Comments 7,028

Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think of the PS5 Pro, Three Weeks Later?

NEStalgia

I feel the same about it now as I did back when it was rumored and I jumped from console back to PC. In fact I feel worse about it, because it turned out to be less impressive than rumored.

Minimal upgrade at maximal price. Console-only audience keeps treating it like it's some amazing technology of the future while anyone that follows PC tech knows it's a blast from the past at a really high price.

In a vacuum it's not that it's a bad machine. The problem is that it's not a particularly impressive upgrade, the price is extraordinary for the modest upgrade it actually is, and maybe more importantly its existence and the tradeoffs that remain present continue to break the entire core reason for the existence of consoles. What makes console desirable is that it's a single, common, core experience, where everyone gets the same experience, and developers can tailor that experience to fit it. Once you get into spec comparisons and benchmarks, you've left behind what makes console a viable concept.

I don't think on it's own it's terrible, but I think the fairly anemic upgrade, for the extreme pricing, and the fact that these mid-gen models break the idea of consoles entirely, moving it into the "GPU upgrade cycle", but in the end you end up spending more and getting less than actual GPU upgrades to keep up, is a very problematic process for the console future.

As it is, at its current pricing, it's meant for people who like to have "the best" even if it's only a modest upgrade, and value convenience foremost, no matter the markup for said convenience. If it were a $550 or even $600 box, it would be much easier to praise it for what it is.

Additionally the 2TB SSD IMO was a recklessly stupid feature for it, by forcing it up into a price bracket that unfairly represents it.

Re: Black Myth: Wukong Dev Declares 'Surprises' Still in Store for 2024

NEStalgia

@DennisReynolds I can understand the view on level design. I happen to love the exploration, but I can see it's simplicity being conflicting (though I'd level that same charge against GoW2018 but everyone seems to go nuts for that), but art design? I thought that was, if anything the one thing it did have going for it!

Re: Black Myth: Wukong Dev Declares 'Surprises' Still in Store for 2024

NEStalgia

@DennisReynolds "Black Myth faking 60fps"

Remember in terms of GOTY nominations they're not just looking at the Playstation build but the game itself. Which is primarily a PC game that doesn't fake 60fps.... (Actually irritatingly it does default to framgen being enabled even on PC, but doesn't need to be on "current" hardware.)

The PS build is indeed lousy, but that doesn't hold GOTY back if it's a multiplatform game that performs better on another platform (and is the main platform it sold on.)

IDK if it should be GOTY, but I can say (as a PC player) it shouldn't not be.

Re: Oct 2024 USA Sales: PS5, PS4 Account for 82% of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Sales in the US

NEStalgia

@colonelkilgore Agreed. But like you said, I agree, I think Sony has a long term problem in that they're the default now because they're the default, but their future strategy depends 100% on maintaining the status quo without an outside disruptor challenging that position seriously. And they probably need a plan to migrate away from that, because this status quo prints money for now but that won't last indefinitely, and once disrupted, they have no method really to claw back that market. They probably need to think along the lines of handling that future strategy even if they disrupt their own status quo now to do it. Otherwise you're right, they go extinct. I can't tell if they're actually planning to resolve that or just try to grab all the money while it's there before it's gone. Rumors are they Sony PC launcher which gives me vibes of the old Sony Entertainment music service that was a trainwreck of a closed "me too" storefront with no incentive to actually use it. Not much unlike Xbox/Windows Store now, except that at least has GP as an incentive to use it.

Re: Black Myth: Wukong Declared Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards 2024

NEStalgia

IDK that it deserves GOTY or not, but I can't say it's not a deserving game of the award either. Popularity contest for a crazy popular game in China or not, the game really is seriously good. When all indications are that Keighley, Inc. plans to nominate a DLC that's just more content for 2 years ago's GOTY, it makes it even harder to say this doesn't deserve it, as it's no less competent a game, and while it doesn't break any new ground, it's still a unique blend of attributes that I can't say feels like any other particular game.

@RoomWithaMoose I think it's a game you have to play it to get it. It doesn't do anything new or unprecidented or break new ground, but it puts together a lot of well liked concepts from a lot of games, puts them together very competently, is dripping with atmosphere, and most importantly as an action combat game, just feels incredible to control. IMO I think that's the main thing that makes this game feel so much better than its "objective" critiques is that the feel of actually controlling the game is just addictive, and it's a subtle quality that is the most important quality in a video game most studios not called Nintendo tend to forget. I'm not like a super "OMG best game ever" fan of the game, and the "hard because hard" genre isn't really even my genre at all (not a big From or Team Ninja fan really), but I have to say the game is just addictive, and I find myself thinking about it and wanting to go on "just a little bit more" and I think it all comes down to the feel. It just FEELS good to play it. Like one car vs another, it's all about the handling.

IMO it handles better than Stellar Blade which is a decent game but super overrated, and the only thing that saves it from being "just a Nier Automata Clone with Souls mechanics" is the fact that it openly acknowledges it, leans into it, and actually teamed up for a crossover. Replace the hot jiggly girls in dressup clothes with brooding teenage emo dudes and that game would lose MOST of its following, even though it's a decent game by any measure.

Re: Oct 2024 USA Sales: PS5, PS4 Account for 82% of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Sales in the US

NEStalgia

It's funny. I remember in 2013 when all the PS fans were like "Eeew, who'd want Xbox, all it is is just Call of Duty, Call of Duty, Call of Duty, Call of Duty."

A decade later and 80% of CoD is PS.

@colonelkilgore I resemble that description! There's overlap specifically with XB though, because I think XB was from the start positioned as "a cheaper more convenient PC gaming platform" so it always kind of straddled this line between PC and "console", that was its purpose, and I think XB picked up a big market of lapsed PC gamers and would-be-PC gamers that liked the value and convenience, but were looking for a PC-ish experience. So I think there does end up being a lot of overlap where, now that XB has really tried to unify itself with PC it makes the jump a lot more appealing for users that were already half way there. Which they don't mind, that was the original purpose anyway. In fact MS kind of threw away their, at the time growing PC presence in gaming in order to force people into Xbox. They made a mess of PC gaming for a while, as they'd been buying studios and build their PC publishing presence and then suddenly closed it all down to force everything into console exclusivity. So their present is kind of just rewinding and undoing the damage they did back then. As an all PC gamer at the time I REALLY resented the Xbox for a long time lol.

Re: PS5 Pro vs PS5: Full Tech Specs Comparison

NEStalgia

@Raffles very very interesting results! Glad you followed up! Initially from the leaked specs and Cerny statementsI think all of us thought 4070. Then the printed specs looked 4060ish. But this reality is pretty meh for that price. Better than a $300 GPU, worse than a $500 all for $700.. yeah it's the whole machine but still... The CPU remains poor anyway. Not matching a 6800? Oof.

I suppose they have a market for it and that's a market that likes "better" but doesn't really care if it's that much better and its willing to pay high premium for convenience. IDK, consoles really have to rethink their specs and pricing going forward. This isn't going to be sustainable with hardware like that for pieces like this forever.

Re: In USA, the PS5 Pro Launched with Similar Sales to the PS4 Pro

NEStalgia

I think that launch always goes to the same people basically. The people who reliably buy the new thing every time no matter what. Launch is probably predictable. The longer term will be interesting. Especially in this economy. Gaming, and PlayStation in particular is in a really weird market now.

Re: Awful PS3 Game Haze a Comparison for Black Ops 6 Fans Complaining About Ridiculous Character Skins

NEStalgia

I paid money for Haze. I wouldn't pay money for this.

I had no idea cod was now just fortnite. I thought it was still a historical fiction American military series with Jerry Bruckheimer presentation. Not shark men shooting glowing aliens. No wonder it's a kids game. Desert Storm didn't make sense to my for modern kids but it really is just a cartoon apparently now?

Re: You'll Never See This Potential TV Mass Effect Commander Shepard Pick Coming

NEStalgia

@nessisonett BroShep is the only Shep, but only because of the comical delivery. FemShep makes ME feel like it's taking itself seriously. BroShep always feels like a total nerdball in space, which is half of the fun.

@themightyant nailed it though. Broshep is like a big puppydog with a gun with Meer's VA. Hale seems like the only viable renegade option because Meer sounds like Mr. Rogers saying he's going to mug you.

Re: Star Trek Actor Voices Sylens in LEGO Horizon Adventures

NEStalgia

Awwww man, I'm conflicted. I hated the idea of continuing the Sylens character without Lance, because the Sylens character is Lance and it just feels completely wrong to have anyone else try to do it with how unique his voice was. But, yet, I love Tim Russ! I might be able to tolerate the change with him. But it's also going to gnaw at me because Lance was Lance and that voice can't be swapped.

Re: Stellar Blade's Anticipated PC Port Takes Flight Sometime in 2025

NEStalgia

Lol, that subheading is golden.

I didn't end up playing much on PS as it kind of lost my interest as a souls like bargain basement Nier automata and then I switched to PC, but once this starts hitting good steam sales and now has an actual automata dlc coming I'll bite on PC.

Though I'm still painfully stuck on wukong and theres only so much of this type of battle system one can take.

Re: Game Size Not as Important as It Used to Be, Says Yakuza Creator

NEStalgia

I agree to a point, the bloated messes of giant games is far too much filler and far too little content often enough, but I also think if we're going to walk back games to smaller we also have to walk the prices back. Lower prices for smaller experiences might be highly in demand. But paying $70 or $80 to get less won't fly.

Re: Fortnite OG Sticks Around As Permanent Mode from 6th December

NEStalgia

The talk about "7 years" and nostalgia I think highlights one big problem with a big segment of the games industry and how it collides with fans. Too much of the game industry still revolves around the kid-cycle like the toy industry, so that "7 years" is this really long time that "oh man d00d, I remember this from when I was a kid!" (says a 12 year old.) While for everyone else 7 years is still "new."

Re: Hands On: PS5 Pro Injects More Magic into Hogwarts Legacy

NEStalgia

@LiamCroft Surprising to hear but good to know. Very surprising though that it would be all that popular. Personally though I'm not buying a 5 Pro, I did buy a 4 Pro, a SWOLED, a One X, and even as I bought all of those, individual game articles on enhancements like this would not at all have appealed to me, nor with GPU upgrades on PC, I'll check out the hardware reviews and comparisons, but not search for per-game differences one at a time like this. Can't imagine how it appeals to buyers or non buyers, but if it apparently does, I guess, yay.

Re: Hands On: PS5 Pro Injects More Magic into Hogwarts Legacy

NEStalgia

@Rich33 It's not a massive event. It's the same exact console with a modest GPU upgrade for nearly double the price. Only in marketing-enhanced PlayStation Land is that a massive event.

Imagine if Nintendo Life had months of it's feed covered in mostly comprisons of how much better the SWOLED looked in every game. It's a similar level event. And similarly PXB doesn't have articles comparing every single game on S and X. Yeah they're milking it because it's new because they're milking the SEO. These articles aren't for the readership, they're for Google hits.

Re: Hands On: PS5 Pro Injects More Magic into Hogwarts Legacy

NEStalgia

@Rich33 PC sites will do HARDWARE comparisons with a standard set of common benchmark games and test suites when new hardware launches, mostly comparing fps results at the same set of settings.

Not separate analysis of every single game on the new card, page after page after page. Not detail zoom ins of one versus another. Just a performance comparison at like settings.

Though once consoles have "tiers" console already failed. You're just choosing between an open PC platform or a closed one.

Re: Hands On: PS5 Pro Injects More Magic into Hogwarts Legacy

NEStalgia

@LiamCroft @Rich33 Love it as you guys will, I happen to find Push a less interesting site now that the whole site is just "here's how much better PS5 games would run on an old PC."

Either cover the PS5, or buy yourselves a cheap Zen2 4070 laptop and cover that, I'm sure you can get one on Black Friday for about the same price as a disc+stand PS5 Pro, and it'll amaze you if you think the Pro is all that!

Re: Hands On: PS5 Pro Injects More Magic into Hogwarts Legacy

NEStalgia

I still question the hyperbole around a lot of the rhetoric around how "amazing" the PS5 Pro is, unless Hogwarts ran particularly terribly on the PS5.

Hogwarts is a game I've played fully on a Series X (which I believe ran worse than it did on PS5 at the time?), and again on a 4070 Ti Super, and also on a 4090. The 4070TiS vs 4090 has zero difference, the 4090 can just hit more extreme 3 digit fps. The 4070TiS does have some increased sharpness, the ray tracing adds "different" lighting you would neither notice as better or worse without side by sides. Does it look "better" with all the settings maxed? Somewhat, but it's far from what I would consider a significant difference, Hogwarts is a technological marvel how it ran on the consoles.

Edit: And just to be clear, not knocking this article which is very clear it's not a big difference, just highlighting that this game highlights that some of those OTHER articles going into hyperbole are questionable.

Re: Sony Boss Says It's 'Learned a Lot' from PC Player Pushback

NEStalgia

@ButWhy agreed but the fight against those already HAS been going on, and, have you seen Ubisoft financials?

Microsoft actually doesn't do it. Their online games like sot do but not single player. Bethesda does, they were doing that before Ms bought them and inevitably someday Bethesda accounts won't exist and will be Microsoft accounts and likely won't require it anymore. That is kind of the point
Sony is doing this worse than Microsoft by miles. They're in the pool with EA and Ubisoft and Rockstar and nobody is very happy with those 3 on PC either.

Re: Sony Boss Says It's 'Learned a Lot' from PC Player Pushback

NEStalgia

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare I'd like to believe you're right however the fact that he's even couching the requirement behind the phrase "offering" makes me very doubtful.

"accounts that we have offered – well actually, by offering them, for instance, sometimes that tends to invite pushback,”

The IRS annually offers us donation boxes, too.

@themightyant That kind of data works with anonymous data aggregation. It doesn't need user accounts at all, and secondary launchers for that. The information they want here is not optimization and bug finding in nature. It's personal information they're after.