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.
Granted been away from the scene for a while, but was very much the forgotten half of those Naughty Dog Classics (& I suspect exerted some creative controls on some of the more extreme creative choices by Druckmann).
Never an easy transition going from high end triple AAA to presumably AA/AA+, but will be curious to see what he has been up to.
Brings to mind the likes of Fumito Ueda & if/when we hear see whatever he's been working on.
A game tapping into the Cloud/Azure...add in Copilot, Windows 11 adware,the abandoned Windows 10 Cortana & even MS Word's Clippy as monsters lurking in the labyrinth & you have your horror themes!😂😱
Oozes the kind of claptrap that Hermen Hulst was boasting about their Live services developments before he took a vow of silence publicly as Worldwide Studios head with the disaster launch of Concord. 🙄
We'd already been aware of veterans at TT Games & Rocksteady etc.,had departed years ago....but anyone still at some of these studios probably are already brushing up their resume portfolios if they're sane.
Between the "natural attrition",that always magically hits these mergers,Netflix Gaming is ahem mobile/tablet friendly at best...can't really see Console/PC gaming being a focus going forward.😑
As for if it'll get approved? Given the current regime openly operates Quid Pro Quo Inc., you give a gaudy gift on camera,(& far more behind closed doors),& there's zero regulatory or legal consequences!🙄
Gamers Nexus has done an excellent video breaking down the Micron/Crucial RAM situation,(& Nvidia & other Big tech's involvement in prices dramatically increasing). Well worth a depressing watch on how Megacorps are thriving whilst consumers/ gamers are continually getting further bled dry.
@zhoont Do you mean you bought a GPU during Black Friday "sales" wherein they merely dropped close to the so called recommended retail prices AMD or Nvidia claim they are?!
Given the latest news from likes of Gamers Nexus & others, Nvidia is destined to screw consumers even further by not supplying gddr kits toboard partners,so will be a concern if AMD goes the "me too" route or not!🙄☹️
Having perused the crazy prices of SSD's & ddr 5 even before this,it will only increase the price gouging tactics in the hands of too few megacorps. Whether PC or console, gamers are going to be the ones to suffer & that's even before one talks about subscription services, live services etc. 😔
Well, about the "best" one could make of the RDR PS5 version is seemingly the "free" upgrade,(not that I've tried popping in my ps4 disc yet)...given the GTA "Definitive edition" trilogy remaster never allowed an upgrade (from ps4 disc), unless you bought the overpriced digital crossbuy version!
Ultimately though, when you think of the squillions Take-two & Strauss Zelnick gets in bonuses, always found it rich how people defended their cheapskate approach to music license renewals & the sheer amount of updates just to make that lot even functional!🙄
Suppose one should be happy RDR & Undead Nightmare even got out of ps3 jail onto current gen, but hardly holding my breath for the likes of Bully/Canis Canem Edit (not sure the ps2 classic emulated ps4 version runs on ps5?), or The Warriors, much less GTA LCS/VCS will ever see light of day.
As others have noted. Anything claiming to be a sequel but isn't playing as Jade trying to find P'eyj isn't Beyond Good & Evil 2. The 360/PS3 era cg trailer felt the closest to a sequel we ever got.😔
That swearing gorilla trying way too hard to be edgy & the whole pretence just seemed to be an online MMO set loosely in the Beyond Good & Evil universe. Given Ubisoft's continued rhetoric on single player games being dead, hold little hope we'll ever see the sequel it deserves.
For the actual hardware itself, another quality product overseen by system architect Mark Cerny & the engineering crews...albeit at a higher price point than PS4 for using higher end tech.
From a First Party publishing & services perspective...not so good & indeed at times tone deaf. Some strong launch era titles, but with Jim Ryan's captain's pick Hermen Hulst taking over from the respected Shuhei Yoshida (& Shawn Layden when studio operations were region based), the pressuring studios by Green lighting live service games with seemingly little to no single player/campaign modes & then pushing for the Bungie buyout (wherein a number of the veterans had already moved on or forced out by new management even prior to Destiny), & giving them greater say in Worldwide Studios & start ups on the promise of quick to make Fortnite, or Overwatch pots of gold were disastrous.😕
You saw the likes of Bluepoint noted for their remakes & remasters,instead become support for Sony Santa Monica & then wasted on a God of War Universe live service game! 🙄
Playstation players could perhaps live with PC ports of older games if it meant resources back into what made first party output great. Instead we saw PS5 remasters of PS4 games ala The Last of Us minus online modes & yet still full price! Or stuff like Until Dawn getting rushed out buggy & shoehorned into Unreal engine,no upgrade path for existing owners & teasing of a sequel we'll sadly unlikely see now!😔
We saw Playstation Plus rejigged with multiple tiers with the promise of a classic games library of PS1,PS2,PSP classics & some regions even streaming PS3. But most regions remain on PS Deluxe to this day. PS1 & PS2 Classic releases have been sporadic, limited third party participation, even Sony failing to bring the likes of PS2 Ratchet & Clank, God of War etc.
Despite the number of PS3 locked series (many with online modes & dlc opportunities), like Resistance, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet 1 & 2 etc., they're left in the proverbial attic storage ala Toy Story by Hulst & the likes of the Hot Shots devs instead making Switch games.
Meantime existing PS plus users find they can no longer access subscription sales unless for a limited time upgrade of tiers & whacked with multiple price increases notably in regions where Playstation outsells the competition. Sub Stacking of discounts like the old days when one could buy a subscription in retail stores became a dirty word within PS Ivory towers.
Sadly, most of the older guard like Shuhei Yoshida & co.,have retired or been "retired", & couldn't even say who the public face of Playstation is now whether the Indie Games division, much less the faceless execs that post on their blog & avoid any public interaction.😕
Unfortunately I can't see the disconnect improving with PS6 planning now coming onto their radar.
As much as PC Gaming is supposed to provide "freedoms" over console gaming, recent years have felt anything but!
Between GPU price increases & now DDR 5, (& even SSD prices have tended to plateau with PCIE 4 & PCIE 5 SSD's too pricey), etc.,& even Windows 11 itself being bloatware, advertorial spyware it's very much a sad sign next gen whether PS6, Steam Cube, XB, or PC Windows will be wallet gouging!😕
Great to see Hermen still hasn't given up on his Fortnite/live service pot of gold nor his favouritism for any Guerilla games project vs axing all the ones he either blamed on Jim Ryan "forcing" him to greenlight or blaming his "advisory group" of Bungie wisdom!🙄
Never hurts to read the fine print of a "free" upgrade...after all the shambolic GTA Trilogy "definitive edition" doesn't to my knowledge allow a free upgrade to the ps5 & Take-two actually increased the price of the cross buy digital version!🙄
Still,credit where its due to the likes of Double Eleven for porting a game that was reportedly held together by "spaghetti coding" BITD & gave it the TLC it deserved.
Should let them bring the likes of GTA IV & maybe even Bully Scholarship Edition (given PS owners only ever got the PS2 edition), or GTA LCS/VCS to current gen,one can dream!😅
Ironic Ratchet fans still can't access ps2/ps3 era games on current gen via ports/emulation but Hermen Hulst gets his "don't you guys have phones!" moment.🙄
Feels like more & more that Jim Ryan was given a tap on the shoulder by Sony's Hiroki Totoki to retire quietly or be fired. How Hermen Hulst as his "yes man", promotion in Worldwide Studios (at Shuhei Yoshida's expense), whom obviously not only pushed it on a clueless Jim but then setup the Bungie heads as an "advisory group",still has his job boggles the mind!🤯 Given the retirements or otherwise in studios like Naughty Dog,Insomniac, Bend & others during the Live service push who'd succeed Hulst is anyone's guess,unfortunately.😕
Just a reminder that the same Take-two management farmed off the GTA Trilogy remastered "definitive edition", to Grove Street Games & A.I. & not spring $$ for the full song lists despite claiming how "dear" the older games were to them....or Take-two Strauss Zelnick denying Private Division was closed despite indie developers being left in the lurch.
Meantime undoubtedly his bonuses are undoubtedly kept safe in between the alleged scrapping & restart of GTA VI that saw one half of the Houser's leave Rockstar.
Wonder if they'll try to monetise the shops in single player to get certain hairstyles, clothing etc.?🙄
@katamariUK Thanks for the feedback, it's a strange one! Can see some of the featured titles here in the aforementioned "Playstation Indies" or "Hot Deals", on PS5 but yep the November Savings tile/tab on PS4 & PS5 you're left wondering if they were intended for the sale or a future "second wave" there's so many full priced ones?!🤔
Nothing from the bot that represents Playstation's local Twitter account in reply either,no surprises!🙄
One of the bigger issues underlying this is whom is actually running Playstation's Indie Initiatives team now? With Shuhei Yoshida's "retirement" (after being sidelined by Jim Ryan into it), the heir apparent seemed to be Greg Rice, but I've seen on his twitter profile that he lists "previously" both his positions of Double Fine & Playstation & he now involved in a group Day of the Devs overseeing Indie games promotion.
So who is left at Playstation to actually run their Indie games division which presumably should actually include oversight into how these sort of A.I. Slop is getting through the submissions process?
With the 3500 games discounted article being redirected here,my comment has gone to the Bermuda triangle! Anyway, the "November Savings tile/sales tab appears completely broken on both my PS4 & PS5 PSN Apps.
Can't see some of these games listed like Blasphemous II or Animal Well, whilst Crash Bandicoot 4 (& indeed other Crash compilations), are full priced, no discounts. See a bunch of games, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 at full price listing's....
Playstation Indies Tile,& All Deals on PS4 PSN App, & Playstation Indies & "Hot Deals" app tiles working normally on PS5, but November Savings is a hot mess both late last night & now daytime. PSN Store region down under runs off the EU PSN curious to hear if any other regions seeing this as well?!🤔🤯
@get2SammyB or indeed anyone else...can see the Playstation Indies sale & "Hot Deals" okay, but so far the "November Savings" section seems a hot mess of games at full price, undiscounted, maybe only 1/3 or so of them discounted...haven't looked it up on PS4 & hopefully updates properly overnight on PS5 but rather strange! 🤔 Down Under PSN here so effectively tied into EU PSN region traditionally.
Won't pretend there wasn't expansion disks back in the day whether to some RPG's, or like Antheads to It Came From the Desert on Amiga, or Starcraft Brood Wars or Warcraft 3 Frozen Thrones etc....but likewise can also remember when you might’ve unlocked extra fighters on the Tekken games or cars in Gran Turismo or other race car games & you didn't have to fork out many times over the base game!🙄
Comments 1,524
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.
Re: The Last of Us Co-Director Will Reveal His Next 'Creatively Charged' Title at The Game Awards
Granted been away from the scene for a while, but was very much the forgotten half of those Naughty Dog Classics (& I suspect exerted some creative controls on some of the more extreme creative choices by Druckmann).
Never an easy transition going from high end triple AAA to presumably AA/AA+, but will be curious to see what he has been up to.
Brings to mind the likes of Fumito Ueda & if/when we hear see whatever he's been working on.
Re: Not Even Hideo Kojima Is Sure if Xbox Game OD Will Be Any Good
A game tapping into the Cloud/Azure...add in Copilot, Windows 11 adware,the abandoned Windows 10 Cortana & even MS Word's Clippy as monsters lurking in the labyrinth & you have your horror themes!😂😱
Re: Cancelled First-Party PS5 Game Leaks Online in Gameplay Videos
Oozes the kind of claptrap that Hermen Hulst was boasting about their Live services developments before he took a vow of silence publicly as Worldwide Studios head with the disaster launch of Concord. 🙄
Re: Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat Publisher Warner Bros Bought for $82 Billion by Netflix
We'd already been aware of veterans at TT Games & Rocksteady etc.,had departed years ago....but anyone still at some of these studios probably are already brushing up their resume portfolios if they're sane.
Between the "natural attrition",that always magically hits these mergers,Netflix Gaming is ahem mobile/tablet friendly at best...can't really see Console/PC gaming being a focus going forward.😑
As for if it'll get approved? Given the current regime openly operates Quid Pro Quo Inc., you give a gaudy gift on camera,(& far more behind closed doors),& there's zero regulatory or legal consequences!🙄
Gamers Nexus has done an excellent video breaking down the Micron/Crucial RAM situation,(& Nvidia & other Big tech's involvement in prices dramatically increasing). Well worth a depressing watch on how Megacorps are thriving whilst consumers/ gamers are continually getting further bled dry.
Re: This RAM Crisis Is Looking Like a Nightmare for the PS6
@zhoont Do you mean you bought a GPU during Black Friday "sales" wherein they merely dropped close to the so called recommended retail prices AMD or Nvidia claim they are?!
Given the latest news from likes of Gamers Nexus & others, Nvidia is destined to screw consumers even further by not supplying gddr kits toboard partners,so will be a concern if AMD goes the "me too" route or not!🙄☹️
Having perused the crazy prices of SSD's & ddr 5 even before this,it will only increase the price gouging tactics in the hands of too few megacorps.
Whether PC or console, gamers are going to be the ones to suffer & that's even before one talks about subscription services, live services etc. 😔
Re: Red Dead Redemption PS5 Another Subpar Re-Release from Rockstar
Well, about the "best" one could make of the RDR PS5 version is seemingly the "free" upgrade,(not that I've tried popping in my ps4 disc yet)...given the GTA "Definitive edition" trilogy remaster never allowed an upgrade (from ps4 disc), unless you bought the overpriced digital crossbuy version!
Ultimately though, when you think of the squillions Take-two & Strauss Zelnick gets in bonuses, always found it rich how people defended their cheapskate approach to music license renewals & the sheer amount of updates just to make that lot even functional!🙄
Suppose one should be happy RDR & Undead Nightmare even got out of ps3 jail onto current gen, but hardly holding my breath for the likes of Bully/Canis Canem Edit (not sure the ps2 classic emulated ps4 version runs on ps5?), or The Warriors, much less GTA LCS/VCS will ever see light of day.
Re: Beyond Good & Evil 2 PS5 May Not Be Dead Just Yet
As others have noted. Anything claiming to be a sequel but isn't playing as Jade trying to find P'eyj isn't Beyond Good & Evil 2.
The 360/PS3 era cg trailer felt the closest to a sequel we ever got.😔
That swearing gorilla trying way too hard to be edgy & the whole pretence just seemed to be an online MMO set loosely in the Beyond Good & Evil universe. Given Ubisoft's continued rhetoric on single player games being dead, hold little hope we'll ever see the sequel it deserves.
Re: Poll: Five Years of PS5 - How Would You Rate Sony's Console?
For the actual hardware itself, another quality product overseen by system architect Mark Cerny & the engineering crews...albeit at a higher price point than PS4 for using higher end tech.
From a First Party publishing & services perspective...not so good & indeed at times tone deaf. Some strong launch era titles, but with Jim Ryan's captain's pick Hermen Hulst taking over from the respected Shuhei Yoshida (& Shawn Layden when studio operations were region based), the pressuring studios by Green lighting live service games with seemingly little to no single player/campaign modes & then pushing for the Bungie buyout (wherein a number of the veterans had already moved on or forced out by new management even prior to Destiny), & giving them greater say in Worldwide Studios & start ups on the promise of quick to make Fortnite, or Overwatch pots of gold were disastrous.😕
You saw the likes of Bluepoint noted for their remakes & remasters,instead become support for Sony Santa Monica & then wasted on a God of War Universe live service game! 🙄
Playstation players could perhaps live with PC ports of older games if it meant resources back into what made first party output great. Instead we saw PS5 remasters of PS4 games ala The Last of Us minus online modes & yet still full price! Or stuff like Until Dawn getting rushed out buggy & shoehorned into Unreal engine,no upgrade path for existing owners & teasing of a sequel we'll sadly unlikely see now!😔
We saw Playstation Plus rejigged with multiple tiers with the promise of a classic games library of PS1,PS2,PSP classics & some regions even streaming PS3. But most regions remain on PS Deluxe to this day. PS1 & PS2 Classic releases have been sporadic, limited third party participation, even Sony failing to bring the likes of PS2 Ratchet & Clank, God of War etc.
Despite the number of PS3 locked series (many with online modes & dlc opportunities), like Resistance, Motorstorm, Little Big Planet 1 & 2 etc., they're left in the proverbial attic storage ala Toy Story by Hulst & the likes of the Hot Shots devs instead making Switch games.
Meantime existing PS plus users find they can no longer access subscription sales unless for a limited time upgrade of tiers & whacked with multiple price increases notably in regions where Playstation outsells the competition. Sub Stacking of discounts like the old days when one could buy a subscription in retail stores became a dirty word within PS Ivory towers.
Sadly, most of the older guard like Shuhei Yoshida & co.,have retired or been "retired", & couldn't even say who the public face of Playstation is now whether the Indie Games division, much less the faceless execs that post on their blog & avoid any public interaction.😕
Unfortunately I can't see the disconnect improving with PS6 planning now coming onto their radar.
Re: Suddenly the PS5 Pro Doesn't Look That Expensive Anymore
As much as PC Gaming is supposed to provide "freedoms" over console gaming, recent years have felt anything but!
Between GPU price increases & now DDR 5, (& even SSD prices have tended to plateau with PCIE 4 & PCIE 5 SSD's too pricey), etc.,& even Windows 11 itself being bloatware, advertorial spyware it's very much a sad sign next gen whether PS6, Steam Cube, XB, or PC Windows will be wallet gouging!😕
Re: Another Horizon Online PS5 Game Is Coming Before Horizon 3, It's Claimed
Great to see Hermen still hasn't given up on his Fortnite/live service pot of gold nor his favouritism for any Guerilla games project vs axing all the ones he either blamed on Jim Ryan "forcing" him to greenlight or blaming his "advisory group" of Bungie wisdom!🙄
Re: First PS Plus Extra Game for December 2025 Announced
Never hurts to read the fine print of a "free" upgrade...after all the shambolic GTA Trilogy "definitive edition" doesn't to my knowledge allow a free upgrade to the ps5 & Take-two actually increased the price of the cross buy digital version!🙄
Still,credit where its due to the likes of Double Eleven for porting a game that was reportedly held together by "spaghetti coding" BITD & gave it the TLC it deserved.
Should let them bring the likes of GTA IV & maybe even Bully Scholarship Edition (given PS owners only ever got the PS2 edition), or GTA LCS/VCS to current gen,one can dream!😅
Re: New Ratchet & Clank Game Announced, But Not for the Platform You Want
Ironic Ratchet fans still can't access ps2/ps3 era games on current gen via ports/emulation but Hermen Hulst gets his "don't you guys have phones!" moment.🙄
Re: Sony Speaks on Bungie Acquisition Disaster, Takes an 'Impairment Loss'
Feels like more & more that Jim Ryan was given a tap on the shoulder by Sony's Hiroki Totoki to retire quietly or be fired. How Hermen Hulst as his "yes man", promotion in Worldwide Studios (at Shuhei Yoshida's expense), whom obviously not only pushed it on a clueless Jim but then setup the Bungie heads as an "advisory group",still has his job boggles the mind!🤯
Given the retirements or otherwise in studios like Naughty Dog,Insomniac, Bend & others during the Live service push who'd succeed Hulst is anyone's guess,unfortunately.😕
Re: 'Morale in the Studio Is at Rock Bottom': Rockstar Whistleblower Alleges Union Busting as GTA 6 Is Delayed
Just a reminder that the same Take-two management farmed off the GTA Trilogy remastered "definitive edition", to Grove Street Games & A.I. & not spring $$ for the full song lists despite claiming how "dear" the older games were to them....or Take-two Strauss Zelnick denying Private Division was closed despite indie developers being left in the lurch.
Meantime undoubtedly his bonuses are undoubtedly kept safe in between the alleged scrapping & restart of GTA VI that saw one half of the Houser's leave Rockstar.
Wonder if they'll try to monetise the shops in single player to get certain hairstyles, clothing etc.?🙄
Re: 45+ PS5, PS4 Games to Buy in PS Store's November Savings Sale
@katamariUK Thanks for the feedback, it's a strange one! Can see some of the featured titles here in the aforementioned "Playstation Indies" or "Hot Deals", on PS5 but yep the November Savings tile/tab on PS4 & PS5 you're left wondering if they were intended for the sale or a future "second wave" there's so many full priced ones?!🤔
Nothing from the bot that represents Playstation's local Twitter account in reply either,no surprises!🙄
Re: Shameless Clones of Viral Hit Games Like Megabonk Continue to Plague PS Store
One of the bigger issues underlying this is whom is actually running Playstation's Indie Initiatives team now?
With Shuhei Yoshida's "retirement" (after being sidelined by Jim Ryan into it), the heir apparent seemed to be Greg Rice, but I've seen on his twitter profile that he lists "previously" both his positions of Double Fine & Playstation & he now involved in a group Day of the Devs overseeing Indie games promotion.
So who is left at Playstation to actually run their Indie games division which presumably should actually include oversight into how these sort of A.I. Slop is getting through the submissions process?
Re: 45+ PS5, PS4 Games to Buy in PS Store's November Savings Sale
With the 3500 games discounted article being redirected here,my comment has gone to the Bermuda triangle! Anyway, the "November Savings tile/sales tab appears completely broken on both my PS4 & PS5 PSN Apps.
Can't see some of these games listed like Blasphemous II or Animal Well, whilst Crash Bandicoot 4 (& indeed other Crash compilations), are full priced, no discounts.
See a bunch of games, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 at full price listing's....
Playstation Indies Tile,& All Deals on PS4 PSN App, & Playstation Indies & "Hot Deals" app tiles working normally on PS5, but November Savings is a hot mess both late last night & now daytime. PSN Store region down under runs off the EU PSN curious to hear if any other regions seeing this as well?!🤔🤯
Re: Prices Plunge on Over 3,500 PS5, PS4 Games Ahead of Busy Black Friday Season
@get2SammyB or indeed anyone else...can see the Playstation Indies sale & "Hot Deals" okay, but so far the "November Savings" section seems a hot mess of games at full price, undiscounted, maybe only 1/3 or so of them discounted...haven't looked it up on PS4 & hopefully updates properly overnight on PS5 but rather strange! 🤔 Down Under PSN here so effectively tied into EU PSN region traditionally.
Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 May Be the Most Expensive PS5 Game to Date
Won't pretend there wasn't expansion disks back in the day whether to some RPG's, or like Antheads to It Came From the Desert on Amiga, or Starcraft Brood Wars or Warcraft 3 Frozen Thrones etc....but likewise can also remember when you might’ve unlocked extra fighters on the Tekken games or cars in Gran Turismo or other race car games & you didn't have to fork out many times over the base game!🙄