RBMango

That dopey looking Snake cracked me up.

That looks so ******* sick. Her throwing that whole katana through the guy got an audible "DAYUM" out of me.

More details on Stranger Than Heaven and a tease for LAD9 would satisfy me.

I have very mixed feelings about this, despite my newfound appreciation for Sandfall. As much as I love Expedition 33, I think it was one of those "right people doing the right thing at the right time" projects, and they will forever live in the shadow of it. I don't want them to franchise Clair Obscur if we're going to get multiple attempts at recapturing the inspiration and passion behind E33 instead of going for something completely different each time. The worst-case scenario is another game set in E33's world and lore, because it runs the risk of diluting what made it special.

"We listened. We're only locking ONE character class behind paid DLC instead of two. Also, no refunds!"

@Oram77 I don't think that's a hot take at all. The first Silent Hill movie is damn solid.

Astro Bot really is becoming the "everywhere I go, I see his face" meme.

@AdamNovice For all of my pessimism, I genuinely hope the Horizon multiplayer project is good. That series makes a lot of sense as a PvE co-op game, and I'd be down to play it with some of my friends if it's good.

@LogicStrikesAgain You make some very true points. It's definitely a complex business that's always changing, and PlayStation has multiple subfactions of its player base that are shouting at them to make what they like. There is no denying that, and I don't want what I wrote to give the impression that I'm dismissing that reality.

The scope and execution of their ambitions and their warped perceptions of sustainable success are what I take issue with. In theory, I have no problem with them pursuing a diverse portfolio of games, because I've wanted that for years. Undeniably, there's a demand for more multiplayer games from them, but top-level PlayStation (Sony, in general, actually) doesn't seem to have the culture anymore to approach this challenge from a unique perspective. They have treated this initiative like any bog-standard third-party publisher would: throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. That might have worked if they focused mainly on very small projects that became something bigger later, but a lot of these projects were big-budget games from mid to large studios in expensive areas around the world. It's a very un-PlayStation-like execution of this whole thing, because they were notorious for thoughtful consideration for many years. Helldivers II and Marvel Tokon to me are way more in line with a "PlayStation approach" to live services: bizarre and stylish ideas that are fulfilling niche player desires.

Regarding their warped perceptions of sustainable success, their continuing to roll the dice in the hopes of getting a Fortnite or Roblox is what I mean by "warped". This is obviously what they want, but I firmly believe they will never get it. However, what they can get are multiple responsibly budgeted small to mid-sized live services that focus on fun over creating an endless money printer. As an example, it's comically easy to grind for super credits in Helldivers II, yet their microtransactions make up 50%(!!) of its revenue. And that Halo: ODST warbond is going to sell like hotcakes. In my eyes, it's far more sustainable financially and better for long-term goodwill to focus small, prioritize fun, and grow from there. Astro Bot did not light the world on fire sales-wise, but 1.5 million copies in two months after launch is a damn good start for something niche and with a possible $50-$70 million budget. It falls into the healthier (IMO) business mindset of starting small and nurturing from there instead of big bets to feed the AAA "prestige" beast they've created. Instead of looking at the 12 games/services that make up most of the PS Store's revenue, they need to use things like Nintendo and super popular indie darlings like Stardew Valley and Hollow Knight as their north stars for ideas and sustainability.

EDIT: I would prefer PlayStation make more "love services" xD

@LogicStrikesAgain You're not wrong about the financial reality of the majority of gamers, but I genuinely believe a lot of us armchair analysts could have made much smarter business decisions for PlayStation this generation that would have generated more positive long-term goodwill and still made them lots of money. For all of PlayStation's combined business smarts and experience, it's still staggering that they thought highly expensive and/or nonsensical bets (such as buying Bungie, nurturing Concord to market, and allowing Bluepoint to make a God of War live servive) would pan out for them. Sometimes, the average person who wants more fun in their games definitely knows better and has a more discerning ear to the ground than the C-suite that stares at charts and trends all day.

So, when are we getting the Astro Bot movie from Sony Pictures Animation, where he's voiced by Chris Pratt or Jack Black?

Sony heard the complaints that they make their plats too easy and overcorrected.

And yet Black Ops 7 will still be the #1 selling game of 2025.

I'm curious to see gameplay from The Perfect Run. If anyone wants to get a glimpse of A Cat's Manor, its Steam page has gameplay footage.

What a time to be alive.

This is definitely where we'll finally see more of Saros, Marvel Tokon's next character reveals, and a tease for Sony's big 2026 fall tentpole game.

I think there's a higher than 50% chance Fairgames will be canceled eventually, but the moment I saw Pachter's name attached to this rumor, it lost all credibility to me.

Considering Kojima Productions has excellent project managers (including Kojima himself), I think 2030 or 2031 are realistic release windows for this. When you think about it, what this new independent iteration of KojiPro has accomplished in less than ten years is extraordinary.

"the cancellation of Concord after release and the delay-hit Marathon have generated 'somewhat negative news'"

That's one hell of an understatement.

If I recall the IGN report from last year correctly, summer 2026 is when the studio's senior leadership receives their final retention bonuses, and the prediction was that a significant number of exits would occur during that time. So I expect PS to have fully taken over Bungie by then.

It's so strange to see Titoki walking around without a stuffy suit on.

Marvel definitely has the characters to support 10 years worth of fighter passes, and that doesn't even include possible crossovers.

Cammy and Chun-Li alone will fund Street Fighter 7.

I'll just stick with Oblivion and Skyrim, thanks.

Since I was forced to pick three, I chose Wolverine, Hulk, and Blade. If we were allowed up to five, I would have also voted for Punisher and Daredevil.

Depending on the games, yes, I would care. I'm one of those guys that believes permanent console exclusives are healthy for their respective ecosystems. Just because Xbox is absolutely terrible at enticing many people to buy their consoles with their exclusives doesn't mean everyone else has to dilute their ecosystems as well. Live services going other places? Fine, it makes sense. But the likes of God of War or Uncharted or The Last of Us? No way. That would suck. I'll die on that hill that it would be seriously damaging to PlayStation in the long-run.

For the record, I would have been perfectly fine if Xbox had kept all of their internally made stuff exclusive to Xbox consoles. Xbox morphing into some bizarre Microsoft-driven platform you can get anywhere instead of relying purely on consoles just doesn't sit right with me, even if I can access their stuff on multiple devices I own.

@Czar_Khastik There are a few missable trophies related to certain things you need in the prologue and act two, and the road to level 99 can be a bit of a grind even with the best XP grind spot in the postgame. Besides that, I wouldn't say it's too bad. A lot of the trophy list consists of story moments, side quest completion, and postgame secret bosses. Thankfully, if you wish, it's very easy to make stupidly broken builds that make those later brutal secret bosses a lot easier.

I'll give PlayStation this: they know how to make a product look sleek as hell. They have some talented people working on these accessory trailers.

I can't speak for the price, but I also think PlayStation isn't doing this game any favors regarding marketing and release timing outside of China. Besides a PlayStation Experience demo way back in 2017 and its inclusion in a single State of Play, there has been minimal buzz about this game in the United States. Unless they have something to hide, I think some more exposure and a public demo would help the game a lot. It also doesn't help that Sony is dropping this $60-$70 unproven IP in the middle of a release window that also contains Delta Force, Gears of War, Shinobi, and Metal Gear Solid 3 remake. Maybe they're banking on it being a big hit in China, but I don't see this having anywhere near the same buzz as similar stuff like Black Myth Wukong and Phantom Blade Zero.

I really hope this is good. I've been rooting for LSA since the very first trailer dropped back in 2016.

“all eight billion people could summon a researcher, an analyst, or a coding agent at their fingertips”

I pray I'm long gone from this world before this becomes a reality with AI.

@get2sammyb Shuhei was responsible for discarding Demon’s Souls outside of Japan, and that is quite possibly the biggest PlayStation blunder of all time next to Concord. He definitely made some mistakes, but the man undeniably has the eye for creativity and talent. His legendary track record of producing and cultivating nearly all of PlayStation's powerhouse franchises speaks for itself. Even PS5 era successes like Returnal, Astro Bot, and Death Stranding 2 exist because of him and others like Andrew House and Shawn Laydon having good taste and creative sense. I believe you either have the eye for creativity or you don't, and I have not seen much evidence that Hermen Hulst has the eye. And that greatly worries me as well.

I hate to keep bringing it back to Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst because I sound like a broken record, but this case of not having the data-driven foresight to take advantage of the booming anime market for your much-publicized live service initiative is insane to me. You don't need an MBA from Harvard to understand why this was a no-brainer opportunity.

"It’s made more frustrating when you consider PlayStation’s search for a live service success story appears to be singularly obsessed with shooters."

This is because Ryan, Hulst, and their ilk have no taste and creative foresight. Outside of Tōkon (and even that was an XDev idea), it speaks to how lacking they are in creative thinking that they wouldn't take advantage of the anime empire they have at their fingertips. Even back in 2020 when Genshin Impact first exploded in popularity, PlayStation would have had tons of data pointing to this market's massive potential and plenty of time to bring their own anime live services to market. But they stupidly didn't pursue this. Instead, they chose to get into bed with projects like Concord, Marathon, and Fairgames. It's crazy what happens when leadership has the creativity of a piece of dry, bland toast.

There's no way there won't be a Yotei version of Legends.

I don't possess the vocabulary that does justice to my adoration for Expedition 33's music. It's easily in my top 10 video game soundtracks of all time.

@AdamNovice I did see that. I know the trailer teases Daredevil, Thor, and the Fantastic Four in the background, but I hope that translates to roster inclusions. Teasing Murdoch and then not having him duke it out with Spider-Man or Doctor Doom would be a major missed opportunity.

Getting my prayer circle ready for the reveal of Wolverine, Hulk, Daredevil, or Punisher.

I'm still amazed they haven't done this single-game SoP format for most of their published games.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..............

Whoever is doing the programming of these movies has very good taste. I would have swapped out Ran with Yojimbo or Sanjuro, but that's just me.

@SuperSilverback Getting the clan Sakai armor at the end of mythic tale would be sick.

He's definitely going to be a mythic tale.

"You don't pick to hunt down any of the six members of the Yotei Six in whichever order you like..."

This tidbit was one of my only major concerns, so this is a great relief to me.

As said, PlayStation deserves a lot of criticism this gen, but their willingness to add substantial free stuff to their games post-launch mostly without pimping microtransactions is really commendable. I still can't believe Ghost of Tsushima Legends didn't come with a rotating item shop and battle passes.

I think I'm done after that second season and if Mazan is calling the shots going forward, but I can't wait for him to make Abby's sex scene even more strange and awkward. That's going to be unintentional comedy gold if he tops the bizarre moment between Ellie and Dina from season two.

Well, at least it didn't get any writing noms. That's a silver lining.

It feels so strange that Barlog teased his next project at the beginning of the PS5 gen, and here we are a few years from the end and we still don't know what it is.

I'm glad they got Clare Uchima back. Her voice is incredible.

I think the game overall looks really cool, but I don't know what to make of that card system. They didn't do the best job explaining why they decided to go with it and how it encourages freedom. As others have said, it seems like smoke and mirrors. I'm also still not sold on the nonlinear path to taking down the Yōtei Six. I'd prefer a much more linear and curated main story path from a pacing standpoint.

But, like I said, everything else looks like exactly what I want from a Ghost of Tsushima sequel.

Definitely rocking that Miike mode. The more blood sprays, the better.