Old-Red

I often think about picking up SF6 and dusting of the fight stick, but the cost of all the extra characters always puts me off. Playable characters in a fighting game should never be behind a paywall, it's gross. You have to spend the best part of £100 to get the complete roster. No thanks!

It's going to be one hell of a collectable one day, with physical copies or a ps5 with a load of games downloaded. I've thoughoughly enjoyed my time with it. Resident Evil 4 and 8, Moss, red matter and GT7 were worth the £300 I spent alone.

It more like an interesting experience and gaming oddity than anything else, but I'm glad I got one in the end regardless.

The higher ups at Sony have essentially wasted a whole console generation of possible games for multiple studios, thrown away hundreds of millions of dollars, laid off thousands of employees and even shut studios down after their shocking leadership decisions. Will they be held accountable? Will they f...

One issue with all this is that it doesn't include second hand sales and the digital portion always includes micro transactions and dlc revenue.

Couple that with physical collectors usually having a solid hand in playing retro games and publishers and platform holders doing their best to encourage digital means that physical games' availability and production will continue to dwindle.

You only have to look on eBay to see that physical copies of games is still big business. It's just not going back into the industry at all unfortunately.

Oddly, as a physical collector I'm kind of looking forward to it dying out completely. It'll put a clean stamp on my collection and hopefully cause a shift to more substantial competition that forces prices down a bit. It's an interesting proposition really, we'll get to see what happens when a form of media fully dies out physically. If music went completely digital vinyl records would become incredibly valuable. It'll be interesting to see if the same happens with games.

I think it's more that a lot of people are fed up with so many sequels in franchises that's are becoming a bit stale. It wouldn't be such a problem if games didn't take so long and cost so much to make. Now that Guerilla only make Horizon content they are essentially gone for me now, which is a shame considering how talented the studio is.

I still haven't gone back to finish Forbidden West, and that's nearly three years old now. It's fine, but the thought of another cookie cutter sequel on the horizon (ha!) does not excite me in the slightest. I don't hate it, and they should be able to work on whatever they like, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't be able to say they find the series dull and want them to move onto something different. It was the same with Tears of the Kingdom. Even at 5+ years after Breath of the Wild, I could have gone a good while longer without a follow up. I still haven't finished that either.

It depends if physical copies are available or not. Only a fool would continue to pay the prices on the PS store instead of moving to steam if they are all digital.

This is why I picked up a pro. As soon as I blagged one of the 30th anniversary Pro bundles I decided to fall into the pro loop instead of adopting the PS6 early. This gen took an age to get going and it seems the next gen will be even worse. There's no need to rush in. The only problem is that if too many people do the same, Sony could have a rocky start to the next generation.

@wildcat_kickz fair points, we'll have to wait and see. It's a hard thing to discuss without taking sides or coming across as this or that. I simply felt like the acting and introduction to the character made me cringe a bit and it should be fine to say that, but every comment carries a lot of weight these days. I'll be more than happy to be wrong and they end up being an amazing character.

I think this situation is only highlighting everything wrong with both sides of this tiring social feud. One side seem to have lazily chucked in a character whose identity enters the room before they do and the other are hyper focused on her appearance, when it's the lack of effort to create a protagonist with an interesting personality that's the real problem.

They cite Cowboy Bebop as inspiration, but they seem to have missed the main thing that makes him interesting, his flaws. I'm not sure ND are prepared to give this character any endearing genuine flaws, aside from having a slightly messy room, from a fear of some kind of backlash or seeming insensitive, which is ironically more offensive and dehumanising if you think about it.

Saying that, I hope I'm wrong. I haven't played the game and maybe the character won't be a complete edgelord know-it-all. The trailer didn't make a great impression in this regard though.

To be honest, the advertising is far more egregious in my opinion. If people have a right to be upset about this trailer, it's the full on mass product placement in a full price game they should be screaming about.

I'm usually not too bothered by the stuff that seems to get others up in arms about characters and her design seems OK, but yeah, the edgelord annoying know-it-all teen thing is not something I'm keen to spend 20+ hours with. I get enough of that guff in real life.

The advertising is gross too. Is this a full price game?

TGAs won't be relevant or worth anything until it stops being a creepy ego trip for Juffrey Knightnurse, his cronies, and his ad revenue cash stuffed back pockets and more about the games and the people make them.

JK had a chance to make some important statements last year while thousands of people were being ruthlessly sacked, but instead he decided to carry on patting his mates on the back, giving out pointless awards and promoting vapid examples of everything wrong with the industry.

This is massively misleading. I generally listen to podcasts on YouTube, often about games whilst playing games. Lots of people put on YouTube videos and listen to them in the background. I don't think I'm alone here.

I think one thing Sony really need to consider is that if they really go all digital and force it through, they are in danger of losing a huge chunk of their loyal fans to PC. Honestly, if there's no physical option for collectors like me, we will just get a PC and jump on the Steam train.

Getting stick module replacements for the DualSense Egde has also been a nightmare. Argos stocked them this week for half a day. I'm ashamed to say I bought 4 of them to stock up knowing that skanks are buying them all to sell on eBay for £80 each.

I'm a complete convert to VR after picking up a headset in the previous sale. It's amazing. GT7 with the headset and a wheel is a top tier gaming experience. It's completely transformative.

@Ellie-Moo collecting physical for PSVR2 has actually been really fun. There aren't many releases and it's very possible to collect them all.

There's most definitely an element of emperor's new clothes to the whole thing, but I got the Pro 30th bundle, so at least my new garb is grey. That's what Sony told me anyway.

I needed an update, and the extra storage adds some extra weight to justifying the hight cost. I'm going to skip PS6 and try to fall in the pro loop from now on so there's more games to pick up for cheaper if I haven't switched to PC by then. However, I don't think people who sit this upgrade out are missing much. It really comes down to having a shiny new piece of kit.

I received my 30th anniversary Pro bundle today. It's beautiful.

As much as I love Erdtree and From Software's games, this is wrong. It shows a clear bias for a friend. If there's a From Software exclusive reveal for Geoffrey in the near future, things will look very suspect. It also seems odd to include it as it looks like a given to win now. Why include it if it's not going to win?

@Weebleman I agree with this. It's all just one big ego trip for Keighley with endless ads thrown in. There's no actual interest in celebrating the people who make the games with half the awards not even shown at all.

I picked one up in the last round of discounts, it's great. I'm tempted to get a second backup headset at this price just for the controllers.

I wish they would start with 60fps as a base, then make the graphics and resolution as good as possible at that setting.

This is annoying, as Sony will see them selling for £200 and think it's fine to charge more going forward. £100 for a disc drive is already too much really.

As others have noted, this is clearly a case of Sony not making enough and trying to force the digital narrative, that 'everyone' is buying digital now.

I think now they've released the physical version they'll be fine.

Sony really need to add a basic tier that lets you play games online for £10 a year. It's crazy I have to pay £70 a year to play games I'm already paying £50+, like Elden Ring, the way they are intended. I haven't played a ps+ game for over a year now, I have more than enough games to play.

Seriously, how did we let them get away with charging £70 a year to play games online? It's so sad.

The whole digital vs physical sales shares are completely disingenuous. They include all micro transactions, dlc, digital only releases and most likely subscription downloads.

I don't think the share is anything close to the narrative the publishers and journalists recieving free codes keep pushing.

Oooof, such a massive waste of time, effort and money.

@LN78 I know, it's insane, but allowing yourself a luxury treat when the opportunity comes up is worth it sometimes. There's also some kind of nihilistic part of me that likes the idea of using a console up for pleasure while everyone else keeps them safely boxed and locked away.

@LN78 haha, crazy as it may be, I'm going to open it and use it. I'll probably be one in a hand full of people that actually gets to enjoy it properly.

I managed to secure a 30th edition bundle, and have to admit my head has been turned by the prices being thrown about. However, I've decided to keep and enjoy it. It's not often you get to own something so rare and I think I'll get on the Pro loop from now on, so there's more games to play when I do eventually get a PS6. If this generation is anything to go by there's not much point in jumping in day 1 anymore.

I don't see how it can be anything but a B-tier monster hunter clone. There's a chance they'll smash it and come up with something new and interesting, but I'm sceptical as usual. Mind you, if they do manage to make a live service game that treats the player with respect in the way Capcom does with Monster Hunter, I might actually give it a try if it's really good.

This is mind-blowing, why hasn't anyone thought of this before? Such a good idea, Trust Kojima.

Ubisoft games are void of creativity and their unappealing approach to design and monetisation has finally caught up with them. Their games hold no value because players don't hold on to them and you can buy copies at a fraction of the price within a month or two of release. People know they can just wait and get most of their games cheap now.

It was interesting that they didn't push any of the live service games. At least this shows they are aware of the stink surrounding them.

Hitman VR looks fun, but not much there for me really. I'm burnt out on open world stuff like monster hunter and ghost of Tsushima though, so it would have taken something really special to get me going. I found GoT really repetitive, but I'm glad for people that are excited for it and MHW will be ready for me to dive into when I'm ready for another epic time sink.

Wow, just wow. So disappointment... much bland.

Sorry state of play more like... but seriously, Sony needs a win and some positivity around its brand right now. Having taken a punt on PSVR2 in the sale, and been very happy to be proven wrong and totally won over by it, some new titles to look forward to on that would go down well for me. I'd also love to see an Astro Bot Rescue Mission update too. I never got to play it on PSVR and it looks great. Maybe it's finally time for Half Life Alyx, ha, I know, no chance.

Money.

I thinks it's possible they went all in and spent a considerable amount making the cut scenes in order to be ahead of the curve. After the disastrous launch Sony probably brought in some people not connected to the project to find out what was really going on and fire some truth bullets their way. When Sony realised they'd been led down the garden path with monumental balls of wool over their eyes, they decided to cut their losses as a tax write off.

I want to know what discussions are going on behind the scenes so much. It's fascinating.

I hope some kind of documentary gets made of this from the perspective of the developers and Sony. It would be the only good thing to come from the whole debacle.

I know Sony would never allow it, but someone might find a way into the inner workings of Firewalk to interview the people involved in making it.

Maybe changing the name to Snickers will help them out. Either way Sony are clearly nuts... I'll show myself out.

I'm probably going to pc and whatever Nintendo does next going forward. If Sony do go all digital there won't even be an incentive to pick up any of their stuff late on in the next generation when it's cheaper to collect.

They slowly lost all of the advantages having one of their consoles has this generation. A sad end to my time with playstation, but it was always on the cards I suppose.

I hope they try to relaunch Concord, except they've all got snazzy new hats on. I would genuinely respect them for it.

I wouldn't be surprised if they sold more physical copies of Concord after is was taken offline than they did in the two weeks it was live.

£1399 head strap sold separately

@BeerMonster errrm, £450, not quite double I'll admit, but letting Sony off the hook here helps no one but them.

@Pranwell I think it's more likely that early adopters like me were hoping to cash in their aging console and pick up a newer model to tide them over for another 4 or so years. An upgrade at £700 with no disc drive or stand is insane.

@BeerMonster mate, it's been 4 years. Inflation don't work like that. Are you trying tell me your pay has nearly doubled in that time? Sounds like you've been chuggin' too much of Sony's special brew Alcopup. They're aiming to rinse the whales, nothing more.

@BeerMonster it's a slight upgrade of a four year old console that cost £450 without the extra controller and games. It would essentially be £100 more than I paid four years ago. How is that entitled?

If it was £549 with the disc drive properly attached and the stand, or even better, a less ridiculous shape so it could sit on its side, I would consider selling my original PS5 for and £300 and paying the difference.

It's crazy to think I bought my PS5 at launch for £550 with a spare controller, Demon's Souls and Spiderman.

A big part of it surely has to be Sony seeing scalpers making bank on the consoles early this generation and wanting a piece of that sweet sweet whale pie.

The only one winning in this situation is the Push Square comments section.

For the whales.