Firstly, RT is part of Art Direction. Using it or not will dictate how you art your game and light it. A game that only uses RT will free up artists to make actual art instead of wasting time doing multiple passes of light baking. How you light and shadow your game directly affects art direction. If you have a nice looking game but your reflections are really bad SSR, your art direction will suffer/not live up to its potential. Capcom have had really bad SSR over the last few years that destroys the presentation of their games.(RE2 pre RT I’m looking at you)
Also he might be right that RT doesn't add to story or gameplay, but neither does the fps he cares so much about. People want better looking games and that can be achieved through RT.
People used to moan about programmable shaders when they came along. Try playing a game without them now. RT is here and it’s staying. Wether it is for all games or all users is up for debate, but it has its place.
@Porco PlayStation has other facilities and departments in Japan than just developers.Like the Asian headquarters and hardware and research divisions. Example, Cerny designs the hardware technology of the console but Japan turns that into a physical product including final physical design. The ps4 and 5 unboxing were done by the Japanese guy who oversaw the actual physical design iirc.
All of the companies listed have a lot more staff than just development and none of them are strictly console development houses, they all do other things too.
I don’t see anything suggesting this is just people working directly on game development.
I’d love this to be true if only because bilbilkun often only “leaks” the day of or the day before the actual announcement so what is the point of bothering. It will amuse me.
However I can believe one or the other of these games but not both at the same time, it seems a bit far fetched.
As long as it's an actual Dragon Slayer project and not whatever Tokyo Xanadu was meant to be. Because Xanadu it isn't.
As for the 45th anniversary, it's not as a game developer. Not that wikipedia will tell you this for some reason, but Falcom started as a computer shop selling Apple II stuff - Computer Land Tachigawa. In fact they are alleged to be the first licensed Apple retailer in Japan, although I’ve found claims the first Japanese Apple deal was made in the 70s.
This is a figure that has been thrown around for some time. Microsoft simply can’t subsidise it, especially if they are giving up their cut to other game storefronts.
I don’t want bloated games like Horison Forbidden West
You know you can ignore the "bloat" if you want and play the game without issue right?
I never have understood this complaint about open world games being full of optional content. Lots of people want to play that content, and the people who don't can ignore it. Everyone wins.
if you want to make a point, at least get your facts right rather than spreading incorrect info. Bungie have requested that people wait for a piece of content before they renew the game, but they are letting reviewers review the game as-is. A very different context.
There is enough ***** stirring based on wrong information or completely made up statements on this website, let's not twist Sammys actual explanation.
@2here2there For a lot of people the line between a set spec pc and a console is already quite thin. Steam Machine if it ever launches will be seen as a console as much as a pc, since SteamOS is closer to a console setup than windows for the user.
they already said they are exiting the console market
Every official comment from Microsoft I have seen says that they are not exiting the console market. What they say the are doing is trying different things because they don’t believe the traditional model works (for them)
Project Helix isn’t an exit from the console market in their eyes. They want to redefine what a console is.
@TheArt it’s the exact same problem Phil Spencer attributes to the difficulty in selling Series consoles versus PS5.
So either they haven’t learnt, they think Game Pass makes up for it or they think people will buy old pc games to make up for it or some combination of the three.
It’s highly probably that the only reason Project Helix was announced officially was to boost Sharma’s profile. By saying she will be talking to partners soon she is trying to take on the narrative for what has been a long term project overseen by her predecessors and show she is out there getting on with the job.
And that’s fine and to be expected.
And what was announced was what we already knew besides the code name. A good code name imo but Microsoft’s issue was never with code names but the final name.
Sony don’t need to do anything. They have already effectively confirmed PS6 with Cernys AMD stuff. And they will release it when it makes sense to do so, which will be measured in different metrics (not forgetting costs of components in a fluid market) than polls on websites.
@ShadowofSparta @pukana @TrollOfWar No live service game ever launches everything all at once nor are they expected to. If anything it's usually best practice to have a steady schedule of content or modes once people have had a chance to play the actual main game.
There is a valid debate about when the correct time to review the game and that is arguably once at launch week with what it has then and then follow up on it later. Its rare for online games to be accurate to review before launch day when there isn't a proper player count, but there will always be content later, regardless of who makes the game and what time of the year it is.
FWIW I have no interest in Marathon or other online shooty shoot games one way or another, but the release of content is consistent with every other online game. When the review launches isn't going to change that so I'm don't agree with people holding back reviews for it but that's Push Square's choice since it isn't a binding request
@Voltan FFXIV is one such game but I believe SE use their own custom driver to support Sony pads and features
However “any game” natively isn’t true. Only games that support Direct Input, older Xinput games require third party tools as the are designed for 360 pads basically. Steam can fix this but not always.
Less of a problem with modern games but might be a nasty surprise if you pix up an old game for pennies
@MasterChiefWiggum obviously it depends on where those jobs are, people in California probably aren’t going to move to Japan or Finland if they need to be in-office.
@cragis0001 At this rate the Steam Machine won’t be a rival because it won’t be launching. RAMageddon is making it unviable. If Valve weren’t talking release date or price (which was already implied to be high) four months ago then they are further away from doing that now.
@HRdepartment The toggle doesn't mean a game won't benefit from a patch, as a game can still be patched to work better with PSSR2 by taking better advantage. There may still be flaws on existing games or developer work arounds that aren't needed anymore.
However they don't need a patch to take advantage of PSSR2 if the toggle is on.
It's a clever solution and Sony must have plenty of faith in it not completely breaking every game, but the fallback is there just like Boost mode.
@badbob001 That's not how it works. A game using PSSR is coded into the game, the toggle just tells it which file to use when accessing pssr (the equivalent of changing the dll on pc), covering your first two options. That's fine.
Turning PSSR off completely through the dashboard would (probably) simply break games/compatibility.
@Perturbator that would hurt more than help. Pc users already get upset over the mere suggestion of not using steam and hate launchers. Epic with all their money and throwing free games at people can’t get market traction so Sony won’t either. Ubisoft and EA only get away with it by doing subscriptions to their back catalogs in the same apps
@Deadlyblack @AdamNovice it feels like with Nixxies having already done some remaster work it feels like they could possibly be given a sort of hybrid role. If that were the case it would help to explain the BP debacle, but also asks the question why they couldn’t be merged.
@Rich33 I'm expecting PSSR2 to require a firmware update, but its also not impossible that it exists in the existing firmware and is enabled on a per software basis.
I don't really understand the pixel peeping but DF never usually show it in this way on video which immediately drew my attention. Perhaps it was just the best way to explain the exact scenario rather than anything secret. However Jon has also said that the video was originally only going to be Pro and the "embargo changing" which could mean PSSR, it could mean Capcom just wanting all non S2 versions compared in one video. It's vague enough, unsurprisingly.
We know DF have upcoming embargoed content as Rich has said so (not unusual) but that could be anything .
@Th3solution I wouldn’t worry about overlap. Marathon is done and ready for release. this is just a pre launch stress test to make sure the servers are doing their job.
Horizon is just a standard milestone for getting actual feedback from actual people playing the game so they can tweak the game. Because it’s a closed nda invite they can filter most of the noise and they will have a specific number of invites which means they don’t need the numbers marathon does.
Marathon is out in a week, Horizon is 6+ months away but that’s plenty of time I think. They are different enough. It’s curious timing for them, I suspect the two teams decided for themselves and no one co-ordinated between them but equally it may have been deliberate as they have different needs.
Curious that she used the phrase AI slop which Nadella recently begged people to stop using.
Say what you want about Spencer and Bond but at least they had backgrounds in Xbox before being promoted, whereas this is clearly an AI and cloud shilling promotion and Xbox is already so far down that rabbit hole that I’m not sure how this moves the division forward.
@Boxmonkey I agree with sentiment as there is a place for creater commentary on recent works in their IP but normally the person giving it can be relied on to not be a dick for the sake of it. Jaffe is know for being bitter towards Sony and God of War entries after he left so it’s difficult to take his comments as good faith when they are like this.
Crunch is never good but we also know it’s common. It usually happens at the end of a project so it’s not a great look at all.
However this also points out why games should only be announced when they are actually ready to be shown.
Sony took a lot of stick years ago, and quite rightly for announcing games that didn’t appear for years. So they stopped doing that and started announcing games when they were ready to. Astro Boy and Yotei come to mind. What happened here was clearly ND/Sony getting annoyed at all the demands for a new ND game and putting out a non-gameplay promo for a game that clearly wasn’t ready to be shown of. Because why else would they make an exception to an apparent policy?
@TheArt Procedural generation usually takes pre created “blocks” that are designed to attach to other blocks and having a coded routine pick random blocks and attach them together. It’s a technique that I believe dates to the 80s.
I believe there is video footage of a Guerrilla environment artist live altering the environment in HZD by taking these blocks, placing and manipulating them in the environment in real time. I expect most non-indie open world games work in a similar manner.
Comments 342
Re: The Mode That Almost Killed Fortnite Is Free-to-Play from Next Month
@Impossibilium Indeed but I suspect this is a longer game plan of getting more players into that content so they can make more money long term.
This is part of the attempt to make more money on v-bucks after some initial hit.
Re: As PS6 Delay Rumours Swirl, Fans Debate Ray Tracing's Worth
It's a weird set of comparisons.
Firstly, RT is part of Art Direction. Using it or not will dictate how you art your game and light it. A game that only uses RT will free up artists to make actual art instead of wasting time doing multiple passes of light baking. How you light and shadow your game directly affects art direction. If you have a nice looking game but your reflections are really bad SSR, your art direction will suffer/not live up to its potential. Capcom have had really bad SSR over the last few years that destroys the presentation of their games.(RE2 pre RT I’m looking at you)
Also he might be right that RT doesn't add to story or gameplay, but neither does the fps he cares so much about. People want better looking games and that can be achieved through RT.
People used to moan about programmable shaders when they came along. Try playing a game without them now. RT is here and it’s staying. Wether it is for all games or all users is up for debate, but it has its place.
Re: 7 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for March 2026 Leaked Early
@JDINCINERATOR a rumour that didn’t say it was this month.
Also leaks are rumours until they are confirmed.
Re: Hypothetically, Could Sony Stop Its PS5 Ports from Running on Xbox Helix?
TLDR; No.
Setting aside the obvious moral issues, the legal ones will ensure it.
Re: Sony Rated the Best Big Game Company to Work for in Japan, Beating Nintendo, Capcom, More
@Porco PlayStation has other facilities and departments in Japan than just developers.Like the Asian headquarters and hardware and research divisions. Example, Cerny designs the hardware technology of the console but Japan turns that into a physical product including final physical design. The ps4 and 5 unboxing were done by the Japanese guy who oversaw the actual physical design iirc.
All of the companies listed have a lot more staff than just development and none of them are strictly console development houses, they all do other things too.
I don’t see anything suggesting this is just people working directly on game development.
Re: Fallout 3 PS5 Is Fast Becoming One of the Worst Kept Secrets in Gaming
@Czar_Khastik 3 days after everyone else confirms it
Re: Rumour: PS Plus Extra Tipped to Add Two Giant PS5 Games This Month
I’d love this to be true if only because bilbilkun often only “leaks” the day of or the day before the actual announcement so what is the point of bothering. It will amuse me.
However I can believe one or the other of these games but not both at the same time, it seems a bit far fetched.
Edit: oh wait extra. In that case anything goes
Re: Trails, Ys Dev Falcom Celebrates 45th Anniversary, Announces New Dragon Slayer Project
As long as it's an actual Dragon Slayer project and not whatever Tokyo Xanadu was meant to be. Because Xanadu it isn't.
As for the 45th anniversary, it's not as a game developer. Not that wikipedia will tell you this for some reason, but Falcom started as a computer shop selling Apple II stuff - Computer Land Tachigawa. In fact they are alleged to be the first licensed Apple retailer in Japan, although I’ve found claims the first Japanese Apple deal was made in the 70s.
Re: PS6 Rival Xbox Helix Could Cost as Much as $1,200
This is a figure that has been thrown around for some time. Microsoft simply can’t subsidise it, especially if they are giving up their cut to other game storefronts.
Re: 'We're Discussing Ways to Improve': Marathon Dev Tweaking Monetisation and Difficulty as FPS Fails to Blow Up
@Max_the_German
You know you can ignore the "bloat" if you want and play the game without issue right?
I never have understood this complaint about open world games being full of optional content. Lots of people want to play that content, and the people who don't can ignore it. Everyone wins.
Re: 'We're Discussing Ways to Improve': Marathon Dev Tweaking Monetisation and Difficulty as FPS Fails to Blow Up
@Lup
if you want to make a point, at least get your facts right rather than spreading incorrect info. Bungie have requested that people wait for a piece of content before they renew the game, but they are letting reviewers review the game as-is. A very different context.
There is enough ***** stirring based on wrong information or completely made up statements on this website, let's not twist Sammys actual explanation.
Re: Going Platinum: Aladdin and The Lion King Represented a Weird Full Circle Moment
It’s A Whole New World of trophies
Re: Opinion: I Wonder if Xbox Helix Will Force Sony to Break Its PS6 Silence
@2here2there For a lot of people the line between a set spec pc and a console is already quite thin. Steam Machine if it ever launches will be seen as a console as much as a pc, since SteamOS is closer to a console setup than windows for the user.
Re: Opinion: I Wonder if Xbox Helix Will Force Sony to Break Its PS6 Silence
@illegalmonkey
Every official comment from Microsoft I have seen says that they are not exiting the console market. What they say the are doing is trying different things because they don’t believe the traditional model works (for them)
Project Helix isn’t an exit from the console market in their eyes. They want to redefine what a console is.
Re: Opinion: I Wonder if Xbox Helix Will Force Sony to Break Its PS6 Silence
@TheArt it’s the exact same problem Phil Spencer attributes to the difficulty in selling Series consoles versus PS5.
So either they haven’t learnt, they think Game Pass makes up for it or they think people will buy old pc games to make up for it or some combination of the three.
Re: Opinion: I Wonder if Xbox Helix Will Force Sony to Break Its PS6 Silence
It’s highly probably that the only reason Project Helix was announced officially was to boost Sharma’s profile. By saying she will be talking to partners soon she is trying to take on the narrative for what has been a long term project overseen by her predecessors and show she is out there getting on with the job.
And that’s fine and to be expected.
And what was announced was what we already knew besides the code name. A good code name imo but Microsoft’s issue was never with code names but the final name.
Sony don’t need to do anything. They have already effectively confirmed PS6 with Cernys AMD stuff. And they will release it when it makes sense to do so, which will be measured in different metrics (not forgetting costs of components in a fluid market) than polls on websites.
Re: Site News: Where's Our Marathon PS5 Review?
@ShadowofSparta @pukana @TrollOfWar No live service game ever launches everything all at once nor are they expected to. If anything it's usually best practice to have a steady schedule of content or modes once people have had a chance to play the actual main game.
There is a valid debate about when the correct time to review the game and that is arguably once at launch week with what it has then and then follow up on it later. Its rare for online games to be accurate to review before launch day when there isn't a proper player count, but there will always be content later, regardless of who makes the game and what time of the year it is.
FWIW I have no interest in Marathon or other online shooty shoot games one way or another, but the release of content is consistent with every other online game. When the review launches isn't going to change that so I'm don't agree with people holding back reviews for it but that's Push Square's choice since it isn't a binding request
Re: After Cancelling Most PC Ports, Sony Promotes New 'PC Ready' Controller
@Voltan Marathon and 4Loop
Re: Don't Worry, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Is 'Not a Roguelike', Says Konami
@Haruki_NLI But the second game is in the middle gameplay wise so I don’t think it’s wrong as such
Re: After Cancelling Most PC Ports, Sony Promotes New 'PC Ready' Controller
@Voltan FFXIV is one such game but I believe SE use their own custom driver to support Sony pads and features
However “any game” natively isn’t true. Only games that support Direct Input, older Xinput games require third party tools as the are designed for 360 pads basically. Steam can fix this but not always.
Less of a problem with modern games but might be a nasty surprise if you pix up an old game for pennies
Re: Ubisoft Officially Reveals Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Remake, Gives Hexe and PvP Game Updates
@wildcat_kickz have they still not fixed that HDR bug?
Re: Ubisoft Officially Reveals Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Remake, Gives Hexe and PvP Game Updates
Still not sure this needs a remake but will I play it eventually if it's good, yes absolutely.
Re: Shocking: PlayStation Studios Are Hiring for New Games
@MasterChiefWiggum obviously it depends on where those jobs are, people in California probably aren’t going to move to Japan or Finland if they need to be in-office.
Re: Opinion: If Sony's Doubling Down on Its Most Popular Franchises, Where's Uncharted?
Sometimes you just need to know when to let go and Naughty Dog did that.
If anything they made more Uncharted games than expected.
Besides you just can’t please everyone, for everyone who wants more Uncharted there will be someone else who would rather something new.
Re: Sony Quietly Decided to Scale Back PC Ports Last Year, Insider Claims
@cragis0001 At this rate the Steam Machine won’t be a rival because it won’t be launching. RAMageddon is making it unviable. If Valve weren’t talking release date or price (which was already implied to be high) four months ago then they are further away from doing that now.
Re: Sony Confirms Big PS5 Pro Upgrade Is Out in March, Better PSSR Upscaler
@HRdepartment The toggle doesn't mean a game won't benefit from a patch, as a game can still be patched to work better with PSSR2 by taking better advantage. There may still be flaws on existing games or developer work arounds that aren't needed anymore.
However they don't need a patch to take advantage of PSSR2 if the toggle is on.
It's a clever solution and Sony must have plenty of faith in it not completely breaking every game, but the fallback is there just like Boost mode.
Re: Sony Confirms Big PS5 Pro Upgrade Is Out in March, Better PSSR Upscaler
@badbob001 That's not how it works. A game using PSSR is coded into the game, the toggle just tells it which file to use when accessing pssr (the equivalent of changing the dll on pc), covering your first two options. That's fine.
Turning PSSR off completely through the dashboard would (probably) simply break games/compatibility.
Re: Guitar Hero Studio RedOctane Is Back with Stage Tour, a New Plastic Instrument Rhythm Game
Oh look, more landfill.
Re: Rumour: Sony Backtracking on PC Strategy, Shifting Towards PS5 Exclusivity Again
@Perturbator that would hurt more than help. Pc users already get upset over the mere suggestion of not using steam and hate launchers. Epic with all their money and throwing free games at people can’t get market traction so Sony won’t either. Ubisoft and EA only get away with it by doing subscriptions to their back catalogs in the same apps
Doing it now is a non starter
Re: Rumour: Sony Backtracking on PC Strategy, Shifting Towards PS5 Exclusivity Again
@Deadlyblack @AdamNovice it feels like with Nixxies having already done some remaster work it feels like they could possibly be given a sort of hybrid role. If that were the case it would help to explain the BP debacle, but also asks the question why they couldn’t be merged.
Re: Resident Evil Requiem 'Head and Shoulders' Ahead of All Consoles on PS5 Pro
@Rich33 I'm expecting PSSR2 to require a firmware update, but its also not impossible that it exists in the existing firmware and is enabled on a per software basis.
I don't really understand the pixel peeping but DF never usually show it in this way on video which immediately drew my attention. Perhaps it was just the best way to explain the exact scenario rather than anything secret. However Jon has also said that the video was originally only going to be Pro and the "embargo changing" which could mean PSSR, it could mean Capcom just wanting all non S2 versions compared in one video. It's vague enough, unsurprisingly.
We know DF have upcoming embargoed content as Rich has said so (not unusual) but that could be anything .
Re: Did You Get In? Beta Invites for Horizon's Divisive PS5, PC Multiplayer Game Out Now
@Th3solution I wouldn’t worry about overlap. Marathon is done and ready for release. this is just a pre launch stress test to make sure the servers are doing their job.
Horizon is just a standard milestone for getting actual feedback from actual people playing the game so they can tweak the game. Because it’s a closed nda invite they can filter most of the noise and they will have a specific number of invites which means they don’t need the numbers marathon does.
Marathon is out in a week, Horizon is 6+ months away but that’s plenty of time I think. They are different enough. It’s curious timing for them, I suspect the two teams decided for themselves and no one co-ordinated between them but equally it may have been deliberate as they have different needs.
Re: The Simpsons: Hit & Run Studio Returns, and Fans Are Hopeful for a Remaster
@AK4tywill Yeah I realised that very quickly, I forgot there were two games
Re: The Simpsons: Hit & Run Studio Returns, and Fans Are Hopeful for a Remaster
New Radical Games? Well you only get what you give I guess
Re: Toaplan All-Timers Twin Cobra, Tiger-Heli Come to PS4 This Week
IIRC this is how the Garage series operates in Japan if you buy digitally. Usually however you would expect a western release to do away with that.
Re: Incoming Xbox Boss Promises a 'Renewed Commitment to Console', But Will Still Publish on PS5
Curious that she used the phrase AI slop which Nadella recently begged people to stop using.
Say what you want about Spencer and Bond but at least they had backgrounds in Xbox before being promoted, whereas this is clearly an AI and cloud shilling promotion and Xbox is already so far down that rabbit hole that I’m not sure how this moves the division forward.
Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 PS5 Has Assassin's Creed Content But No Online
@FxTANK note that the original release of MGS4 didn’t have trophies as they either weren’t available or weren’t mandatory at the time.
Trophies were eventually patched in when the game was reissued but MGO was already discontinued.
Re: 'One of the Worst Decisions Ever Made': God of War Creator Tears 'Total Crap' 2D Title Apart
@Boxmonkey I agree with sentiment as there is a place for creater commentary on recent works in their IP but normally the person giving it can be relied on to not be a dick for the sake of it. Jaffe is know for being bitter towards Sony and God of War entries after he left so it’s difficult to take his comments as good faith when they are like this.
Re: 'One of the Worst Decisions Ever Made': God of War Creator Tears 'Total Crap' 2D Title Apart
I mean if David Jaffe is moaning about something then it’s probably actually good
Re: PS Plus Essential Game for February 2026 Leaked
That can’t be right, an actual leak rather than the morning of the day it’s announced anyway like usual?
Re: Naughty Dog Forces Crunch to Get PS5 Exclusive Intergalactic 'Back on Track' for Mid 2027 Release
Crunch is never good but we also know it’s common. It usually happens at the end of a project so it’s not a great look at all.
However this also points out why games should only be announced when they are actually ready to be shown.
Sony took a lot of stick years ago, and quite rightly for announcing games that didn’t appear for years. So they stopped doing that and started announcing games when they were ready to. Astro Boy and Yotei come to mind. What happened here was clearly ND/Sony getting annoyed at all the demands for a new ND game and putting out a non-gameplay promo for a game that clearly wasn’t ready to be shown of. Because why else would they make an exception to an apparent policy?
Re: 'I Don't Think Prompting Is Art': The Last of Us Co-Creator Isn't a Fan of Generative AI
@TheArt Procedural generation usually takes pre created “blocks” that are designed to attach to other blocks and having a coded routine pick random blocks and attach them together. It’s a technique that I believe dates to the 80s.
I believe there is video footage of a Guerrilla environment artist live altering the environment in HZD by taking these blocks, placing and manipulating them in the environment in real time. I expect most non-indie open world games work in a similar manner.
Edit: not the actual video I was looking for but it shows the system used
https://youtu.be/KRJkBxKv1VM?si=a5W0sigaPYs5pmrc (20:30)