IamJT

Yea this looks like something I would really enjoy. Too bad I promised myself I wouldn’t buy anything new and would clean up my platinum backlog this year… will be breaking that promise for Astrobot

Hmmm I wonder if that will would hold up? Seems like you could challenge that as an unreasonable restraint on alienation but I have no idea where LocalThunk is from.

@Colour The evolution of Remedy as a studio has been great to watch. Control really stepped up their narrative prowess and then Alan Wake 2 surpassed it in every way.

Not a game for Jeremy Clarkson

@Bettyswollocks Are they floundering? I think FFXIV is making an absolute killing. They had some underperforming games but they are still making a ton of money.

End episode one with the scene. Loved it in the game would love it in the show.

I will admit I guessed on three…

@OldGamer999 yea dev times have gotten longer, but I imagine a lot of what was done for factions got subsumed by TLOU3, and that happened much earlier than the studio announced. I think we get a new ND game next year, with the announcement only 3-6 months before launch!

@OldGamer999 I think you will see something from them soon enough! It was four years between Uncharted 4 and TLOU2 and they have two games in development with a huge team. They also are going to announce their next game and release it in quick succession when they do announce it.

@LifeGirl “Those were $500 dollar glasses a**hole.”

@Kidfunkadelic83 I had to watch YouTube guides to understand it when I played it. Makes it much easier.

I enjoyed this game for what it was. Mostly bought it to fill the void while waiting for the Forest 2 to finally come to PS5.

@Cloud39472 I still sometimes think about what could have been with PT.

The entire rise and fall of Bungie is crazy. Really interesting story I would read the book.

@RubyCarbuncle Hmmm yes it doesn’t stop me from making a purchase. A short internet outage is not going to bother me, and, like I said if the emp goes off and the internet really goes down the last thing on my mind is going to be video games.

@Yagami Certainly. One of the main themes of the game is the encroaching civilization on the natural world and the way of life lead by the main character. Traveling across vast expanses where you can hunt, camp, fish and do what you please is a stark contrast from the eastern side of the map where large towns are heavily policed. Also, the size of the map is used to the games advantage through the gameplay, which is deliberately slow and methodical, through the chance encounter story telling and set pieces that you can stumble upon. Traveling from one town to another feels like a journey through a mostly untamed landscape and there is an enormous amount to do in the world that lets you feel like you are actually living that cowboy life. While the story itself is very well told and compelling, the open world is what makes the game special.

@Batesy125s I agree with you, although I think this was a statement to attract talent to the studio more than anything. For me, there are only a few genre defining games. Red Dead 2 for open worlds, the last of us for story centered single player sad dad cinematics, etc. seems like there can only be one for each genre to be truly genre defining.

@Yagami Red Dead Redemption 2. Giant open world that 100% makes the game better.

@RubyCarbuncle imma be honest if the internet goes down like down down we will have much bigger problems than access to a video game.

@nessisonett Interesting, in the U.S. she would be a public figure and would have to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that you were lying, knew you were lying, and acted with actual malice (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth). It’s an exceptionally high burden.

@nessisonett Well thought out and perfectly understandable stance. I have taken similar stances in my own life, I havent voted since the first Obama election because he immediately bombed civilians using drones like a week after taking office, so I appreciate your conviction.

Harry Potter is just an important cultural touchstone for an entire generation, and it is a real shame the author is using her status to do what she does. I just think its hard to tell people to forego something they love and grew up loving because the creator is such a scumbag. The world is too complicated, you can't buy an electronic device without supporting the destruction of the environment, unfair labor practices (arguably slavery or indentured servitude in some situations), or the corporations that make them and use their money and influence to control government policy around the world. Buying actually sustainable groceries is near impossible for most people on a budget. When it comes to how people spend their money on entertainment, their means of escape from an ever complicated world, I find it hard to pass judgment.

Regardless, best of luck to you and your community, things are also getting worse than they are better on this side of the world depending on what state you live in.

Edit: Also, not sure why your comment was removed. This was a good faith discussion with zero animosity displayed on either side.

@get2sammyb It’s sad how refreshing that is. I have fond memories of unlocking characters and skins through gameplay without a battle pass or micro transactions. I think there is actually a lot of room for developers to sell more copies by adopting that practice again.

@nessisonett Rowling sucks but she is a billionaire. Buying or boycotting the game or anything she does will have zero effect on her life. Of course it’s a personal choice and we all need to make a judgment call on what we stand for. I do think, however, people can buy and enjoy Harry Potter products without supporting Rowling. It is impossible to life an economically moral life unless you are rich and can carefully source everything you buy.

In-game currency but no micro transactions. So that means you will not be able to buy in-game currency with real money?

@LikelySatan Well you criticized the game itself for micro transactions… that is always fair so my observation was not based on your comments. What’s more I generally agree that EA sports games inclusion of a pay to win mode in almost all of its games is at least a little gross.

I remember playing as Bo Jackson on the SNES madden game that was practically a cheat code but you didn’t have to pay for him 🤣

@Yousef- I only saw Gojira play but that was cool.

@B_Lindz that was a labor of love. Hopefully this is too.

It is weird how rude and divisive the comments on this article are. College football is a huge cultural event in the U.S. if you don’t like football or don’t understand why it’s so popular, is the best use of your time really coming to the comments and being negative about it?

@Splat I would pay the $69.99 just to play as Butterbean and Tyson again. That game was amazing back in the day.

@OldGamer999 outside of Xbox console sales arnt really down. The software sales are… but I think that’s more due to the subscription services entering the console space. Overall I think the push for more revenue is just coming from the decrease in profits caused by ballooning development costs.

Sam Lake bringing the Alan Wake shared universe meta into reality and exposing the deep state 🤣

@KundaliniRising333 "It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it... anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."

Just replace president with whatever you are talking about and this Hitchhikers Guide quote applies to pretty much everything.

It’s really unfortunate that the first industry truly under attack by AI is the arts. You know… the thing that makes us human.

@Northern_munkey So if I haven’t finished the gold licenses by now I should just not go back 🤣

@Specky IP law is my passion 🤣. I just told my brother the other day we got the most boring dystopian future... its not Mad Max where we are all fighting for our lives... its not Bladerunner where we have cool future tech... its just algorithms training everyone to think a certain way and no one owning anything or learning anything for themselves. Its just a world of targeted ads.

@8bit4Life RDR2 open world has still yet to be matched for me. Any game that can have the story telling of that game just while traversing the world would be an immediate purchase.

I was one of the few that put a lot of time into this game at launch. Even then I loved the feeling of just touching down on a random planet and exploring. I think, after so many years of updates, it's time to finally go back and get the platinum.

@Uromastryx same that’s the only time I partake

@LowDefAl Interesting, my instinct would not be to break up the gameplay by stopping to take pictures. Also, I think releasing photomode later is done on purpose to get another news cycle about the game and drive additional sales, but I am sure it depends on the game.

@Neither_scene vinyl has made a huge comeback 🤣

There are so many cybertrucks in my city and they are… something…

@rjejr There is an easy mode?

@AccessibleDaydream I mostly agree but I wouldn’t consider photo mode a necessary feature at all. Most people never interact with photo mode and it’s not essential to the game. Although I’m sure many will argue this game is the exception for reasons.

@Specky Again, I am not arguing with the sentiment, but licenses have existed since before electricity existed and have always operated in the same way. You buy a ticket to a sporting event, it is a license to access the event until it ends, or until they tell you to leave. You ask a friend to use their pond to go fishing, you have a license to be on the property that the friend can then revoke.

It's actually very applicable to a software license if you follow the history of the law developing around contracts. In D.P. Tech. Corp. v. Sherwood Tool, Inc. in 1990 a court held that all software is a good, not a service. Goods contracts are highly preferential to corporations while service contracts are not. However, the law could not predict the developing nature of software and contracts in 1990 compared to how we understand them now. I would argue most software licenses are more of a service than a good, but a lot of IP lawyers would argue the opposite and for good reason. Realistically, its going to take another decade to balance out.

Regardless, buying something, either a good or a service, is not an ownership interest in that thing in a lot of situations. I do think there is room for "right to access" reform for when you purchase software in a license, but I also see a lot of issues that would cause with bad actors.

EDIT: Just to follow up as someone who has written, reviewed, edited, and wrote a whole 26-page article on Terms of Services, a huge amount of what is in those is just to protect the issuer of the terms from things the user has done to them and other corporations in the past, some of which is really heinous. You would not believe the crimes that have been committed on the PSN network.

@Troubbble I understand. Generally, when a corporate movement (or political or social movement) begins in any form, the push is really hard in that direction, it is corrected by the market, and it evens out. Since the U.S. is such a huge driving force in this industry, and DEI and affirmative action are quickly becoming a thing of the past due to the Supreme Court, much of the things you object to will be disappearing in the near future.

On a personal note, I am totally okay with how things have been going because diversity, equity, and inclusion have, up until very recently, not existed as a matter of law. Discriminatory racially restrictive covenants were only outlawed in 1968 in the U.S., and their effect is still seen today. It takes a looooong time to correct injustice through the law, so it just makes sense to me that people take it into their own hands when it comes to their businesses and their art.

Currently, I think the biggest issue in the acceptance from part of the population of DEI in art and movies (cough Star Wars cough) is that rather than telling diverse stories through the creation of new characters and IP they are relying on old stories and changing fundamental aspects of them. At the same time, new IP is incredibly risky right now, and certain ethnic backgrounds absolutely dominated media when popular IP were created, so I am not sure there is a "good" way to make things better.

In the case of this game, I don't see the issue. The character existed, has been a part of many Japanese media stories in a similar way he is here, and honestly, no one even knows the story of this game yet. The most important thing is that people of differing opinions can just talk things out, and understand each other even if they leave the conversation not agreeing!

@Specky while I agree with the sentiment that digital ownership through licensing restricts traditional property rights… this is a false equivalency. The use of licensing for purchases is not the same thing that makes piracy illegal. I know piracy is popular among the gaming community but it is still theft. Licensing isn’t theft. It’s a trade off between traditional property rights and convenience which favors the creator.

@WhiteRabbit Once again, "enthusiast" discourse has completely missed the plot. I wonder how well Assassin's Creed usually sells in Japan... the true irony will be when Shadows is the biggest selling Creed game in Japan all time.

@Troubbble But people have always put their ideologies into artwork and media. As a consumer, you can just choose not to partake, or as a creative, you can choose to make your own with your own ideologies. This isn't a new trend, it has always been the case. The earliest example of the top of my head is someone like Caravaggio in the 1500s, who painted religious paintings with an ulterior motive of undercutting the message (while also dueling people in the streets with swords and chilling with prostitutes all day). If a majority of game developers want to tell such stories that's their right and consumers have the right not to purchase. As of right now, there have been successful stories on both sides of when consumers purchased or rejected the product. Regardless, this is nothing new but its being treated like some wild conspiracy.

@Maubari I’m not sure they are digging themselves in a hole. I really think most people who are going to buy this game are completely unaware of the conversation around it. I agree though I hate that large corporations sit on IP like Rayman and just do nothing with it.

@nessisonett I have pretty much taken the stance that everything online is fake or posted for an ulterior motive 🤣 especially everything on Twitter. I know large video game companies have taken to being really responsive to fans and the online community, but I think if they ignored them completely it would barely effect profits.