Ralizah

@Yousef- It does feel like they've just been out of commission for most of the generation now. And if you're like me and don't enjoy TLOU, it's been even longer!

They've never been my favorite developer, but how'd we go from four new games on PS3 and three new games on the PS4 to zero new games on PS5?

Lunar, by a very wide margin.

Monster Hunter also looks great.

Anyone member when Naughty Dog used to release new games throughout a console generation?

I member.

Funny thing is Sony literally was giving this away during the pandemic.

I bought my complete edition for $10 a year or so after release.

How times change.

@KilloWertz It's a lot to pay for any console, let alone a mid-gen upgrade. I mean, realistically, how many years before PS6 comes to market?

But if you're an enthusiast and dropping $700+ on a console you'll be using for hundreds or thousands of hours isn't that big of a sacrifice, I can see getting it.

Even if I had a PS5 of any stripe, though, as someone who also played it twice, I'm not really in the mood to revisit it again just to enjoy higher visual fidelity and... re-recorded mocaps, lol.

@NEStalgia Nah. That was under different leadership, and in an era where they spent a good decade or more being the big kahuna of console gaming.

Nintendo has always been proactive in terms of using legal recourses to protect their patents and IPs.

@PocketHotDogs The developers have tooled with the idea of making it F2P, and articles were written about that. Might be what you were thinking of.

People can say what they like about Horizon, but Forbidden West has been consistently impressive in terms of technical optimization. Simultaneously runs solid on PS4 and is also one of the nicest-looking games on PS5/Pro.

@QiaraIris Yup. There's been a few Ubisoft games I almost jumped at until I remembered Ubisoft Connect is a thing. I can wait and play the tens of thousands of other games that don't hassle me with such nonsense in the meantime.

@Flaming_Kaiser They're a corporation. Best not to think of them as 'good guy/bad guy.' My only point is that they're not ones to needlessly antagonize other companies, and prefer to build bridges to strengthen their own position in the industry.

At least now. They were pretty vicious in the 90s.

Game looks like a PS3 title and can't be made to run well on a PS5?

Sloppy work.

@IamJT All things being equal, Nintendo is pretty permissive and frequently works with and promotes third-party entities who create similar types of games. They have strong ties to companies across the industry and like to promote up and coming developers.

You have to do something pretty blatant to annoy them to this degree.

The thing about Nintendo is that they're a terrifying entity to cross swords with in the legal system. AFAIK they pretty much only initiate a lawsuit when they're certain they'll win. So, yeah, grab this while you can, lol.

@Ryu_Niiyama Yup. A new anime adaptation was announced recently. Pretty cool on top of the Ranma revival.

@ShonenJump121 God, with Magic Knight Rayearth getting a new anime adaptation, it would be the coolest thing to see a revival of the game along with it.

@GamingFan4Lyf Silver Star Harmony messed with the story pacing, changed the songs, and ruined the dungeons. Glad they opted for the PS1 version of the first game.

I love these games. I still have my complete PS1 copies. I still even wear Lucia's pendant sometimes.

These have been so neglected over the years.

FINALLY

@Rambo-kind I'm trying to think of a female protagonist who is a misandrist, but my memory is failing me. Offer some examples?

@SuperSilverback Just harass the motion capture actress, then.

@nessisonett ikr how she gonna breathe?

@SuperSilverback @Ainu20 Countdown to whoever the actress for this character is getting death threats starts now.

A woman?

WOKE

...

Am I doing this right?

Anyway, yeah, a new first-party PS5 exclusive. Pretty cool for fans of the original.

@danzoEX YAAAAAAAAAAAS

Was freaking out in chat when I saw it. Still have my copies on PS1. Eternal Blue is a GOAT RPG

Lunar saved it for me. SO stoked we're getting those games on modern platforms!

@nessisonett No worries. Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone remasters are here to save the day. <3

@NEStalgia So, ironically, PSN is actually optional on their own platform, but people can't understand why mandated account sign-ups on an entirely different platform might irritate some people, lol.

@LogicStrikesAgain To be clear, most publishers DO NOT require account log-ins. Some do (Ubisoft is notorious for this), but it's generally unpopular and not the norm overall. Generally this is the case with the most consumer-unfriendly publishers.

It's an additional barrier between the game and the player, which can cause software compatibility issues down the road. Why require it? Making it optional would probably still net them plenty of new accounts, and it wouldn't actively antagonize the most passionate users of the market they're attempting to penetrate.

For the record, as a person who games across platforms, I already have a PSN account. And I would love for PS trophy support to apply to PS games on PC, so I actually don't mind linking accounts. But I do understand why it would be controversial to mandate it, absolutely.

@LogicStrikesAgain PC gamers are angry about the extra layer of DRM. Sony fans on here are angry about said people reviewing the game negatively and creating mods to counteract the DRM. Pretty big difference there.

Oh, I fully understand why Sony would want to do this. I think it's a little silly to try and penetrate a new market and make highly contentious choices like this, but the reason they'd want to pump up PSN numbers is obvious.

It's a little more reasonable to expect account creation on a walled-garden platform run by the manufacturer. PC is a very different environment, and it functions as an extra layer of DRM that gets between the player and the game.

Although I am curious, having never owned one: is it possible to play physical PS5 games offline without PSN? Because if so, that'd mean Sony's approach on PC is even stricter than it is on their own platform.

Regardless, even if it's not a big deal to you, why does it bother you (and especially some others here, who were practically gnashing their teeth when Sony removed the requirement for Helldivers 2) that PC gamers are pushing back against it on their platform? That's the part that I don't understand, unless some form of Pro-Sony tribalism is at play.

@LogicStrikesAgain What I'm asking you is why it bothers you so much that users on a completely different platform are pushing back against an account creation and log-in mandate that functions as an extra layer of DRM. Give me an explanation that doesn't ultimately go back to outrage that other people aren't licking the boot.

@LogicStrikesAgain Why not introspect and ask yourself why PC gamers pushing back against Sony's PSN account mandate on PC bothers you so much?

It's pretty difficult not to see the whining on here as tribalistic corporate shilling. What other possible reason is there to be a cheerleader for unnecessary forced DRM in Steam games?

@hugoadan They have. Remember them backtracking on shutting down the PSP/PS3 shops?

Sony is very responsive to public pressure.

Problem is, and you can see it demonstrated beautifully in this comment section, a gigantic chunk of their fanbase deeply enjoys the taste of corporate boot. When that's the case, nothing changes. At least not in a positive direction.

@NEStalgia "We REALLY need to step hardware back 3 generations while making people feel like they're going forward."

If there's a heaven, I sincerely hope Satoru Iwata and Gunpei Yokoi are watching this all unfold and laughing hysterically.

@Max_the_German Sony's audience would revolt. They've been trained to expect and only want to play technically ambitious blockbusters, so Sony's trapped in this cycle where they need to create increasingly expensive AAA titles for their ecosystem. Apparently they have some games in the works that are even more expensive than Concord was.

Had a feeling it'd turn out this way when they announced a bunch of stuff in a short time frame. Layton, Fantasy Life, Decapolice, etc. It's why I reined in my excitement.

This was always going to happen after Sony removed the PSN requirement for Helldivers 2. There's blood in the water. Once your audience knows you can be pressured, it's over.

I will never understand why Sony is so intent on fighting a losing battle over this when they know how much it alienates Steam gamers, though. Just make it optional and tether some little bonus cosmetic thing to it.

Eh.

I want to like it.

SRPGs are one of my favorite genres. Valkyria Chronicles, Triangle Strategy, Fire Emblem, Devil Survivor, etc. count among my favorite series. But I really struggled to get into this one.

It is a well-made game, though, so I'm glad it's doing well. It'd probably do even better if Vanillaware decided to put it on PC.

@Nei Looking at that artwork, I think everyone realizes it'll have legs.

@Ravix There's so many games now.

And, frankly, so many decent to great ones. More than people could play in a lifetime.

You really have to stand out. It's hard to do that if you're not a major developer.

Nods

Actually, I don't know that I've even heard of either of these releases, and I'm online all the time. The marketing must not have been great.

@Lizuka LOL I stopped at Ch. 1. I was dying of boredom. I keep telling myself I'm going to go back to the game, and then remember I have some comparatively fun chores to do.

@Dadou Starting to think the PS4 will survive the PS5!

@rjejr "Maybe Switch 2 can get a $60 2-pack before the final 3rd game in the trilogy?"

You're very cute that you think companies aren't gonna milk the heck out of Switch 2 early adopters with $60 ports of very old games.

I tried playing through it on Switch. The image quality sucks, yeah, but even if it wasn't fuzzy, it's just not... very interesting to me. Which sucks, because there's a lot of Danganronpa DNA in there. The visual style/characters/etc. just don't really appeal to me.

😂 This comment section is depressing.

I could see Death Stranding 2 showing up. No interest whatsoever for me, personally, but I'm guessing that's going to be a little more interesting for people here than the remasters that are supposedly on the way.

@Korgon Falcom played favorites with Sony for a long time. The fact that their games are releasing on Nintendo consoles is a miracle in itself. No way is the TitS remake going to be exclusive!

@NEStalgia I definitely think Switch 2 sales will be conservative compared to Switch overall, but still strong. Maybe more comparable to PS4 if Nintendo does their job and launches it with exciting software.

I doubt it has escaped them that 2017 went so well that it propelled the Switch to practically unstoppable levels of momentum through its life-cycle. And I believe it has been mentioned that the release of the hardware was delayed to co-incide with a string of new first-party software development.

The concept isn't as new and exciting as it was back then, but launching at a fair price point alongside a new mainline Mario, new Pokemon games, etc. should still give it a fair bit of lift. Especially when nobody buys Xboxes and Sony is starting to see how much they can nickel-and-dime the public.

Whatever the original purpose of Xbox was, their height as a brand was when they went all in on the console thing. Now their console line is practically dead and they've awkwardly become a third-party developer.

Based on what I've read, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and a ton of people working at Microsoft don't understand where the brand is going in the future. That's bad.

I'm not saying Spencer is responsible entirely for their downfall, but I think it's almost inescapably true that he was a bad choice to manage the Xbox brand, and his mismanagement, combined with potential internal conflicts with corpos higher up in the company, has damaged the brand to the point where recovery is hard to even imagine.

Microsoft needs to decide what the future of the brand is and communicate that to everyone very clearly.

@Tecinthebrain I get that. If your collection is already on PSN, why shift?

Problem is that a significant chunk of those libraries are physical and require discs. Also, if there's a requirement for all Playstation games to run on both, it'll risk turning into a Series S/X situation again.

Nintendo solved this by releasing a single hybrid device, but Sony obviously won't do that.

It would obviously sell to PS faithful, but the handheld market is becoming rapidly crowded again. Especially if the rumors of Microsoft also developing a handheld are true.

@NEStalgia This is turning into seventh gen again. Nintendo does a thing. It's wildly popular. Everyone else decides they need to do the thing too, but, unlike Nintendo, they don't commit to it, so it won't work as well.

@TheOldHunter4K LOL

Nothing would surprise me after the Vita.

@Yousef- It's almost certainly happening. The Deck is selling well for a device you could only buy from Steam for the longest, and has been a smash hit, unlike their other hardware.

Sources from Valve essentially said at the time of the OLED's release that it would be another 2 - 3 years before tech advanced enough to make a next-gen Deck viable, so it definitely sounds like it's in the cards. And, frankly, they've committed pretty significant effort to keeping it updated, testing games to confirm compatibility, helping developers get their games working with Proton, etc. It's hard to imagine they wouldn't drop new hardware at some point.

I don't see the point. All their games will probably be playable on PC and PC handhelds by then. What's the Vita 2, or whatever it's called, gonna offer that a Steam Deck 2 wouldn't already?

@NEStalgia Whatever they're doing, it's working. The games are coming heavy and fast and it looks like they're not gonna ruin their momentum with more goofy experimentation next gen.

Good at running the gaming business? His hands-off approach to management led to Microsoft's teams wasting tremendous amounts of time on projects that went nowhere and/or turned out tremendously disappointing. Him pushing for gigantic acquisitions, day one PC ports, and Game Pass has ultimately ruined the brand as they pivot toward being a third-party publisher in order to balance the books a bit.

Xbox would've been better off if Mattrick had never left, lol.

@NEStalgia Furukawa is sort of the anti-Spencer. Phil Spencer seems personable and is a good mascot for the Xbox brand, but can't run a console gaming business worth beans. Meanwhile, Furukawa looks like the most non-descript, middle-management Japanese dude imaginable, but he's done a great job leading Nintendo since 2018.

@naruball That's a big reason I never bought in to PS5. Sure, I have to wait on some games, but not being a huge modern Playstation Studios fan, I can game on my PC knowing pretty much everything I want on the platform) has released or will release on PC in time.

Nintendo is the only one of the big three fully invested in their own ecosystem and console playerbase, so they're the only company whose consoles I'll bother continuing to purchase.

I'm happy for Sony to pursue this course, since it means less hardware cluttering my home, but I do think, as with Microsoft, it'll increasingly dilute the appeal of their console brand.

@Matroska Anecdotally, most Switch owners I know (non-core gamers) have one Switch. Usually just the base model. Several don't own Mario Kart, although, unsurprisingly, all of them own some Nintendo games.

I'm not denying that there's a lot of the same people buying new models. There obviously are. 140 million Switches sold doesn't mean 140 million owners, as is the case with any console, really, but especially the ones with significant revisions.

That said, the base model, which has easily sold the most of the models, I think is predominantly going out to new owners. And even with the revisions, you'll have a more half-and-half split of new and established owners.

Overall, I think the base of Switch owners is still probably north of 100 million. That the same games stay so high in the charts all the time speaks to that as well.

A simultaneous launch across PS5, XSX, PC, and Switch 2, without any Game Pass goofiness included will probably lead to much higher launch numbers. Especially considering how much good will was generated by the first game.

Just grabbed the original myself on Steam. If I like it, I'll make a point of buying the sequel at launch.

@Matroska I don't take your point. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe already has an absolutely insane attach rate for a non-bundled game. Its attach rate is more than double the attach rate of the best-selling game on Playstation 4.

Not everyone likes the same thing.

Switch ports made way more sense.

• Wildly more popular platform than Wii U, so a lot of these games were like new games to a majority of the gaming public.
• First fully portable versions of these games.
• 3DS and Wii U eshops going down would've made way more game inaccessible without ports.
• Switch wasn't backwards-compatible with 3DS/Wii U.

None of these are applicable to Sony's largely pointless PS4 game remakes. Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, Until Dawn, The Last of Us, etc. all looked and played great on PS5.

A new, more traditional Final Fantasy game released day one on PC, PS5, and Switch 2 would probably sell well.

I know Square ports their games to other platforms, but a lot of the excitement has died off once you spend months or years waiting for it to hit your preferred platform.

@NEStalgia This conversation reminds me of one I had with a friend about being a pet (an animal one, not... nevermind). She remarked it must be wonderful to have all your needs attended to and taken care of, and all that's required of you is some basic loyalty and love. And I said, sure, that sounds good, until your owner neglects to provide water for some extended period of time, or he delegates the duty to his kid and the kid forgets, and you realize how utterly dependent you are on another entity for the most basic things.

Sure, it's nice on console for all your needs to be addressed without any real effort on your part, until they're not, for whatever reason, and suddenly you're reminded that you're funneling money into a walled-garden PC environment where you have no control of, influence over, or right to almost anything. And boy, do they make you pay for that privilege!

@naruball @NEStalgia Didn't Skyrim have a memory leak or something on PS3 that made it unplayable after you spent enough time in it? At least on PC, there's very little that isn't addressable somehow. Although, frankly, I've had way more game crashes on consoles than I have on PC in the last decade.

System-wide console firmware issues like this will be fixed by daddy eventually, but for individual games, you just have to hope the developers are competent. Whereas most games on PC will have mods and unofficial fixes to address issues.

@Nepp67 Yeah, I'm not saying an issue doesn't exist, just that the game isn't "f*cked." I'm sure Sony is scrambling to address this.