Old-Red

I wonder if any of those studios secretly regret selling out to Microsoft now. Not much point in security if there's no one to play your games. I'm kind of glad to see Xbox's underhand tactics not working as planned, but total domination from Sony would also be an unfortunate outcome.

Honestly, if I was Sony, I'd take Call of Duty off Playstation completly to negate the Activision buyout, and provide an alternative. A bold move, but maybe the best one in the long run, and a massive eff-u to Microsoft. If Sony don't have Bungie working on an exclusive COD replacement then they're doing it wrong.

The major shift for me is that I now play a lot more of my physical collection and buy far fewer games than I used to in general because of the digital shift, so I imagine this is also affecting physical sales if other physical collectors are similar to me.

I still buy Nintendo published games on release, as I know that the game will at least be playable as physical media in the future and generally release in a good state. However, with PlayStation games in general and especially digital only releases like Alan Wake 2 and Balder's Gate 3 I just think I'll wait until I actually want to play it. This also means I get the games cheaper and patched in a better state, ideally as a physical game of the year edition.

I do wonder if I'm a complete outlier in this regard as well as a gaming fossil fogey. Either way, it's becoming clear that game players / collectors like me are on the way out. At least I'll finally get to see if I was right about prices of physical games going through the roof when the publishers start gouging us after they finally get complete control over game prices.

I think the lack of 6 being mentioned and the next grand theft auto instead seems to suggest they might drop the numbering system.

They could probably get away with simply calling it Grand Theft Auto and establishing it as a platform going forward, similar to Fortnite.

I am looking forward to it though, Rockstar usually release their games in a solid playable state and an excellent game to play.

Online play really needs to be made free again. At the very least, there should be a £10 a year option for online only. The whole subscription service thing has gone sour.

Nintendo employees help them make great games and massive profits > increases pay across the board. There's a reason they are so successful in the long term and continue to put out games of such high quality. All with games that still cost under £50 new. Just saying.

Nintendo aren't saints, and admittedly their stance on unions and contract workers is shady, but at least they mostly realise that the people they employ and their customers are human beings and not simply resources to milk and exploit.

I'm happy for them to just continue making new IPs with slight development/tweaks on the soulsborne formula. FromSoftware have positioned themselves in the envious situation where the studio making the game is enough to build hype.

I completely forgot they raised the price of the base sub. It's infuriating that online play is still locked behind the subscription. With no interest in 90% of the ps+ games, I wish I could drop it all completely, and probably will if I can't find any year subs for under £40 next time mine runs out.

No game is worth £70, even £50 is pushing it. I've completely stopped buying PS5 games on launch now. I wonder if the price hike was worth it in the end. One benefit of it being so short is that I'll be able to play it for free in a week or so thanks to being able to borrow a physical copy.

I especially like all the people on the media side of the industry larking on about how wonderful digital is and how unbelievable it is that people still buy physical games. Must be nice to get all those free game codes whilst helping to push up the price for the rest of us. Thanks for that xxx

@__jamiie @HonestHick I can't wait for the follow up to Achievements and the next thrilling installment of Friends List. Also looking forward to the dlc expansion for Adverts on my Dashboard. I think both of you have done a stellar job of taking a moment to consider how little Microsoft have actually added to the video game industry. Thank you xxx

Can we all just take a moment to consider how little Microsoft have actually added to the video game industry...

I'll borrow it off a friend in the Xmas break. I don't really buy PS5 games on release anymore, if at all. I can't actually remember the last one I bought on release... Ratchet and Clank maybe. The £70 price hike killed all the hype I had. Just made me feel like a mug when I booted up a game after paying that much.

@ShogunRok is there a way to change the text colour/style? It messed with my eyes big time when I played it before, to the point where I stopped reading anything. It had this weird burn-in effect that I've never had with any other game.

It's by far the most disappointing Sony exclusive this generation imo, and the only one I didn't finish. Different strokes I guess.

Maybe Aloy's constant repetition of "I'll save this for later." Had a subconscious effect, outside of driving me nuts.

I'm surprised how much I like it. I was expecting a solid 7 possibly 8, but it's an easy 9 for me. It rewards repeated plays on missions and feels great when you start tearing through levels and bosses like a knife through butter. If Zelda wasn't so epic it would probably be my goty.

Exciting. It genuinely looks awesome. I've chosen to go for this instead of Baldour's Gate 3 for now. It'll be nice to play something a bit different with a fresh gameplay loop. I'm a bit burnt out on massive RPG style games, so this has come along at just the right time for me.

Cool, I'm waiting for a physical version, so it's good to know they'll at least be an Asian version. They usually work internationally, here's hoping.

Knowing Lariat I'm expecting them to wait to be satisfied and the game fully patched before a western physical release. Maybe even limited run.

I still think Starfield will come to both Sony and Nintendo consoles eventually, probably years down the line, and this palava will be a load of stuff and nonsense for nothing.

MS just can't say that for obvious reasons. They need a flagship game and Starfield is the only thing they have to cling on to at the moment.

Meanwhile everyone else wants a tight single player campaign. Instead, one of the best first person developers on the planet is intent on targeting and exploiting a minority with predatory monetisation and nefarious game design. Talk about selling your soul for coin.

And this is why I will be PC and steam after this gen going forward. Unless the console ecosystem prices come down, only fools will carry on paying the inflated costs.

SquareEnix need to wind their neck in and focus on releasing a solid run of strong games. They're a long way off being a publisher that offers day one games for me, mainly cause I've learnt that there will be multiple releases of every game they make and I know I'm better off waiting to get a definitive, compete copy for much cheaper a year or so down the line.

The market is saturated and hopefully publishers will learn that if they want to stand out they need to treat the fan base with a bit more respect. This unfortunately means that a few great games have to suffer lower sales while they get people back on side. If a company takes the pi$$ for long enough they start to smell of it.

RIPSVR2

TotK will come l keep me in going for a good few months at least. Good thing too, as I can save these games for later on at a discount.

There's no way the PS4 could handle that much Clive!

I was far more engaged with Factions than anything to do with Destiny. I just wasn't spending any money, and I'm guessing that's what this is really all about. Sounds to me like Naughty Dog have been told that they were focusing too much on making the game fun and not thinking enough about how to exploit people with addictive tenancies.

Not actual gameplay

@theMEGAniggle I get that games take time, but when I see decisions like Japan Studios being shuttered cause they don't make crazy money, I just feel bored of what's on offer. A few titles like Puppeteer, Bloodborne or Gravity Rush to break up the monotony would really have gone a long way these past couple of years. I think Jim Ryan's been shortsighted by ignoring the impact of innovative games, even if they're developed at a slight loss.

After playing a game like Tears of the Kingdom for the past 10 days I think Sony should be worried. Their games look so dull and devoid of any inspiration. It's all the same old stuff with shiny bits tacked on. It's just won't cut it for me anymore.

I'm sure they'll be fine with the loyal fan base prepared to buy anything they release, but it's time for me to sit their games out for a good few years. I'm so bored of it all, especially at £70 a pop. I'm sure GTA6 will be worth it and a few other titles, but man has this gen been stale as all hell when it comes to Playstation. Shame, as it started quite well with Returnal.

I'd rather save the money for whatever the Switch follow-up is at this point. I almost gave in a bought one for the hype, but I'm glad I didn't. I don't want to put a big plastic thing on my head to play games. I know it's more comfortable than before, but I'm happy to give it a miss for now and possibly pick up a cheap set on discount down the line.

Bit of a weird situation, but I kind of hope it fails real hard and gets a heavy discount when retailers try to get rid of stock. Not a nice sentiment I realise, but it's probably going to be the only thing that gives me a chance to try vr out in any substantial capacity.

TotK is something special. I don't see myself turning on the PS5 for a long time. BotW was a warning to the rest of the industry, and all the big studios wasted the last five years focusing on service games. Now they're ten years behind Nintendo. It's ironic that the game is made on hardware ten years behind the competition too.

What a waste.

At least Sony are doing something to keep the second hand market alive, that's nice of them.

Been saying this since the beginning of all the subscription models coming in. Most people don't have enough time to play all these games and having too much choice can be stifling when trying to chose a game. I've got a huge library of unplayed PS+ games, why would I want to pay more for hundreds of even more games I'll never have the time to play? I only have PS+ cause you need it for online, if I could, I'd drop it in a heartbeat.

The number of games to play has never been an issue for most people, it's the quality and innovation in gameplay and AI that needs to be addressed.

I've been saying this from the beginning of MS's assault on the industry with the Bethesda buyout. All they've done is take established IPs and games already in development away from people in an attempt to hobble Sony. If only they'd spent a fraction of all this money on building some new studios and fostering fresh young talent in order to bring some new games to the table as their own exclusives, the whole industry would have benefited. I might have even been tempted to buy an Xbox if they made some new, interesting games, but now I'm completely put off by them and won't go near anything they make or release.

This has got 7 out of 10 written all over it. I'm sure it'll be good and I say this as a huge From Software fan, but this series has always sat in the 'not quite' sphere. It's probably a good thing for them to release a good but not great game now in order to bring expectations down to earth a bit.

If they do somehow manage to work out how to make a great mech game and release yet another banger, it'll be some feat. It will also give them some room to step outside of the Soulsborne genre a bit more often, which I think is needed before it becomes tired.

I relate to this in a big way. It's the same with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I wish they wouldn't show so much of anticipated games like this. It's hard to not give in a watch some of it, let alone avoid thumbnails and articles discussing this and that.

I managed to mostly avoid Elden Ring stuff and FFXVI, but I fell off Final Fantasy around XII, so it's been easier to ignore everything about it so far. I'm hoping to go in blind and get a nice surprise.

@LeeHarveyOzgod your comparison is deeply flawed I'm afraid. A grocery store doesn't charge $50+ dollars to simply get through the door.

I'll make a more fair comparison of monetisation in full price games for you if you like. Imagine going to a book store to buy a book, say... Catcher in the Rye, that should be right up your alley. You sit down in a nice cafe to read your book only to find the book store clerk has followed you and abruptly places a menu between you and the book you have already paid for and are trying to read. This menu has a wealth of options offering you a quick explanation of all the book's plot points, including the ending for an abundance of small separate fees. There's one big difference here though, you would be able to tell the clerk no thank you and that you don't want to be bothered and want to focus on the book you've already paid money to enjoy.

I was simply suggesting it would be nice to have an option to say no thank you in games in general when they pester you with microtransactions. This game might not be as bad as others, and it's not a major burden for me or anything, but the option to hide the store link or any monetisation would be nice.

I don't like it, but if they are going to do this I would like the option to turn them off in my game if I want to. Simply seeing them every time I play a game leaves a bad taste and I wish there was a law forcing a microtransaction visibility toggle.

You know things aren't going so well for a hardware product when there are more articles about how badly it's doing than there are about anything being released for it.

It has also quickly become the sort of thing that when spoken about in presentations is going to be more of an annoyance that takes up time than something to be interested in. The discourse around it is already starting to get tiresome.

There's a lot of 'cheating', as it's called in the industry, going on here. I'm not even sure the games have been re-sealed. It looks like clever editing and tearing off carefully placed plastic sheets to give the impression they're being opened. It's a bit misleading, but that's not the point I suppose. It's more about giving the feeling of opening a new game.

I play games to relax, the last thing I want is a hunk of plastic hanging off my face. It's fun or interesting for a short period, but until they can get it to something akin to wearing a pair of glasses it'll never become mainstream.

Still playing this beauty after more than a year. Other studios and publishers must kind of hate it. I've barely bought anything else new since it came out, especially on ps5.

There are many stores in London that sell games before release date. There's an obvious incentive to do this as they get to charge more than RRP, sometimes £80-100 for a copy.

At this point Miyazaki could fart in a box and seal it and I'd buy it.

Xmas release would be nice, but I'll take it when it's ready. Can't wait!

Interesting, losing mikami games was the thing I was most disappointed about with the Bethesda acquisition.

It seems to me that all these Microsoft moves have only had a negative impact on the industry, and this departure only adds to that sentiment.

Personally, I'm fed up with this murky, re-release / paid for updates of games from gen to gen. I don't want to have to keep reburying games I already own. I have a bunch of vr games built up from plus and other deals that I thought would be worth keeping for PSVR2, then it all become a mess of maybe-maybe nots. Add in the high cost and I couldn't be bothered in the end.

It's such an expensive risk to take too, not knowing if I'll get used to the dizziness or not. If there was a way to trial run the device for a few weeks I'd probably give it a go, but that's understandably not feasible. It has far too many roadblocks imo.

@Marquez errrm, yeah, it's not possible to finish the game three times for the plat in under 60 hours without save scumming / cheesing.

@jrt87 @WallyWest I wouldn't dismiss bayo 3 too soon. I was up and down on it until I started replaying the levels for high scores and ignoring all the story nonsense.

Like most Platinum games, it really shines when you start to master the mechanics and achieve high scores. It's a great podcast game to play while listening to other stuff too.

It's alright. Hard to argue against certain qualities it has, but it came at a time where I'd recently finished the first and can only take one Ubisoft formula mindless open world game every 3-5 years.

I'm glad it turned out well for those that get their kicks from it though. It's been a pretty stella year as a PS5 / Switch owner.

They're becoming so common, I guess there'll be a need for a remake / remaster ROTY list eventually.