Marquez

Pretty sure the Venn diagram of the 'that looks like a man' crowd on this thread and the 'I'm glad the Stellar Blade devs haven't gone all woke because I love big butts in ma gamez' commenters is basically one circle.

An excellent set of additions imo.

@Czar_Khastik You forgot to include the remasters and remakes.

@Porco The key difference is that Germany as a nation has fronted up to and openly discussed the crimes of that regime, and actively educated on the past. Japan, with regards to their actions against Korea are… less than apologetic.

I'd like Microsoft to do well and give Sony a run for their money, competition is important. I'd also like to play their more unique recent titles - Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush - on my PS5 or Switch as I don't own an Xbox or PC. So Win-Win for me basically. Not too fussed about their tentpole titles, there are similar experiences on PS5 anyway.

I am overloaded with act 3 quests in Baldurs Gate 3 so I’m going to spend the weekend rolling the character for my tactician playthrough and settling back into the familiarity of act 1, for a break!

Open hand monk or some kind of multiclass gloomstalker, that’s the question.

Think I'll finally fire up A Plague Tale: Requiem as there's only a couple of days left to get the 50 Stars points for it, and then I'll immediately jump back to the delightful Sea Of Stars

The tone deaf prioritisation of the Eververse store continues. It's announcements like this, in the run-up to the delayed Final Shape, that have me hovering over the 'cancel' button of my preorder - even though that would mean me not playing the conclusion to the winding saga I've enjoyed since the original Destiny beta nearly a decade ago...

@TheArt It's the game that keeps on giving - I'm currently watching my son play, who has the platinum and is now on a 'no armor/fist weapons only' playthrough!

I had enough fun playing solo in the closed beta that I'll give the open beta a try and the co-op when I do. Didn't blow me away, but there was definitely fun to be had.

And for all the people dunking on the game before it's even out there are people working hard on this, who may or may not have a job post-launch given the current state of the industry - so how about being nice? Maybe I'm asking too much of the internet...

Even though these are redundancies in the gaming space these are not driven by the success or otherwise of product, as has been the case with other recent announcements - these are purely driven by the merger and the general nature of mergers. The redundancies will primarily be in central functions - senior management, finance, marketing, legal and so on - because of the unnecessary duplication of roles in the new population.

The bit that saddens me more is the confirmation that those let go will be compensated according to 'severance benefits informed by local employment laws' - this typically means the lowest the company letting them go can get away with, by region. At least the 500+ people to be let go by Riot Games are receiving an enhanced package - minimum six months's salary, job search support, ability to retain stock options and even use of a laptop to get them back on their feet... never great losing a job but there are right and wrong ways to help people transition to what's next, which this does not sound like - at all.

There's a great preview video from SkillUp that already had me intrigued, adding this video to the mix makes it an automatic preorder.

'We seem to be experiencing a new era of bleak realism in management sims'... I mean, that's just reflective of us entering a new era of bleak realism as a race and a planet unfortunately. Sorry to be the buzzkill.

Looking solely at his body of work and the impact of ND's narrative driven games on both Playstation's success and the wider video game landscape, this is absolutely deserved. As with a lot of creatives it's hard to separate the work from any controversial personal beliefs the person may hold, as per @nessisonett 's comments - that's a much wider topic for debate.

If AC Valhalla hadn’t had fast travel the platinum would have taken me 400 hours instead of 120 so…

@DonkeyFantasy Yeah my son got the plat and said exactly the same thing - I'm at the point where, if I beat Fire Giant, it gets more linear and focussed through to the end.

Gives me incentive to finish the main game, I got to the Fire Giant and then some other games grabbed my attention. Loved what I played though.

The plan last weekend was Jusant and Cocoon, but I booted up Sea Of Stars instead and I'm loving it - so more of that this weekend. It's also a perfect Portal game which means I'll get more opportunity to play it.

@Terra_Custodes Thanks, good words and I’ll pass them on.

I have a 16yo son looking at Uni game dev courses for when he leaves school and I can't help but worry I'm letting him head down a path of uncertain employment. Hopefully by the time he hits the market in five years' time the industry has worked out how to fix some of this; but it's obviously hard with the ramp up resource/release product/ramp down cycle that is part and parcel of game dev, particularly in the AAA space.

I fell off the game pretty hard after maybe a dozen hours, I do feel like I should give it a second chance but I found the open world areas disappointing - especially compared to the fantastic spaces within Hogwarts itself.

SkillUp put a video up of closed beta impressions after they dropped the NDA and I’m now definitely more interested than I was. But it’s clear that, however this game turns out, there are a lot of minds already made up unfortunately.

Pretty sure Nissan got there first with the Type R logo. Or possibly the Alphabet Guy with, you know, ‘R’.

Going for an indie weekend, continuing my enjoyable playthrough of Othercide, alongside Jusant and Cocoon.

Just had the best part of 1,000 missing points drop in, so that’s nice.

@Nepp67 Me too but then, this isn't Zelda

hides from the fanboys

Putting bizarre racial stereotyping of noses in this thread aside for one moment... while it's important to ensure an increase in minority representation in all workplaces, it's not critical to the success of an actor in a role when their job is literally pretending to be someone else. Particularly here when it's more a case of backstory.

In general the casting has really worked for me so far, both current and future, it's going to be a long wait to see her performance though...

I have a dock and four controllers (with a current stick drift % of 12.5%!) and this, if true, would stop the endless rotation. Typically I get no more than five to six hours out of any controller, though specific game features definitely have an impact - haptics etc., as others have pointed out. With the PS5 constantly in use at weekends - me, my son and daughter all play - fingers crossed this is real.

@rusty82 I picked them both up off recommendations, so let's see which I enjoy most!

Bought Cocoon in the recent sale, after all the recommendations I'm looking forward to it.

I don't know why this is so controversial, when PGA Tour Golf made my own personal top three...

@JamieO Elden Ring is an excellent place to start, he can play at his own pace and in whatever style he likes. And hats off for the Valhalla dlc completion, I got the main game platinum and was too exhausted!

I randomly installed Othercide while browsing my backlog a few days ago and I cannot stop playing it. A dark near-past fantasy X-Com with rogue like elements? It's fantastic.

How this one flew under the radar I have no idea. Also, it is a perfect game to play on the Portal, which is what I did when the in-laws descended for three days.

Just picked it up in the January sale on the PS store and really looking forward to it. Might have to run through AW Remastered first though to fully appreciate it.

@JamieO When I got into AC Valhalla I thought I might be 81 before I finished it so who knows how your stepdad felt! Great list, great nod to him. Get him on the Souls-like route

I fell off it after 10-15 hours, but my son was obsessed enough to get the platinum. And that is why people, we love video games - something for everyone. Personally it wouldn't make my top ten but ask him and it's number one.

@LiamCroft Hey tbf I didn’t think it would click with me before I played it, and I can see why it’s not for everyone.

Tell me you haven't played Baldur's Gate III without telling me etc.

Good list nonetheless and another one nudging me towards that Cocoon purchase!

Dredge is one of those ‘don’t sleep on it’ indie titles that I will definitely add to my backlog during a sale and then… sleep on. It’s been highly recommended.

I'll take 13. I've ben up since 6 preparing Christmas dinner and had two bottles of red. Otherwise, I'd have nailed the natural 20.

I really enjoyed the story but didn't feel compelled to go on and platinum the game, unlike the first one. A lot of collectibles and general busy work put me off. Genuinely excited for the inevitable final episode of the trilogy though.

Trophy mop-up in AC Mirage, I platinum'd Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla so this tiny (by comparison) AC game should be no trouble!

Alan Wake 2 with its 20% discount is winking at me from the PS Store sale, but so is Act 3 of Baldur's Gate. We will see.

@Shepherd_Tallon It's just the utterly painful syntax...

EDIT 'was' the utterly painful syntax... which the ban hammer has cured.

Top list Ken, top list. And with you all the way on blaster stance. I've bought Lies of P for my teenage son for Christmas - he platinum'd Bloodborne earlier this year and will be absolutely made up. He'll also get added value from watching me play it terribly.

@Fight_Teza_Fight They did address, firstly with a statement that he was off the show while allegations were ongoing and then a follow-up to say he wouldn't be returning. I think one was at the start of an episode and repeated on SKillUp's 'Week in Videogames' and the final comment may have been on Twitter only?

@Ainu20 Yeah I see that, definitely a different personality and angle to the other three.

His contributions to the Friends Per Second podcast (alongside SkillUp, Jake Baldino and Lucy James) were great - they also cut ties in a very level-headed way, much like the studio is doing here. Guilty or not, the situation he’s in raises serious questions and I can understand why other creators would seek to distance themselves, while not throwing him under a bus entirely. Let’s see how it plays out.

@Nightcrawler71 closes curtains, turns off all the lights

I've not been forced into multiplayer, been playing the early quests solo.

I started the Skull & Bones Closed Beta last night and obviously I can't say too much about it but it's confirmation the game does exist!.

It's time limited to six hours, I've played an hour so far and have had enough fun that I will be playing more. Then I'll go back to a couple of games where I only need a handful of trophies for platinum - PGA Tour Golf, GoW Ragnarok - before working on the AC Mirage plat. My PlayStation 2023 wrap-up with its solitary platinum trophy has... shamed me into action.

This is a positive article inundated with negative comments.

Heard some great stuff about Tinykin, will definitely check it out.