Thanks for the replies, guys, @EpicMouse @Oram77 @MrPeanutbutterz @themightyant. I absolutely understand where you are coming from, some of the views posted are simply ridiculous, but I find if you put them in date order so that the most recent appear first, you weed out most of the ones that talk about bugs (which will have been (mostly) fixed many months later), and also it tends to weed out the fanboys. What you end up with a more nuanced take on the game.
The problem with just having a score is that if a game releases in a buggy way, but is then fixed, those scores that reflect the bugs are still taken into account when in reality they are no longer an issue.
After all, you will still have a score to take into account even if there are written reviews too. It just provides more information, which is sometimes very helpful...
As someone that has recently switched to maining on PlayStation, the one thing that I wish Sony would introduce that is available on Xbox is the ability for people to comment on games in the Store. Sometimes the review score does not tell the whole story, and people views would be very welcome...
I agree, @Tyrii, most are just (rightly) enjoying, and taking advantage of, Game Pass. It is something that often get's discussed on Pure Xbox, but when I say it is unsustainable I usually get dismissed by many because 'Microsoft said it was sustainable', even though they keep raising the price of the Service. I mean, if it is sustainable, it means it can fund itself, it is self-sustaining. Well if that's the case, then Microsoft are simply being greedy whenever they increased the price, which whilst I do believe is factor in the price increases, as I think they believe(d) that we gamers would pay whatever they chose to charge, but I think the truth is they never got enough subscribers to balance the books, and that is the real reason why they increased prices. The model would have been sustainable if they had hit the target of 100 million subscribers, but they never got close, and so the only option was to charge more of those that did subscribe...
I wouldn't say the Xbox community was totally unanimous in believing that Game Pass was sustainable, @get2sammyb. I certainly didn't think it was, and still don't, and have often said as much. From a consumer perspective, it is (was) a great deal, but I highly doubt it is profitable at all. I've said many times now that I think Game Pass, as it currently exists, will be a thing of the past within the next 5 years...
This game shows a lot of promise and most definitely something I would enjoy. Really hoping that it turns out well, and that we don't have to wait too long to enjoy it...
I pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition of the game, but am still to start it because I have not finished the game I am currently playing, and unless I am not enjoying a game I always like to finish one before moving on to the next. I'm not going to lie though, I cannot wait to start, only problem is, I might have to start it after Saros now, as I'm not sure I'll be finished with Pragmata in time to start that one either. So many quality games right now, which is always a great problem to have...
I'd love to know exactly what those ridiculous things were. I think most of us imagine that it was to make everything Live Service, but whether that is wide of the mark is another matter...
Easily the best game to release last year, in my opinion. I got every achievement in the game, and loved it so much that I then bought it again on PlayStation as a way of showing my support for the developers.
So hope we get a sequel in the not too distant future...
Undoubtedly having a staggered release for the game will have hurt sales on PlayStation. Either people will have played the game on Game Pass already, and have no need to return to it now, or people are over the game by now as there are newer, shinier games to be playing such as Crimson Desert. Also, people have been slating Starfield for years now, many of those doing so have never even played the game, but as is always the case, when your reputation takes a hit (warranted or not), it gets ingrained in people's thinking. Read that the game is bad often enough, and you'll believe it must be bad, whether or not that is the case.
Lastly, just to be clear, I have not played the game myself, so I cannot speak to the quality of it, but I've been around life for long enough to see this happen so very often...
The lack of exclusives has massively hurt Xbox in terms of console sales, but has also lined the pockets of Microsoft in the process. I think Microsoft will choose to continue to put their games on PlayStation even if that hurts sales of the Helix because I believe the sales of their games will bring in more revenue than they lose as a consequence of selling fewer Helix's.
The fact about exclusives is it is not how much an individual game makes that matters, but rather how much people spend within your ecosystem having been attracted there by that particular exclusive, but I'm not entirely sure that Microsoft can see that particular big picture, instead choosing to focus in on the initial burst of revenue that a title brings in. That amount is tangible. How much a person spends within an ecosystem because of a particular exclusive title is not so easy to quantify. Plus, Microsoft have the added problem of the Helix being a PC, and their releasing all their games on PC anyway.
In other words, I cannot see Microsoft returning to fully exclusive games.
I have argued previously that I believe Microsoft should stop putting their first-party games on Game Pass day one, and that they should sell their games on their own consoles as exclusives for the first 12 months. Thereafter, they should then allow the titles to go on Game Pass, and also then port the games to PlayStation, although I think that should happen two years after the initial release. That way Microsoft can sell their games for the first 12 months, then attract people to Game Pass at the 12 month point, and then 12 months later they can sell their games on PlayStation. Let's be honest hear, most PlayStation gamers would prefer to wait 2 years for a game rather than buy an Xbox, and many of us already own both a PlayStation and an Xbox anyway so would not have to wait. Of course, with the next generation being tipped to being particularly expensive (especially with the Helix), the number of people owning both systems will probably drop quite drastically, and the price in itself may well feed into people choosing to wait for the games to drop on PlayStation rather than buying an Xbox...
Excellent, @Quintumply. Thank you. I went through Resident Evil: Requiem on Normal, and then played it again on Insanity on New Game Plus. Do you happen to know whether the same is possible with Pragmata? I have already bought the Deluxe Edition on the strength of your review...
I have had XCOM 2 crash probably once every 3 or 4 hours, @Dorkthrone, but the game itself plays very well. Once the game crashes, it takes around a minute or so to get back into it. It is well worth playing despite the crashes...
This weekend, when playing solo, I will be continuing my current run of XCOM 2 on my Pro. I first played the game a couple of times on my PC when it first released, and then played it a couple of times on my Xbox when I bought it there. Now I'm playing it on my Pro. I told myself that I would not re-buy games that I already own, but when it is so cheap, and so good, it is difficult to stick to my plans. What I will say though is that the game has probably crashed on me at least once each day, and I have to say I don't recall it doing that when I played it on my Xbox (or my PC), although it has been a couple of years since I played it, and I don't have the best memory. Anyway, it's one of my favourite games of all time, and I am loving re-playing it now.
Lastly, tomorrow I will be playing a Master Horde run in Gears 5 with my youngest son and my mate. We will be attempting the Harbour map as a trio on the hardest mode, which is intended for a team of 5. We have so far managed to complete 18 of the 37 maps on Master as a trio, but we are struggling with this one. We have been trying for 4 or 5 weeks now, which I think is the longest any of the maps have taken us. We'll get there, but we need everything to go right, in particular the boss waves, which is where we are mostly failing because there is so little cover, and every boss is available to the map. It's fun, but very difficult...
Thank you, @StrickenBiged. That's kind of annoying because I was looking at getting the Deluxe Edition as it gives 2 days earlier access. I imagine the game will be awesome, just as Returnal was, so it shouldn't be an issue, but I have been burnt before...
I have something like 280,000 gamer score on my Xbox account, and I have played 100s of games, but have only actually got 100% on around 10 games (the 3 Dead Space games comes to mind).
I honestly stopped caring about my gamer score a good few years ago, but I would like the ability to have those games I want to highlight (like the ones that I have got every achievement in) at the top of my list. As it stands, I have to scroll through hundreds of games to find those particular games.
I would also like the ability to search for a game within my achievements because it can take quite some time to scroll through them all when you are looking for one particular game. Plus having your rarest 5 Achievements / Trophies displayed at the top of your list would be pretty cool.
I'm sure that there will be people in a similar boat on their PlayStations, but I have only ever played around 25 games since the days of the PS3 on my various PlayStations, as until recently I was pretty much exclusively an Xbox gamer, so for me finding games is easy, and I still have not obtained even one Platinum Trophy, though I am close to it in the Dead Space Remake.
So, I would still like to see the ability to search, and move games within the Trophy list because there is every chance that I will find myself in a similar position on my PlayStation as I currently find myself on my Xbox...
The real point of the question was to establish whether the review would be out prior to the release of the game, @Oram77. What I would also add is that I have only just got my Pro and switched to gaming on there instead of my Xbox, so I'm not so acquainted with how things are done here in comparison to Pure Xbox, who do not review games all that often...
The description sounds interesting. The video, on the other hand, made me sit up and pay proper attention. It looks pretty awesome, and definitely something that has me wanting to see more...
I've not even played it, @ilyn & @psmr, so I'm in no way invested in the game. I was only using the logic of professional reviews. That said, I actually prefer Steam reviews purely because they are done by people that actually own, and have played the game, but also because they usually amount to several thousand people's points of views.
I will say two things about Steam reviews though, first off, you are much better to look at the latest reviews (from memory that is the last month) because those reviews tend to reflect the latest opinions of the game, and not those that reflect the state in which it launched, and secondly, people are far, far, far more likely to leave a negative review than they are to leave a positive one. In other words, if someone has a negative opinion, they are more likely to leave a review than someone that has enjoyed a game. It's human nature to have a good moan, but not to dish out praise. So even where the score is on 57%, I would not take that completely at face value purely because people that enjoyed the game are less likely to have left a review. I'm not trying to suggest it would move the dial massively, but it will almost certainly have an effect.
So, if you take just the 'Recent Reviews', that 57% actually becomes 67%, to which you could undoubtedly add a few more percent to reflect the opinions of those that enjoyed the game but did not leave a review. What I would say is that it would probably be worth looking at the reviews on Steam in a couple of months time to see how the reviews fair then, bearing in mind that those future reviews will be playing a different version of the game than those that have already left reviews.
With everything I have said, I can see that the Push Square review may be a more accurate reflection of the game than the earlier Xbox reviews would have had me believe...
This review does not sit right with me, and I apologise in advance if some people are going to be upset by me saying that, but hear me out first;
Starfield has been out for 3 years now and in that 3 years it has received many, many updates, and obviously a couple of DLCs/expansions. It is not the same game as that which was released 3 years ago. It is an improved version of that game.
Starfield has a Metacritic rating of 83 on the Xbox. 83...! On Opencritic is has a rating of 85...!
Each of those ratings were based on the game that originally released 3 years ago, not on the game that the reviewer themselves say has since been improved.
So how can a game that scored an average of 8.3 / 8.5 (to use the same scoring system as Push Square) only score a 7 now after so many updates, DLCs and numerous other improvements? It simply makes no sense whatsoever...
For me it was two things, @11001100110zero; first was the presentation itself with its focus on TV, TV, TV. Games were literally an afterthought, and this focus put both my mates off buying the console. The other issue was the enforced inclusion of Kinect. A device that the majority of us really either did not want, or could have done without. The Xbox One could have sold something like £50-£100 less without the Kinect, and as it would have been such a reasonable price without the Kinect, I imagine it would have sold vastly more consoles...
I absolutely agree, @Perturbator, but those initial blunders with the Xbox One led to Microsoft deciding to put their games on PC day one. The moment they did that, you could buy a PC and have no requirement for an Xbox whatsoever. Undoubtedly that will have led to fewer sales of Xbox consoles. It may not have been enough to make a huge difference, and we will never know now, but it will have made some difference. Even if it was just a million lost console sales, that is a million consoles, and a million lost customers to the Xbox ecosystem, which in turn is further lost revenue.
As an example, myself and 2 mates watched the abomination of the Xbox One launch and bought PC's instead. Now, truth be told, I bought an Xbox One anyway, but my two mates didn't, and we then bought a multitude of games on PC over the next 7 years. Each game we bought could have been bought within the Xbox ecosystem had we each bought an Xbox instead. The fact that you could also buy Xbox games on Steam meant that is where we were buying them, and each time we did, Microsoft were only getting 70% of the revenue, and not the full 100% had we stayed within the Xbox ecosystem...
Sony's Live Service output should be absolutely everywhere day one, @KoopaTheGamer. The bigger the consumer base, the more chance of a game finding a large audience that sticks around.
Sony's approach to putting their games on PC was far more sensible than Microsoft's insomuch that they would have a period of exclusivity between a game launching on PlayStation to when it then went to PC. However, if you look at how Sony had been doing this more recently, the period of exclusivity was shortening all the time.
The thing about exclusivity is it is not about the individual game, but about the ecosystem; in other words, yes, a game may sell a million more copies by being sold on PC, but Sony only receive 70% of that revenue in the first place, but also, if people really want to play that game and it is entirely exclusive to the PlayStation, then they have to buy a PlayStation in order to buy it, meaning that Sony receive 100% of the money from that game. However, it is not just those extra few games they might sell on the PlayStation, nor indeed the extra consoles they might sell, but it is about once within an ecosystem that new customer will go on to buy further third-party (or indeed first-party) games, which brings in still more revenue for Sony. Each time a person buys a third-party game on a PlayStation Sony get 30% of the revenue from that sale, so it is not about that one individual game that could have sold a few copies on PC, but about all the other games that people buy once within the PlayStation ecosystem. The likelihood is that Sony will make far more money by attracting someone to within their ecosystem than they would by selling it on PC. It is for that reason that Sony are withdrawing from selling their games on PC, and that is also the reason that the Xbox brand has been so severely weakened. You literally do not need an Xbox in order to play an Xbox game...
I think Sony should move away from PC releases. This exact issue has severely hurt the Xbox brand, and Sony were risking the same albeit to a lesser extent. Keeping their games exclusives means you have to own a PlayStation. The same is not true of Xbox...
I entirely agree, @IOI. As much as many PlayStation gamers enjoy bashing Xbox (often with very good reason), having Xbox as strong competition will keep Sony honest when it comes to their pricing of games and consoles. Xbox being seen as being particularly weak enables Sony to basically do as they please, and that is to the detriment of [b[every[/b] PlayStation gamer.
Unfortunately, I think the ship has now sailed as far as Xbox is concerned. They will not recover in terms of consoles, particularly not if the rumours of an uber-expensive console (PC) come true. And when it comes to their games, they won't go back to having games be fully exclusive, and I doubt they'll even go back to timed-exclusives for their bigger games (if any).
Ultimately, I don't think it will be good for those of us that game on a PlayStation in the long-run...
I absolutely loved the first game, indeed, it is one of my favourites. Having now watched the above video in full, I simply cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel. It looks so much bigger and better than the first game. I'll be pre-ordering this one without a doubt...
I've been predicting the end of the console life cycle for more than 10 years.
That says it all really. At some point consoles will probably become a thing of the past, but whether that is soon, or in 50 years time is entirely another matter...
Once I have finished my current (umpteenth!) run in XCOM 2 (this time on PlayStation), I will then be playing Pragmata, and I reckon I should finish that just in time for Saros. So looking forward to playing it...
I've made a group of friends playing Horde in GoW2 that I still play Gears 5 with today, @Kierant202. One of them we go through every GoW campaign once a year too. Thus far we have played Reloaded (because it had just come out), then Judgement, and back on Reloaded because we wanted to play them all in order.
Although it is not a co-op game, I do highly recommend Gears Tactics too. It's a really good game...
Oddly enough, @Cherip-the-Ripper, the chap I first ever played Horde with in Gears 2 (not including my youngest son) is currently going blind. E-Day may well be the first game that I do not play with him because he cannot play anything that is fast paced.
I met my mate online playing Gears of War 2, and am Godfather to his son. It's kind of sad to think that I won't be playing the next GoW with him. He's only 41 too...
Nearly all of it in Horde, @Cherip-the-Ripper. I don't play any PvP games. I am currently Re-Up 57, and hoping to hit Re-Up 60 before E-Day comes out (I should do). The Re-Up 60 Achievement has only been unlocked by 0.11% of gamers...
So looking forward to Gears of War: E-Day I have well over 2000 hours in Gears 5 alone, and probably something like 5000 hours across the entire franchise. Simply my favourite games...
Against my better judgement I have bought a couple of my favourite games on PlayStation that I already own on my Series X. I got them to play on my newly acquired Pro, even though the Pro probably does nothing for them because they are fairly old.
So this weekend I find myself playing yet another run of XCOM 2. I just love the game! I've decided to play through it whilst awaiting the release of Pragmata, and whilst waiting for Crimson Desert to have some of it's issues addressed, though it will probably have to wait until after I have finished Saros too.
I'm hoping to have another go at trio run in a Master Horde in Gears 5 too, but my mate is busy today, and not sure whether he will be around tomorrow, so I might go without this weekend, which is a shame because Horde is my favourite thing to play.
It's a busy time for new games for me (well except for XCOM 2), and I absolutely love it when it's like this...
I'm in the fortunate position of being able to buy the next PlayStation day one because I have no other habits whatsoever. I do not drink, I do not smoke, I eat out about 4 maybe 5 times a year, and I get a takeaway around once a month if that. Even my mobile phone is sim only!
All of that means that any disposable income I have is available for gaming, on which I spend a lot of it!
I genuinely feel sorry for young people making their way in life right now, especially those with a young family. The cost of living is frankly ridiculous, and I cannot bare to imagine their daily struggles. How my daughter and her husband, financially cope with my two grandchildren (aged 10 and 12) is beyond me.
That said, I am due to re-mortgage next year, and all of this could not have come at a worse time. However, gaming is such a big part of my life that I cannot imagine not buying the next PlayStation, nor the next Xbox, day one. I will be unlikely to ever buy a Switch again though because I barely ever use the one I have...
Wow, @CallMeDuraSouka! I was asked to go to Iraq with Bomb Disposal, but I said no because I was in the Police with a young family, and not only would it have been risk (obviously!) but they would have paid me less for doing so! It would have meant going as a Reservist, rather than a full-time Royal Engineer too. It was a bit of a sh*t show over there and I don't regret my decision not to go.
It takes a certain amount of bravery to do what we do/did (or is that stupidity?)... 😉
Yes, for me being a Combat Engineer was all about building bridges, clearing minefields, constructing manageable routes through tricky terrain and also some explosive demolitions work, among other things. Being a Combat Medic was not my role, though I do not diminish their importance for even one second as we'd be lost without them.
In Alien Deathstorm, you play as the Combat Engineer, a highly trained first responder, who has been dispatched to a remote, off-world colony that has suffered a complete loss of communications.
I had to chuckle when reading this because I was a Combat Engineer with the Royal Engineers, and whilst serving with Bomb Disposal I was dispatched to the Falklands right after the war to clear the mines and unexploded ordnance, and where communications with the outside world took around 3 to 4 weeks by what was called a 'bluey' (it was named that because the envelopes they gave us were blue and free to post both in the Falklands and the UK).
I remember that I wrote to my girlfriend pretty much every night for about 3 weeks, sending a letter off each day, only to receive a a Dear John* letter from her, which meant that 3 weeks after she called off the relationship, she was receiving a letter each day in which I told her how much I loved her! 😂
*A 'Dear John' letter probably doesn't translate so well in today's age, as I received that letter back in the early 80s, but it is what a break-up letter was known by. It's probably the equivalent of 'Ghosting' these days.
Thus the description of the game made me smile... 😎
Thank you. I did a single run in Fallout 4, that took 900 hours, @lazarus11, and also a single run of 1000 hours in Skyrim, and my longest run in a game was 1100 hours in Fallout: New Vegas. Each of those was a single campaign run, and I have played each of them a few times now. I really do like to do absolutely everything, and it sounds like I'm heading towards another 1000 hours in Crimson Desert, so I think it probably best to wait until it has a few updates first. I've been looking forward to it since it was first revealed, so another month or two isn't the end of the world for me...
Thank you, @IOI. I think I will wait a couple of weeks then. Truth be told I have plenty of other games that I have bought and am yet to play, and I also want to be ready for when Pragmata releases on the 17th of April, and it sounds like it might take more than a couple of weeks to complete Crimson Desert...
Comments 1,829
Re: PS5 Firmware Update Out Now, We Hope You Like Emojis
Thanks for the replies, guys, @EpicMouse @Oram77 @MrPeanutbutterz @themightyant. I absolutely understand where you are coming from, some of the views posted are simply ridiculous, but I find if you put them in date order so that the most recent appear first, you weed out most of the ones that talk about bugs (which will have been (mostly) fixed many months later), and also it tends to weed out the fanboys. What you end up with a more nuanced take on the game.
The problem with just having a score is that if a game releases in a buggy way, but is then fixed, those scores that reflect the bugs are still taken into account when in reality they are no longer an issue.
After all, you will still have a score to take into account even if there are written reviews too. It just provides more information, which is sometimes very helpful...
Re: Huge and Highly Praised Crimson Desert PS5 Patch Out Now, Difficulty Options and Better Visuals Included
Does difficulty affect Trophies, @LiamCroft? I imagine not, bearing in mind these are additions, but you never know...
Re: PS5 Firmware Update Out Now, We Hope You Like Emojis
As someone that has recently switched to maining on PlayStation, the one thing that I wish Sony would introduce that is available on Xbox is the ability for people to comment on games in the Store. Sometimes the review score does not tell the whole story, and people views would be very welcome...
Re: Xbox Game Pass vs PS Plus: Was Sony Right All Along?
I agree, @Tyrii, most are just (rightly) enjoying, and taking advantage of, Game Pass. It is something that often get's discussed on Pure Xbox, but when I say it is unsustainable I usually get dismissed by many because 'Microsoft said it was sustainable', even though they keep raising the price of the Service. I mean, if it is sustainable, it means it can fund itself, it is self-sustaining. Well if that's the case, then Microsoft are simply being greedy whenever they increased the price, which whilst I do believe is factor in the price increases, as I think they believe(d) that we gamers would pay whatever they chose to charge, but I think the truth is they never got enough subscribers to balance the books, and that is the real reason why they increased prices. The model would have been sustainable if they had hit the target of 100 million subscribers, but they never got close, and so the only option was to charge more of those that did subscribe...
Re: Xbox Game Pass vs PS Plus: Was Sony Right All Along?
I wouldn't say the Xbox community was totally unanimous in believing that Game Pass was sustainable, @get2sammyb. I certainly didn't think it was, and still don't, and have often said as much. From a consumer perspective, it is (was) a great deal, but I highly doubt it is profitable at all. I've said many times now that I think Game Pass, as it currently exists, will be a thing of the past within the next 5 years...
Re: One of PS5's Most Promising RPGs Gets a Gameplay Blowout and Release Date Next Week
This game shows a lot of promise and most definitely something I would enjoy. Really hoping that it turns out well, and that we don't have to wait too long to enjoy it...
Re: PS5 Pro Just Made Pragmata Even Better in New Patch
I pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition of the game, but am still to start it because I have not finished the game I am currently playing, and unless I am not enjoying a game I always like to finish one before moving on to the next. I'm not going to lie though, I cannot wait to start, only problem is, I might have to start it after Saros now, as I'm not sure I'll be finished with Pragmata in time to start that one either. So many quality games right now, which is always a great problem to have...
Re: 'I Didn't Listen to Him': Ex PlayStation Boss Shu Yoshida on Why Jim Ryan 'Fired' Him
I'd love to know exactly what those ridiculous things were. I think most of us imagine that it was to make everything Live Service, but whether that is wide of the mark is another matter...
Re: More Cronos: The New Dawn Content Incoming, Teaser Suggests
Easily the best game to release last year, in my opinion. I got every achievement in the game, and loved it so much that I then bought it again on PlayStation as a way of showing my support for the developers.
So hope we get a sequel in the not too distant future...
Re: Metro 2039 Goes Back to Its Roots for Series' Darkest Game Yet, Out on PS5 This Winter
Really looking forward to this new game. So much so that I'm going to play through the first 3 once again. They really are very good...
Re: Starfield PS5 Sales Estimates Leave Much to Be Desired
Undoubtedly having a staggered release for the game will have hurt sales on PlayStation. Either people will have played the game on Game Pass already, and have no need to return to it now, or people are over the game by now as there are newer, shinier games to be playing such as Crimson Desert. Also, people have been slating Starfield for years now, many of those doing so have never even played the game, but as is always the case, when your reputation takes a hit (warranted or not), it gets ingrained in people's thinking. Read that the game is bad often enough, and you'll believe it must be bad, whether or not that is the case.
Lastly, just to be clear, I have not played the game myself, so I cannot speak to the quality of it, but I've been around life for long enough to see this happen so very often...
Re: Rumour: Xbox Debating Whether to Make Its Games Exclusive Again
The lack of exclusives has massively hurt Xbox in terms of console sales, but has also lined the pockets of Microsoft in the process. I think Microsoft will choose to continue to put their games on PlayStation even if that hurts sales of the Helix because I believe the sales of their games will bring in more revenue than they lose as a consequence of selling fewer Helix's.
The fact about exclusives is it is not how much an individual game makes that matters, but rather how much people spend within your ecosystem having been attracted there by that particular exclusive, but I'm not entirely sure that Microsoft can see that particular big picture, instead choosing to focus in on the initial burst of revenue that a title brings in. That amount is tangible. How much a person spends within an ecosystem because of a particular exclusive title is not so easy to quantify. Plus, Microsoft have the added problem of the Helix being a PC, and their releasing all their games on PC anyway.
In other words, I cannot see Microsoft returning to fully exclusive games.
I have argued previously that I believe Microsoft should stop putting their first-party games on Game Pass day one, and that they should sell their games on their own consoles as exclusives for the first 12 months. Thereafter, they should then allow the titles to go on Game Pass, and also then port the games to PlayStation, although I think that should happen two years after the initial release. That way Microsoft can sell their games for the first 12 months, then attract people to Game Pass at the 12 month point, and then 12 months later they can sell their games on PlayStation. Let's be honest hear, most PlayStation gamers would prefer to wait 2 years for a game rather than buy an Xbox, and many of us already own both a PlayStation and an Xbox anyway so would not have to wait. Of course, with the next generation being tipped to being particularly expensive (especially with the Helix), the number of people owning both systems will probably drop quite drastically, and the price in itself may well feed into people choosing to wait for the games to drop on PlayStation rather than buying an Xbox...
Re: Pragmata (PS5) - Brilliant Combat Is the Star of Yet Another Capcom PS5 Hit
Thank you, @Quintumply. Your answer is appreciated...
Re: Pragmata (PS5) - Brilliant Combat Is the Star of Yet Another Capcom PS5 Hit
Excellent, @Quintumply. Thank you. I went through Resident Evil: Requiem on Normal, and then played it again on Insanity on New Game Plus. Do you happen to know whether the same is possible with Pragmata? I have already bought the Deluxe Edition on the strength of your review...
Re: Pragmata (PS5) - Brilliant Combat Is the Star of Yet Another Capcom PS5 Hit
Great review! What difficulty did you play on, @Quintumply, and is there a New Game Plus mode at all?
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 628
I have had XCOM 2 crash probably once every 3 or 4 hours, @Dorkthrone, but the game itself plays very well. Once the game crashes, it takes around a minute or so to get back into it. It is well worth playing despite the crashes...
Re: These 18+ New PS5, PS4 Games Are Coming Out Next Week (13th-19th April)
Cannot wait to get my hands on Pragmata. Very much looking forward to it.
Ground Zero sounds interesting too, so I'll be curious to see how that turns out...
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 628
This weekend, when playing solo, I will be continuing my current run of XCOM 2 on my Pro. I first played the game a couple of times on my PC when it first released, and then played it a couple of times on my Xbox when I bought it there. Now I'm playing it on my Pro. I told myself that I would not re-buy games that I already own, but when it is so cheap, and so good, it is difficult to stick to my plans. What I will say though is that the game has probably crashed on me at least once each day, and I have to say I don't recall it doing that when I played it on my Xbox (or my PC), although it has been a couple of years since I played it, and I don't have the best memory. Anyway, it's one of my favourite games of all time, and I am loving re-playing it now.
Lastly, tomorrow I will be playing a Master Horde run in Gears 5 with my youngest son and my mate. We will be attempting the Harbour map as a trio on the hardest mode, which is intended for a team of 5. We have so far managed to complete 18 of the 37 maps on Master as a trio, but we are struggling with this one. We have been trying for 4 or 5 weeks now, which I think is the longest any of the maps have taken us. We'll get there, but we need everything to go right, in particular the boss waves, which is where we are mostly failing because there is so little cover, and every boss is available to the map. It's fun, but very difficult...
Re: Saros PS5 Marketing in Full Swing as Sony Drops Yet Another Trailer
Thank you, @StrickenBiged. That's kind of annoying because I was looking at getting the Deluxe Edition as it gives 2 days earlier access. I imagine the game will be awesome, just as Returnal was, so it shouldn't be an issue, but I have been burnt before...
Re: PS5 Fans Want Trophy Upgrades After Xbox Improves Achievements
I have something like 280,000 gamer score on my Xbox account, and I have played 100s of games, but have only actually got 100% on around 10 games (the 3 Dead Space games comes to mind).
I honestly stopped caring about my gamer score a good few years ago, but I would like the ability to have those games I want to highlight (like the ones that I have got every achievement in) at the top of my list. As it stands, I have to scroll through hundreds of games to find those particular games.
I would also like the ability to search for a game within my achievements because it can take quite some time to scroll through them all when you are looking for one particular game. Plus having your rarest 5 Achievements / Trophies displayed at the top of your list would be pretty cool.
I'm sure that there will be people in a similar boat on their PlayStations, but I have only ever played around 25 games since the days of the PS3 on my various PlayStations, as until recently I was pretty much exclusively an Xbox gamer, so for me finding games is easy, and I still have not obtained even one Platinum Trophy, though I am close to it in the Dead Space Remake.
So, I would still like to see the ability to search, and move games within the Trophy list because there is every chance that I will find myself in a similar position on my PlayStation as I currently find myself on my Xbox...
Re: Saros PS5 Marketing in Full Swing as Sony Drops Yet Another Trailer
Ideal, thank you, @LiamCroft... 👍
Re: Saros PS5 Marketing in Full Swing as Sony Drops Yet Another Trailer
The real point of the question was to establish whether the review would be out prior to the release of the game, @Oram77. What I would also add is that I have only just got my Pro and switched to gaming on there instead of my Xbox, so I'm not so acquainted with how things are done here in comparison to Pure Xbox, who do not review games all that often...
Re: Saros PS5 Marketing in Full Swing as Sony Drops Yet Another Trailer
Will there be a Push review, @LiamCroft? If so, will we have it prior to the games release...?
Re: Saros PS5 Marketing in Full Swing as Sony Drops Yet Another Trailer
So looking forward to this. I'll be there day one...
Re: Former Resident Evil, Witcher Devs Unite for a Stylish New Action Adventure Game on PS5
The description sounds interesting. The video, on the other hand, made me sit up and pay proper attention. It looks pretty awesome, and definitely something that has me wanting to see more...
Re: Starfield (PS5) - Better Than Ever, But Still No Space Skyrim
I've not even played it, @ilyn & @psmr, so I'm in no way invested in the game. I was only using the logic of professional reviews. That said, I actually prefer Steam reviews purely because they are done by people that actually own, and have played the game, but also because they usually amount to several thousand people's points of views.
I will say two things about Steam reviews though, first off, you are much better to look at the latest reviews (from memory that is the last month) because those reviews tend to reflect the latest opinions of the game, and not those that reflect the state in which it launched, and secondly, people are far, far, far more likely to leave a negative review than they are to leave a positive one. In other words, if someone has a negative opinion, they are more likely to leave a review than someone that has enjoyed a game. It's human nature to have a good moan, but not to dish out praise. So even where the score is on 57%, I would not take that completely at face value purely because people that enjoyed the game are less likely to have left a review. I'm not trying to suggest it would move the dial massively, but it will almost certainly have an effect.
So, if you take just the 'Recent Reviews', that 57% actually becomes 67%, to which you could undoubtedly add a few more percent to reflect the opinions of those that enjoyed the game but did not leave a review. What I would say is that it would probably be worth looking at the reviews on Steam in a couple of months time to see how the reviews fair then, bearing in mind that those future reviews will be playing a different version of the game than those that have already left reviews.
With everything I have said, I can see that the Push Square review may be a more accurate reflection of the game than the earlier Xbox reviews would have had me believe...
Re: Starfield (PS5) - Better Than Ever, But Still No Space Skyrim
This review does not sit right with me, and I apologise in advance if some people are going to be upset by me saying that, but hear me out first;
Starfield has been out for 3 years now and in that 3 years it has received many, many updates, and obviously a couple of DLCs/expansions. It is not the same game as that which was released 3 years ago. It is an improved version of that game.
Starfield has a Metacritic rating of 83 on the Xbox. 83...! On Opencritic is has a rating of 85...!
Each of those ratings were based on the game that originally released 3 years ago, not on the game that the reviewer themselves say has since been improved.
So how can a game that scored an average of 8.3 / 8.5 (to use the same scoring system as Push Square) only score a 7 now after so many updates, DLCs and numerous other improvements? It simply makes no sense whatsoever...
Re: Fans Reckon PS Studios Website Adjustments Hint at Sony's Move Away from PC
For me it was two things, @11001100110zero; first was the presentation itself with its focus on TV, TV, TV. Games were literally an afterthought, and this focus put both my mates off buying the console. The other issue was the enforced inclusion of Kinect. A device that the majority of us really either did not want, or could have done without. The Xbox One could have sold something like £50-£100 less without the Kinect, and as it would have been such a reasonable price without the Kinect, I imagine it would have sold vastly more consoles...
Re: Fans Reckon PS Studios Website Adjustments Hint at Sony's Move Away from PC
I absolutely agree, @Perturbator, but those initial blunders with the Xbox One led to Microsoft deciding to put their games on PC day one. The moment they did that, you could buy a PC and have no requirement for an Xbox whatsoever. Undoubtedly that will have led to fewer sales of Xbox consoles. It may not have been enough to make a huge difference, and we will never know now, but it will have made some difference. Even if it was just a million lost console sales, that is a million consoles, and a million lost customers to the Xbox ecosystem, which in turn is further lost revenue.
As an example, myself and 2 mates watched the abomination of the Xbox One launch and bought PC's instead. Now, truth be told, I bought an Xbox One anyway, but my two mates didn't, and we then bought a multitude of games on PC over the next 7 years. Each game we bought could have been bought within the Xbox ecosystem had we each bought an Xbox instead. The fact that you could also buy Xbox games on Steam meant that is where we were buying them, and each time we did, Microsoft were only getting 70% of the revenue, and not the full 100% had we stayed within the Xbox ecosystem...
Re: Fans Reckon PS Studios Website Adjustments Hint at Sony's Move Away from PC
Sony's Live Service output should be absolutely everywhere day one, @KoopaTheGamer. The bigger the consumer base, the more chance of a game finding a large audience that sticks around.
Sony's approach to putting their games on PC was far more sensible than Microsoft's insomuch that they would have a period of exclusivity between a game launching on PlayStation to when it then went to PC. However, if you look at how Sony had been doing this more recently, the period of exclusivity was shortening all the time.
The thing about exclusivity is it is not about the individual game, but about the ecosystem; in other words, yes, a game may sell a million more copies by being sold on PC, but Sony only receive 70% of that revenue in the first place, but also, if people really want to play that game and it is entirely exclusive to the PlayStation, then they have to buy a PlayStation in order to buy it, meaning that Sony receive 100% of the money from that game. However, it is not just those extra few games they might sell on the PlayStation, nor indeed the extra consoles they might sell, but it is about once within an ecosystem that new customer will go on to buy further third-party (or indeed first-party) games, which brings in still more revenue for Sony. Each time a person buys a third-party game on a PlayStation Sony get 30% of the revenue from that sale, so it is not about that one individual game that could have sold a few copies on PC, but about all the other games that people buy once within the PlayStation ecosystem. The likelihood is that Sony will make far more money by attracting someone to within their ecosystem than they would by selling it on PC. It is for that reason that Sony are withdrawing from selling their games on PC, and that is also the reason that the Xbox brand has been so severely weakened. You literally do not need an Xbox in order to play an Xbox game...
Re: Fans Reckon PS Studios Website Adjustments Hint at Sony's Move Away from PC
I think Sony should move away from PC releases. This exact issue has severely hurt the Xbox brand, and Sony were risking the same albeit to a lesser extent. Keeping their games exclusives means you have to own a PlayStation. The same is not true of Xbox...
Re: Rumour: Halo's PS5 Debut Launches in June, According to Fanta-Related Fan Theory
I entirely agree, @IOI. As much as many PlayStation gamers enjoy bashing Xbox (often with very good reason), having Xbox as strong competition will keep Sony honest when it comes to their pricing of games and consoles. Xbox being seen as being particularly weak enables Sony to basically do as they please, and that is to the detriment of [b[every[/b] PlayStation gamer.
Unfortunately, I think the ship has now sailed as far as Xbox is concerned. They will not recover in terms of consoles, particularly not if the rumours of an uber-expensive console (PC) come true. And when it comes to their games, they won't go back to having games be fully exclusive, and I doubt they'll even go back to timed-exclusives for their bigger games (if any).
Ultimately, I don't think it will be good for those of us that game on a PlayStation in the long-run...
Re: We Hope You're Not Sick of Soulslikes, Because Mortal Shell 2 Just Got a Massive Gameplay Trailer
I absolutely loved the first game, indeed, it is one of my favourites. Having now watched the above video in full, I simply cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel. It looks so much bigger and better than the first game. I'll be pre-ordering this one without a doubt...
Re: Rumour: Halo's PS5 Debut Launches in June, According to Fanta-Related Fan Theory
These were my predictions for when games would be releasing this year:
May: Forza Horizon 6 - now confirmed, but I did say May before it was confirmed! 😉
July: Halo Combat Remastered
August: Gears Of War: E-day. Day and date on the PlayStation too.
September: Fable Day and date on the PlayStation too, although I think it will be delayed into 2027
October: Call of Duty
November : GTA 6 if it is not delayed into 2027
November: Forza Horizon 6 on PlayStation.
So sorry, but Halo is not allowed to release in June... 😂
Re: 'The Solution Is to Get Rid of Consoles': Analyst Predicts $1,000 PS6 and a Transition to Game Streaming
I've been predicting the end of the console life cycle for more than 10 years.
That says it all really. At some point consoles will probably become a thing of the past, but whether that is soon, or in 50 years time is entirely another matter...
Re: We Hope You're Not Sick of Soulslikes, Because Mortal Shell 2 Just Got a Massive Gameplay Trailer
So looking forward to this sequel. The first game was one of my favourite Souls-like experiences...
Re: No More Delays for PS5 Exclusive Saros as It Goes Gold Ahead of Launch Later This Month
Once I have finished my current (umpteenth!) run in XCOM 2 (this time on PlayStation), I will then be playing Pragmata, and I reckon I should finish that just in time for Saros. So looking forward to playing it...
Re: See More New PS5 Games from Xbox in Bumper June Showcase
I've made a group of friends playing Horde in GoW2 that I still play Gears 5 with today, @Kierant202. One of them we go through every GoW campaign once a year too. Thus far we have played Reloaded (because it had just come out), then Judgement, and back on Reloaded because we wanted to play them all in order.
Although it is not a co-op game, I do highly recommend Gears Tactics too. It's a really good game...
Re: See More New PS5 Games from Xbox in Bumper June Showcase
Oddly enough, @Cherip-the-Ripper, the chap I first ever played Horde with in Gears 2 (not including my youngest son) is currently going blind. E-Day may well be the first game that I do not play with him because he cannot play anything that is fast paced.
I met my mate online playing Gears of War 2, and am Godfather to his son. It's kind of sad to think that I won't be playing the next GoW with him. He's only 41 too...
Re: See More New PS5 Games from Xbox in Bumper June Showcase
Nearly all of it in Horde, @Cherip-the-Ripper. I don't play any PvP games. I am currently Re-Up 57, and hoping to hit Re-Up 60 before E-Day comes out (I should do). The Re-Up 60 Achievement has only been unlocked by 0.11% of gamers...
Re: See More New PS5 Games from Xbox in Bumper June Showcase
So looking forward to Gears of War: E-Day I have well over 2000 hours in Gears 5 alone, and probably something like 5000 hours across the entire franchise. Simply my favourite games...
Re: One Player Just Unlocked PlayStation's Impossible Platinum Trophy
That's impressive!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 626
Against my better judgement I have bought a couple of my favourite games on PlayStation that I already own on my Series X. I got them to play on my newly acquired Pro, even though the Pro probably does nothing for them because they are fairly old.
So this weekend I find myself playing yet another run of XCOM 2. I just love the game! I've decided to play through it whilst awaiting the release of Pragmata, and whilst waiting for Crimson Desert to have some of it's issues addressed, though it will probably have to wait until after I have finished Saros too.
I'm hoping to have another go at trio run in a Master Horde in Gears 5 too, but my mate is busy today, and not sure whether he will be around tomorrow, so I might go without this weekend, which is a shame because Horde is my favourite thing to play.
It's a busy time for new games for me (well except for XCOM 2), and I absolutely love it when it's like this...
Re: '$1,000+ Consoles Could Become the Norm': PS6's Price Touted to Touch Four Figures
I'm in the fortunate position of being able to buy the next PlayStation day one because I have no other habits whatsoever. I do not drink, I do not smoke, I eat out about 4 maybe 5 times a year, and I get a takeaway around once a month if that. Even my mobile phone is sim only!
All of that means that any disposable income I have is available for gaming, on which I spend a lot of it!
I genuinely feel sorry for young people making their way in life right now, especially those with a young family. The cost of living is frankly ridiculous, and I cannot bare to imagine their daily struggles. How my daughter and her husband, financially cope with my two grandchildren (aged 10 and 12) is beyond me.
That said, I am due to re-mortgage next year, and all of this could not have come at a worse time. However, gaming is such a big part of my life that I cannot imagine not buying the next PlayStation, nor the next Xbox, day one. I will be unlikely to ever buy a Switch again though because I barely ever use the one I have...
Re: PS5 FPS Alien Deathstorm Is Not to Be Confused with the Ridley Scott Movie, Despite Its Dev
Wow, @CallMeDuraSouka! I was asked to go to Iraq with Bomb Disposal, but I said no because I was in the Police with a young family, and not only would it have been risk (obviously!) but they would have paid me less for doing so! It would have meant going as a Reservist, rather than a full-time Royal Engineer too. It was a bit of a sh*t show over there and I don't regret my decision not to go.
It takes a certain amount of bravery to do what we do/did (or is that stupidity?)... 😉
Re: PS5 FPS Alien Deathstorm Is Not to Be Confused with the Ridley Scott Movie, Despite Its Dev
Howdy, @CallMeDuraSouka!
Yes, for me being a Combat Engineer was all about building bridges, clearing minefields, constructing manageable routes through tricky terrain and also some explosive demolitions work, among other things. Being a Combat Medic was not my role, though I do not diminish their importance for even one second as we'd be lost without them.
Re: PS5 FPS Alien Deathstorm Is Not to Be Confused with Ridley Scott Movie, Despite Its Dev
In Alien Deathstorm, you play as the Combat Engineer, a highly trained first responder, who has been dispatched to a remote, off-world colony that has suffered a complete loss of communications.
I had to chuckle when reading this because I was a Combat Engineer with the Royal Engineers, and whilst serving with Bomb Disposal I was dispatched to the Falklands right after the war to clear the mines and unexploded ordnance, and where communications with the outside world took around 3 to 4 weeks by what was called a 'bluey' (it was named that because the envelopes they gave us were blue and free to post both in the Falklands and the UK).
I remember that I wrote to my girlfriend pretty much every night for about 3 weeks, sending a letter off each day, only to receive a a Dear John* letter from her, which meant that 3 weeks after she called off the relationship, she was receiving a letter each day in which I told her how much I loved her! 😂
*A 'Dear John' letter probably doesn't translate so well in today's age, as I received that letter back in the early 80s, but it is what a break-up letter was known by. It's probably the equivalent of 'Ghosting' these days.
Thus the description of the game made me smile... 😎
Re: Round Up: 'Already a GOTY Contender': 5 Things We Learned from Saros PS5 Previews
So looking forward to this. The end of April cannot come soon enough...
Re: Crimson Desert (PS5) - A Generational Open World Buried in Early Access Cruft
Thank you. I did a single run in Fallout 4, that took 900 hours, @lazarus11, and also a single run of 1000 hours in Skyrim, and my longest run in a game was 1100 hours in Fallout: New Vegas. Each of those was a single campaign run, and I have played each of them a few times now. I really do like to do absolutely everything, and it sounds like I'm heading towards another 1000 hours in Crimson Desert, so I think it probably best to wait until it has a few updates first. I've been looking forward to it since it was first revealed, so another month or two isn't the end of the world for me...
Re: Crimson Desert (PS5) - A Generational Open World Buried in Early Access Cruft
Thank you, @IOI. I think I will wait a couple of weeks then. Truth be told I have plenty of other games that I have bought and am yet to play, and I also want to be ready for when Pragmata releases on the 17th of April, and it sounds like it might take more than a couple of weeks to complete Crimson Desert...