What was that racing series they made on mobile that was basically a rip off of Need for Speed Underground’s aesthetic combined with Burnout Takedown’s driving mechanics? I can’t for the life remember. It was a shameless copy of those two games, but I’ll give them credit that it was actually good for a phone racing game.
That’s was the good part of Infinite Warfare. The campaign was one of the better COD campaigns.
The multiplayer was trash though. That’s why I didn’t like it too much.
That said, the most infamous campaign to me is Advanced Warfare. Primarily because of Kevin Spacey. When the game was new it wasn’t that bad since we didn’t know anything about his “escapades” yet.
But if you play it now, get ready to be super weirded out by it. Because there’s some straight creepy stuff in the campaign that hits totally different now that we know how much of a sick piece of garbage Spacey was.
Also for those experiencing higher heat temps outside, I know your struggle.
Where I live in the deep southern United States it’s currently a scalding 97 degrees Fahrenheit or about 36 degrees Celsius. But that’s just the actual temp. Because where I live is basically a giant swamp with 47% humidity at the moment, it feels closer to 107 degrees Fahrenheit.
I mean I’ve grown up down here. Been here my entire life. So I am used to it to an extent. But a little earlier I went outside to clean some stuff out of the yard and I quickly said “screw this crap; I’ll do it tonight” and walked back inside to my AC lol.
Craziest part is that isn’t the worst month of the year here. Not by a long shot. August. August is hell on earth. The humidity skyrockets, the temps are always over 95, and the mosquitos are on the rampage in the evening hours when you think you can be productive outside.
Something tells me they don’t have their consoles ventilated properly.
Make sure the front and rear of your PS5 is completely open to the room. As the fan spins it pulls in cool air from the front of the PS5 and pulls it over the heat sink while expelling the hot air rising from it out the back of the PS5.
Also make sure the “top” of your entertainment center has enough space for excess heat to rise off of portions of the motherboard that don’t get too much heat pulled off of it by the fan.
Also do a basic clean of the console once every few months. Just take one of the plates off. You’ll see two holes in the black plastic covering. Use a small vacuum cleaner to suck out some of the dust through those holes.
If you feel confident, you can take it completely apart and remove the fan. But that shouldn’t be necessary.
Just a tip for anyone interested in downloading Black Ops Cold War. The install size is ENORMOUS if you want to download everything. When I deleted it early last year it was around 200 gigs in total size. That’s all three campaign parts, multiplayer, zombies, and all the patches and updates.
Good news is that you can pick and choose what you want to download. The campaign itself is further broken down into three separate pieces. So if you are limited on space you can actually just download one third of the campaign at a time.
The Campaign is alright. Its plot is just as mind bogglingly stupid as any other COD campaign (if you play it you’ll get what I mean by some of the brain dead decisions the COD versions of the USA and the USSR make), but the characters (especially Russ Adler, your CIA handler and CGI Ronald Reagan) are pretty hilarious and it’s worth playing. Has some very good set piece moments. Especially the mission set in Vietnam. Has some good call backs to Black Ops 1’s campaign as well.
Considering Black Ops Cold War was literally one the first two games I bought when I got my PS5 (the other was the Miles Morales Deluxe edition with Spiderman Remastered) and I sunk 600 hours into multiplayer, yeah I don’t need that one.
Alan Wake Remastered is what I’ll give a shot first.
I’ve heard good things about Extinction. So I may play that as well.
What killed Sega was its infighting. SOA/SOE and SOJ basically operated as two different companies for years. And worse still they actually acted as competition to each other.
I’ll use Nintendo as an example for what works. NCJ and NOA/NOE have always had a dom-sub relationship. NCJ calls the shots, NOA and NOE implement those plans and handle marketing in their territories. But they never call shots. They make recommendations to NCJ for their respective markets and NCJ often takes their advice in terms of game design ideas. But don’t get it twisted. At the end of the day, they always submitted to NCJ’s wishes. There was never any pushback, no intentional sabotage, no back talk. Once a call is made, NOA and NOE always fell in line. And importantly, Nintendo always saw relatively good success in every market it participated. So there was no ambition or rivalry between branches.
By comparison, SEGA home console business was in a weird place in the 16bit era. The Megadrive/Genesis FLOPPED hard in Japan right from the get go. The previous 8 bit systems (like the Master System and SG-1000) had also flopped in Japan. Sega’s real power in Japan was in the arcade. This went on for years.
By comparison, the Genesis was doing ok in the US in 1989 and 1990. The Megadrive was building success in Europe based off the Master System’s relative success in that market as well. Then 1991 came around. SOJ brought in Tom Kalinske to take over operations for the US market and by extension in Europe as well since that was how Sega organized things back then.
Kalinske defied company tradition by packing in what everyone at Sega considered their best game (Sonic the Hedgehog) and also slashed prices for both the US and Europe to build market share. He also went into aggressive marketing mode for both markets, including directly attacking Nintendo. This was unfathomable to the old Japanese men who ran SOJ; this wasn’t how they operated. They relented to Kalinske’s plans just to see if it would work.
Short story, it worked flawlessly and Genesis/Megadrive sales skyrocketed in both the US and Europe and dethroned Nintendo for a few years.
This led to a complicated situation. Yes SOJ was technically in charge of Sega as a whole but SOJ couldn’t find success in Japan with its home console. Whereas SOA and SOE were doing crazy good in their respective markets. The teams at both SOA and SOE started seeing theirselves as the true leaders of Sega corporation since they were the ones who were actually successful.
Corporate infighting started as the old men at SOJ started demanding more control over their rambunctious American and European child branches who were getting too big for their own britches. SOJ implemented plans to gain back full control of its entire company with the Saturn.
There’s more to it, but this post is long enough. If you get the chance read “Console Wars.” It goes into a lot of details about just how mismanaged Sega was a whole back then.
The point is that this inside war going between SOA and SOJ led to a bunch of people (on the American side) getting fired or just quitting. And some bad decisions being made with the Saturn and later on the Dreamcast, including a notorious lawsuit between 3DFX and Sega that Sega basically lost and lots of money had to be paid.
The N64 wasn’t really a failure. Nintendo made money on it and it did wildly well in the United States. Vast majority of the 32 million consoles sold were in the US. It flopped hard in Japan though.
Weirdly enough the GameCube was profitable as well despite only selling 22 million consoles worldwide.
But it is true that their handhelds are what kept them relevant in terms of the popular mindshare between the SNES and the Wii for much of the world. The N64 did well in the US but flopped in Japan and only did ok in Europe. The GameCube started strong in both Japan and the US (not sure about Europe) but then sort of settled into a low rate seller year after year while the PS2 destroyed everything in its path.
1. No DVD drive.
2. Not enough money to actually support it properly past launch.
3. Killed the Saturn way too early in Japan. Yeah it was dead in Europe and the US by 1997 but it was still selling very well in Japan even into 1999. Then they killed it. Which is insane because the Saturn was OUTSELLING the Dreamcast in Japan when the DC launched in holiday of 1998.
The dreamcast was an amazing console and very innovative in so many ways. But the problem was Sega itself. They just didn’t have the hard assets to support it. It was a last hurrah.
But as a consequence of Sega’s dire condition with the Dreamcast they pretty much told their studios to make whatever they wanted for it and the Naomi arcade board (basically a Dreamcast with extra RAM). So we got some really weird unorthodox great games out of the situation. Like Seaman, Crazy Taxi, and Typing of the Dead. Games that would have never been approved in prior years of Sega.
They stated they were targeting those two systems.
But I agree, they should have been canceled since it’s clear now that CDPR knew how busted those versions were in mid 2020. They should have refunded the pre orders right then and announced that the PC version would be the only version shipping that winter. A PS5 and Series version would come later.
I don’t have a grudge. I’d say they’ve done a great job fixing the game since launch.
But the game deserved to launch in a much better state. The more damning part was that they lied about the condition of the PS4 and Xbone versions of the game. Which were absolute train wrecks.
Yes the game was the bad. We all remember how busted it was.
This is the wrong way to handle it. I would have said “we launched the game in an unacceptable state. I am not happy about it to this day. But I will say that our team has done a great job turning the game around. And I feel confident today to recommend the current version of the game to anyone who is interested in it.”
Honesty. That’s the way he should have handled it.
Honestly I’m surprised it didn’t happen back in the OG Xbox era.
Sega heavily supported the Original Xbox. Sega and Tecmo were their first Japanese licensees back in 2001 and both companies heavily supported Microsoft.
It’s kind of weird that Microsoft didn’t snatch them up back then when the relationships were so close.
It’s crazy how such an important game kind of floundered immediately upon release.
Of course as Phil said one game won’t change the overall equation. But that was their most hyped game in YEARS. They really needed to stick the landing with it. And they sort of screwed it all up.
Now it’s up to Starfield. Which thankfully looks like it’s going to succeed where Halo Infinite flopped around and died at.
Funnily enough I was primarily an Xbox guy in the early 7th Gen. I traded my PS3 preorder for a 360 when Gears released. And I stuck with them through four RROD 360s.
But towards the end of that cycle I noticed that Microsoft was kind of forgetting about us hardcore gamers. They were focusing way too much on Kinect and not building any new hardcore IPs. They abandoned the winning strategy they had (big hardcore title releases at least once per quarter and their best in class online gaming infrastructure) and chased the Wii crowd, who were already starting to move to mobile gaming by that point.
So when my last 360 took a dump, I got a new one sent to me from Microsoft, and traded it for a PS3. Sony had won me back to the fold at that time because they were releasing banger after banger in exclusive first party titles.
I considered the Xbox One over the PS4, but when I saw Kinect required and the price tag, the decision was made for me. Microsoft abandoned us. I never looked back after I got my PS4 shortly after launch.
But like you I agree that we need a healthy Microsoft in the industry to keep Sony (and to a lesser extent Nintendo who doesn’t exactly compete in the same space) from being complete arrogant jerks. Sony has made some daft anti-consumer decisions this generation so far, but ultimately I am satisfied with my PS5 and Switch combination.
I’m worried that if the Xbox completely disappears, Sony will attempt to become 1980s Nintendo. Which the industry doesn’t need to ever go through again. Old Nintendo was it is best once Sega really provided them with some competition with the Genesis. The SNES is still my favorite console of all time. And I don’t think it would have been nearly as beloved and excellent without Sega right there keeping Nintendo in check.
The issue with the Series consoles to me is that there just weren’t any games that showed off its capabilities in any way for the longest time. And that hurt its long term appeal. Microsoft kept making promises it couldn’t keep. Like the Halo Infinite fiasco. While Sony has made some bad decisions this generation, they did promise a bunch of heavy hitter first party games. And they did achieve that, even if some of them were cross gen games.
When I looked at the two near launch (I always consider both options) I just had this feeling that the Series consoles would sputter in terms of exclusive software. I figured better to bank on the PS5, where I would still get all the big 3rd party games I wanted with a nice helping of Sony 1st party games on top of it. Plus I had a pretty large digital library at that point. It would have been hard to start back over from scratch.
It’s still crazy to me that back in 2001 Microsoft came out swinging so strong. The Xbox got destroyed by the PS2, but Microsoft secured ports like GTA and even MGS 2 (granted the OG Xbox version of MGS2 is pretty bad; definitely a game that was designed for the unique architecture of the PS2) and also got a ton of PC ports to the system. Also they secured the largest backing of Sega, who released a huge number of games on the OG Xbox that skipped the PS2 and GameCube.
The early 360 years were similar. The Xbox platform was so strong during those years. Even President Obama referred to the “Xbox” instead of the “PlayStation” during a speech he made about getting American kids in shape lol.
Then by the end of the 360 era it completely took a dump. The brand was dying. The Xbox One just stabbed the last knife.
It’s incredible how a company came so strong out of the gate in an industry dominated by two other companies. And then just fell apart even though they had the resources to mitigate the damage. Unlike Sega.
Exactly. I dropped every streaming service I had except for Apple TV (it’s part of my Apple One sub). I found out that I was using them so sparingly and with prices jumping up like crazy across the board I decided to go a different route (won’t say what it is but I think you know) that better fits my time and my very picky nature.
They brought it on themselves. Not enough good content on each service and all have seen price jumps. I’m not the only one.
Extra is super solid so far. Even though I’m gonna drop down to essential later this year anyway (for personal reasons) I would recommend it to anyone.
I’ll use Diablo IV as a good example. On PC the game gives you the choice on whether to download the “ultra” texture pack which is basically 4K art assets for the game.
If you don’t download them the PC version sits at about 35-40 gigs. If you install them it’s the same size as the console version, about 80 gigs. So the console version has the 4K textures present. On PC you get a choice.
Could be the same with FFXVI and FF7 Rebirth. Considering the quality of the character models on Rebirth compared to FFXVI I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s using less compressed textures. Which would explain the size difference quite easily.
Yeah Xbox owners are getting screwed. The Series X can read UHD Blu Rays but the games are still shipped on standard dual layer Blu Rays. So they max at 50 gigs. And most developers don’t ship multiple disc games on Xbox. You tend to download the rest.
With that said, I think Microsoft made that decision based on three things about most Xbox players.
1. Gamepass is so prevalent in the community.
2. I have this sneaking suspicion that more Xbox gamers are all digital compared to PlayStation gamers, who do lean more digital now but there is still a significant base of people who buy certain games on discs.
3. Smart delivery and how it works. Games on multiple generations of Xbox (like Elden Ring) use Smart delivery. The disc contains one version of the game (in the case of Elden Ring, the Xbox One version, which does fit on a single Blu Ray) but if it detects it’s being used in a Series X it automatically downloads the version for Series X from the Xbox store and uses the disc as authentication.
I don’t think the Xbox community is as phased by it as the PlayStation community.
The Switch community by far is the most centered around physical versions. I’m an oddball on Nintendo Life because my collection of about 40 Switch games (except for Smash Bros) is all digital on Switch.
On PlayStation my purchased games are about 50/50 split between physical and digital. Single player I try to get on disc but I buy multiplayer games or internet required games (like Diablo IV and GT7) exclusively digital. But I’ve also been claiming every PS plus game since 2014 on PS4. So my digital collection does dwarf my overall physical collection.
In other words we need a variety of games from a variety of genres. There’s still a place for arcade inspired linear action like Returnal, a place for story driven games like The Last of Us, more open and deep games like Starfield, strategy games like Triangle Strategy, among dozens of other genres.
Where I feel Sony has kind of failed is that they went all in on the cinematic story driven linear experience with their 1st party lineup to their own detriment. Microsoft (up until recently) overly relied on a handful of iterative franchise releases that didn’t move forward in any appreciable way, while Nintendo plays it too safe most of the time (with the exception of Zelda).
There’s still a place for linear games to make a mark in the current industry.
What bothers me about most modern games is the complete absence of advanced AI routines and a dire lack of physics simulation.
I always go back to Half-Life 2 as an example of a linear game that pushed the industry forward back in 2004. The game had a super detailed and interactive physics system combined with stellar AI for the AI enemies. Many modern games don’t match Half-Life 2’s physics or its AI.
Linear games are fine and dandy but they need to incorporate a hook. Returnal did it right in my opinion. The freedom of the game wasn’t in its level design but in how you could approach each combat encounter. The game gave you a ton of tools to work with and you developed your own strategy for taking down the enemy while taxing your reflexes.
I played Valhalla until I got to the point where old dude gives you your list of objectives to do in England.
I said absolutely not dealing with this time sink (build 12 alliances, assassinate like 40 people, plus a bunch of other crap and develop your home base) and went and traded it in for store credit.
I certainly hope so. The game deserves to launch clean.
Even if it doesn’t, no one will be able to deny what Todd and his team have accomplished. He’s pulling a gameplay version of Crysis. What Crysis did for game visuals back in 2007 is what Howard and the team are trying to accomplish for gameplay in 2023. A revolution.
Bethesda games tend to be sloppy as hell at launch performance wise.
But the game does look seriously ambitious. This is definitely Todd Howard’s labor of love and what he has been trying to build up to for more than 20 years now with his projects.
If not for having a kid on the way I’d invest in an Xbox just to play it. It looks that good.
I first really realized it with Assassin’s Creed Origins.
That game starts and ends so strong. But the middle part, the main entree of the game, is so bloated that I stopped playing it for over a year before I can back and just rushed the rest of the main story. The ending was fantastic.
But the whole time I was thinking “imagine how much better this game would be if it was structured more like Assassin’s Creed II with the open world cut down to about a quarter of its actual size.”
By comparison, Returnal was a breath of fresh air for me when I played it near release. A game with relatively high modern production values but with the game structure and length of something from the Sega Saturn and PS1 era.
I really really loved Returnal and I wish more games would go that route with their overall length and time commitment. Cut the fat, focus on the point. If your gameplay loop is strong enough, I’ll still sink a crazy amount of time into it. I sunk 70 hours into a 10 hour campaign. Just playing through it over and over again.
It starts super strong but then halfway through it slows down to a crawl and the gameplay loop isn’t strong enough to carry it through. Then the ending is just rushed and not very memorable.
They really should have cut down the middle portion of the game by half and extended the ending by about ten percent. It would have been a perfect game had they did that.
I think the programming side is faster now with PS5 compared to PS4 and certainly faster than the nightmare that was PS3.
But people’s raised expectations for artwork quality, audio, the length of games, etc. are steadily increasing dev time across the entire industry.
I would love to see some AAA developers buck that trend. Make a super high quality 20 hour game. Buck the trend. Ignore people who complain that it’s “too short and doesn’t have enough content.”
Some games are made to be played for crazy amounts of time. Diablo IV is a shining example of that model.
But most of these Sony first party titles are designed in such a way that it really gets tiring by about 30 hours into them. Their gameplay isn’t strong enough for high engagement for that long.
I base a game’s worth on how much fun it gave me. Not for the length of time. I prefer a shorter game with an extremely strong gameplay loop that stays entertaining over a longer game that is good at first but it’s gameplay loop isn’t strong enough to keep it entertaining over a 50 hour period.
Comments 1,289
Re: Random: There's a Weird The Last of Us Knockoff on Nintendo Switch Now
@PixelDragon
The eshop is a hive of scum and villainy. More machine now than man.
Even worse it runs like absolute garbage and its search feature is crap.
Re: Random: There's a Weird The Last of Us Knockoff on Nintendo Switch Now
@awaltzforvenus
God I had totally forgotten about Gameloft.
What was that racing series they made on mobile that was basically a rip off of Need for Speed Underground’s aesthetic combined with Burnout Takedown’s driving mechanics? I can’t for the life remember. It was a shameless copy of those two games, but I’ll give them credit that it was actually good for a phone racing game.
Re: The Last of Us 3 Rumours Are Doing the Rounds Again
@IamJT
I’m down for that.
Re: The Last of Us 3 Rumours Are Doing the Rounds Again
@IamJT
I would love to see them tell a war story.
Set it in the Vietnam War.
Re: Final Fantasy 16 Is the Seventh Best Final Fantasy Game According to Fans
I haven’t played it yet. Decided to wait for a sale.
And since most others are doing it, I’ll list my top five Final Fantasies.
1. FF Tactics: War of the Lions
2. FFVII
3. FFIV
4. FFIX
5. FFVII Remake
Re: Like a Dragon Fandom Divided After Hearing Kiryu's New English Voice
People play Yakuza games in English?
First thing I do is set the voices to Japanese.
Re: The Last of Us 3 Rumours Are Doing the Rounds Again
@Nem
Man you would absolute hate Yoshiyuki Tomino’s various anime projects lol. Especially Space Runner Ideon and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
He’s called Kill ‘em All Tomino for a reason lol.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for July 2023?
@Fight_Teza_Fight
That’s was the good part of Infinite Warfare. The campaign was one of the better COD campaigns.
The multiplayer was trash though. That’s why I didn’t like it too much.
That said, the most infamous campaign to me is Advanced Warfare. Primarily because of Kevin Spacey. When the game was new it wasn’t that bad since we didn’t know anything about his “escapades” yet.
But if you play it now, get ready to be super weirded out by it. Because there’s some straight creepy stuff in the campaign that hits totally different now that we know how much of a sick piece of garbage Spacey was.
Re: Final Fantasy 16 Is Overheating and Crashing PS5 Consoles Completely
Also for those experiencing higher heat temps outside, I know your struggle.
Where I live in the deep southern United States it’s currently a scalding 97 degrees Fahrenheit or about 36 degrees Celsius. But that’s just the actual temp. Because where I live is basically a giant swamp with 47% humidity at the moment, it feels closer to 107 degrees Fahrenheit.
I mean I’ve grown up down here. Been here my entire life. So I am used to it to an extent. But a little earlier I went outside to clean some stuff out of the yard and I quickly said “screw this crap; I’ll do it tonight” and walked back inside to my AC lol.
Craziest part is that isn’t the worst month of the year here. Not by a long shot. August. August is hell on earth. The humidity skyrockets, the temps are always over 95, and the mosquitos are on the rampage in the evening hours when you think you can be productive outside.
Re: Final Fantasy 16 Is Overheating and Crashing PS5 Consoles Completely
Something tells me they don’t have their consoles ventilated properly.
Make sure the front and rear of your PS5 is completely open to the room. As the fan spins it pulls in cool air from the front of the PS5 and pulls it over the heat sink while expelling the hot air rising from it out the back of the PS5.
Also make sure the “top” of your entertainment center has enough space for excess heat to rise off of portions of the motherboard that don’t get too much heat pulled off of it by the fan.
Also do a basic clean of the console once every few months. Just take one of the plates off. You’ll see two holes in the black plastic covering. Use a small vacuum cleaner to suck out some of the dust through those holes.
If you feel confident, you can take it completely apart and remove the fan. But that shouldn’t be necessary.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for July 2023?
@playstation1995
True.
Just a tip for anyone interested in downloading Black Ops Cold War. The install size is ENORMOUS if you want to download everything. When I deleted it early last year it was around 200 gigs in total size. That’s all three campaign parts, multiplayer, zombies, and all the patches and updates.
Good news is that you can pick and choose what you want to download. The campaign itself is further broken down into three separate pieces. So if you are limited on space you can actually just download one third of the campaign at a time.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for July 2023?
@Fight_Teza_Fight
The Campaign is alright. Its plot is just as mind bogglingly stupid as any other COD campaign (if you play it you’ll get what I mean by some of the brain dead decisions the COD versions of the USA and the USSR make), but the characters (especially Russ Adler, your CIA handler and CGI Ronald Reagan) are pretty hilarious and it’s worth playing. Has some very good set piece moments. Especially the mission set in Vietnam. Has some good call backs to Black Ops 1’s campaign as well.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for July 2023?
Considering Black Ops Cold War was literally one the first two games I bought when I got my PS5 (the other was the Miles Morales Deluxe edition with Spiderman Remastered) and I sunk 600 hours into multiplayer, yeah I don’t need that one.
Alan Wake Remastered is what I’ll give a shot first.
I’ve heard good things about Extinction. So I may play that as well.
Re: There's Already Concern Over Crash Team Rumble's Future
Live Service multiplayer games should ALWAYS be FTP.
If you charge money to purchase, you’ve screwed your game up before it even releases.
Re: There's Already Concern Over Crash Team Rumble's Future
@Czar_Khastik
If it was chrome your CPU usage just hit 99% and you’re all out of RAM.
Re: SEGA Uninterested in Being Acquired by Sony, Microsoft
Sony didn’t kill Sega.
What killed Sega was its infighting. SOA/SOE and SOJ basically operated as two different companies for years. And worse still they actually acted as competition to each other.
I’ll use Nintendo as an example for what works. NCJ and NOA/NOE have always had a dom-sub relationship. NCJ calls the shots, NOA and NOE implement those plans and handle marketing in their territories. But they never call shots. They make recommendations to NCJ for their respective markets and NCJ often takes their advice in terms of game design ideas. But don’t get it twisted. At the end of the day, they always submitted to NCJ’s wishes. There was never any pushback, no intentional sabotage, no back talk. Once a call is made, NOA and NOE always fell in line. And importantly, Nintendo always saw relatively good success in every market it participated. So there was no ambition or rivalry between branches.
By comparison, SEGA home console business was in a weird place in the 16bit era. The Megadrive/Genesis FLOPPED hard in Japan right from the get go. The previous 8 bit systems (like the Master System and SG-1000) had also flopped in Japan. Sega’s real power in Japan was in the arcade. This went on for years.
By comparison, the Genesis was doing ok in the US in 1989 and 1990. The Megadrive was building success in Europe based off the Master System’s relative success in that market as well. Then 1991 came around. SOJ brought in Tom Kalinske to take over operations for the US market and by extension in Europe as well since that was how Sega organized things back then.
Kalinske defied company tradition by packing in what everyone at Sega considered their best game (Sonic the Hedgehog) and also slashed prices for both the US and Europe to build market share. He also went into aggressive marketing mode for both markets, including directly attacking Nintendo. This was unfathomable to the old Japanese men who ran SOJ; this wasn’t how they operated. They relented to Kalinske’s plans just to see if it would work.
Short story, it worked flawlessly and Genesis/Megadrive sales skyrocketed in both the US and Europe and dethroned Nintendo for a few years.
This led to a complicated situation. Yes SOJ was technically in charge of Sega as a whole but SOJ couldn’t find success in Japan with its home console. Whereas SOA and SOE were doing crazy good in their respective markets. The teams at both SOA and SOE started seeing theirselves as the true leaders of Sega corporation since they were the ones who were actually successful.
Corporate infighting started as the old men at SOJ started demanding more control over their rambunctious American and European child branches who were getting too big for their own britches. SOJ implemented plans to gain back full control of its entire company with the Saturn.
There’s more to it, but this post is long enough. If you get the chance read “Console Wars.” It goes into a lot of details about just how mismanaged Sega was a whole back then.
The point is that this inside war going between SOA and SOJ led to a bunch of people (on the American side) getting fired or just quitting. And some bad decisions being made with the Saturn and later on the Dreamcast, including a notorious lawsuit between 3DFX and Sega that Sega basically lost and lots of money had to be paid.
Re: Random: Final Fantasy 16 Actor Discovers Debauched Community's Thirsty Fan Fiction
Removed
Re: Random: Final Fantasy 16 Actor Discovers Debauched Community's Thirsty Fan Fiction
@CieloAzure
Ask Italy about that one.
Re: Mini Review: Sonic Origins Plus (PS5) - The Wrong Library of Games to Bring Back
@kyleforrester87
The N64 wasn’t really a failure. Nintendo made money on it and it did wildly well in the United States. Vast majority of the 32 million consoles sold were in the US. It flopped hard in Japan though.
Weirdly enough the GameCube was profitable as well despite only selling 22 million consoles worldwide.
But it is true that their handhelds are what kept them relevant in terms of the popular mindshare between the SNES and the Wii for much of the world. The N64 did well in the US but flopped in Japan and only did ok in Europe. The GameCube started strong in both Japan and the US (not sure about Europe) but then sort of settled into a low rate seller year after year while the PS2 destroyed everything in its path.
Re: Mini Review: Sonic Origins Plus (PS5) - The Wrong Library of Games to Bring Back
@kyleforrester87
1. No DVD drive.
2. Not enough money to actually support it properly past launch.
3. Killed the Saturn way too early in Japan. Yeah it was dead in Europe and the US by 1997 but it was still selling very well in Japan even into 1999. Then they killed it. Which is insane because the Saturn was OUTSELLING the Dreamcast in Japan when the DC launched in holiday of 1998.
The dreamcast was an amazing console and very innovative in so many ways. But the problem was Sega itself. They just didn’t have the hard assets to support it. It was a last hurrah.
But as a consequence of Sega’s dire condition with the Dreamcast they pretty much told their studios to make whatever they wanted for it and the Naomi arcade board (basically a Dreamcast with extra RAM). So we got some really weird unorthodox great games out of the situation. Like Seaman, Crazy Taxi, and Typing of the Dead. Games that would have never been approved in prior years of Sega.
Re: CD Projekt Exec Suggests Cyberpunk 2077 Launch Not That Bad, Actually, Dunking 'Became a Cool Thing'
@__jamiie
They stated they were targeting those two systems.
But I agree, they should have been canceled since it’s clear now that CDPR knew how busted those versions were in mid 2020. They should have refunded the pre orders right then and announced that the PC version would be the only version shipping that winter. A PS5 and Series version would come later.
Re: CD Projekt Exec Suggests Cyberpunk 2077 Launch Not That Bad, Actually, Dunking 'Became a Cool Thing'
@ApostateMage
I don’t have a grudge. I’d say they’ve done a great job fixing the game since launch.
But the game deserved to launch in a much better state. The more damning part was that they lied about the condition of the PS4 and Xbone versions of the game. Which were absolute train wrecks.
Re: CD Projekt Exec Suggests Cyberpunk 2077 Launch Not That Bad, Actually, Dunking 'Became a Cool Thing'
What a moron.
Yes the game was the bad. We all remember how busted it was.
This is the wrong way to handle it. I would have said “we launched the game in an unacceptable state. I am not happy about it to this day. But I will say that our team has done a great job turning the game around. And I feel confident today to recommend the current version of the game to anyone who is interested in it.”
Honesty. That’s the way he should have handled it.
Re: Microsoft's Potential Game Plan in 2020: 'Spend Sony Out of Business'
Well that’s problematic.
Re: SEGA and Bungie Were On Microsoft's Shopping List in 2020, Xbox Emails Show
Honestly I’m surprised it didn’t happen back in the OG Xbox era.
Sega heavily supported the Original Xbox. Sega and Tecmo were their first Japanese licensees back in 2001 and both companies heavily supported Microsoft.
It’s kind of weird that Microsoft didn’t snatch them up back then when the relationships were so close.
Re: Sony Spends a Fortune Getting an Assortment of Sports Stars to Explain Final Fantasy 16
The marketing around this game is weird. But the more marketing it gets the better.
Like the great Eazy-E said “ all publicity, even bad publicity, is good publicity.”
Re: Indiana Jones Game Deal Amended to Exclude PS5, PS4
@Mio_Nakashima
So basically Supaidaman.
Re: Indiana Jones Game Deal Amended to Exclude PS5, PS4
Have we not learned the central lesson?
All multi billion companies are snakes in the grass.
Microsoft isn’t unique in this regard.
Re: "We've Lost the Console Wars," Says Trillion Dollar Underdog Xbox
@Tharsman
Microsoft really needed Halo Infinite to deliver.
It’s crazy how such an important game kind of floundered immediately upon release.
Of course as Phil said one game won’t change the overall equation. But that was their most hyped game in YEARS. They really needed to stick the landing with it. And they sort of screwed it all up.
Now it’s up to Starfield. Which thankfully looks like it’s going to succeed where Halo Infinite flopped around and died at.
Re: "We've Lost the Console Wars," Says Trillion Dollar Underdog Xbox
@GamingFan4Lyf
Funnily enough I was primarily an Xbox guy in the early 7th Gen. I traded my PS3 preorder for a 360 when Gears released. And I stuck with them through four RROD 360s.
But towards the end of that cycle I noticed that Microsoft was kind of forgetting about us hardcore gamers. They were focusing way too much on Kinect and not building any new hardcore IPs. They abandoned the winning strategy they had (big hardcore title releases at least once per quarter and their best in class online gaming infrastructure) and chased the Wii crowd, who were already starting to move to mobile gaming by that point.
So when my last 360 took a dump, I got a new one sent to me from Microsoft, and traded it for a PS3. Sony had won me back to the fold at that time because they were releasing banger after banger in exclusive first party titles.
I considered the Xbox One over the PS4, but when I saw Kinect required and the price tag, the decision was made for me. Microsoft abandoned us. I never looked back after I got my PS4 shortly after launch.
But like you I agree that we need a healthy Microsoft in the industry to keep Sony (and to a lesser extent Nintendo who doesn’t exactly compete in the same space) from being complete arrogant jerks. Sony has made some daft anti-consumer decisions this generation so far, but ultimately I am satisfied with my PS5 and Switch combination.
I’m worried that if the Xbox completely disappears, Sony will attempt to become 1980s Nintendo. Which the industry doesn’t need to ever go through again. Old Nintendo was it is best once Sega really provided them with some competition with the Genesis. The SNES is still my favorite console of all time. And I don’t think it would have been nearly as beloved and excellent without Sega right there keeping Nintendo in check.
The issue with the Series consoles to me is that there just weren’t any games that showed off its capabilities in any way for the longest time. And that hurt its long term appeal. Microsoft kept making promises it couldn’t keep. Like the Halo Infinite fiasco. While Sony has made some bad decisions this generation, they did promise a bunch of heavy hitter first party games. And they did achieve that, even if some of them were cross gen games.
When I looked at the two near launch (I always consider both options) I just had this feeling that the Series consoles would sputter in terms of exclusive software. I figured better to bank on the PS5, where I would still get all the big 3rd party games I wanted with a nice helping of Sony 1st party games on top of it. Plus I had a pretty large digital library at that point. It would have been hard to start back over from scratch.
Re: "We've Lost the Console Wars," Says Trillion Dollar Underdog Xbox
It’s still crazy to me that back in 2001 Microsoft came out swinging so strong. The Xbox got destroyed by the PS2, but Microsoft secured ports like GTA and even MGS 2 (granted the OG Xbox version of MGS2 is pretty bad; definitely a game that was designed for the unique architecture of the PS2) and also got a ton of PC ports to the system. Also they secured the largest backing of Sega, who released a huge number of games on the OG Xbox that skipped the PS2 and GameCube.
The early 360 years were similar. The Xbox platform was so strong during those years. Even President Obama referred to the “Xbox” instead of the “PlayStation” during a speech he made about getting American kids in shape lol.
Then by the end of the 360 era it completely took a dump. The brand was dying. The Xbox One just stabbed the last knife.
It’s incredible how a company came so strong out of the gate in an industry dominated by two other companies. And then just fell apart even though they had the resources to mitigate the damage. Unlike Sega.
Re: "We've Lost the Console Wars," Says Trillion Dollar Underdog Xbox
@WizardJ
Windows Phone OS was actually fantastic. It took years for both iOS and Android to catch up to some of its more important features.
Re: Sony Eager to Ensure PS Plus Remains Relevant and Offers More Value
@TheDudeElDuderino
Exactly. I dropped every streaming service I had except for Apple TV (it’s part of my Apple One sub). I found out that I was using them so sparingly and with prices jumping up like crazy across the board I decided to go a different route (won’t say what it is but I think you know) that better fits my time and my very picky nature.
They brought it on themselves. Not enough good content on each service and all have seen price jumps. I’m not the only one.
Re: Sony Eager to Ensure PS Plus Remains Relevant and Offers More Value
Extra is super solid so far. Even though I’m gonna drop down to essential later this year anyway (for personal reasons) I would recommend it to anyone.
Premium is a joke though.
Re: You'll Need Marvel's Spider-Man 2's Digital Deluxe Edition for Those Extra PS5 Suits
Eh I played both SM1 and Miles with the base suits. They fit the story the best.
Re: Final Fantasy 16's PS5 File Size Pegged At 90.1GB
@Snake_V5
Either that or it’s using higher quality assets.
I’ll use Diablo IV as a good example. On PC the game gives you the choice on whether to download the “ultra” texture pack which is basically 4K art assets for the game.
If you don’t download them the PC version sits at about 35-40 gigs. If you install them it’s the same size as the console version, about 80 gigs. So the console version has the 4K textures present. On PC you get a choice.
Could be the same with FFXVI and FF7 Rebirth. Considering the quality of the character models on Rebirth compared to FFXVI I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s using less compressed textures. Which would explain the size difference quite easily.
Re: Final Fantasy 16's PS5 File Size Pegged At 90.1GB
@KilloWertz
Yeah Xbox owners are getting screwed. The Series X can read UHD Blu Rays but the games are still shipped on standard dual layer Blu Rays. So they max at 50 gigs. And most developers don’t ship multiple disc games on Xbox. You tend to download the rest.
With that said, I think Microsoft made that decision based on three things about most Xbox players.
1. Gamepass is so prevalent in the community.
2. I have this sneaking suspicion that more Xbox gamers are all digital compared to PlayStation gamers, who do lean more digital now but there is still a significant base of people who buy certain games on discs.
3. Smart delivery and how it works. Games on multiple generations of Xbox (like Elden Ring) use Smart delivery. The disc contains one version of the game (in the case of Elden Ring, the Xbox One version, which does fit on a single Blu Ray) but if it detects it’s being used in a Series X it automatically downloads the version for Series X from the Xbox store and uses the disc as authentication.
I don’t think the Xbox community is as phased by it as the PlayStation community.
The Switch community by far is the most centered around physical versions. I’m an oddball on Nintendo Life because my collection of about 40 Switch games (except for Smash Bros) is all digital on Switch.
On PlayStation my purchased games are about 50/50 split between physical and digital. Single player I try to get on disc but I buy multiplayer games or internet required games (like Diablo IV and GT7) exclusively digital. But I’ve also been claiming every PS plus game since 2014 on PS4. So my digital collection does dwarf my overall physical collection.
Re: Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC Looks Breathtaking on PS5
I’ve waited three years already. I’ll just wait for the complete edition to drop next year.
Re: Translucent Faceplates Finally Make PS5 Look Stunning
I had an Atomic Purple Game Boy Color way back in the day. Always had a love for that color set up.
Re: Square Enix's Charismatic CEO Proudly Proclaims He Used to No-Life Final Fantasy Games Growing Up
@Blackmagehobbit
No joke I think Sony should have hired Reggie Fils Aime as president of SCIE.
The dude was the best part of NOA back in the day. Very charismatic and passionate about the art of video games.
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
In other words we need a variety of games from a variety of genres. There’s still a place for arcade inspired linear action like Returnal, a place for story driven games like The Last of Us, more open and deep games like Starfield, strategy games like Triangle Strategy, among dozens of other genres.
Where I feel Sony has kind of failed is that they went all in on the cinematic story driven linear experience with their 1st party lineup to their own detriment. Microsoft (up until recently) overly relied on a handful of iterative franchise releases that didn’t move forward in any appreciable way, while Nintendo plays it too safe most of the time (with the exception of Zelda).
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
@Triumph741
There’s still a place for linear games to make a mark in the current industry.
What bothers me about most modern games is the complete absence of advanced AI routines and a dire lack of physics simulation.
I always go back to Half-Life 2 as an example of a linear game that pushed the industry forward back in 2004. The game had a super detailed and interactive physics system combined with stellar AI for the AI enemies. Many modern games don’t match Half-Life 2’s physics or its AI.
Linear games are fine and dandy but they need to incorporate a hook. Returnal did it right in my opinion. The freedom of the game wasn’t in its level design but in how you could approach each combat encounter. The game gave you a ton of tools to work with and you developed your own strategy for taking down the enemy while taxing your reflexes.
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
@Tharsman
Exactly.
I played Valhalla until I got to the point where old dude gives you your list of objectives to do in England.
I said absolutely not dealing with this time sink (build 12 alliances, assassinate like 40 people, plus a bunch of other crap and develop your home base) and went and traded it in for store credit.
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
@Triumph741
I certainly hope so. The game deserves to launch clean.
Even if it doesn’t, no one will be able to deny what Todd and his team have accomplished. He’s pulling a gameplay version of Crysis. What Crysis did for game visuals back in 2007 is what Howard and the team are trying to accomplish for gameplay in 2023. A revolution.
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
@Triumph741
That’s what im worried about.
Bethesda games tend to be sloppy as hell at launch performance wise.
But the game does look seriously ambitious. This is definitely Todd Howard’s labor of love and what he has been trying to build up to for more than 20 years now with his projects.
If not for having a kid on the way I’d invest in an Xbox just to play it. It looks that good.
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
@Uncharted2007
I first really realized it with Assassin’s Creed Origins.
That game starts and ends so strong. But the middle part, the main entree of the game, is so bloated that I stopped playing it for over a year before I can back and just rushed the rest of the main story. The ending was fantastic.
But the whole time I was thinking “imagine how much better this game would be if it was structured more like Assassin’s Creed II with the open world cut down to about a quarter of its actual size.”
By comparison, Returnal was a breath of fresh air for me when I played it near release. A game with relatively high modern production values but with the game structure and length of something from the Sega Saturn and PS1 era.
I really really loved Returnal and I wish more games would go that route with their overall length and time commitment. Cut the fat, focus on the point. If your gameplay loop is strong enough, I’ll still sink a crazy amount of time into it. I sunk 70 hours into a 10 hour campaign. Just playing through it over and over again.
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
@Tharsman
And a game that did that way wrong was Ragnarok.
It starts super strong but then halfway through it slows down to a crawl and the gameplay loop isn’t strong enough to carry it through. Then the ending is just rushed and not very memorable.
They really should have cut down the middle portion of the game by half and extended the ending by about ten percent. It would have been a perfect game had they did that.
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
@Uncharted2007
I think the programming side is faster now with PS5 compared to PS4 and certainly faster than the nightmare that was PS3.
But people’s raised expectations for artwork quality, audio, the length of games, etc. are steadily increasing dev time across the entire industry.
I would love to see some AAA developers buck that trend. Make a super high quality 20 hour game. Buck the trend. Ignore people who complain that it’s “too short and doesn’t have enough content.”
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
@tallythwack
You don’t get burned out?
Some games are made to be played for crazy amounts of time. Diablo IV is a shining example of that model.
But most of these Sony first party titles are designed in such a way that it really gets tiring by about 30 hours into them. Their gameplay isn’t strong enough for high engagement for that long.
I base a game’s worth on how much fun it gave me. Not for the length of time. I prefer a shorter game with an extremely strong gameplay loop that stays entertaining over a longer game that is good at first but it’s gameplay loop isn’t strong enough to keep it entertaining over a 50 hour period.
Re: Sorry, But Games Are Probably Going to Take Longer Than Ever to Make on PS5
@ED_209
The way to fix that is for them to quit making games slogs to get through. So that people will be incentivized to try and finish the game.