I had a feeling this was coming after Laufey was a no-show at the last State of Play.

I'm genuinely amazed how much hang-wringing there has been over BioWare's closure after three misses in a row. What did people expect to happen after Andromeda, Anthem, and especially Veilguard...? The BioWare people liked died ages ago. This was a mercy kill.

I was listening to these guys all the way back in middle school, so it's a trip to see this now. Cross is still a banger!

It would be funny as hell if they recast Kiryu's English VA again but with Charlie Cox this time.

Country, thrash metal, and southern hip hop!!! So happy to see Pantera getting some love.

Getting Evening Star on-board for Ape Escape makes a lot of sense to me.

If this rumor is true, I wonder how many pitches will be accepted from smaller European and Asian studios versus American studios, almost strictly for budgetary reasons.

There are a number of great indie studios that can do Ape Escape justice. The thing I'm concerned about is modern PlayStation shoving their pretentious and bland creative design quirks into a franchise like Ape Escape that should be a straightforward and goofy platformer. It's a shame Asobi isn't involved, though. They'd be the ideal people to do this, in my opinion.

I was starting to worry PlayStation was on the verge of cutting ties with this project, given how radio silent it's been, so I'm happy to see it's still trucking along.

We've seriously reached a point where these people are going to whine that the stunning Deborah Ann Woll isn't attractive enough now....?

I'm sure Klobrille will shill harder than ever and buy enough copies to make up for the losses from no PS5 version after Sharma "heard" his whining on Twitter.

The Astro Bot and Journey outfits are PRISTINE

Look, Physint is one of my dream games and I admire the hell out of Kojima, and even I have to admit $400 million is ludicrously excessive for this project. I despise modern PlayStation with a passion, but that kind of number makes my eyebow twitch. Hell, I think it's already ridiculous that Sony is blowing $200-$300 million per major project, so $400 million for a stealth-action game is insane.

Rogue Prince of Persia really surprised me. Fun game!

@themightyant I was confused by what your live service comment was referring to, and then I remembered Bleeding Edge. I keep forgetting that was even a thing.

It makes me really sad what happened to this studio post-Xbox acquisition. After the first Hellblade, I really believed in their "indie AAA" philosophy and thought their financial limitations forced them to become more efficient and creative. Once they sold out to Xbox and got almost free rein to do whatever, they made the extremely unwise decision to go HARD into prioritizing realistic graphics at the expense of everything else. It butchered the creative spirit of their studio in my eyes and made them so pretentious with how they designed and spoke about Hellblade 2. It's a damn shame, but I can't say I'm surprised no one wants them. I like most of their games, and even I wouldn't jump at the chance to acquire them if I were the head of a AAA publisher.

Getting Halo the hell away from 343 and giving a different team a shot is one of the few Asha Sharma decisions I am 100% onboard with.

Besides my extreme skepticism of Bungie's ability to deliver, my biggest question now is: what else is PlayStation looking to cut to pay for this rejuvenation of Bungie, Marathon, and Destiny? This will be an extremely expensive endeavour, and I wouldn't be surprised if PlayStation were to cancel more projects and shut down more studios to offset the cost.

@Dumptruckdacat Exactly, and that's why I think this is a very poor and lazy band-aid solution to potentially middling and dull writing, exploration, side quests, and world design. As you said, if Square Enix feels the need to implement something like this, what does that say about their design philosophy for this game? If these devs are going to spend years designing this stuff, wouldn't they want as many people as possible to engage with it and enjoy it? Again, I don't mind accessibility features that make pathfinding, navigation, and intense combat less physically strenuous for those who need it, but highlighting a feature that allows players to skip a giant part of the meat of the game entirely as a way to get people to spend their money on it is so baffling to me.

@Dumptruckdacat This is not an accessibility option, and the people rightfully criticizing this "feature" are not babies. An accessibility option is making the exploration of the open world less of a physical hassle for people with disabilities who can't afford special controllers to ensure it is a fun experience. What this is is almost a bizarre admission on Square's part that they do not have full confidence in the open world and activities they have designed, and are anticipating people being annoyed with it.

I will never understand gamers who use these kinds of systems, and I'm disappointed Square is even implementing something so counterintuitive to the game's intended experience. Why even buy the game then if you're going to use a system to avoid exploring a ton of the game's content? Why not just save the money and watch the cutscenes on YouTube? Why are some companies so insistent on catering to these people who probably won't even buy the game anyway?

Accessibility options are one thing, but this is just lazy and creatively cowardly, in my opinion.

Seeing this and not knowing who this person is or why PlayStation thinks they're worthy of a custom controller makes me feel so old.

Burn a Rocket Boy

The radio song selections for GTA 6 have been mostly exceptional, so far.

Delaying substantial new content until after GTA 6's launch is a dangerous game Sony and Bungie are playing. The hardcore players and those curious about PvE will show up, without question. But I think it's obvious that the reliable core audience that is needed to make this thing sustainable and profitable will not be enticed.

His voice is too iconic and distinct to not immediately recognize.

This will be an unpopular opinion, but this person was beyond idiotic to make this project, fund it through Patreon, and announce it so openly. Anyone who did not expect Sony to send a cease and desist does not understand reality.

We live in the worst PlayStation timeline where pretentious, boring, corpo muppets run this company now.

PlayStation can't shut the **** up about how much money they're making and how much record profit they're seeing, but they're also so concerned about their bottom line that they burn their bridges with someone synonymous with their culture and legacy. The billions they're going to rake in on the sports games, gacha games, CoD, and GTA 6 seriously could not have offset some of this? We have to get rid of Kojima's MGS successor, but obvious incoming flops like Fairgames, 4:LOOP, and Horizon: Hunter's Gathering continue to get funding? Marathon and Bungie continue to get millions poured into them for next to no positive returns? Millions of dollars spent on pretentious marketing ads with celebrities and loud CGI crap that has nothing to do with PlayStation? But Hideo Kojima and a Metal Gear Solid successor are considered problems in that building?

**** off. Hermen Hulst getting booted isn't enough anymore. This whole company needs a creative and managerial reset.

EDIT: It's so rich and insane to me to see people defending this for reasons like "profit gotta profit" (as if PlayStation is some poverty-stricken brand and not a global powerhouse) and expressing understanding for draconian early 2010's era KONAMI ditching Kojima. Seriously, guys, it's okay to bash PlayStation a little and not circle the wagons. Trust me, you'll live.

This looks about as generic as I expected.

For anyone who's going to write "it's just a number, who cares?":

1. If there's one thing PlayStation cares about almost as much as money, it's prestige. A major AAA first-party game scoring a 77 is a massive ego bruise to them and Insomniac will absolutely feel the brunt of some of this.

2. Since this is an industry standard, it's very likely there was a Metacritic score threshold bonus in it for Insomniac, and they will miss that because no major publisher wants to pay bonuses for a 77.

Some of the footage looks absolutely ridiculous with its level design and player interaction. It's like PlayStation took their normie gamer pandering obsession to an extreme.

This genuinely might be the last straw for me on my interest in the future of PlayStation. What are we even doing anymore, man....

Capcom's IP management and strategies are pretty much second to none right now. I can't think of another publisher right now that has done such a mostly fantastic job finding massive success with their iconic stuff while not being afraid to bring back dormant IPs and to try new things that are executed well. And it all feels so cohesive, consistent, and fresh.

PlayStation could really take a few hints from Capcom's management team.

I might be the outlier, but this clip did not inspire confidence in the movie at all.

This was a nice surprise. I particularly like the setting. Between this, Darwin's Paradox, and Rev Noir, it's nice to see Konami trying different IP beyond their usual offerings.

Easily the weakest State of Play this year imo. Konami and Square Enix saved it from being really bad. I knew we were in trouble when it began with a movie clip.

I don't know why Sony bothered to hold one if they didn't have Kena 2, God of War Laufey, or Intergalactic ready to show off. Kena's and Laufey's absences were particularly bizarre.

Walking Dead Seasons 1 and 2 are my favorite Telltale works, but nothing in their catalogue comes close to matching Wolf Among Us's atmosphere. I still have serious reservations about this sequel though.

Considering Rockstar is probably my favorite developer ever, I was sold long before they even announced the damn game.

This looks like my kind of horror.

@get2sammyb As much as I want Hulst to go, he has survived so many failures under his watch that I'm almost convinced he's untouchable at this point.

I admire the passion, but this is a completely useless endeavor. The real way this would even have a shot at working is just never playing PS5 ever again, and these people won't do that.

Late 2027 can't get here soon enough.

Coco was one of the worlds I was hoping would be in KH4, so I'm delighted to see this.

I've never played a Sam Barlow game, but Precognition has my attention due to Brandon Cronenberg's involvement. If you're into really dark and disturbing sci-fi horror, I highly recommend the movie Possessor!

Crescent County and Aether Wizard Life (bad name, imo) look interesting too.

I'm a little suspicious of how substantial that story expansion is, but I'd definitely hop back in if it's good. I loved exploring Yotei's world.

I really like Yotei, but its story was a huge step backward compared to Tsushima, in my opinion. Besides some of the side quests, I never found its character work, writing, and storytelling to be anything beyond banal and (as said in the article) predictable. I kept waiting for a moment when it would actually switch things up and dump the tired vengeance plot in favor of something more substantive, but that moment never arrived. The moment I lost all hope in Yotei doing anything daring or exciting in its story was the introduction of the stupid niece, because I could see almost beat-for-beat where it was going to go from there (including the brother's death and Atsu putting down her swords for the sake of the kid), and my predictions weren't wrong. Again, really fun game, but its story and writing were incredibly lame. Nothing in Yotei's main story even came close to matching the emotional power of Tsushima's final duel.

Why does SSM always go with that ugly art style for these congratulations art posts....? I don't get it.

@DennisReynolds English's decision to take a step back now makes a lot more sense considering her ex voices the villain. I imagine it would be too painful to continue working on it with her.

$70 for this trash game is highway robbery.

Whatever it is, I just want something completely different from E33.