@ATaco Not really. “Nintendoomed” is the meme for a reason.
I don’t understand your “digital sales” argument. Nintendo also has digital sales, and the physical/digital ratio is probably very similar. Certainly it’s not dissimilar enough to be able to keep every single PS5 title out of the Top 30 sellers list.
If you’re saying you think there are digital-only games on PS5 that are cracking that list, and over Switch’s digital only titles, I doubt it.
@Th3solution Are we really expecting more people to be excited about repurchasing games they already played, however improved?
Demon’s Souls is an all-time favorite game of mine, and I’m only mildly interested in revisiting it. PS5 is an incredible machine, but the current (and foreseeable) software situation is pretty grim.
@nofriendo This has been my sense since Sony announced it was the fastest selling system ever. It sure don’t feel like it in the streets. I feel like PS3 had more people playing it at launch. When you hear stories like scalpers warehousing the damn things and see nothing charting in Japan, it’s not crazy to believe.
@ATaco I think it’s the fact that people had Switch “doomed” from the system’s announcement, and here we are with Nintendo dominant in many metrics of this generation. It’s fun to be right, or even wrong if you’re happy that you were.
@rjejr I think Nintendo’s pricing has a lot to do with their ability to have titles stay around in bestseller lists too. For a counter example, I probably would have broken down and bought Ghost of Tsushima by now, but I’ve been trained by Sony to wait until the game is $20-30 if I can hold out.
Now they seem to have gone the other way, at least with that title and Death Stranding, and it does seem to be a different approach to try and achieve a similar result.
The fanboy gymnastics in the comments are great. Facts are, the only indications Sony is doing well are coming from Sony. I’m sure the story will change when their “big guns” start firing, but right now it’s not in a very healthy place.
@rjejr At Top 30 in Japan you would hope some piece of Sony software was “evergreen” at this point. Nintendo has titles that haven’t left the Top 30 since they debuted years ago. It doesn’t take much to stick around.
@daveofduncan Sustainable for Microsoft? Not my problem. $9.99/mo for Gamepass on PC is sustainable for me and my working class comrades. You’re rationale sounds like petty bourgeoisie muck-racking to my prole ears.
Bring on the console-class war! We have nothing to lose but our subscriptions!
@nessisonett Same. I generally hate English VO in games. I rarely can even suffer it, let alone enjoy it, but Hades is exceptionally well done. Zagreus is probably the weakest performance, and it’s still good. The actor who plays Hades brings so much depth to the character, he’s got to be an all-time greatest antagonist in gaming history. I’m particularly fond of the portrayal of Zeus/Poseidon (same actor I think). You don’t have to be familiar with the Greek pantheon to completely understand their personalities and how others relate to them. Also it’s amazing just how much voice work there is! 120 hours and I only heard one line of dialogue twice.
I’m so excited for people who never got play Hades yet! I was only interested from the superlative reviews — I always get burned by Supergiant — but it ended up being one of my favorite games ever and I’m still impressed with how they used the rogue-like/lite genre as a substrate for an amazing narrative experience.
@mwatcher Yes. Hades completely subverts the roguelike/roguelite genre. The most punishing aspect of “RLs” is Hades’ most rewarding. At it’s worst, it’s an amazingly clever trick and rock-solid action game that’s worth experiencing, but at it’s best it could easily be among the all-time favorites for many people and a watershed title in game design.
@fR_eeBritney I feel that way about movies... I can only think of a handful I really didn't enjoy, but it definitely happens more often the older I get haha.
Still, I like my idea/theory about your enjoyment of music being a "listener-side" quality rather than intrinsic to the music. At the very least, we can agree that some music takes a lot more work to enjoy or see the beauty/greatness/value in. At best, it gives a way to appreciate music in a more active way — less as a consumer of a product and more as a participant in culture.
Touching on what I was thinking out loud about with @PossibLeigh yesterday, culture is really that layer that we transmit meaning with to one another. I think Bob Marley is a fun example here. As a big reggae/ska/dub fan, I find Bob Marley very milquetoast and average. BUT! It was his music that was among the gateways for me into that genre/culture. Plus, when you add in the context of not only how he brought reggae to the entire world, but what he was able to accomplish socially and politically at the time, it elevates his music to something closer to modern scripture. There's a divine or spiritual quality to it. That kind of thinking really changes how we can judge music, or it's cultural value in a profound way I think. It's one thing to speak on one's personal enjoyment, but, for example: I love 50 Cent/Curtis Jackson, but to compare him to Chuck D/Public Enemy in terms of positive cultural impact, one looks like a hustler and one looks like a prophet. When you can see what a powerful medium music and here hip-hop can be, it becomes a much more interesting comparison. I'll even take the other side of it: I think while Public Enemy was instrumental in getting people "woke" (the pre-modern meaning) to issues in the Black community, 50 Cent has over his career focused on elevating the individual, and in the Glenn Loury sense is doing the work of changing the culture and mindset for black youth to get away from a culture of victimhood and take charge of their circumstances.
Again, we could agree or disagree, but I think this is a more valuable way to talk about music that's a little deeper than "I like Apple Jacks because they taste like apples", where we assert the objective then retreat to the subjective, or, in @MJF 's case, vice-versa.
I'd like to see the version of your take where you not only "like" Ariana Grande or Britney Spears, but can explain to me why I'm an uncultured swine for not understanding or appreciating their work:)
@PossibLeigh -I'll still check it out... I'm actually looking for a "baby's first KB+M game"; something to ease me into some of the more exclusive or "better on" PC games. Any recommendations welcome:) -Thanks! I spend too much time thinking about stuff like that haha. I'm really interested in media theory. Douglass Rushkoff got the ball rolling for me talking about how the mediums of commercial music like records, tape, CDs, etc. affect how we listen and I just ran with it with a bit of a musician's perspective. I also love games way too much, so I try to think about it like that. If you find that kind of stuff interesting, I'd recommend any of his books, or his podcast 'Team Human'. -I just had a 3 hour session with Star Renegades last night... really moreish and they do a great job (I think) layering in complexity. Basically the best fighting system in the JRPG idiom, and everything else hangs on that. The pixel art is out of this world good. It reminds me of Grandia crossed with Into The Breach, with a dash of Radiant Historia. A bit of a learning curve, but it's fun to figure out. I grabbed it on Xbox Gamepass for PC, and I'm still on my $1 trial. Check out that library on there because for me it's worth it on indie games alone, and it's pretty cheap for the PC-only package. -@MJF is really frustrating because like you said, there might be a lot of agreement there with interesting differences. It's very difficult to disagree well online. If there's any nonsense you miss, I'll go to bat for ya;)
@PossibLeigh Maybe off-topic, but this reminds me of a really interesting and frustrating conversation between Eric Weinstein and Joe Rogan about subjective/objective when it comes to music, greatness, and opinions. I really liked what Eric was trying to get across because I do believe it: that somewhere deep down there is an objective beauty or grace or what-have-you that we can sort of identify if not fully qualify. For example, I know Stevie Ray Vaughn is an amazing guitar player, even though subjectively he doesn’t make music I enjoy. But I think it cuts the other way too, there are things that can be enjoyed that have the objective quality of un-greatness, of un-beauty, etc., and it’s very difficult to get that point across. McDonalds is objectively of a lower quality than, well, most food, but it is enjoyed by millions of people for reasons other than fact. We can even agree with that fact and still find reasons to enjoy it. That’s kind of obvious, right? The fun part is, you could argue for a meta-objective greatness like @MJF ‘s “a million flies on a turd can’t be wrong” theory of good pop music, or you can argue that McDonald’s is so absent of meaning and value that it becomes a really potent vessel for added meaning from the user. Many of us have dear memories of Happy Meals as children that was really a product of ourselves and our families, but McDonalds can absorb it. That’s my theory of pop music - and most music really. Greatness in music is really our ability as listeners to transfer value to music, and more importantly recover it from music and share it.
If you really love music, you should be able to do that for any work. I should be able to convince you that Wooly Bully by Sam Sham and the Pharoahs is the greatest song of all-time, and by the time I’m done, I may have made that song better in your mind without having changed a note. I think you be able should defend what you like to the bitter end, because the only thing that can possibly be true is that you think you like it. We should be looking for objective truth and not always retreat to the subjective... to tie it back to the comments that started this all, if I think your music sucks, “you’re old” ain’t gunna cut it. I think @fR_eeBritney has a very strong opinion here that kind of stopped me in my tracks, but I’d like to see the points be argued as an objective quality of said music, not an opinion it’s ok, or even possible to dismiss.
@PossibLeigh I heard really good things about Wildermyth but I think it was on my radar before I started gaming on PC so I’ll have to check it out. Good controller support? I’m still a PC noob haha.
@MJF I didn’t substitute a word, I provided an antonym for context and better clarity.
You’re saying manufactured but as opposed to what? Found in nature? A birdsong?
Technically children are “manufactured”, but if we’re comparing children and robots, the meaning is obviously different, and you would be pedantic to say otherwise.
As it stands, I completely disagree with you, and I think many artists would as well. I think you should clarify your point better because your strict definition of manufactured is a lame hill to die on.
@MJF You’re being pedantic about the term “manufactured”... the distinction is really between manufactured as being produced based on a market demand, versus inspired, like something that comes from within or beyond that has to come out of you in artistic expression or you will go mad, maybe even explode.
Pop is a twisted beast, because so much of it layers and layers of artists — it’s kind of a team sport. It’s tough to swallow teens singing songs written by old men in the business of songwriting, the managed personalities, the corporate oversight, etc.
It takes a special kind of person to find the heart through all that, or just mournfully accept that all the emotion is being produced on the listening end. The third possibility is that you just like whatever comes down the pipe into the trough because you don’t think about it.
Music has a quality that it can accept “third-party” meaning into it’s matrix. It makes it difficult to be judgemental because everyone’s taste is loaded with personal meaning that is difficult to transfer to each other in today’s climate of corporate mediated playlists and peer sharing.
All that may exist on some kind of spectrum, but even if there is “inspired” music in the mainstream, it’s so processed by the mechanisms of commodification that who could even tell? And why bother? Manufactured is perfectly descriptive of mainstream music, and worse, anything inspired that does break through gets swallowed by the processes and mechanisms.
@PossibLeigh There was a bar/restaurant by me when I was a kid with Outrun (standup can with pedals) and Operation Wolf! They always had a long wait so I loved going there haha.
Totally agree about the sense experience - in my teens there was a billiards/arcade with ashtrays mounted to the side of cabinets. A lot more mingling of adults and teens too, it was very cool. The polar opposite of today’s toxic online multiplayer vibe.
I just grabbed Curse of the Dead Gods on Gamepass... it’s fun so far. Very methodical combat — I’m still trying to zip around like I’m playing Hades so I’m getting wrecked, but I really like the corruption/curse mechanic and the short run length. Star Renegades is another one I’m really enjoying... it’s like a really in-depth JRPG combat system with everything else boiled away. It’s not a strong storyteller, but it does a decent job of feeling like each run is its own adventure each time.
I don’t have a PS5, but Returnal is the number one reason I want one. Nex Machina is a big favorite of mine, and I really wanted to see how one of the best modern arcade-loop devs did roguelite/like.
I love Okami too. It felt a little over-long the second time through with the HD version, but at the time I thought that was a huge positive coming off the undercooked Wind Waker. Realizing the “final boss” was only about 1/3 into the game was awesome.
Mileage may very with the Ascent... I didn’t get to play it long enough to get a feel for the full loop, it was unplayable on my PC (Gamepass)... literal slideshow during explosions which is every boss. The combat is methodical like Curse, at least in solo... you really want to hit your shots and manage your reloads and positioning which I liked.
@PossibLeigh I mourn for the arcade, both the physical places and the game design principles.
This gen, I'm loving Downwell (the GOAT), Curse's N Chaos (single-screen score attack), and Hatsune Miku Project Diva Future Tone (with an arcade stick/hitbox it feels like owning a SEGA cabinet).
Roguelites/likes really scratch that itch for me too... the "1CC" concept is really baked into the design.
You got any arcade or arcade-like favs this generation?
@PossibLeigh I think about that too... if it’s because the medium is so young and the technical hurdles get leaped so fast that we don’t look back for very long.
I’m a huge indie game fan too, and I think a lot of those developers have managed to rescue a lot of the past. I even look at the rogue-lite trend as some kind of echo of the particular way coin-op arcade games designed loops before Street Fighter II effectively ended that era.
I think there’s something really cool that we get to do as old heads — or at least I do — where I can kind of imagine what it would have been like to be a kid, when Evander Holyfield Boxing or Lethal Enforcers looked “real”, and then imagine playing something like Katana Zero or Subnautica and just let myself be blown away, even if they’re not setting today’s GPUs on fire.
@PossibLeigh Oh god... first game I can remember playing was the Atari Star Wars arcade game with the vector graphics, I was probably 3 or 4.
I had a friend whose parents got a Nintendo in that initial New York run that I watched him play every weekend (I was scared to play anything but the lightgun games), and then we got one in ‘85 or ‘86. We didn’t get the version with ROB and the Zapper, so with some privacy I got the courage up to play SMB, cleared the first pit, and that was that.
No no worries! If we can get a comment section past short quips, I’ll read the whole book of rants haha.
@PossibLeigh You too! Interesting question: we're both older people with impeccable taste — do you find you feel the opposite about older video games? I definitely have a bias towards new games, even if they're "retro" experiences. The "fist-shaking" seems to mostly be around F2P, mobile, and DLC/MTX, but there's been seismic shifts in how we consume games that maybe we're not noticing because we're the frogs in the slow boiling pot for the last however many years. Any thoughts?
@PossibLeigh Listen... I am into that! I try to be really fair about it with younger people — fairer than I really think, but it’s really as easy as putting young people onto music that is great.
For my money, a lot of the good music today is looking back in time anyway. I think on the whole that synth wave and other genres are doing the 80s vibe “better” — it’s like rose-tinted glasses for your ears. I think hip-hop has lost most of it’s soul and authenticity, but there’s no doubt about the talent in production, lyrics, and innovative cadences.
Even when I was a kid in the 90s I found my “future” in the past, learning about the 70s UK punk scene, roots reggae, and on and on.
Most young people I’ve connected to music from the past become a bit disappointed in the present.
I also think “how” we listened to music has degraded over time, and has probably influenced the way music is written more than we realize. As much as I am still in awe at how fast I can spool up any song I can think of, and discover new (old) music — this must be heaven, right? — the second order effects are that listeners today are primed for track skipping, short & catchy, algorithm curated playlists, etc.
With records and tape, you’re primed to listen to full albums, just because it’s difficult to skip tracks. Who listens to albums anymore? Who listens to songs they don’t like? It took me almost 20 years to come to grips with a triple-album like ¡Sandinista!, mostly because I had it on CD and could skip tracks I didn’t like, which were most of them when I was a teenager. A modern album I do like, for example (no shame) is Paramore’s After Laughter. Let’s be real — it’s 12 a “hits” compilation, not an album. There’s no journey, there’s no reflective moments, there’s no challenge. There’s no A-side/B-side. Like I said, I love it, but it loses nothing being played on shuffle.
Tapes introduced the ability to make mix tapes for people, but the fact is that it took at least as long to make one as it did to listen to it. There’s a lot more investment and sentimental value baked into the concept just due to the mechanics of it.
Radio stations had request lines. You could listen and participate in a shared experience that wasn’t mediated by companies. I grew up in a small town, and the only way I could listen to the Dead Kennedys was to request it from my local radio station. It was literally an event. Now I can ask Siri. This could be an argument against older music, but there’s a lot of emotional value that was able to be added just by the limitations of the technology and distribution, and the ways we did (or didn’t) get around them.
@zupertramp I think you can make the case music today is objectively worse — all in good fun of course. Since the post-Nirvana era, the mainstream has become very “managed”. Artists are more cultivated than discovered. After Napster got obliterated by the record industry, most of the tools that artists had to level the playing field have been captured by old record and radio.
There are some outliers and I’m not super into any scenes — I’m still discovering older music from around the globe — but I think we can agree that the path to success for the truly weird, brilliant, and visionary artists is a lot harder now than if you’re a manageable commodity. Then we can argue about who’s voices we’d rather be hearing.
Sometimes I think I don’t understand the world anymore, and then sometimes I think that this is just the same commercial BS that’s been around for decades — Michael Jackson drinking Pepsi — and we just don’t have real subculture anymore to juxtapose whatever this is. This isn’t cool, it’s vertically integrated lameness.
@Kidfried Imagine if Spotify 1) had an exclusive deal as the only streaming platform for U2 2) they only had 10 hours of music available at any time. That’s a better analogy of the marketplace on Gamepass, and how exclusive content supports the rest.
Spotify can say whatever it wants, but it’s does nothing for small bands that radio and publishing didn’t do. (I’m guessing you’re in a small band — we could talk all day about Spotify and “the Old World” haha). Microsoft doesn’t either really, it’s the knock-on effect of the marketplace as it is today, which could change.
If you want to think about exclusives and keep in the Spotify analogy, look at how they are paying big money for exclusive rights to podcasts.
Netflix is probably a good analogy too. How many documentarians were able to work thanks to Netflix not only buying up content, but growing the market for content like that.
More people playing indie games is good for indie game developers, and Gamepass is, for now, creating that environment.
@The_New_Butler I totally agree — except what you're saying about AAA.
AAA DOES have to cost $100-200M. AAA literally only describes a game's development and marketing budget — though unfortunately we can tell a lot about the gameplay from the moniker because these projects are generally so risk-averse (i.e. cinematic storytelling, RPG-lite elements, crafting, MTX/DLC, etc.)
Honestly, the term AAA should be reserved for press releases and stockholders, and we players should describe games by what they are, not what they cost to make.
@Kidfried how many acquisitions does it take to support Gamepass? I have no idea. I'm just saying that our intuitions might be backwards about this. Sony has shuttered its small studios, has publicly stated its focus on AAA blockbusters, and has indie devs publicly frustrated.
Xbox on the other hand has indies publicly praising Gamepass and Microsoft, and is expanding it's portfolio.
It seems like Gamepass is creating that environment where first-party games can more directly bolster smaller devs, as opposed to the traditional model which just has first-party games increasing raw console ownership numbers.
At first glance, sure, acquisitions and exclusives are bad for the players, at least from a consumer perspective. As far as industry health — which translates to better support for smaller devs and projects — Phil Spencer might be right. Time will tell.
I agree with Layden’s sentiments, but he might have it backwards.
So far, Gamepass, bolstered by MS’s acquisitions, has been a boon for smaller developers.
This could foster a very strong environment for smaller developers. Like Switch’s indie boom, Microsoft Gamepass also features and highlights indie titles alongside AAA, and none of us have clear details on what these Gamepass deals are, but I have to imagine whatever financial stability they provide is positive for smaller developers.
Sony’s stated direction seems to be more anti-small devs and smaller projects. Microsoft didn’t shutter the studio that made Parappa and Vib-Ribbon, Sony did.
Everyone asking for a “full game”... they made one it’s called Astro Bot Rescue Mission. I think it would be great if they released a ‘flat’ Astro Bot game, but if resources allow for one or the other, they continue in the space where they are best in class — VR.
@naruball Well, it shouldn’t have been. I have a bridge to sell you that comes with free games if that’s the way you want to think about it — like a dupe.
@Nepp67 The franchise has been on ice for 8 years, and most fans were disappointed in the direction it went. I don’t know what a remake does for the future of the series. Remake 2 & 3? Gauge interest and then start over with a reboot or a DS4?
It’s like they’re just conceding the future of the sub-genre to Callisto Protocol, which is probably for the best.
@Bleachedsmiles Those are fair points, and I can't tell anyone what's a value for them. I really don't think ArcSys is "holding back" in any sense besides what they decided in their planning stage. I loved when rosters were huge too and came on discs, but the upside to the current style is longer and better support for these titles.
Maybe I am biased as a fighting game fan, because I am cynical about these practices for popular genres, and I am just happy we're still getting major releases at all. If this is how it has to be done - and the current market says it does — I'll try and look at the positives.
Also, the netcode is unbelievable and the number one reason I bought into this game. Never cared about Guilty Gear. I play to learn and play online, and as much as I liked Street Fighter V, it's impossible for me to learn when — as Chris G said — a -2 move may as well be +3 online. The lobbies can get be better, but I've already got 100+ hours and less than a handful of matches with more 3 or more frames of rollback. It's the best in the genre right now. Plenty of valid reasons to wait, but the online play shouldn't be one of them.
Subscriptions are not "modern rentals" because there are still modern rentals. Playstation Now started with rental model and changed to a subscription model.
Again... the "not special in your eyes..." I don't care.. Doesn't change the fact of what it is.
I agree with you about monetization, games releasing in unfinished states, and other scummy practices. Is it sad that it's worth mentioning a service is not grabbing for add-ons? Yeah. But it is what it is if you are playing games today, unless you want to game on an Intellivision Amico.
I'm guessing any positive comment about Gamepass (or DLC or Early Access games) sets you off, but point your boomer pop-off somewhere else. I've been playing games at home since 1985 — I ain't the one to talk to like I don't know how it was back in the day. Save it for someone who cares.... or someone who even disagrees with you ffs.
@Bleachedsmiles What makes you think it's held back? July was always the date — the game getting delayed is why it's so close to launch.
Arcsys, like most fighting devs, are pretty small teams in a very tough niche market. 500,000 sales is a remarkable achievement for them — those sales numbers would shutter a major studio. Why not give the benefit of the doubt here?
@Flaming_Kaiser First, Gamepass is not a rental service. It's a subscription service. Rentals services are 'al a carte'.
Second, Gamepass for PC in this context is a launcher and dashboard... what we're arguing about is a UI/UX.
Playstation, Xbox (console), Steam, EGS, Google Play, Apple Arcade and Stadia UI/UX all have store elements on the front of their dashboards and both Amazon Prime Video and Hulu are major subscription services that try to upsell customers by mixing paid content into their browsing.
This leaves Nintendo Switch as the sole platform and Playstation Now and XBox Gamepass as the only current game launchers (maybe Origin and GOG... not sure) that cordon off store elements in their dashboard design. So I'd argue it's special enough to warrant mentioning.
For me personally, I haven't used an XBox product since the 360, and I strongly preferred the Playstation 3 UX because there were no ads or front-loaded store elements. Going into an XBox environment and not being blasted with ads for Call of Duty and Mt. Dew is a relief, and again --thought it worth mentioning.
I don't understand why you jumped on that point like a rabid dog and have been fighting with me about it. I'm describing my experience with a service accurately.
@Flaming_Kaiser Are you cracked? You are agreeing with what I said.
In fact, I prefer so much to not have my games library try to sell me stuff, that when someone asked how the experience was on Xbox Gamepass for PC, I thought it was worth mentioning how great it was to not have ads and games for sale as opposed to Steam or the Xbox Store on consoles.
You’ve been trying to pick a fight so bad, you can’t even see where we agree. You’re better than that, c’mon now.
Comments 357
Re: There's Not a Single PS5, PS4 Game in the Japanese Sales Charts
@ATaco Not really. “Nintendoomed” is the meme for a reason.
I don’t understand your “digital sales” argument. Nintendo also has digital sales, and the physical/digital ratio is probably very similar. Certainly it’s not dissimilar enough to be able to keep every single PS5 title out of the Top 30 sellers list.
If you’re saying you think there are digital-only games on PS5 that are cracking that list, and over Switch’s digital only titles, I doubt it.
Re: There's Not a Single PS5, PS4 Game in the Japanese Sales Charts
@Titntin Sales for Scarlet Nexus were 10:1 physical. If that’s any indication, I don’t think Japan has adopted digital like the West has.
Re: There's Not a Single PS5, PS4 Game in the Japanese Sales Charts
@Th3solution Are we really expecting more people to be excited about repurchasing games they already played, however improved?
Demon’s Souls is an all-time favorite game of mine, and I’m only mildly interested in revisiting it. PS5 is an incredible machine, but the current (and foreseeable) software situation is pretty grim.
Re: There's Not a Single PS5, PS4 Game in the Japanese Sales Charts
@nofriendo This has been my sense since Sony announced it was the fastest selling system ever. It sure don’t feel like it in the streets. I feel like PS3 had more people playing it at launch. When you hear stories like scalpers warehousing the damn things and see nothing charting in Japan, it’s not crazy to believe.
Re: There's Not a Single PS5, PS4 Game in the Japanese Sales Charts
@ATaco I think it’s the fact that people had Switch “doomed” from the system’s announcement, and here we are with Nintendo dominant in many metrics of this generation. It’s fun to be right, or even wrong if you’re happy that you were.
Re: There's Not a Single PS5, PS4 Game in the Japanese Sales Charts
@rjejr I think Nintendo’s pricing has a lot to do with their ability to have titles stay around in bestseller lists too. For a counter example, I probably would have broken down and bought Ghost of Tsushima by now, but I’ve been trained by Sony to wait until the game is $20-30 if I can hold out.
Now they seem to have gone the other way, at least with that title and Death Stranding, and it does seem to be a different approach to try and achieve a similar result.
Re: There's Not a Single PS5, PS4 Game in the Japanese Sales Charts
The fanboy gymnastics in the comments are great. Facts are, the only indications Sony is doing well are coming from Sony. I’m sure the story will change when their “big guns” start firing, but right now it’s not in a very healthy place.
@rjejr At Top 30 in Japan you would hope some piece of Sony software was “evergreen” at this point. Nintendo has titles that haven’t left the Top 30 since they debuted years ago. It doesn’t take much to stick around.
@Amppari Japan has scalpers too.
Re: Go Down to the Woods Today in Blair Witch: VR Edition, Available Now for PSVR
Horror in VR is such an strong use of the tech.
Watches trailer: Nope!
Re: Rumour: Sony Planning More Expensive PS Plus Option That Could Include Crunchyroll
@daveofduncan Sustainable for Microsoft? Not my problem. $9.99/mo for Gamepass on PC is sustainable for me and my working class comrades.
You’re rationale sounds like petty bourgeoisie muck-racking to my prole ears.
Bring on the console-class war! We have nothing to lose but our subscriptions!
Re: Rumour: Sony Planning More Expensive PS Plus Option That Could Include Crunchyroll
Microsoft is find ways to be cheaper, Sony is finding ways to be more expensive. Console wars are going to be class wars soon enough!
Re: Hades (PS5) - Who Knew Escaping Hell Would Be So Heavenly?
@get2sammyb Make the time! It’s a very special game.
Re: Hades (PS5) - Who Knew Escaping Hell Would Be So Heavenly?
@nessisonett Same. I generally hate English VO in games. I rarely can even suffer it, let alone enjoy it, but Hades is exceptionally well done. Zagreus is probably the weakest performance, and it’s still good. The actor who plays Hades brings so much depth to the character, he’s got to be an all-time greatest antagonist in gaming history. I’m particularly fond of the portrayal of Zeus/Poseidon (same actor I think). You don’t have to be familiar with the Greek pantheon to completely understand their personalities and how others relate to them. Also it’s amazing just how much voice work there is! 120 hours and I only heard one line of dialogue twice.
Re: Hades (PS5) - Who Knew Escaping Hell Would Be So Heavenly?
I’m so excited for people who never got play Hades yet! I was only interested from the superlative reviews — I always get burned by Supergiant — but it ended up being one of my favorite games ever and I’m still impressed with how they used the rogue-like/lite genre as a substrate for an amazing narrative experience.
@mwatcher Yes. Hades completely subverts the roguelike/roguelite genre. The most punishing aspect of “RLs” is Hades’ most rewarding. At it’s worst, it’s an amazingly clever trick and rock-solid action game that’s worth experiencing, but at it’s best it could easily be among the all-time favorites for many people and a watershed title in game design.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@fR_eeBritney I feel that way about movies... I can only think of a handful I really didn't enjoy, but it definitely happens more often the older I get haha.
Still, I like my idea/theory about your enjoyment of music being a "listener-side" quality rather than intrinsic to the music. At the very least, we can agree that some music takes a lot more work to enjoy or see the beauty/greatness/value in. At best, it gives a way to appreciate music in a more active way — less as a consumer of a product and more as a participant in culture.
Touching on what I was thinking out loud about with @PossibLeigh yesterday, culture is really that layer that we transmit meaning with to one another. I think Bob Marley is a fun example here. As a big reggae/ska/dub fan, I find Bob Marley very milquetoast and average. BUT! It was his music that was among the gateways for me into that genre/culture. Plus, when you add in the context of not only how he brought reggae to the entire world, but what he was able to accomplish socially and politically at the time, it elevates his music to something closer to modern scripture. There's a divine or spiritual quality to it. That kind of thinking really changes how we can judge music, or it's cultural value in a profound way I think. It's one thing to speak on one's personal enjoyment, but, for example: I love 50 Cent/Curtis Jackson, but to compare him to Chuck D/Public Enemy in terms of positive cultural impact, one looks like a hustler and one looks like a prophet. When you can see what a powerful medium music and here hip-hop can be, it becomes a much more interesting comparison. I'll even take the other side of it: I think while Public Enemy was instrumental in getting people "woke" (the pre-modern meaning) to issues in the Black community, 50 Cent has over his career focused on elevating the individual, and in the Glenn Loury sense is doing the work of changing the culture and mindset for black youth to get away from a culture of victimhood and take charge of their circumstances.
Again, we could agree or disagree, but I think this is a more valuable way to talk about music that's a little deeper than "I like Apple Jacks because they taste like apples", where we assert the objective then retreat to the subjective, or, in @MJF 's case, vice-versa.
I'd like to see the version of your take where you not only "like" Ariana Grande or Britney Spears, but can explain to me why I'm an uncultured swine for not understanding or appreciating their work:)
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@PossibLeigh
-I'll still check it out... I'm actually looking for a "baby's first KB+M game"; something to ease me into some of the more exclusive or "better on" PC games. Any recommendations welcome:)
-Thanks! I spend too much time thinking about stuff like that haha. I'm really interested in media theory. Douglass Rushkoff got the ball rolling for me talking about how the mediums of commercial music like records, tape, CDs, etc. affect how we listen and I just ran with it with a bit of a musician's perspective. I also love games way too much, so I try to think about it like that. If you find that kind of stuff interesting, I'd recommend any of his books, or his podcast 'Team Human'.
-I just had a 3 hour session with Star Renegades last night... really moreish and they do a great job (I think) layering in complexity. Basically the best fighting system in the JRPG idiom, and everything else hangs on that. The pixel art is out of this world good. It reminds me of Grandia crossed with Into The Breach, with a dash of Radiant Historia. A bit of a learning curve, but it's fun to figure out. I grabbed it on Xbox Gamepass for PC, and I'm still on my $1 trial. Check out that library on there because for me it's worth it on indie games alone, and it's pretty cheap for the PC-only package.
-@MJF is really frustrating because like you said, there might be a lot of agreement there with interesting differences. It's very difficult to disagree well online. If there's any nonsense you miss, I'll go to bat for ya;)
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@PossibLeigh Maybe off-topic, but this reminds me of a really interesting and frustrating conversation between Eric Weinstein and Joe Rogan about subjective/objective when it comes to music, greatness, and opinions. I really liked what Eric was trying to get across because I do believe it: that somewhere deep down there is an objective beauty or grace or what-have-you that we can sort of identify if not fully qualify. For example, I know Stevie Ray Vaughn is an amazing guitar player, even though subjectively he doesn’t make music I enjoy. But I think it cuts the other way too, there are things that can be enjoyed that have the objective quality of un-greatness, of un-beauty, etc., and it’s very difficult to get that point across. McDonalds is objectively of a lower quality than, well, most food, but it is enjoyed by millions of people for reasons other than fact. We can even agree with that fact and still find reasons to enjoy it. That’s kind of obvious, right? The fun part is, you could argue for a meta-objective greatness like @MJF ‘s “a million flies on a turd can’t be wrong” theory of good pop music, or you can argue that McDonald’s is so absent of meaning and value that it becomes a really potent vessel for added meaning from the user. Many of us have dear memories of Happy Meals as children that was really a product of ourselves and our families, but McDonalds can absorb it. That’s my theory of pop music - and most music really. Greatness in music is really our ability as listeners to transfer value to music, and more importantly recover it from music and share it.
If you really love music, you should be able to do that for any work. I should be able to convince you that Wooly Bully by Sam Sham and the Pharoahs is the greatest song of all-time, and by the time I’m done, I may have made that song better in your mind without having changed a note. I think you be able should defend what you like to the bitter end, because the only thing that can possibly be true is that you think you like it. We should be looking for objective truth and not always retreat to the subjective... to tie it back to the comments that started this all, if I think your music sucks, “you’re old” ain’t gunna cut it. I think @fR_eeBritney has a very strong opinion here that kind of stopped me in my tracks, but I’d like to see the points be argued as an objective quality of said music, not an opinion it’s ok, or even possible to dismiss.
/rant
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@PossibLeigh I heard really good things about Wildermyth but I think it was on my radar before I started gaming on PC so I’ll have to check it out. Good controller support? I’m still a PC noob haha.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@MJF I didn’t substitute a word, I provided an antonym for context and better clarity.
You’re saying manufactured but as opposed to what? Found in nature? A birdsong?
Technically children are “manufactured”, but if we’re comparing children and robots, the meaning is obviously different, and you would be pedantic to say otherwise.
As it stands, I completely disagree with you, and I think many artists would as well. I think you should clarify your point better because your strict definition of manufactured is a lame hill to die on.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@MJF You’re being pedantic about the term “manufactured”... the distinction is really between manufactured as being produced based on a market demand, versus inspired, like something that comes from within or beyond that has to come out of you in artistic expression or you will go mad, maybe even explode.
Pop is a twisted beast, because so much of it layers and layers of artists — it’s kind of a team sport. It’s tough to swallow teens singing songs written by old men in the business of songwriting, the managed personalities, the corporate oversight, etc.
It takes a special kind of person to find the heart through all that, or just mournfully accept that all the emotion is being produced on the listening end. The third possibility is that you just like whatever comes down the pipe into the trough because you don’t think about it.
Music has a quality that it can accept “third-party” meaning into it’s matrix. It makes it difficult to be judgemental because everyone’s taste is loaded with personal meaning that is difficult to transfer to each other in today’s climate of corporate mediated playlists and peer sharing.
All that may exist on some kind of spectrum, but even if there is “inspired” music in the mainstream, it’s so processed by the mechanisms of commodification that who could even tell? And why bother? Manufactured is perfectly descriptive of mainstream music, and worse, anything inspired that does break through gets swallowed by the processes and mechanisms.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@PossibLeigh There was a bar/restaurant by me when I was a kid with Outrun (standup can with pedals) and Operation Wolf! They always had a long wait so I loved going there haha.
Totally agree about the sense experience - in my teens there was a billiards/arcade with ashtrays mounted to the side of cabinets. A lot more mingling of adults and teens too, it was very cool. The polar opposite of today’s toxic online multiplayer vibe.
I just grabbed Curse of the Dead Gods on Gamepass... it’s fun so far. Very methodical combat — I’m still trying to zip around like I’m playing Hades so I’m getting wrecked, but I really like the corruption/curse mechanic and the short run length. Star Renegades is another one I’m really enjoying... it’s like a really in-depth JRPG combat system with everything else boiled away. It’s not a strong storyteller, but it does a decent job of feeling like each run is its own adventure each time.
I don’t have a PS5, but Returnal is the number one reason I want one. Nex Machina is a big favorite of mine, and I really wanted to see how one of the best modern arcade-loop devs did roguelite/like.
I love Okami too. It felt a little over-long the second time through with the HD version, but at the time I thought that was a huge positive coming off the undercooked Wind Waker. Realizing the “final boss” was only about 1/3 into the game was awesome.
Mileage may very with the Ascent... I didn’t get to play it long enough to get a feel for the full loop, it was unplayable on my PC (Gamepass)... literal slideshow during explosions which is every boss. The combat is methodical like Curse, at least in solo... you really want to hit your shots and manage your reloads and positioning which I liked.
Re: Sony Is Absolutely Flying Financially Right Now
@outsider83 It’s about as odd as rooting for a sports team. Makes about as much sense, and is about as fun.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@PossibLeigh I mourn for the arcade, both the physical places and the game design principles.
This gen, I'm loving Downwell (the GOAT), Curse's N Chaos (single-screen score attack), and Hatsune Miku Project Diva Future Tone (with an arcade stick/hitbox it feels like owning a SEGA cabinet).
Roguelites/likes really scratch that itch for me too... the "1CC" concept is really baked into the design.
You got any arcade or arcade-like favs this generation?
Re: Sony Is Absolutely Flying Financially Right Now
@NEStalgia Great analyses mate! I don't think anyone is arguing with you because they think you're wrong, but because they don't want you to be right.
Re: Sony Is Absolutely Flying Financially Right Now
@Intr1n5ic It’s just like democratic governments, you inherit a lot of success and failures from previous administrations.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@PossibLeigh I think about that too... if it’s because the medium is so young and the technical hurdles get leaped so fast that we don’t look back for very long.
I’m a huge indie game fan too, and I think a lot of those developers have managed to rescue a lot of the past. I even look at the rogue-lite trend as some kind of echo of the particular way coin-op arcade games designed loops before Street Fighter II effectively ended that era.
I think there’s something really cool that we get to do as old heads — or at least I do — where I can kind of imagine what it would have been like to be a kid, when Evander Holyfield Boxing or Lethal Enforcers looked “real”, and then imagine playing something like Katana Zero or Subnautica and just let myself be blown away, even if they’re not setting today’s GPUs on fire.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@PossibLeigh Oh god... first game I can remember playing was the Atari Star Wars arcade game with the vector graphics, I was probably 3 or 4.
I had a friend whose parents got a Nintendo in that initial New York run that I watched him play every weekend (I was scared to play anything but the lightgun games), and then we got one in ‘85 or ‘86. We didn’t get the version with ROB and the Zapper, so with some privacy I got the courage up to play SMB, cleared the first pit, and that was that.
No no worries! If we can get a comment section past short quips, I’ll read the whole book of rants haha.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@PossibLeigh You too! Interesting question: we're both older people with impeccable taste — do you find you feel the opposite about older video games? I definitely have a bias towards new games, even if they're "retro" experiences. The "fist-shaking" seems to mostly be around F2P, mobile, and DLC/MTX, but there's been seismic shifts in how we consume games that maybe we're not noticing because we're the frogs in the slow boiling pot for the last however many years. Any thoughts?
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@PossibLeigh Listen... I am into that! I try to be really fair about it with younger people — fairer than I really think, but it’s really as easy as putting young people onto music that is great.
For my money, a lot of the good music today is looking back in time anyway. I think on the whole that synth wave and other genres are doing the 80s vibe “better” — it’s like rose-tinted glasses for your ears. I think hip-hop has lost most of it’s soul and authenticity, but there’s no doubt about the talent in production, lyrics, and innovative cadences.
Even when I was a kid in the 90s I found my “future” in the past, learning about the 70s UK punk scene, roots reggae, and on and on.
Most young people I’ve connected to music from the past become a bit disappointed in the present.
I also think “how” we listened to music has degraded over time, and has probably influenced the way music is written more than we realize. As much as I am still in awe at how fast I can spool up any song I can think of, and discover new (old) music — this must be heaven, right? — the second order effects are that listeners today are primed for track skipping, short & catchy, algorithm curated playlists, etc.
With records and tape, you’re primed to listen to full albums, just because it’s difficult to skip tracks. Who listens to albums anymore? Who listens to songs they don’t like? It took me almost 20 years to come to grips with a triple-album like ¡Sandinista!, mostly because I had it on CD and could skip tracks I didn’t like, which were most of them when I was a teenager. A modern album I do like, for example (no shame) is Paramore’s After Laughter. Let’s be real — it’s 12 a “hits” compilation, not an album. There’s no journey, there’s no reflective moments, there’s no challenge. There’s no A-side/B-side. Like I said, I love it, but it loses nothing being played on shuffle.
Tapes introduced the ability to make mix tapes for people, but the fact is that it took at least as long to make one as it did to listen to it. There’s a lot more investment and sentimental value baked into the concept just due to the mechanics of it.
Radio stations had request lines. You could listen and participate in a shared experience that wasn’t mediated by companies. I grew up in a small town, and the only way I could listen to the Dead Kennedys was to request it from my local radio station. It was literally an event. Now I can ask Siri. This could be an argument against older music, but there’s a lot of emotional value that was able to be added just by the limitations of the technology and distribution, and the ways we did (or didn’t) get around them.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@zupertramp Do you hesitate to call it worse because it would make you feel old too? That’s why I do.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
@zupertramp I think you can make the case music today is objectively worse — all in good fun of course. Since the post-Nirvana era, the mainstream has become very “managed”. Artists are more cultivated than discovered. After Napster got obliterated by the record industry, most of the tools that artists had to level the playing field have been captured by old record and radio.
There are some outliers and I’m not super into any scenes — I’m still discovering older music from around the globe — but I think we can agree that the path to success for the truly weird, brilliant, and visionary artists is a lot harder now than if you’re a manageable commodity. Then we can argue about who’s voices we’d rather be hearing.
Re: Ariana Grande Will Headline Huge Fortnite Concert This Weekend
Sometimes I think I don’t understand the world anymore, and then sometimes I think that this is just the same commercial BS that’s been around for decades — Michael Jackson drinking Pepsi — and we just don’t have real subculture anymore to juxtapose whatever this is. This isn’t cool, it’s vertically integrated lameness.
Re: Random: PS2 Game Boxes Were Nearly Extremely Weird
Looks mad goofy. A lot of ways that idea could have been done better.
Re: Horizon Forbidden West Delayed to 2022, Says New Report
@nessisonett ‘s comment got banned? BOOOOOOOO!!! One of the best posters.
Re: Former Sony Boss Fearful of Industry Consolidation
@Flaming_Kaiser That’s what I’m saying, and why I don’t think the Spotify music analogy works for Gamepass. Spotify podcasts kinda does though.
Re: Former Sony Boss Fearful of Industry Consolidation
@Kidfried Imagine if Spotify 1) had an exclusive deal as the only streaming platform for U2 2) they only had 10 hours of music available at any time. That’s a better analogy of the marketplace on Gamepass, and how exclusive content supports the rest.
Spotify can say whatever it wants, but it’s does nothing for small bands that radio and publishing didn’t do. (I’m guessing you’re in a small band — we could talk all day about Spotify and “the Old World” haha). Microsoft doesn’t either really, it’s the knock-on effect of the marketplace as it is today, which could change.
If you want to think about exclusives and keep in the Spotify analogy, look at how they are paying big money for exclusive rights to podcasts.
Netflix is probably a good analogy too. How many documentarians were able to work thanks to Netflix not only buying up content, but growing the market for content like that.
More people playing indie games is good for indie game developers, and Gamepass is, for now, creating that environment.
Re: Former Sony Boss Fearful of Industry Consolidation
@The_New_Butler I totally agree — except what you're saying about AAA.
AAA DOES have to cost $100-200M. AAA literally only describes a game's development and marketing budget — though unfortunately we can tell a lot about the gameplay from the moniker because these projects are generally so risk-averse (i.e. cinematic storytelling, RPG-lite elements, crafting, MTX/DLC, etc.)
Honestly, the term AAA should be reserved for press releases and stockholders, and we players should describe games by what they are, not what they cost to make.
Re: Former Sony Boss Fearful of Industry Consolidation
@Kidfried how many acquisitions does it take to support Gamepass? I have no idea. I'm just saying that our intuitions might be backwards about this. Sony has shuttered its small studios, has publicly stated its focus on AAA blockbusters, and has indie devs publicly frustrated.
Xbox on the other hand has indies publicly praising Gamepass and Microsoft, and is expanding it's portfolio.
It seems like Gamepass is creating that environment where first-party games can more directly bolster smaller devs, as opposed to the traditional model which just has first-party games increasing raw console ownership numbers.
At first glance, sure, acquisitions and exclusives are bad for the players, at least from a consumer perspective. As far as industry health — which translates to better support for smaller devs and projects — Phil Spencer might be right. Time will tell.
Re: Former Sony Boss Fearful of Industry Consolidation
I agree with Layden’s sentiments, but he might have it backwards.
So far, Gamepass, bolstered by MS’s acquisitions, has been a boon for smaller developers.
This could foster a very strong environment for smaller developers. Like Switch’s indie boom, Microsoft Gamepass also features and highlights indie titles alongside AAA, and none of us have clear details on what these Gamepass deals are, but I have to imagine whatever financial stability they provide is positive for smaller developers.
Sony’s stated direction seems to be more anti-small devs and smaller projects. Microsoft didn’t shutter the studio that made Parappa and Vib-Ribbon, Sony did.
Re: Astro's Playroom PS5 Dev Team Asobi Staffing Up for its Next Game
Everyone asking for a “full game”... they made one it’s called Astro Bot Rescue Mission.
I think it would be great if they released a ‘flat’ Astro Bot game, but if resources allow for one or the other, they continue in the space where they are best in class — VR.
Re: PS Plus August 2021 PS5, PS4 Games Leaked by Sony
@naruball Well, it shouldn’t have been. I have a bridge to sell you that comes with free games if that’s the way you want to think about it — like a dupe.
Re: PS Plus August 2021 PS5, PS4 Games Leaked by Sony
@naruball $9.99/mo, $24.99/3 mo, $59.99/yr.
Re: PS Plus August 2021 PS5, PS4 Games Leaked by Sony
@Jacko11 Entitled cry babies? People are paying money for this.
Re: Dead Space PS5 Remake Won't Have Microtransactions
@Total_Weirdo What the original devs are working on, Callisto Protocol, sounds way more interesting than this retread.
Re: Round Up: What Was Announced at EA Play 2021?
@Nepp67 The franchise has been on ice for 8 years, and most fans were disappointed in the direction it went. I don’t know what a remake does for the future of the series. Remake 2 & 3? Gauge interest and then start over with a reboot or a DS4?
It’s like they’re just conceding the future of the sub-genre to Callisto Protocol, which is probably for the best.
Re: Talking Point: Is Free-to-Play the Future for Sports Games?
@nessisonett Whale hunting takes care of a lot of F2P titles. They might not need to have a fee.
Re: Guilty Gear Strive Adds First DLC Character Goldlewis on 27th July
@Bleachedsmiles Those are fair points, and I can't tell anyone what's a value for them. I really don't think ArcSys is "holding back" in any sense besides what they decided in their planning stage. I loved when rosters were huge too and came on discs, but the upside to the current style is longer and better support for these titles.
Maybe I am biased as a fighting game fan, because I am cynical about these practices for popular genres, and I am just happy we're still getting major releases at all. If this is how it has to be done - and the current market says it does — I'll try and look at the positives.
Also, the netcode is unbelievable and the number one reason I bought into this game. Never cared about Guilty Gear. I play to learn and play online, and as much as I liked Street Fighter V, it's impossible for me to learn when — as Chris G said — a -2 move may as well be +3 online. The lobbies can get be better, but I've already got 100+ hours and less than a handful of matches with more 3 or more frames of rollback. It's the best in the genre right now. Plenty of valid reasons to wait, but the online play shouldn't be one of them.
Re: Psychonauts 2 Trailer Is Weird and Wonderful, PS5 Performance Restricted by Backwards Compatibility
@Flaming_Kaiser What are you on about!?!?
Subscriptions are not "modern rentals" because there are still modern rentals. Playstation Now started with rental model and changed to a subscription model.
Again... the "not special in your eyes..." I don't care.. Doesn't change the fact of what it is.
I agree with you about monetization, games releasing in unfinished states, and other scummy practices. Is it sad that it's worth mentioning a service is not grabbing for add-ons? Yeah. But it is what it is if you are playing games today, unless you want to game on an Intellivision Amico.
I'm guessing any positive comment about Gamepass (or DLC or Early Access games) sets you off, but point your boomer pop-off somewhere else. I've been playing games at home since 1985 — I ain't the one to talk to like I don't know how it was back in the day. Save it for someone who cares.... or someone who even disagrees with you ffs.
Re: Guilty Gear Strive Adds First DLC Character Goldlewis on 27th July
@Bleachedsmiles What makes you think it's held back? July was always the date — the game getting delayed is why it's so close to launch.
Arcsys, like most fighting devs, are pretty small teams in a very tough niche market. 500,000 sales is a remarkable achievement for them — those sales numbers would shutter a major studio. Why not give the benefit of the doubt here?
Re: Psychonauts 2 Trailer Is Weird and Wonderful, PS5 Performance Restricted by Backwards Compatibility
@Flaming_Kaiser First, Gamepass is not a rental service. It's a subscription service. Rentals services are 'al a carte'.
Second, Gamepass for PC in this context is a launcher and dashboard... what we're arguing about is a UI/UX.
Playstation, Xbox (console), Steam, EGS, Google Play, Apple Arcade and Stadia UI/UX all have store elements on the front of their dashboards and both Amazon Prime Video and Hulu are major subscription services that try to upsell customers by mixing paid content into their browsing.
This leaves Nintendo Switch as the sole platform and Playstation Now and XBox Gamepass as the only current game launchers (maybe Origin and GOG... not sure) that cordon off store elements in their dashboard design. So I'd argue it's special enough to warrant mentioning.
For me personally, I haven't used an XBox product since the 360, and I strongly preferred the Playstation 3 UX because there were no ads or front-loaded store elements. Going into an XBox environment and not being blasted with ads for Call of Duty and Mt. Dew is a relief, and again --thought it worth mentioning.
I don't understand why you jumped on that point like a rabid dog and have been fighting with me about it. I'm describing my experience with a service accurately.
Re: Psychonauts 2 Trailer Is Weird and Wonderful, PS5 Performance Restricted by Backwards Compatibility
@Flaming_Kaiser Are you cracked? You are agreeing with what I said.
In fact, I prefer so much to not have my games library try to sell me stuff, that when someone asked how the experience was on Xbox Gamepass for PC, I thought it was worth mentioning how great it was to not have ads and games for sale as opposed to Steam or the Xbox Store on consoles.
You’ve been trying to pick a fight so bad, you can’t even see where we agree. You’re better than that, c’mon now.