Ultimapunch

I might make it my personal policy to only pay full price for new games that have a real physical release. I want to play Doom. But if they're going to release a fake physical version like this without transparency. I'll happily wait until the digital version goes on sale. Now something like Donkey Kong Bananza? I'll gladly pay $70 to play a game like that day one on a real physical release.

Anyone willing to pay $80 for a Borderlands game deserves to be charged $80.

New Vegas because Obsidian >>>>>>>> Bethesda

People pretending that this isn't review bombing from angry gamers are wrong. People who watch films, prestige TV, or read books for pleasure have way higher levels of narrative understanding than comparatively low narrative IQ gamers. Killing off main characters is literally not at all uncommon in stories. It just isn't. Anyone who's ever read a few decent books from cover to cover, watched a few decent films, or watched a few decent TV shows can tell you that. The issue is that gamers are still viscerally upset that a buff woman killed their favorite video game character and are review bombing the show to try and make themselves feel better.

The only games that should be open world are Zelda. And even those take way too long to beat now.

Literally you could just release the SNES rom on modern storefronts and that would be good enough for me. I would honestly even take the iPhone/Steam version. Literally just make the game available.

Charging $150 for dlc with an impending recession right around the corner (if we're not already in it) is the most Blizzard thing ever.

Rayman Legends 2?

Honestly they should do every single scummy anti consumer thing that they can get away with. People still playing CoD in 2025 deserve it. They haven't made a real video game worth buying in that franchise in over 15 years.

I bought mine before January 20th. So glad I did.

Sorry. The original director of this game talked smack about my boy Astro Bot. I will never play this game as a result.

Y'all loving the all digital future yet?

And it made Days Gone director mad. Astro Bot making the right people happy and the right people upset.

I couldn't care less about tech specs. The Switch was basically on par with the ps3 (which was 11 years older) and still had some of the best games ever. That's what I care about. Good games. And Donkey Kong Bananza looks bananas.

I guess the disc drives are selling well enough to help with economies of scale.

Also kinda off topic but does anyone know if Sony fixed the PS3 clock battery DRM issue like they did with the PS4?

@Rich33 True. But they might have to. Because it looks like the tariffs are going to keep changing every day.

I guess Sony is passing the tariff increases to other countries. Unless they're imminently going to also raise the price in North America too. Either way. Global trade wars cost.

Bungie used to be one of the best video game devs around. Now they just make live service slop. Really sad to see.

Still has resale value. Still better than full digital.

@Kierant202 Yeah. But there's really no reason we can't have some Nintendo Selects at this point. Switch is going on 10 years old. Some of those games really should be discounted.

"Retro Games Can Be Purchased Outside of Subscription"

I will never pay of subscription fee for GameCube games. I want to buy them individually and own them so I can still play them after the service inevitably shuts down. The fact that I don't have that choice makes no sense at all.

Gamers let companies get away with charging for online. Day one DLC. Microtransactions. Loot boxes. Subscription services where you pay to own nothing. I highly doubt gamers are going to start punishing game companies now.

I currently view my PS5 as the secondary console to my Switch.

In November us Americans decided we wanted to pay higher prices for everything. So it's only fair we get what we wanted. It's gonna be a really long four years if an extra ten dollars for a game is getting so many people upset.

The facts are that the Switch is one of the best selling consoles ever. The Switch 2 is about to become one of the best starts to a console ever. And the PS5 is outpacing the PS3 and PS4. Netflix man might want a streaming console-less future. But it ain't happening now or any time soon.

Ice cold take. The Japanese devs were always better.

As a Metroid fan. I would have loved a free avatar for an anniversary gift.

@nomither6 Yeah. That's why I didn't buy a PS5 until this year. Didn't have a reason to. Until Astro Bot and then Split Fiction. Also with Doom on the horizon. A PS5 is really just starting to become worth owning. FF7 Rebirth is the only game I missed out on that I wanted. Everything else I could play on my PS4.

Nah bro. Consoles are dead. Xbox gamepass is the future. I know the facts don't align with that worldview but we're in a post fact world.

/s
About gamepass being the future. We are actually in a post fact world.

3% of people on here hate video games.

"Disney Character Voices" is a really ironic name for a company that wants to get rid of real voices.

From this article: "the Blu-ray discs PS5 games are printed on have the shortest life expectancy and are only estimated to last around 20 years under ideal conditions."

From the actual source article this one cites: "Ern Bieman, a digital preservationist with the Canadian Conservation Institute, told me that commercially produced Blu-rays—if they’re undamaged and stored correctly—should last at least 20 years. “They could certainly last longer, but you wouldn’t want to bank on it,” Bieman said. “Discs, whether they are optical discs or any other kind of media, are degrading from the day you get them.”

I think there's quite a difference between saying "around 20 years" and "at least 20 years."

Meh. I literally have some books from the 1910's that have held together. And Sega Genesis carts that are over 40 years old. I'm not worried about disc rot. Discs are made of plastic that will be on this planet long after humans are gone. And discs will last a lot longer than their reported lifespan if you take good care of them. As for the physical vs digital debate. I prefer both being available. It gives the consumers choice. And we don't get much of that these days.

@Danloaded Honestly I think they oversaturated the Life is Strange IP. I played the first one and loved it. I played Before the Storm and liked it a lot. Then I stopped. Not because I didn't like the series but because I blinked and suddenly there were 3 more games in the series I was behind on.

@Ralizah I disagree. I think the actual market for AI created works is probably going to be incredibly small to nonexistent. People like Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift. People like Kazuo Ishiguro. People like Robert Eggers. People like Hideo Kojima. People like things created by other people. People want that human connection. That's why names are so important in the world of art. I don't think anyone seriously wants art to be humanless.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare I think you're right. A lot of the pro AI folks probably are really young and don't yet realize that the industry doesn't have their best interests at heart. Us older folks have all learned that eventually. With charging for online play. Day one DLC. Microtransactions. Loot boxes. We've lived through so many "advancements" in tech that have made the industry worse. So we know AI is going to be just another one. I think a lot of younger folks don't yet realize that advancements in technology don't necessarily make games more enjoyable.

I'm not ever spending a dime on a game that replaces real acting with AI slop. Not ever. I've been an avid gamer for almost 30 years. But this industry will lose me and many others forever if they don't do the right thing going forward.

@nessisonett That or they'll say that they want AI to replace voice actors anyway. You know. Cuz they're soulless and want to play soulless games.

@Bingoboyop People are really gonna hate Final Fantasy X if they don't like faith and religion to be brought up in games.

@Oram77 We're going to have people make up their minds about this game literally years before it even comes out.

@Bionic-Spencer The Last of Us II got rave reviews. Sold over 10 million copies. And won a ton of awards. That sounds like universal love to me. I personally don't think developers should take into account the vocal minority who hate something when everyone else loved it. Also there isn't a single narrative in human history that is appealing to everyone. And usually the ones that are most universally loved are also hated fiercely by someone (usually the people who don't like the thematic message. Like how racists didn't like To Kill a Mockingbird). And I have no idea why you think a Naughty Dog game should be about player choice. Literally none of their games going all the way back to Crash Bandicoot in 1996 were about player choice. Not every game needs to be.

The best writers in video games making a story about faith and religion? Man I'm actually hyped now.

@LogicStrikesAgain Are they AI generated or pre written? Because they can't be both.

I won't ever spend money on a video game that uses an AI program like this. I'd much prefer a creative developer actually think about what they want an NPC to say and why they want an NPC to say it. Any game that outsources creativity to an AI program is a game not worth a single penny. And I'm honestly shocked and disappointed how many gamers don't think that they deserve better than AI slop.

"Imagine a future where instead of creative developers thoughtfully deciding what each NPC says, an AI program comes up with it instead. I cannot wait for all games to finally be free of creativity!"
-Gamers

@Drago201 I'm sure another generation of no exclusives is going to pay off for them this time.

Who knew that making a fun video game would pay off? Other than Nintendo. Microsoft between 2001 and 2005. And Sony between 1994 and 2020. But other than them who knew?

@naruball "Sony and other companies can't do that." Sony did that successfully from 1994 to 2020.

@naruball Nintendo is proving that it is that simple.