Old-Red

This is what they've all wanted all along. Complete control of all the content and prices. It's exactly why an all digital industry is so bad for us.

It's almost like selling a 20 hour shooting game on an empty disc for £70 has put people off. Who knew?!

I bought Eternal day 1 for £40 five years ago and enjoyed the hell out of it. They then try to release an inferior prequel for nearly twice the price and wonder why people aren't interested. People's pay has barely increased at all, why do they think we suddenly have all this extra money to spend on inferior digital rentals? Fools.

I don't get it. How can comments sections like this be so one sided, yet reports show physical media purchases are in such decline?

Loud minority is definitely a possibility, but even then it seems odd that so many are upset with the complete swing towards digital. All we can do is vote with our wallets, and hope there's enough of us to force a re-think.

Managed to get a copy, and for £40! Best game so far this year by a long way. Treats you with respect too. There is hope for the industry yet. The gaming community has a responsibility to support games like this if we want to send a message to the grubby publishers ruining everything at the moment.

They've been talking about dlc, but I really hope they don't. They should just focus on a sequel or new game.

My PS5 Pro really is looking like my last Playstation console. It don't see how this is sustainable. Sad times.

Sony should pull an absolute baller move and drop their prices back down to £60. It could end up giving them even more control over the market. It would never happen, but would definitely cause a huge shift in their direction.

It's an interesting time in gaming history. I know it's probably my last engagement with a modern console generation, before moving over to PC, Steam, and the high seas. I wonder if it will work out for them. I just can't see it with wages not rising with inflation and the cost of living being so awful at the moment.

I predict a whole generation of kids growing up exclusively on free to play games and the current console providers being mostly irrelevant in 20 years. Parents will not be buying kids games for £75, it's just not going to happen.

Currys has physical copies for £40🙂‍↔️

Does anyone actually like Borderlands? Of all the IPs to survive with four entries, bizarre.

I think it's time they make online play free again. It's simply not fair that we have to pay £70 year just play games we've already paid for online.

At the very least, there should be an online only option for £5 or something. Having access to important elements of games we've already paid money for should not be profited off of by Sony. It should only cover the cost of running the servers.

They are probably charging all these switch 2s with the spinning body of Iwata-san. He would have never let something like this happen.

Bowser really has lived up to his name too. Sad.

The 5-6 gen switch will definitely be an interesting one. I have no intention of buying in early, because I want to wait and see where Sony go in regards to disc drives, physical media and the games they make.

If they force everyone to go digital with loads more wasted time, money and effort on live service games and releases still taking 5+ years make, then I'm going to sit it out and probably move over to pc or stick with Nintendo.

Sony have some important choices to make and I don't think they're going to make the ones I'm hoping for if I'm honest.

Yeah, it's great. Probably the most fun I've had with a game this year. It's a shame that one of the best PSVR2 games will be lost once the online is shut down. They should definitely release a standalone version with everything on the disc that doesn't require online or any updates.

I bought a copy to put in a picture frame in my gaming room. Glad I did now, but I still don't think it'll ever get to Stadium Events levels of insanity. Even so, it's the biggest flop in video game history, of course a sealed copy is going to be worth something as a curiosity eventually.

@Toot1st it's a cute way of saying steal.

I don't think this will flop or be a huge hit. It will simply be something that happens and be of little interest to most.

I suppose that one of the key factors will be if it's free or not. Saying that, I don't see this as something the kids will flock to and I don't see the older demographic being prepared to pay for it either.

Personally, it's disappointing that Guerilla has put so much time, effort and resources into an IP and type of game I have no interest in. The whole world, clothing design and style is so naff. The studio is talented, but essentially dead to me now. I don't think they'll ever make a game I'm interested in again. HFW is the last I'll buy in that franchise, I'm still struggling to get through it 3 years after release.

It'll bring the prices down they said, it's so convenient they said. Here's your rosey digital future. Enjoy!

@gaston yeah, I have all that. It's fine, but I still feel like we're a while away from complete comfort.

I picked one up in the first sale and have enjoyed it a lot. It's definitely worth it, but it still feels like they are only really 60% there, especially when it comes to comfort and using it for more than 30 minutes at a time.

I've enjoyed collecting the physical library for it though. It's nice to have a collection that's actually quite easy to complete, and if it's the first time you've ever properly tried it the amount of games on offer is easily enough to warrant a spending £300-400.

I don't think it'll ever be valuable as a collectors item, but it will definitely be a neat curio in the future.

A lot of people forget just how mind blowing the online in Demon's Souls was as the time. Having someone invade your game in a single player RPG and then realise that it's actually other players was amazing. Bear in mind this was pre-Journey, and I personally managed to import an Asian copy so there were no guides or information on how the game worked or the depths of its mysteries. To this day it's one of the best gaming experiences of my life.

You also have to remember that there was no matchmaking and each interaction with another player either as a blue or black phantom was really meaningful and something quite special. It also meant that the game was different every time you played it because of this.

The world tendancy was also really clever. The fact that the game would get harder if the invaders were winning was genius and a mechanic that should really be explored more. Then you had other fresh ideas like the assassin who kills the NPCs in the hub area if you don't sniff him out and kill him first, heck even being able to kill NPCs yourself was completely new at the time. Being summoned as a boss in other players' games. All of these things introduced by Demon's Souls on top of the concept of constant auto-saving, so your actions have meaning with no going back. As a game it has arguably had the biggest influence on the industry in the past 15 years with the new ideas it introduced and should be given credit for it.

I kind of wish they would go back to the no matchmaking model for one release, because as soon as it was possible to play with friends and team up, it killed the flow of the chance encounters if you want to play the way online was originally intended in the souls games.

I have my stuff mostly physical and didn't even notice, so it's good to know that I'm generally set up in a way that isn't affected by this bull$hlt. Still, they really should patch in games to run without a connection, such as GT7. It's crazy that the game won't work at all if there's no connection.

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.