

I remember back in 2005 when the X360 came out, it’s games were priced at £49.99, at a time when new GCN, PS2 & XB titles were £39.99. One the PS3 and Wii released, the X360 titles crept down again to £39.99.

Yeah, I suspect this is an attempt to take advantage of new console hype and eventually market forces should bring the prices back down; unless all publishers decide to partake in some price fixing, which I’m not sure is even legal. Need to check that one.

Either way, I’ll know when I buy a PS5, which at the moment I am forecasting 2022/23 at the earliest.

Managed to pick up some nice Cross-Buy titles. Finally bought Fast Striker; now to see if it’s worth opening the physical copies I bought 2 years ago.

Being a historical setting, was wondering if they were going to pay licenses or modify vehicle designs to avoid it. Looks like the latter. F-14s look a little off, the wheeled UH-1s look like a weak attempt to avoid using the UH-60 and the less said about that An-22/124/225 hybrid the better.

On a similar note, I need to check if you need familial approval to recreate a real life person in a video game.

I love Gundam, but after my troubles getting used to the PS3 Gundam Vs and my lack of interest of multiplayer and fighting games, I wonder if this will change things. Shame as I loved the PS2 Vs titles like Fed Vs Zeon and Gundam vs Zeta Gundam. Plenty of long campaigns there.

@Hengist It’s mostly just a name, usually for any mobile suit (usually a prototype or testbed) that shares certain design aspects reminiscent of the original RX-78 Gundam design from the original series.

Of course there has to be exceptions. In Gundam Wing it mainly referred to special one-off MS made out of Gundanium.

In Gundam Seed, it was an acronymn for “General Unilateral Neuro - Link Dispersive Autonomic Manoeuvre” and “Generation Unsubdued Nuclear Drive Assault Module”.

In Gundam Seed Destiny it stood for “Generation Unrestricted Network Drive Assault Module” and “Gunnery United Nuclear-Deuterion Advanced Maneuver”.

There may be more but can’t remember.

Although it is Marvel we’re dealing with it, I always er on the side of caution when they say the game will last as a service for years. If the game is unlucky to make its mark early, I’m sure SE will be quick to cut their losses and wheel out the guillotine.

There will always be variations in review scores as even reviewers have differing desires as to what they would like the game to be. Some feel that high scores should be those that push the boundaries and experiment (successfully) with new concepts and ideas whilst others just want what is tried and tested but polished to the point that you can brush your rear molars.

The poor lip-syncing for the Japanese Dub is a big annoyance for me though and one likely to break immersion as I notice these things and can never stop noticing. And no way I'm going to play a game set in Japan, during the Samurai Era, with a lot of Japanese cultural and historical references in anything but the Japanese dub. Unfortunately I doubt that is something that can be patched in.

I’m sure there’ll be some people who’ll want to play this to watch digital representations of these people being splattered against the rocks...whoever they are?

Brings back memories of the PS2 era and all the celebrity games that existed back then (yes, alongside all the great stuff too).

So they’re raising the Starter Price? The additional costs will be for those who don’t want to waste time dealing with the deliberately implemented grinding to advance. At the end of the day the game will cost in excess of GBP100+ for some people.

I’m still wondering if 2K will release another Gambling Trailer this year (or as I prefer to call it the “Ha Ha FU! Trailer”.

Gonna try and finish Blaster Master Zero; then if that’s successful I’m gonna look for the most positive feeling, hopeful and encouraging game I can find in my collection. Basically the antithesis of what is likely emanating from a lot of living rooms, bedrooms and gaming dens this weekend.