Comments 1,881

Re: Nintendo Buys Singapore Studio Behind Papercraft PS5 Console Exclusive Hirogami

Max_the_German

@PuppetMaster

It‘s not about sequels in general. It’s about sequels which look and feel almost the same. In that article about „too many sequels“, it was mentioned that there are 24 Super Mario entries. Except for Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan („The Lost Levels“) and Galaxy 2, there are no direct sequels, the titles play totally differently. Galaxy 2 is more like Ragnarök, Forbidden West, Miles Morales, Rift Apart and all the other examples we all know well.

A new IP doesn’t mean that Hirogami is more or less successful. If the game is mediocre, that’s the problem.

Expectations for PS Studios games are just extremely high, created by Sony with the firework of PS4 exclusives.

Re: Poll: Five Years of PS5 - How Would You Rate Sony's Console?

Max_the_German

I hadn’t had a PS4, these fantastic games were totally new to me, and I could enjoy all of them in perfect 60 fps.

Be it because they already targeted 60 fps on PS4 (God of War, Dark Souls 3), they got a 60 fps patch (Horizon, The Last of Us Part 2), or they got native PS5 versions (Death Stranding).

While these games were already very good on PS4, I just can’t accept 30 fps, fan noise and long loading times anymore. PS5 delivered this snappy experience I had on my Super Nintendo back then, and that is great.

Re: Sony Is Actually Advertising PSVR2 This Black Friday

Max_the_German

@invictus4000

Yes, controls in RE8 and especially RE4 are much better than in Hitman, reloading becomes very intuitive, after a few hours you don’t think about it anymore.

But map handling is another example: In RE8, it is located somewhere at you bottom, and it in many cases you miss it with you hand. RE4 needs only a button press, and with its 2D screen, it’s much sharper and easier to read. The map in RE8 on the other hand can be used while moving, which is great.

Maybe developers should limit the number of item locations to 3-5 on the front of your body and avoid locations on your rear.

Re: Sony Is Actually Advertising PSVR2 This Black Friday

Max_the_German

@Vermines

I started Hitman VR a few weeks ago, and the controls are so fiddling, I stopped playing after two hours. Maybe I will go back, but not in the upcoming months.

I don’t like this „immersion“ of grabbing your stuff at different positions of your body, especially on your back (which isn’t recognised reliably), instead of simply using buttons on controller. There’s a reason why Wii and Kinect are a thing of the past!

Now I bought Max Mustard, after its price was permanently reduced to 8 euros. Heard good things about it.

Re: Sony Estimated to Have Made $1.5 Billion from Steam, But the Novelty Is Wearing Off

Max_the_German

I understand why Sony is considering to stop porting to PC.

One important aspect wasn’t discussed yet: Games published by SIE (includes games from PS Studios and others like Stellar Blade) are costly to produce, but their direct financial effect seems to be quite low.

-> Sony is mainly the platform holder of PSN now. It’s exclusives are just that extra something to make PlayStation interesting, not more.

Re: 'I'm So Happy': Japanese Players Rejoice Over Finally Buying Cut-Price PS5

Max_the_German

@CielloArc

I think it wasn’t the customers, it were the platform holders themselves who decided to go region-free, to avoid the manufacturing of different versions of physical media. The model of region locking stems from a time with different TV standards in different parts of the world. But today, we all watch streams in 60 Hz on our phones.

Region locking for games, and it is a thing for streaming. Our individual opinions about this topic hardly matters, sadly.

Re: Don't Expect Intergalactic PS5 to Launch Until at Least 2027

Max_the_German

Will Sony follow here the approach of Breath of the Wild? While it was the „Wii U Zelda“ for the longest time of development, being the top release game for Switch changed the whole reception.

You can’t compare the system numbers of PS5 and poor Wii U, sure. But if the PS6 shows a phenomenal graphical improvement over PS5, Intergalactic could become THE PS6 game.

Re: Quick Thinking from Sony Should Shield PS5 from RAM Shortages for Now

Max_the_German

In hindsight, it’s always clear what the smart decision was and who have made it. The people at Microsoft‘s purchasing department are probably not more or less clever as those at Sony‘s. These contracts can be pretty tricky, and it’s always a kind of bet.

It’s especially hard for the purchasers when the own manufacturing numbers are not planned far into the future. That can be the case here, because the extent of the subsidies for Xbox Series unit prices and therefore the sales numbers are certainly difficult question for Microsoft to answer.

Instead of saying „MS purchasing department is stupid“ I‘d rather say „Microsoft‘s Xbox strategy is a big mess with many possible negative effects on operation“.

Re: 'We Believe It's Feasible': Emulation Studio Working on PS3 Support for Modern Consoles

Max_the_German

His message is very much „Sony wants us to only work on PS2 emulation because they are not happy with it yet, PS3 is explicitly not part of the ongoing contract, and Sony is not showing any real interest in making a new contract anytime soon. I want to increase the pressure on our contract partner Sony with this public interview, but I‘m not sure if this is a good idea.“

Re: PS5 Sales Collapse in Japan as Sony Readies Overdue Rescue Plan

Max_the_German

@Oram77 Not exclusives or prioritising, but designing a game around the specs of a certain platform. Hades 2 and Silksong are designed around the specs of NS1, GTA6 around the specs of PS5, etc. And as a publisher, I would target NS2, PS4 and SteamDeck to address a very big market (which also includes lower-spec PCs).

Re: PS5 Sales Collapse in Japan as Sony Readies Overdue Rescue Plan

Max_the_German

@Oram77

Really? I find it very likely that SE regrets its decision to launch FF16 as a PS5 exclusive. As a game like MH Rise, targeting Switch with superior PS4 and PS5 versions, FF16 would’ve had more success.

Developing for Switch 2 should also be cheaper than for PS5 due to the lower graphical fidelity (textures, polygon models). Switch 2 targeting games could run well on SteamDeck and PS4, a platform with a vital user base all over the world. And customers are happy with UE5 titles without its key technologies Lumen, Nanite and VSMs (publishers less so, but the market dictates).

Switch 2 is the technological sweet spot for new games with mass appeal.

Re: PS5 Sales Collapse in Japan as Sony Readies Overdue Rescue Plan

Max_the_German

@get2sammyb

20k per week would mean 1m per year, so 6-8m lifetime. PS4 sold less than 10m, while PS2 shifted more than 24m units. Today’s dominance of PlayStation in the console market as the target platform for most games stems largely from that 24m units. Europe with its huge PS5 numbers can’t save this position. PC and Switch are huge threats for the global role of the PlayStation ecosystem.

I guess 20k wouldn’t shift the needle enough.

Re: PS5 Sales Collapse in Japan as Sony Readies Overdue Rescue Plan

Max_the_German

These low numbers for PlayStation in Japan are particularly low because of the announcement of the cheaper model.

But in general they are very dangerous for the PlayStation ecosystem as a whole, because Japanese games are an important part of the PS experience. If studios like SE and Capcom decide to make the Switch their main target platform, PS will loose a lot of its appeal.
MH Rise and the Switch 2 release of RE9 on the same day as on PS5 are warning signs the Sony management couldn’t ignore any more.

Re: Expedition 33, Ghost of Yotei Have Started Scooping Up GOTY Awards

Max_the_German

E33 is a strong political symbol:

  • Turn-based, what people missed in the last FF games
  • Handmade by an indie studio, the opposite of a big company producing only sequels with AI

I haven’t played it, because I don’t like turn-based RPGs. My impression from the articles and videos I consumed is: It‘s a very good, classical RPG with a new visual style in a fresh setting.

Is it better than it competitors as a game? Or is it also it’s role of a political symbol?

Re: $100 Off PS5 Consoles, PSVR2 for Black Friday 2025

Max_the_German

@Ainu20 Accessories like controllers usually remain unchanged for the whole generation. I see PSVR2 as an accessory.

Maybe I‘m especially mad because of the outrageous PSVR2 game support from SIE. The high price indicated a good support. Now everyone can see that it‘s crap, so they had to reduce the price…

Re: PlayStation CEO Pushed Through Cut-Price PS5 in Japan After Seeing System Slump Against Switch 2

Max_the_German

Sony has to get a better market position in Japan not only for business in Japan, but worldwide.

With PS1 and PS2, many important Japanese IPs moved to PlayStation as their new home. FF, RE, MH and other series are crucial for its appeal. And they have a huge audience in Japan. If the big Japanese third-party publishers change from PS to Switch as their main platform, then PS looses its appeal not only in Japan, but worldwide. The catalogue of PS5 exclusives would look pretty direct sequels without them.

Re: Talking Point: The Game Awards 2025 Nominations Announced: Who Are Your Winners?

Max_the_German

This list of GOTY contenders is a mirrow for gaming in 2025 (mobile excluded):

4 of 6 games are sequels, with 3 of them having relatively small evolutions and only KCD2 making a big step compared to KCD1.

Not only from that perspective, I find it sad the Indy wasn’t nominated for GOTY. An original and unique first-person action-adventure, with great visuals and acting, masterfully crafted.

Re: Mobile MMO Horizon Steel Frontiers Seems to Have Captured Lots of Attention Already

Max_the_German

@cragis0001

A two-player Horizon game with a single player option sounds interesting. The both existing Horizon games follow the Ubi-formula, Guerrilla is not well known for innovative gameplay mechanics. So a big question mark from me on that idea.

I still believe that Guerrilla is cooking something very similar to HSF. If it were cancelled, many assets could be used for a proper Horizon 3, which most of us would prefer.

Re: Mobile MMO Horizon Steel Frontiers Seems to Have Captured Lots of Attention Already

Max_the_German

@Oram77 Yes, I find it possible that SIE would cancel Guerrilla‘s game.

SIE is no stranger in killing multiplayer games from its major studios, even after years of development; you know the examples.

And a live service game lives from its huge and loyal audience. Splitting it into two harms both games.

But on the other hand, I still doubt that Hermen knows how to make live service games interesting and profitable.

Re: Embarrassing AI Art Plagues Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Launch

Max_the_German

@darkswabber

Yes, I know that, and I wanted to adress another aspect I find more relevant:

People are happy with art of low quality, aka kitsch. They get mad if AI is used to generate it. For them, the creator is more important than the creature.

I say: Don’t be happy with poor art! Seek for high and memorable quality, with unique and consistent direction! THAT can’t be generated with AI, for that talented artists are needed.

CoD is generic as hell. And AI is great for generic stuff. Don’t be satisfied with generic stuff!