Comments 2,665

Re: Jul 2025 USA Sales: PS5 Hardware Tumbles 47% Year-Over-Year in Tough Month

Porco

@Coffeeglitch it's an interesting perspective. playstation and the AAA industry at large has certainly become boring and predictable. sony used to entice its core audience with its exclusives but that has all changed now with pc ports on top of its slow and disappointing output this generation. sony should be aware of this and doing a lot more to entice gamers to hop into their ecosystem and that begins with a proper price drop on the hardware. going in the opposite direction only works if they have a hot and highly desireable platform that is inelastic to price, but as time goes on, we are seeing the complete opposite of this trend.

Re: Jul 2025 USA Sales: PS5 Hardware Tumbles 47% Year-Over-Year in Tough Month

Porco

@Grumblevolcano it's a good prediction, although i believe the console should be marked down permanently at $380USD (optical drive) and $330USD (digital) to increase sony's userbase and software sales. with days of play, they could instead throw in a free game and keep the pricing of the hardware the same if they went this route. but yea, i think sony is banking on GTA to bail them out of their slumping hardware sales. there's no question about that.

Re: Jul 2025 USA Sales: PS5 Hardware Tumbles 47% Year-Over-Year in Tough Month

Porco

@PuppetMaster would they prefer that ps5s are sitting in warehouses instead? at this stage of the ps5's cycle, they aren't going to sell more than 20m units over the next 3-5 years in all liklihood. as i said in my post, the revenue lost on hardware is more than made up for in software sales if they increase their userbase. in the business world, that is a very good tradeoff. heck, many companies give users things (i.e. mobile and productivity software) for free if that means they are given access to user data. i disagree completely with sony's strategy, or lack thereoff.

Re: Jul 2025 USA Sales: PS5 Hardware Tumbles 47% Year-Over-Year in Tough Month

Porco

sony would prefer people don't buy their console at all rather than give customers a respectable price drop? i don't get it. sure, sony would lose a $100-150 dollars or so on each console sold if they drop the msrp to $380USD (base model with drive), but the tradeoff would be securing new customers into their ecosystem and getting a hefty return on software sales. isn't that the way they used to do business? heck, all it would take is a couple games purchased per customer and sony would offset the hardware loss and be in the green.

if sony doesn't want hardware sales to fall off a cliff, they need to subsidize the hardware cost to entice people to get onboard. time is ticking and people will especially avoid ps5 once rumblings of ps6 releasing in 2027 hits the mainstream. as for customers such as myself who used to be core a core playstation user... well, i still am, but on ps4 haha. sony failed to capture my interest this gen so that ship has sailed. i am willing to give them another shot with the ps6 but things are not looking good as things stand.

Re: 'There's No Real Need for a PS6': Industry Veteran Weighs in on Next-Gen Debate

Porco

materialism is going to wane off along with capitalism in the next decade or two as most societies become more socialist out of necessity to support the population at large. we see all the evidence already. as the cost of living gets more challenging for people in struggling economies and authoritarian societies, spending on novelty items and entertainment will diminish. the AAA gaming industry peaked with the ps4 and has been in a decline ever since. it is not coming back. ps6 will likely be the last mainstream console from sony and will outlive the life of any of its consoles that came before it. expect it to release in 2027 and be relevent until 2040, at which point, the AAA industry will be flattened and a shadow of its former self, with only a few major publishers standing tall. all of the economic factors the world is facing right now points to a future where the tech arms race has come to an end and people hold onto their hardware indefinitely (or until it breaks).

Re: Metal Gear Solid Delta's Dismal PS5 Pro Support Could Use a Rethink

Porco

i never imagined that a remake from 2025 would be running at a resolution from 2006! at the very least, i was expecting the base ps5 to handle a locked 1080p/60. the fact they resorted to dynamic 720-1080p range only confirms the complete lack of optimization. if i had to guess, this might have something to do with the devs recycling old code in addition to all the unreal engine troubles on top of that. wasn't there a time during the early devleopment process where they realized something was wrong and needed to be resolved before proceeding further? heh, i guess not.

Re: Konami Wants to 'Consider Lots of Other Games' for Remake Treatment if MGS Delta Succeeds

Porco

this is a complete lie because going forward, the only business strategy konami has is to focus on remakes, regardles of how well they do for them. they are desperate and sure as hell aren't going to make a proper suikoden, castlevania or metal gear solid sequel with their lack of talent. everything they do is outsourced to third rate developers afterall. silent hill f is a nice surprise but it is an outlier until proven otherwise. i mean, damn... mgs delta is running at a dynamic 720p-1080p resolution and can't even manage to hit 60fps! this remake is an embarassment in its current state and instead of fixing it prior to launch, they thought it would be a good move to treat the fans like crap (as usual) and ship it anyways. konami should be fighting tooth an nail to gain back the respect of the old fans but instead manages to fool and exploit the less informed.

Re: Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (PS5) - The Best Version of an Undisputed Classic

Porco

"Slight frame rate drops"

false, according to DF. i think most people will trust DF over pushsquare. sorry.

the game runs at a dynamic 720p-1080p and can barely manage 40-50 fps (it sure as heck will not hit 60 majority of the time). are we in the year 2025? inexcusable and poorly optimized mess of a game. not worth the full asking price nor a glowing review as performance is a real concern with this one. typical konami quality. things could change with future updates, but the game should be reviewed for what it is at this point in time.

Re: 'They Don't Know What They're Doing': Analyst Sticks the Boot in Sony's 'Clueless' Management

Porco

i have enjoyed my time with every playstation console, including the handhelds, since 1997... except for the ps5. i have yet to purchase one and have been very critical of sony over the past 4 years. i did not cave to the hype and marketing machine of the ps5 and don't regret it one bit. sony really has lost its way but so has the entire industry. indie games and the odd big production game is keeping it going, but the sense of wonder and excitement is pretty much gone now as predictable, run of the mill sequels, remasters and remakes have taken over the industry like a plague. the ps1, ps2 ps3, and ps4 eras still impress me to this day. it was a treasure trove of hidden gems and creativity (especially the ps1 and ps2 era), before the gaming industry started creating games by committee and focus testing them to death. the ps3 and ps4 era is sony at its very best when it comes to its 1st party output. it has since peaked and is in a state of regression. you really could play games from that bygone era for the rest of your life and never get though everything. that is why there is little to no pressure to carry on with modern gaming so long as you aren't a graphics snob that is. trying to catch up on the indi scene is also a tall order so that alone can keep one busy for thousands of hours a year. not mention all the retro games that predate ps1 or all the great nintendo handheld games worth playing over the years. there is little time for the output of the AAA space now. we'll see what the ps6 has in store, but the outlook is not good.

Re: Will GTA 6 Be Delayed Again? CEO Plays It Safe with His Answer

Porco

people will eat this thing up even if it is broken or buggy on day one... that is just the nature of the machine these days. people are slaves to their desires. so, that being said, the pressure to deliver on a near perfect experience on day one is really not of their concern. so long as all the intended content is in there, the performance aspect can take a back seat and fixed months after release.

if it does in fact get delayed one more time, then they should seriously consider making it a launch ps6/cross platform ps5 game. what's one additional year in the oven

Re: A Quote from a Sony Exec Is Causing a Hubbub Among PS5 Fans Again

Porco

@AdamNovice i agree with you there. true exclusives would incentivize more people to purchase ps5 hardware and increase the perceived value of the console, not to mention, capture more gamers into the playatstion ecosystem. it's entirely up for debate as to how sony's pc strategy has worked out for them overall, but by many metrics, it has failed (i.e. very poor spiderman 2 sales etc. as one example)

Re: PS5's Profit Margin Problems Are a Thing of the Past as Division Tops $1 Billion Operating Income for Q1 2025

Porco

let's cheer for numbers on a spreadsheet to fool ourselves into thinking the ps5 gen has been anything but a disaster where it matters most — value, excitement, memorable games worth playing and specificially, sony's 1st party lineup. there is no denying that this is sony's weakest software lineup in its history (you can count the noteworthy ps5 exclusives on one hand), the majority being cross platform releases not even taking advantage of the ps5 hardware and/or remasters. in fact, there may only be 3-4 ps5 exclusives left before the ps6 launches... meaning even more cross platform (ps5/ps6) games in the pipeline. reaching the full potential of what the hardware has to offer is a thing of the past and sony has become very complacent in 3rd party software to do the heavy lifting. where is the excitement in that?

Re: The Big Suikoden Livestream Was a Bust (Unless You're into the Mobile Game)

Porco

don't understand why some people are so accomodating towards konami. this is who they are. they do not care about the hobby and gaming as a medium, merely their bottom line. the culture at konami died 15 years ago now so this showcase should be the expectation going forward. i will admit that silent hill f is a pleasant surprise, but make no mistake, that is an outlier. konami will focus on remakes/remasters/mobile trash for the next 10-15 years... once that well has dried up, we'll see how they pivot.

Re: 'No, I Won't': Kojima Rejects Playing Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake

Porco

kojima has integrity. good on him for skipping this shallow remake which involves zero of the original staff members. i'll likely skip it as well. a new coat of paint will not fundamentally chnage the game so what are we actually doing here? the core game will be exactly the same and i never subscribed to better graphics equating to better games. sure, improvements to the camera and controls are a nice bonus but whatever...

Re: Once Upon a Katamari Brings the Series Back with a Brand New Game on PS5

Porco

wow. what can you say? after 14 long years, the katamari series is finally getting a new entry. they certainly nailed the look of this. spot on. now takahashi, the original creator, left namco long ago and "we love katamari" was his last project with them, but i have hope that the new studio managed to do this series justice. looking forward to this!

Re: Sony's Horizon Franchise Has Sold a Wild 38 Million Units Worldwide

Porco

what's most surprising is that zero dawn has sold close to double the copies of forbidden west. two years ago it had sold 24m+ so it's likely at 25m+ now. that leaves forbidden west at only 13m copies sold as the most generous estimate. sony should be concerned about that and ask why people didn't gravitate to the sequel.

Re: 'By Every Objective Measure, We're Thriving': Microsoft CEO Expresses Gratitude to All Those Laid Off

Porco

the very second AI stumbles or fails to meet their expectations, microsoft's stock will come crashing down and may never recover to its peak. the only reason it is up at the moment is because of the tens of thousands of job cuts that equates to higher profit margins in the short term. also, many investors and shareholders have gone all in on the broken AI promises and have an optimistic outlook (manipulated by good marketing perhaps?). it's not going to last very long. xbox division is in a huge mess and failure to acknowledge that on any level is hilarious. the world really doesn't need microsoft anymore. people use windows out of obligation, not because it is actually innovative or appealing. their monopoly will allow them to win that space be default, but the company is completly void of any innovation or bright ideas like with most tech companies.

Re: Sony's Not Done Finding New Ways to Sell You The Last of Us

Porco

sony figures that if there is a 1st party drought they might as well sell as much useless gaming related merch as humanly possible to keep the revenue flowing. careful, it might work and they will stop making actual games!

is this item for the rich kids with no purpose, too much money on their hands and a dire need to fill that empty void inside by consuming every bit of merch that gets released? absolutely!

Re: Square Enix Admits It Lost Final Fantasy Tactics' PS1 Source Code

Porco

if they went through the trouble to rebuild it from scratch, why do the pixels look as if a smear filter was placed over them? (just like tactics ogre reborn). if they aren't using some form of (rom) emulation and/or AI upscaled the original sprites, then they did a poor job there. the sprites absolutely should have been remade so that they translate into the HD era otherwise it is going to look only passable if not medicore in the presentation department.

Re: Rumour: Sony Engineers Allegedly Helping Rockstar Achieve 60fps in GTA 6 on PS5 Pro

Porco

the ps6 is only 27 months away at this point. you would only have to wait a year and some change after gta 6 releases to play the game optimally at 60fps on the ps6. as such, i wouldn't worry so much about the base ps5 not being able to handle the better performance of the ps5 pro. be smart and save your money for the next console.

with all the said, it's not very likely gta 6 will run at a locked 60fps on the ps5 pro anyways. perhaps an unlocked frame rate mode that hoovers between 30 and 45 which will be a subpar experience.

Re: Looks Like There's Going to Be a New Lollipop Chainsaw Game

Porco

just like the remake, i don't think suda51 will be involved in any sequel so why bother? if you aren't going to respect the original creator do you think people are going to hold interest in this? not exactly certain on what happened with the remake, but suda51 did not seem happy about it and there was some resentment with his lack of involvement. no james gunn also means a sequel will be missing its soul from the original.

Re: 'You Buy the Game and You Get the Whole Thing': Judas Dev Not About Live Service

Porco

@SeaDaVie not true. in 2014 they only had 15 employees left and it was essentially a glorified indie studio at that point. irrational games was a shadow of its former self in everything but name and was then transitioned to ghost story games around this time (i.e. irrational games was shuttered). the current team working on judas is under 70 employees, a far cry from naughty dog's 1000 so the comparison is baseless and odd.

Re: 'You Buy the Game and You Get the Whole Thing': Judas Dev Not About Live Service

Porco

@SeaDaVie in case you didn't know, levine was not working on judas the past 10 years. he was taking some time off to work on smaller projects and has gone on record to express how bioshock infinite really broke him down mentally. irrational games was shut down in 2014 so it's not like there was even a studio around to compete with naughty dog's output. i don't understand your angle here.

Re: Rumour: Unforgettable RPG Dragon Quest 7 Tipped for PS5 Release

Porco

i've played countless jrpg's on the ps1, it being my favourite platform for the genre even to this day. dw7 really isn't a game i've had any interest in playing. everything i have heard about, including friends' first hand experience, is that it overstays its welcome and is a drag of a game. if you have played dq8 and dq11, you have already played the best the property has to offer. considering how similar each of the entires are to one another, i don't think most of them are worth the time sink. better off playing another jrpg on the ps1, of which there are many to choose from.

Re: 'We're Just Getting Started': Sony Marks 15 Years of PS Plus with Future Pledge

Porco

once considered the "best value in gaming" back in the ps3 days is no more. i was so done with the multiple price hikes and inconsitency of the games lineup the past several years. unsubscribed and will not be returning to ps+. a shame sony lost sight of what made it great for so many years leading up to this. i agree with others who are suggesting of a "BASIC" tier just for cloud saves and online multiplayer if the price was reasonable.

Re: PS6 Still Years Away Despite Increase in Next-Gen Chatter

Porco

@Ainu20 i compare the onslaught of AI media coverage to the autonomous cars propaganda we were seeing pre-covid. it was everywhere! they made absurdly idealistic predictions (in how soon they would be mainstream) to create hype and secure investments. after several accidents and clear indicators that the tech wasn't ready, the media coverage all but disappeared from plain sight.

the point i am making is: when media coverage of something is hot, you better believe there will be companies desperately trying to take advantage of the public awareness aspect of it in the hopes they can convert that into sales. all this AI nonsense we are seeing everywhere is superficial and being funded by only a handful of companies. they believe that the more we see it, the more likely we will embrace and welcome it into our lives with open arms. sony is running out of ideas on how to sell people on it's hardware and will most certainly use AI (being the buzzword that it is) to help sell the ps6. they want to get in on that BEFORE people have completely lost interest and AI becomes the true villain that is.

Re: PS6 Still Years Away Despite Increase in Next-Gen Chatter

Porco

with the extent of which sony is frothing at the mouth around AI and machine learning terminology, they will want to capitalize on the (media) hype before it dies down. the ps5 has almost entirely lost its steam at this point due to a lack of innovative games able to shake up the industry (gta 6 being the only one left). i don't see a world where ps6 releases after 2027.

Re: PS6 to 'Push the Boundaries' of Graphics, Doubles Down on Machine Learning

Porco

sony better hire the best marketing team they can find. ps6 is going to be a harder sell to the mainstream next time around. expect a major decline in sales with the higher asking price that is all but expected at this point. many people feel burned by the ps5 and how little sony 1st party supported it, so i'd expect sony to lose customers on that front as well as from those who made the switch to pc. in addition to that, many people won't feel the need to upgrade from the ps5 for another 5 years. sony is desperate for a selling point so they decided to bank on machine learning and AI nonsense. they are grapsing at straws and it comes across as desperate. focus on the games and they will speak for themselves, but i suppose that would be asking for too much.

Re: UK's Death Stranding 2 PS5 Physical Sales Down 66% Compared to Predecessor, But Context Matters

Porco

i hope the game does well for kojima. he deserves it. but i predicted that death stranding 2 would sell 50% less than the original for a myriad of reasons, the most obvious being that kojima's loyal fans who didn't appreciate the first game will absolutely not be purchasing the sequel. kojima really should have shaken up the mechanics in the sequel but he played it safe. this is the result. i found the first game to be a novel and memorable experience (despite its many faults) but it is a trip i don't want to take again. it was better off as a one and done IP.

Re: Here's Your Best Look Yet at PS5 Shooter Pragmata's Unique Gunplay Gimmick

Porco

not exactly the game i envisioned many years ago when we got our first glimpse of it. regardless, it looks interesting. there is a real time strategy element to this game by the looks of things and will focus heavily on exploration and puzzle solving. far from a twitchy action game and that is fine. hopefully it will have a good narrative to keep the experience from becoming repetitive. that said, this does look to be a smaller budget game relative to capcom's standards. i don't know if it would have been greenlit if it wasn't. but if that's what it takes to get some fresh ideas in an otherwise stale AAA industry, then so be it.

Re: Interview: 'We've Made So Many Improvements': Final Fantasy Tactics Veterans on Remastering an All-Time Classic RPG

Porco

unfortunately they have cut out the psp war of the lions content, including the updated cutscenes and additional job classes. they did not have the original source files to the ps1 version of tactics, so it's likely the game will be a moded rom file running via emulation container rather than a native port, but we'll have to confirm that later. it's a shame that this version won't be the be all, end all, "definitive" edition but it appears that it has a good number of QoL updates in its own right.

as for the pixels, i doubt they recreated the sprites from scratch so another AI upscale will likely be in order again which we already know will not be great. can't have it all i suppose.