GoodOlDubs

@LordOfTurnips protesting the company, not the game. I can’t believe an actual lord of turnips would miss the point so badly.

@Th3solution glad they made some sense

Some of the comments in defence of Sony are a bit like the “AI is happening, just deal with it” argument. When humans invented the wheel, they didn’t also agree to be run over by one.

Then the printing press, the railway and the internet all changed the world — but none of them arrived as on-rails destinies that the public simply had to accept. They were shaped by laws, markets, competition, consumer habits and public resistance. Progress has never meant companies get to dictate the terms and call disagreement childish.

That is what makes the defence of Sony so strange to me.

Yes, I’m 44 and sentimental over plastic discs. But it’s fundamentally about losing options. Physical games can be discounted, lent, traded, resold and collected. They give retailers a role, preserve some price competition and give players an exit from a single company-controlled storefront.

A digital-only future on console does not automatically offer the same tradeoff. Unless Sony somehow allows real competition, resale, lending, refunds and better pricing, consumers are being asked to give up rights and flexibility while paying the same or more.

That is not an inevitable leap forward. It is a business decision that is so hard to defend that Sony doesn’t even seem to be trying. That makes it feel even worse.

So, yeah: It’s ok to see how AI will help in many respects, while also pressing for guardrails that protect human creativity and jobs. And yeah: it’s ok to think the future of gaming should not be decided entirely by the company that profits from narrowing the choices available to everyone else.

And jeez, it’s OK for an outlet literally named after the button on a PlayStation controller to have innumerable stories about the most significant move by a major console maker to turn game ownership into platform-controlled access. Maybe we ought to hope for more thoughtful pieces like this, as opposed to reporting the comments of anonymous YouTube trolls, but on the main I’m glad to see the square being pushed so hard.

Bummer. I’m most certainly not offering anything new here, but that amount of walled-off content — which will be visible to everyone but accessible only to those who pay more — makes me feel like the baseline game is GTA 6 Lite.

I’m interested. It’s at least taking a swing at something.

If it can manage to be non-toxic, it might be fun for my son to play. But people always find a way, don’t they?

“I doubt Kojima had much to do with this short so I’m not going to criticise him too hard here.”

I don’t understand why we wouldn’t. It’s not like this just happened at him.

In any event, to anyone arguing a variation of “AI is inevitable,” that’s demonstrably true — to a degree. But that doesn’t mean we can’t put guardrails around it. When ancient humans invented the wheel, they did not sign off on being run over by them.

@Slayer25c Going from £7 to £8 a month is a 14.3% increase. The 3.8% inflation figure you’re citing is year-over-year — meaning consumers already experienced those broader price increases before this new one arrived.

At least we can count on Sony to reduce prices when market conditions improve.

Dumb question, but I’m assuming I can’t link my PS5 profile to this and somehow advance my diamond dynasty team on mobile? To be honest, I’m not sure I understand how this’ll translate to mobile. But SDS are talented folks.

@LowDefAl Interesting. Thanks!

Dumb question, but can someone explain how games end up in the store? Do Sony not have some lever of quality control? Or is it only able to do this after the games are distributed?
As well, what happens to those games once they are gommaged? Do the people who buy them keep their downloads?

Put it in my veins.

The game was better this year, but in so many ways it was another reminder of why it needs a competitor. It was mostly better because it fixed mistakes.

The grass and sky textures have gone unchanged for years, and compare unfavourably to Minecraft. New fielding animations are nice, and the mode tweaks welcome.

As long as people like me keep buying, there isn’t much reason to do anything but iterate. And I will be buying—I just wish I had more reason to look forward to doing it ; )

It would be so nice to see an effort made to truly make this game a sequel, or even a soft reboot. Graphical upgrades would be really nice—there’s a Japanese game that puts the show to shame, but I’d imagine that would require abandoning less powerful systems — and I dream of having a clubhouse or something to fit out. Facilities to add like batting cages. A pad to hang out in, to hang up trophies, etc. I dunno. Let me walk around my home stadium in all that stuff we collect.

A new collaboration with Topps: I buy or pull a baseball card in real life, I get that player in game, too.

Mini game modes in the mold of rocket league.

It doesn’t need to be Fortnite, but something to bring more meaning and personality to the grind.

Ok, rant over. Happy to hear the news of these cards carrying over. I’m writing this from near Toronto, so I’m in still in my feels a bit, too. 😂

GS3 is a glitchy, story-less, juvenile mess. It’s also a delight. If you have young kids and you’ve gotten them addicted to YouTube through the pandemic (uh, not me), it’s borderline cinema.

Very naive question alert! I’ve found it hard to play games such as these with a traditional PS5 controller. Planet zoo, Tropico, et. I want to try but I keep running out of patience. Just something I need to get used to?

Apologies if this isn’t really the point, but it’s the turn-based thing that I just can’t seem to get into. And I hate that about me! I love rpgs. Expedition 33 looks great and of course I should be playing Baldur’s Gate. Is there a way to train myself to like the play style? Or am I just too based to rescue.

Probably a dumb question but do the pros and cons listed at the bottom represent the basis for the overall score? Poor performance options on the ps5 pro wouldn’t necessarily be a deterrent for obvious reasons. (My broke a$$ included.) Thanks!

YESSSSSS PLEASSSSSSSSSE.
(Yes, I am interested.)

I do not at all mean to yuck anyone's yum, but I felt like it was missing some of the magic of IT2. Not saying it's bad by any means! I'd probably still give it a 7.5/10. Just felt like the story was relatively shallow (maybe the daughter was more important to IT2 than I remembered) and the settings weren't quite as wondrous. But maybe I've become grumpier

@ThrashBlade ah, so this is good to know. I was considering it as a way to play MLB The Show but hitting is already hard enough. Minuscule lag is basically a non-starter. Dang! Do you (or anyone reading this!) know if steamdeck has this issue? It’s more money than I’d like to spend but maybe we’ll get more use out of it.

Just here again to say that trans rights are not irrelevant to this discussion. It’s only irrelevant if you have the privilege of seeing it that way. Discouraging comments like this not only erases many of your readers’ real challenges and lives, but debases video games as an art form. If we want video games to be held in the same regard as media such as film, literature, painting, etc., — in the way many of us have argued for so long — we need to engage in them as we would any of those artistic creations. What I am offering is genuine criticism meant to be constructive in nature. If others choose to respond in an uncivilized manner, those are likely the people who feel pushsquare supports their belief that context has no bearing on these works of art, which is literally and objectively impossible, and that their perspectives and experiences are the only ones that matter.
This conversation is more important now than ever, and pushsquare has the opportunity to support inclusivity—which helps everyone by fostering more consumers and more output—and to seize this moment as an opportunity to show the world why vgs are a vital form of art.
I hope this comment won’t be deleted, and that it will not be seen as “off topic” or meant to inflame. I’m hopeful it will at least merit consideration from someone reading this or on team PushSquare. Thanks.

I suppose the next elder scrolls might be a dream too far?

To a layperson (me is layperson) I’m still not sure I’m sold on ps5 over ps4. (Ducks.) Thinking back to that Matrix demo and comparing it with AAA games on offer now. I’m sure there are all sorts of technical things I’m not considering but I might save my money until a console comes along that is powerful enough to come halfway close to bridging that gap. Or that can at least produce people in games like dragons dogma 2 who don’t move and act like laggy broken animatronic puppets. (Or at least has a new motorstorm game!)

I love my ps5 but I’m curious: has anyone looked at which Sony console accounted for the biggest leap over its predecessor? Maybe I’m just getting old and playing the wrong games. Honestly, not trying to yuck anyone’s yum. Suffice to say I’ll be waiting on PS6

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For me, these graphics and animations are … concerning? I hope I’m wrong. I really, really, really want to like this game. Really!

Dumb question: If mlb the show continues to come out on switch and other last-gen consoles (and why wouldn’t it, given how many people play on those consoles), is there reason to think they’ll ever bother with making use of new-gen tech? I don’t ask for much, but having the grass look like grass would be nice.

You’re right about the context, and I think it should be framed that way. I’m a business journalist so for once I know what I’m talking about. This is not a flex; it’s just nice to finally know something relevant here

Sony is laying off X employees as the industry grapples with soaring interest rates and etc etc etc

Sure, those are the economic circumstances in which Sony found itself. But whenever a company decides to lay off employees, it is exactly that: a decision. In this case, it is a decision to protect (sizeable!) profitability in order to appease investors.
Layoffs aren’t an act of nature; they’re a decision. As it is, it’s like saying a tax hike happened to a government, or a fart happened to me.

I think Sony would be very happy with this framing. The company wasn’t struck by anything; it actively decided to lay off employees.

Is the VR2 meant to attract casual/traditional gamers, or mostly still VR fans? I wanna feel covetous about this, but it’s just not there. After seeing a few years of VR systems and games, maybe it’s just down to preference, and always will be? It can’t be that I’m old…

I’d love to see a new Astro’s Playroom. Still one of my favourite PS5 games. 🤣

@get2sammyb Oh, ok! Thanks.

Hi, there. Just wondering if you were planning a review of the game. I’ve also noticed very few reviews from mainstream sites in general; wonder if that’s because it’s more or less the same game every year?

"Somebody wanna call a goddamn paramedic?" Man, always happy to see more Robocontent but I feel like I watched a different trailer. It just felt ... muddy to me: threadbare areas, dissociated voices. Hope I'm wrong.

I don’t know if this is just me, but I struggle with audio: NPCs will be super loud but I can barely hear normal conversations between Geralt and other main characters. I went in knowing the movement was going to be bad (and it is, oof), but I didn’t expect audio to be such a hang up. Anyone else or am I just old?

♥️

Thank you. This means so much.

@danlk1ng Precisely. Wanting to side-step this discussion completely is what I take issue with. Trans folk don’t have that option.

And I’m sorry if this conversation is boring to some folks here. I get that we all just want to enjoy video games. I know I’ve attracted the attention of dudes who just hope I go away. That’s fine. Their opinions will never change because they refuse to imagine a world that is different than theirs. My sincere hope is that whoever is deleting these comments, as was confidently predicted by those dudes (why so confident?), takes a second to read and think. Maybe even discuss again with your colleagues. There are other models to look at and learn from. It’s possible—maybe even easy—to do the right thing. Thanks for reading.

“People like this.” I’m a guy who thinks people should be loved and supported for who they are, and I’m the one who’s going to have his comments deleted. I’m glad you don’t have to worry about it. Enjoy your great community (that isn’t trusted by its moderators to comment freely and in support of trans people.)

“The disclaimer is there for people who falsely believe“ does not make for a good-faith argument, but I suspect you know that.

Who are “the posters on this thread,” in your mind? Pushsquare’s policy ensures it will be the people who can freely comment on frame rates without feeling the publication and its allowed readers hate them. Must be nice.

@GreatAuk That is demonstrably false. And who’s “we”?

You can choose to not buy this game, and choose not to support a very rich and powerful person who doesn’t believe trans men are men and trans women are women. Not being able to discuss this simple fact—that her beliefs are dangerous and absolutely cause harm and worse—is enabling her. Moderate or close the comments if you don’t feel you have the resources to maintain a safe space for everyone.

We respect some of you may have opinions on the beliefs of the creative involved in this painting, but if we could please keep the discussion focused on the brush strokes and not ask any questions about the initials “AH” in the corner, that’d be great.
-Pushsquare

@TeapotBuddha hey, thanks. Appreciate it. And I agree. That or an unwillingness to entertain other perspectives. I’m hoping they will see a little work will go a long way.

@marnelljm Nice.

@pushsquare, This what you want for people to read? I’m offering constructive feedback to make this website better. What you’re doing instead is made people like this feel more emboldened.

@Richnj 🍻

@Logonogo the fact you can’t see how one is related to the other is one of the problems here.

@Gloamin gotcha. I’ve already given some ideas in my previous comment. Hopefully someone is reading and not immediately binning em

@Gloamin with respect, this tagline you are celebrating misses the mark. I know I am coming off as unchill or whatever, but I think it’s important to explain these concerns in every venue possible. It references, for instance, “the views and values of some of the creatives involved with the Harry Potter universe,” which includes the belief from their most important and visible creative that trans women aren’t women — misinformation that leads to those women becoming victims of violence and hate crimes at a frighteningly frequent rate.

This disclaimer would have it that we just ignore all that and just focus on the gameplay. My point is that a great many are not in a position to do so, and to ignore this dynamic fails trans people and misses a chance to be bold with coverage. There are some very simple things this blog can do to achieve that, including a story examining this issue, a page with resources for people in need of help, and so on. I’m not saying pushsquare needs to stop covering news around this game — it just needs to be smarter about it.

This argument doesn’t work: you feel safe because you aren’t affected. You can talk about the game and the game alone because you have that privilege. Enjoy, everyone. Glad you feel safe. You’re not going to hear from anyone who doesn’t feel the same way, for obvious reasons.

I’ve been called “pal” and “bud” in two responses urging me to “give it a break” or to “chill.” You don’t know me, you don’t know my gender, but you make assumptions: we’re all just dudes here talkin “vidyuh games.” That is interesting to me, and I think the crux of this problem: this decision is made from a cis male perspective and assumes everyone coming here shares it. That’s a shame. For some reason, as an avid reader over the years, I expected better.

@nicc83 “Pal.”

And yet, I’m sure it’s my comments that will be deemed rude and deleted. Guess we’ll see.