Rimebreaker

Honestly agree. The leap in GPUs has not been large enough to truly justify another generational leap, and costs of ram and storage have for once actually gone up instead of down making it nigh impossible to make a generational leap on the back of plainly more ram.

At the current rate, if a next gen launched next year, it’s going to be marginal performance gains at exponential price increases. I would not be shocked if we get yet another price hike on this gen hardware as it is.

I preordered a physical copy. I do think some likely preorder digital because they know they want it and don’t want to miss out on the pre-order bonuses because they forgot later.

Edit: Tangent, I was going through my PS5 physical collection yesterday and it surprised me that there is no God of War (2018) “Directors Cut” or “Remaster” for PS5… not that I’m begging for one but odd given how they have remastered basically every other PS4 game that got PS5 sequels.

The game was never going to perform as well as Spider-Man, and I think everyone severely underestimates how bad Sony is doing in Japan. Even if the install base has only gone up, I would not be shocked if many of those units are untouched and forgotten in favor of the Nintendo Switch 2s. Hell I think toast year the S1 was still outselling the PS5 3 to 1 despite the S2 being out.

I’ll be placing my order tomorrow for a physical copy to pick up in person in launch day. Bestbuy is not as fun as old day GameStop but I trust them a lot more with my preorders and ability to cancel. GameStop is a chaotic mess to preorder from.

@GirlVersusGame I think chronologically this is supposed to take place just after the intro of GoW 2018. Not exactly a prequel but given it takes place before most events of that game, it might as well be. I think it would be safe to start here and then branch into GoW 2018 and Ragnarok.

So figured I would go down the rabbit hole to see how many games studios Sony has shut down, after reading somewhere that this is actually the fifth studio Sony has shut down since 2016 and figured I would post the list here:

• 2009 - Incognito Entertainment: Twisted Metal: Black, Warhawk
• 2012 - Bigbig Studios: Pursuit Force [psp], Motorsport [psp], Little Deviants [vita]
• 2012 - Studio Liverpool: F1, Wipeout
• 2012 - Zipper Interactive: SOCOM
• 2016 - Evolution studios: WRC, MotorStorm, Driveclub
• 2017 - Guerrilla Cambridge: MedEvil [originals], Little Big Planet [PSP], Killzone Mercenary [Vita], RIGS [VR game]
• 2020 - Manchester Studio: Unanounced VR project
• 2021 - Japan Studio: White Knight Chronicles, Knack, Ico, Shadow of the Colosus, Gravity Rush
• 2023 - Pixelopus: Entwined, Concrete Genie

I know a lot of people constantly ask "where is SOCOM/MotorStorm/Wipeout?" well... that's where.

@naruball Its not like consoles get better optimization than PC games in average. Yes a few PC game ports are terrible, but more often than not, the PC version is the definitive version, so @GamingFan4Lyf will likely get a better average experience in that front.

I still stick to consoles because even with Steam Big Picture, I find it a pain to navigate my game library on a PC without mouse and keyboard, and mouse and keyboard are a pain to deal with on a couch.

Edit: additional advantage of PC is that your backlog rarely is threatened to become unplayable because of a generational jump.

@rjejr

“this fiscal year” caught my eye as well, but it would be 2024 Q1, not Q4, when Sony’s financial year ends March 31, 2024.

I was about to post this, glad I decided to catch up with the comments first. Yea, their statement being very careful to just say "this fiscal year" made me more worried than confident. We might not get any big original single player games from Sony this calendar year.

I am still expecting them to announce some remasters/"remakes" to pad this year, though.

Mentioned this in Pure Xbox but this is not a threat that they will exit the UK, although hyperbolic, they are claiming/warning that this kind of thing discourages investors and other companies from investing and expanding into the region.

Edit: heck, if EU approves the deal, and ABK sees that is the only path forward to sell (that is all they want to do) they might go to the extreme of either entirely spinning off all UK operations (Sledgehammer, and local marketing/publishing arms) or even go scorch earth and entirely shut them down.

@Kevw2006 Steam and Nintendo deals aside, all the other 10 year deals they made and offered were for all content they owned, and all future content they buy. Yes it was to appease regulators, but they still offered and granted effectively now content they do own to all those streaming services.

The ABK specific deal and bits were simply promises and legally binding proof they would keep their word (at least for 10 years.)

@GeeEssEff you missing plenty of context here. Sony is the one complaining that they will be entirely ruined if CoD is not 100% available on PS, with absolutely all content and parity. I’m just pointing that hypocrisy, but Sony fans don’t seem to get it.

@Jaz007 glad we agreed Sony should stop using their market position to secure exclusive content deals that further increase their maker dominance.

@Intr1n5ic it’s not really such a lesson since they still get to stream all existing and future Microsoft and Bethesda games for 10 years. My point is simply that these small companies would greatest benefit from having access to CoD, helping them grow and cement themselves just like Netflix did.

Netflix had a similar affair with Starz, and the only reason they exist today is thanks to that initial deal to stream other people’s content.

@TheLotteryMan1 they lost a case just last year against Meta, and another case in 2020 against Pfizer, and that was just a quick google search.

@Intr1n5ic who cares if they care? The point is the deals are signed and already in effect. These companies are already streaming PC Microsoft games, but they won’t get to stream ABK games that have a way higher demand.

I have zero illusions MS is doing anything out of their love for these upstarts.

@Jaz007 so…. If a company can’t survive without these ABK games, they should just get better or out of the businesses?

This is going to take soooo loooong.... we might be hearing about this acquisition all the way into 2024.

Interesting repercussions from this roadblock, some of the parties that were offered 10 year deals to stream microsoft and ABK deals are not huge entities, and being able to offer ABK game streaming would had brought them a significant influx of users.

Due to how volatile the market is still, being so young, without this deal they might simply go out of business, all because of a blockage supposedly done to protect them. Think some of them have already expressed their frustration with this blockage.

@get2sammyb

Besides, this decision surprisingly has nothing to do with Sony.

Doesn't it? One of their biggest claim was not just streaming, but the fact that the deals Microsoft signed with other streaming services did not cover streaming from multi-game subscription plans. How many plans exist in the market right now?

Game Pass Ultimate, PlayStation Now Premium and? We could mention Amazon Luna, but that is not on the UK, and Google Stadia is dead of its own demerits.

@NEStalgia

[...]the argument presented by CMA is based on the idea of what-ifs in a cloud model presented as a totally new market, which is inaccurate, it's a competitive sales and distribution channel in the existing mass market model Sony and XB already occupy, and their rejection of offered remedies revolves around not inadequacy of the remedy but around not wanting to have to monitor it.

This is something Microsoft could get ahead of by creating an independent entity in the UK, and hand them, in perpetuity, all rights for streaming licensing, with the power to sub-license to other third parties.

This would remove any arguments of monitoring behavior, since this entity would be entirely on its own.

Creating such an entity and spinning off streaming in the region is entirely different from the high demands of spinning off all Call of Duty development that was originally proposed, and it's something Microsoft could very easily do and afford.

@NEStalgia I don't agree with the "Nintendo does not compete with PS" mindset, and I dont think Sony or Microsoft agree.

Nintendo simply knows innovation helps them sell, so they keep innovating (we will see if the next console innovates or finally decides to simply iterate)

If these companies didnt see Nintendo as a competitor, we would not have seen this behavior in the past:

Wii gets "countered" (after years of R&D) by Sony with Move motion controllers, and by Microsoft with Kinect .

Wii U gets "countered" (in a rush) by Sony with Second Screen mobile aps, and by Microsoft with Project Glass.

Now the Wii mobile hybrid device is king, and we been hearing the rumors of an inevitable PlayStation handheld intended to stream your PS games, again, to compete with Nintendo's mobility.

Nintendo also keeps signing timed exclusivity deals like they did with Monster Hunter Rise, why would they do such a thing if they didn't see the other consoles as competitors?

Nintendo is not seen as a competitor because they are not competing in power, but they are competing for your gaming time and money.

Games having characters tell me how to solve puzzles has drastically pulled me off so many games recently. I understand wanting accessibility, but it should be an option.

I dread touching god of war Ragnarok. Saw some steams and I felt the urge to mute all audio.

Wild hearts was published by EA and maybe their publishing deal does not let them talk about numbers without EAs consent.

Wo long launches day one on game pass, and that makes sales number a harder thing to discuss, because MS might had paid more than enough to make it very successful, but talking numbers suddenly makes it look not-successful, so they might not be revealing numbers on that one because of that. Would not be shocked if at some point they instead mentioned how many players have enjoyed/played the game.

I refuse to pay $70 for games, so this Gen I have simply started to wait for the eventual sales.

Right now I am playing Fallout 3, and having a blast. I detest that games now take 3 times the amount of time because all devs want to put-do each other with whom has the biggest map or the longest hours to beat.

I wish for a day that games start downsizing instead of up-sizing.

Can you imagine a world were movies became longer every year, and they actually started to have 8 hour lengths but then demanded to increase price tickets because now people have time to watch longer movies (and making such longer movies cost more?)

Why must bigots be the biggest tantrum tossing snowflakes in the face of this planet….???

@Flaming_Kaiser If they do them the proven way, a F2P console game only gives the player skins and cosmetics rewards for their money, absolutely zero in game progression.

I don't play multiplayer games, but those cosmetics are just that, and you can simply relax and have a fun game without them.

Edit:
then again, they might go the EA sports way and not actually let you play a position, but instead play a team, and lock team players via card packs and gross stuff like that.

@Impossibilium

But the conspiracy theory is mostly concerning the fact that it was noticeably missing from Hogwarts Legacy. It actually may have been left out because of the existence of the other game, being released by the same publisher.

Or simply because the game was already huge, and not everyone in Hogwarts is a Quidditch athlete. A Harry potter game does not need to force every single player to go through Quidditch minigames. Not to mention, to make Quidditch any justice in todays day an age, would require a whole game.

I dont care to defend anything that makes Joanne money, but this is ridiculous. Even the art style here is different, a lot more cartoony. These are separe projects, and as far as we know this won’t even be sold, but be a F2P title with season passes and what not.

This game very likely will try to mimic the Rocket League monetization, only not with licensed vehicles, though, just a constant influx of robes, brooms and customization options.

Interesting bit, I just went to check Sega Sammy Holdings current cash on hand, as of 3/31/22 they had exactly $1.24 billion, and it seems their cash in hand has been going down every year (likely a good thing unless you saving to make a big move, no investor likes too much cash on hand.)

Hard to guess how much that pool had fluctuated in the last year, but very curious to see their update for the 2023 calendar.

Oh and their market cap is $4.54 Billion right now, this acquisition represents 22% of their market cap. Does not imply they will grow by 22%, but it’s not out of the question either.

@Deoxyr1bose I would not say that. If anything, they are looking a lot more appealing to Xbox after this, since they really want to get into mobile gaming.

Hell, ABK was doing acquisitions even after they signed the deal to be acquired themselves.

@BusyOlf for what it’s worth, Zynga, another large mobile game maker, was acquired by Take Two within early last year for $12.7 billion.

@Uncharted2007 I just checked, and Rovios “Red’s First Flight” (basically Angry Birds 1 classic no adds paid version) is #9 top selling game on iOS.

The current F2P Angry Birds 2 is ranking #66 on the free charts. Those two are significant rankings.

@zupertramp Its mostly due to the original rumor, that it was going to just be pushed back by a few months (and further into the year, important bit) and that same source said no mayor changes were planned.

The fact the delay is now for next year obviously mean things have changed internally from whatever that source said.

Thats a way longer delay than we were expecting, no? Maybe they are considering to do a big overhawl.

@NEStalgia I'll check it out, although always wary of anything that might get credentials access, if that is needed for it to work.

Even if its trustworthy now, scummy companies are in a habit of offering a lot of money to smaller companies to acquire them and get their hands on user private info and passwords.

@NEStalgia I figured you would find this amusing:

I should had known better, but my g cloud arrived today and the first thing I attempted was to install PlayStation Remote play.

After logging in, it demands I connect a Dual Shock 4 via Bluetooth to work.... like... seriously??? I guess I won't be using this to increase my PS5 game time, at the end of the day, just play even more Xbox and Steam games.

No wonder they are considering selling their dedicated device, they want you owning at least some Sony propietary product if you are to interact with their games, period. This could had easily used the device controls, plus the screen itself as a touch pad.

It is a shame that Sony was not able to negotiate a deal with Spider-Man's publisher to keep it on the service.... oh wait....

Seriously, that is ridiculous...

The UK is such a weird market. 15% on PC? I really wonder if that truly counts all digital sales or only digital codes sold via retailers.

@NEStalgia Yea if it was not for the coupon I would have bought it from Amazon, they have a fantastic return policy had I not liked the thing.

@NEStalgia yes they definitively added that 2 item requirement either yesterday or this morning.

Hey, if you are in the need for a cheap keyboard, can always throw their MK120 corded keyboard combo for $18

@NEStalgia Interesting, I just attempted to go through the full transaction again and it gave me the same error. I guess they didnt expect so many people to buy this particular item and had to removed it from the valid list.

@Loamy The common perception is that the deal was renewed/extended with the launch of Intergrade.

@NEStalgia another thing to note: I bought it on my phone, and had to disable any addons that meddle with scripts, login screen would not even show up. Make sure you are not blocking third party scripts.

@NEStalgia For what its worth I went to the store from a link in Windows Central, not sure if that will do any difference.

Edit: link

Edit 2: looking at the page I don't see any mention of 2 items or more, US website for what its worth.

Edit 3:
on it not being the best at emu, thats fine, I also got a Steamdeck anyways I can do emu at, but its nice still having that option on this device. The main plus is playing many android games that have controller support, hell, even ones that dont but have on-screen control since a recent patch added touch button mapping to the G Cloud.

@BeerIsAwesome I have an android table, and a controller I have synced to it, but it's nowhere near as comfortable to use as just holding my switch on a Satisfye case or the Steamdeck.

@NEStalgia There was no minimum when I ordered, they must have added that requirement yesterday, because Saturday I was able to check out with just the device.

@BeerIsAwesome I have two posts that talk about prices so not sure which one you are refering to, so apologies for covering my bases:

A $300 device by Sony that only does remote play would be a total disaster, in fact, even at $200, if all it does is remote play without having a full Android OS, it would be a disaster.

As for the Logitech G Cloud, I personally find that $250 is a good price point, especially given it has much better build quality than most android handhelds, its quite bigger, and it has full Android, so despite its name its capable of running emulators and games from the Play store. Their sticker price of $350 is ridiculous, though, since its $50 short of a Steam Deck, a way more capable piece of hardware.

@NEStalgia

more elaborate setups like Logitech G-Cloud that's hurt only by its price

Its limited time only, but at Logitech's site, they have the thing on sale for $300, and in addition have a spring sale, with a coupon (that they will show you on the store), that lowers the price further to $250. I thought at that price it looked interesting, since it also can run basically any Android game and tons of Emulators up to PS2|GameCube generations very well, so I decided to buy myself one.

it's the fact Microsoft paid to have the next gen versions exclusive, so there wasn't a PS5 version for playstation players who supported the games from the beginning, but there was an xbox series X version...

Honestly I think this is all on Sega/Atlus. Yes, MS likely paid for it, but Sega/Atlus accepted it without a second thought (also for the PS3|4 ports) because of the huge PS4 install base and those versions being perfectly playable on PS5, and P5R already not selling that well compared to P5's original release. Why invest the resources on a third PS release of P5 when their second one didn't really move that many units?

Although I’m intrigued by the idea, I think this will flop. Sony sells a pro controller for practically $200, there is zero chance they would sell this device for anything under $300, and that would be too high of a price for this to be viable.

@UltimateOtaku91

Why do i get a bad feeling Microsoft will be waving their money at this just like they did with the remasters.

you will be lucky if that’s all they do, and not do the same thing Sony did to FF7R.