This has got out of hand. It's all becoming dangerous reminiscent of Sega before the Saturn when they kept releasing too many consoles iterations and peripherals, before everyone lost faith in them.
I'm going to stick with Nintendo for a while and won't be buying any Sony stuff new for way into the next generation. They've completely lost my trust this generation. Honestly, we've had what, 5 genuine PS5 first party games and they're trying to carve up the customer base with a £700 fomo machine.
A physical release that highlights the bizarre nature of game collecting and perceived value. A sealed game sold at auction would never be opened or played anyway, so the fact that a Concord disc has no information on it is irrelevant if it's a historic collectors piece. It makes a mockery of the whole collectors market, not that it makes any difference. Maybe Sony should store all the copies and auction them off in 20 years to recoup the game's budget.
It could end up holding value similar to Stadium Events one day. I doubt it, but there a quite a few similarities between the releases.
@get2sammyb agreed, playing Uncharted 2 and Last of Us 1 and 2 are some of my favourite Playstation memories. Would it really be that difficult to set up a smaller division at Naughty Dog to make some titles slightly smaller in scope with more creative art styles like Jak and Dexter though? Ones that don't take 5-8 years to make. I guess it's never that simple or easy. It just seems a shame that everything Sony makes has to be so epic in scale.
I really miss the days when games like Warriors, Manhunt, Puppeteer, Ico etc. were being developed alongside the big hitters.
I understand the points being made, but to dismiss Nintendo's consistently successful reinvention and development of Mario and Zelda seems a bit off. To miss out on games like Galaxy 1&2, Odyssey, Wonder, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom would be a gaming tragedy.
We also never got further developments of IPs like Jak and Dexter, so we'll never know what heights they would have reached. Saying that, I always like to see studios take risks and make something new.
I think a big issue for Sony is that their studios are stuck making games with ridiculous development times, so the wait for new games has become quite painful. Meanwhile, Nintendo has kind of hit a ceiling graphically, so they can simply focus on gameplay and release more games more frequently. The rate of first party games from the two companies must be close to a ratio of 2:1 over the past five years.
One thing I will say, that by someone finally providing a genuine challenge for the platforming perch with Astro Bot, Nintendo will be pushed to up their game with the next major Mario game. I can't wait to see what they do next after seeing Asobi smash it out of the park.
The signs are not good. It'll have to offer something pretty special to overcome the negative sentiments associated with what's been sacrificed to make all these live service games. I don't like wishing things to fail, but I'm so sceptical when it comes to the basic premise of these types of games and their initial intentions.
As with Concord, nothing I've seen in the trailer for Fairgame$ suggests they're offering anything new or interesting. Why couldn't it be a single player mission based heist game with co-op, similar to Goldeneye or Perfect Dark? Maybe not completely original, but with a lot of effort put into some new ideas or mechanics would be so much more appealing. What I'm suggesting might just be Payday, I've never played it so I can't say.
In all seriousness, they're trying too hard to create an artificial zeitgeist. It simply doesn't work like that. If they really wanted to create a successful live service game they should have employed a large number of small dev teams on small budgets to create lots of live service titles with solid gameplay and foundations, then released them on steam, before investing more heavily in the ones that gain some momentum.
There's something so simultaneously arrogant and naïve about the way Sony have approached this push for a massive money maker. It's so sad that all these wonderfully talented people have wasted years of their lives making games so devoid of any creativity. It's like watching a beautiful stream come to a complete standstill and slowly turn stagnant.
@zebric21 this is absolutely going to be one of the rarest physical releases in Playstation history. I might get a copy to frame in celebration of the death of live service games.
I know live service is going nowhere in reality, but it feels like there might be a slight shift in a positive direction. It'll be the first and last live service game I invest in. There's something quite poetic in that.
@naruball "A remaster that is almost identical to the original game, with the same issues, no effort made, costing as much as a new game would be a better example of a cash grab."
You seem to be missing my point whilst also attempting to be pedantic. That's exactly what I'm accusing this of being. Except they didn't have anything to do with the original source material they pinched all their ideas from.
@naruball they went round thinking "the kids like this don't they?" stealing left right and centre in the hope they'd make a gross ass cash cow. If that's not cynical and devoid of any creativity I don't know what is. Just cause it took them 8 years to do it makes no difference. If anything it makes it worse.
Whilst I feel sorry for the devs that had to work on this, it's probably the best thing that could have possibly happened for the industry and gaming in general.
Publishers will think twice about designing cynical cash grabs by committee going forward. It'll be especially satisfying to see Astro Bot smash it this weekend.
That's a big issue with live service games. If they bomb they essentially die completely. At least if a single player game bombs it's possible to enjoy it regardless of how well it does. There's also a chance it will become a solid legacy title or successful franchise if it's a good game.
Speaking with friends in the industry, the general consensus is that initially spending big on a live service game is a huge waste of money. It's much better practice to invest a smaller amount on developing a more simple game with solid foundations that you then build on it if it takes off. Going in with 8 years of development and investing $300m without even testing the waters first is borderline insanity.
@ShogunRok this is a valid point that still seems baffling. I wonder if anyone will ever have the audacity to release a game that rises in price as it gradually gets patched until it works properly.
@TrickyDicky99 exactly this. Sony seem to have completely forgotten the concept of loss leading games, that offer a pool of interesting titles, giving people something to pick up when they buy the console. I think dropping the smaller Japan Studio titles was a bigger mistake than anyone realises too, as it offered an extra bump of interesting titles to look out for in second hand shops and sales, inadvertently helping the industry tick over a little more, create innovation and keep people like me more invested. I barely even look at PS5 shelves when I pop into a game shop anymore.
"The PlayStation maker needs live service to bankroll its extortionately expensive single player narratives, but its core audience has utterly rejected the idea and it needs evangelists to standout in a sector already well-dominated by juggernaut brands."
A well written article, but this comment is quite ill judged. As far as I know their single player games usually, if not always, make a profit. Plus, if their major push into live service were to be successful, there's very little chance they would invest any of that money into single player story driven games. If anything it would make them spend less on the games we love. They didn't exactly put any of the billions they've made into interesting smaller titles, like the ones Japan Studio made did they, and it's not like any of those projects were high cost or risk. The more these leechy live service borefests flop, the better for the industry and us gamers in my opinion.
@HonestHick is that really true though? Admittedly, I've not bought a new PS5 game since Elden Ring, but I did borrow Spiderman 2 and Star Wars Survivor and every game I've played up to this point has at least had a performance mode that runs at 60fps. The only games I know of that are stuck at 30fps are Red Dead Redemption 2 and Bloodborne, and they're PS4 games.
It might be because I'm getting older and time is speeding up, but it feels like this generation has barely started or scratched the surface of what the console is capable of. I personally think Sony and other publishers should focus on improving games instead of chasing the diminishing returns of where tech has got to. If making games costs so much now, isn't it time everyone slowed down a bit and put time into making great games until costs become a bit more sustainable?
I'm the camp of, hang on, forget about pushing a new expensive console that provides an incremental upgrade, where are the new bleedin' games? Show me the games!
Unfortunately the industry has become like a snake eating its own tail. I would like to support Remedy, but I have so many games to play as it is and would be stupid to buy if for full price, especially when there was no physical release. It's almost like the industry need to crash in order to catch up with itself. A bit like society in general really.
The quality of the legacy dungeons and castles for multiplayer and replayability are what's important to me in their games, so seeing them really refine this in Shadow of the Erdtree bodes well for the future imo. I'm glad they seem to understand what the best parts of their games are and I hope they focus more attention on this going forward.
As much as l like the boss fights they create and design, some of the best bosses they've ever made still sit in Demon's Souls, and I'd like to see some more like the Tower Knight, Old Monk and Armor Spider in their future souls games.
So, after poo pooing PSVR2, I did the wise and logical thing everyone would do and bought one on a whim when I went to a retail park for DIY supplies. I mostly held back because PSVR made me really sick when I tried it's few years ago, but thought at this price I can try it and worst case I could return it if it still made me sick.
After an initial adjustment period, this headset doesn't make me sick at all really, and I'm happy to eat a whole heap of humble pie. Playing GT7, Resi 4, Rez, Moss and a few others, it might have salvaged this generation for me personally. It's not perfect, but it has completely rejuvenated modern gaming for me in the space of a few days. It's such a hard sell when customers can't really understand what it's all about without dropping a load of cash. Shame it looks like Sony have backed off, but with what games there are already and the fact they everything on it is completely new for me it's actually worth the price at the £330 I paid. It also helps that pretty much every game worth having for it is heavily discounted at the moment.
Long story short, I was wrong to dismiss it and I'll happily admit that. Driving in GT7 with PSVR2 and a wheel is probably worth the money alone.
If it could play all the PSVR games too it would be worth considering, but when a product's price is nearly slashed in half and I'm still not interested you know there's something amiss. It could've had the potential for a very valuable collectors piece, but there aren't even any physical copies of games to collect for it.
What games are there actually worth playing on this anyway?
It's weird how the animation makes it look like an interesting story based co-op shooter a bit like Borderlands without the annoying juvenile humour.
It's crazy to me that one person (Jim Ryan... I suppose it's not quite that simple, but it did seem like he was championing the sudden switch to mass GaaS development) was able to steer a multi billion corporation down the sh@tter, going all in and chasing a fad that's been wrung dry a long time ago whilst completely disregarding the whole customer base their success and foundations were built on. I guess the lesson here should be to never listen to any radical ideas from a person in a position of power as they approach the end of their tenure.
This debate is tired and old. Fromsoft got to this point and these sales numbers by finding a gap in the market and honing the mechanics, playstyle and difficulty to the point of great success.
As has been stated many times, there are multiple ways to make the games 'easy' by summoning other players, over levelling, discovering a bosses weakness (which is the main puzzle element of the games similar to mega man) or even cheesing the game. If people want to breeze through soulsborne games all they have to do is read guides or watch videos on how to do it. They main challenge/mechanic is working out how to make the games easier.
Not sure how feasible it is, but seems to me that smaller indie studios being bought out by massive corporations need to start putting clauses in place that allow them to walk away with their IPs if their new owners decide to shut them down.
It's starting to look more like an IP grab/competition cull at this point. Double Fine, Obsidian and Ninja Theory must be sweating buckets as they finish their current games. At least one, if not all are almost guaranteed to be shuttered within a year of their next release.
This basically ended up being Microsoft sitting awkwardly on a bunch of stools, reminding everyone that they couldn't make anything substantial, so they just bought half the industry in order to control it instead.
I can't imagine it actually happening, but it would be for everyone's benefit if Sony and Microsoft agreed to slow down a bit. This race to the top is bankrupting companies and putting people out of work fast. I'd really like a more sustainable approach taken in general, and for studios to focus on making great games on a more affordable budgets, a bit like Nintendo.
Maybe joining forces with hardware and focusing on software really would be the answer. The competition should be in the games being made and released and not the boxes we play them on.
It says a lot that a large majority of these games/IPs were multiplatform games that Microsoft took away from other platforms, whilst generally overseeing a decline to most of the studios they poached. They really have added very little to the industry on the whole.
Microsoft bringing games back to PlayStation after going to much effort to take them away means little to me personally.
I think that if both Sony and Microsoft put half the money, time and effort they've wasted on all this noise during this generation into making good video games instead, we'd have a hell of a lot more good video games to play.
What with Sony wasting a crazy amount of time on a load of live service games nobody asked for and Microsoft crashing about the industry like a bull in a china shop, whilst adding absolutely nothing, it feels like both companies have lost the plot.
@ChrisDeku there's a slight irony here where you've become the arrogant commentor smugly belittling others for having an opinion whilst saying nothing of use and wasting their own and everyone's else's time in the comments section... so, check I guess haha.
Sad truth is these games will be the first to go independent of platforms and be playable straight from TVs eventually, leaving a huge whole in the market. This will accelerate the end of platforms as we know it, which was inevitable I suppose, once game streaming reaches an acceptable level anyway.
I'm sure there will always be passionate studios and designers that will continue making interesting games. I just hope they manage to get enough exposure when they make something fun.
@Titntin I was talking more about the actual content of the games themselves. Yes they are sequels, but they have all brought in new ideas, mechanics and creativity. Spiderman 2 is the exact same game I've played twice already and that's all Sony had offered this year. My issue isn't with sequels, it's with creativity and I don't see Sony making any genuine GOTYs any time soon with their current strategy.
Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying Spiderman 2 (mostly cause i didn't pay for it), but if it costs that much time, money and effort to make something so similar to the last two they're focusing on on the wrong elements in my opinion.
@ChrisDeku I suppose I didn't want to let Sony and Microsoft off the hook for generally doing more damage than good for the industry in what has been one of the most amazing years for games ever. A lot of people have lost their jobs in 2023 due to greed and mismanagement.
In the spirit of the actual topic I'd say my top PlayStation games this year have been:
1: Armoured Core 6
2: Resident Evil 4 Remake
3: Spiderman 2
4: Final Fantasy 16
5: Jedi Star Wars: survivor
I haven't got round to Baldur's Gate 3 or Alan Wake 2 as I'm waiting for the physical releases next year and finding the time to actually play them.
@ChrisDeku you make some valid points, but it doesn't change that fact that I feel like I've got so much more from a console on its last legs than one that should be at its peak and in full flow.
I'm not a Sony hater, I'm just disappointed with how complacent they've become whilst chasing the live service trend that no one asked for. Both Zelda and Mario have so many new ideas and such creativity that dismissing then as retreads isn't really fair.
As for Warioware, it's not a game I'm personally interested in, but I'm glad it exists and they still release something different from the rest of the market. I'm sure I'll pick it up for cheap one day and get a few hours of fun out of it with a few mates and some beers down the line.
@naruball "Pretty sure Sony is far from embarrassed considering that it's dominating the market."
This is precisely my point, they should be. The fact that they feel like they're doing it right whilst laying off so many people across their studios is upsetting.
"Both brilliant games that hardly anyone played. Not sure what "would have gone a long way" refers to. At the end of day, other than a few hardcore gamers, everyone else couldn't care less about them (unfortunately)."
They would have gone a long way to actually adding something back to the industry whilst creating more jobs and raising their reputation for experimenting with some low risk new ideas. It's not all about realistic looking retreads of the same tired blockbusters.
Armoured Core is probably the best game I've played on the ps5 this year. I borrowed Spiderman 2 from a mate and started it yesterday. It's fun, but nothing special, more of the same really. Sony should be pretty embarrassed about their output this year, as should Microsoft. Nintendo has wiped the floor with both of them. The sheer amount of quality games on the switch has be staggering.
The switch has had:
Fire Emblem Engage
Metroid Prime Remastered
Pikmin 4
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza Bayo Spin off
Advance Wars 1&2 remake
Warioware: Move it
A load of new Mario Kart dlc
Xenoblade 3 dlc
Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
Mario Wonder
Mario RPG remake
I'm probably missing a few others too. It makes you wonder what the others are doing. How can they mismanage their studios so badly while another can release so many good games in one year? The decision to close Japan Studio by Sony was so unbelievably short sighted. A couple of games like Puppeteer or Gravity Rush would have gone a long way.
Hopefully this will make publishers think twice about the stupid current trend of announcements for announcements. I sympathise with those involved, but why not just release the trailer as the announcement?
Comments 765
Re: 'It Felt Like Putting New Glasses On,' Claims First PS5 Pro Hands On
@WiiWareWave right? Like, what the actual ****?! Hahaha
Re: 'It Felt Like Putting New Glasses On,' Claims First PS5 Pro Hands On
This is starting to feel like a scam.
Re: Talking Point: Is PS5 Pro Way Too Expensive?
This has got out of hand. It's all becoming dangerous reminiscent of Sega before the Saturn when they kept releasing too many consoles iterations and peripherals, before everyone lost faith in them.
I'm going to stick with Nintendo for a while and won't be buying any Sony stuff new for way into the next generation. They've completely lost my trust this generation. Honestly, we've had what, 5 genuine PS5 first party games and they're trying to carve up the customer base with a £700 fomo machine.
It's borderline offensive.
Re: Days Gone Director Roasts 'Small Game' Astro Bot PS5 for Deacon St John Cameo
Dude needs to wind his neck in.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing Astro Bot?
Three levels in and I'm 100% sure it's game of the year.
Re: Soapbox: Astro's Playroom PS5 Did Live Service and You Didn't Even Notice
Nice bait.
I respect the hustle.
Re: Astro Bot (PS5) - One of the Greatest PlayStation Platformers of All Time
That moment when you're one hour into a new game and you realise you're playing the game of the year 🙂
Re: Concord PS5, PC Scalpers Attempt to Cash In on 'Rare Collector's Item'
A physical release that highlights the bizarre nature of game collecting and perceived value. A sealed game sold at auction would never be opened or played anyway, so the fact that a Concord disc has no information on it is irrelevant if it's a historic collectors piece. It makes a mockery of the whole collectors market, not that it makes any difference. Maybe Sony should store all the copies and auction them off in 20 years to recoup the game's budget.
It could end up holding value similar to Stadium Events one day. I doubt it, but there a quite a few similarities between the releases.
Re: Soapbox: Astro Bot PS5 Is Not a Graveyard, It's a Joyful Demonstration of Sony's Unique Ability to Reinvent Itself
@get2sammyb agreed, playing Uncharted 2 and Last of Us 1 and 2 are some of my favourite Playstation memories. Would it really be that difficult to set up a smaller division at Naughty Dog to make some titles slightly smaller in scope with more creative art styles like Jak and Dexter though? Ones that don't take 5-8 years to make. I guess it's never that simple or easy. It just seems a shame that everything Sony makes has to be so epic in scale.
I really miss the days when games like Warriors, Manhunt, Puppeteer, Ico etc. were being developed alongside the big hitters.
Re: Soapbox: Astro Bot PS5 Is Not a Graveyard, It's a Joyful Demonstration of Sony's Unique Ability to Reinvent Itself
I understand the points being made, but to dismiss Nintendo's consistently successful reinvention and development of Mario and Zelda seems a bit off. To miss out on games like Galaxy 1&2, Odyssey, Wonder, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom would be a gaming tragedy.
We also never got further developments of IPs like Jak and Dexter, so we'll never know what heights they would have reached. Saying that, I always like to see studios take risks and make something new.
I think a big issue for Sony is that their studios are stuck making games with ridiculous development times, so the wait for new games has become quite painful. Meanwhile, Nintendo has kind of hit a ceiling graphically, so they can simply focus on gameplay and release more games more frequently. The rate of first party games from the two companies must be close to a ratio of 2:1 over the past five years.
One thing I will say, that by someone finally providing a genuine challenge for the platforming perch with Astro Bot, Nintendo will be pushed to up their game with the next major Mario game. I can't wait to see what they do next after seeing Asobi smash it out of the park.
Re: Internal Sony Fairgame$ PS5, PC Chatter Is Reportedly Quite Positive
The signs are not good. It'll have to offer something pretty special to overcome the negative sentiments associated with what's been sacrificed to make all these live service games. I don't like wishing things to fail, but I'm so sceptical when it comes to the basic premise of these types of games and their initial intentions.
As with Concord, nothing I've seen in the trailer for Fairgame$ suggests they're offering anything new or interesting. Why couldn't it be a single player mission based heist game with co-op, similar to Goldeneye or Perfect Dark? Maybe not completely original, but with a lot of effort put into some new ideas or mechanics would be so much more appealing. What I'm suggesting might just be Payday, I've never played it so I can't say.
Re: Reaction: PlayStation Needs to Take a Long, Hard Look at Itself
In all seriousness, they're trying too hard to create an artificial zeitgeist. It simply doesn't work like that. If they really wanted to create a successful live service game they should have employed a large number of small dev teams on small budgets to create lots of live service titles with solid gameplay and foundations, then released them on steam, before investing more heavily in the ones that gain some momentum.
There's something so simultaneously arrogant and naïve about the way Sony have approached this push for a massive money maker. It's so sad that all these wonderfully talented people have wasted years of their lives making games so devoid of any creativity. It's like watching a beautiful stream come to a complete standstill and slowly turn stagnant.
Re: Reaction: PlayStation Needs to Take a Long, Hard Look at Itself
They most certainly did not stick the landing.
Re: PS5, PC Shooter Concord Dead on Arrival, Is Being Taken Offline This Week as Dev 'Explores Options'
Man, this comments section really took off!
Re: PS5, PC Shooter Concord Dead on Arrival, Is Being Taken Offline This Week as Dev 'Explores Options'
@jrt87 orrrrrrr it'll be the single most valuable trade item when society collapses and physical video games become the main currency.
1 loaf of bread = 2 loose PS1 Destruction Derbies and a CIB Xbox 360 Halo.
Re: PS5, PC Shooter Concord Dead on Arrival, Is Being Taken Offline This Week as Dev 'Explores Options'
@zebric21 this is absolutely going to be one of the rarest physical releases in Playstation history. I might get a copy to frame in celebration of the death of live service games.
I know live service is going nowhere in reality, but it feels like there might be a slight shift in a positive direction. It'll be the first and last live service game I invest in. There's something quite poetic in that.
Re: PS5, PC Shooter Concord Dead on Arrival, Is Being Taken Offline This Week as Dev 'Explores Options'
@Bobobiwan "I'm really tempted to quickly get a physical copy right now.
You know, just for collector's sake.
And in twenty years, I'll sell it on Ebay and will be able to buy a new house."
...or a replica concord.
Re: PS5, PC Shooter Concord Dead on Arrival, Is Being Taken Offline This Week as Dev 'Explores Options'
@naruball "A remaster that is almost identical to the original game, with the same issues, no effort made, costing as much as a new game would be a better example of a cash grab."
You seem to be missing my point whilst also attempting to be pedantic. That's exactly what I'm accusing this of being. Except they didn't have anything to do with the original source material they pinched all their ideas from.
Re: PS5, PC Shooter Concord Dead on Arrival, Is Being Taken Offline This Week as Dev 'Explores Options'
@naruball they went round thinking "the kids like this don't they?" stealing left right and centre in the hope they'd make a gross ass cash cow. If that's not cynical and devoid of any creativity I don't know what is. Just cause it took them 8 years to do it makes no difference. If anything it makes it worse.
Re: PS5, PC Shooter Concord Dead on Arrival, Is Being Taken Offline This Week as Dev 'Explores Options'
Whilst I feel sorry for the devs that had to work on this, it's probably the best thing that could have possibly happened for the industry and gaming in general.
Publishers will think twice about designing cynical cash grabs by committee going forward. It'll be especially satisfying to see Astro Bot smash it this weekend.
Re: How Long Does It Take to Find a Match in Concord on PS5, PC?
Looking forward to the next article:
Top Ten Concord players
1. PSXlover
2. Overwatch_killed_my_mum_27
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. J.Ryan
10.
Re: Concord PS5, PC Sales Estimates Are Somehow Even Worse Than We Thought
That's a big issue with live service games. If they bomb they essentially die completely. At least if a single player game bombs it's possible to enjoy it regardless of how well it does. There's also a chance it will become a solid legacy title or successful franchise if it's a good game.
Speaking with friends in the industry, the general consensus is that initially spending big on a live service game is a huge waste of money. It's much better practice to invest a smaller amount on developing a more simple game with solid foundations that you then build on it if it takes off. Going in with 8 years of development and investing $300m without even testing the waters first is borderline insanity.
Re: How Much Would You Pay for Your PS5 Games? Dev Says Industry Is Waiting for GTA 6 to Hike Prices
@ShogunRok this is a valid point that still seems baffling. I wonder if anyone will ever have the audacity to release a game that rises in price as it gradually gets patched until it works properly.
Re: Talking Point: Can PS5, PC Shooter Concord Be Saved?
@TrickyDicky99 exactly this. Sony seem to have completely forgotten the concept of loss leading games, that offer a pool of interesting titles, giving people something to pick up when they buy the console. I think dropping the smaller Japan Studio titles was a bigger mistake than anyone realises too, as it offered an extra bump of interesting titles to look out for in second hand shops and sales, inadvertently helping the industry tick over a little more, create innovation and keep people like me more invested. I barely even look at PS5 shelves when I pop into a game shop anymore.
Re: Talking Point: Can PS5, PC Shooter Concord Be Saved?
"The PlayStation maker needs live service to bankroll its extortionately expensive single player narratives, but its core audience has utterly rejected the idea and it needs evangelists to standout in a sector already well-dominated by juggernaut brands."
A well written article, but this comment is quite ill judged. As far as I know their single player games usually, if not always, make a profit. Plus, if their major push into live service were to be successful, there's very little chance they would invest any of that money into single player story driven games. If anything it would make them spend less on the games we love. They didn't exactly put any of the billions they've made into interesting smaller titles, like the ones Japan Studio made did they, and it's not like any of those projects were high cost or risk. The more these leechy live service borefests flop, the better for the industry and us gamers in my opinion.
Re: Rumour: PS5 Pro Still Planned to Release in 2024, State of Play Coming in September
@HonestHick is that really true though? Admittedly, I've not bought a new PS5 game since Elden Ring, but I did borrow Spiderman 2 and Star Wars Survivor and every game I've played up to this point has at least had a performance mode that runs at 60fps. The only games I know of that are stuck at 30fps are Red Dead Redemption 2 and Bloodborne, and they're PS4 games.
It might be because I'm getting older and time is speeding up, but it feels like this generation has barely started or scratched the surface of what the console is capable of. I personally think Sony and other publishers should focus on improving games instead of chasing the diminishing returns of where tech has got to. If making games costs so much now, isn't it time everyone slowed down a bit and put time into making great games until costs become a bit more sustainable?
Re: Rumour: PS5 Pro Still Planned to Release in 2024, State of Play Coming in September
I'm the camp of, hang on, forget about pushing a new expensive console that provides an incremental upgrade, where are the new bleedin' games? Show me the games!
Re: Alan Wake 2 Still Hasn't Made Remedy Any Royalties, But Work Is Underway on Max Payne's PS5 Remakes
Unfortunately the industry has become like a snake eating its own tail. I would like to support Remedy, but I have so many games to play as it is and would be stupid to buy if for full price, especially when there was no physical release. It's almost like the industry need to crash in order to catch up with itself. A bit like society in general really.
Re: Elden Ring 'Really the Limit' for How Large FromSoftware's Games Can Be
The quality of the legacy dungeons and castles for multiplayer and replayability are what's important to me in their games, so seeing them really refine this in Shadow of the Erdtree bodes well for the future imo. I'm glad they seem to understand what the best parts of their games are and I hope they focus more attention on this going forward.
As much as l like the boss fights they create and design, some of the best bosses they've ever made still sit in Demon's Souls, and I'd like to see some more like the Tower Knight, Old Monk and Armor Spider in their future souls games.
Re: Talking Point: Is It Finally the Right Time to Buy PSVR2?
So, after poo pooing PSVR2, I did the wise and logical thing everyone would do and bought one on a whim when I went to a retail park for DIY supplies. I mostly held back because PSVR made me really sick when I tried it's few years ago, but thought at this price I can try it and worst case I could return it if it still made me sick.
After an initial adjustment period, this headset doesn't make me sick at all really, and I'm happy to eat a whole heap of humble pie. Playing GT7, Resi 4, Rez, Moss and a few others, it might have salvaged this generation for me personally. It's not perfect, but it has completely rejuvenated modern gaming for me in the space of a few days. It's such a hard sell when customers can't really understand what it's all about without dropping a load of cash. Shame it looks like Sony have backed off, but with what games there are already and the fact they everything on it is completely new for me it's actually worth the price at the £330 I paid. It also helps that pretty much every game worth having for it is heavily discounted at the moment.
Long story short, I was wrong to dismiss it and I'll happily admit that. Driving in GT7 with PSVR2 and a wheel is probably worth the money alone.
Re: Deals: PSVR2 Price Gets a Hefty Cut at Numerous UK Retailers
If it could play all the PSVR games too it would be worth considering, but when a product's price is nearly slashed in half and I'm still not interested you know there's something amiss. It could've had the potential for a very valuable collectors piece, but there aren't even any physical copies of games to collect for it.
What games are there actually worth playing on this anyway?
Re: Concord's Seemingly Unlimited Promo Budget Now Includes Animated Shorts
It's weird how the animation makes it look like an interesting story based co-op shooter a bit like Borderlands without the annoying juvenile humour.
It's crazy to me that one person (Jim Ryan... I suppose it's not quite that simple, but it did seem like he was championing the sudden switch to mass GaaS development) was able to steer a multi billion corporation down the sh@tter, going all in and chasing a fad that's been wrung dry a long time ago whilst completely disregarding the whole customer base their success and foundations were built on. I guess the lesson here should be to never listen to any radical ideas from a person in a position of power as they approach the end of their tenure.
Re: FromSoftware Boss Puts Elden Ring Difficulty Discourse to Bed, Once and For All
This debate is tired and old. Fromsoft got to this point and these sales numbers by finding a gap in the market and honing the mechanics, playstyle and difficulty to the point of great success.
As has been stated many times, there are multiple ways to make the games 'easy' by summoning other players, over levelling, discovering a bosses weakness (which is the main puzzle element of the games similar to mega man) or even cheesing the game. If people want to breeze through soulsborne games all they have to do is read guides or watch videos on how to do it. They main challenge/mechanic is working out how to make the games easier.
Re: Rumour: Hi-Fi Rush Dev Was Pitching Sequel Before Microsoft Closed It Down
Not sure how feasible it is, but seems to me that smaller indie studios being bought out by massive corporations need to start putting clauses in place that allow them to walk away with their IPs if their new owners decide to shut them down.
It's starting to look more like an IP grab/competition cull at this point. Double Fine, Obsidian and Ninja Theory must be sweating buckets as they finish their current games. At least one, if not all are almost guaranteed to be shuttered within a year of their next release.
Re: Elden Ring DLC Reveal Trailer Debuts in Less Than 24 Hours
So our souls might be mended.
Re: Xbox Is Bringing Four Exclusives to PS5, But It Won't Say Which
This basically ended up being Microsoft sitting awkwardly on a bunch of stools, reminding everyone that they couldn't make anything substantial, so they just bought half the industry in order to control it instead.
Re: PS5 Is Entering the 'Latter Half of Its Life Cycle', Says Sony
I can't imagine it actually happening, but it would be for everyone's benefit if Sony and Microsoft agreed to slow down a bit. This race to the top is bankrupting companies and putting people out of work fast. I'd really like a more sustainable approach taken in general, and for studios to focus on making great games on a more affordable budgets, a bit like Nintendo.
Maybe joining forces with hardware and focusing on software really would be the answer. The competition should be in the games being made and released and not the boxes we play them on.
Re: Poll: Which Xbox Franchises Would You Buy on PS5?
It says a lot that a large majority of these games/IPs were multiplatform games that Microsoft took away from other platforms, whilst generally overseeing a decline to most of the studios they poached. They really have added very little to the industry on the whole.
Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About All of the Xbox Multiplatform Rumours?
Microsoft bringing games back to PlayStation after going to much effort to take them away means little to me personally.
I think that if both Sony and Microsoft put half the money, time and effort they've wasted on all this noise during this generation into making good video games instead, we'd have a hell of a lot more good video games to play.
What with Sony wasting a crazy amount of time on a load of live service games nobody asked for and Microsoft crashing about the industry like a bull in a china shop, whilst adding absolutely nothing, it feels like both companies have lost the plot.
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for February 2024 Announced
Roller drone is superb, glad it's going to get a bump in traffic and more recognition.
Re: The Last of Us 2 Remastered's No Return Mode 'Not Recommended for Weak Hearts', Warns Dev
@ChrisDeku ha, worth it.
Re: The Last of Us 2 Remastered's No Return Mode 'Not Recommended for Weak Hearts', Warns Dev
@ChrisDeku there's a slight irony here where you've become the arrogant commentor smugly belittling others for having an opinion whilst saying nothing of use and wasting their own and everyone's else's time in the comments section... so, check I guess haha.
Re: PlayStation Reveals Most Played Games of 2023 by Region, Is Basically a Waste of Time
Sad truth is these games will be the first to go independent of platforms and be playable straight from TVs eventually, leaving a huge whole in the market. This will accelerate the end of platforms as we know it, which was inevitable I suppose, once game streaming reaches an acceptable level anyway.
I'm sure there will always be passionate studios and designers that will continue making interesting games. I just hope they manage to get enough exposure when they make something fun.
Re: Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Wins Big in PS Blog Awards, Including PS5 Game of the Year
This is pretty funny to be fair, if not embarrassing. They might have well just given it best Spiderman game of the year.
Re: Site News: Our Game of the Year Goodness Gets Underway from Today
@Titntin I was talking more about the actual content of the games themselves. Yes they are sequels, but they have all brought in new ideas, mechanics and creativity. Spiderman 2 is the exact same game I've played twice already and that's all Sony had offered this year. My issue isn't with sequels, it's with creativity and I don't see Sony making any genuine GOTYs any time soon with their current strategy.
Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying Spiderman 2 (mostly cause i didn't pay for it), but if it costs that much time, money and effort to make something so similar to the last two they're focusing on on the wrong elements in my opinion.
Re: Site News: Our Game of the Year Goodness Gets Underway from Today
@ChrisDeku I suppose I didn't want to let Sony and Microsoft off the hook for generally doing more damage than good for the industry in what has been one of the most amazing years for games ever. A lot of people have lost their jobs in 2023 due to greed and mismanagement.
In the spirit of the actual topic I'd say my top PlayStation games this year have been:
1: Armoured Core 6
2: Resident Evil 4 Remake
3: Spiderman 2
4: Final Fantasy 16
5: Jedi Star Wars: survivor
I haven't got round to Baldur's Gate 3 or Alan Wake 2 as I'm waiting for the physical releases next year and finding the time to actually play them.
Re: Site News: Our Game of the Year Goodness Gets Underway from Today
@ChrisDeku you make some valid points, but it doesn't change that fact that I feel like I've got so much more from a console on its last legs than one that should be at its peak and in full flow.
I'm not a Sony hater, I'm just disappointed with how complacent they've become whilst chasing the live service trend that no one asked for. Both Zelda and Mario have so many new ideas and such creativity that dismissing then as retreads isn't really fair.
As for Warioware, it's not a game I'm personally interested in, but I'm glad it exists and they still release something different from the rest of the market. I'm sure I'll pick it up for cheap one day and get a few hours of fun out of it with a few mates and some beers down the line.
Re: Site News: Our Game of the Year Goodness Gets Underway from Today
@naruball "Pretty sure Sony is far from embarrassed considering that it's dominating the market."
This is precisely my point, they should be. The fact that they feel like they're doing it right whilst laying off so many people across their studios is upsetting.
"Both brilliant games that hardly anyone played. Not sure what "would have gone a long way" refers to. At the end of day, other than a few hardcore gamers, everyone else couldn't care less about them (unfortunately)."
They would have gone a long way to actually adding something back to the industry whilst creating more jobs and raising their reputation for experimenting with some low risk new ideas. It's not all about realistic looking retreads of the same tired blockbusters.
Re: Site News: Our Game of the Year Goodness Gets Underway from Today
Armoured Core is probably the best game I've played on the ps5 this year. I borrowed Spiderman 2 from a mate and started it yesterday. It's fun, but nothing special, more of the same really. Sony should be pretty embarrassed about their output this year, as should Microsoft. Nintendo has wiped the floor with both of them. The sheer amount of quality games on the switch has be staggering.
The switch has had:
Fire Emblem Engage
Metroid Prime Remastered
Pikmin 4
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza Bayo Spin off
Advance Wars 1&2 remake
Warioware: Move it
A load of new Mario Kart dlc
Xenoblade 3 dlc
Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
Mario Wonder
Mario RPG remake
I'm probably missing a few others too. It makes you wonder what the others are doing. How can they mismanage their studios so badly while another can release so many good games in one year? The decision to close Japan Studio by Sony was so unbelievably short sighted. A couple of games like Puppeteer or Gravity Rush would have gone a long way.
Re: GTA 6 Dev Laments Unfortunate Trailer Leak: 'This F***ing Sucks'
Hopefully this will make publishers think twice about the stupid current trend of announcements for announcements. I sympathise with those involved, but why not just release the trailer as the announcement?