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@Titntin I would imagine thats the hook for EA, they get paid by Sony for it being on PS+ and with it being free then more people will give it go and probably realise its actually not as bad as people made out due to one 3m scene in a 40h game. That could the get some more positive reviews / sales out there.

Dragon Age is a big win, although I 100% know there will be the usual comments from people who just parrot what some streamer told them.

Probably one of the strongest months in a while.

SH 1 followed by 3 would make perfect sense and they would be able to use what they currently have to get them sorted quicker than normal.

@Hyena_socks Is there any link at all to Bojack as visually they are borrowing from that very heavily. I was wondering if it was the same artists or something.

Look great and I will play it for sure.

I am just somewhat irked as the game looks like it should be for VR, it just seems that it would be a perfect experience for wandering round the house solving puzzles.

Not played the base game yet but its on my list for sure, will probably grab it when they do a complete edition.

I did think yesterdays trailer was pretty bad tho, the one last west showing gameplay was a much better trailer overall to generate interest.

@FinneasGH There is an episode of Big Bang where they rattles off a long list and finish on Fin Fang Foom as the ultimate example.

@ChrisDeku I made a similar point on PX a while back saying that buying a game code with 15% off is no different than buying credit with 15%. The only real difference is that its an extra step and the credit option requires you to likely buy extra which you would just store in the wallet, which is not really an issue for people who spend regularly.

The entire support for the XBox model seems to be that the huge saving are on GP subs, rather than individual games, but I question wether thats even a good thing as it just keeps pushing them into increases and locking down loopholes. Clearly its good for the customer in the short term, but long term is more murky.

@Vaako007 The PS3 era games where great as there was a huge variety and dev time was shorter so they came out pretty rapid fire. I think what also made it better for myself was that Blockbuster was still around so they always had very cheap ex rental games for sale which meant you always had loads to play.

@themightyant You forgot AAAA or does that only apply to EA

@get2sammyb Its really easy to play, the main issue is the cost as its an absolute money pit of a hobby. Its easily on the same scale as Warhammer for how much it costs.

@LifeGirl If they strip it back to MS only games then its a possibility, it would be interesting to see how they would price it tho. Not needed for online play, not needed for cloud saves, no third party, possibly not play anywhere?

Does that mean GP - Playstation would be £10 a month instead?

The SOP was good and had plenty of games that interested me, of the top of my head I wanna say about 8. Then it had a few more that I could swing towards with more info.

The problem is people are expecting studios to drop 1st party games like its past generations and thats simply not viable with modern development cycles. Studios can drop about 1-2 AAA games per generation now, maybe 3 if they are smaller.

Its exhausting just hearing the same nonsense that only 1st party matters, when in reality they are a tiny portion of the market.

Never really played Twisted Metal and went into the series with low expectations as I wass unsure how a modern Carmaggedon could even translate into a show.

In the end I though it was great for what it was, it aimed to be just OTT stupid fun and they nailed it.

@KillerBoy Not a red flag at all. Kojima has admitted he is working hard on the editing currently and probably just decided what the point in paying for another 60s trailer when he is already planning a 15m deep dive in a month or 2.

@ChrisDeku For myself I am glad that Sony have steered away from announcing years out as its bad for industry imo. You end up with issues like Cyberpunk which ended up being a disaster on launch. Obviously they turned it around and the game eventually was brilliant but the early announcements locked it in to previous gen which was a huge problem.

Not to mention the cycle of hype as you can only maintain interest in a game for so long before people lose interest and the discourse naturally shifts to expectation of a poor game due to extended development. Then when the launch hits the low expectations lead to poor reviews.

We know what game they are working on mostly, but we only need to see them when the are within 12m of release.

@LogicStrikesAgain The double standard on 1st party expectations are ridiculous. MS bought their way straight to the top of biggest publisher and fans are acting like its the result of years of hard work. Sony won't compete on quantity, but for quality they are still right up their holding their own.

EDIT: Not to mention, no one really cares if a game is 2st, 2nd or 3rd party. Its just the current goalpost shifting metric, like engagement vs consoles sold. If a game is good it makes no difference who created it to 99% of consumers.

I will give Jedi Survivor a go but not expecting much as I though the first game was pretty poor. Hopefully this will surprise me however.

I will like give Lost Records a go with it being included as it looked interesting but the idea of it being split instantly ruled out buying it and waiting. If its included in the sub however it makes it much more tempting.

Very good SOP in my opinion, and tbh I much prefer these things when they focus on the games that can slip under the radar rather than the big games where we already know about them.

Highlights.

Shinobi looks fantastic, it took me right back to my megadrive days.
Lost Soul Aside also interested me, but I was questioning the bland VA which seems to be the protagonists sidekick soul.
Directive 8020 looks right up my street and really want to see more on that as it looks a bit more high brow scifi than just kill all the aliens.
The Midnight Walk is probably the most creative game I have seen in a long time, It looks incredible and if the VR version holds up it should be great fun to play.
Hell is Us is still holding my interest as it looks crazy, just need to see more.
Blue Prince This caught my eye way more than I would have expected, partly because the room tiles gave me a board game feel. Will check it out when it lands on game collection Day 1
Tides of Annihilation Again just another action game that looked great so will be interested to hear more along the way.

Easily an 8/10 showing for myself

I said it on the SOP post but I fully expect some of tonight to be a MS / Xbox gaming showcase of whats coming soon. Almost everyone has accepted that MS focus is now primarily on being a publisher, so it makes sense when they can bring so many games to the table.

@Max_the_German I though that when it was released and never got round to playing it. I always had it in the back of my mind as something I wanted to try, even if I was not fully convinced. When I finally got around to playing the directors cut its hooked me pretty much instantly.

You are right in that its basically hiking simulator, with elements of MGS5, but I disagree that its only popular because its kojima and SEI. Its popular because its polished and has a simple but compelling gameplay route. Its just a very well put together game overall.

I reckon we will get something to do with Phantom Blade Zero as it must be almost ready.
I can see MS having a bit of a spotlight for games they are bringing over. A big bit about Indy and a montage of more to come maybe.
Something Resident Evil would be nice but I doubt it will happen.
Outside of that I'm not sure as I think Ghost will be left for later on the year. Maybe late summer if GTA is looking like late fall

I gave it a try on Doom and the wireless mousee worked fine on the dongle, same with my wireless headset. I have found that most devices tend to work on PS even if they aree not officially supported.

For the mouse because it also has onboard memory the 5 levels of DPI shift i have set for PC also worked on the console and I assume the extra buttons which are bound to keyboard shortcuts would also work had I set them up.

Nice treat for those who want it and a nice to see it also having a cheap standard version rather than being blocked behind the steelbook only version.

@Jrs1 Pretty sure you can use a Wireless or Bluetooth mouse it just needs to have a usb connection for the dongle (which most mice do).

I suppose I could test it later as I have a G502 X Plus and see if it works in the menus, as I don't actually play any of the games above.

EDIT: Doom was included on PS+ so I set it downloading from my phone and will give it a test later.

No issues here I didn't even realize it was down until I saw it posted here. This weekend was finishing TLoU 1 again, Left Behind and finally starting TLoU part 2 so had no need to be online.

I don't mind using a mouse, but for those games I would be using my gaming PC

@TrannosaurusBex I only played it recently also and I was very surprised at how shallow the game felt outside of the main story and major side stories. I would still rate it as 7.5 or 8 / 10 but it was certainly not the 9 or 10 it was made out to be.

The game oozes theme and Hogwarts itself was beautifully reacreated. That said I did find the gameplay to be a pretty basic Rock / Paper / Scissors < Avada Kadavra format, and the less said about the open world the better. It was large and sprawling but there was nothing off interest to do in it and it all looked the same. It was large just for the sake of being large and you could have achieved the same with 4 zones I reckon. Forest / Lake / Coast / Highlands.

Edit: Forgot my biggest gripe, the story is about evil dark magic and you can run around casting your own dark magic all day long and no one bats an eye. Was especially dumb when Sebastians whole quest is his family hating his dark magic and the game just glosses over the fact that you can also choose to commit wholesale mass murder of humans and goblins.

@Darude84 I can take or leave the touch pad as aside from it being two extra buttons I have never seen a good use case for it. Haptics however are great and thee speaker is one of my favourite features. When its implemented well for radio chatter the speaker is chefs kiss.

@IOI I imagine the port is ready, I bet the only delay is MS are spacing games out to maximise income. Spreading it out for regular income is the smart move.

@SMJ It was tied for the highest reviewed game of the year based on metacritics combined review scores. So yes it clearly did deserve to be nominated and win the award.

To many people are focussing solely on sales but if its only sales that matter then lets just accept that COD is GOTY for the rest of time.

I will usually only play one single player game at a time but the big games are normally so big that its still takes weeks. BG3 was around 120h but I think the longest game was Witcher 3 with all the DLC that took me around 174h for a single playthrough.

I did some more on Wo-Long but have binned it off at DLC 3 final boss. I really enjoyed the game but its beyong stupid that the final boss is tuned for NG+++ even on your first playthrough. I though about farming the higher difficulties for some 6 star gear but its ultimately not worth the time investment just to kill 1 extra boss.

Other than that I am revisiting LoU Part 1 ahead of finally playing Part 2 ready for april.

@ATaco They wouldn't be able to drop PS+ as you would still need it to play anything online. The only way GP will come to playstation is if MS dial it back to be a 1st party games sub service only, similar to EA Play or Ubisoft+

I actually think this is the direction they will go long term anyway as they are full steam ahead on being a publisher, hardware will exist, but its second fiddle to software now.

@Medic_alert I pretty much see GP heading that way regardless, with them ramping up and having more games coming out as part of Microsoft Gaming. Its the most palatable route for avoiding price hikes if you simply remove the majority of 3rd party content from day 1, then phase that 1st party only.

@BamBamBaklava89 It being on gamepass will not effect the price at all. Even if it wasn't on gamepass it would likely still be $50. Given the lower install base of the Xbox series consoles, mixed wioth it being an older niche title they are probably getting more from it being on GP than they would have got in sales.

@wildcat_kickz @ItsAlwaysSunnyyy MG3 makes some sense in the fact that its the most popular and is the first game in the series timeline. You could easily play 3 and not need any of the knowledge from the other games at all. Silent hill 2 was similar in that its the same town but nothing else major is linked or matters, SH 3 however was a direct sequal to SH1 if i recall correctly.

People hate on it all the time but personally I think its a brilliant device and one I hope to see Sony continue with. If we get a VR3 with the PS6 then I would likely grab it day one.

I really don't care if it has limited 1st party support as it would not make sense for sony to throw 25% of its development at a device which covers 2% of the install base. It also doesn't need it when 3rd party support is still really good and there are more than enough games worth playing on the hardware.

Even with the cancellations this generation has still been a decent one for Sony in my opinion and its obviously not all doom and gloom if they are on course to match the previous gen.

As for live service as the article the other day pointed out its the golden goose that companies need to chase because all it takes is one hit and you make bank. Sure they just went heavy handed by trying to do it all at once, but fortunately it was shored up by a good rake of 2nd party exclusives, and they are righting the ship now.

As others have said you can't complain that the games where being made whilst throwing money at stuff like Marvel Rivals as those games prove that live service when it lands is where the money is.

They won't be competing on hardware, but for user time its a bit more debatable. The switch is seen as a companion machine currently due to the amount of games that never reach the platform. If your big hitters target Switch 2 then maybe it will appeal more as a main machine, but a lot of that will depend on how the games look on the big screen when docked.

Price is also going to be interesting as the original Switch had a period shortly after launch where you could grab them cheap because of good offers. This led families to get 1 per child, rather than the traditional PS4 / Xbox to share between you. If Switch 2 is sitting arounf the £400+ mark its going to be a harder sell to get those people to upgrade multiple machines.

Warhammer is such a bizarre IP because it has such a wealth of lore and history behind it and yet everyhing is a coin toss between good and dire, with the majority landing on the later side.

@Steeleye50 Check out Vermintide 2 if you are enjoying Darktide. Its the old world take on the same system but with skaven and swords.

GoW:R, Atlas Fallen, SD Gundam, Medievil and a retro indy game. Some very good additions there this month. Shame there is no VR game, but the rest of the content makes up for it.

@GeeEssEff No data but I seem to recall that for GP the subs swing the other way due to Day 1 games with the bulk of subs on console all being ultimate.

@Skynet04 I think the difference is in how the two services operate, and what the real hook is for the customer.

For Gamepass the hook is day 1 games with Ultimate, with a smaller selection of older games.
For PS+ its access to a larger selection of older games, with a very small amount of day 1 indie games as a bonus and a Retro /VR addon if you go premium.

For the PS model there is not as much room for failure because games only hit the service once sales have slowed. Take Forsaken as an example; It didn't sell particularly well, but it did get some initial sales from people who wanted to play it. However I bet a lot of people who had no interest in paying for the game downloaded it when it got added to PS+, so the Devs got money from both sides.

Im not saying GP is failing as it still has around 30m subs, but the level of risk for the two services is not really comparable imo.

It looks very Witchery but thats to be expected from the same director that did Witcher 3, so its not a bad thing imo. Hopefully this delivers as we are long overdue a good Vampire themed game. I know VTMB 2 is out soon but I fully expect that to fail given how long it was in development hell for.

I gave My First Gran Tourismo a go in VR as a guy I work with raves about it. Its alright but I reckon it probably needs a full wheel setup to be great because thrying to hold a line on the thumbsticks is a pita. Not really my sort of game so doubt I will bother will the full version.

Did a bit more on Sekiro but still not a huge fan of the game, Currently at Owl (Father) and it just seems a very poorly designed encounter where the difficulty is 50% camera and 50% artificial as all his moves hit for 2/3rds of your health.

Started Wo Long after that and so far its a much more enjoyable game. Its seems to be a trend with Team Ninja, where they never quite get the level or boss design to FS's level but the actual gameplay is always far more satisfying.

@dimi we all saw what happened last time someone controlled a vehicle with a game controller

I think my favourite version was the PS3 one which supported 3D TV's. Whilst they where a gimmick this and Wipeout where games that actually worked really well in 3D and enhanced the feel of the game.

I liked the story of infinite and how with the DLC is wound around right back to the start of Bioshock, and the setting of an America obsessed with its own superiority worked well. The gameplay however was very poor compared to the original. It felt very watered down after playing the originals and some design choices like rng outfit discovery was just baffling.

The first game was good and kept me entertained, the second was better technically but overall worse as it felt very weighed down by the amount of open world stuff they put in the game, whilst at the same time they seemed to cut back on the underground ruins that made the original interesting.

Its the biggest problem with checkpoint collection games now, everyone just want to one up the last ones size and you end up with a 16h story with a 54h side helping of boredom.

Never played Bayonetta but Vanquish was one of the true gems of the PS3 era. I had no idea what sort of game it was but got it free on Plus and it had me hooked instantly.

@Dalamar all it shows is a character designed to be glamorous vs one who is meant to look practical for their setting.

@PuppetMaster Late reply, but I have given it more hours, and am now just at Fountainhead Palace. As for the meaningful choices I was more refering to how you can play the game compared to other FS games. I know its different to Souls, but at is core the style is virtually identical and I just find the 1 locked playstyle to be a huge negative rather than a positive. More so with how the skill / tools work as If you make a weak choice you are stuck with it or have to farm for ages to pick something better.

Getting Mortal draw seems to be the main point where the game changes at least becuase that move can cheese most things as its useable even without emblems.