Value?! The same Take-two that outsourced the GTA Trilogy remastered "definitive edition" minus several songs due to being cheap on renewing licenses, only after several in-house patches increased the price for a cross buy version on PSN (no such option for ps4 physical owners)? Likewise the full priced GTA V releases over multiple gens? 😅
As to how much the story mode gameplay mechanics in GTA VI are influenced with the online mode (found the share market in GTA V to make decent $$ for properties etc. annoying even in single player),time will tell but not holding my breath.
@get2sammyb Shouldn't be that surprised at Xbox leadership playing guessing games like this in the lead up to the next gen launch wars.
As the current gen see-sawed liked a roller coaster with world events & initial big cash splurges & PS5 continued to lead sales despite Microsoft buying up Activision Blizzard & Zenimax Bethesda (& Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst continued stumbles in live service games), Satya & the Microsoft board wanted to stem the losses of this gen & played hardball with Phil Spencer & Sarah Bond failures to deliver a win over Sony, hence the PS5 floodgates opened on releases & garner some revenue.
Now the new team are in place & they're pushing a new Xbox console which on paper sounds more like a gaming PC built on a Windows base & promises of accessing PC players gaming libraries,(& legacy Xbox gaming libraries), they're being given leeway to entice Xbox/PC players with exclusives again & deliver the gamepass numbers that Phil Spencer promised Satya. Ultimately Satya will be the one as next gen unfolds who'll make the call if the numbers don't stack up.
Sony safeguarding certain exclusives make sense, but they'll need to be the kind of hard hitting winners that the Uncharted series, OG TLOU, Spiderman, Horizon Zero Dawn & others delivered across the late PS3/PS4 gen rather than Hulst's overall track record has been as Worldwide Studios this gen.
With the state of things atm, can understand why Implicit Conversions took the offer. However,it doesn't inspire the greatest confidence in Playstation's commitment to its classics program when the releases continue at a trickle, & tend to lack a lot of the heavy hitter third party classics of the kind that used to feature on Sony's budget platinum range BITD before the age of digital allegedly made things so much more widespread & better!🙄😋 Everyone has their own tastes & unfortunately licensing is the popular crutch, but to nominate a few titles possibly Colony Wars, Alundra, Adventures of Lomax, Ultimate Ghosts'n'Goblins, Maximo Quest for Glory & Army of Zin, NFS Underground 2, SSX Tricky & SSX3, GTA LCS/VCS, Splinter Cell ps2 series... like I said, unlikely....anyway, not exactly sure how they'll fit into working with the IP's the current Atari have, but who knows maybe it'll open more third party doors than Sony managed with its range.🤔
One of the few things Jim Ryan actually didn't fumble on,(though Shawn Layden confirmed much the same from his time in SIEA & Worldwide Studios). I mean props to the new Xbox leadership for actually trying to reduce a subscription price & at least appear consumer friendly to stem losses.
But by virtue of combating the potential PS5 buyers wanting access to their PS4 library, Phil Spencer tried enticing everyone with the instant games library on Xbox One & later Series S/X/PC. All he ended up doing after the AAA publisher buying spree was reinforced a culture to Xbox players they didn't need to buy games which might’ve worked if Gamepass was in as widespread use on streaming platforms & PC,but it isn't.
Even in Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst's mad pursuit of a Fortnite first party pot of gold they still strictly follow the likes of Take-two/Rockstar with GTA & want people to BUY games,then spend more afterwards rather than bundle them into PS Plus permanently.
Whilst if you're an indie gamer,(& given the current state of AAA releases,glad I am, though mostly those with a retro theme),I suppose one should be relieved Shuhei Yoshida was able to turn around some of the operations of the Indie division that'd been allowed to slide from the early ps4 era.
However, as we'd heard in the past like with the original God of War reboot,the combat & game received some major retooling after a rather critical Yoshida visit...compare & contrast Hulst (& the ex-guerilla folk he seemingly moved into Worldwide Studios as his "yes" people),proclaiming Concord one of the best games he'd ever played.
Yes,little doubt Jim Ryan started the rot with the live service push,but Hulst has continued the nonsense,& played the corporate slippery pole far better than Ryan by virtue of how many dev studios & lay-offs he's done since Totoki took charge of Sony operations.
Sadly we haven't just seen Shuhei Yoshida leave but founders of the likes of Naughty Dog (& creative heads like Amy Hennig & Bruce Strayley leave), Insomniac retire/leave,& other veterans in Bend, Media Molecule etc.
Would love to see Shuhei & others return, but the legacy of Jim Ryan, Hulst etc., is anyone that actually enjoyed gaming & interacted with players have been replaced by "suits" whom post on the blog if you're lucky or some financial website or investor meetings talking about player engagement & profit margins rather than are the first party games actually fun to play rather than,"how can we squeeze more from the user base?".😑🙄
As it is,since Shu left Sony,not even sure who runs their indie division...he's still doing more to promote them than whomever replaced him!
Unfortunately,most Playstation gamers don't know anyone who's a Sony shareholder,(& the latter care for profits,not quality of "product"), but can foresee Hermen Hulst doing the kind of throwing everyone under the bus,that he should be in those Scottish pole tossing events!🙄😂
"It was Jim's fault! He wanted Bungie! I certainly wasn't taken in by their Microsoft execs that came in & driving out their older talent before Destiny....they forced me to create an "advisory" group on multiplayer games because I had no idea & cancelled several on Jim Ryan's way out!🙄 "
Yes,as Shuhei Yoshida readily admitted before & after his Sony retirement, trying to back a "winning" development that'll succeed is hard & expensive....BUT Hermen Hulst' obsession with pushing Worldwide Studios into live service Fortnite & Overwatch style knock-offs at the cost of closures & departures of veteran talent whilst continuing to flog the dead horse of what's left of Bungie is the epitome of his mismanagement!🤨😑
The times I'd read his token word salad of legacy gaming IP's of Sony locked away on older systems like Resistance, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet (& some lovely single player games too),which featured single & multiplayer modes being abandoned in favour of his online only big scale live service knock offs, the only thing I can admire is his continual ability to convince the "suits" & accountants it's everyone else's fault!🙄
Meantime we're how many months on from the closure of the "experimental" PS Stars rewards program with vague promises of something better to replace it & still nothing?! But of course they definitely didn't shutter it because heavens forbid players would trade points for PSN Credits,right Sony?🙄😂
I loved the Uncharted series right from the get go...it felt fresh, the dynamics of Nate, Elena etc were superb & the wise cracking hero in numerous adventures...but with a lot of the principal creators that made Nathan Drake such an appealing & beloved character with the likes of Amy Hennig or Bruce Strayley long gone, really not sure I want to see Uncharted return. As much as it was teasing about their daughter, I'd fear the now common Hollywood trope,(Disney especially), of trying to boost her at the expense of a broken,divorced old Nathan Drake. Mere speculation & cynicism of Druckman's creative output,but my point was the Drakes went "legit" treasure hunters.
I'd like to see a new hero in some sort of similar action hero vein,& maybe the Sci Fi Intergalactic could surprise yet...but Druckmann without a Creative Director reigning him in has become another predictable Hollywood style creative in recent years & hate to see him change what made Uncharted a classic series!
Big tech would love to get more & more services that can & have been done offline on a PC or games console for decades just like they have with music,movies etc.
But personally any gaming group that switches their console/PC to be locked into cloud services,(& Windows 11 is already trying awfully hard at this), then I'm out of their ecosystem. It's enough dealing with numerous patches & hoping single player games are functional enough insofar as the servers whether Steam,PSN etc., remain online to download them again....when those options become unavailable then will be looking at alternatives or stick to retro.
Much like I posted in the price rise articles, there's world event ripples going on outside their control...ie: taxpayer/Wall Street funding an A.I oligarchy promising huge returns on A.i. farms, in collusion with RAM manufacturers (whom as shown in the likes of Gamers Nexus videos have colluded on pricing long before A.I.),& Big tech suppliers all too willing to chase higher sales,& meantime price gouge consumer grade parts with the leftover crumbs.
However, the manner of how Playstation's management's (kicked off by the short sighted Jim Ryan's captain's pick Hermen Hulst heading up Worldwide Studios),approach to betting the farm on live service games, pensioning off experienced middle management whom might’ve pushed back on what was being greenlighted or purchases like Bungie & their so called expertise & just the increasingly tone deaf approach of random "suits" whom will now drop an announcement on the PS Blog of PS Plus price rises, hardware rises,studio closures (in the press) & then they bunker down like it's the Winchester in Shaun of the Dead & hope it'll blow over is really widening the perception of aloofness & disconnect.
The days of PS1 or PS2 console pricing reducing over time with model revisions & game classics that would go cheaper on Platnium labels unlike Ninty's first party cartridge games or later on more digital based stores like PS4 & sales on PS Plus subscriptions so you could stack them have long gone!🤯😕
Instead you have a management that is quite willing to squeeze the existing player base & try recoup on the losses of some of their live service failures & yet still make sure the Playstation division still returns a profit. Sony management is now running a very tight financial leash due to the mismanagement of Ryan,Hulst etc.
Why do I get the sneaky suspicion that Tim Sweeny's medical & other insurance executive packages would not only cover his expenses if dramatically ill,but also include significant payouts if anything as serious happened to HIM!🙄
Unlike the previous price hikes which were all about profit margins,(ie: not selling at a loss), this is all about the rampocalypse,(& Gamers Nexus has done excellent coverage on the ram manufacturers colluding before),& the A.I. Oligarchy,& Big tech vendors like Nvidia,AMD & others quite happy in return for taxpayer & Wall Street money funding the A.I. bubble to screw over consumers & constrain supply & price gouge them all at the same time.
However, Sony's tone deaf responses this gen of squeezing PS Players especially those outside of the U.S. with price hikes on PS Plus ($103 for Essential my region),& zero discounts on buying a new subscription only upgrading existing one has ll Ed me to drop it first time in years! Did we ever see PS Deluxe regions get PS Premium? Nope! Has the PS Classics program been dramatically expanded with multiple first parties? Lucky to see a capcom or Bandai Namco title,& a dribble of one title or so!
We've seen the likes of Shawn Layden & Shuhei Yoshida pensioned off,as have the founders & prominent heads from the likes of Bend, Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Media Molecule & others, whilst Hermen Hulst has pushed studios into live service disasters & closed studios whilst ignoring PS3 locked IP's to pursue Fortnite knock offs or spin off games into Steaming TV,TV,TV rather than if a game is fun or any good!🙄
Worse still with the departure of execs like Layden or Yoshida you have nameless tone deaf "suits' Iin charge whom have taken the Jim Ryan model of make a tone deaf announcement on the blog, go to the Winchester, & hope it'll all blow over!
Except it isn't Shaun of the Dead,Sony. If you don't give a perception of value & variety & reasons to stay loyal, PS users whom have been around since PS1 & PS2 & knew that Playstation used to represent value vs expensive alternatives will leave. Especially when you're as aloof & tone deaf as current management are.
On one hand, yes this is very much a situation outside of their control & look no further than the Big Tech Cabal of the A.I. tech oligarchy & all too willing partners of the RAM manufacturers,& the likes of AMD,Nvidia (yes I know they don't contribute PS5 parts), etc. quite happy to constrain consumer supplies & gouge us with the crumbs left over all for "doing business" in the land of Quid Pro Quo Incorporated.🤯😤☹️
However, Playstation management this generation have made the Infamous missteps of the Playstation 3 generation look like pure genius when compared to how remote & out of touch they've been this generation. Whether it's token efforts of accessing legacy gaming libraries with PS Deluxe, to buying up talented Studios like Bluepoint only to now close them, to releasing disasters like Concord or potentially now Marathon in Hermen Hulst's continued live service Fortnite obsession to the detriment of the game variety & independence that made Sony Worldwide Studios so strong before his disastrous reign.🙄
But add to it the forced retirements of the likes of Shuhei Yoshida & other Worldwide Studios heads & producers for Hulst's favourites, alongside a bunch of "suits" who'll post in the PS Blog & absolutely avoid interacting with the very player base that provide their employment & its little wonder veteran PS Fans are left wondering do I even bother replacing my console if anything happens let alone think about PS6 especially in the current tech rampocalypse.🤨
As others have said, let my PS Essential lapse for the first time in years & with the lack of any discounts for it, incoming "features" like dynamic pricing,things Sony CAN control, they're certainly not winning me over vs just playing my backlog & picking up the same indies on PC.
@Yousef- Would be a tight finish between Angry Video Gamer Nerd's Plumbers Don't Wear Ties or Seaman as to which he had most fun filming given both "games" were perfectly suited to his humour!! 😁
Go back to was it late ps4 gen or early ps5 era comments of Shawn Layden discussing the "value" of "shorter" AAA games maybe only 18-20 hours vs ones being 50hrs+, & then possibly lined with grindfest gameplay mechanics to push mtx down your throat....& that's not including online loot boxes or virtual currency ala Fortnite,GTA etc.
I honestly was comfortable enough with games like say Little Big Planet or Motorstorm that had solid single & local player stuff,(or Uncharted),& optional online stuff but didn't ram things down your throat. Even PS4 earlier on in the generation was great for first party stuff that like, you could hit up Horizon as quick or slow as you wanted...
But now AAA publishers want to push live services & make their game you "main" weekly grindfest whether COD,Fortnite,GTA,(& Hermen Hulst been wasting PS Studios & closing them left & right to get his own mega online cashcow),to put hundreds of hours in & considerably extra $$ than the initial payment.
Smaller is better,& likewise even in the single player, spare me the gritty depressing worlds like Neil Druckman wants to rinse & repeat regardless of whatever storyline he's pitching.
But I'm old so,I'm not their demographic anymore,so retro inspired indies more my jam it is,they won't care me yelling at the clouds!😂😋
Must admit in just catching up on PS Gaming news I was dreading it being someone like Media Molecule or Bend...guessing this was another one of Hulst's "live service" dream dev director led teams. Which after the disaster of Concord we've seen several of the listed studios old& new be thrown under the Hermen Hulst bus of blame if they fail the "blockbuster" test whilst he would mostly only greenlight live service Fortnite rip-offs & certainly little interest in old Sony IP's that pre-dated his tenure as Worldwide Studios head.🙄😕
Shuhei Yoshida, Shawn Layden etc might not have always picked a winner or big live service successes but they knew their games far more than the clueless Jim Ryan that wanted a yes man rather than anyone push back against his reign of mediocrity & panic decision making which has left us the out of his depth Hulst.
It's very 2026 that the top priority they're making is to rebrand the PSN moniker! Store gifting to your friends?, Steam style refunds instead of the vague "case by case" & stated policies of "if you downloaded it, you bought it",but try our chat bot support if you're in a territory with stronger consumer laws & you may reach someone!! Being serious, yes we've seen some small wins like displaying of previous prices & wishlisting to a degree when it doesn't bug out. Very welcome....but the glacial speeds of actual tangible improvements vs the actual age of the overall Playstation storefronts over multiple generations has been ridiculously slow vs the prices & changes they've applied like PS Plus etc. And not many wins for the players in terms of features either!
Just remember folks,the reason we're facing the rampocalypse, SSD, & GPU shortages, & increased pricing on future gen in a deliberately manipulated shortage by the billionaire tech oligarchy so we can enjoy snapchat like filters...when they're not pilfering our data to feed their AI,unregulated! 2026, what a time to be alive! 🙄
Might be mistaken,but I seem to recall in & around the time frame of the likes of the Octopath Traveller games & I think some of the "classic" FF games announced coming to Gamepass/Xbox there was a mention of a change in Square Enix management that was more Xbox friendly after a period of frosty relations & timed exclusive on Final Fantasy 7 remake etc. We've certainly seen an increased level of public "snarking" from Square Enix repeatedly hammering "disappointing" results on Sony marketed games but never heard a peep on Gamepass exclusives like Octopath Traveller etc ,where Playstation owners were locked out for the longest periods. And yes, the golden child Nintendo fanbase would repeat the bot like Xbox line & games press on Sony money hitting deals when Nintendo Square Enix exclusives have been a repeating pattern!🙄
Thankful someone in the press has finally highlighted this hypocrisy, but sadly we won't see it elsewhere. Clearly Square Enix are still very happy to do exclusive deals for $$ from Microsoft or Nintendo & people in their management have a beef with Sony at present but as always its the players that suffer!
@get2sammyb "Streaming games"...oh yes. Remember when Jim Ryan & Playstation P.R. talked about expanding the pre-existing territories & meantime as a "stop-gap" they brought out Deluxe? As one of those territories Down Under,(where admittedly our internet speeds weren't great at the time but have improved a bit since),where Deluxe weighs in at $215AU, it's always felt like a bit of an afterthought after the fallout from their then premature attempt to close the legacy PSN stores. In particular whilst we've become aware of Implicit Conversions involvement, there doesn't really feel like any direct connection or people at Playstation directly involved. The third party content has been sporadic,for example the ps2 classics on ps4 managed to get Bully & The Warriors, Metal Slug collection (short lived program I'll admit). But meantime we still see some Sony titles left on the bench,(or now in the case of GOW part of a full "remake" rather than in original form), & Capcom classics were far quicker coming to Good Old Games than they have to PSN. Don't pretend there aren't a myriad of issues that can't crop up with old games, but if you're selling a sub tier &/or option to buy retro classics they should show a little enthusiasm about it! Very much feels every bit of a low priority & some of the lacklustre titles that were hardly classics BITD show a lacklustre effort whomever at Playstation is overseeing it.
Felt like Sony management this gen seemed determined to send this remaster of the last gen hit out to die & give justification not to pursue a sequel.😕😔 Sent out in a rushed/buggy state, refuse PS4 owners any way of buying it other than at the ridiculous full price & then conveniently claim there wasn't the interest to press on with the tease of that sequel.
Games like Until Dawn or indeed the Quantic Dreams ones of Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls & Detroit Become Human might be to everyone's tastes, BUT I would argue they have more variety (in terms of each being a new creation/story), than the utter dross of Fortnite style knock offs & TLOU 1 & 2 remasters that Hermen Hulst has chosen to greenlight Worldwide Studios this generation.
Unfortunately no amount of sales or good press (& they had both),on the devs behalf was ever going to be enough for the incoming EA "Suits". ..Recall the buyout deal approved by the other EA "Suits"/investors to the Kushner/Saudi group involved saddling EA with a whole bunch of debt to finance said takeover? Then all the technobabnle of AI,AI,AI being able to take over for future games? As always the Suits get nice payouts, golden parachutes etc.,& the new lot will get bonuses but the actual workers wear the consequences of these deals & impossible targets.🙄
While a lot has been made by Xbox fans already of the "dream machine" double whammy of "ULTIMATE POWER" super console (apparently more powerful than potential PS6 specs),like Series X all over again, plus access to your PC Games & One/Series X/S catalogue & select 360 stuff...sounds perfect in theory, right? Overcomes Phil Spencer's PS4 was the worst gen to lose games library dilemma.
But if it's supposed to support multiple store fronts libraries like Steam,GOG,Epic etc., why on earth would third party AAA publishers & AA/Indies bother with specific next gen Xbox ports instead of just concentrating on PC, & Nintendo/Playstation versions?🤔
Much like PS6, most publishers will be hedging bets to release on Switch 2 & PS5 where the $$ are...not to say there won't be any next gen exclusives, but with the rampocalypse affecting consumer PC & console supplies, suspect "next-gen" will constrained with cross platform games. Unless the supply & prices on consumer components changes dramatically (& the A.I. tech oligarchy are determined it won't), it'll be the same supply issues that plagued this gen during lockdowns etc., but far pricier. 🤔
Given the rumours of the next Xbox/PC hybrid & indeed the Steam console MkII, you can't help but suspect Sony management were more than a bit concerned playstation players fed up with their tone deafness from Jim Ryan to Hermen Hulst would consider shifting to PC or the alternatives.
Not bothered by multiplayer live service games being multiplatform. But not been impressed by Hulst's pressuring certain Studios with mostly only greenlighting "Fornite knock off X", leaving only his favourites to do Single player.
As to just how many actual Single player games are in production to see how much difference this pivot means time will tell.
The fact remains there were a number of games like the Resistance series, later Motorstorm's, Little Big Planet 1 & 2, Twisted Metal that all had "live services"...we're they all Fortnite or COD level? No, but they certainly could've paid their way to possible reboots or sequels with solid single player modes to tempt you into possibly trying the online modes. You don't need a saturation of Fortnite clones to then wonder why the knock offs invariably fail.
Whether resentment by From Soft that Sony hold publishing control over Bloodborne or maybe speculation I'd seen in previous threads here they were unimpressed when co-collab partner Studio Japan was then closed we' never really know.🤔
The sad thing is,there was certainly other games in the IP attic..Resistance 1-3, Little Big Planet 1 & 2, Motorstorm series all with online modes & locked on PS3, given Hulst's obsession with live services. Then other single playe games like Infamous, Uncharted Golden Abyss still locked on Vita, even Project Ico was locked to a HD PS3 port from the ps2 by Bluepoint afaik. Then you had the likes of Killzone & even Driveclub & of course the recently announced God of War remakes,when Blupoint handled HD versions onto PS3 from PS2 in the first place & there were the other God of War PSP games that never seen modern versions either!
Such a waste...& still regard mismanagement by Herman Hulst who's been obsessed by a first party Fortnite first party knock off ever since the Jim Ryan era.😔
@get2sammyb Unfortunately,ever since Jim Ryan took the reigns & replaced or "retired" or sidelined other execs, the people that came in have been synonymous with being silent "suits" that don't interact with plebeian gamers. They just make announcements on the Blog,(& don't stick around for the comments!),or via WIRED or some financial news site!🙄
The only recent exceptions I can recall was when Jim Ryan blinked after his premature attempt to close the PS3 Store with no legacy ps1/ps2 catalogue on PS4/PS5 to speak of at the time,& the upgrade price "compromise" for later ps4/ps5 first party games after the initial launch titles were free.
I know we've had the debate it's not the likes of Hulst's job to interact with players. But execs like Shuhei Yoshida etc. clearly have a love of games that you could be sure they knew their audience even if in their official capacity they couldn't necessarily publicly say why they hadn't pushed for a Bloodborne remake.
Unfortunately the current management just bunker down & hope it'll all pass like it was Shaun of the Dead which just further feeds the Ivory towers perception! 😕
Well both a surprise & yet somehow not that surprising all at the same time! Given how prolific Phil "Gamer" Spencer had been whether on socials, events, to his Infamous buying sprees buying up a huge chunk of the AAA gaming scene with both Zenimax Bethesda & Activision Blizzard,it's been both telling & ironic he'd gone near silent with an impatient Microsoft exec board expecting their billions of funding to be repaid with millions of Gamepass subs & demanding a return to multiplatform releases when it didn't happen!
Given the mess of Windows 11's copilot spyware & trying to strongarm Microsoft accounts just to use it so they can further tie users into "live services" like OneDrive, Office 365 etc.,, says it all they're appointing an AI person to take over the reigns. Perfect P.R. "we won't be serving up A.I. slop" given the likes of Satya(I think),Infamously said it was hurtful to the A.I. "industry" calling its output slop! 🙄😂🤯
Given the long-standing rumours of the next gen Xbox being less a console & more a hybrid PC with Xbox branding & integrating the PC & console games into one platform possibly within Windows, hardly inspires confidence with the incoming boss!
Not that we haven't already heard similar A.I. murmurs being a big part of PS6...if they can ever get the chips for it given the big tech oligarchy have decided they need everyone else's memory chips!🙄
Is it any wonder older gamers are a tad pessimistic on next gen? Enjoy your golden parachute Phil,could you take Hermen Hulst with you off into the sunset?😅
Been rather vocal on my critiques on Hermen Hulst for some time. In interviews post "retirement", Shuhei Yoshida mentioned the choice to head the Playstation Indies initiative was a "take it or leave it" deal from Jim Ryan.
That he managed some reforms & saw renewed Indies interest says more about Shuhei's experience & talents. Indeed since his leaving Sony,he's still doing more to promote indies than anyone in the largely silent Playstation machine. (Outside of State of Play).
Meantime as Shu noted only partially in jest, he might’ve "pushed back" on some of Jim Ryan's push into live service games where Hermen Hulst comes in. We've heard vague reports after Hulst's promotion of long time Worldwide Studios producers departing Playstation & inferences ex-guerilla staffers have moved across,highly unlikely to pushback against their boss Hulst.
Likewise,Hulst was seemingly a pivotal figure in the Bungie acquisition & giving a Bungie group,(wherein ex-Microsoft management had already seen veterans leave prior to Destiny), even more creative control overseeing current live service projects in development & axing several on their advice.
Add to that other Ex-Bungie staff being greenlighted in amongst the likes of Concord etc.,& you then saw Sony executives tap Jim Ryan to weild the axe on route to his "retirement".
Likewise,as @get2Sammyb points out, the previous "creative freedom", that Studios enjoyed with Shuhei Yoshida, Shawn Layden etc.,has been curtailed by a clear push under Hermen Hulst & his rare public interviews of games either having "live service" to get the green light or TV,TV,TV spin-offs for streaming, movies, & lord knows what else.
Instead of letting Bluepoint onto their PS3 locked IP's like LBP 1 & 2, Motorstorm series, Resistance series, Ratchet & Clank PS3 titles, LBP Karting, or Infamous or Bloodborne he only greenlights a questionable God of War universe online spin-off!🙄 How about testing some of those older titles & could see if their online modes still had popularity for something bigger later & sustain their development!
Little surprise veterans & studio heads of the likes of Sony Bend,Insomniac, Naughty Dog & others have "retired", been let go, or quit acrimoniously, whilst Hulst has continued to play favourites, push remasters noone really demanded or force Studios built around & resourced for single player games to miraculously come up with the next fornite on a shoestring budget & throw them under the bus & close the studio when they don't!🙄
Not forgetting Hulst buying mobile developer Studios for little to show for it. I've heard the argument it's not Hulst's job to interact with gamers like Shawn Layden or Shuhei Yoshida did...but I'd argue they were far more in touch with understanding what their audience wanted at Playstation even if they couldn't always deliver for whatever factors might’ve been at play.
Hulst has NEVER shown anything publicly let alone judging by his multiple closures or mismanaging the likes of Bluepoint into oblivion that he has a clue what Playstation gamers want. How he's remained is a mystery other than soo many suitable replacements have quit or been forced out there's noone left to step up other than another "suit".🤨😕
Haven't read the deluge to comments, but my two cents for what it's worth. Entirely on Hermen Hulst's mismanagement of Worldwide Studios & his continuation of the same direction as when appointed by Jim Ryan.😑
After the success of Demon Souls,& having previously handled projects like the Uncharted Trilogy from PS3 to PS4, or Project Ico/SOTC from ps2 to ps3 to think of some examples, what did Hermen's obsession with coming up with multiple Fortnite-lite games get Bluepoint?
Started work on a live services online God of War spin off?!🤯🙄 Delayed in part between obvious dev difficulties transitioning from single player to multiplayer they then get further sidetracked being support to Santa Monica doing God of War,before ultimately having their own project kyboshed!
Meantime when Naughty Dog had their Factions spin-off cancelled, you had Hermen greenlight TLOU 1&2 PS5 remasters literally to give them something to do.
You have ps3 games like LBP 1 & 2, LBP Karting,the Motorstorm series,Resistance series, Infamous to name a few, ps3 locked nevermind Bloodborne fans screaming for a ps5 version,& a studio that were masters of remasters & remakes,& what did Hermen pursestrings Hulst have them do?!🤯🙄
It's little wonder so many veteran creators & studio heads whether Sony Bend, or senior Naughty Dog, Insomniac have retired or "left" with the mismanagement of Hulst. Clearly does a great job spinning snake oil about his favourite studios whilst throwing others under the bus for failed projects he's forced them to do in the absence of few single player games these days.
Miss the Layden & Yoshida eras. Best wishes to the Bluepoint staff affected. It would be common sense that Hulst should've paid the price for his mismanagement,but given he's surrounded himself with either ex-guerilla or other middle management & the likes of Shuhei Yoshida or Shawn Layden have long retired who's there to contradict him in board meetings?🙄
The ridiculous thing about these massive A.I. allocations by all the Big tech oligarchy,it's literally for data centres that currently don't exist & usually with "I'll totally pay you later bro, trust me!" I.O.U's!🙄
You then have other big tech like Samsung phones/TV,Apple, car manufacturers let alone Playstation battling it out for their hardware needs,& then finally the crumbs left for consumers!
Though for hapless souls either building a new PC or trying to squeeze more life out of their current build replacing parts, they ironically not only have to pay the ridiculously market shortaged inflated prices literally 400-500% higher upfront, or preorder & hope when the crumbs arrive their order isn't cancelled & priced even higher meantime!
And with competition authorities turning a blind eye or starved of funds, it'll continue!😔
Seem to recall coming across a Rayman on the GOG store where this had been previously highlighted. So not totally surprised if a little disappointed to hear the same here...but unfortunately several of the big publishers have a rather poor track record when it comes to preservation of their old games. Or in other instances (eg: Take Two), cheap to renew music licenses despite the millions falling out of their CEO's pocket in bonuses!🙄
As always with Ubisoft the devil will be in the detail of where they have farmed this off to. Remember the Prince of Persia fiasco?! If memory serves some of the creative that brought the likes of Rayman Legends ended up making their own indie studio & bringing out Unruly Heroes & Have a Nice Death since, so not sure how many veterans have survived the numerous Ubisoft purges given it's obsession with online live services.🤔
Dear Hermen,or one of your ex-guerilla lackies you appointed to Worldwide Studios...dig around the cupboards & find an old ps3 buried away in the office...fire up LBP 1 & 2, LBP Go-kart, Motorstorm Pacific Storm or later, & a few others & be amazed to find there were other games before Fortnite to do a knock off & then wonder why it's not testing well!!🙄
Little wonder so many veterans of Sony's Studios have left/retired in recent years being forced to chase Hermen Hulst's obsession with knock offs or multimedia things that can be spun off to streaming series etc. Remember when Sony Studios focus was making a good game first? Hermen doesn't apparently!😂
@PixiebellGames Ended up buying Ender Lillies so as it wasn't tied to my PS Plus.... unfortunately still can't get past the Witch Boss!😱😤😂 Watched the YouTube videos heck, on rare occasions reached her 3rd phase but always finds a way to do my patience in & beat me! Gah! Love & hate relationship! 😅
Was browsing the PSN Store earlier & saw TMNT Shredders Revenge has the PS4 version discounted in the sale,(roughly $18 my region), but oddly the PS5 version is still full price seemingly being tied in PS Plus Extra & instead encourages you to subscribe instead!🙄 Not that Dotemu is alone in skipping crossbuy or limiting upgrades,(eg: GTA Trilogy remastered "definitive edition" only crossbuy on the pricier digital version, or Until Dawn PS5 had no upgrade path from ps4), but still annoying!😕
Strauss: "Oh,perish the thought,that's not the plan at all!"....🤯😱😅 Also Strauss: Damm,how did these tiresome people find out? Note to calender, get our lawyers to "feed the fishes" & "fix the plumbing, AGAIN!"🙄😱🤣
@get2sammyb Whilst it's hardly a "new" thing for a release like this to get new/exclusive content to get approval on the Eshop so long after its initial release, Digital Eclipse have stated on Bluesky "they are no longer involved with the other versions".🤔
Do hope this isn't a trend for the Atari owned & published Digital Eclipse retro releases being exclusives,timed or otherwise!😕 Might be one to watch if these older PS4/PC versions will be delisted in future with the Switch versions being newer licenses?
Been looking up the scant few details still around on "Gamer Girl",& sadly the lead actress whom apparently went to some effort rewriting her own dialogues etc.,as seemingly was her own "big break" in a lead role,passed away in 2024!🤯😕 The sad thing is we never got to see the full game to even judge that on its own merits, it was prejudged on just the trailer & assumptions by a select few.
As for Hacked? Bit of different scenario as the other game had you as a moderator pal of the protagonist versus here. Guess we'll see in due course how this fairs. 🤔
Could be wrong, but rather brings to mind the Wales Interactive published "Gamer Girl", which they dropped like a hot skillet & threw its developer under the bus!
The "blackmail" angle is the only real difference I can recall as the other game I think you were supposedly the streamer's community manager or something??🤔 If anything, the Gamer Girl storyline seemed tamer! But quite a sense of deja vu here!
Whilst can only watch from afar Down Under where Premium has never been present,(remember when Deluxe was promoted as a "temporary" solution as Premium was expanded?),it does bring to mind the "cheap" mindset the Jim Ryan & post Ryan management have adopted regarding legacy software support.
Thankfully the baked-in hardware compatibility of ps4 into ps5 mostly worked,(apart from ironically a lot of the ps2 classics on ps4 titles in that short lived program). But despite seemingly engaging Implicit Conversions on a few titles,they never bothered with more obvious candidates like the ps2 Ratchet games or God of War 1 & 2,nevermind some of their Psygnosis ps1 games! Moreso they really don't seem to have any of their PSN services chasing third parties for the service when, seeing the likes of Ubisoft for example stumble badly with POP etc., would make better sense to get their ps2 library on it for instance!
You saw Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst chase after acquisitions like Bungie, Nixxes, & even mobile devs & start up studios on live service disasters like Concord or Fortnite wannabes, & pivot the likes of Bluepoint,(renowed for remakes & indeed remasters like on PS3 for ICO/SOTC),making live service God of War spinoffs! Yet there was a number of PS3 first party titles ala Resistance series, Infamous, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet series, & some nice Ratchet titles all locked on the ps3! The irony when some of those had online modes for the very "engagement" & potentially where they could be prioritising IP reboots by testing the waters with some ports!🙄
Given the price of Deluxe here,(Essential costs $103AU last i looked for 12months & never gets discounted), I'm glad I can buy individual titles, but I remain under no illusion the ps1 & ps2 content both 1st & 3rd party feels far inferior to the likes of GOG & others.
"Until it was re-revealed in a brilliant 2017 trailer"? Brilliant,really? I saw something trying to be "edgy" with a swearing gorilla,& then thereafter Ubisoft P.R,talking up what sounded like an MMO like online rubbish that had nothing to do with Jade continuing her search for Pey'j!!🙄😔
If they had taken cues from single player games like the Uncharted series,we could've easily had Beyond Good & Evil 2 during the ps4 era instead of whatever "it's gonna have NFT's! Wait,they're not cool anymore?" rubbish this appears to be!🤯
Atari? Well,as others have said,features like rewind would be welcome...just simply say Atari,don't go & Ubisoft it up or you'll have fans ready to do a Rayman mega punch!😂 Whilst I think there's been a classic Rayman on GOG store for PC for years,seem to recall user posts mentioned the OG music tracks had been altered so fingers crossed here!🤞
@SuntannedDuck2 my sentiment exactly! The irony that two different studios & years of development hell still couldn't produce a remake,when the alternative could've been just hand it over to a Nightdive/Implicit Conversions or similar & could've probably had the old trilogy &/or some of the Splinter Cell ps2 classics by now in the same period!🙄
But hey,we still have the swearing,"edgy" gorillas MMO type thing instead of Jade looking for Pey'j "sequel" not sequel Beyond Good & Evil!!😅 Ubisoft are less a publisher & more a meme these days!🙄
"Legendary Beat-em-ups"...hmm. I would regard arcades like Kung-fu Master, Double Dragon as legendary in their time...others like Vigilante, Final Fight or Alien vs Predator later on as classical updates!...Fighting Force was, alright....tried to be a bit different, but I would categorise the likes of The Warriors or Bully far better later executions of what Fighting Force was trying for.🤔
@get2sammyb Bigger question is with the departure of not only Shuhei Yoshida but (judging by his twitter),Greg Rice from the Playstation Indies has there been a quite purge of their old division? Push Square has posted a few stories of the A.I. slop copycat titles (literally the other day pun intended!)...but it points to an issue of has there been cutbacks in PSN account managers & game curation/ Identifying titles to promote which the indies initiative under Shuhei was doing?
Wouldn't shock if the games approval process is being handed over to an A.I. driven backend on PSN,but this sort of promotion suggest the Indies Initiative department has been culled in favour of just promoting whatever slop titles are being approved so long as they're paying promotion fees....we've already seen in the past how neglect of the Indies saw a number of devs & publishers prefer releasing elsewhere due to difficulties dealing with overworked or account managers who left & left them with literally noone to communicate with!🤔
An even better question to ask in light of these A.I. Slop games is to ask whom is running the Playstation Indies division nowadays? When Shuhei Yoshida "retired", the heir apparent seemed to be Greg Rice (formerly of Double Fine before joining under Shu),but according to his twitter profile he's now part of Day of the Devs. Shuhei is still active promoting various indies but there really doesn't seem to be anyone within Playstation doing that role since he left.
Whilst there's little doubt the gaming backed receives any number of games submissions, you can't help but feel a bit concerned one lot of A.I., approving other A.I. knock offs, alongside where are the team members to identify the next lot of indie gems into the future? (Eg: Stray,Bugsnax etc.).🤔
Loved the Amiga version...honestly wish they'd done a hi-res 2d remake old school pixel art style,(much like say Terminator No Fate), but guess will wait & watch how this fairs.🤔 Vaguely recall the last attempt was back in the ps3 era but seemed to miss the mark. Fingers crossed!!
Whilst not a COD/FPS fan,do have Jedi survivor & you could see by his hits, his design philosophy what he brought to his studios & how that resonated with gamers. Unlike the Activision or E.A. "suits",he still wanted fun & atmospheric games, not just re-skins. In light of the EA takeover, a definite loss to the AAA industry, RIP.
A varied & clearly talented voice actor in all those roles. Sadly not a priority within Sony but wish the older back catalogue could be ported across,(or emulated for missing PS2 entries). RIP.
Comments 1,543
Re: 'Our Job Is to Charge Way, Way, Way Less of the Value': GTA 6 Unlikely to Cost $100+ on PS5
Value?! The same Take-two that outsourced the GTA Trilogy remastered "definitive edition" minus several songs due to being cheap on renewing licenses, only after several in-house patches increased the price for a cross buy version on PSN (no such option for ps4 physical owners)? Likewise the full priced GTA V releases over multiple gens? 😅
As to how much the story mode gameplay mechanics in GTA VI are influenced with the online mode (found the share market in GTA V to make decent $$ for properties etc. annoying even in single player),time will tell but not holding my breath.
Re: 'We'll Share More When We're Ready': Xbox Wants to Make the 'Right Decision' on Exclusivity and PS5
@get2sammyb Shouldn't be that surprised at Xbox leadership playing guessing games like this in the lead up to the next gen launch wars.
As the current gen see-sawed liked a roller coaster with world events & initial big cash splurges & PS5 continued to lead sales despite Microsoft buying up Activision Blizzard & Zenimax Bethesda (& Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst continued stumbles in live service games), Satya & the Microsoft board wanted to stem the losses of this gen & played hardball with Phil Spencer & Sarah Bond failures to deliver a win over Sony, hence the PS5 floodgates opened on releases & garner some revenue.
Now the new team are in place & they're pushing a new Xbox console which on paper sounds more like a gaming PC built on a Windows base & promises of accessing PC players gaming libraries,(& legacy Xbox gaming libraries), they're being given leeway to entice Xbox/PC players with exclusives again & deliver the gamepass numbers that Phil Spencer promised Satya. Ultimately Satya will be the one as next gen unfolds who'll make the call if the numbers don't stack up.
Sony safeguarding certain exclusives make sense, but they'll need to be the kind of hard hitting winners that the Uncharted series, OG TLOU, Spiderman, Horizon Zero Dawn & others delivered across the late PS3/PS4 gen rather than Hulst's overall track record has been as Worldwide Studios this gen.
Re: The Dev Behind Many Classic Games on PS5 and PS Plus Just Got Bought By Atari
With the state of things atm, can understand why Implicit Conversions took the offer. However,it doesn't inspire the greatest confidence in Playstation's commitment to its classics program when the releases continue at a trickle, & tend to lack a lot of the heavy hitter third party classics of the kind that used to feature on Sony's budget platinum range BITD before the age of digital allegedly made things so much more widespread & better!🙄😋
Everyone has their own tastes & unfortunately licensing is the popular crutch, but to nominate a few titles possibly Colony Wars, Alundra, Adventures of Lomax, Ultimate Ghosts'n'Goblins, Maximo Quest for Glory & Army of Zin, NFS Underground 2, SSX Tricky & SSX3, GTA LCS/VCS, Splinter Cell ps2 series... like I said, unlikely....anyway, not exactly sure how they'll fit into working with the IP's the current Atari have, but who knows maybe it'll open more third party doors than Sony managed with its range.🤔
Re: Xbox Game Pass vs PS Plus: Was Sony Right All Along?
One of the few things Jim Ryan actually didn't fumble on,(though Shawn Layden confirmed much the same from his time in SIEA & Worldwide Studios). I mean props to the new Xbox leadership for actually trying to reduce a subscription price & at least appear consumer friendly to stem losses.
But by virtue of combating the potential PS5 buyers wanting access to their PS4 library, Phil Spencer tried enticing everyone with the instant games library on Xbox One & later Series S/X/PC. All he ended up doing after the AAA publisher buying spree was reinforced a culture to Xbox players they didn't need to buy games which might’ve worked if Gamepass was in as widespread use on streaming platforms & PC,but it isn't.
Even in Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst's mad pursuit of a Fortnite first party pot of gold they still strictly follow the likes of Take-two/Rockstar with GTA & want people to BUY games,then spend more afterwards rather than bundle them into PS Plus permanently.
Re: 'I Didn't Listen to Him': Ex PlayStation Boss Shu Yoshida on Why Jim Ryan 'Fired' Him
Whilst if you're an indie gamer,(& given the current state of AAA releases,glad I am, though mostly those with a retro theme),I suppose one should be relieved Shuhei Yoshida was able to turn around some of the operations of the Indie division that'd been allowed to slide from the early ps4 era.
However, as we'd heard in the past like with the original God of War reboot,the combat & game received some major retooling after a rather critical Yoshida visit...compare & contrast Hulst (& the ex-guerilla folk he seemingly moved into Worldwide Studios as his "yes" people),proclaiming Concord one of the best games he'd ever played.
Yes,little doubt Jim Ryan started the rot with the live service push,but Hulst has continued the nonsense,& played the corporate slippery pole far better than Ryan by virtue of how many dev studios & lay-offs he's done since Totoki took charge of Sony operations.
Sadly we haven't just seen Shuhei Yoshida leave but founders of the likes of Naughty Dog (& creative heads like Amy Hennig & Bruce Strayley leave), Insomniac retire/leave,& other veterans in Bend, Media Molecule etc.
Would love to see Shuhei & others return, but the legacy of Jim Ryan, Hulst etc., is anyone that actually enjoyed gaming & interacted with players have been replaced by "suits" whom post on the blog if you're lucky or some financial website or investor meetings talking about player engagement & profit margins rather than are the first party games actually fun to play rather than,"how can we squeeze more from the user base?".😑🙄
As it is,since Shu left Sony,not even sure who runs their indie division...he's still doing more to promote them than whomever replaced him!
Re: You Might Not Want to Know How Much It Reportedly Cost Bungie to Make Marathon
Unfortunately,most Playstation gamers don't know anyone who's a Sony shareholder,(& the latter care for profits,not quality of "product"), but can foresee Hermen Hulst doing the kind of throwing everyone under the bus,that he should be in those Scottish pole tossing events!🙄😂
"It was Jim's fault! He wanted Bungie! I certainly wasn't taken in by their Microsoft execs that came in & driving out their older talent before Destiny....they forced me to create an "advisory" group on multiplayer games because I had no idea & cancelled several on Jim Ryan's way out!🙄 "
Yes,as Shuhei Yoshida readily admitted before & after his Sony retirement, trying to back a "winning" development that'll succeed is hard & expensive....BUT Hermen Hulst' obsession with pushing Worldwide Studios into live service Fortnite & Overwatch style knock-offs at the cost of closures & departures of veteran talent whilst continuing to flog the dead horse of what's left of Bungie is the epitome of his mismanagement!🤨😑
The times I'd read his token word salad of legacy gaming IP's of Sony locked away on older systems like Resistance, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet (& some lovely single player games too),which featured single & multiplayer modes being abandoned in favour of his online only big scale live service knock offs, the only thing I can admire is his continual ability to convince the "suits" & accountants it's everyone else's fault!🙄
Re: 'Who on Earth Would Want This?': Almost 90% of PS5 Fans Not Interested in New 'Playerbase' Program
Meantime we're how many months on from the closure of the "experimental" PS Stars rewards program with vague promises of something better to replace it & still nothing?! But of course they definitely didn't shutter it because heavens forbid players would trade points for PSN Credits,right Sony?🙄😂
Re: Rumour: Naughty Dog 'Floated' the Idea of Uncharted 5 Before COVID
I loved the Uncharted series right from the get go...it felt fresh, the dynamics of Nate, Elena etc were superb & the wise cracking hero in numerous adventures...but with a lot of the principal creators that made Nathan Drake such an appealing & beloved character with the likes of Amy Hennig or Bruce Strayley long gone, really not sure I want to see Uncharted return.
As much as it was teasing about their daughter, I'd fear the now common Hollywood trope,(Disney especially), of trying to boost her at the expense of a broken,divorced old Nathan Drake. Mere speculation & cynicism of Druckman's creative output,but my point was the Drakes went "legit" treasure hunters.
I'd like to see a new hero in some sort of similar action hero vein,& maybe the Sci Fi Intergalactic could surprise yet...but Druckmann without a Creative Director reigning him in has become another predictable Hollywood style creative in recent years & hate to see him change what made Uncharted a classic series!
Re: 'The Solution Is to Get Rid of Consoles': Analyst Predicts $1,000 PS6 and a Transition to Game Streaming
Big tech would love to get more & more services that can & have been done offline on a PC or games console for decades just like they have with music,movies etc.
But personally any gaming group that switches their console/PC to be locked into cloud services,(& Windows 11 is already trying awfully hard at this), then I'm out of their ecosystem. It's enough dealing with numerous patches & hoping single player games are functional enough insofar as the servers whether Steam,PSN etc., remain online to download them again....when those options become unavailable then will be looking at alternatives or stick to retro.
Re: 'It's All a Bit Depressing': Just 13% Think PS5 Is Worth Its New Price
Much like I posted in the price rise articles, there's world event ripples going on outside their control...ie: taxpayer/Wall Street funding an A.I oligarchy promising huge returns on A.i. farms, in collusion with RAM manufacturers (whom as shown in the likes of Gamers Nexus videos have colluded on pricing long before A.I.),& Big tech suppliers all too willing to chase higher sales,& meantime price gouge consumer grade parts with the leftover crumbs.
However, the manner of how Playstation's management's (kicked off by the short sighted Jim Ryan's captain's pick Hermen Hulst heading up Worldwide Studios),approach to betting the farm on live service games, pensioning off experienced middle management whom might’ve pushed back on what was being greenlighted or purchases like Bungie & their so called expertise & just the increasingly tone deaf approach of random "suits" whom will now drop an announcement on the PS Blog of PS Plus price rises, hardware rises,studio closures (in the press) & then they bunker down like it's the Winchester in Shaun of the Dead & hope it'll blow over is really widening the perception of aloofness & disconnect.
The days of PS1 or PS2 console pricing reducing over time with model revisions & game classics that would go cheaper on Platnium labels unlike Ninty's first party cartridge games or later on more digital based stores like PS4 & sales on PS Plus subscriptions so you could stack them have long gone!🤯😕
Instead you have a management that is quite willing to squeeze the existing player base & try recoup on the losses of some of their live service failures & yet still make sure the Playstation division still returns a profit.
Sony management is now running a very tight financial leash due to the mismanagement of Ryan,Hulst etc.
Re: Epic to 'Solve' Life Insurance After Terminally Ill Employee Was Laid Off
Why do I get the sneaky suspicion that Tim Sweeny's medical & other insurance executive packages would not only cover his expenses if dramatically ill,but also include significant payouts if anything as serious happened to HIM!🙄
Re: Feature: PS5 Price - Why Does It Cost So Much in 2026?
Unlike the previous price hikes which were all about profit margins,(ie: not selling at a loss), this is all about the rampocalypse,(& Gamers Nexus has done excellent coverage on the ram manufacturers colluding before),& the A.I. Oligarchy,& Big tech vendors like Nvidia,AMD & others quite happy in return for taxpayer & Wall Street money funding the A.I. bubble to screw over consumers & constrain supply & price gouge them all at the same time.
However, Sony's tone deaf responses this gen of squeezing PS Players especially those outside of the U.S. with price hikes on PS Plus ($103 for Essential my region),& zero discounts on buying a new subscription only upgrading existing one has ll Ed me to drop it first time in years! Did we ever see PS Deluxe regions get PS Premium? Nope! Has the PS Classics program been dramatically expanded with multiple first parties? Lucky to see a capcom or Bandai Namco title,& a dribble of one title or so!
We've seen the likes of Shawn Layden & Shuhei Yoshida pensioned off,as have the founders & prominent heads from the likes of Bend, Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Media Molecule & others, whilst Hermen Hulst has pushed studios into live service disasters & closed studios whilst ignoring PS3 locked IP's to pursue Fortnite knock offs or spin off games into Steaming TV,TV,TV rather than if a game is fun or any good!🙄
Worse still with the departure of execs like Layden or Yoshida you have nameless tone deaf "suits' Iin charge whom have taken the Jim Ryan model of make a tone deaf announcement on the blog, go to the Winchester, & hope it'll all blow over!
Except it isn't Shaun of the Dead,Sony. If you don't give a perception of value & variety & reasons to stay loyal, PS users whom have been around since PS1 & PS2 & knew that Playstation used to represent value vs expensive alternatives will leave. Especially when you're as aloof & tone deaf as current management are.
Re: Sony Announces Gigantic PS5 Price Increases, Effective from April 2026
On one hand, yes this is very much a situation outside of their control & look no further than the Big Tech Cabal of the A.I. tech oligarchy & all too willing partners of the RAM manufacturers,& the likes of AMD,Nvidia (yes I know they don't contribute PS5 parts), etc. quite happy to constrain consumer supplies & gouge us with the crumbs left over all for "doing business" in the land of Quid Pro Quo Incorporated.🤯😤☹️
However, Playstation management this generation have made the Infamous missteps of the Playstation 3 generation look like pure genius when compared to how remote & out of touch they've been this generation. Whether it's token efforts of accessing legacy gaming libraries with PS Deluxe, to buying up talented Studios like Bluepoint only to now close them, to releasing disasters like Concord or potentially now Marathon in Hermen Hulst's continued live service Fortnite obsession to the detriment of the game variety & independence that made Sony Worldwide Studios so strong before his disastrous reign.🙄
But add to it the forced retirements of the likes of Shuhei Yoshida & other Worldwide Studios heads & producers for Hulst's favourites, alongside a bunch of "suits" who'll post in the PS Blog & absolutely avoid interacting with the very player base that provide their employment & its little wonder veteran PS Fans are left wondering do I even bother replacing my console if anything happens let alone think about PS6 especially in the current tech rampocalypse.🤨
As others have said, let my PS Essential lapse for the first time in years & with the lack of any discounts for it, incoming "features" like dynamic pricing,things Sony CAN control, they're certainly not winning me over vs just playing my backlog & picking up the same indies on PC.
Re: Fans of Old Dreamcast Games Are Going to Go Gaga for This Strange Fishing Sim
@Yousef- Would be a tight finish between Angry Video Gamer Nerd's Plumbers Don't Wear Ties or Seaman as to which he had most fun filming given both "games" were perfectly suited to his humour!! 😁
Re: 'This Is Unsustainable Madness': Modern Video Game Budgets Are Out of Control
Go back to was it late ps4 gen or early ps5 era comments of Shawn Layden discussing the "value" of "shorter" AAA games maybe only 18-20 hours vs ones being 50hrs+, & then possibly lined with grindfest gameplay mechanics to push mtx down your throat....& that's not including online loot boxes or virtual currency ala Fortnite,GTA etc.
I honestly was comfortable enough with games like say Little Big Planet or Motorstorm that had solid single & local player stuff,(or Uncharted),& optional online stuff but didn't ram things down your throat.
Even PS4 earlier on in the generation was great for first party stuff that like, you could hit up Horizon as quick or slow as you wanted...
But now AAA publishers want to push live services & make their game you "main" weekly grindfest whether COD,Fortnite,GTA,(& Hermen Hulst been wasting PS Studios & closing them left & right to get his own mega online cashcow),to put hundreds of hours in & considerably extra $$ than the initial payment.
Smaller is better,& likewise even in the single player, spare me the gritty depressing worlds like Neil Druckman wants to rinse & repeat regardless of whatever storyline he's pitching.
But I'm old so,I'm not their demographic anymore,so retro inspired indies more my jam it is,they won't care me yelling at the clouds!😂😋
Re: PlayStation's Disastrous First-Party Leadership Culminates in Yet Another Studio Closure
Must admit in just catching up on PS Gaming news I was dreading it being someone like Media Molecule or Bend...guessing this was another one of Hulst's "live service" dream dev director led teams. Which after the disaster of Concord we've seen several of the listed studios old& new be thrown under the Hermen Hulst bus of blame if they fail the "blockbuster" test whilst he would mostly only greenlight live service Fortnite rip-offs & certainly little interest in old Sony IP's that pre-dated his tenure as Worldwide Studios head.🙄😕
Shuhei Yoshida, Shawn Layden etc might not have always picked a winner or big live service successes but they knew their games far more than the clueless Jim Ryan that wanted a yes man rather than anyone push back against his reign of mediocrity & panic decision making which has left us the out of his depth Hulst.
Re: Opinion: Why Is Sony Scrapping the PSN Name?
It's very 2026 that the top priority they're making is to rebrand the PSN moniker!
Store gifting to your friends?, Steam style refunds instead of the vague "case by case" & stated policies of "if you downloaded it, you bought it",but try our chat bot support if you're in a territory with stronger consumer laws & you may reach someone!!
Being serious, yes we've seen some small wins like displaying of previous prices & wishlisting to a degree when it doesn't bug out. Very welcome....but the glacial speeds of actual tangible improvements vs the actual age of the overall Playstation storefronts over multiple generations has been ridiculously slow vs the prices & changes they've applied like PS Plus etc. And not many wins for the players in terms of features either!
Re: Nvidia Says You're All 'Completely Wrong' About Its Controversial AI Upscaler DLSS 5
Just remember folks,the reason we're facing the rampocalypse, SSD, & GPU shortages, & increased pricing on future gen in a deliberately manipulated shortage by the billionaire tech oligarchy so we can enjoy snapchat like filters...when they're not pilfering our data to feed their AI,unregulated! 2026, what a time to be alive! 🙄
Re: Street Fighter 6's Incestuous New Storyline Divides Opinion
Cue that old ps4 Resident Evil demo ending "Welcome to the family,son!"😱😋🤣 When you're in the Capcom game family, you're not leaving!😅🤯
Re: 'What the F*ck Are We Doing Here?': PS5 Fans Slam Square Enix for Sloppy Multiformat Strategy
Might be mistaken,but I seem to recall in & around the time frame of the likes of the Octopath Traveller games & I think some of the "classic" FF games announced coming to Gamepass/Xbox there was a mention of a change in Square Enix management that was more Xbox friendly after a period of frosty relations & timed exclusive on Final Fantasy 7 remake etc.
We've certainly seen an increased level of public "snarking" from Square Enix repeatedly hammering "disappointing" results on Sony marketed games but never heard a peep on Gamepass exclusives like Octopath Traveller etc ,where Playstation owners were locked out for the longest periods.
And yes, the golden child Nintendo fanbase would repeat the bot like Xbox line & games press on Sony money hitting deals when Nintendo Square Enix exclusives have been a repeating pattern!🙄
Thankful someone in the press has finally highlighted this hypocrisy, but sadly we won't see it elsewhere. Clearly Square Enix are still very happy to do exclusive deals for $$ from Microsoft or Nintendo & people in their management have a beef with Sony at present but as always its the players that suffer!
Re: PS Plus Premium Has Given You Just 1 Classic PlayStation Game a Month for Over Half a Year Now
@get2sammyb "Streaming games"...oh yes. Remember when Jim Ryan & Playstation P.R. talked about expanding the pre-existing territories & meantime as a "stop-gap" they brought out Deluxe? As one of those territories Down Under,(where admittedly our internet speeds weren't great at the time but have improved a bit since),where Deluxe weighs in at $215AU, it's always felt like a bit of an afterthought after the fallout from their then premature attempt to close the legacy PSN stores.
In particular whilst we've become aware of Implicit Conversions involvement, there doesn't really feel like any direct connection or people at Playstation directly involved. The third party content has been sporadic,for example the ps2 classics on ps4 managed to get Bully & The Warriors, Metal Slug collection (short lived program I'll admit). But meantime we still see some Sony titles left on the bench,(or now in the case of GOW part of a full "remake" rather than in original form), & Capcom classics were far quicker coming to Good Old Games than they have to PSN.
Don't pretend there aren't a myriad of issues that can't crop up with old games, but if you're selling a sub tier &/or option to buy retro classics they should show a little enthusiasm about it! Very much feels every bit of a low priority & some of the lacklustre titles that were hardly classics BITD show a lacklustre effort whomever at Playstation is overseeing it.
Re: The Until Dawn PS5 Remake Studio Is Officially Gone for Good
Felt like Sony management this gen seemed determined to send this remaster of the last gen hit out to die & give justification not to pursue a sequel.😕😔
Sent out in a rushed/buggy state, refuse PS4 owners any way of buying it other than at the ridiculous full price & then conveniently claim there wasn't the interest to press on with the tease of that sequel.
Games like Until Dawn or indeed the Quantic Dreams ones of Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls & Detroit Become Human might be to everyone's tastes, BUT I would argue they have more variety (in terms of each being a new creation/story), than the utter dross of Fortnite style knock offs & TLOU 1 & 2 remasters that Hermen Hulst has chosen to greenlight Worldwide Studios this generation.
Re: Record Breaking Battlefield 6 Sales Not Enough to Prevent Layoffs
Unfortunately no amount of sales or good press (& they had both),on the devs behalf was ever going to be enough for the incoming EA "Suits". ..Recall the buyout deal approved by the other EA "Suits"/investors to the Kushner/Saudi group involved saddling EA with a whole bunch of debt to finance said takeover? Then all the technobabnle of AI,AI,AI being able to take over for future games?
As always the Suits get nice payouts, golden parachutes etc.,& the new lot will get bonuses but the actual workers wear the consequences of these deals & impossible targets.🙄
Re: Opinion: I Wonder if Xbox Helix Will Force Sony to Break Its PS6 Silence
While a lot has been made by Xbox fans already of the "dream machine" double whammy of "ULTIMATE POWER" super console (apparently more powerful than potential PS6 specs),like Series X all over again, plus access to your PC Games & One/Series X/S catalogue & select 360 stuff...sounds perfect in theory, right? Overcomes Phil Spencer's PS4 was the worst gen to lose games library dilemma.
But if it's supposed to support multiple store fronts libraries like Steam,GOG,Epic etc., why on earth would third party AAA publishers & AA/Indies bother with specific next gen Xbox ports instead of just concentrating on PC, & Nintendo/Playstation versions?🤔
Much like PS6, most publishers will be hedging bets to release on Switch 2 & PS5 where the $$ are...not to say there won't be any next gen exclusives, but with the rampocalypse affecting consumer PC & console supplies, suspect "next-gen" will constrained with cross platform games. Unless the supply & prices on consumer components changes dramatically (& the A.I. tech oligarchy are determined it won't), it'll be the same supply issues that plagued this gen during lockdowns etc., but far pricier. 🤔
Re: Opinion: Sony's PC Pullback Is the Right Move for PS5
Given the rumours of the next Xbox/PC hybrid & indeed the Steam console MkII, you can't help but suspect Sony management were more than a bit concerned playstation players fed up with their tone deafness from Jim Ryan to Hermen Hulst would consider shifting to PC or the alternatives.
Not bothered by multiplayer live service games being multiplatform. But not been impressed by Hulst's pressuring certain Studios with mostly only greenlighting "Fornite knock off X", leaving only his favourites to do Single player.
As to just how many actual Single player games are in production to see how much difference this pivot means time will tell.
The fact remains there were a number of games like the Resistance series, later Motorstorm's, Little Big Planet 1 & 2, Twisted Metal that all had "live services"...we're they all Fortnite or COD level? No, but they certainly could've paid their way to possible reboots or sequels with solid single player modes to tempt you into possibly trying the online modes. You don't need a saturation of Fortnite clones to then wonder why the knock offs invariably fail.
Re: Shuttered Dev Bluepoint Wanted to Remake Bloodborne, FromSoftware Blocked It
Whether resentment by From Soft that Sony hold publishing control over Bloodborne or maybe speculation I'd seen in previous threads here they were unimpressed when co-collab partner Studio Japan was then closed we' never really know.🤔
The sad thing is,there was certainly other games in the IP attic..Resistance 1-3, Little Big Planet 1 & 2, Motorstorm series all with online modes & locked on PS3, given Hulst's obsession with live services.
Then other single playe games like Infamous, Uncharted Golden Abyss still locked on Vita, even Project Ico was locked to a HD PS3 port from the ps2 by Bluepoint afaik. Then you had the likes of Killzone & even Driveclub & of course the recently announced God of War remakes,when Blupoint handled HD versions onto PS3 from PS2 in the first place & there were the other God of War PSP games that never seen modern versions either!
Such a waste...& still regard mismanagement by Herman Hulst who's been obsessed by a first party Fortnite first party knock off ever since the Jim Ryan era.😔
Re: Sony Goes Silent on Social Media as Fans Turn Feral Following Bluepoint Closure
@get2sammyb Unfortunately,ever since Jim Ryan took the reigns & replaced or "retired" or sidelined other execs, the people that came in have been synonymous with being silent "suits" that don't interact with plebeian gamers. They just make announcements on the Blog,(& don't stick around for the comments!),or via WIRED or some financial news site!🙄
The only recent exceptions I can recall was when Jim Ryan blinked after his premature attempt to close the PS3 Store with no legacy ps1/ps2 catalogue on PS4/PS5 to speak of at the time,& the upgrade price "compromise" for later ps4/ps5 first party games after the initial launch titles were free.
I know we've had the debate it's not the likes of Hulst's job to interact with players. But execs like Shuhei Yoshida etc. clearly have a love of games that you could be sure they knew their audience even if in their official capacity they couldn't necessarily publicly say why they hadn't pushed for a Bloodborne remake.
Unfortunately the current management just bunker down & hope it'll all pass like it was Shaun of the Dead which just further feeds the Ivory towers perception! 😕
Re: Phil Spencer Stepping Down, Sarah Bond Leaving Microsoft in Huge Xbox Shake-Up
Well both a surprise & yet somehow not that surprising all at the same time! Given how prolific Phil "Gamer" Spencer had been whether on socials, events, to his Infamous buying sprees buying up a huge chunk of the AAA gaming scene with both Zenimax Bethesda & Activision Blizzard,it's been both telling & ironic he'd gone near silent with an impatient Microsoft exec board expecting their billions of funding to be repaid with millions of Gamepass subs & demanding a return to multiplatform releases when it didn't happen!
Given the mess of Windows 11's copilot spyware & trying to strongarm Microsoft accounts just to use it so they can further tie users into "live services" like OneDrive, Office 365 etc.,, says it all they're appointing an AI person to take over the reigns.
Perfect P.R. "we won't be serving up A.I. slop" given the likes of Satya(I think),Infamously said it was hurtful to the A.I. "industry" calling its output slop! 🙄😂🤯
Given the long-standing rumours of the next gen Xbox being less a console & more a hybrid PC with Xbox branding & integrating the PC & console games into one platform possibly within Windows, hardly inspires confidence with the incoming boss!
Not that we haven't already heard similar A.I. murmurs being a big part of PS6...if they can ever get the chips for it given the big tech oligarchy have decided they need everyone else's memory chips!🙄
Is it any wonder older gamers are a tad pessimistic on next gen? Enjoy your golden parachute Phil,could you take Hermen Hulst with you off into the sunset?😅
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
Been rather vocal on my critiques on Hermen Hulst for some time. In interviews post "retirement", Shuhei Yoshida mentioned the choice to head the Playstation Indies initiative was a "take it or leave it" deal from Jim Ryan.
That he managed some reforms & saw renewed Indies interest says more about Shuhei's experience & talents. Indeed since his leaving Sony,he's still doing more to promote indies than anyone in the largely silent Playstation machine. (Outside of State of Play).
Meantime as Shu noted only partially in jest, he might’ve "pushed back" on some of Jim Ryan's push into live service games where Hermen Hulst comes in. We've heard vague reports after Hulst's promotion of long time Worldwide Studios producers departing Playstation & inferences ex-guerilla staffers have moved across,highly unlikely to pushback against their boss Hulst.
Likewise,Hulst was seemingly a pivotal figure in the Bungie acquisition & giving a Bungie group,(wherein ex-Microsoft management had already seen veterans leave prior to Destiny), even more creative control overseeing current live service projects in development & axing several on their advice.
Add to that other Ex-Bungie staff being greenlighted in amongst the likes of Concord etc.,& you then saw Sony executives tap Jim Ryan to weild the axe on route to his "retirement".
Likewise,as @get2Sammyb points out, the previous "creative freedom", that Studios enjoyed with Shuhei Yoshida, Shawn Layden etc.,has been curtailed by a clear push under Hermen Hulst & his rare public interviews of games either having "live service" to get the green light or TV,TV,TV spin-offs for streaming, movies, & lord knows what else.
Instead of letting Bluepoint onto their PS3 locked IP's like LBP 1 & 2, Motorstorm series, Resistance series, Ratchet & Clank PS3 titles, LBP Karting, or Infamous or Bloodborne he only greenlights a questionable God of War universe online spin-off!🙄
How about testing some of those older titles & could see if their online modes still had popularity for something bigger later & sustain their development!
Little surprise veterans & studio heads of the likes of Sony Bend,Insomniac, Naughty Dog & others have "retired", been let go, or quit acrimoniously, whilst Hulst has continued to play favourites, push remasters noone really demanded or force Studios built around & resourced for single player games to miraculously come up with the next fornite on a shoestring budget & throw them under the bus & close the studio when they don't!🙄
Not forgetting Hulst buying mobile developer Studios for little to show for it. I've heard the argument it's not Hulst's job to interact with gamers like Shawn Layden or Shuhei Yoshida did...but I'd argue they were far more in touch with understanding what their audience wanted at Playstation even if they couldn't always deliver for whatever factors might’ve been at play.
Hulst has NEVER shown anything publicly let alone judging by his multiple closures or mismanaging the likes of Bluepoint into oblivion that he has a clue what Playstation gamers want. How he's remained is a mystery other than soo many suitable replacements have quit or been forced out there's noone left to step up other than another "suit".🤨😕
Re: 'I'm Confident in the Direction We're Headed': Under-Fire PlayStation Boss Tries to Explain Baffling Bluepoint Closure
Haven't read the deluge to comments, but my two cents for what it's worth. Entirely on Hermen Hulst's mismanagement of Worldwide Studios & his continuation of the same direction as when appointed by Jim Ryan.😑
After the success of Demon Souls,& having previously handled projects like the Uncharted Trilogy from PS3 to PS4, or Project Ico/SOTC from ps2 to ps3 to think of some examples, what did Hermen's obsession with coming up with multiple Fortnite-lite games get Bluepoint?
Started work on a live services online God of War spin off?!🤯🙄 Delayed in part between obvious dev difficulties transitioning from single player to multiplayer they then get further sidetracked being support to Santa Monica doing God of War,before ultimately having their own project kyboshed!
Meantime when Naughty Dog had their Factions spin-off cancelled, you had Hermen greenlight TLOU 1&2 PS5 remasters literally to give them something to do.
You have ps3 games like LBP 1 & 2, LBP Karting,the Motorstorm series,Resistance series, Infamous to name a few, ps3 locked nevermind Bloodborne fans screaming for a ps5 version,& a studio that were masters of remasters & remakes,& what did Hermen pursestrings Hulst have them do?!🤯🙄
It's little wonder so many veteran creators & studio heads whether Sony Bend, or senior Naughty Dog, Insomniac have retired or "left" with the mismanagement of Hulst. Clearly does a great job spinning snake oil about his favourite studios whilst throwing others under the bus for failed projects he's forced them to do in the absence of few single player games these days.
Miss the Layden & Yoshida eras. Best wishes to the Bluepoint staff affected. It would be common sense that Hulst should've paid the price for his mismanagement,but given he's surrounded himself with either ex-guerilla or other middle management & the likes of Shuhei Yoshida or Shawn Layden have long retired who's there to contradict him in board meetings?🙄
Re: Memory Crisis Threatening to Delay PS6 Could Last 'Another 10 Years'
The ridiculous thing about these massive A.I. allocations by all the Big tech oligarchy,it's literally for data centres that currently don't exist & usually with "I'll totally pay you later bro, trust me!" I.O.U's!🙄
You then have other big tech like Samsung phones/TV,Apple, car manufacturers let alone Playstation battling it out for their hardware needs,& then finally the crumbs left for consumers!
Though for hapless souls either building a new PC or trying to squeeze more life out of their current build replacing parts, they ironically not only have to pay the ridiculously market shortaged inflated prices literally 400-500% higher upfront, or preorder & hope when the crumbs arrive their order isn't cancelled & priced even higher meantime!
And with competition authorities turning a blind eye or starved of funds, it'll continue!😔
Re: Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition Is Missing the Original Soundtrack, and Fans Aren't Happy
Seem to recall coming across a Rayman on the GOG store where this had been previously highlighted. So not totally surprised if a little disappointed to hear the same here...but unfortunately several of the big publishers have a rather poor track record when it comes to preservation of their old games. Or in other instances (eg: Take Two), cheap to renew music licenses despite the millions falling out of their CEO's pocket in bonuses!🙄
Re: Rumoured Rayman PS5 Remaster Is Real, Says Series Creator
As always with Ubisoft the devil will be in the detail of where they have farmed this off to. Remember the Prince of Persia fiasco?!
If memory serves some of the creative that brought the likes of Rayman Legends ended up making their own indie studio & bringing out Unruly Heroes & Have a Nice Death since, so not sure how many veterans have survived the numerous Ubisoft purges given it's obsession with online live services.🤔
Re: Poll: What's Your Reaction to Horizon Hunters Gathering?
Dear Hermen,or one of your ex-guerilla lackies you appointed to Worldwide Studios...dig around the cupboards & find an old ps3 buried away in the office...fire up LBP 1 & 2, LBP Go-kart, Motorstorm Pacific Storm or later, & a few others & be amazed to find there were other games before Fortnite to do a knock off & then wonder why it's not testing well!!🙄
Little wonder so many veterans of Sony's Studios have left/retired in recent years being forced to chase Hermen Hulst's obsession with knock offs or multimedia things that can be spun off to streaming series etc. Remember when Sony Studios focus was making a good game first? Hermen doesn't apparently!😂
Re: 70+ PS5, PS4 Games to Buy in PS Store's Critics' Choice Sale
@PixiebellGames Ended up buying Ender Lillies so as it wasn't tied to my PS Plus.... unfortunately still can't get past the Witch Boss!😱😤😂 Watched the YouTube videos heck, on rare occasions reached her 3rd phase but always finds a way to do my patience in & beat me! Gah! Love & hate relationship! 😅
Re: 70+ PS5, PS4 Games to Buy in PS Store's Critics' Choice Sale
Was browsing the PSN Store earlier & saw TMNT Shredders Revenge has the PS4 version discounted in the sale,(roughly $18 my region), but oddly the PS5 version is still full price seemingly being tied in PS Plus Extra & instead encourages you to subscribe instead!🙄
Not that Dotemu is alone in skipping crossbuy or limiting upgrades,(eg: GTA Trilogy remastered "definitive edition" only crossbuy on the pricier digital version, or Until Dawn PS5 had no upgrade path from ps4), but still annoying!😕
Re: No, GTA 6 PS5 Physical Copies Won't Be Delayed
Strauss: "Oh,perish the thought,that's not the plan at all!"....🤯😱😅
Also Strauss: Damm,how did these tiresome people find out? Note to calender, get our lawyers to "feed the fishes" & "fix the plumbing, AGAIN!"🙄😱🤣
Re: Capcom Compilation Disney Afternoon Collection Getting Two New Games, But Not on PS4
@get2sammyb Whilst it's hardly a "new" thing for a release like this to get new/exclusive content to get approval on the Eshop so long after its initial release, Digital Eclipse have stated on Bluesky "they are no longer involved with the other versions".🤔
Do hope this isn't a trend for the Atari owned & published Digital Eclipse retro releases being exclusives,timed or otherwise!😕 Might be one to watch if these older PS4/PC versions will be delisted in future with the Switch versions being newer licenses?
Re: Blackmail Is at the Centre of This Potentially Unsettling PS5 Game
Been looking up the scant few details still around on "Gamer Girl",& sadly the lead actress whom apparently went to some effort rewriting her own dialogues etc.,as seemingly was her own "big break" in a lead role,passed away in 2024!🤯😕
The sad thing is we never got to see the full game to even judge that on its own merits, it was prejudged on just the trailer & assumptions by a select few.
As for Hacked? Bit of different scenario as the other game had you as a moderator pal of the protagonist versus here. Guess we'll see in due course how this fairs. 🤔
Re: Blackmail Is at the Centre of This Potentially Unsettling PS5 Game
Could be wrong, but rather brings to mind the Wales Interactive published "Gamer Girl", which they dropped like a hot skillet & threw its developer under the bus!
The "blackmail" angle is the only real difference I can recall as the other game I think you were supposedly the streamer's community manager or something??🤔 If anything, the Gamer Girl storyline seemed tamer!
But quite a sense of deja vu here!
Re: PS3 Game Streaming Still Broken and Sony Draws Criticism
Whilst can only watch from afar Down Under where Premium has never been present,(remember when Deluxe was promoted as a "temporary" solution as Premium was expanded?),it does bring to mind the "cheap" mindset the Jim Ryan & post Ryan management have adopted regarding legacy software support.
Thankfully the baked-in hardware compatibility of ps4 into ps5 mostly worked,(apart from ironically a lot of the ps2 classics on ps4 titles in that short lived program). But despite seemingly engaging Implicit Conversions on a few titles,they never bothered with more obvious candidates like the ps2 Ratchet games or God of War 1 & 2,nevermind some of their Psygnosis ps1 games!
Moreso they really don't seem to have any of their PSN services chasing third parties for the service when, seeing the likes of Ubisoft for example stumble badly with POP etc., would make better sense to get their ps2 library on it for instance!
You saw Jim Ryan & Herman Hulst chase after acquisitions like Bungie, Nixxes, & even mobile devs & start up studios on live service disasters like Concord or Fortnite wannabes, & pivot the likes of Bluepoint,(renowed for remakes & indeed remasters like on PS3 for ICO/SOTC),making live service God of War spinoffs! Yet there was a number of PS3 first party titles ala Resistance series, Infamous, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet series, & some nice Ratchet titles all locked on the ps3!
The irony when some of those had online modes for the very "engagement" & potentially where they could be prioritising IP reboots by testing the waters with some ports!🙄
Given the price of Deluxe here,(Essential costs $103AU last i looked for 12months & never gets discounted), I'm glad I can buy individual titles, but I remain under no illusion the ps1 & ps2 content both 1st & 3rd party feels far inferior to the likes of GOG & others.
Re: Amid Many Delays and Cancellations, Beyond Good and Evil 2 Is Still Alive at Ubisoft
"Until it was re-revealed in a brilliant 2017 trailer"? Brilliant,really? I saw something trying to be "edgy" with a swearing gorilla,& then thereafter Ubisoft P.R,talking up what sounded like an MMO like online rubbish that had nothing to do with Jade continuing her search for Pey'j!!🙄😔
If they had taken cues from single player games like the Uncharted series,we could've easily had Beyond Good & Evil 2 during the ps4 era instead of whatever "it's gonna have NFT's! Wait,they're not cool anymore?" rubbish this appears to be!🤯
Re: PS1 Classic Rayman Looks Set for 30th Anniversary Release on PS5
Atari? Well,as others have said,features like rewind would be welcome...just simply say Atari,don't go & Ubisoft it up or you'll have fans ready to do a Rayman mega punch!😂
Whilst I think there's been a classic Rayman on GOG store for PC for years,seem to recall user posts mentioned the OG music tracks had been altered so fingers crossed here!🤞
Re: Prince of Persia Remake and 5 Other Games Cancelled by Ubisoft
@SuntannedDuck2 my sentiment exactly! The irony that two different studios & years of development hell still couldn't produce a remake,when the alternative could've been just hand it over to a Nightdive/Implicit Conversions or similar & could've probably had the old trilogy &/or some of the Splinter Cell ps2 classics by now in the same period!🙄
But hey,we still have the swearing,"edgy" gorillas MMO type thing instead of Jade looking for Pey'j "sequel" not sequel Beyond Good & Evil!!😅 Ubisoft are less a publisher & more a meme these days!🙄
Re: Two Classic PS1 Beat-'Em-Ups Will Throw a Punch at PS5, PS4 This Week
"Legendary Beat-em-ups"...hmm. I would regard arcades like Kung-fu Master, Double Dragon as legendary in their time...others like Vigilante, Final Fight or Alien vs Predator later on as classical updates!...Fighting Force was, alright....tried to be a bit different, but I would categorise the likes of The Warriors or Bully far better later executions of what Fighting Force was trying for.🤔
Re: Sony Roasted for Promoting 'Temu Resident Evil' Ebola Village for PS5, PS4
@get2sammyb Bigger question is with the departure of not only Shuhei Yoshida but (judging by his twitter),Greg Rice from the Playstation Indies has there been a quite purge of their old division? Push Square has posted a few stories of the A.I. slop copycat titles (literally the other day pun intended!)...but it points to an issue of has there been cutbacks in PSN account managers & game curation/ Identifying titles to promote which the indies initiative under Shuhei was doing?
Wouldn't shock if the games approval process is being handed over to an A.I. driven backend on PSN,but this sort of promotion suggest the Indies Initiative department has been culled in favour of just promoting whatever slop titles are being approved so long as they're paying promotion fees....we've already seen in the past how neglect of the Indies saw a number of devs & publishers prefer releasing elsewhere due to difficulties dealing with overworked or account managers who left & left them with literally noone to communicate with!🤔
Re: Haunted Paws Dev Accuses New Cosy PS5, PS4 Horror of Being a Copycat
An even better question to ask in light of these A.I. Slop games is to ask whom is running the Playstation Indies division nowadays?
When Shuhei Yoshida "retired", the heir apparent seemed to be Greg Rice (formerly of Double Fine before joining under Shu),but according to his twitter profile he's now part of Day of the Devs.
Shuhei is still active promoting various indies but there really doesn't seem to be anyone within Playstation doing that role since he left.
Whilst there's little doubt the gaming backed receives any number of games submissions, you can't help but feel a bit concerned one lot of A.I., approving other A.I. knock offs, alongside where are the team members to identify the next lot of indie gems into the future? (Eg: Stray,Bugsnax etc.).🤔
Re: Future Sports Series Speedball Resurrected on PS5 This Month
Loved the Amiga version...honestly wish they'd done a hi-res 2d remake old school pixel art style,(much like say Terminator No Fate), but guess will wait & watch how this fairs.🤔
Vaguely recall the last attempt was back in the ps3 era but seemed to miss the mark. Fingers crossed!!
Re: Vince Zampella, Call of Duty Co-Creator and Respawn Boss, Tragically Dies Aged 55
Whilst not a COD/FPS fan,do have Jedi survivor & you could see by his hits, his design philosophy what he brought to his studios & how that resonated with gamers. Unlike the Activision or E.A. "suits",he still wanted fun & atmospheric games, not just re-skins.
In light of the EA takeover, a definite loss to the AAA industry, RIP.
Re: Jim Ward, Voice of Ratchet & Clank's Captain Qwark, Has Passed Away
A varied & clearly talented voice actor in all those roles. Sadly not a priority within Sony but wish the older back catalogue could be ported across,(or emulated for missing PS2 entries).
RIP.