Comments 379

Re: Almost All the UK's Boxed Copies of Assassin's Creed Shadows Sold on PS5 Last Week

Neither_scene

@CielloArc you could argue the pr nightmare for wilds was performance - both alpha tests looked and ran terribly on consoles and pc prior to release.

Performance on release on pc is still pretty terrible and the high res texture pack absolutely tanks performance on my gpu, despite the in-game vram usage showing to be well within the 16gb i have available. I can’t speak for launch on consoles as I only played the alpha test on my ps5.

Gameplay wise, I love the game. But it’s definitely nowhere near a perfect launch.

Re: Everyone's Wondering Whether Sony Will Block PS5 Games on Xbox's Rumoured PC Hardware

Neither_scene

I don’t really understand the big issue here. It’s not like pc get any PlayStation single player games at launch - there’s a delay between the ps5 and steam releases, often significant. Steam are still waiting and have yet to receive confirmation of a demon’s souls remake release.

Sony have already stated that their intent behind the steam delay is to encourage pc players to purchase a PlayStation to play their games rather than have to wait x amount of time.

The only thing I could see changing is that Sony no longer have third party timed “console exclusives” which also release day and date on pc. They will be paying for full timed exclusivity so pc players will get screwed over too.

Re: Poll: Are You Playing Assassin's Creed Shadows?

Neither_scene

Will probably check it out later in the year when it inevitably comes to Ubisoft's lower tier of Ubisoft plus. The last assassin’s creed I played was Valhalla - enjoyed my time with it but was burnt out after about 60 hours so never saw the ending.

I suspect I’ll have a similar experience with shadows so happy to just rent it and get my fill that way. I’ll probably end up playing when gta6 launches, as I can’t imagine there’ll be much else launching at that time.

I’m happy to wait for the pc version of gta, it’s been 13 years since 5 launched - I’ll wait a little longer to play the game on my platform of choice. I won’t be double dipping, especially given some rumours that rockstar are considering raising pricing from the current £70 standard.

Re: Video: PS5 Pro vs PS5 - Assassin's Creed Shadows Stuns on Sony's Hardware

Neither_scene

@Titntin I think you’ve completely missed the point and I’ve obviously hit a nerve for you to respond so defensively.

It obviously won’t have double the performance for the price if you have any knowledge of how computing works. If you’re a parent or just a casual player in a store it’s not completely stupid for you to ask yourself “am I getting double the performance for twice the price?.” Or even, “what was the performance uplift like between the ps4 and ps4 pro and how much extra did that differential cost me? How does ps5 pro compare?”.

I never said it’s an obsolete product that shouldn’t exist. I said that anyone looking to purchase one has to make a decision as to whether the performance increase merits the price. For a few people it will, for others it won’t.

I’ve no idea why you’ve gone on a massive rant about choice or it being a niche product that still serves a purpose as if I’ve said anything to contradict that view. Crazy.

Re: Video: PS5 Pro vs PS5 - Assassin's Creed Shadows Stuns on Sony's Hardware

Neither_scene

@DennisReynolds it’s a £700 console - you shouldn’t have to wait and see if it’s the best console to game on. It’s roughly double the price of any of the base systems, the minimum expectation is that it will outperform every other console on the market.

The more pertinent question is, are you getting double the performance for double the money? How do tangible are the differences between the pro and the base consoles? Are these differences and performance gains sufficient to justify the price and therefore convince you to purchase the pro over the base model?

Re: Xbox Wants Its Games to 'Reach the Broadest Audience Possible' as It Plots More Long-Standing, Flagship Franchises for PS5

Neither_scene

@MrPeanutbutterz is that the exact same walled garden that operates on steam and Xbox market place day and date and allows digital key game sales through third parties?

Sony has been facing multiple lawsuits over their restrictions on digital game sales that have allegedly resulted in consumers being overcharged. They agreed to a $7.85 million out-of-court settlement in the US just last December over one-such class action lawsuit.

Sony’s walled garden works to ensure consumers are regularly overcharged for their digital purchases. Microsoft’s walled garden operates legally to allow market forces to dictate pricing.

That’s my point.

Re: Xbox Wants Its Games to 'Reach the Broadest Audience Possible' as It Plots More Long-Standing, Flagship Franchises for PS5

Neither_scene

@Lowdefal he was on record as saying it would be on a case by case basis. He refused to rule out titles coming to other platforms, I remember because the fanboys on both the Xbox and PlayStation sites were frothing at the mouths. He was also on record as saying he wanted as many people as possible playing the games Microsoft made.

Would you mind linking me to the record of him stating that starfield was bought to prevent it going multi-platform? Or was it on record that he bought starfield because Sony was in the middle of trying to negotiate exclusivity and prevent it coming to Xbox?

Do you have a selective memory?

I’m fully aware of the things he’s said in the past that didn’t come to pass. But I’m also fully aware of the things Sony have said that didn’t come to pass.

Wanting as many people to play the games Microsoft make is something Xbox are actively pursuing and have been for a long time with PC. By contrast Sony want a walled garden, complete control over pricing and limits to the number of people and ways that games can be played.

Re: Xbox Wants Its Games to 'Reach the Broadest Audience Possible' as It Plots More Long-Standing, Flagship Franchises for PS5

Neither_scene

@N1ghtW1ng yep, definitely a liar back when he said he wanted as many people as possible to play the games Microsoft were making when they were in the process of acquiring studios. Absolutely nothing like the lie of “we believe in generations” that Sony were spouting when ps5 launched.

Here’s to the fanboys who create their own fan-fiction and conveniently ignore anything factual that contradicts their worldview, may they forever be a blight on the gaming community.

Re: Some Monster Hunter Wilds Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over the Game Being 'Too Easy'

Neither_scene

I’m still excited to play. But I’ll be disappointed if HR isn’t at least mildly challenging and I’m slightly concerned based on some reviews that the endgame has been streamlined to the point where there’s no reason to keep playing beyond 60 or so hours.

(I say this as someone that played hundreds of hours of world before iceborne and never fully completed the “perfect” god tier armour set).

Re: Ghost of Yotei Dev Eager to Push Creatively and Technically with Anticipated PS5 Sequel

Neither_scene

I’m sure this will be great at release and a solid 8 out of 10 for me. I’m not expecting anything like the jump between Witcher 2 and 3 or kdc1 and kdc2. Sony have already set the template for open world sequels with the Spider-Man and horizon games. They’re not going to break the bank or reinvent the wheel, they want to maximise their return and minimise the risk. This will be a slightly more refined version of the original, which is fine.

Re: Rumour: Rocksteady's Next Single-Player Game Based on Batman Beyond, May Be a PS5 Exclusive

Neither_scene

If this game is exclusive it’s going to massively hurt its success, especially as it’s not sounding like a low budget production.

Square have admitted making final fantasy 7 remake a ps5 console exclusive wasn’t great in terms of sales and return on investment. They’re now actively pursuing multi-platform release strategies.

Console manufacturers don’t pay enough for exclusivity to offset the sales losses for games with huge production costs. Rise of the tomb raider was another example on Xbox of the exclusivity hurting the sales success - the next and final entry of the series, shadow of the tomb raider, was a multi-platform release.

Multi-platform isn’t just Xbox, it’s also pc and potentially switch.

Re: Former Rockstar Animator Doubtful GTA 6 Will Run at 60fps on PS5

Neither_scene

I’m pretty sure the same people that refuse to accept ps5 will not run every game at 60fps have zero understanding of the role of the cpu and the idea of a cpu bottleneck.

Rockstar have never focused on frame rate in their new titles. Red dead redemption 2 is the most recent open world example to target 30fps and did so on both the xbox one and Xbox one x. This, despite the fact that the one x received a dedicated version and despite the fact that the power delta between the one x and one was even greater than that between ps5 and ps5 pro.

Maybe there’ll be a 60fps mode, but I’m fairly confident that with the cpu bottleneck of current gen consoles and rockstar’s development history that there won’t be. This is a view shared by digital foundry who have far more technical expertise regarding performance metrics than myself and the vast majority of gamers.

Re: Following Ferocious PC Backlash, PSN Accounts Will Become Optional But Offer In-Game Rewards

Neither_scene

@andrewsqual you realise that porting a ps5 game to pc is a lot cheaper and less time consuming than making a new ps5 game, right? Not to mention the large differences in staffing and roles.

Digital foundry has interviewed the pc port technical director of jet pack interactive, the studio responsible for bringing the original gow reboot and Ragnarök to pc, on separate occasions. Both interviews are quite technical and talk about the porting process, they also reveal that it is a technical team of about 4 full time people, with some additional support from QA that were largely responsible for working on the pc versions over several years.

The insomniac leaks also revealed that ratchet and clank; rift apart cost just over $80 million to make, over several years. The pc port cost $2.6 million and was completed in just 5 months.

Sony have clearly done the math, and compared to creating a new title, pc porting is very cost effective. The insomniac leaks also showed that ratchet and clank failed to recoup its costs on ps5. It makes sense that Sony are trying to maximise the return on their titles by tapping into the pc market, especially with the limited extra resources and costs involved.

Re: Poll: Will the Switch 2 Compete with PS5?

Neither_scene

Compete? Depends how you view compete, there will definitely be households that opt for a switch 2 over a ps5 when it comes to choosing a video game system. It’s far more family friendly in terms of online safety and it also doesn’t require a separate screen to play.

It will be interesting to see how Nintendo decide to price it and the launch software. Switch was a run away success, this could be a repeat. Also, Nintendo left the hardware arms race decades ago, their business is far more sustainable than PlayStation or Xbox. They make money on their hardware from day one and their development costs are a fraction of their competitors.

Re: Video Game Industry 'Doesn't Want a Game Pass', Says Market Analyst

Neither_scene

@W0rl0ck that’s an interesting use of gp. Im not sure I’d be able to justify the cost or space for an Xbox that was essentially a demo box for my ps5.

I sold my Xbox and switched to pc a year ago and am having a far better time. I get access to every subscription if I want, no multiplayer fees, cheaper games (I currently have kdc 2 pre-ordered for £35) and can prioritise frame rates for every title. I also have access to the best ai systems in the industry, courtesy of Nvidia, should I wish to use them. PC has a higher entry point, but depending on the type and number of games you play each year there are quite a few savings to be made over console.

I still have my ps5, but the last game I played on it was ff16. It mostly acts as a Blu-ray player under my tv.

Re: You'd Better Believe The Last of Us 2 Demands a PSN Account on PC

Neither_scene

I hope this game runs better than part 1 on pc. Bought the game on sale a few weeks ago, it has more obnoxious stutters and frame drops than a ue5 game. Really jarring to play. I’d recommend the ps5 version over pc, it’s a developer issue rather than hardware - my pc is considerably more powerful than my ps5 and should be more than capable of running this game well at 1440p

Re: Talking Point: Is PlayStation Right in Saying PC Isn't a 'Major Risk' to Console Business?

Neither_scene

@Oram77 I’m a pc player, I’ve not cried once for a ps5 game to come to pc. There’s hundreds more titles available day one on pc that I’d probably rather spend money on right now. I’ve gotten a little bored of the PlayStation open world formula, it’s not as bad as Ubisoft but it’s starting to walk the same road. Any PlayStation title that makes it to pc is an added bonus for me, although I usually only pick them up on sale.

I do wish I could play Nintendo’s titles on pc though 😁

Re: Nintendo Fans Are Desperate to Know How Close Switch 2 Will Get to PS4's Power

Neither_scene

@KoopaTheGamer I didn’t say mobile was going to kill consoles, I still said they’d remain a viable business. I said that mobile was offering ever increasing competition for traditional console manufacturers. Competition that didn’t really exist 10 or 20 years ago. In the UK:

“91% of children aged 3-15 play games on some type of device. Consoles are the leading gaming device amongst this age group (59%), followed by:

Tablet (54%)
Smartphone (53%)
PC (31%)
Smart TV (10%)
VR headset (1%).

Given that, according to children mobile phone statistics, 61% of children own a smartphone device by the age of 10, it is perhaps unsurprising that over half play online games using a mobile phone.”

These children are among the first generation playing mobile games that are almost on par with their console counterparts in terms of feature set and gameplay - call of duty mobile, genshin impact, Fortnite etc. Mobile gaming user numbers overtook console users as the most popular input device for the first time in 2014 in the UK and has remained there ever since.

Populations in the developed world aren’t growing exponentially and the traditional home consoles space is close to saturation. Mobile gaming is eating into that market and will continue to do so as time goes on. This competition didn’t exist in the same way during the 3ds era and to a lesser extent almost 8 years ago when the switch first launched. The flagship smartphones of today are arguably more capable in terms of processing power than the switch of 2017. Smartphone technologies are not constrained by a 7 year hardware cycle, they upgrade and evolve every year.

Re: Nintendo Fans Are Desperate to Know How Close Switch 2 Will Get to PS4's Power

Neither_scene

@Mikey856 true, although I don’t think it’s pc handhelds or the rumoured PlayStation and Xbox handhelds that will be the biggest threat to Nintendo’s portable console dominance - its mobile. The console market is changing quite rapidly and I’m not sure any of the major players will enjoy continued growth and profits in the ways they have in the past. The business will still be viable, obviously, but it won’t be the big return investment of the past.

With regards to your friend’s son, that’s fair and probably normal for a child of his age. He no longer fits the current main demographic for Nintendo switch, which is more of a casual family and younger “child-friendly” device - not so much teenagers and hardcore gamers. There will be younger children growing up to fill the void left by those switching to ps5, and parents of younger children that are more receptive to the more “child-friendly” Nintendo IP.

Re: Nintendo Fans Are Desperate to Know How Close Switch 2 Will Get to PS4's Power

Neither_scene

@Mikey856 isn’t that the case for all new consoles though? The early adopters buys at launch and the console continues to sell additional units throughout its lifecycle.

There’s an awful lot of ps4 owners that have yet to upgrade to the ps5, this hasn’t stopped Sony from dominating this console generation. There’ll always be people that delay upgrading to the latest iteration, it’s why console manufacturers are able to continue selling their hardware for many years after launch.

There will be plenty of people buying the new switch to make for a successful launch. The ps5 pro is a $700 sideways upgrade offering little value in terms of new software or gameplay, yet plenty of people still went and bought one. I’m expecting the switch 2 to launch at a similar price point to ps5 and series x - $450. I’ll be preordering one for launch.

Re: Elden Ring: Nightreign Announced, a Co-Op Game for PS5, PS4

Neither_scene

@CrushALL what a childish comment. The monster hunter franchise has sold more than 100 million units with the latest mainline entry, world, topping 20 million. It’s ok to say something isn’t for you without it being “trash”, which it clearly isn’t as the combat is the main gameplay focus of the series.

Also “scrubs”? Really? 😔

Re: Sony to Make PSVR2 Pads Usable on Apple Vision Pro, New Report Claims

Neither_scene

@Victor_Meldrew for any other company that would be a pretty significant loss. For apple, I’m sure they’ll write off the costs as RnD used to inform future products.

The technology isn’t where it needs to be and at $3.5k it was never going to shift many units. The future is definitely AR, the problem at the minute is condensing the tech into conventional glasses or contact lenses and delivering it at an affordable price. Apple want to be there when that tech becomes reality and Apple Vision Pro has laid the groundwork for that future. I don’t think they’d call it a failure in that respect and I’m sure they’ll continue to iterate on Vision Pro behind the scenes.

Re: Sony to Make PSVR2 Pads Usable on Apple Vision Pro, New Report Claims

Neither_scene

@Victor_Meldrew I’ve not seen that, could you provide a source? I know that Vision Pro isn’t selling iPhone numbers, but I don’t think that was the intent. I thought it was apple’s first foray into AR to test the waters and was aimed as much at developers as it was early adopters. Similar to ps5 pro, trialing things that can be improved upon and developed into the next mass market iteration.

Re: Marvel Rivals Is Off to a Heroic Start with 10 Million Players in First Three Days

Neither_scene

@Shakybeeves pretty terrible take. If you like hero shooters this is pretty good from a gameplay perspective. Balancing is a little off, but its early days and overwatch launched with some broken abilities and heroes. If you like marvel, that’s just the icing on the cake. It has some interesting mechanics with destructible environments and heroes that can compliment each other with extra passive team up abilities. It’s also f2p so other than owing the appropriate hardware there’s very little in the way of entry barriers. The monetization isn’t particularly egregious - in fact the season pass can be completed at your leisure and isn’t timed like in ow so it’s actually slightly more consumer friendly.

I don’t bitch about fifa because it isn’t my type of game, let people have fun with the games they want to play. I’m not salty because millions of people spend hundreds of hours playing and it stays in the top 10 sales charts for the entirety of the year. It’s a decent football game if that’s your jam, rivals is a decent hero shooter if that’s your jam too.

Re: Sony to Make PSVR2 Pads Usable on Apple Vision Pro, New Report Claims

Neither_scene

@naruball glad you’ve managed to find some value. I bought it for the promise of first party games and the production values that Sony had bought to games like god of war, horizon, uncharted and the last of us. Call of the mountain was the realisation that motion sickness would prevent me from enjoying such games.

But since call of the mountain, there hasn’t been any other games of that calibre - plenty of indie experiences, but that’s not why I bought the headset. Motion sickness ironically saved me from this disappointment. If I were to pick up vr again, the meta quest 3 seems to be a far better value proposition as I now have a vr capable pc. There’s considerably more high end pc vr games than available on psvr2 and more indie experiences including a lot of psvr1 games not playable on psvr2. Meta, for the time being, are continuing to support the quest with exclusive titles in addition to all the third party titles being made for the system.

Re: Sony to Make PSVR2 Pads Usable on Apple Vision Pro, New Report Claims

Neither_scene

I feel bad for anyone that bought a psvr2 hoping that it would be well supported and receive decent first party support. Definitely seems like a step backwards from psvr1 in terms of software.

I returned my psvr2 preorder within a few days of getting it due to extreme motion sickness when trying to play. Luckily I was still able to get a full refund, I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet.

I don’t think the vr technology is anywhere close to going mainstream and as such I doubt we’ll be getting a psvr3 anytime soon. Most companies in the VR hardware space are starting to pivot towards AR - a space that ensures motion sickness is minimised. Meta headsets now have full colour pass through and apple vision is also focused on this feature.

VR continues to be a niche product and Sony’s huge success with their ps5 hardware does nothing to encourage playstation to divert investments from the core part of their business to vr.

Re: Round Up: Indiana Jones Reviews Are Live, Mostly Very Strong

Neither_scene

@RagnarLothbrok a review is an opinion piece, nothing more. People like different things, I struggle to understand why any adult wouldn’t be able to accept that. The pure Xbox review score seems to be a bit of an outlier but that doesn’t make it any more or less valid as it’s the personal perspective of the person playing.

I’ve never cared for the FIFA franchise (to the point where I don’t even remember what it’s been rebranded to after losing the license). I’d probably give those games a 3. Millions of people love the game, and it’s arguably the best football video game available. For those people it’s probably a solid 8 at worst. My 3 is pretty irrelevant to their 8, and likewise their 8 is irrelevant to my 3.

I like everything I’ve seen of the gameplay and puzzle elements including the slower pace of the great circle. I know what I’m getting and I’m looking forward to playing it on Monday. I also have no problem with anyone that doesn’t like the look of it, or has tried it and didn’t enjoy any part of it.

Re: PlayStation Joins Social Media Shift as Bluesky Rockets in Popularity

Neither_scene

@FutilityInExcellence happy to elaborate on why Elon is a moron, although if you think otherwise I would encourage you to do your own research. Or, simply, keep following him on twitter and just read his tweets.

Also, he’s not a sole trader, he happens to own companies which employ thousands of other people all of which have a huge impact on the success of an organisation.

Re: PlayStation Joins Social Media Shift as Bluesky Rockets in Popularity

Neither_scene

Good, let’s hope this exodus causes twitters ad revenue to drop sufficiently enough to send a message to Elon that despite being one of the wealthiest people on the planet he can’t just buy something, trash it with crap decision making and expect to have no negative repercussions. The less spur-of-the-moment acquisition’s this moron makes the better.

Re: Rumour: PlayStation Event Could Be Incoming, Sony's Very Busy 'Behind the Scenes'

Neither_scene

@themightyant rockstar have absolutely no reason to sacrifice visual fidelity and dev time to provide a 60fps mode on consoles. From a marketing standpoint graphics trump frame rate and rockstar have never targeted 60fps at launch on consoles.

Red dead redemption 2 was still 30fps on Xbox one x despite it having an even greater power delta than the ps5 pro over the base console. One x owners just got a more consistent frame rate and higher resolution. I fully expect the same to be true with the ps5 pro.

The pc release will be capable of 60fps purely because of the hardware’s ability to brute force performance. GTA6 will probably follow the same porting lifecycle as GTA5 - 30fps this generation on console and 60fps when it inevitably gets patched or re-released for PS6.

Re: Sony's Latest First-Party Release Is Struggling to Do Concord Numbers on PC

Neither_scene

@TurboTom they’re not making enough money from their in house titles releasing titles exclusively on ps5. They wouldn’t be putting titles on pc if their current development costs were sustainable long term.

This is something they’ve mentioned in the past, game development costs have increased and they need to seek additional revenue sources in order to make the investment worthwhile. The only other option is to sacrifice the quality of their first party output by cutting budgets.

Their pc strategy is already being undermined by the fact most of their titles have been available on console for several years. They still haven’t ported the demons souls remake to pc which blows my mind, it’s the one exclusive almost guaranteed to break records on pc. Their pc porting program is at best odd, and at worst incompetent.