RoomWithaMoose

@1970sGamer There's no easier way to make your thoughts on the matter look entirely unserious than saying "luddite."

How exactly is this more effective than making a quick placeholder? The team uses less of their imagination for affirmation?

This sounds like an innocent enough use of the tech. But I think in the gaming space people are narrow focused on what AI means for artistic endeavors. Don't forget, people, pollution, worker's rights, fabricated reality,etc. There's MANY more downsides to AI than just slop. And I'd argue it holistically isn't worth encouraging.

@Exerion76 The aversion to Rareware's titles definitely adds to my hypothesis. Also can think about if you like Spyro or Crash more.

I certainly see how Odyssey and Bananza can be disappointing for someone looking for legitimately engaging platforming. I don't know that I'd consider Bananza a platformer in the first place. Their strength lies in exploration, action design (what the characters can do), symbiosis with action and level design (how the characters can interact with the world), theming/context, and pacing. That's how they engage the player. But for pure platforming, yeah the Galaxys and Astro have better design.

Personally, I'm a big fan of both. Banjo-Kazooie is my favorite platformer ever, but I likewise think Galaxy 2 has the best platforming design ever. Moment-to-moment play is better in a linear platformer, but exploration-based titles tend to be more holistically engaging for me.

@Exerion76 Ya sure you don't just prefer rapid fire linear platformers to exploration-based ones?

Nothing wrong with that. Just seems like there might be a fairly obvious, overt reason you prefer Astro and Galaxy to Odyssey and Bananza that isn't really the latters' fault.

@SMJ I mean, we saw what happened with E-Day.

Maybe, with it being a major Bethesda game, they can't back out now. But I have a feeling any game outside of the Acti-Blizz umbrella is liable to go exclusive.

@Oram77 Literally every year I think there's a decent chance it'll make an appearance, and every year Ubisoft proves me wrong.

I have no clue how it's not cancelled already.

@Oram77 At least it's not Beyond Good & Evil 2.

@SMJ I'm sure it depends entirely on how Gears and Clockwork do.

This is probably currently lined up as their big 2028/2029 exclusive, with an asterisk that that's liable to change.

@Yor-sama Teenage Eve-girl from the sequel would make more sense with her fisticuffs.

I say add Kazuya or Jin. I liked when the two series were buddy-buddy.

@8th_Observer Damn, I forgot how exciting Everwild and Perfect Dark looked...

Well, I doubt Bethesda's marquee title will be met with the same fate. But I likewise doubt it'll amount to much more than prettier Skyrim.

Sounds like a crime against humanity. But I guess more options is always good.

@11001100110zero Basically. Everyone basically lies in court. That's why people generally don't trust lawyers. Maybe if we had some leaked private meetings of Sony management disregarding Nintendo, I'd be more inclined to agree.

Again, do we really think Xbox provides more competition than Switch...?

@11001100110zero What's said in court is an abstraction of reality to align it with one's case. Nintendo couldn't be competition, because then Micro-Acti-Blizz-King-esda clearly wouldn't have a chance of becoming a monopoly. Kinda like how Micro-Acti-Blizz-King-esda isn't a monopoly.

Do we really think Xbox offers PlayStation stiffer competition than the Switch?

@somnambulance Personally, I was just so satisfied with Bananza, I'm not pressed for another Mario game anytime soon. Ditto for platformers in general; I want all of Nintendo's weirdest s*** first (Sin & Punishment 2 remake, you cowards!)

There was a rumor that Nintendo's working on a new Wario game, though. The leaker said there's 50/50 odds it's WareWare or Wario Land-adjacent. Since all rumors seem to be true these days, and the leaker explicitly said it won't be at today's Direct, maybe something will be announced soon to soothe your platforming needs.

@KawakiisaFraud I have no idea how Nintendo is trying to become PlayStation, nor do I understand why Phantom Blade Zero — or Chinese games in general — would be a measure of success.

The Nintendo Switch was more successful than the PS5. Maybe the Switch 2 won't manage to keep that momentum going, but both your assertions seem to imply a different history than what happened.

@Rich33 That's very possible. And might be enough to top the S2 for another holiday. We'll just have to see.

@DennisReynolds Microsoft have just said they're reevaluating their approach for Helix. It's still coming out next year (for now), but that's because they need it.

Sony is in a much better position where they should be able to run with the PS5 for a few more years. But that also puts them at risk of becoming old news. Maybe they're just going forward with the 6, anyway. But I think it makes a lot more sense to hold it off as long as possible and not have to compromise anything like it sounds like Microsoft will.

After all, there's the very real possibility that if they launched a new console at $800-1200, it would fail to even usurp the 5. So what would be the point?

@DennisReynolds I don't think you're appreciating how long it might take to get the PS6. Or how advantageous that could be for Nintendo. That the PS5 is an aged console with little room to grow is exactly the problem.

Also don't think you appreciate how slowing technological gains, senior competition, proven success, and burgeoning portable PC markets makes the Switch 2 multiplat push very different from the Switch's. I'm sure the S2 will eventually lose most AAA support like the Switch did, but that might be several years away. For now, the amount of day-and-dates ain't nothing.

I prefaced my whole argument by saying we need to see how the market reacts to the new prices. PS5's sales might've just fell off a cliff (don't think we've seen the US' results yet). Switch 2's might in September, but I feel like if $450 wasn't killing it $500 won't. Maybe PS5 will recover, but it seems Sony isn't even expecting that. So sales will probably stay pretty low untill GTA; we'll see how many fans have waited through all these price hikes to buy a console that can play it.

@get2sammyb I suppose it was treated as such in the Direct. And seems positioned to be the year's closer.

So sure on that one. Don't think Star Fox holds the same weight internally, though.

@somnambulance I think, as far as Nintendo is concerned, Fire Emblem, Splatoon, and Sports are their biggest games this year. And the Galaxy movie was the big Mario celebration.

Xenoblade is definitely doing a lot of heavy lifting for me, though.

@somnambulance I agree and disagree. Nothing that blew my mind. But there were a lot of 3rd-party games I've been wanting on Switch, Xenoblade looked awesome, I appreciated the updates on FE and RHG, and I'm optimistic Sports Resort will end up a lot better than its predecessor.

If their one more thing wasn't an Ocarina remake (cool, but not that cool), I probably would've wholeheartedly loved it.

@DennisReynolds I mean, the S2 is the fastest selling console ever. And it looks like the PS5 is slowing down at a much faster rate.

Maybe GTA will make that all moot. But it seems pertinent that GTA seems to be the only thing expected to significantly increase the PS5's sales in the foreseeable future.

EDIT: I also hope everyone understands that I give zero s*** which console sells better. Xbox can become dominant tomorrow onwards for all I care. I'm just putting on my analyst hat, and Nintendo's fortunes seem the most promising at the moment. IF that $500 price doesn't ruin it for them, as I keep reiterating.

@get2sammyb But that's exactly the thing. If the PS6 was coming out, I wouldn't think the S2 has much opportunity to overtake market share. Or if the PS5 could price itself to undercut the S2 proposition.

If markets can swallow S2 at $500, it'll definitely thrive.

@get2sammyb Well, I didn't say it's dominating now, or anything.

But I would say the price increase really hurts PS5's forecasts, and, depending on how markets respond to the S2's increase, could lead to a shift in market share.

Not like PS5 is going to become a failure. But I see a lot of opportunity for the S2's growth. Very little for the PS5 aside from GTA.

@8th_Observer Well, you were told wrong.

Certainly seems to me that the Switch competes more with the PlayStation than portable PCs or any other hardware. Regardless of that, it's all gaming, and all competing.

@GravyThief Don't ever question Kingdom Hearts.

It'll save you a lot of pain.

@johnedwin We'll see how the price increase works out for both consoles.

But, I mean...it does kinda look like Nintendo is close to dominating the console gaming space. And the compute crisis is really f***ing over Microsoft and Sony, forcing them to refocus efforts on their current systems rather than get momentum going for the next (if the $500 price doesn't kill S2 sales, and there's not another increase, I'd say Nintendo gains the most from the whole thing).

And despite the befuddlement seen in response to your comment, there was pretty clear messaging during this Direct that the Switch 2 isn't going to miss out on big games going forward. Stellar Blade, the big PlayStation exclusive of yesteryear, coming Switch-ward is pretty emblematic of that. Metal Gear and Tomb Raider having a presence at a Nintendo event is likewise noteworthy. And Spyro was just announced, coming to S2 day and date. Day and date for Kingdom Hearts 4, as well.

Now, is Sony "on the defensive"? I definitely wouldn't put it that way. But the PS5 certainly feels as risk of losing a lot of future market share to the Switch 2. And without a PS6 in the near future, Sony might not have much to counter with.

@8th_Observer That's fair.

@8th_Observer Urm, like, everything.

If you just want to mock the Podcast producers for using an out-of-date trailer with incorrect information, feel free. But this whole hoopla about Microsoft having exclusives again is pretty ridiculous.

@get2sammyb They were paid to work on a cancelled port of a game that's still coming out.

...I'm sure no one will lose any sleep over this.

I have zero clue what's so hard to grasp about this. They were all in on going multiplat. There was a change in leadership. Now they want to reemphasize exclusivity in an attempt to revitalize their hardware.

Will it pay off? I dunno. Was going multiplat a good move in the first place? Probably not, but, to be fair, it's not like exclusives were gaining them much traction before.

I don't see why we should act surprised by this. Like, yeah, of course they WERE planning on bringing E-Day to PlayStation. But if they felt they needed an exclusive this year to exemplify their change in strategy, there really was no other choice besides Gears.

What confuses me is why so many PlayStation fans are seemingly taking it personally...

@Yor-sama What was so bad about the Xbox Showcase? Which one you prefer is really up to preference, but they both had strong games.

I cared more about Spyro and Clockwork than anything at the SoP or SGF, so I guess Xbox wins.

GoW was probably the best Sony had, and it's pretty tied with GoWE-Day for 'solid looking game from a series I'm tired of not doing enough to not seem tired.' SGF was mostly a bunch of generic looking games that I'm sure will just come and go. Kinda a problem with all three, really, but I suppose the generic Dishonored-likes caught my eye more than the rest. So...Xbox wins again...?

I dunno. Nothing really has me too excited as of yet. So it's hard to definitively declare a winner when I felt the same indifference throughout.

@nomither6 It's really annoying that some people keep saying AI hate is performative.

If you condone it, whatever. But there are many legitimate reasons to be wary and critical of AI. Dismissing the opposition as though they're making a fuss over literally nothing is just asinine and ignorant.

I've literally never put any thought into this. Back in the day, I didn't see Ubisoft announcing an AssCreed game during their s*** conference as a slight to either Sony or Microsoft. Nor did I think Legends Retold's announcement at the SoP was a slight against Nintendo.

I think companies just announce s*** whenever's convenient. Maybe Sony didn't have a lot of space in their SoP because they wanted big time slots for GoW and Wolverine. Maybe Geoff just gave them a better offer. Maybe 3rd-parties didn't want to immediately associate their game with PS5 and risk subconsciously alienating other gamers at the start of their marketing campaigns. None of which is indicative of souring relationships. Sony can't announce everything...

People really like jumping to conclusions.

Why, though?

Really not a big fan of parading a dead celebrity's likeness about. With the family's blessing, it's not the worst thing. But it always feels weird and dirty regardless.

I mean, prior to the price hike, the Switch 2 sold about 1.5 million in Japan in three weeks.

@TheDarts Jokes on you, I'm American.

@TheDarts Eat the rich.

@Balaam_ I kinda despised the reception around this game being so hyper-focused on Bungie's gunplay.

Like, sure, it's good, but they are far from the only developer that has made aiming and shooting feel satisfying. The difference being, other standout shooters ALSO have level design.

@Gazray Sounds better than the playtest tutorial. Literally nothing happened when I tried it. LITERALLY NOTHING.

I killed a couple fodder NPCs, but really just ran to three waypoints then extracted. Nothing happened in the second "round" either. I think I killed one person in the third. Then, in the fourth, I was killed almost immediately before doing anything.

Suffice to say, very bad first impression.

@glennthefrog I think another element of the disconnect is just what people expect out of these things.

I don't really care about updates, trailers, or specific release dates. Wolverine being at this event meant literally nothing to me, whereas others loved it. If one just wants to see new marketing for stuff we already knew about, it was a great show. If one wants surprises and announcements, there really wasn't too much.

There was still some stuff. And, to be fair, GoW was a big announcement, it just didn't do much for me personally. But I essentially came away without any new games to look forward to. So, to me, kinda was a waste of time.

I had no idea about God of War, but was fairly 'whelmed' regardless.

It would've probably helped if God of War and God of War weren't the big reveals of the last one.

@UltimateOtaku91 I would say Astral Chain.

Still, Nintendo's inability to create a Splatoon-scope new IP every few years is definitely a fair criticism. I would say it's offset by the amount of series they make and support (Echoes of Wisdom, for instance, was a Zelda game but unlike any other), but it still means we see the same franchises every year.

@UltimateOtaku91 Although it's worth noting that there have been other new IP from Nintendo in-between Arms/1-2-Switch and DxD.

@Haruki_NLI SHHHHHH. DragXDrive doesn't exist, it can't hurt us.

@UltimateOtaku91 Completely disagree with your 'free pass' theory. Nintendo and Microsoft get a ton of s*** for reusing IPs without reinvention. The New Super Mario Bros. sub-series continues to be mocked to this day. And I'm a huge Halo fan, but have been bored to death of it since Halo 4 (and I actually like Halo 4).

The problem with comparing company to company or IP to IP is that franchise fatigue really depends on a lot, and is subjective first and foremost. Skyward Sword was treated like another boring, tired formula when it launched, but for BotW to boldly reinvigorate the entire franchise. Depending on the year and circumstance, a new entry in an IP might be welcomed or ridiculed.

@Sonofken Is this directed at me? Really doesn't seem like a response to what I said.

If they can keep them interesting, there's not much wrong with continuing God of War. But I question if there's much worthwhile left to do with Kratos.

@get2sammyb Pretty sure they do. Nintendo using 40+ year old IP as their main franchises is, like, the goto criticism for Nintendo s***-talking.

But, also, Mario and Zelda are weird IP with a multitude of games only tangentially related to each other. Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Breath of the Wild are all massively different games with different mechanics, art styles, settings, and characters, for instance. God of War has seen one reinvention, with all the games before and after falling into a well-defined group. So one would expect far greater creative stagnation from GoW than Nintendo's offerings.

Also, I think the big sentiments in these comments are Sony should make other things (a precedent they set for themselves, but also Nintendo actively works on 20-30 IPs vs. Sony's current...5, or something) and Kratos specifically doesn't need to be explored further.