commentlife

Make it free with Plus. Nintendo Switch Online benefits greatly from things like Tetris 99, Mario 35, Pac-Man 99, etc etc. PS+ desperately needs value adds IMO.

Sony acting like they have no competition and it’s just insane to me. I really don’t think Sony has THAT kind of brand loyalty where they can just shed the platform agnostic players who just want their latest yearly titles at the best price and most convenient. Nintendo can play those kinds of games but I just don’t think Sony can maintain that long term. Don’t get me wrong, Sony are riding REALLY high from a very strong market position in the previous gen, and it’ll take a long time to see the full effects. But there is slow and steady/incremental damage happening here, anyone who’s been paying attention will know this. It just seems like Jim Ryan is legit asleep at the wheel sometimes. As a big industry nerd, very interesting to see it play out, at least.

If this thing is cheaper than the console itself, it’ll be a bloody miracle.

I know they probably negotiate these deals months and months and months in advance, so the read I get here is Sony has a hard time pivoting or reacting, or doesn’t see the need to. Both scenarios are troubling to me, frankly.

The pressure on this game to succeed must be absolutely immense right now. Sony needs a killer app right now above all else, proof they can weather the storm on the strength and QUALITY (see: all the broken AAA releases in last two years) of their IPs. That’s a lot of eyes on Aloy.

Nice! So much tech investment happening in Canada these days. You just love to see it.

Microsoft’s threat to Sony isn’t exactly the Xbox Series X/S.

Reevaluating their value proposals for this gen could go a long way. 90$ CAD titles, lacklustre ps+ monthly games, the price of plus and now, I think they took the wrong approach by sort of positioning themselves as this premium product (remember the all the diamonds in the branding?). The industry around them is quickly making that look ridiculous now, IMHO. It’s not just Microsoft. Epic gives away SO many good games a year for the price of simply signing up, Steam sales are impressive and frequent, etc.

This is really cool but I think it’s also a reason why Dreams never took off like a Minecraft or a Roblox. The ceiling is too high, it makes for an imposing room. People look at anything made in a Roblox and they feel… I can do that! Even if they can’t. This, this is like… looking at an Unreal Engine tech demo or something. “I can do that” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.

The chatter on here is really focused on Sony vs Microsoft, when really the other company hoovering up the industry is Tencent. I think a Tencent buyout of EA is much more likely than a Sony one because of the multi platform nature of the sports franchises.

What they are choosing to highlight on their socials has me real worried, ngl. Was “big” their only goal? How many resources during development were devoted to simply “big”?

The headset IS a huge barrier for a ton of people, I doubt VR will ever get the buy in that flat gaming has because of it. Not until they are as unobtrusive as a pair of reading glasses.

They put so little effort into this, it was a guaranteed success regardless of what bad press they had to have known was going to happen. Hollywood pulls the same trick over and over again with its own notions of “built-in audience”. An equally big problem to the peak capitalistic behaviours of AAA developers we are seeing more and more of, is the willingness of people to accept absolute horse droppings on all fronts because of their devotion to brands, fandom in general, nostalgia, etc. It takes two to tango.

Crazy days ahead! Does Sony stay the course? Sit idly by? Go to all out war? I’ve been following the machinations of this industry intensely since 1991, worked as a dev for a time, and this is up there with some of the bigger seismic shifts. It’s difficult to even parse the possibilities of how this plays out. Looking forward to Sammy’s continued coverage on this topic. It just got real!

I’m speechless, folks. Literally floored by this announcement.

I expect we will see regulation on micro-transaction heavy/gatcha mobile business models at some point. These are bubble numbers. Too addictive, too successful at separating people from their money. It’s just Slots 2.0, only somehow more pathetic because at least you can win some money at a casino. It’s sad to see and I want no part of it. Big loss of respect for anyone doubling down in this space, Sony and Nintendo included.

Let me download every title on whatever their PS Now replacement is and I would be onboard day one. I understand the challenges, but it is what needs to happen IMO. It would be a way to SIGNIFICANTLY increasing the value of PS Now without having to take a huge hit in added overhead.

“hopeful fans in a bit of a frenzy” describes half of what you read on the internet nowadays, and “it all seems like a bit of a reach” describes the other half.

I dunno, seems like the same bs everywhere else is putting out.

Please don’t let it be grindy, please don’t let it be grindy. When I see him using the term “max out”, it makes me really worried they have somehow padded the progression systems with an absolutely EPIC grind just to be able to write that tweet.

I had a great time with this on PC, hopefully they iron out those network issues. Great active official Discord too with lots of dev updates.

They’ll put horses, revolvers and dusters in GTA Online before they put any more work into RDR Online.

@get2sammyb agreed, I think “creative” is going to be the right play here. I don’t think they can or need to compete 1 to 1 with Game Pass, just… something. Something, rather than nothing, will go a long way. I know the current offering isn’t exactly nothing, but it might as well be the way the optics have been playing out.

I am going to guess it’s at least as expensive as a no disc ps5. Very interesting, though. It’s a bigger leap than I expected. Price is going to be a serious issue though, unless they start selling them below cost.

You will have completed multiple full runs if you manage to finish Act 3. While sure, it’s the real ending, it’s still like beating the game multiple times. I am sure there are people who beat the final boss the first time and were like cool, and moved on.

This game should be made free to play with a plus sub a la Tetris 99 on Switch, especially now that there is an actual player base.

Sony is just having a laugh with pricing this gen, it’s just whale hunting at this point. By all means, do what makes you happy, but this is so silly.

I would have voted Returnal 5 times if I could.

I’m like 99% sure this is just some elaborate grift of their investors.

I wonder what the barrier is to lower latency in panels of this size? 10ms is better than most current TV sets, but there have been gaming monitors on the market for a while now with 1ms response times, with some newer panels achieving <1ms response times.

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Come on, guys. Get with the program, this is just smart business. You offer what your competitor doesn’t. You want convenience, generosity and good value for your dollar? Go with the other guys. That’s just not how we do things here.

The full report is interesting, sounds like they’ve been going after any business, big or small, for anything remotely resembling one of their trademarks. Like, a company called ‘Starrock’, give me a break! Meanwhile, they’ve released perhaps the most insulting release of 2021, which is REALLY saying something. How much in legal fees, I wonder?

lol wait wut? Speechless.

One of the best co-op shooters I’ve ever played. It even has a really great workaround for solo play too, although the best experience is getting all 4 roles on a dig.

It just doesn’t look very good.

From the playbook for making money as a game studio in 2021: 1.) sell people on a nostalgic remake to distract from the fact you got nothing new to show, and likely won’t for years 2.) invest bare minimum, knowing nostalgia sells almost as good as sex 3.) counter outrage with heartfelt apologies and day one patches to let the people think you care 4.) praise the dark lord for your continued successes

You could fix every. single. bug and these would still be an embarrassing stain on Rockstar’s portfolio.

AAA development is an interesting thing to watch because it’s pretty clear how unsustainable it really is. Everyone wants bigger, faster, more grafix, more more moaaaaaar. Well, more is expensive. REALLY expensive. The pricing probably DOES make sense, but how tenable is this long-term?

I am much more comforted by “it will release when it’s ready” than “zero chance of a delay”. Too many big buzz titles releasing in horribly unfinished states. Cyberpunk, New World, GTA Trilogy, etc.

This speaks volumes about how trash these remasters are.

I’m worried this is just the way now. Companies saw studios like CDPR come out unscathed from major disasters and the lightbulbs all turned on at once. Gamers will put up with whatever we want to give them. Sure, a vocal minority will kick up a big stink, but nothing that won’t blow over with the next big news cycle. Game studios are continually giving us less and less, and we are all too willing a participant to it. It makes me sad for the future of the industry.

I think it’s a stretch to call the ps5 library anything but disappointing IMHO. Came in with a very short-lived bang that quickly faded to near nothingness, with very little of interest on the horizon. Well short of any A’s or B’s for me, but everyone’s got different tastes and expectations I suppose.

We are being conditioned to expect and accept less and less from game companies, especially when nostalgia is involved.

Not sure how anyone sees these kinds of offerings as anything other than a complete and utter cash grab of the highest order.

I’ve never been more over something than I am with Disney’s Marvel. I look back at my following the early days of the MCU in the same way I look back at my Dave Matthews Band CD collection from high school.

Absolutely loved it, and I don’t usually click with roguelites/roguelikes.

Best month since getting a ps5, if true.

The old logo looks tacky, bordering garish. All for this change, boring is timeless. “Fun” logos age like milk.

Hell Let Loose is.. fine. Not going to win over anyone who isn’t already a huge fan of milsim shooters, IMHO. Probably a 7/10 for fans, less for those who aren’t.