Comments 2,340

Re: PlayStation Consoles to Stop Getting Disc-Based Physical Releases in 2028

RoomWithaMoose

@Bot_Bot_69 Legitimate question: aren't PC games licenses just as closed? The OS and hardware isn't. But if you buy a game on Steam, aren't you beholden to playing it through Steam?

There is GOG, which from my understanding is open. But I'm never too sure if people saying they'll be going PC over stuff like this understand the difference. I'm also not sure how good GOG's library is.

Re: PlayStation Consoles to Stop Getting Disc-Based Physical Releases in 2028

RoomWithaMoose

@Runex2121 That's fair.

But losing complete access to digital movie purchases is not at all a new thing. About a decade ago, I even lost a couple movies I bought on Google Movies (now for movies, I buy them physically and rip my own digital copy which I can store/access however I want — which is how ideally all digital purchases should work, but piracy). It's somewhat hard to explicitly blame Sony for that instance, either, when it was really a distributor deal falling through and probably a bit out of their hands.

In the game space, we really just have delistings as far as I'm aware. Delisted games can still be downloaded, and, of course, you don't even have to worry about losing access to the download if you already have a hard copy of the data. This is the bare minimum I would expect in the future.

Re: PlayStation Consoles to Stop Getting Disc-Based Physical Releases in 2028

RoomWithaMoose

@S1ayeR74 It does matter. A lot.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume those movie purchases were not downloadable. Or, if they were, the download only served as an offline option for streaming them. Which is basically an indefinite rental.

Digital games are, like I said, essentially a license to make a hard copy of data. Which is more like select purchases on Vimeo, wherein you can download content and store it however you want.

The biggest hurdles for digital ownership are revoking licenses for breaking terms and agreements, renewing licenses if servers permanently go offline, and data only being compatible with proprietary storage formats. Companies straight up deleting purchases is about as likely as them releasing system updates "bricking" physical discs. There is no precedent, and the movie thing really doesn't prove anything.

Re: PlayStation Consoles to Stop Getting Disc-Based Physical Releases in 2028

RoomWithaMoose

I don't want to sound like a corporate shill, and this is definitely bad news that limits the options of consumers. But, man, it always feels like people are too f***ing dramatic about physical vs. digital.

I think the issue is how many misconceptions there are about ownership and digital purchases. Basically, whether digital or physical, you have no ownership over the game — or really its data. Buying physical, you own a hard copy of the game's data, and that's it. Buying digital, you own a digital license that allows you to download and store the game's data. Which is to say, it's the same d*** picture. If you buy digital, you can have a hard copy of the data, and no company can take that away from you (though there should be more thorough legal protections to ensure that).

This does effectively kill the resale market (technically, it probably wouldn't be that hard to implement a digital resale system, but no company would put money into that). And this is definitely a preservationist nightmare (ignoring that modern gaming has already been that regardless of physical releases). So, again, BAD news. But digital purchases are not as bad as people are asserting.

Re: Layoffs at IO Interactive as Project Fantasy Ends 'Relationship with External Partner'

RoomWithaMoose

@8th_Observer It was still an article whose only new bit of news was a Switch 2 trailer. I'm just saying, man, it's not hard to make a connection.

"10% Pay Raise at Nintendo Puts PlayStation on Notice"

Really easy to tie it back to PlayStation. It's noteworthy, relevant news, I would say.

EDIT: Also pretty sure they've written articles to the effect of, 'BLANK announced for Switch, seemingly skipping PlayStation' on several occasions. Which deflates this whole game needs to be on PlayStation to justify writing about it thought. Just like how a game skipping PlayStation can be seen as relevant PlayStation news, so too can a rival company's ostensible success be relevant to PlayStation.

Re: 'I Don't Know What They're Thinking': Ex-PlayStation Boss Weighs in on Sony's PC Port Backtracking

RoomWithaMoose

@Grumblevolcano I guess...

But you still have God of War at #3. Gran Turismo barely seems like an IP to me. In the same way MLB is sports, Turismo is kinda just cars. That it had a movie I suppose helps legitimatize it as its own property... But still doesn't feel right.

And PlayStation's series of Marvel games is absolutely NOT a PlayStation IP. The rest I completely agree with the order of.

How they got 5th for God of War beats me. Maybe they're counting Spider-Man and Wolverine as different IPs...? And have MLB above it? I dunno.

Re: Xbox Wants to Cancel Marvel's Blade, Close Arkane Studios

RoomWithaMoose

Not surprising, but also seems like a massive fumble.

One of the best developers to come to prominence in the last decade paired with a fan-favorite Marvel property. It shouldn't be hard to make this into a success. Maybe it's the behind-the-scenes that lead to this thinking from corporate, but still emblematic of how bad management was and is.

Re: 'I Don't Know What They're Thinking': Ex-PlayStation Boss Weighs in on Sony's PC Port Backtracking

RoomWithaMoose

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Not a single PlayStation IP compares to Nintendo's best. I'm not even sure any of PlayStation's compare to Halo at its peak.

I wouldn't exactly say "everyone" knows them. And, while I can see arguments to the effect of the PC ports weren't growing IP and instead only devalued the PS5 proposition, it should have been a decent path to brand recognition.

Re: 'Likely the Largest Single Layoff Event in Gaming History': Ominous Words as Xbox 'Bloodbath' Looms

RoomWithaMoose

@ThePlaystationStan I agree that the PS5 is a better console — almost entirely because most modern Xbox games are on it. But the Series are still pretty good consoles, all considered.

Heck, even in regards to the exclusives thing, a lot of people here don't appreciate the decently large collection of backwards compatible games on Series/One you can't get on PlayStation. Including many Xbox exclusives throughout history that remain exclusive.

Re: 'Likely the Largest Single Layoff Event in Gaming History': Ominous Words as Xbox 'Bloodbath' Looms

RoomWithaMoose

@ThePlaystationStan You know, I don't really see how Microsoft's continuous failures would affect the end-consumer. The Series still gets games, Xbox still puts out a ton of games (not for long...), GamePass remains a pretty good service for the customer, and the hardware has never not been capable.

It's no Wii U or Dreamcast — and those have a bunch of fans despite having libraries that pale in comparison to the Series. Really, the only reason to bemoan owning an Xbox is if you engage in fanboy wars. Otherwise, it's a perfectly fine console to be on, and barely a different experience from the PS5 outside of some missing support.

Re: Sony Says AI Is a 'Foundational Technology' and 'Exciting Long-Term Opportunity' for Its PS6 Strategy

RoomWithaMoose

@Bot_Bot_69 ...Seems kinda telling that neither responded to you with clear examples of AI's positive effects on individuals.

If we didn't live in a global capitalism where the rich profit off us working ourselves to death, advanced automation from AI (or the LLM simulacrum of artificial intelligence we currently have — @NerdyPaul) might almost be worth the unregulated environmental strain. But we don't have that...

No company pushing AI is doing so to revolutionize the labor-exchange to workers' benefit. They're doing it to pay people less to get equatable products. In the realm of art, that translates to foregoing intent for more rapid, vapid content. Which I guess could be interpreted as a good thing, if you ask the right consumer.

Re: GTA 6 Not Expected to Run at 60fps on Any PS5 Console

RoomWithaMoose

@Jett I am not apart of the Master Race and have no interest in fighting their fanboy battles.

However, the argument that many PC players wouldn't be able to play GTAVI at 60fps seems entirely irrelevant to the comparison. Like, a PC fanboy wouldn't give any amount of s***s. And it feels INCREDIBLY unlikely a PC port is more than 2 years away — likely more like 1. This isn't the 360 era anymore; T2 would be throwing money away if they got cute with console exclusivity.

Re: GTA 6 Not Expected to Run at 60fps on Any PS5 Console

RoomWithaMoose

@AI-Generation I always thought 30fps was perfectly fine. 60fps is notably better, but I wouldn't call it essential. Frame pacing is really what kills it for me.

120fps always seemed pointless and unnecessary, though. Again, it is better than 60fps — marginally. But has never made enough of a difference for me to care.

Re: Sony Tiptoes Over PS6 Release Date, But Insists It Won't Just Follow Xbox

RoomWithaMoose

@johnedwin Prices will go up regardless of when they release it. The question is whether or not it's worth releasing at all, not so much when.

The only way kinda around increasing prices is to front load manufacturing so you have a heavy stock built at lower prices. But, from the sounds of it, it's already too late to do that. So unless Sony already built that stock...they really don't have a good option.

Re: Microsoft Responds to Reports of GTA 6 PS5 Pre-Orders Trouncing Xbox

RoomWithaMoose

So, wait, this is based exclusively on IGNdeals' affiliate link clicks after 1 week of pre-orders? That tells us literally f***ing nothing.

At most, we can assume this ratio is representative of an inclination towards PS5 over Xbox Series. Except we can already assume that based on install bases. But there's way too many variables at play here to assume that specific ratio is accurate in any way, nor that it will continue being just as accurate as time goes on. It's junk data from a nebulous population over a miniscule amount of time.

Re: Rumour: PS6 Costs Sony Almost $1,000 to Make Right Now

RoomWithaMoose

@AhmadSumadi I think most people who buy $1000+ phones get them on a payment plan, with an overpriced network plan, or with a trade-in deal. And I'm not super certain they make up a big enough portion of consumers for said phones to be seen as anything other than luxury products.

Which is to say, the markets are very different, and the seeming success of expensive phones doesn't mean video game consoles can charge similar prices and expect to sell.

Re: Rumour: PS6 Costs Sony Almost $1,000 to Make Right Now

RoomWithaMoose

Seems like a lot of commenters aren't reading that it takes nearly $1000 JUST to put the d*** thing together. We're not looking at an $800 release when sold at a loss. Adding up all the other expenses in producing and shipping a console, even hitting $1000 with subsidies is probably practically impossible.

Y'all really need to grasp that the Steam Machine, with comparable output to a base PS5, costs $1050 when sold at a presumable profit. If the PS6 is significantly stronger, subsidies and whatever special manufacturing deals Sony can pull out of its a** aren't going to save that price tag.

EDIT: Also, everyone in the know are saying component prices are going to double by the end of next year. If it costs $1000 to assemble now, we're probably looking at a $1400 minimum by then. Maybe they can stock up now, but that could just lead to a s***ton of product already too expensive to produce.

Re: Talking Point: Is GTA 6's Dodgy Ultimate Edition a Deal-Breaker?

RoomWithaMoose

@AI-Generation Too much hype. It'll get 10s galore from journalists just for a bunch of video essatists to release videos throughout next year calling its praise into question.

Whether it's good or not will depend on how tired one is of R*'s formula. If GTAV and/or Red Dead 2 are what you consider the best games of all time, you'll love it. If you think games like Breath of the Wild or Ghosts of Tsushima ran circles about R*'s efforts, I doubt VI will do much of anything to convince you it deserves its generational status.

Re: Sony Will Continue to Chase Live Service Dream, Despite Mostly Disastrous Execution to Date

RoomWithaMoose

@Oram77 Well yeah, no game is a guaranteed success. That's exactly the point.

Making a GaaS doesn't guarantee revenue anymore than making a single-player game does. So why scramble to heavily invest in the fad that's already come and gone? No one's gonna be making Fortnite money, so why try so hard to compete with it. There's no sense to it.

EDIT: This accidentally kinda works as a response to the Astro thing, too. So...there ya go.

Re: Sony Will Continue to Chase Live Service Dream, Despite Mostly Disastrous Execution to Date

RoomWithaMoose

I literally do not get how fans are still justifying Sony's live-service push.

Every time I bemoan the lack of PaRappa:
"PlayStation already tried that, it didn't work and they should never try again."

The live-service push proves time and time again to be a fool's errand rife with failures:
"I mean, it made sense that they tried. And they should keep trying, because Fortnite makes a lot of money."

I just don't get this fanbase half the time...

Re: Sony Will Continue to Chase Live Service Dream, Despite Mostly Disastrous Execution to Date

RoomWithaMoose

@Oram77 But why prioritize that specific type of game when their biggest success in the space is about as profitable as any of their top-selling titles? Why even care about the space when efforts therein have made nothing close to Fortnite money?

There's no sense to it. If they want to make a live-service game — whatever. But it should never compromise their usual output again, nor should they expect anything close to the top dogs.