Comments 409

Re: DOOM: The Dark Ages Attracts 3 Million Players, Over 2 Million Estimated on Xbox

Neither_scene

@Boxmonkey I’m saying that without gamepass doom wouldn’t have seen a penny from me at launch.

Also, doom is made by ID which are owned by Microsoft, the devs aren’t negotiating for their game to be on gamepass. All Microsoft studio games are on the service at launch.

Doom is a single player title that takes around 15-20 hours to complete. Even if you purchased the game, it’s unlikely to maintain your engagement beyond a month. Especially as there’s little to no replay value. I finished the game yesterday having played since Thursday and have no reason to return to it. The game isn’t a live service, massive rpg or multiplayer-centric title, it’s not expected to have engagement beyond a month.

Re: Inquiry Already Underway Over Lacklustre DOOM: The Dark Ages Opening

Neither_scene

@Coffeeglitch that’s false. The game’s actually incredibly well optimised. I’m getting 100+ fps on my 4070ti super with everything maxed out at 1440p dlss quality. You don’t need a 50 series gpu to run this game well. I get over 200 fps if I turn on frame gen.

Digital foundry’s pc coverage for doom the dark ages talks about how well optimised the title is and shows how well it can run on an 8gb 4060 paired with a fairly old AMD cpu.

Re: Sony to Focus on PS5 Engagement, First-Party Showing Greater Financial Discipline

Neither_scene

I don’t do live service titles anymore. The final shape and destiny 2 was the end of my live service journey and it felt like more of a relief than a satisfaction to see the 10-year destiny darkness saga come to a close.

Last time I switched on my ps5 was to finish ff16. Next time I switch it on will be for ghost of yotei. Keep making great single player games and I’ll keep engaged and spending money. Focus on trying to tie me up with live service and my PlayStation will remain off indefinitely.

Re: Even More PS5 Price Increases Being Considered by Sony

Neither_scene

@heavyartillery56 this would be a valid point if it weren’t for the fact that trump’s proposed tariffs are blanket tariffs rather than targeted as used by other countries.

And, no it won’t be better in the long term. All that will happen is that prices will have risen universally across the board for consumers because you’re no longer allowing market forces to operate properly. Labor costs amongst others are significantly higher in the US so if you’re forced to consume domestically produced just because foreign import prices are taxed heavily you’ll just be paying more.

Trump stated that Europeans refuse to buy American cars because of tariffs - that’s false. We don’t buy your cars because they’re excessively large and completely impractical for the majority of European roads. Also, our fuel costs are considerably higher than the US so they’re also significantly more costly to run than other cars.

We don’t buy your beef in the uk because the majority of it is pumped full of growth hormones and we don’t buy your chickens because you wash them in baths of chlorine after they’ve been killed.

The quality of your product is the issue in many cases, not the tariffs.

Re: Even More PS5 Price Increases Being Considered by Sony

Neither_scene

People saying that tariffs are a convenient excuse to raise prices clearly don’t understand economics.

If a “president” puts a blanket tariff of 30% on electronics imported from a country it makes that product 30% more expensive for consumers of the president’s country.

In order for the manufacturer of those electronics to continue selling in that president’s country to consumers and maintain their pre-tariff price point, they must sell their product at roughly 77% of their previous price point.

If said president’s country happens to account for a large proportion of total sales then it becomes important to try and avoid a significant price increase caused by tariffs in order to minimise the significant loss in sales.

To negate this cost or minimise it, prices can be increased in other non-tariff countries and the extra revenue then used to subsidise the losses incurred in said president’s country.

The company increases prices in other countries where tariffs do not exist by less than 30% in order to subsidise, spread and offset the cost of tariffs in said president’s country.

Re: GTA 6's New Release Date Raises Concerns It Might Slip Again Beyond May 2026

Neither_scene

@Godot25 hundreds of millions into a new game is a drop in the ocean for the development of gta6. Hundreds of millions will probably just be the marketing budget for rockstar 😂

Everyone is rightly moving out the way - although nintendo might be one of the few publishers still free to independently dictate their own release schedule given that gta6 won’t be hitting switch 2.

Re: PS5 Takes Another Giant Stride Towards 100 Million Units Milestone

Neither_scene

The sales of ps5 are strong, but it does add evidence to the idea that the console space is close to saturation and no longer a growth market.

It is slightly surprising to me, however, that ps5 sales haven’t overtaken ps4 this generation given that Microsoft is performing so badly. Sony will definitely have absorbed more potential Xbox customers this generation than the last, which should have helped push sales beyond ps4.

Combined sales of series consoles and ps5 are down compared to sales of xbone and ps4 consoles. This either means this generation of high-end console gaming is in decline, or users have moved to other platforms - pc, switch, mobile. If the later, this explains why Xbox and PlayStation are targeting pc releases so hard and why both Sony and Microsoft are rumoured to have handheld systems in development alongside their next-gen conventional console hardware.

Re: GTA 6 Trailer 2 Is Finally Here, PS5 Graphics Are Jaw-Dropping

Neither_scene

@lazarus11 you realise developers don’t just have static graphics and resolution settings for all the current gen consoles, right? Or did you think the pro resolution and graphics settings are the same for all series and ps5 consoles? 😉

Series s will target 30, it will looks considerably worse than the pro, but it’s not going to be 6fps if the pro is 30fps. They won’t be targeting 4k resolution and using the higher graphical settings of the ps5 pro. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that’s not how console optimisations work 😂

Re: Rockstar Silences the Sceptics, Confirms GTA 6 Trailer Was a Mix of Gameplay and Cutscenes on Base PS5

Neither_scene

I have a fairly decent pc - 32gb ram, 7800x3d and a 4070ti super, I’m not even sure that will be sufficient to run this game at 1440p60 with some form of dlss. Those thinking 60fps on console is within the scope of this game are failing to understand just how big a degradation of image quality and graphical fidelity it would require. Think potato mode. The game would look like absolute ass. Maybe you get a 40fps performance mode on pro, but that’s all I can see happening.

Re: GTA 6 Trailer 2 Is Finally Here, PS5 Graphics Are Jaw-Dropping

Neither_scene

@Americansamurai1 going to be interesting if it can surpass GtaV launch numbers and revenue.

Probably not, if you look at install base numbers. GTAV launched in 2013 for Xbox 360 and ps3 which had combined sales numbers of 156 million units (80 million ps3 and 76 million Xbox 360). GTA6 will launch next year and at present its target install base ps5 and series consoles is about 108 million units (33 million series consoles and 75 million ps5).

I’m assuming GTA6 will set a new standard not only for quality but also pricing. If rockstar decide to launch it as a $100 title they could well exceed the launch revenue of GTAV. I don’t see series and ps5 consoles shifting another 50 million units by may next year to equal the install base of ps4 and xbox 360 in time for GTA6’s launch. Especially given tariffs and other economic factors.

Going to be very interesting either way.

Re: Xbox's Gears of War: Reloaded Will Play Best on PS5 Pro

Neither_scene

@Lysterao also the extra costs involved with physical media - distribution and production (currently exacerbated by America’s instigation of one of the biggest trade wars in recent modern history).

Digital media is by far the most cost effective approach from a publisher/developer viewpoint and at present time looks to be exempt from any issues related to tariffs.

Re: UK Sales Charts: Expedition 33 Debuts in Second Place, Almost All Sales for PS5 Version

Neither_scene

@PlatinumMikey That would result in Xbox being given a dominant market position and a monopoly on the high end console market. Higher prices and less innovation for consumers as a result of operating uncontested. The same will be true of Sony if Microsoft eventually leave the hardware space. Sony can charge whatever they want provided they don’t encroach on the pc market. Given the current extortionate cost and availability of gpu’s this seems pretty easy to avoid whilst still allowing significantly higher pricing and leaving software “risk” largely up to Microsoft and other third parties.

Re: PS5 Price Increases Announced by Sony, Immediately Affects UK, Europe, and More

Neither_scene

@Nyne11 On topic, it’s sad that the rest of the world is probably going to be plunged into another recession due to higher pricing bought about from tariffs and trade wars. I’m assuming the 10% increase in base ps5 is an attempt to get ahead of the inevitable import cost issues the American market will be enduring and to absorb some of these costs in other markets.

Hopefully the rest of the world can enter into more free-trade agreements and American’s can enjoy spending considerably more money on their own domestically produced goods. I’d rather buy the goods my country has a competitive advantage in producing than be forced to consume those that they don’t.

Re: Mini Review: Blue Prince (PS5) - A Deceptively Deep Puzzler That Delights and Confounds

Neither_scene

For all those questioning this review score, please understand that all reviews are subjective. They’re not a science, they’re the personal experience of the reviewer. Not everybody enjoys the same thing and everybody experiences different frustrations.

I’ve read reviews from people who absolutely love the puzzle genre and enjoy rogue-likes - they’ve scored the game a perfect 10. If you don’t enjoy these things or the genre is one that you typically don’t gravitate towards it makes absolute sense that this game would review lower. 7/10 is still a great score, particularly given the frustrations that the reviewer experienced.

I’m looking forward to trying this on gamepass - I generally find puzzle games frustrating but I’m interested to check it out and see if I end up enjoying it. I value this review more than the perfect 10s as I feel my gaming preferences are better represented by it.

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.