Yeah agree, I feel like this guy in the article is right on the money - the PS5 Pro will be extremely niche and lack the wider appeal of the PS4 Pro. They need more software that pushes the hardware further to make a refresh make sense.
The last three year period was a chance for Sony to make a strong case for a Pro model. In my opinion, they failed (so far). First party software that pushes the system just isn't getting out fast enough or in the quantity needed to sell me on why I need this.
My sentiments exactly. How are you going to sell me on a PS5 Pro when we just left the PS4 / PS5 cross platform era and it seems the base PS5 hasn't been fully tapped into yet.
If Sony had dumped PS4 for its new game releases three years ago I could see the argument. They chose not to abandon the PS4 install base which is fine but it hurt the value proposition of a pro model right now.
When the PS4 Pro came out, the base model's limits had been well and truly reached and a Pro made sense. Unfortunately, PS5 was held back by PS4 parity so Sony could tap into that extra install base, and it just hasn't had a chance to grow at the same rate as a result.
Capcom cannot miss. Dominates every genre it releases games for. As far as I'm concerned there's Capcom, and everyone else. And yeah, I include Nintendo and Sony in the "everyone else" category. No other publisher comes close imo.
Shame about the micro transactions, though.
Hate micro transactions but... RE 2/3/4 remake had em. RE8 has em. Street Fighter has em. Monster Hunter has had em. Devil May Cry 5 too. Sorta weird that they even include them as they generally trend towards "time savers" and its usually stuff you can get pretty easily in the game too, outside of the outfits here and there. Not defending, but in the grand spectrum of micro transactions, it's the least offensive sort. It's nowhere near the egregious level of NetherRealm or EA or Activision games in general. Still not ideal though.
On the net, I've really appreciated their free content updates to their games more than I've been offended by their pretty innocuous microtransaction schemes.
Thanks, I really appreciate it. I (naively) hope we can get back to some sense of normalcy someday, whatever normal was pre-COVID.
On a lighter note, here's also to hoping this young lady can go about her life in peace! Life's already stressful enough without strangers calling your workplace. The silver lining of this story to me is while everyone might argue as to the cause of this sort of behavior, every single one of us seems to agree it is unacceptable. There's still a lot of good people out there. We just hear about the troubled ones because good people aren't all that newsworthy.
I can't speak to everything you said, but mental health issues are definitely on the rise. I've worked as a police officer in the US for the last six years and in that short time it's become significantly, noticeably worse. This is just my experience, but I think most would agree. Worked more suicidal calls in the last 18 months then the rest of my time combined. Just in my limited experience, stalking behavior usually has some overt mental health component and is also on the rise. Working on a telephone stalking case right now.
You hate to see it. Not sure what's going on with people...
I love the dirty VHS presentation of those games. I also love found footage horror movies, go figure, and it reminds me of that style.
Man I miss those games. You think if they released Manhunt in 2024 they would have to tone it down a bit? I remember Rockstar was courting the uber violence controversy pretty hard back when that released.
I saw some footage for this game and it actually looks pretty solid. I just really, really wish it wasn't published by Nacon. They are a pretty awful company to their devs.
Thank you, I think the comments on here have been pretty tame and reasonable compared to what I've seen in the past. Usually the only rational thing to do with emotionally charged topics is to not comment, but the PushSquare community has been a lot more tempered and sane than other game sites with stuff like this, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm actually pretty impressed with the civility so far, I guess a shout out to the commenters and the mods for keeping it somewhat reasonable is due.
It's a nuanced topic and people unfortunately don't have a lot of patience for discussing those nuances.
"Woke" in the pejorative, negative usage doesn't refer to female leads. It doesn't refer to having a diverse cast. Those things are cool and good if done well, which there are plenty of good examples of good games in that vein.
Whether you agree or disagree, there is a subset of people who believe modern media - sometimes - includes women and a diverse cast to check a box, or to push their own worldview and/or 'virtue signal' without really doing right or understanding the particular ethnicity they are portraying, or without any actual benefit to the story. It is a synonym for pandering. Inclusion for inclusion's sake I guess you could say. It's self-serving, superficial, and gross, whereas the ones done well have diverse characters that organically fit their settings.
Too bad the English language is so fluid and we keep moving the goalposts on that word. Diversity in games is awesome if done well and was around long before the extremist worldviews on both sides of the debate muddied the waters.
It's the asinine new wave feminist movement with its ridiculous excess crashing against people that legitimately hate or dislike women. And all of us in the middle are just standing on the sidelines as these two opposite but equally bonkers worldviews go at it like feral cats.
Remember the Sarkesian versus gamers saga? I thought she was a nutjob but then again so were the people that went after her. Nobody wins and everyone on both sides end up looking like idiots. Everyone's toxic worldviews get validated and the cycle continues because only the loudest, wackiest stuff gets news time. Meanwhile 95% plus of us are just trying to dodge the debate and just enjoy playing video games.
I will also say, I left Kotaku after years of reading because they were editorializing waaaay too much on social issues. There's a crowd and a target market for that type of news, apparently, but I appreciate keeping it straight news and dodging the rampant culture war stuff, which PushSquare wisely does 98% of the time. Game blogs aren't the platform for that type of discussion (trust me, or, if you want proof - look at the comment section of any Kotaku article over the past 15 years. The closest analogy I can think of to describe it is pigs wallowing in mud).
I'm content to wait. Might be a bit of a reach, but I'm fairly sure Bloober Team doesn't "get" Silent Hill. Based on their past games and the SH2 trailer they released. James Sunderland's iconic mirror scene was butchered. Looks like he is about to cry in that shot.
Everything in that game was painstakingly intentional. James' disassociation and "absent" personality, the shot in the bathroom where he has a sort of sneaky smile on his face and secretly is looking at the player. It's treatment of the whole topic of mental health. Really a masterpiece by Team Silent. I guess despite the overtly horrifying monsters and whatnot, there was a lot of subtlety in those stories that puts a game like this far, far out of Bloober's league.
I've come to believe this series was just lightning in a bottle and can never be recreated properly. It was a product of it's time with the exact right people at the exact right time. Chasing the dream of returning to a game that rivals or exceeds the original three entries is sort of a Silent Hill purgatory in itself. Just as delusional and hopeless as James Sunderland's personal journey to find his dead wife. How's that for meta?
PS1 was a legendary system. '97-98 was madness. Things seemed more experimental back then. PS3 was pretty darn good too, but all things considered, I gotta give the crown to PS2.
Seriously though, yeah, if you got a serviceable PC the value proposition is way down for sure. If you have an Xbox and PS5, a huge amount of library overlaps, of course. Those things go without saying! (Not many exclusives)
The single player stuff is not for everyone. I respect that too. If I were big into multiplayer (I'm absolutely not) PC would be my go-to for the reasons you mention.
I looked at the question in terms of, if you could only have one console is it doing alright in the library department? That's why I include the PS4 backwards compatibility. And I think PS5 is doing very well, so far, if you are into the specific thing they are offering. We are eating good here, I think.
I own 16 consoles and a PC I collect for, so I have to mentally frame it in terms of if I just had a PS5, would I be happy? I would! The overall end user experience and package (controller, UI, third party games, exclusives, etc.) has cumulatively amounted to the best time I've had in gaming since I started in 1994. Just edges out some of the amazing 6th Gen consoles for me, so far. Could change.
Strauss Zelnick, Bobby Kotick, and Randy Pitchford should form like a power rangers super squad, except their super powers would include microtransactions and doing lines of coke.
I'm one of those weird people that played Call of Duty for the campaign. I stopped like 5 entries back but they were bombastic fun in a Michael Bay sort of way. Heard this campaign is pretty dismal.
Activision had a way of running its huge franchises into the ground back in the day by releasing too many games too quickly. Guitar Hero comes to mind. That game was a cultural phenomenon back in the day.
I think CoD has some gas in the tank but I'd guess in the next ten years it will be sitting next to Guitar Hero, unless it can reinvent itself somehow.
I'll never understand why Konami took a flag ship franchise (Silent Hill) and passed it around to every C-tier dev after Silent Hill 4. And now it's Bloober Team's turn to desecrate the corpse.
I know it's already been said but waiting on Bloober to make a good Silent Hill game is like trying to get 5 star cuisine at McDonald's.
The MGS compilation port was super lazy I heard, and they are not going to bother redoing any of the voicework for the MGS3 remake. Konami has got me very skeptical right now.
Third party games have been absolutely insane. Capcom has ripped the crown from Sony first party devs this generation, and I'm just not sure they can do anything wrong at this point. And the indie titles have been on point too. Would like to see more AA experimental stuff overall though.
For every generation since the PS1, my four favorite devs has always fluctuated between Konami, Capcom, Nintendo, and Sony. Capcom is winning this round for me by a country mile. And the others (excluding Konami, RIP) aren't anything to laugh at either, so that's really saying something.
I say it's a super solid start. Japan Studio going away sucked, and I'd echo the overall sentiment that while I believe there is more diversity in Sony's first party lineup then they get credit for (3 platformers, a destruction derby game, an arcade rogue-like shooter, a racing game, a souls game) there are too many open world or semi-open world action games with RPG-lite elements.
I would put God of War, Horizon, Miles Morales, Spiderman 2, as well as the Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, Last of Us, and Uncharted PS5 ports all in the same broad category, and it is becoming saturated.
We could use horror, flight sims, western and Japanese-style RPGs, car combat, first person shooters from Sony. We have most of that from third parties but I want to see some different genres from first party devs.
I think if you look at the system just in terms of its "exclusives," a very specific type of person could say the library isn't too hot. I wouldn't agree, but some people might not dig what Sony is offering, especially since they focus on 2-3 specific genres.
But the library includes third party stuff too. Capcom, FromSoft, etc. have been on fire. Indie games have been plentiful and amazing as well. I'd say AA stuff is the biggest casualty of this gen, but there is some of that too in games like Evil West and Psychonauts 2. Just not as much as I'd like, but if you include PS4 back compatibility you have a positively gargantuan library representing every genre and taste. We are absolutely spoiled this gen.
My feeling is there aren't many games that have that "wow" factor in terms of purely graphics, although I'd nominate Ratchet and Clank and the Demon's Souls remake as being among the prettiest games I've ever seen on any system.
I want to see the cross gen period ended so we can get something that really pushes the needle forward like Uncharted did for the PS3 generation.
All these conversations about a PS5 Pro are pretty presumptuous to me, considering it seems they haven't even unlocked the potential of the base model system yet.
First console was the PS1 and owned all the Sony systems since. I've never enjoyed a console as much as I have the PS5. Demon's Souls out of the gate was nuts.
If anything, with the advent of services like PS Plus, I feel pretty paralyzed by choice more than anything. Demon's Souls, Ratchet and Clank, Returnal, Horizon, Gran Turismo 7, God of War Ragnarok... It's been a ride.
Could go on about the amazing third party stuff. Final Fantasy XVI, Elden Ring, Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Cyberpunk 2077 2.0, and so much more. Then all the awesome indie titles like Inscryption, Cult of the Lamb, Sea of Stars, Stray, etc... it's just sort of mind boggling.
Cross gen lasted way too long for my liking though and slowed progress down.
Agreed MGSV was the weakest story-wise of the main entries and didn't care for it in that respect, and having Hayter in the role wouldn't have changed a whole lot considering Big Boss doesn't really have too many speaking lines. I thought this change in particular (how quiet he is compared to previous games) is a valid and pretty clever reference to the plot twist other commenters have mentioned.
I have a weird cognitive dissonance where Hideo Kojima made my favorite game of all time, but I'm not a fan of his newer stuff. He kind of became aimless later on, which became apparent in MGSV. The themes in V (vocal cord parasites, connection between language, identity, and culture) are rich topics, which were so undercooked compared to the previous razor-focused themes of past entries. It was a very rambling, almost college-freshman-research-paper level attempt at the subjects. He didn't seem super motivated to actually explore the themes beyond a superficial level. I think you are right, he didn't want to work on the series anymore but Konami wouldn't let him pursue other stuff, and it showed. In his defense he was trying to move on from the series since MGS2. I can understand wanting to move on.
What I can't understand is his apparent disdain for Hayter. Legitimately nice, down to earth guy. I've heard it said Kojima never liked Hayter's gravelly voice direction he lent to Solid Snake / Big Boss character. All I'm saying is it must have REALLY steamed Kojima that Hayter became more synonymous and iconic to the series than Kojima himself. A guy with an ego like that, it's got to hurt a bit.
I would hazard a guess if Kojima had a more focused vision for MGSV, ran it with a tighter budget, kept Hayter in, re-worked the boss fights, had a better and more distinctive antagonist, and nailed down the themes more, he would still have a place at Konami regardless of what their exact disagreements were.
And regarding Death Stranding, I don't subscribe to the whole this is actually a walking simulator complaint. And like MGSV, I don't think it's a bad game overall - it just isn't great. Main complaint against Death Stranding is the same I had with MGSV, that being it doesn't really explore the themes it tries to very well, or tries to do to many at once. Bites off more than it can chew with its story. Kojima's story telling edge has dulled for me personally, and that was his X Factor back in the day. Compare Death Stranding's story themes with how focused MGS1's messaging on nuclear deterrence and proliferation was. His thematic story telling lost a lot of its coherency and focus over time. His stuff seems pretty shallow now in comparison.
P.T. was amazing and I really regret we couldn't get a chance to see what Kojima could do if given free reign in the horror genre.
Anyways, I guess I just rambled a lot to say I agree with all your points haha. As a lifelong fan of MGS and for all parties involved - I am glad Kojima has moved on. He was making so many missteps with the MGS series by the time he left, I think it was clear it was past due.
No, the reasoning for casting Sutherland as 'Venom Snake' had nothing to do with the plot twist you are referring to.
We know this is true because they kept the Japanese voice actor the same for MGSV as all the previous games. Pretty much debunks that theory.
The real reason Hideo Kojima cast Sutherland isn't well understood by really anyone besides I guess Kojima. It was the worst creative decision he ever made. Some say he really just wanted to work with Sutherland, as he has long had a sort of fanboyish relationship with western cinema and TV and wanted to work with a "big name", so to speak.
Whatever his reason, it's well documented Kojima basically stone walled David Hayter prior to MGSV's release. Hayter was never contacted by the studio or Kojima. Never given so much as a thank you, according to Hayter himself. Never notified he wouldn't be voice acting Snake in MGSV. Arguably THE most iconic voice actor in the history of the medium, stonewalled.
Konami is guilty of plenty of bad calls, but firing Kojima was never one of them. Kojima is a narcissistic, arrogant jerk and it's really apparent from his many interviews. Most recent of a dozen examples being him blaming Death Stranding's less than stellar critical reception on the audience just not getting it.
Doesn't change the fact he made some pretty good games though (didn't care for Death Stranding in the slightest, but nobody can deny MGS1 and 3 are gold). He just went a bit off his rocker later on. Think he bought too much into his own "I'm a genius / auteur" narrative the industry was constantly spinning around him.
I mean, I was - literally - laughing at the fact Kojima's name scrolls across the screen like 15 times before each and every main story mission while playing MGSV. It's ridiculous.
So have they backtracked on the digital only release thing yet? I'll buy it if it releases in a physical edition, otherwise they don't get a single cent. Could have had my $60-70 from me, day one.
I get it, I'm just one guy... Too attached to physical, move on with the times, yadda yadda. But hey, that's 70 bucks they could have gotten but now won't. Money is money, just release a digital version and a physical edition at 10 bucks more. Easy. But they hesitate because the reasoning they provided for going all digital is an outright, verifiable, and completely transparent lie. It is in fact a DRM measure hiding in plain sight under the thinnest of pretexts.
Wish we had good enough data to figure out how much money they lose on physical reselling and compare that to the 15-25%(?) of people who just won't touch this until a massively steep discount hits.
The beep is life. The beep is the only thing that prevents me from falling into the abyss. The all-consuming power of the beep helps me keep my chakra centered and is also known to have a positive influence on energy levels and overall health, based on peer-reviewed studies.
Shame because I feel like these medium budget AA games are the number one casualty of the current era of video game development. Too bad this one couldn't nail it.
Ever since this game was announced, people have been asking 'Why Gollum'. And as a massive lifelong LOTR fan and reader, I can't help but agree the whole premise was questionable from the beginning. Literally hundreds of characters from the lore I'd put in front of Gollum to feature in a game.
You are preaching to the choir here. Apparently they used to eat white rice and cold meat for breakfast until the 1920s, which I deem to be a crime against humanity.
It talks about how in the early 1900s, it would have been really odd and bizarre to eat eggs and bacon for breakfast. Nowadays, it's normal. That's because Bernays, in the employ of companies that wanted to sell more eggs and bacon, used his new marketing tactics to normalize it. And obviously succeeded.
Poof, now nobody remembers or knows you would have been thought of as a crazy person to eat eggs for breakfast back then. We are all sheep apparently able to be guided this way or that fairly easily it seems!
Did you ever read 'Bernays and Breakfast'? Summarizes how susceptible people are to marketing, even (or especially) the savvy customers who think they are immune to it. Yeah, I definitely see some parallels.
I get so much conflicting information on this acquisition thing, which is frustrating because I need to know which Fortune 500 company I should swear my undying allegiance to.
Capcom is the only mega publisher I still respect or haven't had some huge mis-step in the last 5 years. Seems like all the other big publishers - Ubisoft, Bethesda, Konami, SquareEnix, Blizzard, Activision, EA, TakeTwo - have been in a race to the bottom for years. They call them Capgod for a reason.
Looking forward to their showcase. RE Code Veronica Remake please and thanks.
I know digital is the future, but won't be buying. Also I find the reasoning disingenuous; if they want to save money or "keep costs down", they could just charge 10 more dollars or euros for the physical edition. I've been arguing digital copies should be around 10 bucks cheaper compared to physical for years now anyways. It's always been pure greed that they charge the same price for digital copies while saving money on manufacturing and distribution. I've heard retailers demand price parity but that doesn't stand up to scrutiny really.
All those people saying nobody cares about physical games anymore, remember about 30% of sales for a given release are still physical. That's a heck of a lot of sales to leave on the table.
I imagine digital sales share will plateau around 85% with the remaining 15% of holdouts refusing to ever buy digital. It will always be a substantial piece of the sales pie. This is ridiculous and I don't get it. Unless - as I suspect - this is just a glorified DRM measure under the guise of cutting costs. Which it is Epic, so yeah...
Comments 910
Re: Devs Allegedly Pondering the Point of Sony's PS5 Pro Upgrade
@gymratAmarillo
Yeah agree, I feel like this guy in the article is right on the money - the PS5 Pro will be extremely niche and lack the wider appeal of the PS4 Pro. They need more software that pushes the hardware further to make a refresh make sense.
The last three year period was a chance for Sony to make a strong case for a Pro model. In my opinion, they failed (so far). First party software that pushes the system just isn't getting out fast enough or in the quantity needed to sell me on why I need this.
Re: Devs Allegedly Pondering the Point of Sony's PS5 Pro Upgrade
My sentiments exactly. How are you going to sell me on a PS5 Pro when we just left the PS4 / PS5 cross platform era and it seems the base PS5 hasn't been fully tapped into yet.
If Sony had dumped PS4 for its new game releases three years ago I could see the argument. They chose not to abandon the PS4 install base which is fine but it hurt the value proposition of a pro model right now.
When the PS4 Pro came out, the base model's limits had been well and truly reached and a Pro made sense. Unfortunately, PS5 was held back by PS4 parity so Sony could tap into that extra install base, and it just hasn't had a chance to grow at the same rate as a result.
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 (PS5) - The Apex of RPG Adventuring
Capcom cannot miss. Dominates every genre it releases games for. As far as I'm concerned there's Capcom, and everyone else. And yeah, I include Nintendo and Sony in the "everyone else" category. No other publisher comes close imo.
Shame about the micro transactions, though.
Hate micro transactions but... RE 2/3/4 remake had em. RE8 has em. Street Fighter has em. Monster Hunter has had em. Devil May Cry 5 too. Sorta weird that they even include them as they generally trend towards "time savers" and its usually stuff you can get pretty easily in the game too, outside of the outfits here and there. Not defending, but in the grand spectrum of micro transactions, it's the least offensive sort. It's nowhere near the egregious level of NetherRealm or EA or Activision games in general. Still not ideal though.
On the net, I've really appreciated their free content updates to their games more than I've been offended by their pretty innocuous microtransaction schemes.
Re: Rumour: Dragon Age: Dreadwolf Will Finally, Finally Release Later This Year
Love the Dragon Age series.
But Bioware is not Bioware anymore. Most of the people who released all those iconic games are long gone from the company.
They just laid off another round of 50 people, including some of their last veteran employees.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Now Has Its Own Official Sony TV
Oh yeah? I'll be playing while wearing my officially branded FF 7R underwear.
Checkmate.
Re: Call of Duty: Warzone's Latest Update Appears to Have Buckled the Game
@Pingusbumhole
Please accept my deepest apologies for this error.
Is that the one you hit a ball with a big mallet through the hoops?
Re: Call of Duty: Warzone's Latest Update Appears to Have Buckled the Game
@Mikey856
Hey, hey now! Don't be calling out the Madden / Call of Duty Bro Gamers like that. They are a proud people. Their K/D ratios are insane.
They are people too!
Re: You Should Get 'Comfortable' with Not Owning Your Games, Suggests Ubisoft Exec
Suddenly I'm supposed to alter my tastes to align better with Ubisoft's long-term business strategy? Nah, that doesn't work for me.
I'll just keep doing what I like to do if you don't mind, random exec of a disgraced publisher.
Re: Marvel's Spider-Man's Mary-Jane Face Model Calls for an End to Unacceptable Behaviour
@riceNpea
Thanks, I really appreciate it. I (naively) hope we can get back to some sense of normalcy someday, whatever normal was pre-COVID.
On a lighter note, here's also to hoping this young lady can go about her life in peace! Life's already stressful enough without strangers calling your workplace. The silver lining of this story to me is while everyone might argue as to the cause of this sort of behavior, every single one of us seems to agree it is unacceptable. There's still a lot of good people out there. We just hear about the troubled ones because good people aren't all that newsworthy.
Re: Marvel's Spider-Man's Mary-Jane Face Model Calls for an End to Unacceptable Behaviour
@riceNpea
I can't speak to everything you said, but mental health issues are definitely on the rise. I've worked as a police officer in the US for the last six years and in that short time it's become significantly, noticeably worse. This is just my experience, but I think most would agree. Worked more suicidal calls in the last 18 months then the rest of my time combined. Just in my limited experience, stalking behavior usually has some overt mental health component and is also on the rise. Working on a telephone stalking case right now.
You hate to see it. Not sure what's going on with people...
Re: GTA 5's Michael Voice Actor a Big Fan of GTA 6 Protagonist: 'Lucia's Hard, Man'
@PixelDragon
I love the dirty VHS presentation of those games. I also love found footage horror movies, go figure, and it reminds me of that style.
Man I miss those games. You think if they released Manhunt in 2024 they would have to tone it down a bit? I remember Rockstar was courting the uber violence controversy pretty hard back when that released.
Re: GTA 5's Michael Voice Actor a Big Fan of GTA 6 Protagonist: 'Lucia's Hard, Man'
@Northern_munkey
Agreed! And I wish I could give you some upvotes for the Manhunt call out!
Re: Underrated PS5 Shooter RoboCop: Rogue City Teases New Game + Update
I saw some footage for this game and it actually looks pretty solid. I just really, really wish it wasn't published by Nacon. They are a pretty awful company to their devs.
Re: GTA 5's Michael Voice Actor a Big Fan of GTA 6 Protagonist: 'Lucia's Hard, Man'
@Northern_Munkey
Thank you, I think the comments on here have been pretty tame and reasonable compared to what I've seen in the past. Usually the only rational thing to do with emotionally charged topics is to not comment, but the PushSquare community has been a lot more tempered and sane than other game sites with stuff like this, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm actually pretty impressed with the civility so far, I guess a shout out to the commenters and the mods for keeping it somewhat reasonable is due.
It's a nuanced topic and people unfortunately don't have a lot of patience for discussing those nuances.
Re: GTA 5's Michael Voice Actor a Big Fan of GTA 6 Protagonist: 'Lucia's Hard, Man'
"Woke" in the pejorative, negative usage doesn't refer to female leads. It doesn't refer to having a diverse cast. Those things are cool and good if done well, which there are plenty of good examples of good games in that vein.
Whether you agree or disagree, there is a subset of people who believe modern media - sometimes - includes women and a diverse cast to check a box, or to push their own worldview and/or 'virtue signal' without really doing right or understanding the particular ethnicity they are portraying, or without any actual benefit to the story. It is a synonym for pandering. Inclusion for inclusion's sake I guess you could say. It's self-serving, superficial, and gross, whereas the ones done well have diverse characters that organically fit their settings.
Too bad the English language is so fluid and we keep moving the goalposts on that word. Diversity in games is awesome if done well and was around long before the extremist worldviews on both sides of the debate muddied the waters.
It's the asinine new wave feminist movement with its ridiculous excess crashing against people that legitimately hate or dislike women. And all of us in the middle are just standing on the sidelines as these two opposite but equally bonkers worldviews go at it like feral cats.
Remember the Sarkesian versus gamers saga? I thought she was a nutjob but then again so were the people that went after her. Nobody wins and everyone on both sides end up looking like idiots. Everyone's toxic worldviews get validated and the cycle continues because only the loudest, wackiest stuff gets news time. Meanwhile 95% plus of us are just trying to dodge the debate and just enjoy playing video games.
I will also say, I left Kotaku after years of reading because they were editorializing waaaay too much on social issues. There's a crowd and a target market for that type of news, apparently, but I appreciate keeping it straight news and dodging the rampant culture war stuff, which PushSquare wisely does 98% of the time. Game blogs aren't the platform for that type of discussion (trust me, or, if you want proof - look at the comment section of any Kotaku article over the past 15 years. The closest analogy I can think of to describe it is pigs wallowing in mud).
Re: Maybe Don't Expect an Elden Ring DLC Release Date at The Game Awards
Excited about this. Really dug the Dark Souls 3 expansion.
Re: Bloober Team Says Silent Hill 2 PS5 Is Progressing Smoothly, Working to Attain the Highest Quality
I'm content to wait. Might be a bit of a reach, but I'm fairly sure Bloober Team doesn't "get" Silent Hill. Based on their past games and the SH2 trailer they released. James Sunderland's iconic mirror scene was butchered. Looks like he is about to cry in that shot.
Everything in that game was painstakingly intentional. James' disassociation and "absent" personality, the shot in the bathroom where he has a sort of sneaky smile on his face and secretly is looking at the player. It's treatment of the whole topic of mental health. Really a masterpiece by Team Silent. I guess despite the overtly horrifying monsters and whatnot, there was a lot of subtlety in those stories that puts a game like this far, far out of Bloober's league.
I've come to believe this series was just lightning in a bottle and can never be recreated properly. It was a product of it's time with the exact right people at the exact right time. Chasing the dream of returning to a game that rivals or exceeds the original three entries is sort of a Silent Hill purgatory in itself. Just as delusional and hopeless as James Sunderland's personal journey to find his dead wife. How's that for meta?
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for November 2023?
Wait Klonoa 2? That's a PS2 game and it was never re-released, except in the Fantasy Reverie port, which is also releasing on Premium.
So... does that make Klonoa 2 the FIRST PS2 game they've added to the service since it launched?
Re: Talking Point: As PS5 Turns 3, How Are You Feeling About It?
@F1at8mot0
PS1 was a legendary system. '97-98 was madness. Things seemed more experimental back then. PS3 was pretty darn good too, but all things considered, I gotta give the crown to PS2.
Re: Talking Point: As PS5 Turns 3, How Are You Feeling About It?
@nomither6
So we agree on nearly all points then! Salud!
Seriously though, yeah, if you got a serviceable PC the value proposition is way down for sure. If you have an Xbox and PS5, a huge amount of library overlaps, of course. Those things go without saying! (Not many exclusives)
The single player stuff is not for everyone. I respect that too. If I were big into multiplayer (I'm absolutely not) PC would be my go-to for the reasons you mention.
I looked at the question in terms of, if you could only have one console is it doing alright in the library department? That's why I include the PS4 backwards compatibility. And I think PS5 is doing very well, so far, if you are into the specific thing they are offering. We are eating good here, I think.
I own 16 consoles and a PC I collect for, so I have to mentally frame it in terms of if I just had a PS5, would I be happy? I would! The overall end user experience and package (controller, UI, third party games, exclusives, etc.) has cumulatively amounted to the best time I've had in gaming since I started in 1994. Just edges out some of the amazing 6th Gen consoles for me, so far. Could change.
But of course, mileage varies.
Re: AI Could Make Grand Theft Auto NPCs 'Really Interesting and Fun', Says Take-Two CEO
Strauss Zelnick, Bobby Kotick, and Randy Pitchford should form like a power rangers super squad, except their super powers would include microtransactions and doing lines of coke.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Everyone Hates Modern Warfare 3, But It's Still Number One
I'm one of those weird people that played Call of Duty for the campaign. I stopped like 5 entries back but they were bombastic fun in a Michael Bay sort of way. Heard this campaign is pretty dismal.
Activision had a way of running its huge franchises into the ground back in the day by releasing too many games too quickly. Guitar Hero comes to mind. That game was a cultural phenomenon back in the day.
I think CoD has some gas in the tank but I'd guess in the next ten years it will be sitting next to Guitar Hero, unless it can reinvent itself somehow.
Re: Konami Is Creating a New Silent Hill Production Team
I'll never understand why Konami took a flag ship franchise (Silent Hill) and passed it around to every C-tier dev after Silent Hill 4. And now it's Bloober Team's turn to desecrate the corpse.
I know it's already been said but waiting on Bloober to make a good Silent Hill game is like trying to get 5 star cuisine at McDonald's.
The MGS compilation port was super lazy I heard, and they are not going to bother redoing any of the voicework for the MGS3 remake. Konami has got me very skeptical right now.
Townfall looks interesting though.
Re: Rumour: Dragon Age Dreadwolf Really Is Set to Release in 2024
BioWare has honestly got me worried, but Inquisition was really solid so we shall wait and see.
Re: All The Game Awards 2023 Nominees Announced, Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 Lead the Way
C'mon Geoff, we know it's Baldur's Gate versus Zelda this year.
Re: All The Game Awards 2023 Nominees Announced, Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 Lead the Way
Cool to see Dredge get some nods
Re: Talking Point: As PS5 Turns 3, How Are You Feeling About It?
@KundaliniRising333
Third party games have been absolutely insane. Capcom has ripped the crown from Sony first party devs this generation, and I'm just not sure they can do anything wrong at this point. And the indie titles have been on point too. Would like to see more AA experimental stuff overall though.
For every generation since the PS1, my four favorite devs has always fluctuated between Konami, Capcom, Nintendo, and Sony. Capcom is winning this round for me by a country mile. And the others (excluding Konami, RIP) aren't anything to laugh at either, so that's really saying something.
Re: Talking Point: As PS5 Turns 3, How Are You Feeling About It?
I say it's a super solid start. Japan Studio going away sucked, and I'd echo the overall sentiment that while I believe there is more diversity in Sony's first party lineup then they get credit for (3 platformers, a destruction derby game, an arcade rogue-like shooter, a racing game, a souls game) there are too many open world or semi-open world action games with RPG-lite elements.
I would put God of War, Horizon, Miles Morales, Spiderman 2, as well as the Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, Last of Us, and Uncharted PS5 ports all in the same broad category, and it is becoming saturated.
We could use horror, flight sims, western and Japanese-style RPGs, car combat, first person shooters from Sony. We have most of that from third parties but I want to see some different genres from first party devs.
Re: Talking Point: As PS5 Turns 3, How Are You Feeling About It?
@nomither6
I think if you look at the system just in terms of its "exclusives," a very specific type of person could say the library isn't too hot. I wouldn't agree, but some people might not dig what Sony is offering, especially since they focus on 2-3 specific genres.
But the library includes third party stuff too. Capcom, FromSoft, etc. have been on fire. Indie games have been plentiful and amazing as well. I'd say AA stuff is the biggest casualty of this gen, but there is some of that too in games like Evil West and Psychonauts 2. Just not as much as I'd like, but if you include PS4 back compatibility you have a positively gargantuan library representing every genre and taste. We are absolutely spoiled this gen.
Re: Talking Point: As PS5 Turns 3, How Are You Feeling About It?
@Shaunholio
My feeling is there aren't many games that have that "wow" factor in terms of purely graphics, although I'd nominate Ratchet and Clank and the Demon's Souls remake as being among the prettiest games I've ever seen on any system.
I want to see the cross gen period ended so we can get something that really pushes the needle forward like Uncharted did for the PS3 generation.
All these conversations about a PS5 Pro are pretty presumptuous to me, considering it seems they haven't even unlocked the potential of the base model system yet.
Re: Talking Point: As PS5 Turns 3, How Are You Feeling About It?
First console was the PS1 and owned all the Sony systems since. I've never enjoyed a console as much as I have the PS5. Demon's Souls out of the gate was nuts.
If anything, with the advent of services like PS Plus, I feel pretty paralyzed by choice more than anything. Demon's Souls, Ratchet and Clank, Returnal, Horizon, Gran Turismo 7, God of War Ragnarok... It's been a ride.
Could go on about the amazing third party stuff. Final Fantasy XVI, Elden Ring, Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Cyberpunk 2077 2.0, and so much more. Then all the awesome indie titles like Inscryption, Cult of the Lamb, Sea of Stars, Stray, etc... it's just sort of mind boggling.
Cross gen lasted way too long for my liking though and slowed progress down.
Re: Embracer COO Announces Departure Following 'Rough' Year for Company
@Exerion76
Sir, this is a Burger King.
Re: Solid Snake Voice Actor David Hayter Fronts New Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Promo
@InsaneWade
Agreed MGSV was the weakest story-wise of the main entries and didn't care for it in that respect, and having Hayter in the role wouldn't have changed a whole lot considering Big Boss doesn't really have too many speaking lines. I thought this change in particular (how quiet he is compared to previous games) is a valid and pretty clever reference to the plot twist other commenters have mentioned.
I have a weird cognitive dissonance where Hideo Kojima made my favorite game of all time, but I'm not a fan of his newer stuff. He kind of became aimless later on, which became apparent in MGSV. The themes in V (vocal cord parasites, connection between language, identity, and culture) are rich topics, which were so undercooked compared to the previous razor-focused themes of past entries. It was a very rambling, almost college-freshman-research-paper level attempt at the subjects. He didn't seem super motivated to actually explore the themes beyond a superficial level. I think you are right, he didn't want to work on the series anymore but Konami wouldn't let him pursue other stuff, and it showed. In his defense he was trying to move on from the series since MGS2. I can understand wanting to move on.
What I can't understand is his apparent disdain for Hayter. Legitimately nice, down to earth guy. I've heard it said Kojima never liked Hayter's gravelly voice direction he lent to Solid Snake / Big Boss character. All I'm saying is it must have REALLY steamed Kojima that Hayter became more synonymous and iconic to the series than Kojima himself. A guy with an ego like that, it's got to hurt a bit.
I would hazard a guess if Kojima had a more focused vision for MGSV, ran it with a tighter budget, kept Hayter in, re-worked the boss fights, had a better and more distinctive antagonist, and nailed down the themes more, he would still have a place at Konami regardless of what their exact disagreements were.
And regarding Death Stranding, I don't subscribe to the whole this is actually a walking simulator complaint. And like MGSV, I don't think it's a bad game overall - it just isn't great. Main complaint against Death Stranding is the same I had with MGSV, that being it doesn't really explore the themes it tries to very well, or tries to do to many at once. Bites off more than it can chew with its story. Kojima's story telling edge has dulled for me personally, and that was his X Factor back in the day. Compare Death Stranding's story themes with how focused MGS1's messaging on nuclear deterrence and proliferation was. His thematic story telling lost a lot of its coherency and focus over time. His stuff seems pretty shallow now in comparison.
P.T. was amazing and I really regret we couldn't get a chance to see what Kojima could do if given free reign in the horror genre.
Anyways, I guess I just rambled a lot to say I agree with all your points haha. As a lifelong fan of MGS and for all parties involved - I am glad Kojima has moved on. He was making so many missteps with the MGS series by the time he left, I think it was clear it was past due.
Re: Solid Snake Voice Actor David Hayter Fronts New Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Promo
@Ocelot
No, the reasoning for casting Sutherland as 'Venom Snake' had nothing to do with the plot twist you are referring to.
We know this is true because they kept the Japanese voice actor the same for MGSV as all the previous games. Pretty much debunks that theory.
The real reason Hideo Kojima cast Sutherland isn't well understood by really anyone besides I guess Kojima. It was the worst creative decision he ever made. Some say he really just wanted to work with Sutherland, as he has long had a sort of fanboyish relationship with western cinema and TV and wanted to work with a "big name", so to speak.
Whatever his reason, it's well documented Kojima basically stone walled David Hayter prior to MGSV's release. Hayter was never contacted by the studio or Kojima. Never given so much as a thank you, according to Hayter himself. Never notified he wouldn't be voice acting Snake in MGSV. Arguably THE most iconic voice actor in the history of the medium, stonewalled.
Konami is guilty of plenty of bad calls, but firing Kojima was never one of them. Kojima is a narcissistic, arrogant jerk and it's really apparent from his many interviews. Most recent of a dozen examples being him blaming Death Stranding's less than stellar critical reception on the audience just not getting it.
Doesn't change the fact he made some pretty good games though (didn't care for Death Stranding in the slightest, but nobody can deny MGS1 and 3 are gold). He just went a bit off his rocker later on. Think he bought too much into his own "I'm a genius / auteur" narrative the industry was constantly spinning around him.
I mean, I was - literally - laughing at the fact Kojima's name scrolls across the screen like 15 times before each and every main story mission while playing MGSV. It's ridiculous.
Re: Alan Wake 2 Devs Took Inspiration from Resident Evil, Wants Players to Feel 'More Vulnerable'
So have they backtracked on the digital only release thing yet? I'll buy it if it releases in a physical edition, otherwise they don't get a single cent. Could have had my $60-70 from me, day one.
I get it, I'm just one guy... Too attached to physical, move on with the times, yadda yadda. But hey, that's 70 bucks they could have gotten but now won't. Money is money, just release a digital version and a physical edition at 10 bucks more. Easy. But they hesitate because the reasoning they provided for going all digital is an outright, verifiable, and completely transparent lie. It is in fact a DRM measure hiding in plain sight under the thinnest of pretexts.
Wish we had good enough data to figure out how much money they lose on physical reselling and compare that to the 15-25%(?) of people who just won't touch this until a massively steep discount hits.
Re: Poll: Will You Be Muting Your PS5's Beep?
The beep is life. The beep is the only thing that prevents me from falling into the abyss. The all-consuming power of the beep helps me keep my chakra centered and is also known to have a positive influence on energy levels and overall health, based on peer-reviewed studies.
Re: Gollum Dev Daedalic Entertainment to Focus on Publishing After Disastrous Launch
Shame because I feel like these medium budget AA games are the number one casualty of the current era of video game development. Too bad this one couldn't nail it.
Ever since this game was announced, people have been asking 'Why Gollum'. And as a massive lifelong LOTR fan and reader, I can't help but agree the whole premise was questionable from the beginning. Literally hundreds of characters from the lore I'd put in front of Gollum to feature in a game.
Re: Alan Wake 2's Digital-Only Release Allows for a More Polished Game, Says Remedy
Yeah, this stands up to scrutiny
Re: Microsoft's Potential Game Plan in 2020: 'Spend Sony Out of Business'
@themightyant
You are preaching to the choir here. Apparently they used to eat white rice and cold meat for breakfast until the 1920s, which I deem to be a crime against humanity.
Re: Microsoft's Potential Game Plan in 2020: 'Spend Sony Out of Business'
@Shepherd_Tallon
I hadn't heard that. Tying women smoking to equality and the women's suffrage movement... That's pure, diabolical genius. Guy was dangerous.
Re: Microsoft's Potential Game Plan in 2020: 'Spend Sony Out of Business'
@Shepherd_Tallon
It talks about how in the early 1900s, it would have been really odd and bizarre to eat eggs and bacon for breakfast. Nowadays, it's normal. That's because Bernays, in the employ of companies that wanted to sell more eggs and bacon, used his new marketing tactics to normalize it. And obviously succeeded.
Poof, now nobody remembers or knows you would have been thought of as a crazy person to eat eggs for breakfast back then. We are all sheep apparently able to be guided this way or that fairly easily it seems!
Re: Microsoft's Potential Game Plan in 2020: 'Spend Sony Out of Business'
@Shepherd_Tallon
Did you ever read 'Bernays and Breakfast'? Summarizes how susceptible people are to marketing, even (or especially) the savvy customers who think they are immune to it. Yeah, I definitely see some parallels.
Re: Microsoft's Potential Game Plan in 2020: 'Spend Sony Out of Business'
I get so much conflicting information on this acquisition thing, which is frustrating because I need to know which Fortune 500 company I should swear my undying allegiance to.
Re: Microsoft's Potential Game Plan in 2020: 'Spend Sony Out of Business'
This whole thing has descended into a trailer trash race to the bottom for all involved parties... And I'm here for it.
Re: First Final Fantasy 16 Review Awards a Near-Perfect Score
Back in the good old days, a Famitsu 40/40 score was a big freakin' deal. Really something to write home to your mom about.
Nowadays... let's just say their editorial standards have slipped.
Re: 27 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games Confirmed for Big June Update
I would just echo the others on here to highly recommend Inscryption.
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Will Bury Krypt System for Unlocks, Replacement Teased for PS5 Release
Can't wait for the new 'Kredit Kard' unlock system. It's gonna be big.
Re: In a Shock Twist, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Will Have Music on PS5
These sly devils are building up to their FF7 Rebirth NFT announcement, I know it. This is some 5D chess they are playing on us, and we are not ready.
Re: The Next Capcom Showcase Airs Next Week
Capcom is the only mega publisher I still respect or haven't had some huge mis-step in the last 5 years. Seems like all the other big publishers - Ubisoft, Bethesda, Konami, SquareEnix, Blizzard, Activision, EA, TakeTwo - have been in a race to the bottom for years. They call them Capgod for a reason.
Looking forward to their showcase. RE Code Veronica Remake please and thanks.
Re: Alan Wake 2 Is a Digital-Only Release, $60 on PS5
I know digital is the future, but won't be buying. Also I find the reasoning disingenuous; if they want to save money or "keep costs down", they could just charge 10 more dollars or euros for the physical edition. I've been arguing digital copies should be around 10 bucks cheaper compared to physical for years now anyways. It's always been pure greed that they charge the same price for digital copies while saving money on manufacturing and distribution. I've heard retailers demand price parity but that doesn't stand up to scrutiny really.
All those people saying nobody cares about physical games anymore, remember about 30% of sales for a given release are still physical. That's a heck of a lot of sales to leave on the table.
I imagine digital sales share will plateau around 85% with the remaining 15% of holdouts refusing to ever buy digital. It will always be a substantial piece of the sales pie. This is ridiculous and I don't get it. Unless - as I suspect - this is just a glorified DRM measure under the guise of cutting costs. Which it is Epic, so yeah...