@NonbinaryStarr the only reason it is even mentioned on this site is because it is a ps console exclusive (also on pc of course). outside of that, nobody even knew this existed.
most people didn't even know this game existed until a few months or weeks ago so the reaction is over the top. i couldn't care less about this game but i imagine the ps5 reviews will fare a lot worse than the pc ones, averaging in the low 70s or high 60s due to performance issues. the developer has been hiding (base) console footage for a reason.
won't there be a check box to just disable this feature (call it "AI rendering tech" for the sake of argument) but keep the legacy benefits of DLSS4 and other new features? so long as this is completely optional, people won't have to use it (hopefully).
attempting to push ps5 pro on people at this stage is a joke. people are claiming that ps6 is out next year for christ sakes. i'm skeptical of that, but whether the ps6 comes out next year or in 2028, does it really make sense to invest in a half step machine today when the real deal is just around the corner? the price will likely be in the same ballpark too! it almost feels like people have been seeking validation for their ps5 pro purchase because it has been so disappointing up to this point. well, it has certainly been a failure from a sales standpoint as well.
@KillerIsD34D agreed. but sony was foolish enough to release a dozen games on pc. They established culture and expectations around its games on the pc platform. nintendo was smart enough to not even flirt with the idea. it needs to be acknowledged that sony shot itself in the foot, yes?
sony made the mistake of porting its games to pc when it shouldn't have. that said, it is very odd if in the middle of the ps5 generation, sony is to stop the pc ports. that is quite alienating and disrespectful to those who supported 1st party on pc.
so... wouldn't it make more sense to transition back to ps exclusivity after the launch of ps6? as a supporter of exclusives as a means to protect the value of the brand, i do see the frustration sony is causing in the short term with its lack of foresight and poor handling of the situation here.
probably the worst take i have heard in a long time.
kamiya, i don't like wolves, so please remove amaterasu from okami 2 and replace her with a cat! this game needs to be catered specifically to me or else i cannot play it! thanks!
oh, please. as if i am going to believe the PR department and their definition of good or bad sales. that is subjective and dependent on their level of greed. all those games were profitable and successful in their own right. also, sega has botched all of atlus' games with terrible business practices including no upgrade paths for the complete editions and a truckload of MTX. people are truly fed up with it which might explain the (less than expected?) sales of the complete editions at the very least.
it's an interesting topic. if sony is serious about its exclusives going forward, i see no path other than de-listing its catalogue on pc entirely.
sony wants to bring in new users into its ecosystem. even at a ratio of 1 new psn user vs 10 software sales on pc is likely better for sony — that 1 new user brings a lot of revenue into sony's ecosystem (potentially hundreds of dollars a year in fact which exceeds the 10 software sales after a couple years. this is long term profit vs short term gains). it is not a simple topic because there are countless angles to analyze it from.
@LowDefAl you aren't wrong, but doesn't change the fact that sony's game development influnece out of japan is a drop in the bucket next to all the other publishers... even more dire when you consider that asobi is a relatively new studio under the umbrella. people are generally most interested (and concerned) about the working conditions of game development as it has a toxic reputation. people are reading this article from the perspective of gaming afterall.
the fact that sony has a fraction of developers working in japan compared to its competition most likely inflated the survey results in its favour to be honest. if this survey included all arms of these publishers (worldwide) sony wouldn't be near the top.
but there are only TWO studios working out of japan for sony... or under 400 staff members combined. small sample size relative to the other publishers.
o, right. this was one of the most unnecessary remakes of all time. all people wanted was a ps5 performance patch for the original ps4 game and yet... i wonder who did the market analysis for this project? i guess he got fired with the rest of the team.
gosh, capcom has a foundation here for a new breath of fire game by the looks of things. why is the company so afraid of reviving it? sad to see them putting out 3 monster hunter spinoffs with a traditional battle system and yet won't even acknowledge breath of fire exists
if they are going to market the next xbox as a console, despite it being a pc, they are going to lose traditional customers expecting a console price point. to make matters worse, this box that they put out will not have even a fraction of the upgrade potential of a real pc, resricting people in the process.
why pay the price of a pc and receive hardware that is severely restricted from upgrading? too many conradictions here. this is looking like a product without a target audience and will be another failure for microsoft.
now if they market it as a pre-built pc, they may fare a little bit better... but the problem is, when people see xbox hardware, they automatically think of the traditional xbox consoles they grew up with. this is an impossible task for the marketing team and the mainstream will not be able to comprehend it.
not a chance modern day sony is keeping that content in the remakes. and just because the minigames were apparently designed by women (i don't believe that either), has absolutely no bearing on the decision to cut it out. i don't know why that point found its way into the conversation since it's not the objectifying of women that is the issue here. it's that the mini games were always out of context with the rest of the game and felt gimmicky!
but let's be real, the remakes are going to aim for ultra realism from a production standpoint... a silly sex minigame is going to feel very disconnected from the experience. weird, jarring and stupid is how i would describe it in the original release. are people realy going to cry a river about this?
i'll support smaller games from sony if they are actually good. sons of sparta is certainly NOT competent on any level. asking people to support this game is a very bad take since you are also in effect supporting mediocrity that we can all do without. shouldn't we be encouraging publishers to make better games?
sony is probably using AI to target various users based on their playtime and trophies as well. they will go after those who are most vulnerable to frivolous spending and offer them the better prices. everyone else can pay more because sony says so. disgusting. sony needs to be sued over this.
actually, no i'm not. i even went back to the 2022 article that was linked to this one to find my own comment and how i felt back then. nothing but concern about the news of nagoshi partnering with netease! even back then, you could not rely on these suits and investors to stay true to their word and see the project through until the end.
this news sucks. the game was looking like a more serious yakuza title which i can get behind. please, stop working with chinese conglomerates to fund your games! there is no passion for the artform nor any respect for the creatives over there.
hate to say it, but i'm expecting netease to shut down quantic dream. many people forget that netease acquired them a while back. with no news on star wars eclipse for years now, i'm really getting nervous about this one.
just another contrarian trying to stand out from the noise. i call bs. even if sony was fine with the escalating RAM prices and isn't concerned about the ridiculous price tag of the ps6, there is a lack of interest for new hardware from the mainstream marketplace — that is not something sony can remedy. the only thing that can fix that is time and improvements to the economy. if sony were to release the ps6 next fall, many units would be sitting on store shelves and in warehouses, costing sony money in many other ways... it would get to the point where they would have to cut the price by 30% or more just to clear inventory before demand stopped altogether.
what happens in the early days of console releases, when adoption rates are low? oh, right, developers get nervous about making exclusive software that doesn't have a large enough audience to make the game viable! so we would just go through 4 more years of ps5/ps6 cross gen releases without any ps6 exclusives? that is what got us into this mess with the ps5 in the first place... and with sony now backpeddling on pc releases... sony wants to give people a reason to own the ps6 and that will require exclusives! you first need to sell a crap ton of ps6's to make that a reality...
so no. the interest and hunger just isn't there right now.
@Markatron84 it's a fair point. there are some gamers out there such as yourself who are loyal to the pc space and will never leave, but it was never sony's intention to cater to the pc market if there was no potential for crossover. sony had hoped that more pc gamers would invest in a ps5 because bringing players into the playstation ecosystem is far more valuable than a handful of software sales on pc. the experiment failed judging by the poor revenue generation from the pc ports... and i assume retaining ps5 players (who left in favour of pc) has become a problem as well.
where was this article 5 years ago? myself and many others were fighting against the grain, trying to get the message across that porting to pc would hurt the "value" of the playstation brand. there was a lot of pushback but now we know how misguided sony actually was.
if sony does go through with this, the anticipation for ps6 will indeed increase. instead of trying to convince people to pick up a ps6 (rather than stick to their ps5 or pc), sony can rest easy knowing that people actually have a better use case for the hardware instead of treating it as an afterthought.
right, so after 5 years of going in the wrong direction, sony is suddenly listening to the fans' concerns about the brand?
i don't buy that argument. sony hasn't listened to the core fans about anything this entire generation and couldn't care less what we think. sony is scared of steam machines and its pc ports have been a big disappointment. that is what this reversal is about. i'll believe it when i see it.
now, if only sony could learn a lesson or two about service games, get its pricing back down to earth and create some games with fresh ideas again...
good riddance. you will not be missed. highguard. publishers, take this as a sign to stop investing in trash that only has a 1% chance at success perhaps? but if your shareholders demand it, then by all means, keep burning your resources away...
@twitchtvpat yea, it's likely sony will publish his new game as well, but i'm confident that he has free creative control to do whatever he wants with the current agreement, as we have already seen with the death stranding games. no typical AAA publisher would ever touch those projects if not for the kojima brand recognition. that said, i think kojma has had enough financial success now to self publish his own games going forward if he chose to... but with his current agreement and creative freedom with sony, there is no need to take the finanical risk in doing so (all this can change in the future of course). he has since acquired the IP of death stranding so he is certainly doing well financially. one thing is for certain: kojima productions will never be acquired by anyone and for good reason. even sony cannot be trusted to make the right decisions these days and kojima productions could very well be shuttered after a failed project under this iteration of sony managament had they owned his studio.
i'm content with how the franchise ended. far too many people are afraid of closure and feel the need to suck the life out of a franchise. there is nothing worse than poor revival projects when the franchise has already run its course. it looks desperate, lazy and is the polar opposite of what game designers should strive for if they take their craft seriously.
now if sony wants to bring back the key members of ready at dawn and complete the order 1886 trilogy, sign me up!
i'd have to imagine that part of sony's decision to backpeddle away from pc after this failed experiment is because of the steam machine — another console-like device that could steal part of its userbase away. sony is afraid of losing ANY percentage of its marketshare.
in addition, the idea of sony porting its games to pc would hurt the value of playstation, which it did. factoring in the costs to port its game to pc makes this revenue stream (for its single player games) unattractive since they are sacrificing players from their ecosystem. do the math and you wil soon realize that retaining a playstation customer in its ecosystem is FAR more vlauable than losing that customer in exchange for a couple software sales on steam.
it only makes sense to keep pc ports alive for service games although i wouldn't bank on sony having much success in that space anyways.
the games are already so cinematic and story focused. they don't lend themselves well to a live action adaptation because there is nothing left up to the imagination. the story has already been told in the best way possible. all of sony's live action adaptations are a fool's errand and don't need to exist...
thankfully kojima is smart enough not to be acquired by sony. 5 or 10 years ago, i would have said that would be an ideal situation for both parties. so much has changed. looking forward to one last stealth game from kojima. make the game of your dreams without any interferance from the suits.
capcom continues to have an identity crisis with this franchise and doesn't know what to do with it from both, the story and gameplay side of things.
resident evil probably needs two franchises run in parallel at this point — a true surival horror series that sticks closer to its roots (a complete reboot) and the over the shoulder, action oriented series. alternate between entries every 3 years with a different subtitle on the box to satisfy all the fans. problem solved. just don't be a jack of all trades and try to tie the threads of this 30 year old, mish-mash of a story any longer because that simply does not work well.
this game doesn't even deserve an article about it shutting down. nobody will miss it. also, it feels like most publishers don't want to generate revenue anymore and are totally content in losing money and shutting themselves down. it's like being in a high stakes poker game and going all in despite eveyone at the table knowing that you are bluffing. why did you get up in the morning and make the trip to the casino knowing that this would be your fate?
...and it has now fallen to 65... might need to update this article to reflect the terrible reception this game has had after giving it more time to simmer.
outside of moderate curisoity for wolverine and intergelactic , i couldn't care less about any of the confirmed projects from sony 1st party. half the sudios are MIA and likely YEARS away from releasing a game... this is a really sad, lackluster offering from sony.
@JPEGMakima you are certainly generalizing the number of people who shat on the look of demon's souls remake. it is considered one of the greatest remakes of all time, along with shadow of the colossus remake. it doesn't make for a strong argument if you take 3 toxic posts on twitter as the consensus as to how people feel about blupoint and its games.
it is currently sitting at a 66 meta score and continues to fall. once the genuine reviews starting trickling in, the real verdict was made clear. surprised people were fooled by this hot junk simply because sony's stamp was on it. the art looks terrible. wouldn't surprise me if the bulk of this game was AI generated as well.
this is without a doubt one of the most shocking studio closures in gaming history. i think i can say that without hyperbole.
every project this team worked on was gold, going all the way back to the metal gear, god of war and and ico/shadow of the collossus remasters on ps3. shadow of the collossus remake has earned its spot on every list of the greatest remakes ever made. the demon's souls remake looked incredible, although i did not play it myself. every time i dreamed up a remake scenario of a classic game, bluepoint was always the first studio that came to mind because they were the best in the business and just that good. i always hoped they would have the opportunity to remake metal gear solid on modern hardware.
sony's mismanagement of its studios over the past 5 years is what destroyed bluepoint games. it's really that simple. this wasn't a situation where bluepoint failed to deliver on multiple projects and was costing sony money. instead of giving the studio an opportunity to take on a passion project (sony owed them that after wasting years of their time on a cancelled project), they thought it was best to shut them down? arguably the best remaster/remake studio in the entire industry... pull the plug? really? at a time where remakes have never been more popular and in demand?
there isn't anything more to say than this: sony has warped into just another terrible, god awful publisher. i saw signs of this all the way back in 2020 which is why i still do not own a ps5. not only has this been the worst playstation generation in history, but it has gotten to the point where i have developed active resentment towards sony and everything it stands for in this new era... i went from a borderline playstation fanboy to someone who just doesn't like playstation anymore as it continues to stumble again and again. the magic is completely gone.
sony is now on par with microsoft as a publisher. completely lacking in humanity, unfocused, misguided, tone deaf, controlled by shareholders and ulterior motives... irrational and baffling decision making has become common place. there is a severe lack of leadership from top to bottom. the division is run by parasites.
there is one good thing to come about from this though... people are starting to wake up about sony dropping the ball the past five years. vote with your wallet if you don't like the direction sony is taking playstation! people should be VERY concerned about media molecule and bend studio. if they don't get converted into support studios, i have to wonder how much time they have left under this regime. sony went from one of the best publishers to one of the worst seemingly overnight!
this game is not a 7 despite claims that it is. i mean, it is struggling to stay in the 70s metacritic range (currently at 68) and continues to drop. won't be long now before it falls to its spot at about 60-65 which is exactly where it belongs. true, undeniable mediocrity. hopefully some lessons will be learned here so they put in the work next time? i don't think sony will want to see how this plays out with steam reviews so no pc port?
the damage control for this game is baffling. why are people trying to turn this medicore game into something that it isn't? it is a sorry excuse for a god of war game and nobody would even acknowledge its existence if it wasn't superficially branded as one. it would fall to the bottom of the sales charts instantly. people won't remember this game a month from now, let alone in a year. there are FAR better games to spend your money on. if sony truly cared about it, they would collaborate with a developer with actual reputation and talent, such as the game kitchen — developers behind blasphemous and ninja gaiden ragebound. there are literally dozens of superior indi devleopers they could have worked with but settled with the worst option...
mind boggling stuff.
o yea, on open critic, only 25% of critics recommend the game which is a brutal stat that should not be overlooked.
@Max_the_German to be fair, sony had already put on its "arrogance" cap at the beginning of this console cycle. too late for that not to happen. the question now is, can it do a u-turn and go back to being a good publisher again during the ps6 run? the company would need a major shakeup, including the removal of herman hulst and a complete re-evaluation of its profiteering goals: less emphasis on service games, scaling back in the graphics arms race and scope of its games to be more sustainable long term, focusing on a back -to-basics approach via a low cost to entry console that doesn't price people out of the hobby and encourages more creativity from developers (smaller games with less emphasis on graphics means they can take more risks and come up with compelling software).
if i were sony, i would use this dire period as incentive to bring the excitement and joy back to the AAA space because it has nearly evaporated at this point. the ps6 only needs to be an incremental jump over the ps5 pro from a graphcis standpoint, but a monumental jump in its software library if sony wants it to be successful and enticing to as many people as possible. is that asking for too much now that sony has no real competition? possibly. this is a situation where you hope the market will determine the fate of sony (i.e. lower than expected ps6 sales) and not sony itself.
let me try to understand this... some people want the ps6 rushed to market so that we can wait several years post launch for another drip feed consisting of cross gen games (which already play great on ps5), remasters and remakes again? you want to experience the same lulls of the ps5 so soon? right when the ps5 is finally about to get off the ground and fulfill some of its promises more than 6 years after it launched?
yea, sorry, i am not understanding the appeal in that. to me it sounds like some people are simply too materialistic and addicted to inconsequential shiny tech devices to see what is wrong with that picture. the ps5 has been a big disappointment and sony still has a lot of work to do to prove that a ps6 even needs to exist. they are running out of bullet points in their marketing material. the ps5 is still 5-10 generational games away from fulfilling its promise and providing the value that playstation fans expect.
i won't even get into the pricing concerns and the fact that market demand is essentially non-existent for a ps6 currently. that conversation has been run into the ground several times over and is becoming exhausting.
anyone who thinks ps5 games look bad and/or outdated should really move on from consoles and invest in a $5,000 pc for those extra, insignificant frames and resolutions. they are clearly playing games for the wrong reasons and are tech enthusiasts first, gamers second.
getting your hands on a ps6 sooner will not magically correct everything that is wrong with sony and the AAA industry at large. that is the key takeaway here.
@Dalamar yup, he is absolutely right about that. maybe jaffe is a divisive person and that's fine if some people don't like him. but clearly those same people are unable to separate the opinion from the person. this game really doesn't deserve defending of any kind. it is just a medicore afterthought that nobody asked for and an embarassment to the god of war franchise. it exists as a cash grab for the anniversary and nothing more.
@DennisReynolds he is actually left in his political views. very left. you comment on things with such confidence when you really don't know the first thing about it.
he isn't wrong. the game looked medicore the first moment i saw it. watched about an hour gameplay and my thoughts have not changed. truly odd decision by sony to back such a generic looking indi game (i wonder if it was built with AI as well) and repurpose it as god of war title, just to say they had something for the anniversary.
it's werid how some people are defending this game, as if it is an amazing experience that they were anticipating for years! sony's stamp is on it so they automatically go into fanboy mode — the point of no return!
a long time coming! will this game live up to the shovel knight games? probably not. but i hope it does well for the studio. they seem to be in a bit of financial trouble at the moment. how they managed to squander all that shovel knight money is beyond me. apparently the fate of yacht club games as a studio is entirely dependent on how well mina the hollower performs.
what separates old konami from new konami is the fact konami the publisher no longer develops any of its games in-house. everything is lisensed out to indi developers. this can be, both, good and bad, but it doesn't change the fact that there is clearly no passion within the walls of konami itself. merely businessmen and suits attempting to make money with as little risk as possible.
i feel like people are quite confused by this new iteration of konami and don't realize that the vast majority of their output is being developed far away from konami HQ. they are no longer a DEVELOPER of video games, hence, the passionate designers the company once had are long gone. konami sure is good at exploiting the IP that it's legendary staff built. i will give them credit for that!
the art direction looks great with its bold use of colour and contrast. the movement, however, looks a bit slow and floaty to me... not the quick and precise movement we have become accustomed to with the iga games. not necessarily a dealbreaker though.
@PuppetMaster
"...considering they've been a GOW studio since PS2 era."
that's precisly the point. they run the risk of losing talent at the studio due to fatigue and burnout. its no different than the high turnover rate of a studio working on nothing but call of duty or assassin's creed games. i don't think santa monica chose to be the god of war studio by design... they had several failed attempts at other projects in the past and they simply fell back into their comfort zone with yet another god of war sequel. i don't think that is good for the longevity of the studio. they need a new IP to diversify their portfolio. remaking the first 3 games looks a bit desperate.
Comments 2,750
Re: Mini Review: 1348 Ex Voto (PS5) - An Intriguing But Disappointing PS5 Console Exclusive
@NonbinaryStarr the only reason it is even mentioned on this site is because it is a ps console exclusive (also on pc of course). outside of that, nobody even knew this existed.
Re: Jim Carrey Confirmed to Return for Sonic the Hedgehog 4 in New Teaser Trailer
disappointing end to carrey's career
Re: Crimson Desert's Mixed Reviews See Dev's Share Price Drop Almost 30%
most people didn't even know this game existed until a few months or weeks ago so the reaction is over the top. i couldn't care less about this game but i imagine the ps5 reviews will fare a lot worse than the pc ones, averaging in the low 70s or high 60s due to performance issues. the developer has been hiding (base) console footage for a reason.
Re: Nvidia Says You're All 'Completely Wrong' About Its Controversial AI Upscaler DLSS 5
won't there be a check box to just disable this feature (call it "AI rendering tech" for the sake of argument) but keep the legacy benefits of DLSS4 and other new features? so long as this is completely optional, people won't have to use it (hopefully).
Re: 'This Is Finally Living Up to Its Promise': PS5 Pro Owners Thrilled with PSSR 2 Upgrade
attempting to push ps5 pro on people at this stage is a joke. people are claiming that ps6 is out next year for christ sakes. i'm skeptical of that, but whether the ps6 comes out next year or in 2028, does it really make sense to invest in a half step machine today when the real deal is just around the corner? the price will likely be in the same ballpark too! it almost feels like people have been seeking validation for their ps5 pro purchase because it has been so disappointing up to this point. well, it has certainly been a failure from a sales standpoint as well.
Re: 'No One Is Buying This on PS5': PC Port Begging Already Unbearable as Sony Switches Strategy
@KillerIsD34D agreed. but sony was foolish enough to release a dozen games on pc. They established culture and expectations around its games on the pc platform. nintendo was smart enough to not even flirt with the idea. it needs to be acknowledged that sony shot itself in the foot, yes?
Re: 'No One Is Buying This on PS5': PC Port Begging Already Unbearable as Sony Switches Strategy
sony made the mistake of porting its games to pc when it shouldn't have. that said, it is very odd if in the middle of the ps5 generation, sony is to stop the pc ports. that is quite alienating and disrespectful to those who supported 1st party on pc.
so... wouldn't it make more sense to transition back to ps exclusivity after the launch of ps6? as a supporter of exclusives as a means to protect the value of the brand, i do see the frustration sony is causing in the short term with its lack of foresight and poor handling of the situation here.
Re: Tell Us if You Love or Hate Stupid Never Dies, the Most Divisive Action RPG Coming to PS5
it is more of a musou game than an action rpg? i like the art direction and use of colour but the gameplay looks like an afterthought.
Re: Resident Evil 2 Director Says Requiem Needs a 'Non-Scary' Mode for Fraidy Cats Like Him
probably the worst take i have heard in a long time.
kamiya, i don't like wolves, so please remove amaterasu from okami 2 and replace her with a cat! this game needs to be catered specifically to me or else i cannot play it! thanks!
Re: SEGA's PS5 Games Get Good Reviews, So Why Aren't You Buying Them?
oh, please. as if i am going to believe the PR department and their definition of good or bad sales. that is subjective and dependent on their level of greed. all those games were profitable and successful in their own right. also, sega has botched all of atlus' games with terrible business practices including no upgrade paths for the complete editions and a truckload of MTX. people are truly fed up with it which might explain the (less than expected?) sales of the complete editions at the very least.
Re: Hypothetically, Could Sony Stop Its PS5 Ports from Running on Xbox Helix?
it's an interesting topic. if sony is serious about its exclusives going forward, i see no path other than de-listing its catalogue on pc entirely.
sony wants to bring in new users into its ecosystem. even at a ratio of 1 new psn user vs 10 software sales on pc is likely better for sony — that 1 new user brings a lot of revenue into sony's ecosystem (potentially hundreds of dollars a year in fact which exceeds the 10 software sales after a couple years. this is long term profit vs short term gains). it is not a simple topic because there are countless angles to analyze it from.
Re: Sony Rated the Best Big Game Company to Work for in Japan, Beating Nintendo, Capcom, More
@LowDefAl you aren't wrong, but doesn't change the fact that sony's game development influnece out of japan is a drop in the bucket next to all the other publishers... even more dire when you consider that asobi is a relatively new studio under the umbrella. people are generally most interested (and concerned) about the working conditions of game development as it has a toxic reputation. people are reading this article from the perspective of gaming afterall.
the fact that sony has a fraction of developers working in japan compared to its competition most likely inflated the survey results in its favour to be honest. if this survey included all arms of these publishers (worldwide) sony wouldn't be near the top.
Re: Sony Rated the Best Big Game Company to Work for in Japan, Beating Nintendo, Capcom, More
but there are only TWO studios working out of japan for sony... or under 400 staff members combined. small sample size relative to the other publishers.
Re: The Until Dawn PS5 Remake Studio Is Officially Gone for Good
o, right. this was one of the most unnecessary remakes of all time. all people wanted was a ps5 performance patch for the original ps4 game and yet... i wonder who did the market analysis for this project? i guess he got fired with the rest of the team.
Re: Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection (PS5) - Capcom's Monster Taming RPG Soars to New Heights
gosh, capcom has a foundation here for a new breath of fire game by the looks of things. why is the company so afraid of reviving it? sad to see them putting out 3 monster hunter spinoffs with a traditional battle system and yet won't even acknowledge breath of fire exists
Re: PS6 Rival Xbox Helix Could Cost as Much as $1,200
if they are going to market the next xbox as a console, despite it being a pc, they are going to lose traditional customers expecting a console price point. to make matters worse, this box that they put out will not have even a fraction of the upgrade potential of a real pc, resricting people in the process.
why pay the price of a pc and receive hardware that is severely restricted from upgrading? too many conradictions here. this is looking like a product without a target audience and will be another failure for microsoft.
now if they market it as a pre-built pc, they may fare a little bit better... but the problem is, when people see xbox hardware, they automatically think of the traditional xbox consoles they grew up with. this is an impossible task for the marketing team and the mainstream will not be able to comprehend it.
Re: 'I'm Pro Sex Minigames': Former God of War Dev Backs PS5 Trilogy Remake to Keep Controversial Minigames
not a chance modern day sony is keeping that content in the remakes. and just because the minigames were apparently designed by women (i don't believe that either), has absolutely no bearing on the decision to cut it out. i don't know why that point found its way into the conversation since it's not the objectifying of women that is the issue here. it's that the mini games were always out of context with the rest of the game and felt gimmicky!
but let's be real, the remakes are going to aim for ultra realism from a production standpoint... a silly sex minigame is going to feel very disconnected from the experience. weird, jarring and stupid is how i would describe it in the original release. are people realy going to cry a river about this?
Re: Opinion: God of War: Sons of Sparta Is the Smaller PS5 Game Fans Want, and I Hope We See More
i'll support smaller games from sony if they are actually good. sons of sparta is certainly NOT competent on any level. asking people to support this game is a very bad take since you are also in effect supporting mediocrity that we can all do without. shouldn't we be encouraging publishers to make better games?
Re: Some PS5 Users Really Are Paying More for Their Games on PS Store Than Others
sony is probably using AI to target various users based on their playtime and trophies as well. they will go after those who are most vulnerable to frivolous spending and offer them the better prices. everyone else can pay more because sony says so. disgusting. sony needs to be sued over this.
Re: Yakuza Creator's Promising New PS5 Game May Soon Be Sleeping with the Fishes as Funding Is Cut
i'm stunned!
actually, no i'm not. i even went back to the 2022 article that was linked to this one to find my own comment and how i felt back then. nothing but concern about the news of nagoshi partnering with netease! even back then, you could not rely on these suits and investors to stay true to their word and see the project through until the end.
this news sucks. the game was looking like a more serious yakuza title which i can get behind. please, stop working with chinese conglomerates to fund your games! there is no passion for the artform nor any respect for the creatives over there.
hate to say it, but i'm expecting netease to shut down quantic dream. many people forget that netease acquired them a while back. with no news on star wars eclipse for years now, i'm really getting nervous about this one.
Re: 'They're Not Going to Delay PS6': Hardware Leaker Says 2027 Still Likely After Xbox Helix Reveal
just another contrarian trying to stand out from the noise. i call bs. even if sony was fine with the escalating RAM prices and isn't concerned about the ridiculous price tag of the ps6, there is a lack of interest for new hardware from the mainstream marketplace — that is not something sony can remedy. the only thing that can fix that is time and improvements to the economy. if sony were to release the ps6 next fall, many units would be sitting on store shelves and in warehouses, costing sony money in many other ways... it would get to the point where they would have to cut the price by 30% or more just to clear inventory before demand stopped altogether.
what happens in the early days of console releases, when adoption rates are low? oh, right, developers get nervous about making exclusive software that doesn't have a large enough audience to make the game viable! so we would just go through 4 more years of ps5/ps6 cross gen releases without any ps6 exclusives? that is what got us into this mess with the ps5 in the first place... and with sony now backpeddling on pc releases... sony wants to give people a reason to own the ps6 and that will require exclusives! you first need to sell a crap ton of ps6's to make that a reality...
so no. the interest and hunger just isn't there right now.
Re: Opinion: Sony's PC Pullback Is the Right Move for PS5
@Markatron84 it's a fair point. there are some gamers out there such as yourself who are loyal to the pc space and will never leave, but it was never sony's intention to cater to the pc market if there was no potential for crossover. sony had hoped that more pc gamers would invest in a ps5 because bringing players into the playstation ecosystem is far more valuable than a handful of software sales on pc. the experiment failed judging by the poor revenue generation from the pc ports... and i assume retaining ps5 players (who left in favour of pc) has become a problem as well.
Re: Opinion: Sony's PC Pullback Is the Right Move for PS5
where was this article 5 years ago? myself and many others were fighting against the grain, trying to get the message across that porting to pc would hurt the "value" of the playstation brand. there was a lot of pushback but now we know how misguided sony actually was.
if sony does go through with this, the anticipation for ps6 will indeed increase. instead of trying to convince people to pick up a ps6 (rather than stick to their ps5 or pc), sony can rest easy knowing that people actually have a better use case for the hardware instead of treating it as an afterthought.
Re: Sony Returns to PlayStation Exclusivity and Stops Single Player PC Ports, New Report Says
@themaladroit ps5 will be part of a cross gen strategy with ps6 and be supported until 2035 more like it.
Re: Sony Returns to PlayStation Exclusivity and Stops Single Player PC Ports, New Report Says
@Dr_ENT possibly. it doesn't look good for that studio unless they can turn them into a support studio rather than a porting house.
Re: Sony Returns to PlayStation Exclusivity and Stops Single Player PC Ports, New Report Says
right, so after 5 years of going in the wrong direction, sony is suddenly listening to the fans' concerns about the brand?
i don't buy that argument. sony hasn't listened to the core fans about anything this entire generation and couldn't care less what we think. sony is scared of steam machines and its pc ports have been a big disappointment. that is what this reversal is about. i'll believe it when i see it.
now, if only sony could learn a lesson or two about service games, get its pricing back down to earth and create some games with fresh ideas again...
Re: Highguard Permanently Shuts Down on 12th March
good riddance. you will not be missed. highguard. publishers, take this as a sign to stop investing in trash that only has a 1% chance at success perhaps? but if your shareholders demand it, then by all means, keep burning your resources away...
Re: PlayStation Visited Kojima Productions Lately, But What For?
@twitchtvpat yea, it's likely sony will publish his new game as well, but i'm confident that he has free creative control to do whatever he wants with the current agreement, as we have already seen with the death stranding games. no typical AAA publisher would ever touch those projects if not for the kojima brand recognition. that said, i think kojma has had enough financial success now to self publish his own games going forward if he chose to... but with his current agreement and creative freedom with sony, there is no need to take the finanical risk in doing so (all this can change in the future of course). he has since acquired the IP of death stranding so he is certainly doing well financially. one thing is for certain: kojima productions will never be acquired by anyone and for good reason. even sony cannot be trusted to make the right decisions these days and kojima productions could very well be shuttered after a failed project under this iteration of sony managament had they owned his studio.
Re: Opinion: If Sony's Doubling Down on Its Most Popular Franchises, Where's Uncharted?
i'm content with how the franchise ended. far too many people are afraid of closure and feel the need to suck the life out of a franchise. there is nothing worse than poor revival projects when the franchise has already run its course. it looks desperate, lazy and is the polar opposite of what game designers should strive for if they take their craft seriously.
now if sony wants to bring back the key members of ready at dawn and complete the order 1886 trilogy, sign me up!
Re: Rumour: Sony Backtracking on PC Strategy, Shifting Towards PS5 Exclusivity Again
i'd have to imagine that part of sony's decision to backpeddle away from pc after this failed experiment is because of the steam machine — another console-like device that could steal part of its userbase away. sony is afraid of losing ANY percentage of its marketshare.
in addition, the idea of sony porting its games to pc would hurt the value of playstation, which it did. factoring in the costs to port its game to pc makes this revenue stream (for its single player games) unattractive since they are sacrificing players from their ecosystem. do the math and you wil soon realize that retaining a playstation customer in its ecosystem is FAR more vlauable than losing that customer in exchange for a couple software sales on steam.
it only makes sense to keep pc ports alive for service games although i wouldn't bank on sony having much success in that space anyways.
Re: Here's Your First Look at the God of War TV Show
the games are already so cinematic and story focused. they don't lend themselves well to a live action adaptation because there is nothing left up to the imagination. the story has already been told in the best way possible. all of sony's live action adaptations are a fool's errand and don't need to exist...
Re: PlayStation Visited Kojima Productions Lately, But What For?
thankfully kojima is smart enough not to be acquired by sony. 5 or 10 years ago, i would have said that would be an ideal situation for both parties. so much has changed. looking forward to one last stealth game from kojima. make the game of your dreams without any interferance from the suits.
Re: Resident Evil Requiem (PS5) - Two-in-One Horror Not Quite an All-Timer
capcom continues to have an identity crisis with this franchise and doesn't know what to do with it from both, the story and gameplay side of things.
resident evil probably needs two franchises run in parallel at this point — a true surival horror series that sticks closer to its roots (a complete reboot) and the over the shoulder, action oriented series. alternate between entries every 3 years with a different subtitle on the box to satisfy all the fans. problem solved. just don't be a jack of all trades and try to tie the threads of this 30 year old, mish-mash of a story any longer because that simply does not work well.
Re: Yet Another Live Service Game Bites the Dust, But PS5 Players Get a Full Refund
this game doesn't even deserve an article about it shutting down. nobody will miss it. also, it feels like most publishers don't want to generate revenue anymore and are totally content in losing money and shutting themselves down. it's like being in a high stakes poker game and going all in despite eveyone at the table knowing that you are bluffing. why did you get up in the morning and make the trip to the casino knowing that this would be your fate?
Re: PS5's Retro God of War Game Gets the Worst Reviews in the Series
...and it has now fallen to 65... might need to update this article to reflect the terrible reception this game has had after giving it more time to simmer.
Re: PlayStation Studios: All Sony First-Party Developers and What They're Working On
outside of moderate curisoity for wolverine and intergelactic , i couldn't care less about any of the confirmed projects from sony 1st party. half the sudios are MIA and likely YEARS away from releasing a game... this is a really sad, lackluster offering from sony.
Re: Sony Goes Silent on Social Media as Fans Turn Feral Following Bluepoint Closure
@JPEGMakima you are certainly generalizing the number of people who shat on the look of demon's souls remake. it is considered one of the greatest remakes of all time, along with shadow of the colossus remake. it doesn't make for a strong argument if you take 3 toxic posts on twitter as the consensus as to how people feel about blupoint and its games.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give God of War: Sons of Sparta?
it is currently sitting at a 66 meta score and continues to fall. once the genuine reviews starting trickling in, the real verdict was made clear. surprised people were fooled by this hot junk simply because sony's stamp was on it. the art looks terrible. wouldn't surprise me if the bulk of this game was AI generated as well.
Re: Sony Makes Shocking Decision to Shut Down Bluepoint Games
this is without a doubt one of the most shocking studio closures in gaming history. i think i can say that without hyperbole.
every project this team worked on was gold, going all the way back to the metal gear, god of war and and ico/shadow of the collossus remasters on ps3. shadow of the collossus remake has earned its spot on every list of the greatest remakes ever made. the demon's souls remake looked incredible, although i did not play it myself. every time i dreamed up a remake scenario of a classic game, bluepoint was always the first studio that came to mind because they were the best in the business and just that good. i always hoped they would have the opportunity to remake metal gear solid on modern hardware.
sony's mismanagement of its studios over the past 5 years is what destroyed bluepoint games. it's really that simple. this wasn't a situation where bluepoint failed to deliver on multiple projects and was costing sony money. instead of giving the studio an opportunity to take on a passion project (sony owed them that after wasting years of their time on a cancelled project), they thought it was best to shut them down? arguably the best remaster/remake studio in the entire industry... pull the plug? really? at a time where remakes have never been more popular and in demand?
there isn't anything more to say than this: sony has warped into just another terrible, god awful publisher. i saw signs of this all the way back in 2020 which is why i still do not own a ps5. not only has this been the worst playstation generation in history, but it has gotten to the point where i have developed active resentment towards sony and everything it stands for in this new era... i went from a borderline playstation fanboy to someone who just doesn't like playstation anymore as it continues to stumble again and again. the magic is completely gone.
sony is now on par with microsoft as a publisher. completely lacking in humanity, unfocused, misguided, tone deaf, controlled by shareholders and ulterior motives... irrational and baffling decision making has become common place. there is a severe lack of leadership from top to bottom. the division is run by parasites.
there is one good thing to come about from this though... people are starting to wake up about sony dropping the ball the past five years. vote with your wallet if you don't like the direction sony is taking playstation! people should be VERY concerned about media molecule and bend studio. if they don't get converted into support studios, i have to wonder how much time they have left under this regime. sony went from one of the best publishers to one of the worst seemingly overnight!
Re: God of War: Sons of Sparta (PS5) - Series' Boldest Bet Is Also Its Slowest Burn
this game is not a 7 despite claims that it is. i mean, it is struggling to stay in the 70s metacritic range (currently at 68) and continues to drop. won't be long now before it falls to its spot at about 60-65 which is exactly where it belongs. true, undeniable mediocrity. hopefully some lessons will be learned here so they put in the work next time? i don't think sony will want to see how this plays out with steam reviews so no pc port?
edit: it has now fallen to 66...
Re: PS5's Retro God of War Game Gets the Worst Reviews in the Series
the damage control for this game is baffling. why are people trying to turn this medicore game into something that it isn't? it is a sorry excuse for a god of war game and nobody would even acknowledge its existence if it wasn't superficially branded as one. it would fall to the bottom of the sales charts instantly. people won't remember this game a month from now, let alone in a year. there are FAR better games to spend your money on. if sony truly cared about it, they would collaborate with a developer with actual reputation and talent, such as the game kitchen — developers behind blasphemous and ninja gaiden ragebound. there are literally dozens of superior indi devleopers they could have worked with but settled with the worst option...
mind boggling stuff.
o yea, on open critic, only 25% of critics recommend the game which is a brutal stat that should not be overlooked.
Re: Sony Will Offset Soaring RAM Prices by Further Monetising PS5 Players
@Max_the_German to be fair, sony had already put on its "arrogance" cap at the beginning of this console cycle. too late for that not to happen. the question now is, can it do a u-turn and go back to being a good publisher again during the ps6 run? the company would need a major shakeup, including the removal of herman hulst and a complete re-evaluation of its profiteering goals: less emphasis on service games, scaling back in the graphics arms race and scope of its games to be more sustainable long term, focusing on a back -to-basics approach via a low cost to entry console that doesn't price people out of the hobby and encourages more creativity from developers (smaller games with less emphasis on graphics means they can take more risks and come up with compelling software).
if i were sony, i would use this dire period as incentive to bring the excitement and joy back to the AAA space because it has nearly evaporated at this point. the ps6 only needs to be an incremental jump over the ps5 pro from a graphcis standpoint, but a monumental jump in its software library if sony wants it to be successful and enticing to as many people as possible. is that asking for too much now that sony has no real competition? possibly. this is a situation where you hope the market will determine the fate of sony (i.e. lower than expected ps6 sales) and not sony itself.
Re: Opinion: The Euphoric Reaction to PS6's Rumoured Delay Really Confuses Me
let me try to understand this... some people want the ps6 rushed to market so that we can wait several years post launch for another drip feed consisting of cross gen games (which already play great on ps5), remasters and remakes again? you want to experience the same lulls of the ps5 so soon? right when the ps5 is finally about to get off the ground and fulfill some of its promises more than 6 years after it launched?
yea, sorry, i am not understanding the appeal in that. to me it sounds like some people are simply too materialistic and addicted to inconsequential shiny tech devices to see what is wrong with that picture. the ps5 has been a big disappointment and sony still has a lot of work to do to prove that a ps6 even needs to exist. they are running out of bullet points in their marketing material. the ps5 is still 5-10 generational games away from fulfilling its promise and providing the value that playstation fans expect.
i won't even get into the pricing concerns and the fact that market demand is essentially non-existent for a ps6 currently. that conversation has been run into the ground several times over and is becoming exhausting.
anyone who thinks ps5 games look bad and/or outdated should really move on from consoles and invest in a $5,000 pc for those extra, insignificant frames and resolutions. they are clearly playing games for the wrong reasons and are tech enthusiasts first, gamers second.
getting your hands on a ps6 sooner will not magically correct everything that is wrong with sony and the AAA industry at large. that is the key takeaway here.
Re: 'One of the Worst Decisions Ever Made': God of War Creator Tears 'Total Crap' 2D Title Apart
@Dalamar yup, he is absolutely right about that. maybe jaffe is a divisive person and that's fine if some people don't like him. but clearly those same people are unable to separate the opinion from the person. this game really doesn't deserve defending of any kind. it is just a medicore afterthought that nobody asked for and an embarassment to the god of war franchise. it exists as a cash grab for the anniversary and nothing more.
Re: 'One of the Worst Decisions Ever Made': God of War Creator Tears 'Total Crap' 2D Title Apart
@DennisReynolds he is actually left in his political views. very left. you comment on things with such confidence when you really don't know the first thing about it.
Re: 'One of the Worst Decisions Ever Made': God of War Creator Tears 'Total Crap' 2D Title Apart
he isn't wrong. the game looked medicore the first moment i saw it. watched about an hour gameplay and my thoughts have not changed. truly odd decision by sony to back such a generic looking indi game (i wonder if it was built with AI as well) and repurpose it as god of war title, just to say they had something for the anniversary.
it's werid how some people are defending this game, as if it is an amazing experience that they were anticipating for years! sony's stamp is on it so they automatically go into fanboy mode — the point of no return!
Re: Mina the Hollower PS5 Demo Is Available Now as Release Window Narrows
a long time coming! will this game live up to the shovel knight games? probably not. but i hope it does well for the studio. they seem to be in a bit of financial trouble at the moment. how they managed to squander all that shovel knight money is beyond me. apparently the fate of yacht club games as a studio is entirely dependent on how well mina the hollower performs.
Re: Konami Has More New Castlevania Games for Series' 40th Anniversary
what separates old konami from new konami is the fact konami the publisher no longer develops any of its games in-house. everything is lisensed out to indi developers. this can be, both, good and bad, but it doesn't change the fact that there is clearly no passion within the walls of konami itself. merely businessmen and suits attempting to make money with as little risk as possible.
i feel like people are quite confused by this new iteration of konami and don't realize that the vast majority of their output is being developed far away from konami HQ. they are no longer a DEVELOPER of video games, hence, the passionate designers the company once had are long gone. konami sure is good at exploiting the IP that it's legendary staff built. i will give them credit for that!
Re: Castlevania Finally Returns with a Brand New Game in 2026
the art direction looks great with its bold use of colour and contrast. the movement, however, looks a bit slow and floaty to me... not the quick and precise movement we have become accustomed to with the iga games. not necessarily a dealbreaker though.
Re: God of War Trilogy Remake Announced for PS5
@PuppetMaster
"...considering they've been a GOW studio since PS2 era."
that's precisly the point. they run the risk of losing talent at the studio due to fatigue and burnout. its no different than the high turnover rate of a studio working on nothing but call of duty or assassin's creed games. i don't think santa monica chose to be the god of war studio by design... they had several failed attempts at other projects in the past and they simply fell back into their comfort zone with yet another god of war sequel. i don't think that is good for the longevity of the studio. they need a new IP to diversify their portfolio. remaking the first 3 games looks a bit desperate.