Unless Xbox is contractually obliged to bring this to market (though even then, contracts can change by agreement...) I would not be surprised to see this cancelled too. Compared to what Xbox chose to cut and layoff, and where it seems to be focussing its efforts (low-risk, reliable properties), this seems more akin to the sort of project that got canned.
I dunno why they stopped making Ultimate Alliance games... those were awesome and would probably do better now following the MCU (the good bits anyway).
If you’re into this sort of thing, I can personally recommend an indie title called ‘Art of Rally’ that I played earlier this year. A bit on the artsy end, but I enjoyed it immensely as a wind-down kind of game.
Careful on those Scandisk external drives. I got one to put all my PS4 games on, and left it plugged into the PS5 full time. After around 8 months it stopped being recognised by the PS5 and my PC cannot see it either, so it looks like it completely failed.
@get2sammyb I was thinking it would be something more along the lines of Kurosawa mode, and that Yotei's version of legends might launch later (like Tsushima's did). I look forward to finding out though!
I get people's concerns, but I truly don't understand why people are so bothered. Presumably the PlayStation beancounters have done the modelling and think this is the best thing for PlayStation's and Helldivers 2's business? If you love PlayStation so much - as I do too! - then surely they're owed a little trust? Sure, they don't always get it right (Concord), but who does? Hell, maybe if and when Helldivers 3 comes out, an XBot will think "hey, I could play that earlier if I bought a PlayStation" and become a Sony Pony?
Judging by what’s getting the cut, Xbox isn’t taking anything remotely resembling a risk with any of its projects. We can all look forward to future Bethesda, ABK, and Xbox properties becoming hollowed out, repetitive, bland, and stale. How sad.
I'm happy at Essential. I recently went through the part of the PS5 library that shows all the games you've gotten via PS+ over the years and there are tonnes I want to play but haven't gotten around to. More recently it's seemed like the games offered have been of a higher quality too.
I’m currently replaying GoT and just started the Iki Island content for the first time a couple of days ago. The new systems on display in the expansion have me even more excited for Yotei than I was before. I still love the feeling you get from the combat when you pull off a perfect parry and your enemy is opened up for a punishing counterattack, even all these hours in.
The golden rule of using these systems is to check it with human eyes - and a subject matter expert if needed, e.g. translation or advice of any kind - before you ship it. And that the dev was too lazy to do that is concerning.
UPDATE: Read the developer's response. Seems fair-do's to me. Mistakes happen.
Essential has been good for me lately. A few days ago I decided to browse the PS+ tab in my PS5 library and was shocked at the amount of games I want to get to. The backlog never ends.
As Ben Starr and Jennifer English explain it, this was one of the easiest VO gigs they've ever had, because the creators knew what they wanted from the actors and the key decision makers were at the recording sessions. So as soon as the actor got the line correct, they knew they had the line recorded and they moved on. And the story was nailed down so there was no coming back for more sessions. See Skill Up's recent video on the making of the game.
I had and still have my issues with the game's opening, which I feel involves too many characters acting out of character so that the instigating event of the plot can happen. Once you get past that, then there's a tonne of convenient happenstances to allow the plot to keep progressing. In the latter half, I thought that the stuff with Lev was poorly handled. Anyone with half a brain realised what Lev's situation was ages before they just came out and said it, leaving the impression that the writers thought we might be too stupid to get there ourselves. But overall, I think it was an effective story. I emphasised with the characters during their respective journeys and felt the feelings the writers wanted me to feel at the right beats. Not as good as TLoU, but a solid 7/10.
@PlaystationPortalFan You misunderstand me. The original concept for the Vita reportedly had an HDMI-out socket so that you could also play your games on the big screen, but that was taken out to save costs. Had they left it in the Vita then it would have basically been an early Switch, and then who knows, but the Vita line might not have become the abandoned handheld that it is today.
If Asus can make the official XBox handheld, then couldn't Dell, Hewlett Packard, Lenovo, heck, even Sony, make the next XBox that goes under your telly? (For those that want a dedicated device... I notice my TV now has a native XBox streaming app available.)
Hell, all of them could put XBox consoles onto the market at different price points and spec, just like the pre-built PC market.
I can't blame them really, customers have sent the publishers and platform holders the message that they'll pay silly money for 'early access' periods and whatnot.
Gaming is really cheap for me these days. I've got such a big backlog that I've got games to play for years without having to buy anything new. Bar one or two releases a year - Helldivers 2 and Astrobot got me at launch last year, and Death Stranding 2 might this year - I can usually wait for a deep sale.
No review codes going out is usually a massive red flag. I'm still interested in the game though so will wait for those before considering a purchase.
Going off the general vibe though, I'm feeling like this is a RoboCop: Vice City or Callisto Protocol kinda release - not great, but there's something going on in there though - and that it will be on PS+ Essential before very long.
Not gonna lie, until the bit at the start started talking about "lunafilaments", and given that this opened the show, I thought this was a surprise hardware announcement from PlayStation, or possibly just one of those "aren't we amazing, here's a sizzle reel" sort of intros.
I don't remember these games from my own youth - I think I was mainly gaming on the SNES around then - but this one looks like it'd be a great game for the kiddos.
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare "I think it was the complete apathy towards the game that was the real problem."
I think it was worse than that. There was apathy towards Helldivers 2, for instance, which I think worked in its favour because people didn't have many preconceived ideas about it when it launched and good word of mouth and social media allowed it to be a nice surprise.
The vibe I got was that people were not apathetic towards Concord. Concord was actively being hated on from it's first proper reveal in the State of Play around this time last year.
I thought that scene was weird and, on reflection, was also completely pointless. I suppose they have put it in so that season 3 can call back to it at the same point in the timeline when we see events from Abby's perspective, but by then I doubt that any of the audience will remember a throwaway scene like this.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk seems like the one I'll actually play, but I'll add the others to my library in any event. A good month in my view, as BRC is not the kind of game I see myself spending money on, but kinda wanted to try.
If you know you're into this sort of thing and want a cookie clicker with a bit more gameplay, I highly recommend Vostok Inc, which came out a few years ago now on the PS4. It combines a twin stick shooter with clicker mechanics and was an excellent dopamine rush.
I'll probably end up getting cookie clicker too... I'm an addict.
That's a shame, as I enjoyed occasionally finding I had enough points to get myself a little store credit for doing things that I was going to do anyway. I think its a bit unfair of PlayStation to blame poor engagement with the system when they half-arsed the implementation. If it had been properly integrated into the consoles I'm sure it would have seen much higher up take by players.
"PHYSINT". It's not Kojima or the marketing department being cute, in this instance. The project's title makes reference to the suffix "INT", which in intelligence and defence circles is used to denote that the intelligence in question has come from a particular source.
For instance, HUMINT is intelligence from a human source, SIGINT is intelligence derived from intercepting signals, IMINT is intelligence derived from analysing images, etc. The point is it's always capitalised.
PHYSINT isn't a real-world category of intelligence, so my guess would be that Kojima intends that this would be a reference to intelligence derived from some sort of sci-fi source, maybe fundamental physics or somehow meta physical.
There are just too many good games coming out demanding people's time. I'll be playing on PS5 when I get to DOOM: The Dark Ages. But I have so many games to play (I only just started DOOM: Eternal for the first time, bought for £8 in the last sale) that I rarely buy anything at launch anymore unless it's really special.
I'm interested, but will wait for reviews. It looks like the kind of thing that will be on PS+ Essential before too long, like Robocop: Rogue City or Calisto Protocol, that sort of tier of game.
Hey, PushSquare, I know you don't slavishly follow kooky game names (you call Fairgame$ "Fairgames", for instance), but PHYSINT should be capitalised. It isn't just Kojima or a marketing department trying to be weird.
The capitalisation of "PHYSINT" is a reference to shorthand used in the intelligence and security services for various sources of intelligence, e.g. "HUMINT" is short for human-intelligence, "SIGINT" is signals-intelligence, "IMINT" is images-intelligence, and so on. They are always capitalised.
PHYSINT isn't an official term, but given the game's themes of espionage, it's a fairly clear what Kojima is getting at with the use of the "INT" suffix.
I feel for Ubisoft when it comes to SW: Outlaws, in particular. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but I feel like Disney's over-exploitation of the Star Wars IP has just killed most interest in it. It probably felt like a sure-fire hit whenever Ubi and Disney made the licence agreement for the game, but the intervening years have not been good for SW.
Comments 914
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 589
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk for me. Never played Jet Set back in the day, but enjoying this.
If my buddy returns my copy of Death Stranding I might upgrade and jump into the Directors Cut.
Re: Xbox and Arkane's Blade Game Sounds Like It's Still a Long, Long Way Off
Unless Xbox is contractually obliged to bring this to market (though even then, contracts can change by agreement...) I would not be surprised to see this cancelled too. Compared to what Xbox chose to cut and layoff, and where it seems to be focussing its efforts (low-risk, reliable properties), this seems more akin to the sort of project that got canned.
I dunno why they stopped making Ultimate Alliance games... those were awesome and would probably do better now following the MCU (the good bits anyway).
Re: Old School Rally Recaptures Those Classic Colin McRae Vibes on PS5, PS4
If you’re into this sort of thing, I can personally recommend an indie title called ‘Art of Rally’ that I played earlier this year. A bit on the artsy end, but I enjoyed it immensely as a wind-down kind of game.
Re: Amazon Prime Day 2025 - Best Deals on PS5 Games, Controllers, SSDs, 4K TVs, and More
Careful on those Scandisk external drives. I got one to put all my PS4 games on, and left it plugged into the PS5 full time. After around 8 months it stopped being recognised by the PS5 and my PC cannot see it either, so it looks like it completely failed.
Re: PS5's Ghost of Yotei Fully Revealed in 20 Minute State of Play on 10th July
@get2sammyb I was thinking it would be something more along the lines of Kurosawa mode, and that Yotei's version of legends might launch later (like Tsushima's did). I look forward to finding out though!
Re: PS5 Fans Divided Over Helldivers 2 on Xbox Pivot
I get people's concerns, but I truly don't understand why people are so bothered. Presumably the PlayStation beancounters have done the modelling and think this is the best thing for PlayStation's and Helldivers 2's business? If you love PlayStation so much - as I do too! - then surely they're owed a little trust? Sure, they don't always get it right (Concord), but who does? Hell, maybe if and when Helldivers 3 comes out, an XBot will think "hey, I could play that earlier if I bought a PlayStation" and become a Sony Pony?
Re: Xbox's Promising MMORPG Sounds Like the Most Baffling Cancellation
Microsoft seem to just want completely safe bets at this point.
Any updates on that Blade game? I wouldn't be surprised to see that get canned next.
Re: BioWare Flop ANTHEM Dies January 2026, Servers to Be Turned Off
Stop Killing Games!
And yes, even Anthem. Don’t wait for it to be a game you care about.
Re: PlayStation Is Bringing Helldivers 2 to Xbox, Out on 26th August
Ok XBox owners, time to see whether you pay for games or not. This one’s a banger, you shouldn’t miss it.
Re: Romero Games Project Cancelled as Xbox Layoffs Continue to Cast Dark Shadow Over Industry
Judging by what’s getting the cut, Xbox isn’t taking anything remotely resembling a risk with any of its projects. We can all look forward to future Bethesda, ABK, and Xbox properties becoming hollowed out, repetitive, bland, and stale. How sad.
Re: Poll: 15 Years of PS Plus - What Do You Think of Sony's Subscription Service?
I'm happy at Essential. I recently went through the part of the PS5 library that shows all the games you've gotten via PS+ over the years and there are tonnes I want to play but haven't gotten around to. More recently it's seemed like the games offered have been of a higher quality too.
Re: Ghost of Yotei's Pricey $250 PS5 Collector's Edition Is for the Hardcore Fans Only
I’m currently replaying GoT and just started the Iki Island content for the first time a couple of days ago. The new systems on display in the expansion have me even more excited for Yotei than I was before. I still love the feeling you get from the combat when you pull off a perfect parry and your enemy is opened up for a punishing counterattack, even all these hours in.
Re: 'Sure, Here's a Revised Version of the Text': The Alters Taken to Task for Blatant Use of Generative AI
The golden rule of using these systems is to check it with human eyes - and a subject matter expert if needed, e.g. translation or advice of any kind - before you ship it. And that the dev was too lazy to do that is concerning.
UPDATE: Read the developer's response. Seems fair-do's to me. Mistakes happen.
Re: PlayStation Thinks Its PS Plus Games Are 'Improving' Every Year
Essential has been good for me lately. A few days ago I decided to browse the PS+ tab in my PS5 library and was shocked at the amount of games I want to get to. The backlog never ends.
Re: Xbox Looker Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Runs at a Slick 60fps on PS5
£50! Bwahahaha! My that's ambitious. Did they not read or see the reviews of their own game?
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for July 2025 Announced
Excited for Jusant. I've almost pulled the trigger on that one a few times already, so it's a good month for me.
Re: 'I Feel Like a Total Fraud': Actor Charlie Cox Reflects on Expedition 33 Success
As Ben Starr and Jennifer English explain it, this was one of the easiest VO gigs they've ever had, because the creators knew what they wanted from the actors and the key decision makers were at the recording sessions. So as soon as the actor got the line correct, they knew they had the line recorded and they moved on. And the story was nailed down so there was no coming back for more sessions. See Skill Up's recent video on the making of the game.
Re: Death Stranding 2 PS5 Trophy List Is Live, But Beware of Spoilers
Death Stranding 1 provided my 150th platinum trophy. Maybe I'll plan on making DS2's platinum my 300th for the symmetry.
Re: Poll: How Do You Feel About The Last of Us Part 2, 5 Years Later?
I had and still have my issues with the game's opening, which I feel involves too many characters acting out of character so that the instigating event of the plot can happen.
Once you get past that, then there's a tonne of convenient happenstances to allow the plot to keep progressing.
In the latter half, I thought that the stuff with Lev was poorly handled. Anyone with half a brain realised what Lev's situation was ages before they just came out and said it, leaving the impression that the writers thought we might be too stupid to get there ourselves.
But overall, I think it was an effective story. I emphasised with the characters during their respective journeys and felt the feelings the writers wanted me to feel at the right beats.
Not as good as TLoU, but a solid 7/10.
Re: God of War's Rumoured Metroidvania Now Due in 2026 on PS5
Looking forward to this, but a way to play the original Greek Trilogy on modern systems would entice me more.
Re: Bungie Delays Marathon Indefinitely, No New PS5, PC Release Date Given
Delaying seems like a good plan to me.
I'm still kind of perplexed why this game has anything to do with Marathon and isn't a completely new IP though.
Re: Switch 2 Can't Achieve a Great Experience on Big Screens, PS5 Boss Implies
@PlaystationPortalFan You misunderstand me. The original concept for the Vita reportedly had an HDMI-out socket so that you could also play your games on the big screen, but that was taken out to save costs. Had they left it in the Vita then it would have basically been an early Switch, and then who knows, but the Vita line might not have become the abandoned handheld that it is today.
Re: This Is How Gears of War Reloaded Looks and Plays on PS5 Pro
Aaaah, there's the giblets I remember...
Re: Switch 2 Can't Achieve a Great Experience on Big Screens, PS5 Boss Implies
I bet they feel damn silly for taking the HDMI port out of the Vita right around now.
Re: 'We Won't Make the Same Mistakes Again': Sony Reflects on PS5's Catastrophic Concord
I'm partly responsible for all this, because I bought the horse armour in 2006. I'm so f***in sorry.
Re: 'Competition Pushes Us to Innovate': Sony Weighs in on Xbox's Potential Exit from Console Business
If Asus can make the official XBox handheld, then couldn't Dell, Hewlett Packard, Lenovo, heck, even Sony, make the next XBox that goes under your telly? (For those that want a dedicated device... I notice my TV now has a native XBox streaming app available.)
Hell, all of them could put XBox consoles onto the market at different price points and spec, just like the pre-built PC market.
Re: 'Good Luck with That' - The Outer Worlds 2 $80 Price Has Gone Down Horribly with PS5 Players
I can't blame them really, customers have sent the publishers and platform holders the message that they'll pay silly money for 'early access' periods and whatnot.
Gaming is really cheap for me these days. I've got such a big backlog that I've got games to play for years without having to buy anything new. Bar one or two releases a year - Helldivers 2 and Astrobot got me at launch last year, and Death Stranding 2 might this year - I can usually wait for a deep sale.
Re: Site News: Where's Our MindsEye PS5 Review?
No review codes going out is usually a massive red flag. I'm still interested in the game though so will wait for those before considering a purchase.
Going off the general vibe though, I'm feeling like this is a RoboCop: Vice City or Callisto Protocol kinda release - not great, but there's something going on in there though - and that it will be on PS+ Essential before very long.
Re: Tencent Buys 15% Stake in Helldivers 2 Dev Arrowhead for $80 Million
Managed Democracy and Managed Economy, together at last.
Well... it's been tried before I suppose... didn't end well...
Re: Just What Is Going on in Capcom's Long-Delayed PS5 Game Pragmata, Then?
@Lup Oh yeah... clearly a memorable choice! :S
Re: Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls: All Confirmed Characters and Stages
@Brundleflies21 Ellie with her trusty shiv taking on all of Marvel would be awesome.
Re: Just What Is Going on in Capcom's Long-Delayed PS5 Game Pragmata, Then?
Not gonna lie, until the bit at the start started talking about "lunafilaments", and given that this opened the show, I thought this was a surprise hardware announcement from PlayStation, or possibly just one of those "aren't we amazing, here's a sizzle reel" sort of intros.
Re: The Witcher 4 Gameplay Revealed, Running on PS5 at 60fps with Ray Tracing
That looks pretty cool. Here's hoping they've also figured out the weird flickering affect that has afflicted some UE games this gen.
Re: Poll: Vote for Your PS5 Game of the Month (May 2025)
Cookie Clicker by default, for me, as I didn't buy anything else that released yet. And no, I'm not embarrassed.
I played through DOOM: Eternal (at last) though, in readiness for The Dark Ages at some point down the line, and that's excellent.
Re: Microsoft Windows Classic Backyard Baseball '97 Hitting PS5 Soon
I don't remember these games from my own youth - I think I was mainly gaming on the SNES around then - but this one looks like it'd be a great game for the kiddos.
Re: 80+ PS5, PS4 Games You Should Buy in PS Store's Days of Play Sale
@AshleighKinsella Pyre is possibly my favourite Supergiant Games release. I loved it so much I wrote a platinum trophy guide for it. Great pickup.
Re: Random: Commemorative Launch Plaque of PS5 Catastrophe Concord Donated to Thrift Store
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare "I think it was the complete apathy towards the game that was the real problem."
I think it was worse than that. There was apathy towards Helldivers 2, for instance, which I think worked in its favour because people didn't have many preconceived ideas about it when it launched and good word of mouth and social media allowed it to be a nice surprise.
The vibe I got was that people were not apathetic towards Concord. Concord was actively being hated on from it's first proper reveal in the State of Play around this time last year.
Re: The Last of Us Season 2's Strangest Scene Was Cut from the Game
I thought that scene was weird and, on reflection, was also completely pointless. I suppose they have put it in so that season 3 can call back to it at the same point in the timeline when we see events from Abby's perspective, but by then I doubt that any of the audience will remember a throwaway scene like this.
Re: The Order 1886 Could Have Been a Big Trilogy of PlayStation Games
I thought that there was at least one sequel planned was obvious from the ending of the game.
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for June 2025 Announced
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk seems like the one I'll actually play, but I'll add the others to my library in any event. A good month in my view, as BRC is not the kind of game I see myself spending money on, but kinda wanted to try.
Re: Talking Point: Does Sony Really Need Some Kind of Summer Showcase?
I still have plenty of amazing games to play and a massive backlog. Sony can do what it wants at this point, it's only one publisher among many.
Re: The Most Addictive Game Ever Is Now Available on PS5, PS4
If you know you're into this sort of thing and want a cookie clicker with a bit more gameplay, I highly recommend Vostok Inc, which came out a few years ago now on the PS4. It combines a twin stick shooter with clicker mechanics and was an excellent dopamine rush.
I'll probably end up getting cookie clicker too... I'm an addict.
Re: Hellblade 2 Announced for PS5, Out This Summer
I'll wait for a very deep sale on this one based on the reviews. But nice to see another previously exclusive game come over.
Re: PlayStation Stars Rewards Program Shutting Down, Sony Confirms
That's a shame, as I enjoyed occasionally finding I had enough points to get myself a little store credit for doing things that I was going to do anyway.
I think its a bit unfair of PlayStation to blame poor engagement with the system when they half-arsed the implementation. If it had been properly integrated into the consoles I'm sure it would have seen much higher up take by players.
Re: Another 2,000 Must-Play PS5, PS4 Games and DLC Discounted on PS Store
@Max_the_German I hope so, I find those lists helpful!
Re: PlayStation, Hideo Kojima's Next-Gen Physint Game 'Five or Six' Years Away
"PHYSINT". It's not Kojima or the marketing department being cute, in this instance. The project's title makes reference to the suffix "INT", which in intelligence and defence circles is used to denote that the intelligence in question has come from a particular source.
For instance, HUMINT is intelligence from a human source, SIGINT is intelligence derived from intercepting signals, IMINT is intelligence derived from analysing images, etc. The point is it's always capitalised.
PHYSINT isn't a real-world category of intelligence, so my guess would be that Kojima intends that this would be a reference to intelligence derived from some sort of sci-fi source, maybe fundamental physics or somehow meta physical.
Re: Inquiry Already Underway Over Lacklustre DOOM: The Dark Ages Opening
There are just too many good games coming out demanding people's time. I'll be playing on PS5 when I get to DOOM: The Dark Ages. But I have so many games to play (I only just started DOOM: Eternal for the first time, bought for £8 in the last sale) that I rarely buy anything at launch anymore unless it's really special.
Re: Ex-GTA Boss' PS5 Shooter MindsEye Gets a Tiny Gameplay Trailer, with Launch Just Weeks Away
I'm interested, but will wait for reviews. It looks like the kind of thing that will be on PS+ Essential before too long, like Robocop: Rogue City or Calisto Protocol, that sort of tier of game.
Re: Random: Hideo Kojima Gave His Studio a USB Stick with All His Ideas on It
Hey, PushSquare, I know you don't slavishly follow kooky game names (you call Fairgame$ "Fairgames", for instance), but PHYSINT should be capitalised. It isn't just Kojima or a marketing department trying to be weird.
The capitalisation of "PHYSINT" is a reference to shorthand used in the intelligence and security services for various sources of intelligence, e.g. "HUMINT" is short for human-intelligence, "SIGINT" is signals-intelligence, "IMINT" is images-intelligence, and so on. They are always capitalised.
PHYSINT isn't an official term, but given the game's themes of espionage, it's a fairly clear what Kojima is getting at with the use of the "INT" suffix.
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Can't Stop the Ubisoft Rot of Star Wars Outlaws and XDefiant
I feel for Ubisoft when it comes to SW: Outlaws, in particular. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but I feel like Disney's over-exploitation of the Star Wars IP has just killed most interest in it. It probably felt like a sure-fire hit whenever Ubi and Disney made the licence agreement for the game, but the intervening years have not been good for SW.