I was disappointed by the total lack of any PSVR2 content. I was hoping for something there, and at least one studio dropped news that day but didn't make the show. Maybe Sony will show up next month at the VR showcase.
However, I was delighted enough at Kena 2 that I knew from the beginning I was going to think of it as a success even if that was the only thing I liked (and it wasn't, there was plenty).
@UltimateOtaku91 Sony need to be really careful with this game, if this has a Concord moment then that could really effect the main Horizon games going forward.
I disagree. I think the fact that the art style in this game is SO different from the Horizon main series, its success or failure is unlikely to significantly affect those games. This may have Horizon in the name and feature the same type of enemies, but it's clearly not a mainline Horizon game, and I don't see much market confusion happening.
People who hate multiplier will just ignore this. People who hate single player will continue to ignore the main Horizon games. Nothing will change.
Both @Rich33 and @1970sGamer can be right - currently, Generative AI art is still not up to the quality of decent artists and coders (though I'm no artist, so AI does a much better job than my stick figures).
If it continues to improve, it will eventually sweep through multiple industries leaving human creativity in its wake, with plenty of people shaking their fists at the sky.
Some amount of change due to AI is inevitable. The exact details of that change are unknowable. Sadly, the extent of the change will depend more on the technical feasibility than the moral implications, particularly as it becomes more difficult to tell if AI generated the content or not (as is already happening with writing).
I'd love to see some PSSR 2.0 news. I'm also hoping for some PSVR2 updates - Microsoft Flight Sim's PSVR2 update could be in here, potentially, if Microsoft is going to be part of State of Play moving forward.
Honestly, if this wasn't Horizon, I doubt I'd be interested. But I signed up to be considered for the beta.
If it's PVE and it's not exploitive in pricing or monetization, then it could be a lot of fun. If you can solo it, even better.
The art style isn't my favorite, but it's not awful. I'm interested. If it ends up being F2P I'll definitely give it a shot - if not, I'll keep my eyes on the reviews and pricing, and decide if it's worth my time when there's more to see than a promotional video.
If they could figure out how to do a solid PSVR2 implementation, I'd buy it. I don't know how you'd pull that off with a controller behind where the headset can track it, though.
@ED_209 What worries me most is that 99% of the current PlayStation fan base only wants and only accepts one type of game.
While I think you've got a point, I'd also say that it's not the SAME game for that entire 99% of the fan base.
For some, they really just want another Fortnite (you don't see those folks here too often, because...they're playing Fortnite). For others, they want another Burnout, or another TLOU, or another Genshin, or another MGS, or whatever else that fan wants. There's a lot of variety regarding which ONE type of game each of us like.
Remember that this site isn't representative of all Playstation players - most don't care enough to come to sites like this, and even fewer care to post. Sony can't market only to the comments section in places like this, they have to have a bigger target.
The Horizon universe is large enough for a lot of different games - it's a global event in the story, after all. Honestly, I think this one might have been stronger if it didn't have even a cameo from characters from the main game, but I see why they did it and it doesn't feel like those characters will be prevalent.
If you like co-op PVE, then I don't see why you wouldn't give it a shot. I'm sure the art style is to optimize performance with multiplayer.
I prefer solo, but I'll probably check it out if it's not too expensive (they don't hint at if it's F2P or not) and not too exploitive. We'll see.
This is early February. November is nine months away - enough time to create a new human being, which is another way to say that a lot can happen between now and November.
One of the reasons I prefer a controller to my phone screen is the tactile buttons on a controller. I don't want a controller with virtual buttons as the primary, any more than I want a car with the AC and radio control only on a video panel. Tactile buttons are superior.
This could be useful for software to let your phone act as a controller, but that's it.
Always, always wait for reviews on the platform you plan to play on.
It's not for the rating, necessarily, as different reviewers have different priorities and you have to find someone who likes what you like - but for details of how well it plays, how buggy it is, and whether or not the game matches the marketing.
Any more, I just don't buy on release on general principle. It will always be cheaper a few months later, and almost always significantly more polished as well. I can wait for them to finish the game, and then buy it at a discount.
@Fritz167 - so just buy the titles you want and ignore the rest.
I see absolutely no downside for them to branch out into multiple genres - anything that brings more players in and more revenue in can only help them keep the lights on and keep new content coming. It doesn't hurt anyone if there are tracks we don't like - just skip them and play the ones you do like. Unless they start removing tracks, just welcome the attention and revenue for the developer.
I'll probably pick it up for Black Friday at a discount. I loved Forza Horizon 4, though I found 5 to be underwhelming. It's been a while, though, so 6 may scratch that itch just fine.
As for showing up a bit later on PS5 - great! Gives them a chance to work out the day 1 bugs, and give us a more polished release!!
I happened to see it in the store (web version) before I saw this article, and nearly picked it up then (I waited to check to see if there were more relevant details, like a bundle I was missing). I never got into Beat Saber, or most rhythm games, but Synth Riders just WORKS for me in ways most of the other games don't.
I'll be flinging my arms around to We Are the Champions tonight after work, I guarantee it.
One of the key points he seems to be making is that trends don't guarantee success. Not every shooter is Fortnite, not every AA game is Clair Obscur, not every AAA is GTA.
Make the game that makes sense, with the budget that makes sense, given the specific circumstances. Developers need to focus on doing whatever it is THEY do well, as well as they can, and not try to chase whatever the latest trend is and shoehorn it into whatever they're doing.
PS3 emulation on the PS5 is a pipe dream. If Sony CAN do it (and I doubt they can, at least not with the level of reliability they would want), they WON'T, at least not in any meaningful way (like letting me put in a PS3 disk and play it on my PS5). Very simply, there's no money in it for them. What's the point?
The portions of the review focusing on the ridiculous and revealing outfits don't bother me. Sexy outfits can be fun, or in the way, and as long as they're optional then I don't care too much. Same with the ridiculousness of the plot - does anybody remember the plot of the original Doom? You can't get more basic or meaningless than that, can you?
The portions of the review criticizing camera control, enemy AI, hit indicators (for both enemies and the player character), and weapon feel all hit a lot harder.
If it's not fun, who cares what it looks like? Games need to start with fun. Sprinkling in sexy (or not) is fine, even gaping plot holes or unbelievable scenarios are okay, but without the fun, there's no point.
Of course Sony will allow it in the store - and happily take their 30% cut on every sale. They don't care if it's AI-generated. It costs almost nothing to host it, and if it sells, Sony profits.
What, you expect them to turn away free money, because of...ethics or something?
In their defense, do you really want Sony to be the arbiter of which game infringes on which IP? There's a lot of room for conflict of interest there. Your game has a raccoon, well, a Sony studio owns Sly Cooper!
I'm not defending this game (heck, I don't know anything more about it than I read in the article, for all I know it's Lazy Flock who is ripping off the other studio - how would I know?). But I am warning that before you ask Sony to police their store more aggressively, be very careful about what it is you're wishing for.
A Gran Turismo theme...only if it paints a line on the road in front of me showing the best line to take, and braking warnings....
Most people don't buy cars because they have a cool theme. This is a gimmick that will make it seem less serious to most of the people who have six figures (or close to it) to spend on a car.
If this is just the marketing piece Push Square picked up because it's PlayStation related, that's fine, but if this is the best Sony has to brag about the car, I predict a sales disaster.
I'm sorry, but this is stupid math - it's the same math Sony promotes, but it's stupid.
Show me the same list, but use a site that tracks price history to find the lowest sale price for each game BEFORE the date it appeared on Plus, then sum that and give me THAT number. That's a more reasonable and appropriate number.
Does it take more time to do that research and math? Yes, of course it does. Does it mean anything? Not a lot - but still about 1,000x more than adding together the full MSRP prices!
I'm partial to psdeals.net - try talking to them or some of their competitors and see if they can open their database to some direct queries to track this down more easily.
EDIT: And start NOW for doing this for 2026 - fire up a spreadsheet, and on the day Sony announces next month's Essential games, go hit psdeals.net or a similar site and record the lowest sale price for the games on the list. That will make this article for 2026 a lot easier to write, with more interesting and meaningful numbers!
I think you just convinced me it was a good idea NOT to check out Wuthering Waves. Genshin sucks up too much of my time as it is, and at this point I'm not going to quit Genshin to pick up a different gacha, so...probably best to avoid it in the first place.
Besides, I started No Man's Sky this year - that's got enough to keep pulling me back in, it's almost another gacha in the way it keeps asking you to do just a little more.
I didn't play Space Invaders in the arcade (until I found a free play edition once) - just on the 2600. That was long after most of the arcade cabinets had been repurposed to play something else.
This is an OLD game - it's a definite step up from Pong, but it's not much deeper in gameplay, really. It just gets faster - that's it, that's the variation in the original game play. The 2600 at least had a variety of options - shields, no shields, invisible invaders, and more. That's honestly a better version in many respects.
I mean, if you want to pay $10 (with a $2 premium for a platinum trophy) knock yourself out, but I would recommend it for completionists rather than nostalgia buffs. If you played this in the arcade, you probably played many more interesting games in the years after.
I'm seeing a lot of "AI is here, use it or be left behind!" posts in this thread, and it feels like a lot of those posts and the replies to them are from people who haven't actually lived through a technology upheaval as adults who could think about what was happening in real time.
I'm not old enough to have known people who worked in the horse and buggy industry, but I am old enough to remember when VHS was new, and remember using the Internet before the first web browser was invented (telnet primarily, but also ftp, irc, and even Veronica), so this isn't my first technological rodeo. What I think some of you are missing is that the push and pull of what is or isn't appropriate use of a technology is absolutely part of the process of adapting to it.
Yes, I expect that using AI in some capacities will become common place, but that doesn't mean everyone will use it all the time. It makes a lot of sense today to use AI to generate mock artwork you hire an artist to replace later. The reality may be that premium games will continue to do that and use it as a selling point (maybe even elevating their artists' reputations), while smaller indie games may try to leverage that as a way to avoid hiring more people. Heck, indie artists may try to leverage AI to write a game to put their artwork into, rather than hire a coder, some day.
If you think you know how AI use will shake out in the next 10+ years, then you're fooling yourself. It's almost certainly not going to be used the way we think it will be used today. Except for porn. I'm sure it will be used for porn, somehow. That's the one thing about new tech that's inevitable...from VHS to downloading GIFs over dialup to VR....
@carlos82 Thanks for the heads up on that (King's Canyon Christmas level in Kayak VR) - I'll have to check it out. I wasn't sure I was going to fire up Kayak this season (with the sales that just dropped, I'm picking up about four new PSVR2 titles, so I'm not sure I'd have thought to play this one again).
Since the only screen these wallpapers appear on has a whole lot of stuff in front of the wallpaper, you can't really see them that well. Given that...who cares?
Haven't picked up the game yet (definitely on my list), so while I'm grabbing these while I can, I'm not swapping my avatar yet (which I just switched to one of the Motorstorm avatars, I miss that series).
You can say it has nothing to do with Playstation, but now any game that can have crossover characters has a much simpler path to including Peanuts characters in the mix.
Hopefully they won't put them in games where they don't belong, but it gives them an option. There are already Peanuts tables in Pinball FX - so Peanuts on the Playstation isn't unheard of.
What do people think "big game publishers" do for a game?
They don't (necessarily) help with development - someone can shop a finished game around to publishers to find a willing partner. Why does it matter who they partner with?
If it doesn't have a physical release, then the publisher is just helping the developer navigate the stores (PSN, Microsoft, Steam, etc), and maybe offering some advertising assistance. In that case, does it matter if the publisher is someone small or someone huge, if the game was made by someone in their garage on the weekends? Does a game suddenly become not-Indie if the developer gets help getting the game in stores and publicized by someone like EA instead of someone like Team17 (or is Team17 too big - or bought out by someone too big - too)?
In the end, "Indie" is an arbitrary label that doesn't mean the same thing to everyone who hears it. Presumably The Game Awards sets some definition for it when it picks candidates for the category, and whatever criteria they use is correct for their award - if you want a different criteria, create your own award and apply your own criteria.
What difference does it make? The game is good or it's not, right?
Low budget and small team go hand in hand, because you can't increase the size of the team without increasing the budget. So that's a distinction without a difference.
But honestly, I don't care about the definition of Indie. If some small team inside one of the large corporations is allowed to build their own thing on a small budget, it may not be Indie because it's owned by a major studio, but it can still be functionally Indie if it's a small team and small budget building it.
I suppose arguing the difference between AAA and AA and sub-AA might be a bit better, but even that is just a rule of thumb. Who gets to define if you spent enough money to become AA or AAA, and how do you adjust that over time for inflation?
Don't sweat the arbitrary definitions - just enjoy good games, no matter who makes them.
Looking forward to buying it 6 months after release for 20-50% off, like everything else. By then all the fixes for the inevitable bugs will be available, and I'll get the best experience.
Nothing against Capcom - that's the industry standard any more. So I save some money AND let other people be the day 1 suckers who find the bugs the QA team missed or the development team weren't given time to fix before release.
But I hate preorders. I don't trust them any more, so I don't care what they're offering, I'll wait until release for the reviews to roll in, and make my decision then.
Maybe if studios released demos before release, I'd take a chance on a preorder if I loved the demo. Lacking that, there just isn't a studio I trust to deliver a solid day one experience.
Many of the game-inspired DualSense controllers have felt like they were thrown together by AI - slap a couple graphics on it that vaguely reference the game, and call it good.
I'm surprised to be a little tempted by this one. I play a lot more Genshin Impact than I ought to (my backlog is complaining), and it does look better than a lot of the others out there.
Having ponied up the non-sale price for the second Astro Bot controller, though, I don't think I'm ready to pull the trigger on yet another one. So I'll probably pass...but one of my kids who is heavy into it has a birthday in Feb when it finally drops in the US, so.....
That works. My Plus subscription expires Nov 29, and auto-renew is disabled - because of a deal just like this, last year.
So the 29th or 30th I can subscribe for a year on whatever level I want (currently premium, because of a sale and a library of PSVR2 titles that used to be on premium, now I'll probably go for essential). Then next year I just have to hope the deal goes at least through the 29th or 30th.
I'm sure Sony wants to be absolutely positively crystal clear that this is not the next Horizon game in the mainline series. Let's face it, many games made for mobile first aren't as good on a console and a big screen. There are exceptions (Genshin Impact may be one), but even those exceptions often aren't the kind of visual and play experience we expect from the next mainline Horizon game.
If it releases on the PS5 day one, it's going to be VERY hard for Sony to manage the messaging around it. Reviews will moan the step back in visual quality from the previous Horizon games, even if they acknowledge this isn't intended to compete with them - it still carries their banner. I would bet there is no way the PS5 version would get net positive reviews, it just wouldn't with the inevitable comparisons hanging over it. And that would be a black eye against the franchise, in a way that poor reviews of a mobile game simply won't be, if they happen.
But if it's well established as a mobile game and later comes to PS5, that may be different. If it comes out after Guerilla's next mainline release, the comparisons won't hurt the franchise.
1.5k for something that looks cool is a lot of money.
1.5k to be able to do more work so you're not replaced by a robot might be worthwhile.
1.5k for a mobility aid that helps someone get around when they have issues might be a steal (though it's not clear these are really in that category).
Of course "to me" - I assume every opinion posted here is the personal opinion of the author. Don't you?
I think the ads without any real gameplay but referencing outrageous events which aren't actually in any games are more likely to sow confusion to casual gamers. Where's the game where you can jump skyscrapers in a tanker truck? What title is that - where can you buy it? Wait, you can't? It's not anything that happens in any game on the PS5? Well, why is it in the ad, then?
The better the hook works, the more likely Sony ends up with a potential customer who feels cheated. That doesn't feel smart to me.
Every single fool - yes, I mean fool - who buys this at $60 or even $40 is encouraging more of this.
If it doesn't sell, then in 6-12 months it will be down around $10-20 where it belongs. If it does sell, then it will take a bit longer - but honestly, look at the prices for Fallout 4 recently. They're about as low as they can be without giving it away, even for all the DLC. They'll realize selling a few copies at $10 is better than selling none at all at $40 sooner or later.
If you've made up your mind who is right or wrong based on the few details publicly available, then I sure hope you never end up on a jury.
So many people are so pro-union or pro-business that they make assumptions based on their beliefs, and not on the facts. Try not to do that, it's not healthy for you personally, or for society as a whole.
Comments 1,061
Re: Stunning PS5 Indie Game Neva Gets a Prologue DLC for Just $3
On sale now - and added to the catalog for Plus Extra and Premium next week.
Re: PlayStation Fans Delighted with New State of Play, Already the Most Popular One Ever
I was disappointed by the total lack of any PSVR2 content. I was hoping for something there, and at least one studio dropped news that day but didn't make the show. Maybe Sony will show up next month at the VR showcase.
However, I was delighted enough at Kena 2 that I knew from the beginning I was going to think of it as a success even if that was the only thing I liked (and it wasn't, there was plenty).
Re: 10+ PS5, PS4 Games to Buy in PS Store's Weekend Offer Sale
Test Drive Unlimited is coming to Plus Extra and Premium next week, so maybe not a good time to buy that one.
Re: Here's Your Chance to Tell Sony What You Think of Horizon Hunters Gathering
I disagree. I think the fact that the art style in this game is SO different from the Horizon main series, its success or failure is unlikely to significantly affect those games. This may have Horizon in the name and feature the same type of enemies, but it's clearly not a mainline Horizon game, and I don't see much market confusion happening.
People who hate multiplier will just ignore this. People who hate single player will continue to ignore the main Horizon games. Nothing will change.
Re: Mini Review: Dark Auction (PS5) - Compelling Visual Novel Makes Some Generative AI Missteps
Both @Rich33 and @1970sGamer can be right - currently, Generative AI art is still not up to the quality of decent artists and coders (though I'm no artist, so AI does a much better job than my stick figures).
If it continues to improve, it will eventually sweep through multiple industries leaving human creativity in its wake, with plenty of people shaking their fists at the sky.
Some amount of change due to AI is inevitable. The exact details of that change are unknowable. Sadly, the extent of the change will depend more on the technical feasibility than the moral implications, particularly as it becomes more difficult to tell if AI generated the content or not (as is already happening with writing).
Re: 20 PS5 Predictions for State of Play February 2026
I'd love to see some PSSR 2.0 news. I'm also hoping for some PSVR2 updates - Microsoft Flight Sim's PSVR2 update could be in here, potentially, if Microsoft is going to be part of State of Play moving forward.
Re: Sony Finally Confirms Horizon Co-Op Game, Horizon Hunters Gathering for PS5, PC
Honestly, if this wasn't Horizon, I doubt I'd be interested. But I signed up to be considered for the beta.
If it's PVE and it's not exploitive in pricing or monetization, then it could be a lot of fun. If you can solo it, even better.
The art style isn't my favorite, but it's not awful. I'm interested. If it ends up being F2P I'll definitely give it a shot - if not, I'll keep my eyes on the reviews and pricing, and decide if it's worth my time when there's more to see than a promotional video.
Re: Pure Pool Pro Brings the Glossiest Balls You've Ever Seen to PS5 Next Week
If they could figure out how to do a solid PSVR2 implementation, I'd buy it. I don't know how you'd pull that off with a controller behind where the headset can track it, though.
Re: Poll: What's Your Reaction to Horizon Hunters Gathering?
While I think you've got a point, I'd also say that it's not the SAME game for that entire 99% of the fan base.
For some, they really just want another Fortnite (you don't see those folks here too often, because...they're playing Fortnite). For others, they want another Burnout, or another TLOU, or another Genshin, or another MGS, or whatever else that fan wants. There's a lot of variety regarding which ONE type of game each of us like.
Remember that this site isn't representative of all Playstation players - most don't care enough to come to sites like this, and even fewer care to post. Sony can't market only to the comments section in places like this, they have to have a bigger target.
Re: Poll: What's Your Reaction to Horizon Hunters Gathering?
The Horizon universe is large enough for a lot of different games - it's a global event in the story, after all. Honestly, I think this one might have been stronger if it didn't have even a cameo from characters from the main game, but I see why they did it and it doesn't feel like those characters will be prevalent.
If you like co-op PVE, then I don't see why you wouldn't give it a shot. I'm sure the art style is to optimize performance with multiplayer.
I prefer solo, but I'll probably check it out if it's not too expensive (they don't hint at if it's F2P or not) and not too exploitive. We'll see.
Re: GTA 6 on Course for November 2026 Launch, Marketing Starts in Summer
This is early February. November is nine months away - enough time to create a new human being, which is another way to say that a lot can happen between now and November.
Re: New PlayStation Patent Could Let You Put Controller Buttons Where You Want
Oh, heck no.
One of the reasons I prefer a controller to my phone screen is the tactile buttons on a controller. I don't want a controller with virtual buttons as the primary, any more than I want a car with the AC and radio control only on a video panel. Tactile buttons are superior.
This could be useful for software to let your phone act as a controller, but that's it.
Re: PS5 Open Worlder Crimson Desert Seems Destined to Be a Hit, Tops 2 Million Wishlists
Always, always wait for reviews on the platform you plan to play on.
It's not for the rating, necessarily, as different reviewers have different priorities and you have to find someone who likes what you like - but for details of how well it plays, how buggy it is, and whether or not the game matches the marketing.
Any more, I just don't buy on release on general principle. It will always be cheaper a few months later, and almost always significantly more polished as well. I can wait for them to finish the game, and then buy it at a discount.
Re: Out Today: Rebellion Revives Retro Arcade Sports Game Speedball on PS5
Looks great - hope it hits Plus soon.
Re: As PSVR2's Beat Saber Goes Dark, Synth Riders Adds Timed Exclusive Track from Queen
@Fritz167 - so just buy the titles you want and ignore the rest.
I see absolutely no downside for them to branch out into multiple genres - anything that brings more players in and more revenue in can only help them keep the lights on and keep new content coming. It doesn't hurt anyone if there are tracks we don't like - just skip them and play the ones you do like. Unless they start removing tracks, just welcome the attention and revenue for the developer.
Re: Anime-Infused Arcade Racer Screamer Just Looks Better and Better Ahead of PS5 Release
Looks great. As always, though, the devil is in the details, which you can't really see in a trailer. Definitely worth a closer look once it drops.
Re: Forza Horizon 6 Confirmed to Launch on PS5 in 2026, Gameplay Revealed
I'll probably pick it up for Black Friday at a discount. I loved Forza Horizon 4, though I found 5 to be underwhelming. It's been a while, though, so 6 may scratch that itch just fine.
As for showing up a bit later on PS5 - great! Gives them a chance to work out the day 1 bugs, and give us a more polished release!!
Re: As PSVR2's Beat Saber Goes Dark, Synth Riders Adds Timed Exclusive Track from Queen
I happened to see it in the store (web version) before I saw this article, and nearly picked it up then (I waited to check to see if there were more relevant details, like a bundle I was missing). I never got into Beat Saber, or most rhythm games, but Synth Riders just WORKS for me in ways most of the other games don't.
I'll be flinging my arms around to We Are the Champions tonight after work, I guarantee it.
Re: 'You Can't Do GTA for $10 Million': Split Fiction's Josef Fares Champions Diversity in Games and Budgets
One of the key points he seems to be making is that trends don't guarantee success. Not every shooter is Fortnite, not every AA game is Clair Obscur, not every AAA is GTA.
Make the game that makes sense, with the budget that makes sense, given the specific circumstances. Developers need to focus on doing whatever it is THEY do well, as well as they can, and not try to chase whatever the latest trend is and shoehorn it into whatever they're doing.
Re: Former PS4 Exclusive Detroit: Become Human Has Now Sold 15 Million Copies
This is one of those games on my backlog. I'm interested in playing it, but just never seem to get around to it.
Re: Feature: 15 PS5 Predictions for 2026
PS3 emulation on the PS5 is a pipe dream. If Sony CAN do it (and I doubt they can, at least not with the level of reliability they would want), they WON'T, at least not in any meaningful way (like letting me put in a PS3 disk and play it on my PS5). Very simply, there's no money in it for them. What's the point?
Re: Divinity Dev's Boss Backpedals on Generative AI, But Not All the Way
@Dogbreath "I've witnessed dozens of boycott campaigns over the years, and not one of them ever had a measurable impact on a half decent game."
I would argue that some helped the game, giving it more publicity than it would have managed on its own or creating a backlash against the boycott.
Re: Code Violet (PS5) - Gooner Shooter Can't Get It Up
The portions of the review focusing on the ridiculous and revealing outfits don't bother me. Sexy outfits can be fun, or in the way, and as long as they're optional then I don't care too much. Same with the ridiculousness of the plot - does anybody remember the plot of the original Doom? You can't get more basic or meaningless than that, can you?
The portions of the review criticizing camera control, enemy AI, hit indicators (for both enemies and the player character), and weapon feel all hit a lot harder.
If it's not fun, who cares what it looks like? Games need to start with fun. Sprinkling in sexy (or not) is fine, even gaping plot holes or unbelievable scenarios are okay, but without the fun, there's no point.
Re: Haunted Paws Dev Accuses New Cosy PS5, PS4 Horror of Being a Copycat
Of course Sony will allow it in the store - and happily take their 30% cut on every sale. They don't care if it's AI-generated. It costs almost nothing to host it, and if it sells, Sony profits.
What, you expect them to turn away free money, because of...ethics or something?
In their defense, do you really want Sony to be the arbiter of which game infringes on which IP? There's a lot of room for conflict of interest there. Your game has a raccoon, well, a Sony studio owns Sly Cooper!
I'm not defending this game (heck, I don't know anything more about it than I read in the article, for all I know it's Lazy Flock who is ripping off the other studio - how would I know?). But I am warning that before you ask Sony to police their store more aggressively, be very careful about what it is you're wishing for.
Re: Sony, Honda's Afeela 1 Car Can Be Customised with Astro Bot, God of War Dashboards
A Gran Turismo theme...only if it paints a line on the road in front of me showing the best line to take, and braking warnings....
Most people don't buy cars because they have a cool theme. This is a gimmick that will make it seem less serious to most of the people who have six figures (or close to it) to spend on a car.
If this is just the marketing piece Push Square picked up because it's PlayStation related, that's fine, but if this is the best Sony has to brag about the car, I predict a sales disaster.
Re: Your PS Plus Essential Sub Netted You $1,500+ in PS5, PS4 Games This Year
I'm sorry, but this is stupid math - it's the same math Sony promotes, but it's stupid.
Show me the same list, but use a site that tracks price history to find the lowest sale price for each game BEFORE the date it appeared on Plus, then sum that and give me THAT number. That's a more reasonable and appropriate number.
Does it take more time to do that research and math? Yes, of course it does. Does it mean anything? Not a lot - but still about 1,000x more than adding together the full MSRP prices!
I'm partial to psdeals.net - try talking to them or some of their competitors and see if they can open their database to some direct queries to track this down more easily.
EDIT: And start NOW for doing this for 2026 - fire up a spreadsheet, and on the day Sony announces next month's Essential games, go hit psdeals.net or a similar site and record the lowest sale price for the games on the list. That will make this article for 2026 a lot easier to write, with more interesting and meaningful numbers!
Re: 'Everything Will Be Made by Humans': Expedition 33 Dev Says No More AI After Post-Awards Heat
@Titntin "AI as a tool is useful.
AI generated art however is other peoples stolen art mashed together"
Hate to break it to you, but that's what AI chatbots are, too, only with words.
Re: Game of the Year: Sammy's Top 5 PS5 Games of 2025
I think you just convinced me it was a good idea NOT to check out Wuthering Waves. Genshin sucks up too much of my time as it is, and at this point I'm not going to quit Genshin to pick up a different gacha, so...probably best to avoid it in the first place.
Besides, I started No Man's Sky this year - that's got enough to keep pulling me back in, it's almost another gacha in the way it keeps asking you to do just a little more.
Re: The Original Space Invaders Blasts onto PS5, PS4 on Xmas Day
I didn't play Space Invaders in the arcade (until I found a free play edition once) - just on the 2600. That was long after most of the arcade cabinets had been repurposed to play something else.
This is an OLD game - it's a definite step up from Pong, but it's not much deeper in gameplay, really. It just gets faster - that's it, that's the variation in the original game play. The 2600 at least had a variety of options - shields, no shields, invisible invaders, and more. That's honestly a better version in many respects.
I mean, if you want to pay $10 (with a $2 premium for a platinum trophy) knock yourself out, but I would recommend it for completionists rather than nostalgia buffs. If you played this in the arcade, you probably played many more interesting games in the years after.
Re: PS5 Fave Expedition 33 Stripped of Indie Game Awards, But Not for the Reasons You May Think
I'm seeing a lot of "AI is here, use it or be left behind!" posts in this thread, and it feels like a lot of those posts and the replies to them are from people who haven't actually lived through a technology upheaval as adults who could think about what was happening in real time.
I'm not old enough to have known people who worked in the horse and buggy industry, but I am old enough to remember when VHS was new, and remember using the Internet before the first web browser was invented (telnet primarily, but also ftp, irc, and even Veronica), so this isn't my first technological rodeo. What I think some of you are missing is that the push and pull of what is or isn't appropriate use of a technology is absolutely part of the process of adapting to it.
Yes, I expect that using AI in some capacities will become common place, but that doesn't mean everyone will use it all the time. It makes a lot of sense today to use AI to generate mock artwork you hire an artist to replace later. The reality may be that premium games will continue to do that and use it as a selling point (maybe even elevating their artists' reputations), while smaller indie games may try to leverage that as a way to avoid hiring more people. Heck, indie artists may try to leverage AI to write a game to put their artwork into, rather than hire a coder, some day.
If you think you know how AI use will shake out in the next 10+ years, then you're fooling yourself. It's almost certainly not going to be used the way we think it will be used today. Except for porn. I'm sure it will be used for porn, somehow. That's the one thing about new tech that's inevitable...from VHS to downloading GIFs over dialup to VR....
Re: Reminder: Astro Bot Has the Best Christmas Level on PS5 and It Isn't Close
@carlos82 Thanks for the heads up on that (King's Canyon Christmas level in Kayak VR) - I'll have to check it out. I wasn't sure I was going to fire up Kayak this season (with the sales that just dropped, I'm picking up about four new PSVR2 titles, so I'm not sure I'd have thought to play this one again).
Any details on when it's available?
Re: Reminder: Astro Bot Has the Best Christmas Level on PS5 and It Isn't Close
This game is in my stocking ($33 US from Costco last month), so I probably won't get to play that level this year.
Re: PS5 Welcome Hub Adds Another Animated Wallpaper Perfect for Winter
Since the only screen these wallpapers appear on has a whole lot of stuff in front of the wallpaper, you can't really see them that well. Given that...who cares?
Re: Claim 8 Free PS5 Avatars from Ghost of Yotei Dev Sucker Punch This Holiday
Haven't picked up the game yet (definitely on my list), so while I'm grabbing these while I can, I'm not swapping my avatar yet (which I just switched to one of the Motorstorm avatars, I miss that series).
Re: Sony Is Buying Snoopy for $457 Million in Surprise Acquisition
You can say it has nothing to do with Playstation, but now any game that can have crossover characters has a much simpler path to including Peanuts characters in the mix.
Hopefully they won't put them in games where they don't belong, but it gives them an option. There are already Peanuts tables in Pinball FX - so Peanuts on the Playstation isn't unheard of.
Re: Talking Point: With Expedition 33 Winning Best Indie Game, What Does 'Indie' Mean to You?
What do people think "big game publishers" do for a game?
They don't (necessarily) help with development - someone can shop a finished game around to publishers to find a willing partner. Why does it matter who they partner with?
If it doesn't have a physical release, then the publisher is just helping the developer navigate the stores (PSN, Microsoft, Steam, etc), and maybe offering some advertising assistance. In that case, does it matter if the publisher is someone small or someone huge, if the game was made by someone in their garage on the weekends? Does a game suddenly become not-Indie if the developer gets help getting the game in stores and publicized by someone like EA instead of someone like Team17 (or is Team17 too big - or bought out by someone too big - too)?
In the end, "Indie" is an arbitrary label that doesn't mean the same thing to everyone who hears it. Presumably The Game Awards sets some definition for it when it picks candidates for the category, and whatever criteria they use is correct for their award - if you want a different criteria, create your own award and apply your own criteria.
What difference does it make? The game is good or it's not, right?
Re: Talking Point: With Expedition 33 Winning Best Indie Game, What Does 'Indie' Mean to You?
Low budget and small team go hand in hand, because you can't increase the size of the team without increasing the budget. So that's a distinction without a difference.
But honestly, I don't care about the definition of Indie. If some small team inside one of the large corporations is allowed to build their own thing on a small budget, it may not be Indie because it's owned by a major studio, but it can still be functionally Indie if it's a small team and small budget building it.
I suppose arguing the difference between AAA and AA and sub-AA might be a bit better, but even that is just a rule of thumb. Who gets to define if you spent enough money to become AA or AAA, and how do you adjust that over time for inflation?
Don't sweat the arbitrary definitions - just enjoy good games, no matter who makes them.
Re: Pragmata Seemingly Off to a Strong Start as It's Added to Over 1 Million Wishlists Worldwide
Looking forward to buying it 6 months after release for 20-50% off, like everything else. By then all the fixes for the inevitable bugs will be available, and I'll get the best experience.
Nothing against Capcom - that's the industry standard any more. So I save some money AND let other people be the day 1 suckers who find the bugs the QA team missed or the development team weren't given time to fix before release.
Re: Promising Anime Arcade Racer Screamer Opens Up PS5 Pre-Orders
I love a good arcade racer.
But I hate preorders. I don't trust them any more, so I don't care what they're offering, I'll wait until release for the reviews to roll in, and make my decision then.
Maybe if studios released demos before release, I'd take a chance on a preorder if I loved the demo. Lacking that, there just isn't a studio I trust to deliver a solid day one experience.
Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (PS5) - Sky-High Ambition Meets Some Turbulence in This Stunning Sim
Waiting for PSVR2 support to be added and the reviews to come out once it is.
Re: Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow (PSVR2) - A Disappointingly Thin Dishonored-Lite
Sounds consistent with other reviews. A lot of potential defeated by a lack of polish and bad enemy AI.
This is 2025, why is enemy AI still so broken, especially in stealth games? Is there anything out there who does a really awesome job?
Re: One of PS5's Biggest and Most Popular Games Is Getting Its Own DualSense at Last
Many of the game-inspired DualSense controllers have felt like they were thrown together by AI - slap a couple graphics on it that vaguely reference the game, and call it good.
I'm surprised to be a little tempted by this one. I play a lot more Genshin Impact than I ought to (my backlog is complaining), and it does look better than a lot of the others out there.
Having ponied up the non-sale price for the second Astro Bot controller, though, I don't think I'm ready to pull the trigger on yet another one. So I'll probably pass...but one of my kids who is heavy into it has a birthday in Feb when it finally drops in the US, so.....
Re: PS Plus Gets a Decent Black Friday Discount, But There's a Catch for Existing Members
That works. My Plus subscription expires Nov 29, and auto-renew is disabled - because of a deal just like this, last year.
So the 29th or 30th I can subscribe for a year on whatever level I want (currently premium, because of a sale and a library of PSVR2 titles that used to be on premium, now I'll probably go for essential). Then next year I just have to hope the deal goes at least through the 29th or 30th.
Re: 'We'd Love to Do It': Sounds Like NCSOFT Wants Horizon Steel Frontiers on PS5 as Much as You
I'm sure Sony wants to be absolutely positively crystal clear that this is not the next Horizon game in the mainline series. Let's face it, many games made for mobile first aren't as good on a console and a big screen. There are exceptions (Genshin Impact may be one), but even those exceptions often aren't the kind of visual and play experience we expect from the next mainline Horizon game.
If it releases on the PS5 day one, it's going to be VERY hard for Sony to manage the messaging around it. Reviews will moan the step back in visual quality from the previous Horizon games, even if they acknowledge this isn't intended to compete with them - it still carries their banner. I would bet there is no way the PS5 version would get net positive reviews, it just wouldn't with the inevitable comparisons hanging over it. And that would be a black eye against the franchise, in a way that poor reviews of a mobile game simply won't be, if they happen.
But if it's well established as a mobile game and later comes to PS5, that may be different. If it comes out after Guerilla's next mainline release, the comparisons won't hurt the franchise.
Re: PS5's Biggest Game Has Not Released Yet, PlayStation Boss Teases
Won't GTA6 be considered a PS6 game, even if they drop a year or two apart? Nobody considers GTA5 a PS3 title these days, do they?
Re: You Can Live the Death Stranding Experience with This Awesome Real Life Exoskeleton
1.5k for something that looks cool is a lot of money.
1.5k to be able to do more work so you're not replaced by a robot might be worthwhile.
1.5k for a mobility aid that helps someone get around when they have issues might be a steal (though it's not clear these are really in that category).
Re: Another PS5 Advert Focuses Fully on the Games
Of course "to me" - I assume every opinion posted here is the personal opinion of the author. Don't you?
I think the ads without any real gameplay but referencing outrageous events which aren't actually in any games are more likely to sow confusion to casual gamers. Where's the game where you can jump skyscrapers in a tanker truck? What title is that - where can you buy it? Wait, you can't? It's not anything that happens in any game on the PS5? Well, why is it in the ad, then?
The better the hook works, the more likely Sony ends up with a potential customer who feels cheated. That doesn't feel smart to me.
Re: Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition Upgrade Costs a Whopping $40 / £36, Out Now on PS5
Every single fool - yes, I mean fool - who buys this at $60 or even $40 is encouraging more of this.
If it doesn't sell, then in 6-12 months it will be down around $10-20 where it belongs. If it does sell, then it will take a bit longer - but honestly, look at the prices for Fallout 4 recently. They're about as low as they can be without giving it away, even for all the DLC. They'll realize selling a few copies at $10 is better than selling none at all at $40 sooner or later.
Re: The UK Government Shoots Down 'Stop Killing Games' Campaign in Official Debate
Removed
Re: Protests at GTA Developer After Sacked Staff Deny Leaking Confidential Info
If you've made up your mind who is right or wrong based on the few details publicly available, then I sure hope you never end up on a jury.
So many people are so pro-union or pro-business that they make assumptions based on their beliefs, and not on the facts. Try not to do that, it's not healthy for you personally, or for society as a whole.