RoomWithaMoose

@TheDarts I mean, I absolutely agree with your steelman. But why don't we do those things already? Often rich people, especially rich politicians, who seek to increase their riches at the expense of the poor.

I also agree I'm simplifying a lot of stuff. But I'm an Internet moose on a PlayStation site. I'm more about snappy appeals to pathos than detailed logical extrapolation... OR, at least, I don't display a level of logos equatable to a research paper here.

So to make a snappy appeal to pathos: the issue isn't that people are rich, the issue is allowing people to be rich creates a culture of greed and exploitation. That does not mean all rich people are bad people, but like being an innocent patron on a cruise line that takes advantage of a poor foreign community, it's enabling.

As for productivity and innovation, sure it's good. But I'm not convinced rich people are an essential ingredient to it. Just think of all the advancements we made BEFORE capitalist-funded industrial complexes were a thing.

@GirlVersusGame I hearted for "moose loose aboot the hoouse."

Have a good one!

@asdfghjklz North Korea doesn't evenly distribute s***.

There's a difference between communism and a dictatorship, if that's what you're getting at. You can argue the former enables the latter, just like capitalism enables a technocracy, but they aren't the same thing.

@TheDarts So buying stuff, which is supposed to feed back into society to benefit poor people that can't buy stuff. Though, if the 'buying' is the important part, I reckon if the rich bought less so the poor could buy more, the results are all the same.

Trickle down economics. Which definitely always works out for the poors. And economic productivity. Which is a concept I don't really know much about, but sounds like a roundabout way of efficiently slaving the poors.

Owning stuff. Which, like buying, could be distributed more evenly to the many's benefit.

Philanthropy. Which, in and of itself is good, but taken as a whole is indicative of a broken civilization that needs handouts to provide for the most vulnerable. Kinda like how GoFundMe is all fine and good until you realize people need it for lifesaving operations.

And taxes. Haha, very funny, rich man. Is this Candid Camera?

@8th_Observer In reference to the curmudgeon comment?

If both are true, that makes everyone miserable, right? Aww, we're just one big, miserable family! How comforting.

@GirlVersusGame I really couldn't tell you. I think a lot of the gaming community just doesn't trust crowdfunding.

Shrugs

In the case of Double Fine, they've always been niche and haven't really came out with a banger in a while now. So I think it's a mix of people not expecting much from them and not caring what they do in the first place.

I f***in' love 'em, though. Even if I don't think they're out here making masterpieces (often). And think the gaming space would be worse without them. So I wanna support them just to support them.

@TheDarts I think anyone would be hard pressed to explain exactly what the social benefit is from having millionaires — let alone billionaires...let alone trillionaires. The best people have is trickle down economics, except that's not really how it works and is pretty dystopian regardless.

So, ya know, eat the rich and whatnot.

@ButteredCrumpet Bada** name, honestly.

@TheColorUrple Anyone donating will be aware that they can get 1 of any 20 or so random a** projects that'll be of varying quality.

They'll also know they're helping to keep the lights on at one of the funnest looking developers in the industry.

D***, this community is starting to make me sad.

A plucky developer basically got laid off, is miraculously not closed, and is looking to the community for support to make games.

"F*** 'em, they should've done capitalism better."

I always thought I was the miserable curmudgeon who hated video games. Now, I'm not so sure...

Oh, s***, I still need to pledge to this. No one, including them, are expected to make that much. But, man, would I be hyped.

And you never know. Choice Provisions only barely made their goal for Switch 2 ReRunner because another dev stepped in and promised to pledge the remainder if they got to about 3/5th of it. Notch probably has that much money, right? Notch, fix bedrock flintstones, or whatever the kids are saying.

EDIT: Also, Push Square, it might be appropriate to link the video where there say and briefly explain all the games heading to their game jam. The video even has several fun jabs at Xbox, which people on this site would love.

Maybe it's just because I'm a cynical a$$, but I can't imagine anything interesting coming out of this. If the inFAMOUS collection actually exists, this is the time for it. Aside from that...I can only see updates on stuff we already know about. Annnd...I'm not confident that'll include Intergalactic, especially with God of War on the horizon.

And, while updates are fine, I dunno that anyone's dying to see more GoW or Wolverine right now.

@Mindless_Demon But you need the Internet to renew your license. There was a little fervor about a month ago that if you keep your console offline, you can't play digital games after, I think, 60 days.

@Mindless_Demon Shouldn't account suspension do the same? You can't access your licenses with the account they're tied to. You can still play physical, for sure, but I don't see how that'd work with digital.

Still, it is good there's different types of suspension.

@AhmadSumadi They are all like this, and we should be mad at everyone about it. Sony's just the current poster boy.

It was Nintendo last year, but Sony's can't let Nintendo have anything without getting competitive.

@For-Kier I don't know why this would matter. Millions smoke, but that doesn't mean there's no point to warning labels and PSAs.

A reasonable person might say it should be abundantly clear you're exchanging money for a revokable license and the store's wording needs to reflect that.

@Mindless_Demon I don't think racism or sexism really deserves a platform. However, it definitely deserves access to the purchases it made fair and square.

If they're going to revoke all your digital licenses upon an account ban, they should at least refund you. Or maybe just eliminate the account's access to voice chat, and the like.

Before anyone says the whole 'developers are putting their weight behind the Switch 2' thing is silly and ridiculous, I would like to remind everyone that Stellar Blade, one of the few big PS5 exclusives from this generation that Sony put their own money into, is coming to Switch 2 this year.

I doubt anyone here thought that was technically feasible or worthwhile at all when it was showing up in State of Plays, yet here we are. And I would assume Shift Up isn't even one of the partners upset about physical.

@rjejr As someone who actively hated Uncharted, 2 included, when I was younger, I've been VERY lukewarm on modern Naughty Dog for a long a** time.

With that said, I really dug what we saw of this universe, and generally the idea of a studio of their pedigree tackling space. This is probably the only Sony project we know of that I'm actually excited for. So here's hoping it stays that way I've we actually see what the hell this game is all about.

@Lavishturtle As a great philosopher once said: Why?

@BonezKnowz @LogicStrikesAgain OOH! OOH! Do me next!

@Theamazing1 Well, that was Ubisoft. Probably their marketing. I wouldn't necessarily assume it was impossible to get Star Wars Outlaws running on a cart; it's very likely they didn't want to pay for the expanded storage version that lots of 3rd-parties seemingly don't and that was a convenient enough excuse.

Which is a problem in and of itself, but not one I would expect to be widespread enough to necessitate canning physical support. Especially considering...I mean, Nintendo's never gonna do this physical-to-digital program Microsoft is planning. Unless there is no Switch 3 and they go for something completely new, I'm guessing total backwards compatibility will be an essential feature for them.

And again with size, I'm very doubtful games are going to get much bigger than they currently are on high-end hardware. Which has mostly managed even with about the same storage constraints (I dunno if there's a common dual-layer Blu-ray that doubles storage, or something, but as far as I know most are capped at the same 64gb as Switch 2 carts). And it's never impossible for higher capacity carts to be mass produced.

Now, will the storage crisis eventually kill physical Nintendo games? Maybe. It's really hard to say. I would assume all-on-cart games will just become less frequent, but I just can't see Nintendo giving up entirely when physical is such a large part of their sales. Worst case I can imagine is nearly every release is a game key cart.

'PlayStation One'

That's fine, but there's already 6 apps that do the same thing on PS5. Personally, I use a Plex app that also receives local channels.

@Theamazing1 But see, that's assuming games keep getting bigger and bigger and no new compression techniques are developed. I personally don't think games will keep ballooning in size and costs, because it already isn't sustainable.

And when it comes to Nintendo specifically, their games are always fairly small, with clearly considered scope and data optimization. Donkey Kong Bananza was, like, 10gb. Their biggest games are probably modern Zelda and Xenoblade, but I don't think any have broken 40gb, even with their Switch 2 editions. Hell, I think a couple Switch 2 editions were actually smaller than their Switch 1 counterparts. Nintendo's a great example of how to keep games a manageable size, and I don't think that'll be changing. Hence, I doubt this would be what kills Nintendo physical.

@HairyBizRat How do ya reckon?

Is it going to have variable resolution and stuttering frames that are flawless on PS5 Pro? Does it have PSSR? Is nothing confirmed, and that's kinda the point?

@Neuromancer Mistah Smith, say it isn't so?

I never get this reasoning, be it about Nintendo or Pixar. There is absolutely children's entertainment, but there's also family-friendly entertainment made with the talent, artistry, themes, and depth to engage people of all ages. There's also a certain kind of tweeny, teeny entertainment that a lot of people treat like it's mature, but really...it ain't — which is where I feel the majority of video games fall under.

It's the difference between Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Coraline, Death Note, and Moby Dick. Maybe about 10% of Nintendo is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but the other 90% is one of the latter.

@Theamazing1 This is true. But yet another reason gamers should be less gungho to fall in line.

Forbidden West is an entirely competent game that manages to perfectly summarize all the worst aspects of modern design.

I don't hate it because it's the worst game ever. I don't hate it because I had no fun with it. I hate it because I really like the Horizon IP, and FW convinced me I shouldn't.

It was a massive disappointment, and, while everyone is free to like what they like, I can't help but think those that see it as anything more than a decent time sink predominantly play games for bigness and content. Because it constantly fails at being well designed.

Although I do always stress that I really liked Aloy's character arc in the game, and people calling her annoying are coming at it from the complete wrong perspective. The plot outside of Aloy is a lot worse than ZD, but fun enough sci-fi drivel.

@asdfghjklz Well you're just kinda an arse, ain't ya?

Sony's market isn't 1:1 with Nintendo's, but according to you 15% of Sony's sales remain physical. Which...checks notes appears to be a significant percentage. Or would you be okay to just give me almost 1/6th of your net worth?

Still don't get this "following the money" reasoning, as though physical games don't make money...

@icarusdreams Well, duh. Physical does not have to be the primary delivery method of entertainment for it to remain viable.

If there's a market, there's money to be made. Sony have decided to ignore that money for the potential of marketplace control and/or whatever AI s*** they're converting their factory into. Why anyone would encourage either is beyond me. At the very least, maybe don't discourage those whom want to actively combat it — no matter how useless said combating might seem.

@icarusdreams I'm very tired of people insisting this is just sensible business.

Nintendo still sells physical — rather successfully, actually. Entire companies exist exclusively to produce physical editions of indie games. Vinyls are back in style. Physical movies are far from dead. Atari just collaborated with Microsoft (Activision) to produce a bunch of Atari 2600 cartridges, for God's sake.

Gestures wildly in the wind

There OBVIOUSLY remains a market for physical. People who assert otherwise are more delusional than those that thought this week was going to convince Sony to cancel their plans.

@icarusdreams Where are you going with this question?

All my game collections are digital aside from a cart of Skyrim I got a fill in the Switch cartridge slot. I still support player choice, and sympathize with physical collectors. I also see this moment as one of the most important ones for general ownership. It's especially notable to me that those saying the REAL problem is digital ownership rights aren't actually doing ANYTHING right now except belittling physical truthers' attempts to do something.

Also, no PS+ or GamePass aside from when I want to 'rent' a game or play something specific online with a friend. I do have NSO, though, mostly for Nintendo Classics and Nintendo Music. I'm currently subbed to the Hulu/Disney+ bundle because I'm getting it for $5 monthly. But I primarily watch stuff on a self hosted Plex Server primarily populated by rips of physical media I've purchased.

@icarusdreams It's people using their limited power to attempt to say something.

Would it have been more mature to sit back and continue playing Sony's console while they're dissatisfied with Sony? Pretty sure there's a word for that behavior, and "mature" ain't it.

@icarusdreams How is an organized protest equatable to a temper tantrum?

I have a toddler; he never plans a week long hug blackout to convince me to let him drive the car.

@ShadowRJ For sure. There's no reason to believe any of this.

I just want to make it clear for people that their opinions of Rino don't matter here because it's not sourced FROM them. And that it's entirely possible all-digital isn't a ubiquitously popular move within the games industry.

I don't know why we're questioning the validity of Rino in the comments when he's literally getting this information from an article.

https://mp1st.com/news/sonys-end-physical-games-causing-tension-at-gamescom

Said article reporting on a comment made by an influencer... Which follows:

"I'm starting to get some behind-the-scenes news from Gamescom. I'm told that despite what Sony wants to portray, the public's reaction has been controversial internally. This is affecting their marketing, and they're going to make changes to their communication and planning. Also, some third-party studios are temporarily choosing not to partner with PlayStation."

I'm not going to look into this influencer, but Rino's credibility is entirely irrelevant.

Nor do I know what's so hard to believe about companies trying to distance themselves from Sony right now. That's just good marketing, at the moment. Or the idea that some major publisher is threatening to pull out over it. That's just good marketing, at the moment — and could also be an empty threat. Or not; despite what people might assume here, you DON'T need PlayStation to have a successful game.

Not saying the rumor is true. But none of the details surrounding it are really farfetched.

@DennisReynolds It's just excessive to buy a $1000+ console with no firm details on how those extra hundreds will improve this one game, is all.

It's like buying a year pass to a theme park because you're pretty sure their new attraction will be open by then despite no official word.

@Intr1n5ic And yet I don't see it being widely reported on what these icons are and do. Kinda makes me think these guys didn't get concrete answers and are just speculating.

But sure, I don't wanna watch a 30+ trailer breakdown, so I can't build a strong enough case to prove my point. So I will assume everything said in that video was 100% accurate and R* designed a boring 'make this chase easier to evade' button.

IF, however, it turns out the details about these prompts within that video were inaccurate, I will remember this, return to this article, and say 'wazzuuuuup.'

@Intr1n5ic Well, he explicitly states he can't wait to get his hands on the heat feature. So he has no first-hand account of how it works. I'm not going to watch the whole video to confirm, but during that part he doesn't actually cite anything the developers might've specified to him about how they work, so I can only assume he was just speculating.

@get2sammyb Hey, at least you weren't the booth babe. That had to have been a real 'what life choices got me here' moment for them

@Ed_Zeppelin Where's that been confirmed?

You also gotta think, if you can only control one character at a time, how are you supposed to get them to split up? Is there a squad command system, now? If one evades the cops, do you have to switch to the other to make their evasion successful? Also...why would splitting them up be fun? Let's say police forces are split between the two of them, so individually they have less police to deal with. Why is that an interesting outcome for the player? Sounds like it would just deflate an exciting chase.

EDIT: Also, pending your confirmation, I actually don't really think that icon has anything to do with the two main characters. Not only do I not see the gameplay potential, I also think that's a really boring icon to signify two wanted lovers. Could at least be a chained heart, or something. I'm gonna say it means there's witnesses that can identify you — that sounds more interesting and makes a lot of sense with the burglary focus.

@Matroska I feel like it would make more sense that if a camera sees you, you're just spotted. Unless they want to make immediate line of sight a whole mechanic. But, even then, I imagine the 'search area' mechanic on the minimap from IV and V would communicate everything the player would need to know without the icon.

Unless it just means you're currently on camera, but I kinda doubt any of those icons are meant to toggle on and off suddenly.

I dunno about all of those. I absolutely think the gun just means they know you're armed and will fire on sight. Otherwise, what are we saying? If they know your gun but not your face, you just have to run around with a different gun?

Also don't know why, as a gameplay system, it would matter if they're looking for a couple. Probably makes more sense if it just means they're both wanted. Nor can I imagine any reason to notify the player they've been spotted specifically by a camera. I'm gonna guess that means they're LOOKING for you with cameras, meaning you have to look out for them.

@TheFakulty Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...nahhhhhhhhh.

It looks 'good' the way Snapchat-filter girls look attractive. Like, superficially, yeah! But there's just an uncanniness that throws the whole thing off.

I can't really think of a good way to implement this either without compromising artistry. I think I saw someone apply the same mod to OG Oblivion, and the results were pretty good. So just apply this high-fidelity uncanniness to that ugly era of low-fidelity uncanniness, and you might be able to argue it's better. That's all I can reckon, though.

@get2sammyb Isn't that a flavor of Brawndo?

@Flaming_Kaiser Same here, but with Breath of the Wild. Regardless of what people think of the two games (I don't actually love Elden Ring, but I do respect its design), they were two interesting, bold takes on the open-world.

I do think it's okay if GTA just wants to be the same GTA. I'm just not excited for that. And I wonder why others are so hyped about that proposition.

And, yeah, for the biggest piece of entertainment ever and $2 billion dollars, it seems like a real missed opportunity if in the end it really is just more of the same GTA.

@Weebleman Where did they confirm that? All I can find is the "PRO ENHANCED" tag showing up on the store.

@Flaming_Kaiser My thing is, I think R*'s design had been upstaged by countless other open-worlds at this point. Structurally, having a big, ornate map mostly disconnected from the main story content is just archaic — arguably it has been since San Andreas. And that's to say nothing of the clunky action design that we only tolerated back then because there wasn't much else that could provide the sandbox experience. Now we have The f***in' Patrick Star Game.

I want to see a HUGE swing when it comes to progression structure. I want missions that aren't linear cinematic set-pieces. I want a character that feels good to control. I want an open-world I'm encouraged to explore rather than follow a GPS through. I want a bigger emphasis on interactive storytelling.

I DON'T want another game where I follow the minimap to someone's initials so that I can watch a quirky cutscene and be set off to follow GPS for another 5 minutes so I can chase an NPC for a slightly more hectic 5 minute drive before pressing TRIANGLE to get out of my car to frantically tap X for 1 minute before the game decides I did well enough to watch a cutscene of my guy winning the chase.

Even just open-ended missions would do A LOT to improve the experience. Need to catch a guy? You can look for him on social media, get a few photos, and use that to find where he lives. Or pay some money to get your informant to give you that info. Once you find him, either chase him down or tail him until he goes into a Clucken Bell so you can catch him off guard. Then you can convince him to go quietly, or maybe you have to beat him into submission. Wanna try a quick bullet to the leg to win that fight? Go ahead, but it might not work out great in the long-run.

Or just lean into immersive sim elements — I dunno. Just something exciting. Being able to seemlessly switch between driver and passenger during a police chase just doesn't do a single thing for me. I'm sure it'll be an amazing map to explore. But I can always play GTAs I'm nostalgic about to get that.

@For-Kier The reality is markets are ever-changing, and there's really no reason to jilt any part of your consumer base lest you might regret it in due time. Physical books, music, and movies all saw a death just to resurge in recent years — hard to see physical ever really dying regardless of the medium.

And Sony's yet to explain exactly why it's too difficult for them to keep making physical games. We can pretty easily guess it's either about marketplace control or whatever AI nonsense they're converting their manufacturing wing into. Such inspiring reasoning makes one wonder why we're not collectively snarky towards Sony... Either way, no matter what stats anyone brings up, physical does sell. Was selling. It was never a charity; physical made money, and it makes no sense to act like this is what the market dictated.