Voices sound alright. Victor Ireland needs to get off his high horse already and release the localization rights. I love that guy for his work at Working Designs but he sounds like a prickly SOB.
I'll agree the price of the console doesn't seem too nuts. Nintendo plays by its own special rules on pricing, they will never sell them at a loss like the other manufacturers. That's what you call Nintendo privilege. It's fine, it's new(ish) tech, the new shiny thing.
That Mario Kart game price though. Oof. $90+ in Europe? That won't fly (or should I say drive?) very far. I know Nintendo has a large dedicated, longtime user base, but at the end of the day it's a console parents buy for their kids for Christmas, a casual machine. It can't escape that rep as the family friendly option. Mom is gonna walk right on by a $90 game on the shelf come the holidays.
I'm like a lot of you guys, I primarily play on PS5 and use a Switch as a secondary console for the exclusives and portability.
If they are gonna try to angle this thing as "Hey now it gets multiplatform games day and date, way cool!", it'll be interesting to see how that goes.
Like Sammy said, everyone who was into Hitman... already played Hitman years ago at a fidelity higher than this will offer. Needs more first party exclusives, I'm sure they will come in time. This may be a wait 2-3 years for the library to develop situation for me personally.
I am so here for the mass revolt against and implosion of live service games across the industry. Is it Schadenfreude? Probably. Story after story of companies losing boatloads of money chasing GTA success make me happy - they sold out, went for the easy money and lost so, so big. As is absolutely deserved.
A business that chases trends without original ideas deserves the axe. Put all the CEOs who went this direction on the metaphorical firing line. Which is kinda what's been happening lately.
Just two years ago we were talking about SquareEnix and Ubisoft putting NFTs in their games, the height of insanity imo. So many changes in the last two years.
I think the article is more referring to third party publishers like Capcom, Sega, and Namco than Playstation Studios, in terms of software. A lot of people here would argue Playstation haven't exactly been killing it lately - maybe precisely because of how westernized they have become. They've hardly released much that isn't a port in the last two years. Their standout title, Astro Bot, is from one of their few remaining Japanese studios.
Their decision to chase live service and resulting software drought - which many, many people here predicted would happen - is in my view a very Americanized business culture of chasing trends instead of setting them. A very Jim Ryan-esque ethos was at play there.
And yes, I am firmly in the 'Playstation has lost its way' camp. But they will keep making bank.
Funny Japan reeaaally struggled during the PS3 era. Like had a full on identity crisis and even tentpole mainstays like Final Fantasy were faltering with middling releases - even Capcom had their dark days back then, with a high ratio of misses. While the west was crushing it and setting the pace, constantly.
Now, it's looking like a 180 reversal. It's the east's time to shine again. You love to see it.
Interesting. I've always heard the English language is one of the most complex and difficult languages to learn because the emphasis changes the meaning of the sentence or word, as opposed to say Japanese or Arabic where you don't emphasize any syllables, you just pronounce it as it's written.
Fans have been arguing how to pronounce 'Suikoden' correctly for years. I pronounced it SHIH-KOH-DEN growing up but since it's Japanese it's actually pronounced precisely how it's written - so SOOH-EEH-KOH-DIN, with no emphasis on any syllable. Blew my mind.
This is a common boogeyman in collector circles. I'll just say, as someone who owns over 1600 disc-based titles - some older than 30 years - I have never, ever seen or experienced "disc rot". I restore the games myself as a hobby and I'm looking at discs constantly.
I'm sure it's real (everything dies) but waaaay overblown. I'm willing to bet many tens of thousands of dollars worth of retro games it is overstated.
No physical release, no problem. Because it's 100%, unequivocally a no buy. I have an 800+ backlog of games, I'm not the target market for this anyways.
Well, well, well. I hate to be this guy (actually no, I don't), but... called it. The pro model removed a base feature (the disc drive) and charged quite a large amount for that privilege. That coincided with a scalping debacle with the disc drive units sold separately.
I'm doubling down on my earlier bet this won't move anything close to the PS4 Pro, which itself didn't exactly burst doors down in the sales department.
Yeah saw standard out of stock in US, just went for the deluxe instead. Preorders sold out on Limited Run as well which doesn't usually happen on there for an unnumbered distribution release, so seems a lot of demand for this one.
That can't be 100% confirmed until the game actually releases. But for remasters like this, the answer is 99% chance it will be.
Very few PS5 games are not playable offline from the disc - no downloads required. In fact, I only know of one retro remaster ever released that wasn't complete on disc (Spyro Trilogy on PS4), and that was later fixed in a sneaky re-release.
☝️ Database of PS5 games requiring a download to play from a physical disc. Right now, 50 PS5 games in the database (11%) are listed as requiring a download to play - including the ones you would expect, like Concord and Call of Duty and some you wouldn't expect, like Balatro.
Sooooo can everyone in the comments stop saying the discs are just digital licenses or digital keys to download the game in the comments now? No? Okay then.
Most games (89%) are playable off the disc, without internet.
Yeah thank heavens for homebrew. Some of those games lost to time are really the best on the system. Better than the AAA titles is my hot take, which haven't aged as well as the indie gems. Earthworm Jim HD, let's freaking go.
I wish it would let me post a link without getting my comment thrown out. There is a website which tracks all delisted games in each region. In my region (US) it's up to 403 delisted games, whether that's big AA-AAA titles or smaller download only stuff. The number increases every time I check it and keeps going up.
Some noteworthy games which were delisted in 2024 are Battlefield 3 / 4 / Hardline and LittleBigPlanet 3. Not anything I'm personally interested in, but still.
I guess my point is while they kept the PS3 servers running, they are culling the games library. And the games disappear almost always with no warning. Some being download only games never released physically, which are now just lost forever (Soul Calibur II HD, The Simpsons Arcade, Afterburner Climax). And in rarer and disappointing cases, delisting physically released games that are still trapped on PS3 / 360 consoles. There are a surprising amount of games marooned on PS3 which have never been ported forward. I guess Battlefield 3 just joined that list, I wasn't even aware until I looked it up to respond to this. It's a real shame.
I guess I'm getting off topic but yeah, they have been slowly shutting everything down it seems. Not sure what the Asia / UK / Japanese stores look like on that front but assume it's similar. Silver lining is if you previously bought the games you can still download them from your library, for the time being.
That is a strictly online only game that has since been executed by the Sony Gods. My PS2 copy of Final Fantasy XI isn't seeing much play time either now that you mention it.
I mean with extreme cases like Cyberpunk 2077, garbage is right. But like in the good old PS1 and PS2 days, we used to play around the glitches and usually wasn't that big a deal. You got what you got on the disc.
The completely unplayable games like Cyberpunk are actually pretty few and far between. You are getting a rougher version - sometimes a little rougher, sometimes a lot, but it's something is what I'm saying.
I'd just point to what's happening to PS3 games on PSN for anyone paying attention. They are still routinely delisting PS3 games on there, as in taking them off the store. Have been for quite awhile. The price of physical copies of said game then shoots through the roof because there is no alternate way to play it outside of jailbreaking, etc.
It's up to personal taste at the end of the day. I'm sure the Gen Z Fortnite crowd isn't really too concerned about if it's playable in 10-20 years. They'll be playing the next big thing. But me, I like old games. I think they are cool and fun, warts and all.
You get the full game on the disc in almost all cases. Sure a pre-patched version, but a playable version nonetheless.
With digital, servers go out (like out permanently I mean), you can play nothing. With physical, you get at least an "early" version of the game. Which would you prefer? Something or... nothing? The choice seems so simple to me. Resell value, tradeable w/ friends, often cheaper depending on when you buy.
But yes, your copy of Black Ops 6 is a glorified drink coaster. Also worth mentioning some limited run companies are releasing versions of games with all patches and DLC on disc.
As far as I'm aware, the doomsday CMOS clock battery issue is still alive and well on the PS4. Meaning, if your CMOS battery in your PS4 dies after the servers stop running, you can't play even physical games I believe.
It's been awhile since I read about it, and the same issue has been patched on PS3 I believe, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong about this. But something to be aware of, because the CMOS clock batteries do need to be replaced every 5-10 years.
Edit: Nevermind, the PS4 issue was patched, I actually have it backwards. The PS3 still needs a one time server authentication after replacing the CMOS battery. Which is even more concerning considering I feel like the PS3 server days are numbered.
I play RPGs to 100% completion. I also work a lot. So months is pretty common for me.
Just platinumed Final Fantasy Rebirth playing off and on for the last year. As another commenter mentioned, don't go for the platinum on this one. The epitome of a PS3 era trophy list, from back in the days when getting trophies was HARD. Blows Dark Souls out of the water in terms of difficulty.
I actually avoid or limit how many open world type games, especially RPGs, I play for this exact reason. Witcher 3 100% took me 3 full years at around 350 hours.
I also avoid certain franchises, like the Persona series, that exist only to torture completionists.
I'll get to Veilguard eventually, just have a huge backlog. It sucks they went with a young adults Disney tone for the new game, because Dragon Age lore might be the most interesting of any series, ever, to me. And part of the allure is just how extremely brutally dark it was. Like cosmic horror levels of death and destruction.
Just a lot of missed opportunities. Tevinter Imperium sections of the game aren't fleshed out, the Blight enemies look like Scooby Doo villains now, the dialogue writing is mediocre to outright awful depending on who you ask. Also homogenizing and simplifying the RPG elements isn't cool with me. Can't directly control your teammates. Lack of party control didn't sit right with me for FFXV and it doesn't for this game either. It all screams they were trying to appeal to a younger audience and forgot the original fans, from the ground up.
I'll still play it eventually to see what they did with the lore but I'm not rushing to go buy it. Or maybe I'll just replay Origins.
PlayStation players subsidizing GamePass. Not to get all console war-y about it but PlayStation customers still actually pay for their games. I was looking at the Xbox physical game sales and it's virtually non-existent at this point.
It's a win-win for everyone, both Xbox and PlayStation customers. PlayStation players get more choice and Microsoft gets another revenue stream to keep GamePass solvent so they can keep their digital rental service going for people that go for that. I don't see an obvious downside.
I guess the only big one is I still believe exclusives establish your brand and draw people in to your ecosystem, and this might work against that. But I guess the common wisdom is exclusives don't matter anymore, it's all about services now, if you listen to the MSoft executives. And when have they ever been wrong?
The players don't like him. Now the shareholders don't like him either. He had his chance and bet it all big on live service. It was a gamble I'm sure he was aware, turns out he bet red and it came up black. This man lost the company an ungodly amount of money.
Whether he is a net benefit or liability for the company over his entire career is a question for the philosophers. I'm surprised he wasn't let go. And by let go, I mean given a golden parachute to comfortably land a CEO spot at some mid tier tech company, Don Matrick style.
CEOs are by their nature bold decision makers and risk takers (and frequently display psychopathic tendencies, but I digress). It turns out the risk always materializes over a long enough timeline.
With this decision I feel the Jim Ryan era of PlayStation, which I disliked for so many different reasons, is finally well and truly over.
One little thought I'd add is games back then - even the best selling ones - didn't move the numbers they do today. 5 million units for a triple A game was an amazing success in the Baldur's Gate 2 days. Now, it's a common sales target for AAA titles.
Bigger market (although it has since stagnated) could explain the increasing sales expectations. 1.5 million today for an around 10-year dev cycle AAA household brand name like Dragon Age with I'm sure an insane marketing budget probably isn't what they were hoping for.
It's alright though, EA will make the money back easily with ultimate team card pack microtransactions.
Haven't played Veilguard yet, and FIFA can suck it.
The writing was on the wall. I think most people with any real familiarity with this industry knew. If the publisher is quiet about sales, it is usually underperforming. If the publisher says no DLC planned, that's not a good sign either. They announced that right near release. Why? Because they have the preorder numbers.They already knew.
The metadata and extrapolations you can make from third party websites like psnprofiles were pretty accurate for both Veilguard and Concord it turns out. It seems they can't really hide the sales numbers as well as they used to.
It kills me that everyone was pushing 'Veilguard is the best selling single player release on Steam' articles. Those were so transparently misleading as to be virtually false, as EA just began releasing their games on Steam.
I don't have a bone to pick with Bioware or this game. But video game journalism needs to step it up and stop doing this weird circle the wagon thing every time a game lands itself in the culture war debate. It discredits everyone.
And then you consider the (unsubstantiated but highly plausible) claims of access journalism EA engaged in when it released. Picking and choosing who to send codes to, I think they knew this game was gonna make the wrong kind of headlines. They had to know. Surely it was pegged as review bomb material from a mile away by anyone at EA who has been paying attention the last couple years. It lends credence to the selective distribution of review codes thing for me. It certainly tracks.
And all it took was one random YouTuber (SkillUp) to blow the lid off. What a world. If I want serious impressions of a game now, I go to YouTube and... that's not something I ever thought I'd say.
The one thing I'd say to temper this all is Dragon Age games tend to have a long sales tail, and I'd wager it doubles this number in the next 5-10 years. So don't sign Bioware's death warrant just yet. I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you did but there is hope is all I'm saying.
Multiply the market cap by 10 in five years huh? Forget about a thousand percent, if you can guarantee six percent increases in profit year over year, they will pay you tens of millions of dollars. Go apply!
Somebody please step into the console space to replace Microsoft and kick Sony's ever-loving teeth in for the neverending parade of errors and bad management this generation.
It's a race to the bottom for those two companies.
Probably the worst news I've heard this gen from Sony.
Why was BluePoint working on a live service title?! That's about as far off from their previous output as it gets.
They bailed on a MGS1 remake, a Bloodborne sequel, or any other IP... for a live service game. Let's get some exec heads rolling for this. BluePoint is a legendary developer, this is straight up disgraceful.
What a wasted generation. F grade Sony, your worst gen yet by far. Hulst, just leave.
Wow, 30 years. Makes you think. Been using PlayStation as my primary console since 1995.
Who would have thought the little gray "toy" with the funny shapes on its controller would be carrying the entire company today and have the left the legacy it did.
The memories playing with friends and family, some of whom aren't around anymore, that's for life. Really an amazing thing.
All that said, the real 30th anniversary for us in the West is next year 😆
Tenchu, Echo Night, Kuon, King's Field, Armored Core, Forever Kingdom, Eternal Ring... They've done a lot outside the Souls genre. Lot of stuff they could work on from the old AgeTec days.
You certainly won't be disappointed. No Man's Sky is a solid choice. Some other recommendations:
Horizon: Call of the Mountain (Honestly, this comes off as sort of a tech demo for the VR2, but it's a damn good tech demo and has decent gameplay and a solidly lengthy campaign. It's a solid one to start with because it utilizes the eye tracking and head vibration functions in clever ways.
Beat Sabre (Super addictive / immersive rhythm game, falls into the easy to pick up, tough to master category. Best rhythm game since Guitar Hero for my money.)
Pistol Whip (A more stylized, if slightly more shallow rhythm experience where you shoot guns at enemies to the rhythm of the music).
Gran Turismo 7 (Base game is of course solid, I consider VR to change the experience so significantly it should be considered a different game. It's a sim racer of course, so your mileage may vary with this one - pun intended).
Thumper (The devs call this a 'rhythm violence' game, and I think that sums it up well. Good for VR beginners as it's not as bad motion sickness wise. My personal favorite VR game of all time.)
The games below are great but I'd approach with caution if you are new to VR as you might develop motion sickness:
Pavlov (Online competitive team based shooter than priorities realism. You haven't played a FPS until you've had to manually pull back the charging handle between each mag reload. This shines in multiplayer so avoid if you prefer single player).
Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 2 (Ultimate "immersive" action game. Really, really fun. First game is also available - I'd probably start there.)
Resident Evil 8 Village / RE 4
Remake (The pinnacle of VR horror, which is one category that VR excels in.)
Comments 910
Re: Enjoy Pure PS1 Nostalgia with Lunar Remastered Collection's Story Trailer
Voices sound alright. Victor Ireland needs to get off his high horse already and release the localization rights. I love that guy for his work at Working Designs but he sounds like a prickly SOB.
Re: Reaction: Switch 2 Looks Solid But the Many PS5, PS4 Ports Won't Spook Sony Yet
@NotTelevision
I'll agree the price of the console doesn't seem too nuts. Nintendo plays by its own special rules on pricing, they will never sell them at a loss like the other manufacturers. That's what you call Nintendo privilege. It's fine, it's new(ish) tech, the new shiny thing.
That Mario Kart game price though. Oof. $90+ in Europe? That won't fly (or should I say drive?) very far. I know Nintendo has a large dedicated, longtime user base, but at the end of the day it's a console parents buy for their kids for Christmas, a casual machine. It can't escape that rep as the family friendly option. Mom is gonna walk right on by a $90 game on the shelf come the holidays.
Re: Reaction: Switch 2 Looks Solid But the Many PS5, PS4 Ports Won't Spook Sony Yet
I'm like a lot of you guys, I primarily play on PS5 and use a Switch as a secondary console for the exclusives and portability.
If they are gonna try to angle this thing as "Hey now it gets multiplatform games day and date, way cool!", it'll be interesting to see how that goes.
Like Sammy said, everyone who was into Hitman... already played Hitman years ago at a fidelity higher than this will offer. Needs more first party exclusives, I'm sure they will come in time. This may be a wait 2-3 years for the library to develop situation for me personally.
Re: The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077 Dev Commits to 'Cutting-Edge Single-Player' Games Amidst Live Service Madness
I am so here for the mass revolt against and implosion of live service games across the industry. Is it Schadenfreude? Probably. Story after story of companies losing boatloads of money chasing GTA success make me happy - they sold out, went for the easy money and lost so, so big. As is absolutely deserved.
A business that chases trends without original ideas deserves the axe. Put all the CEOs who went this direction on the metaphorical firing line. Which is kinda what's been happening lately.
Just two years ago we were talking about SquareEnix and Ubisoft putting NFTs in their games, the height of insanity imo. So many changes in the last two years.
Re: Japan's Game Industry on Impressive Rise as Western AAA Development Struggles
@Jimmer-jammer
I think the article is more referring to third party publishers like Capcom, Sega, and Namco than Playstation Studios, in terms of software. A lot of people here would argue Playstation haven't exactly been killing it lately - maybe precisely because of how westernized they have become. They've hardly released much that isn't a port in the last two years. Their standout title, Astro Bot, is from one of their few remaining Japanese studios.
Their decision to chase live service and resulting software drought - which many, many people here predicted would happen - is in my view a very Americanized business culture of chasing trends instead of setting them. A very Jim Ryan-esque ethos was at play there.
And yes, I am firmly in the 'Playstation has lost its way' camp. But they will keep making bank.
Re: Japan's Game Industry on Impressive Rise as Western AAA Development Struggles
Funny Japan reeaaally struggled during the PS3 era. Like had a full on identity crisis and even tentpole mainstays like Final Fantasy were faltering with middling releases - even Capcom had their dark days back then, with a high ratio of misses. While the west was crushing it and setting the pace, constantly.
Now, it's looking like a 180 reversal. It's the east's time to shine again. You love to see it.
Re: Random: You've Been Pronouncing Balatro Wrong (Probably)
Interesting. I've always heard the English language is one of the most complex and difficult languages to learn because the emphasis changes the meaning of the sentence or word, as opposed to say Japanese or Arabic where you don't emphasize any syllables, you just pronounce it as it's written.
Fans have been arguing how to pronounce 'Suikoden' correctly for years. I pronounced it SHIH-KOH-DEN growing up but since it's Japanese it's actually pronounced precisely how it's written - so SOOH-EEH-KOH-DIN, with no emphasis on any syllable. Blew my mind.
Language is interesting.
Re: Disc Rot Already Afflicts Your Physical Game Collection
This is a common boogeyman in collector circles. I'll just say, as someone who owns over 1600 disc-based titles - some older than 30 years - I have never, ever seen or experienced "disc rot". I restore the games myself as a hobby and I'm looking at discs constantly.
I'm sure it's real (everything dies) but waaaay overblown. I'm willing to bet many tens of thousands of dollars worth of retro games it is overstated.
Re: Forza Horizon 5 Will Require a Microsoft Account to Play on PS5, Raising Preservation Problems
Yeah no. I'm good Microsoft.
No physical release, no problem. Because it's 100%, unequivocally a no buy. I have an 800+ backlog of games, I'm not the target market for this anyways.
Re: Fans Are Fuming Warner Bros Patented the Nemesis System But Isn't Using It
I'm no patent law expert, but this patent should never have been allowed. Way too broad a concept.
Nintendo level hostile IP overreach. Can't decide which is more dumb, this or Nintendo trademarking "It's on like donkey kong".
Re: Warner Bros Games Closes Multiple Studios, Wonder Woman Cancelled
Not too psyched about what Mortal Kombat has become under WB.
Also there goes the Nemesis system concept WB somehow managed to patent... now no games can use the idea.
Re: Sony's Pricey PS5 Pro Is Now Being Outpaced by PS4 Pro Launch Aligned in the US
Well, well, well. I hate to be this guy (actually no, I don't), but... called it. The pro model removed a base feature (the disc drive) and charged quite a large amount for that privilege. That coincided with a scalping debacle with the disc drive units sold separately.
I'm doubling down on my earlier bet this won't move anything close to the PS4 Pro, which itself didn't exactly burst doors down in the sales department.
Ohhhh Sony.
Re: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Gets Physical PS5 Editions in June, Pre-Orders Live Now
@IntrepidWombat
Yeah saw standard out of stock in US, just went for the deluxe instead. Preorders sold out on Limited Run as well which doesn't usually happen on there for an unnumbered distribution release, so seems a lot of demand for this one.
Re: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Gets Physical PS5 Editions in June, Pre-Orders Live Now
@Bramble
doesitplay.org
That can't be 100% confirmed until the game actually releases. But for remasters like this, the answer is 99% chance it will be.
Very few PS5 games are not playable offline from the disc - no downloads required. In fact, I only know of one retro remaster ever released that wasn't complete on disc (Spyro Trilogy on PS4), and that was later fixed in a sneaky re-release.
I really wouldn't worry.
Re: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Gets Physical PS5 Editions in June, Pre-Orders Live Now
Looks like out of stock for the standard PS5 edition already? 🤔
Re: Embattled US Retailer Trolls Customers for Picking Digital During PSN Outage on PS5, PS4
doesitplay.org
☝️ Database of PS5 games requiring a download to play from a physical disc. Right now, 50 PS5 games in the database (11%) are listed as requiring a download to play - including the ones you would expect, like Concord and Call of Duty and some you wouldn't expect, like Balatro.
Sooooo can everyone in the comments stop saying the discs are just digital licenses or digital keys to download the game in the comments now? No? Okay then.
Most games (89%) are playable off the disc, without internet.
Re: Embattled US Retailer Trolls Customers for Picking Digital During PSN Outage on PS5, PS4
@Lanmanna
Yeah thank heavens for homebrew. Some of those games lost to time are really the best on the system. Better than the AAA titles is my hot take, which haven't aged as well as the indie gems. Earthworm Jim HD, let's freaking go.
Re: Sony Quietly Pulls 'Eslop' Titles in Face of Mounting Pressure
The worst aspect of trophy hunting has been the proliferation of these games. Glad to see it's being noticed somewhat.
Re: Embattled US Retailer Trolls Customers for Picking Digital During PSN Outage on PS5, PS4
@Aladin_Run
Grass is overrated.
Re: Embattled US Retailer Trolls Customers for Picking Digital During PSN Outage on PS5, PS4
@PuppetMaster
I wish it would let me post a link without getting my comment thrown out. There is a website which tracks all delisted games in each region. In my region (US) it's up to 403 delisted games, whether that's big AA-AAA titles or smaller download only stuff. The number increases every time I check it and keeps going up.
Some noteworthy games which were delisted in 2024 are Battlefield 3 / 4 / Hardline and LittleBigPlanet 3. Not anything I'm personally interested in, but still.
I guess my point is while they kept the PS3 servers running, they are culling the games library. And the games disappear almost always with no warning. Some being download only games never released physically, which are now just lost forever (Soul Calibur II HD, The Simpsons Arcade, Afterburner Climax). And in rarer and disappointing cases, delisting physically released games that are still trapped on PS3 / 360 consoles. There are a surprising amount of games marooned on PS3 which have never been ported forward. I guess Battlefield 3 just joined that list, I wasn't even aware until I looked it up to respond to this. It's a real shame.
I guess I'm getting off topic but yeah, they have been slowly shutting everything down it seems. Not sure what the Asia / UK / Japanese stores look like on that front but assume it's similar. Silver lining is if you previously bought the games you can still download them from your library, for the time being.
Re: Embattled US Retailer Trolls Customers for Picking Digital During PSN Outage on PS5, PS4
@ATaco
That is a strictly online only game that has since been executed by the Sony Gods. My PS2 copy of Final Fantasy XI isn't seeing much play time either now that you mention it.
Re: Embattled US Retailer Trolls Customers for Picking Digital During PSN Outage on PS5, PS4
@Cornpop76
I mean with extreme cases like Cyberpunk 2077, garbage is right. But like in the good old PS1 and PS2 days, we used to play around the glitches and usually wasn't that big a deal. You got what you got on the disc.
The completely unplayable games like Cyberpunk are actually pretty few and far between. You are getting a rougher version - sometimes a little rougher, sometimes a lot, but it's something is what I'm saying.
I'd just point to what's happening to PS3 games on PSN for anyone paying attention. They are still routinely delisting PS3 games on there, as in taking them off the store. Have been for quite awhile. The price of physical copies of said game then shoots through the roof because there is no alternate way to play it outside of jailbreaking, etc.
It's up to personal taste at the end of the day. I'm sure the Gen Z Fortnite crowd isn't really too concerned about if it's playable in 10-20 years. They'll be playing the next big thing. But me, I like old games. I think they are cool and fun, warts and all.
Re: Embattled US Retailer Trolls Customers for Picking Digital During PSN Outage on PS5, PS4
You get the full game on the disc in almost all cases. Sure a pre-patched version, but a playable version nonetheless.
With digital, servers go out (like out permanently I mean), you can play nothing. With physical, you get at least an "early" version of the game. Which would you prefer? Something or... nothing? The choice seems so simple to me. Resell value, tradeable w/ friends, often cheaper depending on when you buy.
But yes, your copy of Black Ops 6 is a glorified drink coaster. Also worth mentioning some limited run companies are releasing versions of games with all patches and DLC on disc.
Re: PSN Downtime Raises Fresh Questions About PS5's Future Functionality
@Shepherd_Tallon
Thanks for the correction! I think I had it backwards, it's the PS3 that still has this issue right? Or was that fixed too? That would be good news.
Re: PSN Downtime Raises Fresh Questions About PS5's Future Functionality
As far as I'm aware, the doomsday CMOS clock battery issue is still alive and well on the PS4. Meaning, if your CMOS battery in your PS4 dies after the servers stop running, you can't play even physical games I believe.
It's been awhile since I read about it, and the same issue has been patched on PS3 I believe, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong about this. But something to be aware of, because the CMOS clock batteries do need to be replaced every 5-10 years.
Edit: Nevermind, the PS4 issue was patched, I actually have it backwards. The PS3 still needs a one time server authentication after replacing the CMOS battery. Which is even more concerning considering I feel like the PS3 server days are numbered.
Re: Wonder Woman Game in Turmoil, Is Still 'Years Away from Release', New Report Claims
Are these the people that trademarked the "Nemesis System"? I'll pass.
Re: Rocksteady Lining Up New Single Player Batman Game After Suicide Squad Disaster, It's Claimed
The Rocksteady ship has sailed for me. WB corrupts everything it touches.
Re: Poll: How Long Does It Take You to Beat a Big RPG?
I play RPGs to 100% completion. I also work a lot. So months is pretty common for me.
Just platinumed Final Fantasy Rebirth playing off and on for the last year. As another commenter mentioned, don't go for the platinum on this one. The epitome of a PS3 era trophy list, from back in the days when getting trophies was HARD. Blows Dark Souls out of the water in terms of difficulty.
I actually avoid or limit how many open world type games, especially RPGs, I play for this exact reason. Witcher 3 100% took me 3 full years at around 350 hours.
I also avoid certain franchises, like the Persona series, that exist only to torture completionists.
Re: Browse a Colossal Library of Classic US Video Game Magazines Now
So cool. They have 130 issues of PSM magazine. I know what I'm doing tonight.
Re: BioWare Downsizing as It Focuses on Next Mass Effect, Some Staff Moved to Other EA Teams
I'll get to Veilguard eventually, just have a huge backlog. It sucks they went with a young adults Disney tone for the new game, because Dragon Age lore might be the most interesting of any series, ever, to me. And part of the allure is just how extremely brutally dark it was. Like cosmic horror levels of death and destruction.
Just a lot of missed opportunities. Tevinter Imperium sections of the game aren't fleshed out, the Blight enemies look like Scooby Doo villains now, the dialogue writing is mediocre to outright awful depending on who you ask. Also homogenizing and simplifying the RPG elements isn't cool with me. Can't directly control your teammates. Lack of party control didn't sit right with me for FFXV and it doesn't for this game either. It all screams they were trying to appeal to a younger audience and forgot the original fans, from the ground up.
I'll still play it eventually to see what they did with the lore but I'm not rushing to go buy it. Or maybe I'll just replay Origins.
Re: Xbox Was December's Biggest Publisher, and 64% of Its Sales Were on PS5, PS4
PlayStation players subsidizing GamePass. Not to get all console war-y about it but PlayStation customers still actually pay for their games. I was looking at the Xbox physical game sales and it's virtually non-existent at this point.
It's a win-win for everyone, both Xbox and PlayStation customers. PlayStation players get more choice and Microsoft gets another revenue stream to keep GamePass solvent so they can keep their digital rental service going for people that go for that. I don't see an obvious downside.
I guess the only big one is I still believe exclusives establish your brand and draw people in to your ecosystem, and this might work against that. But I guess the common wisdom is exclusives don't matter anymore, it's all about services now, if you listen to the MSoft executives. And when have they ever been wrong?
Re: Sony's Stocks Fly As Market Responds to New Corporate Hierarchy
The players don't like him. Now the shareholders don't like him either. He had his chance and bet it all big on live service. It was a gamble I'm sure he was aware, turns out he bet red and it came up black. This man lost the company an ungodly amount of money.
Whether he is a net benefit or liability for the company over his entire career is a question for the philosophers. I'm surprised he wasn't let go. And by let go, I mean given a golden parachute to comfortably land a CEO spot at some mid tier tech company, Don Matrick style.
CEOs are by their nature bold decision makers and risk takers (and frequently display psychopathic tendencies, but I digress). It turns out the risk always materializes over a long enough timeline.
With this decision I feel the Jim Ryan era of PlayStation, which I disliked for so many different reasons, is finally well and truly over.
Re: Former Rockstar Animator Doubtful GTA 6 Will Run at 60fps on PS5
Former animator at Rockstar.
Okay.
Re: Silent Hill 2 Has Been Massively Successful on PS5, PC
Really an amazing remake. Bloober really outdid themselves.
Re: Hermen Hulst No Longer PlayStation Co-CEO, Still in Charge of First-Party
So a demotion for Hulst and a (sort of) promotion for Nishino, and the CFO moves up.
Good. I imagine Hulst is feeling grateful to just keep his employment there. Cleaning house.
Re: Dragon Age: The Veilguard, FC 25 Underperform, Force EA to Lower Financial Forecast
@Wiceheid
I'll check out Jade Empire.
One little thought I'd add is games back then - even the best selling ones - didn't move the numbers they do today. 5 million units for a triple A game was an amazing success in the Baldur's Gate 2 days. Now, it's a common sales target for AAA titles.
Bigger market (although it has since stagnated) could explain the increasing sales expectations. 1.5 million today for an around 10-year dev cycle AAA household brand name like Dragon Age with I'm sure an insane marketing budget probably isn't what they were hoping for.
It's alright though, EA will make the money back easily with ultimate team card pack microtransactions.
Re: Dragon Age: The Veilguard, FC 25 Underperform, Force EA to Lower Financial Forecast
Haven't played Veilguard yet, and FIFA can suck it.
The writing was on the wall. I think most people with any real familiarity with this industry knew. If the publisher is quiet about sales, it is usually underperforming. If the publisher says no DLC planned, that's not a good sign either. They announced that right near release. Why? Because they have the preorder numbers.They already knew.
The metadata and extrapolations you can make from third party websites like psnprofiles were pretty accurate for both Veilguard and Concord it turns out. It seems they can't really hide the sales numbers as well as they used to.
It kills me that everyone was pushing 'Veilguard is the best selling single player release on Steam' articles. Those were so transparently misleading as to be virtually false, as EA just began releasing their games on Steam.
I don't have a bone to pick with Bioware or this game. But video game journalism needs to step it up and stop doing this weird circle the wagon thing every time a game lands itself in the culture war debate. It discredits everyone.
And then you consider the (unsubstantiated but highly plausible) claims of access journalism EA engaged in when it released. Picking and choosing who to send codes to, I think they knew this game was gonna make the wrong kind of headlines. They had to know. Surely it was pegged as review bomb material from a mile away by anyone at EA who has been paying attention the last couple years. It lends credence to the selective distribution of review codes thing for me. It certainly tracks.
And all it took was one random YouTuber (SkillUp) to blow the lid off. What a world. If I want serious impressions of a game now, I go to YouTube and... that's not something I ever thought I'd say.
The one thing I'd say to temper this all is Dragon Age games tend to have a long sales tail, and I'd wager it doubles this number in the next 5-10 years. So don't sign Bioware's death warrant just yet. I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you did but there is hope is all I'm saying.
Re: Shuhei Yoshida on PSVR2: 'I'm Sorry'
@JAMes-BroWWWn
Multiply the market cap by 10 in five years huh? Forget about a thousand percent, if you can guarantee six percent increases in profit year over year, they will pay you tens of millions of dollars. Go apply!
Re: Switch 2 Reveal Indirectly Adds Credence to Halo PS5 Rumours
Halo on a Sony console was not something I thought I'd see in my lifetime.
Re: Conan the Barbarian Slices Heads Off in Mortal Kombat 1 Next Week
Warner Bros bout to implement it's new Kredit Kard microtransaction feature.
Re: Reaction: Sony's Live Service Push Has Been a Disaster of Utterly Insane Proportions
Somebody please step into the console space to replace Microsoft and kick Sony's ever-loving teeth in for the neverending parade of errors and bad management this generation.
It's a race to the bottom for those two companies.
Re: Reaction: Sony's Live Service Push Has Been a Disaster of Utterly Insane Proportions
"...having now spent the best part of an entire console generation pissing away time, money, and effort on chasing down a delusional dream."
Well written. Hear, hear. Sony has gone entirely off the rails.
Re: Sony Cancels Bluepoint, Bend Studio PS5 Games, One Being a Live-Service God of War Title
Probably the worst news I've heard this gen from Sony.
Why was BluePoint working on a live service title?! That's about as far off from their previous output as it gets.
They bailed on a MGS1 remake, a Bloodborne sequel, or any other IP... for a live service game. Let's get some exec heads rolling for this. BluePoint is a legendary developer, this is straight up disgraceful.
What a wasted generation. F grade Sony, your worst gen yet by far. Hulst, just leave.
Re: Freedom Wars Remastered (PS5) - PS Vita Classic Offers a Compelling Alternative to Monster Hunter
Didn't have this game releasing on my 2025 bingo card.
Re: PlayStation Lights Up Las Vegas Sphere as It Rounds Out 30th Anniversary Celebrations
Wow, 30 years. Makes you think. Been using PlayStation as my primary console since 1995.
Who would have thought the little gray "toy" with the funny shapes on its controller would be carrying the entire company today and have the left the legacy it did.
The memories playing with friends and family, some of whom aren't around anymore, that's for life. Really an amazing thing.
All that said, the real 30th anniversary for us in the West is next year 😆
Re: PS5, PS4 Users Over-Represented in 2024 Pornhub Console Traffic Share
They should include a Pornhub membership in Premium. Just smart business.
Re: Sony Confirms Interest in Buying FromSoftware Parent Company Kadokawa
Bloodborne remaster - then a remaster of the remaster five years later - confirmed.
Re: Sony Acquisition Target FromSoftware Has Multiple Projects in Production
Tenchu, Echo Night, Kuon, King's Field, Armored Core, Forever Kingdom, Eternal Ring... They've done a lot outside the Souls genre. Lot of stuff they could work on from the old AgeTec days.
Re: Black Friday 2024: Best Deals on PS5 Consoles, Games, Controllers, SSDs, and More
@knowles2
Perfect, next year there will be a bigger library and probably more frequent discounts on the games.
Re: Black Friday 2024: Best Deals on PS5 Consoles, Games, Controllers, SSDs, and More
@MichaelNau
You certainly won't be disappointed. No Man's Sky is a solid choice. Some other recommendations:
Horizon: Call of the Mountain (Honestly, this comes off as sort of a tech demo for the VR2, but it's a damn good tech demo and has decent gameplay and a solidly lengthy campaign. It's a solid one to start with because it utilizes the eye tracking and head vibration functions in clever ways.
Beat Sabre (Super addictive / immersive rhythm game, falls into the easy to pick up, tough to master category. Best rhythm game since Guitar Hero for my money.)
Pistol Whip (A more stylized, if slightly more shallow rhythm experience where you shoot guns at enemies to the rhythm of the music).
Gran Turismo 7 (Base game is of course solid, I consider VR to change the experience so significantly it should be considered a different game. It's a sim racer of course, so your mileage may vary with this one - pun intended).
Thumper (The devs call this a 'rhythm violence' game, and I think that sums it up well. Good for VR beginners as it's not as bad motion sickness wise. My personal favorite VR game of all time.)
The games below are great but I'd approach with caution if you are new to VR as you might develop motion sickness:
Pavlov (Online competitive team based shooter than priorities realism. You haven't played a FPS until you've had to manually pull back the charging handle between each mag reload. This shines in multiplayer so avoid if you prefer single player).
Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 2 (Ultimate "immersive" action game. Really, really fun. First game is also available - I'd probably start there.)
Resident Evil 8 Village / RE 4
Remake (The pinnacle of VR horror, which is one category that VR excels in.)
Honorable Mentions: Moss, Moss 2, Synth Riders, Red Matter 2, Tetris Effect, Synapse.