TimeDelayedGamer

An all digital future and lack of disc drive just makes consoles less convenient and useable for customers. One of the big pluses of PS5 was the backwards compatibility with PS4 games, which required a disc drive if you own your games physically.

More than that though, consoles have been positioned as an all-in-one home entertainment solution for quite some time now. I want to be able to play my Blu-rays on my console so I don't need to purchase a separate dedicated player. Some people want to own their favourite programmes, and not rely on streaming services that can take them down because of some licensing issue, lack of interest, or whatever.

Going all digital gives a customer less options. To me, this is not a good thing.

10/15. Not bad. Made a stupid mistake on the first question (always read the question properly!).

Well, I'm currently in week 5 of playing Trails in the Sky first chapter... If I'm starting a big RPG, then I'm usually resigned to the fact it will take me something like 3 months to finish it. Because of that, I only tend to play 1 big RPG per year.

I seem to be a bit of a slow, methodical gamer. I usually take a lot more hours to finish any given game than the internet suggests it should take to beat. I guess I just like to stop and smell the virtual flowers!

Being a father and full-time employee in a stressful job cramps my gaming style a lot as well, but I guess I made my choices 😁

@CutchuSlow I've heard there's an obscure Japanese company called Nintendo doing good things.

@DrVenture69 I played Below Zero last year, and it was so good, my personal game of the year in 2024. I probably spent about half of my playtime just tinkering about with my base.

I'll be spending more quality time with Estelle and Joshua in Trails in the Sky this weekend. Looking forward to reading more sarcastic in-game messages about empty treasure chests 😁

Happy gaming, folks.

I've had no gaming time at all this week as I've been away from home down in misty Cardiff. Now that I'm back, planning to catch up and get as much time as possible on Trails in the Sky first chapter.

Have a good weekend all.

Completed Metroid Prime 2 during the week. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but have to say that at times the game is appallingly bad at communicating what it expects of you (a few of the bosses I had to look up what I was supposed to be doing to beat them, as the scan info was cryptic to misleading...).

Now I've finished MP2 for the time being, it's full steam ahead with Trails in the Sky the first. It's fair to say I'm already totally engrossed in the charming world and story. It's daunting but exciting knowing there are so many Trails games ahead of me.

Happy gaming all.

@nessisonett Hulst's more of a slicker than a clicker.

Imagine the Valley of Defilement in smell-o-vision 😳

@Czar_Khastik It better come with a disc drive this time!

14/15, and apparently currently 11 on the leaderboard! I'll take that. The Italian estate question tripped me up.

@GymratAmarillo The last video game industry crash was in 1983.

Close to completing Metroid Prime 2 now - just hunting for the last few upgrades, then on to the Sky Temple for what I presume is the final boss. Also continuing the first Trails in the Sky, which I am still thoroughly enjoying. I don't know what magic dust Falcom sprinkle on their games but they always hit the mark for me, it's just a lot of fun, the characters and world are great and the translation is excellent. It's a fair bit, er, saucier than I was expecting though.. be interesting to see how some of the character interactions are handled in the upcoming remake!

Have a great weekend folks.

@DrVenture69 Somehow missed the review for this game, but reading your comment, it's definitely on my radar now! It sounds right up my street. Love a good puzzler, and having to take notes is a big plus as far as I'm concerned...

Guys, I'm going in... as I've got a bit more free time than usual over the festive period, I've taken the unusual step (for me) of playing two games at once, and have finally decided to start Trails in the Sky first chapter. I know the remake is coming out next year, but I really wanted to experience the original. I've long been in love with the Ys series and have been meaning for ages to get around to Falcom's other flagship RPG series. And so far it's exactly what I was expecting - a charming, lovingly crafted game with great music and engaging characters. It's really hitting the spot, and I'm looking forward to diving more into the lore of the world as I continue. It's probably going to take me about 15 years to get up to date with the various Trails games, but bring it on! 😅

I'm also continuing my playthrough of Metroid Prime 2 on Wii. Finally got past an absolute bugger of a morph ball boss (spider guardian), though I had to resort to help from YouTube to do it, grr. At least the comments on there assured me that I wasn't the only one grinding their teeth in frustration at it. Once I realised that you could flick the Wiimote to do a morph ball jump (I feel I was denied critical, need-to-know, information!), I beat it without too much trouble. It must have been an absolute nightmare on Gamecube though...

I'm also considering downloading Neva and giving that a go, as I believe it's pretty short and sounds like a great game to play at this time of year.

Have a great weekend fellow gamers.

Merry Christmas, Push Squarians (or Push Aquarians, as my autocorrect insists it should be). Enjoy the festive period whatever you're up to. Good health and good cheer to you all.

@Fishnpeas Agree with everything you said there! Trading Standards should be hitting the video games industry with fines left, right and centre, but it never happens, probably because the legislation has never kept up with the technology.

I've been expecting an ET-style industry crash ever since the Cyberpunk debacle.

Just catching up with all the news. Anything by Naughty Dog is always on my radar. However, I think Project Robot and Okami 2 top my list.

Metroid Prime 2 for me this weekend. I've played the first one a few times but for some reason have never got round to the sequels, so about time I corrected that. At about 25% completion so far, and loving every second of it.

@MeanBeanEgg Well, if there's a general consensus that a game is good, that's usually a good sign. But obviously you have to take that in conjunction with what you know your own tastes to be.

It helps if you know there's a critic or two whose tastes tends to align with your own. Then you can trust the critics you trust...

But yeah, gamers confuse the heck out of me as well. There's been so much condemnation of this game based on some limited previews and the fact it's 1st person. Certain people seem happy to vilify a game based on their own expectations of what it should be, having not played a second of it, rather than keeping an open mind and approaching it with the intention of being entertained. Which when you're speaking about an entertainment product, kind of baffles me.

By all means, condemn a game after you've played it, if it disappoints you and that's your honest opinion...

Anyway, rant over. Personally I think this looks like an interesting take and I'm looking forward to giving it a go, at some point.

Well, I guess the naysayers can shut up now.

Probably.

9/15, not bad. Made a couple of stupid mistakes that I'm kicking myself for.

Finishing up Hollow Knight. I somehow haven't found The Grimm Troupe DLC so going to hunt that down. Had a little go of the Godmaster stuff but soon gave up on it... I hate boss rushes with a passion (and some of those harder versions of the bosses are just insane!). Next, planning to move on to Metroid Prime 2.

Oh, and Push Square, please don't give me a heart attack by telling me it's the last weekend in December 😂 I'm very easily confused don't you know.

@Crimson_Ridley That's because shorts and skirts are the... new jeans.

@ChrisDeku Is it a large portion though? Or rather (as with so many other things) a small but very vocal minority?

Same outcome on the morale of developers, arguably.

This is sad news in any case. It just seems like the industry is being ritually gutted at the moment.

@LifeGirl Also, know your target audience and don't close the studio the second a game isn't an immediate financial success. Some quality games take a while to bed in, and not all games have mass market appeal, but will nonetheless do very well with a certain demographic of gamers. A lot of publishers and investors seem to have an extremely short-term view on these things.

3/10. Yeesh. A lot of those games I've never played though.

Hollow Knight again for me this weekend. I've been taking my time and savouring the game world. The air was blue last night as I found myself in a late-game location with some utterly evil platforming gauntlets to complete. Some of it took me a while just to figure out how to even attempt it. But I conquered in the end and got to a save point... Will see what pain the game has in store for me next, lol... Have a good weekend all.

I remember first seeing Tony Todd in an episode of The X-Files, years ago, as the guest 'monster of the week'. He had such an amazing screen presence, he could stand there seemingly doing nothing and your eyes would be drawn to him.

Hollow Knight again for me this weekend. Made lots of progress over the last week. The game is constantly drip-feeding me new charms to experiment with, areas to explore, new moves to try out, enemies to conquer, and lore to puzzle out, that there's no chance of ever getting bored. It's so good that I'm starting to think this might be up there with Symphony of the Night as my personal favourite 2D Metroidvania. I'm in awe that such a small team put this together. Now for yet another attempt at that second challenge in the Colosseum of Fools...

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Remedy always seem to get screwed over by their publishers, one way or another.

Continuing my playthrough of the amazing Hollow Knight, currently exploring Crystal Peak. I have a week off work next week so hoping to really sink my teeth into it and make some progress.

Meaningless soundbite alert.

This isn't a creative writing class, Sony.

The game that first introduced me to this wonderful series (and one of those games that reminds me why I love videogames). So many fond memories. Definitely getting this.

@Barrymore Cheers! Colin the shopkeeper from Xenon II Megablast... Those were the days...

@LikelySatan Just spent a happy couple of hours exploring the Fungal Wastes. The sense of exploration and discovery is something else!

@KingPev I've played the first Prime multiple times, but for some reason never got round to the other two in the trilogy. Currently intending to play Prime 2 after I'm done with Hollow Knight.

Was intending to start Metroid Prime 2 this week, but I had one of my occasional fits of caprice and decided to plump for Hollow Knight instead. I knew this game was highly regarded before going in, and it didn't take me long to see why - it's just so good. Smooth gameplay, fantastic atmosphere and music, great design, and nothing but flipping roadblocks everywhere, lol - but I'm loving every second of it. Also hoping to start Portal 2 with my daughter this weekend. She was googling to see if there's a cuddly companion cube she can get for Christmas, so I believe she quite enjoyed the first one 😁 Happy gaming everyone, whatever you're playing just now.

Hmm, if I wanted to muck around with settings to get the best image quality vs performance ratio, I'd get a PC.

I completely misread "wallet-busting waifus" at first glance.

What sort of a monster scratches game disks?! 😳

**OCD trigger warning**

@TheEnygma Erm, how would we be fans if we hadn't bought their games?

Websites like Push Square cater to a certain type of gaming enthusiast that is not necessarily representative of the gaming masses that play nothing but Fortnite and Call of Duty etc. So you'll see lots of people lamenting the passing of Japan Studio on here, which makes it seem like a big proportion of gamers, but in reality it's only a small portion of those who own consoles.

All I know is, every game where I saw the Japan Studio logo at the start, I had a fantastic time with it.

To me, they represented so much about what made PlayStation great. The willingness to take risks, be creative, try new things and see what sticks, come up with smaller unique experiences etc. I get that not everything they did was commercial, but that studio gave Sony so much cachet as a company that genuinely loved and nurtured video games as an art form, rather than just a cookie-cutter, copy and paste shareholder profit machine.

@Eduard_Brenton Great minds think alike, I guess... (or fools seldom differ, take your pick).

@Mintie Don't get those two mixed up now 😂

@Eduard_Brenton A gaming... glut? 🤔

Will be playing the incomparable Shadow of the Colossus remake this weekend. I have played this game in it's various forms so many times, and it always takes my breath away every time. It's just so good. Poetry in videogame form.

@scoobdoo This is a new engine they're using for this game.

Falcom's games always look a generation or two behind the times, but personally I like that retro vibe. They're a relatively small developer, but they put a lot of passion into what they make.