Shaolin

Obviously it's a shame that the most notable thing this past week in the world of PlayStation is the denial of service attack but I do think Sony showed a good level of flexibility in postponing the scheduled maintenance at short notice. I'm fairly certain that they will have had to still pay for booked staff and services.

I suspect that the hackers still feel that Sony needs to be brought to task for the sanctions against GeoHot and other hackers/modders. I can only assume that the hackers still feel that they have a legitimate bone to pick with Sony because what they did took effort and planning. We are now years on from Sony's very public war against modders and hackers but here we are still seeing hacktivism. This is very interesting to me because according to sales figures and media coverage the PS4 looks very much like the public's darling at the moment with most of the online hate directed towards other consoles which shall not be mentioned.

I'm a longstanding PlayStation-only gamer but still I'd like to see some drastic improvement to the perceived vulnerability of the PlayStation Network. Now that we have to pay for online multiplayer I'd like to see Sony work on an elastic cloud implementation similar to Amazon's S3 and Microsoft's Azure. I know that some people like to play offline single-player only and that's fine but a significant chunk of PlayStation's future business is going to be all manner of online service. A robust service on a par with other companies in the industry will become a must.

I suspect that what we're seeing here is the legacy of Sony's court action against GeoHot and other sanctions against hackers/modders. I can only assume that the hackers feel that there is still need for them to bring Sony to task. Hackers act illegally but I still have to respect that as a demographic they are of higher intelligence than the average so I always try to pay attention to what they are doing and in particular try to figure out their motives.

In terms of what Sony could do (or perhaps should do) now that they are charging for online multiplayer, they might consider an elastic cloud structure like Amazon's S3 or Microsoft's Azure. Hackers are always trying to run denial of service attacks on Amazon but their cloud simply scales up instantly to thwart their efforts. It really is just like water rolling off a duck's back when DDoS is attempted against Amazon. Sony needs to consider this approach now that they have introduced the mandatory charge for online multiplayer.

This was a sensible decision on Sony's part to postpone the scheduled maintenance. It was very flexible of them given the circumstances.

Mind you, I can't say I'm looking forward to the next time the UK has to contend with scheduled maintenance on a bank holiday and that's even without any denial of service attack to add to the misery.

This certainly isn't the end of the world. Having said that, this kind of thing is something I'd like the fee-paying masses to take up with Sony. I think that any company as large as Sony should not be encouraged to continue with this frequency of disruption given that we are now paying for multiplayer via PS+. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want Sony to be crippled by people complaining but I think a little bit of constructive criticism might give them the incentive to improve the service's availability.

When I see some of the bile anti-MS, anti-SquareEnix, anti-EA, anti-anybody comments on here (and elsewhere) I despair that my beloved PlayStation Community has descended into a whimpering mess of drivelling fools. This news is being blown out of proportion and some people really need to grow up, take it on the chin and seriously just move on.

The grass always appears to be greener on the other side of the fence. Maybe it is sometimes, perhaps today it actually was but on those occasions you have to resist being a fanboy about it and instead view it honestly and objectively before just moving on.

I'm actually going to assume that it won't come to PS4 and that way it'll be a nice bonus if it ever does. Whilst Tomb Raider is a very nice IP, I certainly shan't be having any sleepless nights over this because there are so many great games coming to PS4. I wish my Xbox gaming brethren all the best of enjoyment of Rise of the Tomb Raider.

I think it's very interesting seeing the figures for this specific game. I've spent countless hours playing the MGS series and the first one is one of my favourite games of all time. I suspect that the PlayStation community in general are more attracted to this type of game. Mind you, I have no problem whatsoever with it not being exclusive to PlayStation as I'm happy for the legend that is Kojima to make money wherever possible as long as that iconic experience is maintained on PlayStation versions.

If you haven't already bought some of the games in that line-up then those discounts represent really good value. Trials Fusion, Rayman Legends and particularly Tomb Raider are some excellent deals. Personally, I only buy digitally downloaded games because I subscribe to the theory that digital is ethical (as far as the games industry is concerned) so these prices make it a lot less painful to be a digital gamer. At the end of the day these discounts are nicer to have than nothing at all.

I don't expect them to top the look and feel of Uncharted 2 because that was pure class but I am really looking forward to being pleasantly surprised by the story. Even if it turns out to be dark I'm confident that Naughty Dog will do dark well. In DOG we trust.

@eLarkos Ooooh looks like I touched a raw nerve there lol! Look, nobody says that context isn't required but you seem to think it's required every single time you play your game. Historical context is good enough, we don't need to know Xbox figures every single time just in order to determine whether Sony has done well and THAT is my point.

Okay now I'm done because you're just spouting words and some of them are mine (you even had to copy-repeat my smiley for goodness sake) and in general I call time when it feels like I'm talking to myself because it's pretty much as pointless as conversing with you right now. I really am rooting for you though to bring something better than that to the debate next time.

@Gamer83 Yes you're right about the Xbox fanboys being no better. I haven't really ever participated in that community but if I did I'd be sure to call out anything out of whack. I'll always call out unfairness or bias whenever and wherever I see it - I'd feel like I was a willing participant to the fakery if I didn't.

I've come to the conclusion that there are decent chilled out gamers and there are silly fanboy gamers, and it really is just as simple as that. Most of the time those fanboys are so misguided that whichever camp they claim to be in (Xbox, PS, etc.) they undoubtedly fell into it totally by accident although they'd swear blind it was because of this or that intellectual reason - yeah right!

Therefore I can't speak for any other gaming communities but all I know is that in the run up to and ever since these latest-gen console have been released there have been a hell of a lot of trained chimpanzee fanboys with some kind of little-guy-syndrome poisoning the PlayStation community much worse than before. Articles like this that claim a very selective win over Xbox and only tell one part of the story seem to bring them all gleefully out of the woodwork and that's why I personally don't approve.

@eLarkos Umm I think I'm going to have to give up now on explaining it to you any more because either you can't grasp the concept or you're attempting a deliberate wind up.

Okay, I'll try one last time - you rightly picked up on the fact that I don't want to hear about Xbox BUT IF I HAVE TO (that bit in caps seems to be the bit that you can't compute) in that case I want a fair and balanced comparison. In this example, if we must hear about Xbox (and I would rather not) then why focus on one aspect such as hardware sales as some sort of smug win? Why not include software sales in the comparison and I suspect that's because you'd find that Sony wasn't getting such an easy win on that one. It's all pointless to me because I'm interested in the games but just out of curiosity in your fanboyish console winning-losing dichotomy who is it that wins, the one who sells more loss-leading hardware or the one who makes more money overall?

By the way, that's a bad analogy you're using when you say, "Im really good at this game I just downloaded. Im at level 13!!! Super amazing huh?" because you haven't said what the game is. If you had said what game it is then no I wouldn't necessarily need to compare it with another player in order to determine whether you're any good or not.

In short, if you struggle to assess that Sony has done really well for selling multiple millions of PS4s without having to know how many Xboxes have sold, well then there's no hope for you because you're dumber than you sound.

And you're right, I am wittering but you seem to need to use my words to say so Wittering over from me.

To be honest, that's the great thing about these sales because if you don't see something you like now then odds-on you'll see something that tickles your fancy later.

With the summer hols just started I can't say I blame PlayStation for holding back on the big discounts for the moment because they know that many parents will be buying extra games for the kids whether there are good discounts or not. It'll be hard to be patient and wait for tasty discounts but I'll be trying.

Not a bad start to the PS Now service in my opinion. Now if Sony can build on it from here then it might not be a bad option at all to have in the future.

Speaking of options though, in the EA Access article a couple of days ago Sammy was dismissing EA's early access in the comments as being nothing but "premium demos" but to be fair to EA their option compares well price-wise with the PS Now 4-hour option. Let's have some balance here Sammy because as things stand at the moment the price of that 4-hour option makes it very much like one of your EA "premium demos" that you were poo-pooing. If you must insist on belittling the early access portion of EA's subscription service then please don't sound so upbeat when you say, "with the latter offering an easy means of testing out a title without coughing up too much cash". Balance is a virtue.

@Gamer83 It's nice to find someone else on here who is trying to look at the bigger picture and the consequences of Sony making these statements instead of just being limited to blurting out "EA sucks!". Refreshing, very refreshing.

@N711 Yes it certainly is everywhere else. No worries, I don't consider you to be one of the fanboys I was talking about.

@N711 Yes you are right, there definitely are people who want to hear it like that. But I don't and so I was making my voice heard on it.

As I say, I'm a longtime PlayStation only gamer and I'm passionate about our community and I've watched over time as more and more smack-talking fanboys have joined our once chilled-out ranks. Some of those guys are more obsessed with Xbox sales figures than they are about the gaming and I just would rather not always have to read articles written in a way that fans those flames. My own opinion is that this article didn't need to make the mention of Xbox and perhaps would have even made it a cut above.

@eLarkos What are you wittering on about??

I merely put forward the notion that it's entirely possible to celebrate Sony's figures without having to always bring Xbox into it. In fact, it can actually portray Sony as only doing well when Xbox isn't like as if it's some sort of zero sum game. PlayStation is great on it's own terms, nothing to do with Xbox sales.

If you knew how to read my comment properly then you'd know it wasn't contradictory because I was just saying I'd rather not read about Xbox but if I must, if I absolutely must read about it then some balanced reporting would be good. Let's not make out that this silly 3-1 sales ratio is worth putting forward at the exclusion of other (perhaps more) important indicators such as the afore mentioned software sales. Where's the contradiction in that?

@XFsWorld Well Sony is competing with WiiU, Ouya, etc. so you think that just because they're competing that it's relevant? Sony's figures would still be good whether Xbox existed or not - that's relevant too.

@N711 Please tell me that you realise an article about PS4 sales doesn't have to be about Xbox sales. The two are not necessarily mutually inclusive.

Ahh man, Sammy did you have to go and mention Xbox? Those are fantastic PS4 sales figures for Sony and they are totally impressive in their own right.

I'm a PlayStation only gamer and that's why I come to this site but I keep hearing about Xbox this and Xbox that. I'd rather hear more about Sony this and PlayStation that.

If you must insist on bringing Xbox into the conversation (and clearly I'd rather you didn't) then at least give Xbox the kudos they deserve for selling the most software and seeing as the real money in this industry is made from games rather than loss-leading console hardware sales then technically Xbox is the real winner? But that's a conversation I'd rather we didn't have #StopComparingJustEnjoyPS4

@get2sammyb "Over on the PS3 you’ll net Crysis 3 – ironically, an EA Games published title". Well called out on that; the coincidence of it is actually quite amusing given recent developments regarding EA Access.

@voodoo341 I see what you did there LOL!

Mind you, I might lol about it but in reality it's rightly you and me and the rest of the PlayStation community who should be the gauge of whether a subscription service is value for money (not smack-talk from the service providers). All we need now is for EA to join you in commenting on the value of PS+

To be honest, it would be unrealistic to continually expect big AAA blockbusters because that would be unsustainable. Maybe not the strongest showing we seen from PS+ but there are some nice little gems in there if you haven't already played them.

@get2sammyb Okay, from the horse's mouth at http://www.ea.com/eaaccess/en_GB/faq.html

"What will the pre-release trials include? Will my progress carry over?
Each game is different, so each game’s trial will be, too. In some titles you’ll be able to play one of the game's modes for a limited time, while other times you can jump right into the full game. And since you’ll always be playing the real game, any progress you make will carry over so you can pick up where you left off on launch day."

So it seems that the closeness to the full game will vary even though it's always described as a trial. That'll lessen the appeal of the service on the feature-limited occasions. But it does also say, "other times you can jump right into the full game" and that does imply more than just a premium demo.

@get2sammyb Okay, so I've had a look around on the web at a few sites and from what I've seen you might want to look into that one independently rather than relying on Eurogamer for that.

I'm not saying that it won't turn out to be demos but most of the heavy hitting sites out there are not using the "trials" or "demos" phrasing.

This is important because whether it is early access to the full game or merely a feature limited demo will completely change the value proposition of the subscription. Also, it would be nice to get the facts right in the vein of not appearing to incorrectly describe a service that's not coming to PlayStation

After reading a few comments (on this site and on others) I'm still in the "Hmm, I need to know more" camp.

But I'm starting to see the merit in some people's argument that Sony simply doesn't want the competition. I mean how could it have hurt us gamers to have the extra choice? All those blithering idiots above just chanting "No" like trained chimps at the circus could still have just chosen not to subscribe while others who wanted to subscribe could have done. That would have been win-win, no?

@get2sammyb Do you know for certain that they are trials/demos. Or is it early access to the full game? I'd say that there is an important distinction in there. I can't vouch for the correctness but I've read comments on other websites saying that you can dip in and out whenever you want to rather than having to pay for several months back-to-back. So that $5 for your Battlefield for the kids over the Summer hols actually starts to sound like it could be pretty good to me. Therefore, if EA doesn't keep the available titles fresh then people will just put their subscriptions on hold because, let's face it, it's not like PSN+ where you need to keep it active for multiplayer.

@N711 Maybe Sony need to drink some more just to see the girl at all lol!

I love PlayStation and always have but at this point Sony is starting to build up a perception problem that it doesn't work well with others.

First of all they lose Sunset Overdrive (and Insomniac) from allegedly aggressively pursuing the IP ownership and now they're bad mouthing a partner instead of teaming up with them and finding a way to make it work in the best interests of providing choice for us the gaming community.

The professional thing for Sony to have done would be to keep quiet and let the gamers decide whether having the extra choice is worthwhile.

I find unhelpful statements like this from Sony concerning for the future of EA games coming to our platform.

On first inspection this actually sounds like a pretty good deal and especially so for sports game fans.

I voted "Hmm, I need to know more" because at this early stage it would be almost impossible to judge the value. After a year or two it would be easier to calculate the savings.

That's why I'm a little bit disappointed by Sony's smack-talk here because how can they make such a sweeping statement about the value of the scheme before it's off the ground. That would be like EA predicting that PSN Plus would be bad value a month before it started.

People here know by now that I'm a long standing PlayStation fan but this comment from Sony is like someone trying to chat up a pretty girl and getting promptly rejected then afterwards claiming that he wasn't interested in her in the first place. Sony, I have problems believing you when you talk like that.

I can't begrudge Sony though for making attempts to succeed in the limited-edition console space and let's be honest there are lots of collectors who would buy that console in a heartbeat.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I was so relieved last year when I heard rumours that they'd decided not to make any Uncharted films. It is so rarely that this type of project results in a quality film. Additionally, if it turns out to be crap then that runs the risks of taking the whole Uncharted franchise downmarket, including the games - gulp!

Unless it turns out to be an animated feature it will be confusing for people to associate a different looking and sounding actor with those well known and loved roles. I mean who would they get to play Sully for goodness sake???

If I ever fancy watching an Uncharted film I just turn on ps3 then load up Uncharted 2 and use that option on the menu that plays through all the cut-scenes in the game with all the characters I'm so familiar with - ah bliss.

@ReigningSemtex Yes, I'm in a similar situation as you and I think I'm going to wait until after the game launches to see what the situation is regarding region locking and DLC.

@ReigningSemtex I have heard from other gaming websites that I've read today that the game will be censored in Europe as per the ps3 version.

This article really is a breath of fresh air! It's great thinking pieces like this that sets Push Square apart. Some very nice, thought provoking ideas - keep up the good work.

@IronManDS @Godsire- @3rdEyeMind

Hi guys, yeah sorry if it lowered the tone of this comments section to call out Push Square on the misleading nature of the article but it's clearly what we were all thinking. A good day to you all, cheers!

In the world of no publicity being bad publicity I suspect that Sony is simply using Project Morpheus as a marketing message to all tech aficionados out there to say "we're still on the cutting edge of gaming and tech". I think it's a good idea if that's the case because it's cheap publicity. After all, who knows exactly what "significant investment" actually means.

What an utter click-bait misleading title to have chosen! It's entirely possible that the man is being humble and not arrogant about the way that they approach making Doom. There have been loads of times where a publisher promised us the best game ever was coming soon just to ramp up the pre-orders - would you honestly prefer this??? I hate to admit it but click-bait style like this takes the site down a notch or two, in my personal opinion.

@get2sammyb yes I agree with your notion of "putting personal preferences aside" because you'd be less "surprised people want more stuff".

I understand and applaud people like you who are totally 100% satisfied with what's on offer in the run up to Christmas (I'm assuming that's because of personal preferences in games and not blind fanboyism). However, I also appreciate that there are a great number gamers whose own personal preferences will lead them to want more stuff and I'm surprised that it would be surprising to you.

As a long standing PlayStation fan would I like to see a richer line-up of games? Absolutely! But am I going to start throwing my PS4 out of the proverbial pram? No, well that is as long as U4 doesn't get pushed back to 2017

@voodoo341 Very well put sir, I particularly align with your quote:

" When Sony advertise the PS4 on TV they don't use games like Shooter to show it off. No they use AAA games. Sony are attempting to hide the current lack of quality AAA games on the PS4 with indie games and a lot of gamers don't like it."

I first started taking issue with this when Sony was putting out those ridiculous big lists where they mixed in the AAAs with the indies in the way that my mum used to hide the veggies under my mashed potato and hoped I wouldn't notice. In fact I actually feel that it's an injustice to indies to be used as padding like that.

For instance just quickly glance at the list on this earlier article: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/06/e3_2014_wow_sonys_e3_booth_is_going_to_be_jam_packed_with_games#comment2448696

@get2sammyb Try taking a very brief look at some of the gameplay coverage on Twitch or YouTube. It's pretty safe to say that if five minute's worth of video grabs you then you'll like the game (and vice versa).

Personally I love this game and this is the kind of diversity in gaming that I applaud. It's also a nice break from twitch shooters and leaderboard challenge games (not that those don't have their place).

Personally I'd be happy to see the back of both the Live stage show and a long pre-recorded show. That sounds silly of me right? But what I'd prefer instead is for a larger number of more informative videos to be released daily over the course of E3 so that to the average gamer there would be more to E3 than just those 90 minute press events on the first day.

I've put more gaming hours into Uncharted 2 & Uncharted 3 than anything else. I'm not sure whether U4 will be as good as U2 but it will be really good, that I am certain of (easily enough to pre-buy).

@ThreadShadow You took the words right out of my mouth. Why didn't they showcase this?

@Gamer83 I definitely enjoy the sense of occasion that you get with the traditional press-event-in-a-big-hall style. Although, having seen Nintendo's showing though I also found myself appreciating its simplicity and I didn't miss things like the pre-arranged fake clapping and whooping from strategically placed "audience" or the executives in suits (Jack Tretton was the one of a few who managed to pull that look off well in my opinion).

I still haven't gotten round to watching the Xbox presentation but I've heard that they announced Forza Horizon 2. I've always liked a good driving game so I have to give credit to Microsoft for showcasing and releasing two first party driving games within a year of releasing their console. You can imagine my mild disappointment that Sony didn't provide us with a decent look at Drive Club (or any other driving games for that matter).

I still think though that all three events contained something exciting for everyone. That's why I don't see any point in trying to assess who "won" E3 because they were all good, just different that's all.

@Gamer83 Damn straight! Maybe the Nintendo style is the future.

I was always going to wait to get this because I only fairly recently platinum'd it on PS3 but I have to say that after seeing this trailer I'll have to see some sample gameplay to determine if there's enough of an improvement to justify a double-dip.

This comment probably won't go down well but I have to admit to feeling a bit unsure about the direction that U4 appears to be taking in this trailer. It seems a lot darker than the previous games and actually seems like it's swinging towards TLoU. Also, I don't like the way Drake looks....there I've said it. His head & face are a lot longer and thinner not to mention the nose. I hope they alter the character model because I find Drake looking a bit like the guy out of Far Cry 3 rather than the affable light-hearted adventurer of old. To be honest I'm not sure that Naughty Dog can top the masterpiece that was Uncharted 2 but I'm sure this will be a great game and I'm sure the multiplayer will be very enjoyable too.

This was one of the really standout games of the show for me. Just sooo relaxing and perfect for playing at the end of a hectic day.

They've done such a good job of capturing the essence of Journey's artwork to create a subtle familiarity. So far this is looking sublime.