KippDynamite

Honestly a 9, and if you overlook a few cosmetic and animation issues then maybe a 10. The story and gameplay is underrated.

Days Gone is a solid game but it's pretty lame to get a game that is already offered for free on the same service!

"I Saw Black Clouds begins with a warning that tells you that the game features graphic depictions of suicide and then about four seconds later someone commits suicide."

That sounds so awkward! Is it so bad it's good?

The PS3 ran The Last of Us. How can this not run properly on the PS5? I freely admit I don't know much about programming, but it seems ridiculous.

I literally could not buy a Vita game from the store for over a month. Various errors with no solutions. The only thing that worked was the link to the old store. Why are they making this so difficult?

It looks rough around the edges in a AA way, but I like that there are at least some interesting ideas. Currently I don't know that I'd get this but it's definitely on my radar more than the next Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty. If we want something other than generic AAA games then we need to be forgiving of some of the shortcomings of huge AA and indie games.

It's very noticeable if you toggle between 30 and 60, but if I play a game at 30 fps for a while I get completely used to it. 60 is obviously superior but there's a balance between fps, resolution, polygons, effects, AI, etc. This is why there will always be games that run at 30.

If a game launches with bugs you can't expect them to be fixed. A decent company would fix them, but many won't. If you expect a game to launch with lots of bugs then devs will keep doing this.

While all Xbox has announced over the past 6 months is that they're buying Bethesda, Sony has announced and shown numerous new IP and even hardware. The marketing people at Microsoft really are clever to get people to believe that the two platforms have competitive offerings.

Years ago I remember someone at IGN (was it Greg Miller?) said they played Super Mario 1 every week. I thought "that is super weird."

I have pretty much the same experience as you, Liam. I think trophies have something to do with it - I'm used to getting rewards and there are none for a second playthrough. When I'm "done"with most games, I'm done with them (though I do like to collect physical copies).

However, I recently replayed Demon's Souls because I was excited for the remake, and I'm currently replaying Horizon: Zero Dawn. Horizon has some good DLC I've never played, but I'm still playing the whole thing. As far as I can tell, these two games have one major thing in common - the second-to-second combat gameplay is extremely engaging and organic. They're just fun to play!

Games with relatively bland combat/gameplay would not be appealing to replay. I can't imagine replaying an Assassin's Creed, for example, because I might as well play a newer one if I wanted that gameplay experience.

As with Kojima, it's for recruitment. Kojima's first big video was about their nice office setup - they were trying to lure devs who were treated poorly.

After Ubisoft, EA, and Google Stadia, I think she sees PlayStation as her haven.

You may need to check the definitions of "news" and "soapbox."

To me, all this says is GamePass is indeed the home of games I'd never play.

It's not the responsibility of Sony to provide news articles for blogs and other websites such as this one. Are you annoyed because Sony is underperforming, or because you need to do something more than publish press releases in order to get traffic? Is this article simply borne of you looking at the latest stats that Google emailed you, and you realising that numbers are down?

Though Microsoft bought Bethesda and that genuinely changes things, Xbox STILL doesn't have any exclusive games on its new platform. Also, GamePass is looking increasingly unsustainable - how are they supposed to make money when they spend $7,500,000,000 on IP, and then give away the games? Until those factors change Sony isn't going to feel enough pressure to do anything different.

For about 20 years video game music has been almost entirely forgettable. Kenny has made some of the most catchy, memorable, and fun music for generations!

I found it interesting that he said that, unlike most modern games, they wanted to use "strong, catchy melodies, bold chord progressions, simplistic musical forms, and repetition." This is exactly what's missing from modern game music! Good on them for taking a chance, because I think it paid off. There's a reason people say that Astro's Playroom and Rescue Mission makes them smile as if they are little kids!

Meh. I'm more interested in next gen games, not small upgrades to games made years ago.

If the game progress is too slow, they won't patch the game - they sell XP boosters. If game progress is too fast then they just patch it.

But hey, at least they aren't selling "50% less XP" anti-boosts and trying to tell us it's "PLAYER CHOICE!"

@naruball
Every console that has stopped producing exclusives has eventually gone out of business.

If people know that eventually PlayStation exclusives will no longer be exclusive, there is no reason to buy a PS5. People will just wait.

I love the game and honestly I will probably go there some day because I played it.

The last one was hosted by Solid Snake and Meryl, which was pretty awesome!

I'm both surprised and not surprised it took EA this long to realize what a bad idea that is.

Did you know that Demon's Souls allows you to create a character that appears male and has a female voice, or a character that looks female and has a male voice?

Why do they even bother to explain themselves?

The sale is due to money. A person or group of people were offered an outrageous sum of money and, like most people, they took it.

SOAPBOX: Sony's State of Play presentations are fine.

You can't announce a new console, Demon's Souls remake,. Horizon sequel, and new God of War during every conference. The vast majority of State of Plays will be average. Even Nintendo usually highlights something extremely minor, such as one new character in a fighting game with 70 characters.

@MrDoug91
In 2015 new games in the US cost about $68 with tax. At the same time, new games in the UK were about £40. By taking into account nothing but the exchange rate, new games in the UK should be £58. If US prices increase to $70 (about $79 with tax), then new games in the UK would be £68.

Honestly, I think the high price in the UK is due solely to the plummeting value of the £. Wages haven't increased, and the money is worth a lot less than it used to be.

You mentioned finding an audiolog on Celine's corpse. Were you able to tell if it was randomly placed, or in the actual location she died in an earlier run? I used to love finding my old corpse in Nethack, and then dealing justice to the monster that previously killed me!

Housemarque have earned my trust in the gameplay department and I am confident Returnal will deliver. They also have my trust in the power-up department. Though this is their first rogue-like, arcade games are basically rogue-likes in that you start anew each time. I wonder how they will do with regard to the story. I think tying the dynamics of a rogue-like with certain psychological concepts like repeating life mistakes could be interesting.

And, simply put, I'm excited to have a PS5 game that actually takes advantage of the hardware! Other than Demon's Souls this is the only other game that can reasonably make that claim. And new IPs are exciting! I've already played enough Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty to last a lifetime!

@LiamCroft To be fair, a lot of the concern about the price of this game was highlighted by PushSquare itself in past articles.

With regard to price, one thing people may be forgetting is that since the Brexit vote the value of the £ has dropped dramatically. Though your wages may be the same, global corporations will likely make price adjustments to account for the lost value. Not fair to the common person, but that's probably a significant factor.

I'm really happy to see this interview and it's exactly the kind of content I'd love to see here!

This is the exact type of game that WOULDN'T come to plus. It just came out, it's still expensive, and it's the type of game with such a huge following that it will sell millions of copies for the next several years. This would be an insanely expensive game for Sony to put on Plus.

I paid $0 for Resogun and got probably $200 of fun out of it. Looks way more fun than whatever clone Unisoft comes up with next.

I AM SHOCKED!

Expect this to happen to any live service game that isn't an instant hit. Games that try to pull through are the exception rather than the rule.

I want to stress that you should get your hopes up EXTREMELY HIGH. If they show anything less than "God of War 2 released May 2021, Metal Gear Remake by Bluepoint which is now owned by Sony, Bloodborne 60 FPS patch, Bloodborne 2, 10 new games made exclusively by Japanese Studios, 3 total surprises by AAA devs, Kena out now, and and PS Vita 2" then you should be OUTRAGED! Anything less means Jim Ryan has destroyed Sony! If you don't see EXACTLY what you expect, then it is your duty as a gamer to ENDLESSLY COMPLAIN and THREATEN DEVELOPERS!!!

Seriously, expect nothing and you'll be happier.

@LordSteev
That's nice of you! And fair enough if we have different opinions.

@LordSteev
I could be wrong. But Trip Hawkins also thought he was onto something with his "sell a console blueprint" plan with the 3DO . . .

If your product is not differentiated from your competitors then there is no reason to buy your product. The reason people buy PlayStations is because of the games. If those games are available elsewhere then there is less reason to buy the product. I think this is a short-sighted and dumb business move.

"Is this verbal battle between the PlayStation boss and hardcore fans set to continue?"

Seems like a manufactured controversy, to be honest.

Honestly, I don't really get your concern. The purpose of a State of Play is to update players about the state of PlayStation games. Sometimes that's trailers, sometimes it's gameplay, sometimes it's UI info - whatever it is they've been working on. I'm not sure why there is confusion or consternation about this.

I would honestly give it a 5 or 6. The story was like Lost - intriguing events and setting, but with ultimately no explanation or resolution. No metaphor or symbolism - just random stuff happening for the sake of being cool. If there is no deeper meaning or anything to glean from the story, these supernatural events just seem meaningless to me. To me the story was as gripping as those crappy reality shows where the premise is "people keeping seeing a ghost at this old ranch. What's going on!?"

The gun was cool and fun to use, but I thought the combat overall was broken. About 15% of the way through the game, I upgraded the "throw" ability to the point where it's all I ever needed to do for the rest of the game. Just hold R1, look in the general direction of a group of enemies, and release R1. This is all I did for hours and hours - I found it extremely bland.

The setting was okay but overall I thought the level design was absolutely atrocious. Everything had to be spelled out explicitly to the player, with seemingly little thought about how to subtly or organically guide the player to their next objective. I had to constantly consult the map even the first time through an area, and I was lost constantly while backtracking. Some areas were pretty good, though.

There were some good parts of the game and obviously competent people worked on it, but I'm honestly surprised the game has decent scores and is beloved by many.

Ubisoft making Metal Gear Solid?! When I read that I threw up in my mouth.

She seems like a great leader of a great dev team.

In light of the bad reputation EA, Microsoft, and others have with regard to acquiring studios and then either shuttering them or forcing them to make a game out of their wheelhouse, I thought this was an interesting quote:

"Sony has a great record of not meddling with the good parts of studios once they've been acquired."

It's hard to get excited by this limited amount of unverified information.

I'm anxious for news but I think the current situation is mostly due to Covid. I'm fully vaccinated and the world really does start to return to normal. Hopefully everyone and everything follows suit in the next few months.

@NEStalgia
Indeed. EA uses (but says they don't) an algorithm for their multiplayer games where they match you with people with desirable DLC and in matches which they predict you'll lose, all so you will be tempted to buy the DLC. After you buy it, they make sure to put you in a match you'll win. Their multiplayer games are essentially rigged. EA, Ubisoft, Activision, WB, 2K, all the big publishers have major dirt.

Unfortunately for Warner Brothers, Activision has patented the concept of a free-to-play video game, so the project has been canned.

I'd be tempted if it was a quarter of that price.

It's a big ask, but investigative journalism. A lot of "news" is just repeating what you've read or been told - and that's probably how most articles here will always be.

However, generating new and interesting content via investigative journalism is extremely engaging. If the article is about crunch, don't just point us to tweets - contact some developers first hand and get original information.

If a highly anticipated game sucks, make some calls and find out why - if you can't get ahold of people super close to the topic then at least speak to someone who's an expert on the topic.

If you theorize that PlayStation is abandoning Japan, don't just cite the Bloomberg article - get some of your own first-hand information.

It would take time and effort to do this, but you'd truly be able to offer something that people can rarely find elsewhere.