aethermath

Oh well another reason to go back to the game, even if it’s to buy more cars or do another gig. Night City never sleep!

I will make myself some decent popcorn and watch this for sure!

It looks absolutely gorgeous! So glad I got a PS5 Pro.

I am playing Elden Ring, not Nightreign. I will also try Monster Hunter Wilds for the first time since I bought it. I’ll definitely try Nightreign soon. I am eager to start Shadow of the Erdtree cause I didn’t have the chance to play when I was on Xbox, so it’s something I am really looking forward to.

Sorry to say, it’s my type of game, it has a bit of Cyberpunk vibe to it and I love open world games (even semi open world too) so I am glad I preordered! Looking forwards to play this early!

I really loved the original 3DS game and I need something cozy this summer, between my massive AAA titles. I still consider this a major title, but it's just so fun! I will pick it up for sure!

I smell another live service disaster. Sure the game look great but there’s already well implemented titles around like Fortnite, and even if they’re not the same type of games, they’ll still compete for the attention of players. I am not sure the game will still be alive after release to six months to one year. A lot of live service games aren’t profitable and close early. Those who remains are the ones people are already accustomed to.

Personally, I don’t like battle royale games and I don’t even play multiplayer. Helldivers 2 was different, the players were cool and you actually play like a team there.

Not everyone wants to game on their cellphone and play Fortnite/Minecraft or cheap f2p games. I understand kids today have a shorter attention span but they don’t know better if all they’re playing is a “cashgrab” game on their iPad.

I want my consoles and I want my variety of experiences. I don’t want the new generation of mobile games everywhere. I don’t need to play games during breaks at work, or when I am a passenger in a car and I can perfectly walk around without wearing damn headphones like everyone else. Yeah, I’m a dinosaur, I guess.

Problem is that Microsoft depends too much on its Gamepass to push the Xbox brand. Many Xbox gamers, quite a large percentage, will only use Gamepass to play games and won’t buy games at full price. On PlayStation, gamers will spend more cause PS+ doesn’t offer big titles on day one, like Gamepass, so there’s a whole “fear of missing out” going and those who want to play the newest titles are more willing to spend money on them. On Xbox, the mentality is focused on using Gamepass first and spending money years later when a game is on a big discount, thus affecting sales and affecting developers revenue. Microsoft make money with Gamepass no matter what, but a game at full price at launch, especially now as more and more people don’t preorder, is indicating that gamers will prefer using the limited catalog of Gamepass instead of paying more for a brand new game, even if that game isn’t on Gamepass. I often see comments like: “I’ll wait till it’s on Gamepass…”

It’ll ultimately affect launch revenues for some studios and they often need to step back when a game isn’t commercially successful at launch, but it’s not always indicative of the game quality as a game like Star Wars Outlaws found its fans nevertheless, for example.

Microsoft will need something really special, like a branded Xbox gaming computer to distinguish themselves in the next generation. It could works, their Surface line of products is doing well and a Xbox Gaming system that support PC games while offering the same easy to use interface that make consoles appealing would be a big hit for some out there.

I have an all digital library and I could still play Cyberpunk 2077 without any issues.

It feels like they’re going to release Mass Effect, then BioWare will shut down soon after due to disappointing sales maybe and there’ll be just EA.

Most of the games featured here, I already own, so glad to see I know which ones are must haves! I would've included more PS4 games into the mix too, like Mass Effect Legendary Edition and a couple others, but that's a good list overall! Some of the games don't really appeal to me, but that's just me.

That’s sad, Ubisoft have good ideas for their games, sometimes the execution isn’t there, they’ve become too much commercially focused and less creative. Doesn’t mean their products are that bad, but they need to step up their game, they can do it. They’re big and they still have resources to turn things around. Maybe thinking differently will help.

Anyway, I hope it doesn’t come to that. I was thinking this ridiculous idea, but what if Sony or Microsoft buy them out? Maybe they can save enough of the company and rethink their whole process at the same time.

Here’s a plan for relaunching Ubisoft: start investing more money in what fans want - finish developing the Prince of Persia remake, the Splinter Cell reboot, Beyond Good & Evil 2. Also, rethink the whole Assassin’s Creed formula by removing the futuristic backstory and making the series about exploring different eras with different gameplay for each one, make them shorter but meaningful and interesting, you can use your Infinity idea to tie them together with a single launcher. You can bring back some classics in need of a remaster, that way you won’t overspend, I know it cost money but still less than producing a new IP. Restart development on Immortals sequel and make a brand new 3D platformer with Rayman, we’ll all buy it, especially since Astro Bot showed us there’s still a market for good platformers. Ok Crash 4 didn’t perform well, but you can still take a chance there! All these ideas are doable if you want to take the time to look into them. As for your financial woes, cut the fat on redundant stuff and lower the salary for managers like Nintendo did, temporarily, it’ll be fine! In a couple years of doing all that, Ubisoft will be back!

@Americansamurai1 I grabbed one during the Black Friday sale and so far, I noticed that it's getting out of stock almost everywhere in stores, except Amazon. The headset suddenly became popular due to the price cut. Sony said it wanted to liquidate the overstock first but there's not confirmation if they'll resume production for now. It's not abandoned, but it's not a priority I would say. At almost half price, it's still a good price for the kind of device.

Regarding cloud gaming... I don't understand the appeal of a permanent subscription to a service. Paying 50$ a month, just pitching a bad example, but wouldn't be surprised if this fake price is actually the real one someday. Can you imagine the restrictions that come with it? Like, keep paying or you lose your save files, you may even have your account closed. It won't be like Netflix, where you can just stop paying for a while and come back and it's all there. PS+ make you lose your cloud saves if you stop paying, Nintendo do the exact same thing. The only one offering that for free is Microsoft, cause they have the largest infrastructure, Azure is big as hell, it powers the whole Microsoft ecosystem and beyond. But I digress. I am now only realizing that some of the services I pay for today are well overpaid, I pay for the privilege to be able to access them, not for using them on a daily basis. Companies lock features behind subscriptions. Cloud gaming will inevitably suffer from the same paradigm. Plus, there'll be a plethora of services that offer each some exclusives, so you end up paying, just like for streaming, for several services at once, for as long as you want. The easy access is tempting, but it means you need to constantly pay for something you could buy once and access whenever you want. I've seen ridiculous things when Apple pushed the shift toward the app subscriptions. I know apps cost money to develop, but making people pay 89.99$ a year for a calendar app is outrageous, even if the app is really that awesome. The same problem will occurs if cloud gaming take over, we'll face the exact same issues we currently face with app subscriptions and streaming services saturation. Pay more to enjoy it all, that's what they want. The other model, the one where you pay for streaming every games, one price per game, we've seen where Google failed hard with that model. Nobody wants to pay for the right to stream one game. The service could decide to pull the plug on that one game you bought, due to licensing issues. Of course, they'll try to mitigate the severity and maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones who can still stream the game, but it makes you entirely dependent on a company's plan regarding how they give you the service. They could jack up the price, make some important changes and then ask you for an upgrade fee to keep using that one game you "bought", but it's just for the right of streaming. I don't think a cloud gaming future is ever so bright for consumers, it'll only benefit companies in the long run. Plus, it opens the door to putting commercials in your streaming experience, which I loathe profusely.

People buy consoles for the easy plug and play experience. I, for one, can appreciate the possibilities of a PC used for gaming, but I hate dealing with drivers, plugins, hardware issues, the many launchers for every game out there and buying my games on multiple digital stores, cause some are not on Steam and the alternatives to Steam aren't really on par for what they offer. Sure, things are better today, but I remember back in the days of Windows 7, I was still dealing with games crashing due to bad drivers, problems with some Windows updates, specific issues that needed me to completely reset my PC even, so my experience wasn't all that perfect. A console will be consistent. Sure, there are bugs, but I believe they have a place for people who want simplicity. Personally, I already own a Mac for work and school, I don't see the point of buying a PC "cause you can do more than gaming", I just won't use it for that and my favourite softwares are Apple-only so aside from gaming, I just don't see the point. But that's me. Maybe in the future we'll see the comeback of some simple interface you can enable to use a PC exclusively for gaming, like Media Center did back in the days to put a PC in the living room. It would need something like that to simplify the experience. Steam did experiment with that, but it was Linux based and it prevented a lot of games to be fully available, except through emulation. Also, a lot of console gamers love collecting physical games so they don't want to be limited to digital only with a PC. Lots of points here in favour of having a console. Sure, the entire cost of owning several accessories, games, the console, additional controllers, it all add up to the point of being the same cost than for a gaming PC, but with a PC you need to choose every component aside from the tower itself, which makes it a little bit harder for people who don't want to take the time to build their setup. I can't picture the father of a family of two kids taking the time to setup a PC in a living room for his kids just so they can play Minecraft or something, besides the kids will inevitably encounter issues that will need dad to intervene, more than once. Buying a console like a Switch solve the problem in this situation. With a PC in the living room, there's also the risk of kids misusing the device cause the kids don't know how to properly use it. The console world still has appeal to younger audiences and people who don't like messing around with settings, hardware and stuff like that. I think they will coexist for a long time before we talk about something else. The big change that's coming is cloud gaming, cause it would enable companies to get more revenues from subscriptions and also make a lot of devices compatible with gaming. Not saying I agree with the strategy, cause I think I overpay Netflix and all the other streaming sinkholes out there, subscription is a pain to manage, so I hope it won't come to that. I need my gaming on console and PC for the others who prefer that.

I’m still going strong in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, playing it for the first time, but at around 30-40 hours already. Clearing up parts of the map before I keep the story going and also doing tons of side quests and upgrading my different capacities. Just bought Astro Bot Deluxe and looking forward to check it out. I usually play a couple games in rotation, so also on Alan Wake 2, but took a break after starting the Old Gods chapter. Also looking forward to Lego Horizon, but that’s next weekend. Surprisingly, I started Dragon Age and liked it but decided to keep my focus mainly on Horizon Zero Dawn. I will get back to it as soon as I finish a couple of these games. Horizon Forbidden West was my very first PS5 game and the one that made me buy the console. I’m a full convert and have all my favorites multi platform titles already and a couple more. Also got the DualSense Edge and admiring the PS5 Pro but the price tag in Canada is too much for me right now, maybe next year.

This game gives me a lot of Bethesda vibes, like Fallout vibes but also a bit of BioShock or Outer Worlds on the side and maybe some Atomic Heart too. It might not be as impressive as Stalker 2, but it looks good!