Comments 112

Re: Your Full February PlayStation Plus Lineup Is Strong

Pipr

Feb's lineup looks good! I keep thinking of biting the bullet and buying witcher 3 + several other AAA games but psn games keep me busy enough to make it pointless (just not enough time to play them all).

It's all money saved that can go towards the psvr though

Re: Life Is Strange's Hella Hawt PS4 Retail Release Is Out Now

Pipr

I gave up on this after a couple of very frustrating hours when it became more and more apparent that the game gives you no control over what happens.

It also excessively pens you in to what you can do, even when there's no obvious reason why (eg you can't walk through open doors unless that's the exact part of plot you're currently at, even though you can watch others come and go through the same door).

*********** Spoiler alert *******************

Also, turning back time seemed pretty cool until it became obvious that you can only do this at specific points in the story (when the linear plot dictated that it was OK, or mandatory as it usually tured out to be) .

A pretty game but also pretty dull IMO.

Re: Review: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (PS4)

Pipr

@tenderbeefcake

Thanks for the recommendation. I had some reservations about JC3 (after people called it repetitive) but with the limited amount of time I get on the PS4 I'm thinking maybe repetition won't be an issue.

Re: Review: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (PS4)

Pipr

Without a story mode or a decent spread of offline missions I won't be buying this.

Online's fine if you have lots of time to build the skill level needed to avoid getting hammered by anyone and everyone, but if you just want to dip in and out of a game (and don't have time to put in more than, say, a couple of hours every few days) then online games are just a waste of money.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here but I reckon there are quite a few gamers that just don't bother buying games like this since, no matter how good the reviews are, without some decent offline missions it's just a waste of £45.

Re: Feature: 5 Reasons the Life of a PS4 Player Is Wonderful

Pipr

Ps store aside I still play the ps3 more than the ps4. the ps3 games, on the whole, seem more fun. And the ps2 had more great head to head 2 player games than the 3 or 4.

Having said all this my opinions may be coloured by the fact that I'm reluctant to spend £45 on a ps4 game that turns out to be a game I find dull. So my ps4 collection is limited to games that I'm 99% sure I'll like.

Maybe if ps+ allowed subscribers to try games before they bought them (like they used to) I'd be much more inclined to diversify and try titles I'm less sure of.

Re: Feature: 5 Reasons the Life of a PS4 Player Is Wonderful

Pipr

@JLPick

I always wondered who was responsible for the store on the ps3. It ran like a dog on my ps3 slim from the day I bought it. It seemed like just plain bad programming when compared with how fast the ps3 ran games. Not sure why Sony never considered it anything less than an embarrassment to have their main shop front for ps games running so slow.

The store on the ps4 runs how it should have always ran on the ps3.

And don't get me started on the user experience of using the store on a mobile browser! Awful doesn't begin to describe it.

Re: Sony Reacts to Pleas for Gravity Rush PS4 Retail Release

Pipr

Regardless of how the "lock" button works @jlpick has a valid point. In 20 years there may not be a Sony. How are the "owners" of digital downloads going to play their games if Sony and/or PSN don't exist any more?

Having said that those with physical copies will, in many cases, be saddled with a buggy version that's desperately in need of a major patch. So even owning the physical copy will be no guarantee of being able to play a working game.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 93

Pipr

@MinerWilly

Great choice. It's a game that, when you start to think it's becoming repetitive, it throws something entirely new in to turn things on their head. And you've reminded me I need to finish the last chapter so that's probably what I'll be playing.

Not sure if I'll ever buy fallout 4 as it sounds like it expects too much time investment to get back the potential value.

Re: Microsoft Parodies PS4's Infamous Game Sharing Video

Pipr

Give me ps2 bc on the ps4 and I'd be happy, if only for the hdmi output. I've thought about buying an old ps3 for this but then that would mean another box cluttering up the living room. Ps now isn't an option for me as my broadband sucks. Oh and it costs too much - especially when I already own much of what I'd want to play.

Re: PS4 Is Reeling in First-Person Shooter Fans, Says Sony

Pipr

@thedevilsjester

Your right that it's a per game issue but I think Sony miss out on a chunk of the PC gamer market by not pushing devs to include it. I know friends who haven't switched to consoles for this specific reason. They like the idea of not having to upgrade every 18 months but lack of mouse support on fps games is a deal breaker.

Thanks for the info on the other ps3 games with mouse support. I wasn't aware of those.

Also which ps4 games support mouse? (last time I Google this I drew a blank). Thanks

Re: PS4 Is Reeling in First-Person Shooter Fans, Says Sony

Pipr

FPS games are let down on console by a lack of mouse support. Which is sad considering the PS4 has mouse support built in. At least the Elite controller looks like it goes some way to making up for that shortcoming.

@LieutenantFatman @WARDIE

If UT does come back to console there's some hope for me yet! (UT on the PS3 was, I think, the only FPS that had mouse support).

Footnote: I know it's possible to buy converters/mice that mimic dualshock stick movement but they don't really cut it compared with native in-game support.

Re: Round Up: Need for Speed PS4 Reviews Apply the Hand Brake

Pipr

PS3 and PS2 had some amazing racing games. Seems like the marketing people think that unless a game is heavily focused on online play no one will buy it. And that's basically the b-all-end-all of what the game needs to aim for.

I keep hoping someone will see the obvious gap in the market for a fun driving game with plenty of mashing, crashing, wrecks, stunts and jumps but it's not looking that likely at the moment (unless I've missed a development that's in progress?).

Re: Sony Unsure Whether You'll Ever Be Able to Change Your PSN Name

Pipr

The inability to change username is a pointer towards poor database design (it suggests that Sony has, at best, used the username in foreign key table relationships, or at worst as a primary key in one or more tables). Using a name or username as a primary key in a database is a massive no-no.

My guess is that Sony could fix this (or at least put a sticking plaster over the issue by having a "public" username that's presented to the user while keeping the the old username in their database tables for continued data-integrity). But it's probably more a question of how much risk and money they'll need to throw at the problem to fix it. It's probably not just about fixing the UI on the Playstation 3, 4 and Vita, but also about fixing their websites, web services, internal systems, and any interfaces with third party systems (especially for provision of online gaming) etc. In other words it would probably cost them a fortune to fix.

Re: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Boss Departs Dev Due to Illness, Industry Issues

Pipr

I've not seen sexism in my line of work (software development) in over 20 years. Credit at the companies I've worked at has always been attributed based on ability.

Having read the blog linked to in the article above it seems that Jessica's partner took credit for the company's products and success and she was sidelined as a result. Like it or not if you are joint head of a company and your partner does all the presentations and PR and doesn't make a habit of reminding customers that you're an equal partner then many of those customers will assume you're an employee rather than the head of the company.

Maybe the blog omits details that more specifically identify sexist attitudes towards her but on the face of what's in the linked article it just reads like her partner took the credit wherever he could, and her contribution / talent / standing in the company was ignored as a result.

Re: TGS 2015: Sony Suggests PlayStation VR Won't Be Cheap

Pipr

@Matroska is absolutely right. People who think vr can be delivered on the cheap are ignorant of the tech that's going in to this. It's not just a phone strapped to a visor. And to be honest if it was shiny new iPhone strapped to a visor off-contract it would cost way more than what the playstation vr will likely cost at launch.

AAA games cost £50 at launch. The cheapest iwatch is £300. Anyone expecting to pay less than $250 (£200) for this at launch is seriously deluded.

Re: PlayStation's Sending Out Super Cute Birthday Gifts

Pipr

I got nothing from Sony on my "birthday" (I made up a random date when their registration process asked for my birthday as after they got hacked a while ago I decided the less info they stored on me the less I'd have to lose when it happens again).

Re: Japan's Holding Back the PlayStation 4

Pipr

I thought Sony not launching earlier in Japan would probably affect its medium/long-term uptake in the region. But presumably Sony know their own market well and they decided against a Japanese launch early-on as it would have sent the wrong signals to the rest of the world if sales were poor (i.e., "the PS4 isn't worth buying as it's already flopped in Japan where they love games, right?").

So if launching late in Japan has damaged its sales in Japan I guess it was damage limitation on Sony's part.

Re: Gamescom 2015: Will PS4's VR Headset Project Morpheus Be Expensive?

Pipr

Funny I remember when I was about 12 and video recorders were just being sold in the UK for around £500-600. Apparently £500 back in 1984 is worth £1500 now. While videos weren't that common in 1984 they weren't that rare either.

Seems like people expect much lower entry prices for new tech than they used to

Re: Gamescom 2015: Mafia III PS4 Trailer Hangs in the House of the Rising Sun

Pipr

Maybe it's because he's doing his gravelly trailer voice but the lead character's voice really doesn't fit with his appearance.

And if the whole game has him banging on about "faaamly" I'll have to pass on this regardless of how good the gameplay is (reminded me of Phil Mitchel and eastenders which can never be a good thing).

Re: Sony Wants You to Pick Your Next PS4 PlayStation Plus Freebie

Pipr

Why not just offer each subscriber the option to download any one game out of the three on offer and at the end of the month Sony can divvy up the cash to the dev companies based on the % of people who choose their game. At least that way everyone's happy (apart from those subscribers who don't want any of the three).

Re: Rumour: SCEE Promotion Dates Big PS4 Games

Pipr

That's hilarious that No Man's Sky doesn't even carry a year. Surely someone in their company has a rough idea if it's going to release this year or next.

Perhaps everything's up in the air while they negotiate with Sony over delaying their release to coincide with the release of Morpheus...

Re: This Licensed PS4 Controller Is for the PC Master Race

Pipr

@SteveButler2210

I assumed it would use DS4 emulation rather than be just a USB keyb/mouse but I imagine the results would be pretty horrible.

I'm really just venting my frustration at a feature that's obviously lacking in all but a very small handfull of FPS games on PS3 (and missing from ALL PS4 games in spite of Sony providing support for USB K+M hardware).

Re: This Licensed PS4 Controller Is for the PC Master Race

Pipr

Shame that almost no PS3 or PS4 games have control systems that support keyboard and/or mouse. Unreal Tournament on the PS3 supports K+M but that's the last FPS that I've seen on either PS3/4 which does.

Odd really as both the PS3 and PS4 recognise and support most USB K+M devices and I'm sure many people (myself included) would appreciate support.

I rarely buy FPS games on PS3/4 due to the lack of mouse support.

Re: Rumour: Future PS4 Firmware Update Adding Calendar App

Pipr

Just give me half decent parental controls. They went to all the trouble of adding sub accounts but didn't bother to allow each account to have its own control level. Even just pin protecting the launch of games exceeding the system control level (like the ps3 did) would be way better than the sucky system Sony have put together for the ps4.

Re: Interview: Blowing Battlezone's PS4 Reboot Wide Open

Pipr

The trailer looks great. This is the sort of thing that will help sell morpheus and will hopefully convince the AAA studios that morpheus is worth investing in.

Studios like Rebellion deserve a lot of credit for this type of development. They're obviously passionate about the technology. If (more likely when!) I buy a Morpheus this will be high on my purchase list.

Re: The Teen Who Ruined PS4's Christmas Narrowly Avoids Jail

Pipr

Sony should be in the dock (metaphorically speaking) for the ridiculously shoddy download speed I'm currently experiencing as entwined trickles its way down to my ps4 at a fraction of my connection speed.

They should also be in the dock for all the recent psn downtime.

But I doubt they'll even be charged - metaphorically speaking - since much of the gaming press don't seem interested in getting to the bottom of why the service that the ps4 is tightly bound to is so unreliable but prefer to just wait for Sony to spoon feed them the odd PR update as and when they choose to.

If the situation doesn't improve soon Sony are going to lose at least one fan (me) who's owned all the playstations so far but who's starting to think he should have switched to ms this time round.

/rant