Grumblevolcano

@PVTHudson A new blog post has revealed that AoE 2 is coming to PS5 in mid-April:

"Last month, we teased that not only would Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition be coming to PlayStation, but a new expansion is planned as well. To put a cherry on top, we will also be releasing one of the biggest updates Age II: DE has ever had!

While we continue working on getting all of this incredible content and fixes ready for you, we wanted to provide a preview of our work in progress. Why so early? These patch notes are long – legendarily long – and we wanted to give you an early look to take it all in.

Everything you see outlined and described below is what will come in the next update to Age II: DE. We don’t have an exact date to share for this update just yet, but you can save the date for mid-April!"

https://www.ageofempires.com/news/a-sneak-peek-at-new-content-coming-to-age-of-empires-ii-definitive-edition/

Hopefully physical is a true physical version and not that stupid code in box nonsense.

@Americansamurai1 @Dragoon1994 I think for the big single player games we'll see something like:

• August/September 2025 - Ghost of Yotei
• February/March 2026 - Saros
• May/June 2026 - Intergalactic
• September/October 2026 - Wolverine
• February/March 2027 - Horizon 3
• May/June 2027 - Sony Santa Monica's next project

I wonder if disconnecting from the internet allows you to bypass this requirement like with DOOM Eternal.

Based on how the February State of Play turned out, I think Death Stranding 2 is July/August and then Ghost of Yotei is in that awkward Fall/Holiday window of "Do you delay to 2026 because of GTA6?". If Ghost of Yotei was releasing first, we'd have seen gameplay in the February State of Play.

@get2sammyb While that is true, I don't think that alone can explain Series X going from 1612 to 79 to 35 in 3 consecutive weeks. To me it looks like stock ran out and then Microsoft didn't restock which is a worldwide problem at the moment.

@ChrisDeku Series X|S stock issues has been a worldwide problem for months.

@RenanKJ I think it could be like the DKC/Metroid Prime dilemma. Retro Studios did the Metroid Prime games and the 2 most recent DK games (DKC Returns in 2010 and DKC Tropical Freeze in 2014). Metroid Prime 4 exists and is releasing in 2025 but DK has been absent outside of remasters since 2014.

So the comparison to Naughty Dog would be that by not committing to TLoU 3, it opens the possibility of Intergalactic getting a sequel in the PS6 era.

@heavyartillery56 I think the playtests will be about Sony's live service games like Marathon, Fairgame$ and the Horizon multiplayer game.

@Cikajovazmaj They're generally timing PS5 releases with when new content updates/DLC comes to PC/Xbox (Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Age of Mythology, FH5, Age of Empires 2) so an April release for Indiana Jones would suggest that's when the Order of Giants DLC comes out.

While it would be nice to happen, I can't say I believe the rumour considering Sony hasn't remastered/remade a game that wasn't already playable on PS5 via backwards compatibility since the Demon's Souls remake back at PS5's launch in November 2020.

A 2018 remaster and maybe GoW 3 gets a re-remaster while the PS2 games, PSP games and Ascension end up in the PS+ Premium classics line would be more believable.

Announcement in March sounds more believable than the summer showcase shadow drop rumour. Physical on Xbox hardware is pretty much dead (e.g. Indiana Jones and Avowed were code in box) but this sounds like the kind of game that would have a proper disc/cart version for PS5/Switch.

Is it perhaps that the PC strategy is more about avoiding monopoly concerns from regulators at this point? So like the PS6 ends up having no disc drive (not even optional add-on) but regulators consider that acceptable because they sell their games on Steam/EGS as alternate options.

PS5 Pro not having a disc drive in the box, the standalone disc drive being hard to get and Days Gone Remastered being digital only does seem like Sony's heading more towards a digital only future.

Top 3 were:

• Sonic Racing
• Shinobi
• Onimusha 2

Turns out I was wrong, the track which I thought was a remake of the Transformed track Carrier Zone (After Burner) is actually Metal Harbor from Sonic Adventure 2.

It was a rough State of Play overall though there were still some really cool announcements. My favourite was the Sonic Racing trailer, it was nice to see mechanics from Transformed and crossover courses return.

A similar situation happened in September with TGS so I guess this rules out it being in tomorrow's State of Play.

Nice to see there is a State of Play, will be interesting to see what comes. I will say it's a shame that as PSVR2 approaches its 2nd anniversary, Sony's already seemingly dropping the system from events (the previous events explicitly name dropped PSVR2 but this one is just PS5).

I don't do VR but pretending a system doesn't exist this soon after launch is very bad.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner @Decoy_Snake Depends on when Switch 2 actually releases. If it releases in May/June then Microsoft could announce on April 2nd via the Switch 2 Direct that AoE2, FH5 and Indiana Jones are all releasing same day on PS5 and Switch 2 (PS5 wouldn't be mentioned in the Direct itself but the release date trailers that are available straight after the Direct do). AoE2 could even be used to show off the teased mouse functionality for the Switch 2 Joy-Con.

If it's later then PS5 versions will be released first and could easily be given release dates before April 2nd.

My guess is September Switch 2 release so the latter outcome happens.

I think if there is one this week, outside of MGS Delta which Sony leaked release date of last week there will be no precise release dates for after June. Instead, lots of vague release windows like "Summer 2025" or "2025" as everyone waits for Rockstar to reveal GTA6's release date.

@IOI I think the Lizard Squad attacks in 2014 were the most recent multiple consecutive days PSN outage (December 25th - 30th 2014).

If companies are willing to announce specific release dates so close to Fall 2025, that must mean that GTA6 news is imminent (likely a delay to 2026).

I'm going to predict that this is to do with the next Smash game. Switch 2 is approaching so that means the Smash fighter speculation cycle begins anew.

I wonder what an alternate reality where Epic continued with Gears of War instead of creating Fortnite would've looked like.

They're going to release Days Gone Remastered on the 10th anniversary of Bloodborne.

This'll be an interesting one. Does Sony have a State of Play/Showcase around then like past years or do they take advantage of the Xbox showcase practically being a lengthy 3rd party State of Play (with PS5 logos included) while giving Geoff some PS Studios announcements.

This makes me think they'll drop from 3 games a month to 2 games. When they removed PS3 and Vita from PS+ to only be PS4 games, there were fewer games total.

Xbox did a similar thing when they removed Xbox and Xbox 360 games from the Games With Gold lineup (it became 2 games a month instead of 4).

MySims was a DS/Wii game and then the re-release came to Switch so I think considering Sims 1 and 2 came to PS2/Gamecube/Xbox, they'd come to PS5/Switch/Series X|S.

@xDD90x PC port got discussed even before the game launched on PS5:

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/08/do-you-want-astro-bot-on-pc-creative-director-wants-to-know

So the question is when it'll come to PC rather than if it'll come to PC.

So judging by this timeline, Stellar Blade is probably May (April is already confirmed to be TLoU 2) and then Astro Bot in June.

@Americansamurai1 If Nadella follows the Windows Phone formula for Xbox, what'll happen to Xbox hardware is:

• 2024/2025 - Microsoft starts to go all out porting Xbox exclusives to PS/Nintendo
• 2026 - Microsoft releases next gen Xbox hardware
• 2027 - Microsoft cuts back on Xbox hardware support because the next gen hardware sells so poorly
• 2030 - Xbox hardware is completely abandoned

Not necessarily that day but I think GTA6 news will be next week. It's the week before Take Two's earnings call and investors will want to know if GTA6 is still on track for Fall 2025 release. It would also explain somewhat the odd timing of the Switch 2 reveal.

I think we now know why Sony dropped the Playstation Showcases. Any future ones would've been comparable to the May 2023 one where the focus on the new 1st party announcements side of things is live service.

I figure that this year's PS events will mirror the May 2024 State of Play (start with live service, end with a big game) but with some 1st party PS4 remasters added into the mix like Days Gone:

• One early on in the year that starts with Fairgame$ and ends with Ghost of Yotei
• One around May/June that starts with Horizon Online and ends with Death Stranding 2
• One in September that starts with Marathon and ends with Intergalactic

@Americansamurai1 There's still stock issues like Amazon UK currently only has 2 copies left and most Smyths stores are completely out of stock.

@RagnarLothbrok I'd imagine it's similar to how Atlus ported over Persona 3 Portable in 2023 and then did the remake Persona 3 Reload in 2024.

It's crazy how Xbox GoW comes to PS5 before Sony's Greek GoW games.

@aj21009 If PS is your preferred platform and you see the multiplatform signs of Xbox, doesn't it make most sense to hold off buying games on Xbox in case they come to PS?

That way you get the games on your preferred system without having to double dip.

The way Microsoft's messaging has been since the multiplatform rumours exploded in February last year and Nintendo announced 2 of the 4 initial batch, it has felt very much that Switch 2 reveal was a key part of the Xbox multiplatform strategy.

@somnambulance Considering PS Studios has nothing for PS5 with a specific release date (just 2 PC ports) but they always have something for January - March, I think January State of Play is likely.

As for the January - March PS5 PS Studios release, my guess would be Days Gone Remastered in late February/March as Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered was announced only a month before launch.

@Neither_scene Software drives hardware. As long as the 1st party lineup is strong and Nintendo keeps them exclusive, Switch 2 will do well.

I noticed that Astro Bot is out of stock at multiple retailers.

@somnambulance GTA6 wasn't one of the voting options for Most Anticipated Game. Maybe Sony's expecting it to be delayed to 2026 because of no trailer 2 this year so far and Wolverine (which got 2nd) ends up releasing in Fall 2025?

@pyrrhic_victory There is still a big unknown in the form of Nintendo's next system. What Xbox games will Switch 2 get and will they release same day as PS5? Are there Xbox games in the Switch 2 reveal? Does the Switch 2 reveal set the stage for Microsoft putting PS5 and Switch 2 logos at the end of trailers at Xbox events?

Switch 2 may end up explaining a lot about the PS5 timings.

I want Astro Bot to win but I think Erdtree will because after 2016 FromSoftware soulsborne has never lost.

I used to think PS6 would have discs but all that talk about a handheld that natively plays PS5 games complicates things. Naturally discs that size wouldn't fit in a handheld so backwards compatibility on the handheld would have to be limited to digital only.

Which gives me the impression that there'd either be a PSP to Vita style transition (PS6 carts exist but there's no disc drive) or the console is fully digital only.

@QBGaming12 April - July would be my guess for Yotei, Hiroki Totoki's comments earlier this year deconfirms January - March (Sony's current fiscal year is April 1st 2024 - March 31st 2025) meanwhile August - December would be too close to GTA6.

I could see a Horizon game release in Fall 2025 though as that franchise always seems to have the worst possible release timing.

My guess is TLoU 3 and something related to Valve. The impression I get is that people are expecting the next Naughty Dog game to be something not TLoU so to see TLoU 3 announced first with a release year of like 2027/2028 would fit.

As for Valve, the past few years of the Game Awards had Steam Deck giveaways but this time it's PS5 Pro so maybe Valve has something new to announce.

Odd that they chose to do this trailer before the Game Awards rather than after.

@Dodoo Astro Bot didn't even make the top 10, it was sadly knocked out in round 1.

I think one will be April/May and the other be June/July taking into consideration that they're both releasing in 2025 and GTA6 is Fall 2025.