@Brockybrock Thanks for all the detail! I appreciate it. The question I need an answer for is this: Is it fun enough to keep my interest going even if I don’t have a wheel? I just don’t have an extra couple hundred dollars for a wheel.
Ok, I admit it—I know next to nothing about GT7. I know people love it, it includes PSVR2 support (which is supposedly great), and it likely continues making money through micro transactions of credits that are used to buy more exotic cars.
Ok, here’s the question… —If you’ve already unlocked a ton of cars through in-game progression, how many do you have vs. how many are you regularly using? And are people spending all their money on microtransactions just to own all the cars? Is that the big appeal or over-arching goal of GT7?
I’d guess there are a handful of cars that most gamers use because they really like the “feel” of how those cars drive. But what about all the rest of the cars you already own? Probably only used if the race requires it. Am I way wrong?
Sorry, I don’t mean to be so clueless—that’s why I’m trying to understand. If you love GT7, what’s the appeal that keeps bringing you back (vs. playing a different racing game)?
Sony used to let Microsoft executives say all the dumb stuff out loud to the press, but nowadays the Sony execs just can’t seem to help themselves. All that consumer trust Sony lost during the PS3 days and had to rebuild like crazy with both gamers and indie developers to make the PS4 and PS5 successful…it’s as if Sony hasn’t learned a damn thing. Open mouth, insert virtual foot and byte.
For one hundred million dollars, it’d have to be a Legendarily Brutal game featuring Tenacious D, Spinal Tap, Wyld Stallyns, Gwar, Winger, the ghosts of Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy Kilmeister and Gene Simmons’ tongue. It’d be a four player couch or online drop-in/-out game with one player controlling where the minions square off, while the other three players use Rock Band guitars to duke it out against those opposing forces. Real time strategy with rock challenges and tower defense…and some levels where the guitarists have to play their guitars at certain times to make their characters run, jump, punch and kick their way through Kung Fu masters. Yeah.
It’d be awesome if the PS6 disc drive served no purpose except to play Sega Dreamcast games and 4.7 GB DVD discs.
—Q: Is GTA 6 available for PS6 on disc? ——A: Sure is, guys! The 25-disc standard edition of GTA 6 will be available at retailers worldwide. Meanwhile, the GOTY edition comes in a lovely 67-disc collector’s tin and includes both a handsome pair of XXL-size men’s boxer shorts AND a 16”x24” full-color poster, featuring a hand-drawn city map of Vice City spread across both cheeks of an exotic dancer’s heinie (Note: distance not to scale).
Wow, impressive list. Already own most of them, but for those who’ve not played ‘em, enjoy!! Vampire Survivors is fantastic. Dying Light 2 is good. Two Point Museum is great. Metro Exodus is excellent. Helldivers 2 is fantastic.
Haven’t tried Kingdom Come 2 or Hell is Us, so those are the two I’ll be checking out. Great month. Best month in ages!
The going price for EA is $55 Billion. What does that mean exactly?
If you were to stack $55 billion in crisp, uncirculated $100 bills perfectly on top of each other, the stack would reach 37.33 miles (60.07 kilometers) high. This massive tower of cash would pierce through the Earth's troposphere and stand deep inside the stratosphere.
Compared to the height of Mount Everest: The $100 stack of money would be 6.7 times taller than the mountain.
It’d be nearly 6 times higher than an airplane’s cruising altitude.
It’d be more than halfway to the edge of space.
Or, if the bills were turned on their side, it’d be the about the distance from my house to the biggest candy store in the state of Minnesota. 🤘
Fifty-five billion with twenty billion in debt financing?
1) What’s the interest rate?
2) How many monthly payments will it take to pay it off? And
3) What’s their monthly payment to JP Morgan?
I’m not exactly sure what that all means, but I’ll do the math according to what I THINK it means. If the $20B financed money is what they have to pay back over time (using an online loan calculator)…
$20,000,000,000 ($20B) financed x 30 years (360 monthly payments) at a super low, low 3.99% interest rate is as follows:
They will need to pay $95,367,792.57 every month for 30 years to payoff the debt. SAY WHAT? That’s a $95.37 Million loan payment EVERY MONTH for the next 30 years.
Yeah, I know…it’s just pocket change. 🤣
Amount financed = $20 Billion
Total of 360 Payments = $34,332,405,324.05 ($34.3 Billion)
Total Interest = $14,332,405,324.05 ($14.3 Billion)
I played a couple of hours on Dying Light 2 when it was in PS+ as an Extra selection. It’s okay, but if I’d really enjoyed it, I would’ve played more of it back then. If the PS+ game this month was instead the Dying Light Beast game, that’d be a good, new game worth putting some time into, and I’d feel like it was a really good, solid PS+ month.
My idea: I’d rather Sony give us a list of, say, 5-10 indie games and we’d pick out the one or two we wanted for our PS+ game(s) of the month. That way, Sony would still be highlighting and celebrating indie developers and specific great indie games, PS+ subscribers would have more of a say in what we get for our PS+ game(s), and the indie devs would likely love it, too. Why? It’s because there’s a damn good chance that we PS+ subscribers would be smitten with more than just the one game on Sony's list of choosable indie titles, and we’d pony up some additional dough to buy a couple of the other games on the list.
The decision to eliminate physical disc media is due to myriad reasons, but likely first and foremost it’s Sony wanting to release a PS6 at a lower price point, like, below $1,000. And, manufacture and distribution of discs (setting brick and mortar stores up with gobs of physical media that may or may not sell well) can’t be a money maker for Sony, either. Sony also has to sell the physical media to stores for a lesser amount so that the stores can make their profit, too. And when the games don’t sell, the stores eventually ship the unsold goods back to Sony and get credit back for the unsold returned physical media, and that eats at Sony’s bottom line, too. Sony then has to destroy the discs, which costs even more money for Sony, or Sony could redistribute the discs to other retailers, likely at a reduced cost, which also cuts into the profits. I know there are loyal physical media fans that don’t want to see their discs and disc drives go away, but the whole “physical media to brick and mortar stores” just doesn’t make the profits that downloadable products do. Downloadables cut out the middle men as the products’ sales flow directly through Sony.
It’d be interesting to know exactly how much Sony makes for each $69.99 physical copy of a game vs. a $69.99 download-purchased game. It’s likely an eyebrow-raising amount. Gotta figure it’s, what, $10-15 more in profits for each download vs. physical media sale? Probably more.
Couple of thiughts: 1) It doesn’t surprise me that the GameStop CEO would say that Sony phasing out physical game media makes no difference to his company’s success. If he were to say that, yes, the loss of physical media would stink for GameStop, it could scare away his shareholders, and stock prices could plummet big time.
2) If GameStop were to merge with Hot Topic and Spencer Gifts, I could see some potential for continued $ucce$$. Both those stores have pop culture-related clothes, gifts, and collectibles, so they’d mesh well with GameStop and its current clientele.
3) How GameStop has $55B to even offer ebay is waaaay beyond me. I’m surprised they’ve lasted this long.
4) If GameStop hits rock bottom, perhaps they could rebrand themselves as a travel website focused on airplane tickets, hotel rooms, and sporting events…with some sports betting, too. Just imagine the marketing ideas! i.e. Buy airfare, hotel, and football ticket package and get $25 in sports betting credit on the site.
For XBox, it’s Halo. For Nintendo, it’s Zelda, Animal Crossing, Mario, and maybe Donkey Kong. For Sony, it’s God of War, maybe The Last of Us… For all systems, it’s GTA, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, Assassin’s Creed…
Thanks for the heads-up. I stink at racing games, but I do like them. Typically don’t play any races online, because, as I just stated, I stink at them. Anyway, after reading this article, I went back into the game and I’m now on, like, part 12 of the single player storyline. It’s fun so far, and setting the game up as a beginner racer does make it more enjoyable for me (I enjoy winning races—go figure!). Maybe I’ll try an online race today just to see if anyone is online. If they are, they’ll pick up an easy victory. 👍
You can play PS5 games on a PC through the Remote Play app, right? There ya go, PC fans. 😛
Seriously, though, you don’t even need a PS5 to play a bunch of PS5 games, do you? Couldn’t you just buy a PS+ Premium membership (with no PS5) and then play any of those PS+ games through the cloud streaming app on your PC? Yeah, I know, you can’t jack up your gaming PC settings to make the games look super-sensational (and the games wouldn’t even be in 4K, but they’d still look and play pretty dang sharp at 1080p with 60 fps…and I’m betting that looks and plays a heck of a lot better than me trying to play anything on a PS5 Pro without my glasses). 😉
I know, I know, streaming a game onto PC isn’t as cool as playing a native PC version of a game, but it’s still 1000x better than my childhood years of playing Atari 2600 games on a black and white 19” tv. (And just think about this: I was the envy of my elementary school because I had over 70 games for the Atari 2600.) 🤣🤣 Man, times do change. 😀
Glad they’re adding some multiplayer games. Pretty sure all (or nearly all) the recent mid-month titles they added to the collection were only one-player games, which is great…until a friend wants to play and we’re both in the mood to try something different.
That said, I already have Grounded, but that’s okay. It’s a good game—solo and online. Hopefully people will enjoy it.
I was at the local Pawn America store last Saturday, and I checked out their video game section. (There’s nearly always a deal because some dumb boob employee doesn’t know what certain games are worth and, thus, underprices something.)
Unfortunately, I didn’t find any great PS4 or PS5 deals that day, but I did see they had, oh, about 25 different PS5 games…along with literally 20 used copies of Destiny 2. Ok, wait, wait…perhaps you’re thinking, yeah, but what’s the price? Maybe Destiny 2 is overpriced and that’s why there are so many of ‘em. To that, I say, “nope.” Destiny 2 was $1.99. (As a point of reference, there was 1 copy of Anthem; it was $4.99.) So, short story long, is it time for Destiny 2 to be done? Yep, it appears so.
Supermassive has some great games, some good games, and some that are somewhere in-between good and great. …Until Dawn-great …Until Dawn Rush of Blood-very good …Man of Medan-good, but the worst of ‘em …Little Hope-very good …House of Ashes-pretty good …The Devil in Me-VERY good, my favorite of the Dark Pictures’ games …Until Dawn Switchback-great …The Quarry-VERY good for $10, just good if $70 …The Casting of Frank Stone-pretty good
All the games have silly quicktime events, and pretty much all the characters in all the games are flawed and/or blank slate-ish in personality—they’re supposed to be, and that’s what makes it a challenge when making decisions for the characters: —Do you make choices based on how the game perceives them? Or… —Do you make choices based on who you are and what you’d do if put in that situation?
As for the commenter who said that a 5/10 is too low and that PushSquare is an outlier, well…if the reviewer had given the game a 7 like everyone else, what’s the point in reading the review? It’d be the same as everyone else’s.
And, as for the commenter who said that this game shouldn’t be reviewed by someone who doesn’t play Supermassive games, I agree and disagree. I totally get it—you want an expert with experience to handle that review; they know how it compares to other games of its ilk. By having a fresh reviewer give this game a go, yes, it’s true, the score might not line up with other reviewers who’ve had more experience with Supermassive’s games, but it’s always fascinating to learn how and why they see a game as good (or not) from a fresh set of eyes.
It’s a good idea. I’ll check it out! It’s literally a game changer. 😛
Always thought Arcade Paradise should’ve included Atari games as DLC. When one tires of washing the clothes and plunging the toilet, an Atari game always hits the spot.
What a shame. It’s unfortunate all that work couldn’t be ported into a few levels of a different game—or simply released as a budget game. Hopefully there won’t be layoffs.
Remember that Abobo’s Big Adventure game where every level was a totally different game genre? I’d love to see some sort of Atari Mania-like spin but for Ubisoft. For all of these canceled games (or playable tech demos that never turned into full-fledged game experiences), toss in a level or two from each of Ubisoft’s canceled games and set the story up like, say, Tron: A kid gets sucked into a video game world while touring the Ubi factory, and he has to fight/live/survive/cozy/walk/blast his way through each game level to progress and make his way out alive. And all that hard work the devs did would finally see the light of day, in a nice, bite-sized, digestible format where it doesn’t matter if the fighting/shooting/building mechanics are too simplistic or the graphics aren’t up to today’s current standards. Variety rules supreme. Easy money!
I’m usually not one for shovelware, but if it’s semi-entertaining shovelware, ok, hand over the shovel. 💩
Say, if you like Qix-like games, I recommend Gal’s Panic S2 and Gal’s Panic S3. Problem is, they’re arcade games so they’d have to be played through PC on something like MAME. With all the arcade games that have been ported to PS4 and PS5, it’s a shame neither have been made available.
@LowDefAl @Northern_munkey Interesting. The owner of the company where I used to work—for 13+ years—is one of the richest men in the US; he’s a billionaire just like Gates, Allen, and the like. Some might even say he’s a beacon of hope in a tempestuous sea. He donates millions to the local university—his and my alma mater—along with donating millions more to the local schools, and even more to the city’s library and local city center projects. He’s quite the upstanding guy to the public with all those donations, and the chamber of commerce loves the guy. Know what, though? He outsourced hundreds of local jobs overseas (which directly led to my being laid off—after I trained in all the overseas’ employees, that is). He closed down factories in seven states that had employed several hundred employees in each location, and for the positions he’s kept here in his hometown, he’s paying $12/hour with a max ceiling of $18, and many of those employees are divorced women with children who live in section 8 housing because they don’t earn enough to afford to live in places with normal rent prices. And while my tale is just one example (and I’ve now moved on to a better job with better pay elsewhere), I’m not alone.
But, hey, yeah! Some owners, CEOs, CFOs, etc., do a great job with donations…and they’re even better at keeping up appearances for the public. One $10M local donation can do wonders to mitigate the devastation from mass layoffs. But, hey, I get it: A for-profit business’ goal is to make money—as much as possible. If making more money means limiting wages, lowering/eliminating bonuses, getting rid of profit sharing, and capping raise percentages, so be it. And, if moving a business elsewhere where lower wages can be paid (while good, hardworking, loyal employees lose their jobs or deal with wage stagnation), so be it. The CEOs and decision makers are still good people, right?! 😉
One final point: If the billionaire employers had paid the workers what they should’ve been paid all along, perhaps those billionaires wouldn’t be billionaires. They’d only be hundred millionaires…or just millionaires. Perhaps they wouldn’t have had the funds to donate $10M for the new Student Union on campus or $20M for the university basketball stadium, but I’m guessing there’d be a lot more people in my town (and in many other cities where profitable factories were shuttered in favor of outsourcing overseas for even higher profit) who could afford to buy a house, who wouldn’t have to rely on reduced meal prices at schools, who could afford to donate money to charities, too.
About this Microsoft situation, I get it. They feel they can make more money by charging full price for Call of Duty. Ok. People will pay it. Supply and demand—if the game is good, there will be demand, and people will buy it. If I were CEO, I’d probably charge ‘em full price for the game, too. But I’m not CEO, and I don’t have a billion dollars. I’m a gamer with a PS5, and if prices get too high, I’ll either save up or I’ll go through my backlog of games and play ‘em till I’m caught up. I’m one of the lucky ones; I’ve got enough good games to keep me busy for quite a while. 👍
Microsoft today is worth $2.75 Trillion. Their net income was up 36.68% year over year in the last fiscal quarter (end of 2025) and net income for that fiscal quarter was $38.46 Billion. So…if they squandered $300 Million in potential COD XBox profits, that’d mean their last QUARTER would’ve only netted them $38.16 Billion in income. That’s gotta be rough. Put up the white flag. Shut ‘er down! As Bill Paxton so eloquently stated in the movie Aliens, “Game over, man!” 🤣🤣🤣
Bah! Internet says Bill Gates is worth $104 to $107 Billion, former CEO Steve Ballmer is even richer than Gates, and Paul Allen’s estate is worth more than $20 Billion. It’s about time the rich start giving back to the people. With those three alone, Game Pass could include Call of Duty for free about, oh, 833 more times. 🤣
I haven’t read anyone’s comment yet so my opinion isn’t being swayed by others…yet.
From a big company’s perspective, it makes sense to release a few of the biggest tentpole games onto different platforms, like PC and XBox. That way, you open other gamers’ eyes to your product. It grows awareness, whets gamers’ appetites for more, and adds to the fanbase. THEN, you pull back and release the next games in those flagpole IPs ONLY on PS6. Why? It gets all those new fans to, at bare minimum, HIGHLY CONSIDER investing in a PS6 to continue their journey with the new IPs they just learned to love.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if XBox does the exact same thing Sony’s doing: After releasing a bunch of their games onto PS4/PS5, Microsoft pulls back from Sony and decides to ONLY release their next games onto the next XBox. It’s a genius marketing move: It makes PS5-only users keenly aware of what they’re missing by not buying the next XBox system. Is it devious? Perhaps. But that’s business: Manufacture your own buzz and put consumers into positions where they now “must buy” the newest, hottest games…ONLY available on your system.
The Konami code with L1, R1, Touch Screen replacing B, A, Start. Interesting. So it’s Gods of War (plural). 😉 Got it.
Do many modern video games even use cheat codes anymore? On NES, Super NES, Genesis, and handhelds, cheat codes were all the rage. There was no internet back then. You’d ALWAYS go straight to the magazine rack area at Target, Walgreens, Walmart, B. Dalton, Borders Books, Barnes & Noble (or to someplace else with a good magazine rack of game magazines) just to check out the newly discovered cheat codes…and I’d go there all sneaky-like with a piece of scratch paper and pen to write them all down.
Back then, you might have one or two subscriptions to things like EGM or Game Informer, but if you didn’t have a job or super-understanding parents, you didn’t have enough money to buy all the magazines you needed to keep up with the codes you wanted/needed, and the compilation books of cheat codes they had were never new enough to include the brand new games that just released that month). Living back then was definitely something. Instant gratification? Nope. It was delayed gratification, and it felt all the sweeter when you FINALLY got that cheat code you wanted.
@Skyliner @nomither6 Perhaps it just depends on where you live and who you know. Worldwide you’re likely right, but anecdotally, two of my best friends both have an XBox X, and they both bought it over the PS5 because the gaming friends they made with XBox 360 and XBox One playing COD and Battlefield had upgraded to the XBox X, and my friends specifically wanted to keep playing COD and Battlefield with those guys.
“The Xbox Series X|S port of Helldivers 2 is killing it.” Of course it is. Since the XBox 360, Microsoft’s machines are, by reputation, shooters’ systems. For years and years (and even more years), if you want to play a shooter—like COD, Gears of War, Battlefield, or Halo, the XBox is the system you buy. That’s their bread and butter, and their systems play ‘em well.
The better question is why is Helldivers 2 only rated 4 stars, and since I haven’t played the XBox version, I can’t comment on whether the game looks and plays better/worse than PS5. That said, I have theories! 1) The game got overhyped, and when it finally released for XBox, the reaction was “yeah, it’s pretty good.” 2) Enough Sony haters/XBox fanboys bought a copy and decided to slam the ratings and it affected the overall numbers. 3) Many Microsoft gamers get their games free through their Gamepass thing, so even paying just $39.99 wasn’t the “deal” that Sony users felt it was on the PS5.
I don’t understand myself. I have four or five pool games from the past couple of Sony systems, yet a new version of Pool Pro comes out and I’m, like, ooh, shiny balls! Will the chalk go “poof” like it did on the last version of Pool Pro? Will the balls make that same satisfying “ka-plunk” sound when they fall in their pockets?
Fascinating! I do enjoy FMV games with choices, so I’ll probably pick this up.
As an aside, if you enjoy FMV games, the new one (from Sept 2025) by Wales Interactive is pretty dang good—it’s called Dead Reset. It’s a space horror game, much like the movies Alien/Aliens, and when you die with the wrong choices made (which you will, repeatedly), you respawn, much like that really good Tom Cruise movie, Edge of Tomorrow (Live. Die. Repeat.). Definitely worth a look.
Also, @get2sammyb please update PushSquare’s FMV game page and the Wales Interactive page to list Dead Reset. 👍
1. Is this the first time the same player has donned the cover of MLB The Show in multiple years?
2. Aaron Judge was the AL MVP (and Shohei Otani was the NL MVP), so it makes sense that one of ‘em would be on the cover. That said, would it spark more interest in the game if the cover had both Judge AND Otani…like a west vs. east or AL vs. NL kind-of thing?
3. Instead of just Judge on the cover, would the cover spark more interest if it featured a whole team of players (a la the winning World Series team) rather than just one guy? I realize it may be easier to market a superstar player than a whole team of players, but baseball IS a team sport, so why is the winning team’s success not the main focus? (And NO, I’m neither a Dodgers nor Blue Jays fan. I’m a Twins fan from southern Minnesota.). 🧢
I’ll scream it from the mountain tops: PS+ Premium should also regularly include a PSVR/PSVR 2 game.
Do you know what got me to buy a used PSVR? It was the fact that there were a bunch of VR games that were playable on PS+: Moss, Astrobot, Transference, Werewolves Within, Walking Dead Sinners & Saints, and others.
I knew that if I plunked down a couple hundred bucks on a VR headset, I’d be able to immediately play some quality VR games with good variety without it immediately further impacting my finances. That, in and of itself, sold me on buying the PSVR. And if Sony wants the PSVR 2 to sell, that’s what they need to do NOW.
Do you know what sold me on PSVR 2? My awesome experience with playing the PS+ games for PSVR and knowing the PSVR 2 games would be even more awesome. But, many gamers didn’t try out those PSVR games, so they’re still skeptical of VR, and skepticism doesn’t lead to sales.
Long story short, PSVR 2 will continue to be a niche product until Sony steps up and makes it a priority to support their products and products’ customers. PSVR 2 games for PS+ Premium! Make it so, Sony.
(And, yes, RE: Village IS playable as a PSVR 2 game, but there’s no mention of that in their marketing, so Sony’s not even capitalizing on that.)
I don’t have any of the three games, though I can’t say any of them truly excite me. That said, it’s fine. I just wish we’d get more bang for the buck with PS+ Premium, meaning I’d love it if they gave us a PSVR2 game every month in addition to the PS1/PS2 games.
I do really enjoy the Katamari games, though I haven’t played To a T. It looks quirky and somewhat interesting, though I likely wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it unless it was really cheap. Too many games, not enough money.
That said, PS+ could do a WAAAAY better job of including more indie games into the service. I realize lots of people love getting big, AAA games through PS+, but for me, PS+ is best when it introduces me to games I’ve never heard of and gives me variety.
A co-worker of mine has the Avatar game; he says it’s good, but ultimately is just a re-skinning of a FarCry game. Thoughts? Is he correct or is he full of baloney?
As for the new 3rd person mode and the DLC: If the new DLC were to come out as a standalone game so that I didn’t have to buy the Avatar game first, well, that’d be an entry point I’d be willing to enter. But, unless the main game gets put on PS+ or drops in price to oh, about $9.99, I’ll likely pass.
Nice! As soon as I hear this has been released, I’ll be getting it.
As an aside, the PS5 has NO traditional crossword puzzle games. (Those games by POWGI don’t count as there aren’t typical crossword clues offered.) C’mon devs. Get a clue! 😉
Here’s the idea: Make a “Sony’s Arcade” where the user enters an old 1980s-style arcade, and then put a stand-up Concord machine in there so that you can play some of it. They wouldn’t have to have the complete game of it then…just a couple of locations with skirmishes. If they went this route with the game, they could then incorporate older Sony titles into the mix, too, like Warhawk, Dark Kingdom, Mag, Beat Sketch, Sorcery, Aquatic Holiday, Buzz trivia, When Vikings Attack, Starhawk, Tokyo Jungle, and so on…lots of unique Sony titles exist, and they’d be awesome to bring back in decent-sized doses.
The Vita was great because my daughter could watch her kids’ shows on the tv and I could play a game on the Vita. I do have a Portal but don’t play it a whole lot; I used it a lot on vacation, though, and it works great as an extra PS5 controller when a friend comes over.
I am impressed by its response time—it doesn’t lag, though streaming a game like PS+’s PS3 game Hot Shots Golf World Invitational can be a bit more challenging to get the timing just right.
Is the Portal really popular? The local Pawn America has a bunch of ‘em for sale for $134.99, and they all look brand new and untouched.
My biggest problem with Portal is that it’s big, bulky, and heavy, and my hands get sore holding it for long stretches of time. That said, the vibrant picture is brilliant, the sound is great, the screen is a nice size to see all the graphical details. Battery life is good. I’d love to bring it to work and use it on my lunches and breaks, but I’m afraid it’d be stolen. So, most of the time it sits in its carrying case, which cost an extra $30.
Here’s the three point plan to regain that inner fire and make a game that’ll excite players and make a difference in the real world:
1. License the IP to Sony Interactive Entertainment;
2. Sony assigns BluePoint to remake Just Cause 3; and
3. Avalanche takes the money made (from licensing the Just Cause IP to SIE) and ramps up design and production on a new IP called, get this, “Avalanche.” It’ll be a bit like the Sly Stallone movie Cliffhanger…it’ll include expedition planning and resource management (a la Oregon Trail), crude crafting (a la Far Cry), in-depth triaged injury scenarios (a la Night Shift), extensive usage of real first aid techniques (a la ???) and life-saving surgery techniques (a la Surgery Simulator/Autopsy Simulator), intense mountain climbing (a la Jusant/Uncharted or Tomb Raider on steroids), cave exploration (a la Tomb Raider/Uncharted) with digging (a la Cave Digger), and snow shoe-use, cross-country & downhill skiing (a la Steep).
End result: We’d get the remake of Just Cause 3 we all want, and we’d get an awesome new game, too. Yeah, it’d be totally sweet. 🤣🤣
@LazyDaisy Interesting. I just remember him liking Nintendo back in the days when everyone had a Wii, Microsoft was surging with their XBox 360, and PS3 was struggling. That’s when I used to see Pachter all over the place on the internet. But maybe my memories are misleading me and I’m way off. Hmm.
The PushSquare Pachter pic has to be 6-7 years old, I’d guess. His hair is much more white now, and he looks a bit more grizzled.
I used to enjoy listening to Michael Pachter when he was on YouTube regularly. (If he’s still on YouTube regularly, the videos aren’t showing up in my feed anymore.) He’s an interesting guy, and I disagree with him a lot of the time, but his voice is still worth hearing, if for no other reason than to hear an alternative perspective. I mostly remember that he seemed to be big on Nintendo and then Microsoft…and not so much on Sony.
I’ll just say this: Don’t underestimate the power of the video game console market. People like console systems. I don’t see that changing. Sony is in a good position to continue thriving, but they better not be resting on their laurels or taking their customers for granted. They did that back in the beginning of the PS3 days by overpricing the system, and they struggled to catch up to Microsoft for the entirety of that console generation.
It’d be interesting to have a game mechanic in Borderlands whereby when you pick up a new gun, it might tell you what the gun does, but you only find out how powerful and accurate and recoil-y the gun is by using it, and the more you use it, the more it can level up and improve. That way, you’d always be looking for different kinds of guns with different modifiers in your quest to find that one perfect gun that you really love and then can work to level up. And, of course, the more you use a gun and level it up, the more you could sell it for. Anyway, it’s just a thought.
@StitchJones I remember those days fondly. Back in then, the idea of consoles like the SNES and Genesis reproducing the graphical and sound quality of the arcade versions seemed like such a fantastical, futuristic, fantasy world dream. But, hey, that’s exactly why arcades were so damn awesome: The games there were always waaay better than the home console versions. That said, it never stopped us from buying the SNES/Genesis games. 😁
I distinctly remember scouring through four or five different video game magazines’ previews and reviews again and again—as many video game magazines as I could get my hands on—to compare the graphics and to know which console version got the best review score so that I’d know what to save for. The Genesis version with blood mode—yeah, that was the good one!
Looking back, it’s silly how important it was to me that MK and MKII had blood in them. It was sooo realistic! 🤣
Been hooked on Vampire Survivors for a few months now. Loads of fun, and it seems there’s always something more to unlock. I haven’t played Brotato, but I can recommend Nerd Survivors; it’s also a lot of fun. And Halls of Torment? Looks awesome,
On a whim I bought a game on sale called Nobody Wants to Die. The noir setting and Blade Runner-esque world you’re in look and feel fantastic. I’m only about an hour into the game, but I feel I’ve already gotten my $10 worth. Definitely watch a trailer or read a review on it. I’d never heard of it before, but I’m glad I clicked on it in the store. (I saw it in the Under $15 sale.)
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Re: Poll: Are You Hyped for These 10 New PS Plus Games?
Are people just tired or bored with the Sniper Elite games? Sniper Elite: Resistance is a great game.
Ball x Pit is a great game, too. The rest? Meh, though the Date Everything game is pretty funny and a lot better than what I expected.
Re: Gran Turismo 7 Upgraded to Spec 4 in October and December 2026
@Brockybrock Thanks for all the detail! I appreciate it. The question I need an answer for is this: Is it fun enough to keep my interest going even if I don’t have a wheel? I just don’t have an extra couple hundred dollars for a wheel.
Re: Gran Turismo 7 Upgraded to Spec 4 in October and December 2026
Ok, I admit it—I know next to nothing about GT7. I know people love it, it includes PSVR2 support (which is supposedly great), and it likely continues making money through micro transactions of credits that are used to buy more exotic cars.
Ok, here’s the question…
—If you’ve already unlocked a ton of cars through in-game progression, how many do you have vs. how many are you regularly using? And are people spending all their money on microtransactions just to own all the cars? Is that the big appeal or over-arching goal of GT7?
I’d guess there are a handful of cars that most gamers use because they really like the “feel” of how those cars drive. But what about all the rest of the cars you already own? Probably only used if the race requires it. Am I way wrong?
Sorry, I don’t mean to be so clueless—that’s why I’m trying to understand. If you love GT7, what’s the appeal that keeps bringing you back (vs. playing a different racing game)?
Re: Ratchet & Clank's PS5 Re-Release Will Have a Platinum Trophy When It Comes to PS Plus Premium
Yaay, you won’t need to stream the PS3 version any longer. Now you can stream the PS5 version. 😋
Re: 'Reasonable Consumers' Know They Don't Own Digital Games, Says Sony
Sony used to let Microsoft executives say all the dumb stuff out loud to the press, but nowadays the Sony execs just can’t seem to help themselves. All that consumer trust Sony lost during the PS3 days and had to rebuild like crazy with both gamers and indie developers to make the PS4 and PS5 successful…it’s as if Sony hasn’t learned a damn thing. Open mouth, insert virtual foot and byte.
Re: Give Double Fine $100 Million and It'll Make Brutal Legend 2
For one hundred million dollars, it’d have to be a Legendarily Brutal game featuring Tenacious D, Spinal Tap, Wyld Stallyns, Gwar, Winger, the ghosts of Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy Kilmeister and Gene Simmons’ tongue. It’d be a four player couch or online drop-in/-out game with one player controlling where the minions square off, while the other three players use Rock Band guitars to duke it out against those opposing forces. Real time strategy with rock challenges and tower defense…and some levels where the guitarists have to play their guitars at certain times to make their characters run, jump, punch and kick their way through Kung Fu masters. Yeah.
Re: 'No Talk of Sony Changing Strategy': Industry Veteran Rubbishes Recent Disc-Based Reversal Rumours
It’d be awesome if the PS6 disc drive served no purpose except to play Sega Dreamcast games and 4.7 GB DVD discs.
—Q: Is GTA 6 available for PS6 on disc?
——A: Sure is, guys! The 25-disc standard edition of GTA 6 will be available at retailers worldwide. Meanwhile, the GOTY edition comes in a lovely 67-disc collector’s tin and includes both a handsome pair of XXL-size men’s boxer shorts AND a 16”x24” full-color poster, featuring a hand-drawn city map of Vice City spread across both cheeks of an exotic dancer’s heinie (Note: distance not to scale).
Re: 10 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for August 2026 Announced
Wow, impressive list. Already own most of them, but for those who’ve not played ‘em, enjoy!! Vampire Survivors is fantastic. Dying Light 2 is good. Two Point Museum is great. Metro Exodus is excellent. Helldivers 2 is fantastic.
Haven’t tried Kingdom Come 2 or Hell is Us, so those are the two I’ll be checking out. Great month. Best month in ages!
Re: EA's Controversial $55 Billion Buyout to Close Next Week
The going price for EA is $55 Billion. What does that mean exactly?
If you were to stack $55 billion in crisp, uncirculated $100 bills perfectly on top of each other, the stack would reach 37.33 miles (60.07 kilometers) high. This massive tower of cash would pierce through the Earth's troposphere and stand deep inside the stratosphere.
Compared to the height of Mount Everest: The $100 stack of money would be 6.7 times taller than the mountain.
It’d be nearly 6 times higher than an airplane’s cruising altitude.
It’d be more than halfway to the edge of space.
Or, if the bills were turned on their side, it’d be the about the distance from my house to the biggest candy store in the state of Minnesota. 🤘
Re: EA's Controversial $55 Billion Buyout to Close Next Week
Fifty-five billion with twenty billion in debt financing?
1) What’s the interest rate?
2) How many monthly payments will it take to pay it off? And
3) What’s their monthly payment to JP Morgan?
I’m not exactly sure what that all means, but I’ll do the math according to what I THINK it means. If the $20B financed money is what they have to pay back over time (using an online loan calculator)…
$20,000,000,000 ($20B) financed x 30 years (360 monthly payments) at a super low, low 3.99% interest rate is as follows:
They will need to pay $95,367,792.57 every month for 30 years to payoff the debt. SAY WHAT? That’s a $95.37 Million loan payment EVERY MONTH for the next 30 years.
Yeah, I know…it’s just pocket change. 🤣
Amount financed = $20 Billion
Total of 360 Payments = $34,332,405,324.05 ($34.3 Billion)
Total Interest = $14,332,405,324.05 ($14.3 Billion)
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for August 2026?
I played a couple of hours on Dying Light 2 when it was in PS+ as an Extra selection. It’s okay, but if I’d really enjoyed it, I would’ve played more of it back then. If the PS+ game this month was instead the Dying Light Beast game, that’d be a good, new game worth putting some time into, and I’d feel like it was a really good, solid PS+ month.
My idea: I’d rather Sony give us a list of, say, 5-10 indie games and we’d pick out the one or two we wanted for our PS+ game(s) of the month. That way, Sony would still be highlighting and celebrating indie developers and specific great indie games, PS+ subscribers would have more of a say in what we get for our PS+ game(s), and the indie devs would likely love it, too. Why? It’s because there’s a damn good chance that we PS+ subscribers would be smitten with more than just the one game on Sony's list of choosable indie titles, and we’d pony up some additional dough to buy a couple of the other games on the list.
Re: 'The Way It Was Meant to Be Heard': Tone-Deaf Sony Pushes Vinyl Turntable After Killing Physical Games
The decision to eliminate physical disc media is due to myriad reasons, but likely first and foremost it’s Sony wanting to release a PS6 at a lower price point, like, below $1,000. And, manufacture and distribution of discs (setting brick and mortar stores up with gobs of physical media that may or may not sell well) can’t be a money maker for Sony, either. Sony also has to sell the physical media to stores for a lesser amount so that the stores can make their profit, too. And when the games don’t sell, the stores eventually ship the unsold goods back to Sony and get credit back for the unsold returned physical media, and that eats at Sony’s bottom line, too. Sony then has to destroy the discs, which costs even more money for Sony, or Sony could redistribute the discs to other retailers, likely at a reduced cost, which also cuts into the profits. I know there are loyal physical media fans that don’t want to see their discs and disc drives go away, but the whole “physical media to brick and mortar stores” just doesn’t make the profits that downloadable products do. Downloadables cut out the middle men as the products’ sales flow directly through Sony.
It’d be interesting to know exactly how much Sony makes for each $69.99 physical copy of a game vs. a $69.99 download-purchased game. It’s likely an eyebrow-raising amount. Gotta figure it’s, what, $10-15 more in profits for each download vs. physical media sale? Probably more.
Re: Halo: Campaign Evolved (PS5) - Xbox Icon Returns to Glory in This Heroic Remake
The most fun I had back in the day (with the original XBox version) was playing local multiplayer against my buddies.
@LiamCroft The game details info at the bottom of the page says this game is 1 player (4 online). Just making sure, here…
On any of the game modes, does this PS5 version have:
1) four player local multiplayer?
2) two player local multiplayer?
Thanks for the review!
Re: 'It's Totally, Totally Irrelevant': GameStop Boss Unfazed by Sony's Physical Discs Decision
Couple of thiughts:
1) It doesn’t surprise me that the GameStop CEO would say that Sony phasing out physical game media makes no difference to his company’s success. If he were to say that, yes, the loss of physical media would stink for GameStop, it could scare away his shareholders, and stock prices could plummet big time.
2) If GameStop were to merge with Hot Topic and Spencer Gifts, I could see some potential for continued $ucce$$. Both those stores have pop culture-related clothes, gifts, and collectibles, so they’d mesh well with GameStop and its current clientele.
3) How GameStop has $55B to even offer ebay is waaaay beyond me. I’m surprised they’ve lasted this long.
4) If GameStop hits rock bottom, perhaps they could rebrand themselves as a travel website focused on airplane tickets, hotel rooms, and sporting events…with some sports betting, too. Just imagine the marketing ideas! i.e. Buy airfare, hotel, and football ticket package and get $25 in sports betting credit on the site.
Re: Major Retailer Warns of PS5 Console Shortages in Light of GTA 6
Which games are ACTUAL HUGE system sellers?
For XBox, it’s Halo.
For Nintendo, it’s Zelda, Animal Crossing, Mario, and maybe Donkey Kong.
For Sony, it’s God of War, maybe The Last of Us…
For all systems, it’s GTA, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, Assassin’s Creed…
Re: EA Is Shutting Down Online Services for This Forgotten PS5, PS4 Racing Game
Thanks for the heads-up. I stink at racing games, but I do like them. Typically don’t play any races online, because, as I just stated, I stink at them. Anyway, after reading this article, I went back into the game and I’m now on, like, part 12 of the single player storyline. It’s fun so far, and setting the game up as a beginner racer does make it more enjoyable for me (I enjoy winning races—go figure!). Maybe I’ll try an online race today just to see if anyone is online. If they are, they’ll pick up an easy victory. 👍
Re: With PC Ports Scrapped, Sony Brings Back 'Only on PS5' Disclaimer
You can play PS5 games on a PC through the Remote Play app, right? There ya go, PC fans. 😛
Seriously, though, you don’t even need a PS5 to play a bunch of PS5 games, do you? Couldn’t you just buy a PS+ Premium membership (with no PS5) and then play any of those PS+ games through the cloud streaming app on your PC? Yeah, I know, you can’t jack up your gaming PC settings to make the games look super-sensational (and the games wouldn’t even be in 4K, but they’d still look and play pretty dang sharp at 1080p with 60 fps…and I’m betting that looks and plays a heck of a lot better than me trying to play anything on a PS5 Pro without my glasses). 😉
I know, I know, streaming a game onto PC isn’t as cool as playing a native PC version of a game, but it’s still 1000x better than my childhood years of playing Atari 2600 games on a black and white 19” tv. (And just think about this: I was the envy of my elementary school because I had over 70 games for the Atari 2600.) 🤣🤣 Man, times do change. 😀
Re: PS Plus Essential, Extra Games for June 2026 Announced
Glad they’re adding some multiplayer games. Pretty sure all (or nearly all) the recent mid-month titles they added to the collection were only one-player games, which is great…until a friend wants to play and we’re both in the mood to try something different.
That said, I already have Grounded, but that’s okay. It’s a good game—solo and online. Hopefully people will enjoy it.
Re: Reaction: I'm Sad It's Over, But Destiny's End Was Overdue
I was at the local Pawn America store last Saturday, and I checked out their video game section. (There’s nearly always a deal because some dumb boob employee doesn’t know what certain games are worth and, thus, underprices something.)
Unfortunately, I didn’t find any great PS4 or PS5 deals that day, but I did see they had, oh, about 25 different PS5 games…along with literally 20 used copies of Destiny 2. Ok, wait, wait…perhaps you’re thinking, yeah, but what’s the price? Maybe Destiny 2 is overpriced and that’s why there are so many of ‘em. To that, I say, “nope.” Destiny 2 was $1.99. (As a point of reference, there was 1 copy of Anthem; it was $4.99.) So, short story long, is it time for Destiny 2 to be done? Yep, it appears so.
It was a good run, Destiny 2. Happy trails.
Re: Directive 8020 (PS5) - Dull Sci-Fi Thriller Is a Supermassive Letdown
Supermassive has some great games, some good games, and some that are somewhere in-between good and great.
…Until Dawn-great
…Until Dawn Rush of Blood-very good
…Man of Medan-good, but the worst of ‘em
…Little Hope-very good
…House of Ashes-pretty good
…The Devil in Me-VERY good, my favorite of the Dark Pictures’ games
…Until Dawn Switchback-great
…The Quarry-VERY good for $10, just good if $70
…The Casting of Frank Stone-pretty good
All the games have silly quicktime events, and pretty much all the characters in all the games are flawed and/or blank slate-ish in personality—they’re supposed to be, and that’s what makes it a challenge when making decisions for the characters:
—Do you make choices based on how the game perceives them? Or…
—Do you make choices based on who you are and what you’d do if put in that situation?
As for the commenter who said that a 5/10 is too low and that PushSquare is an outlier, well…if the reviewer had given the game a 7 like everyone else, what’s the point in reading the review? It’d be the same as everyone else’s.
And, as for the commenter who said that this game shouldn’t be reviewed by someone who doesn’t play Supermassive games, I agree and disagree. I totally get it—you want an expert with experience to handle that review; they know how it compares to other games of its ilk. By having a fresh reviewer give this game a go, yes, it’s true, the score might not line up with other reviewers who’ve had more experience with Supermassive’s games, but it’s always fascinating to learn how and why they see a game as good (or not) from a fresh set of eyes.
Re: Planet Coaster 2's Major Free PS5 Update Lets You Make Arcades Complete with Official Atari Games
It’s a good idea. I’ll check it out! It’s literally a game changer. 😛
Always thought Arcade Paradise should’ve included Atari games as DLC. When one tires of washing the clothes and plunging the toilet, an Atari game always hits the spot.
Re: Rumour: Ubisoft Cancels Animal Crossing Competitor After 3 Years in Development
What a shame. It’s unfortunate all that work couldn’t be ported into a few levels of a different game—or simply released as a budget game. Hopefully there won’t be layoffs.
Remember that Abobo’s Big Adventure game where every level was a totally different game genre? I’d love to see some sort of Atari Mania-like spin but for Ubisoft. For all of these canceled games (or playable tech demos that never turned into full-fledged game experiences), toss in a level or two from each of Ubisoft’s canceled games and set the story up like, say, Tron: A kid gets sucked into a video game world while touring the Ubi factory, and he has to fight/live/survive/cozy/walk/blast his way through each game level to progress and make his way out alive. And all that hard work the devs did would finally see the light of day, in a nice, bite-sized, digestible format where it doesn’t matter if the fighting/shooting/building mechanics are too simplistic or the graphics aren’t up to today’s current standards. Variety rules supreme. Easy money!
Re: PS5 Players Flock to Free Game for Ridiculously Easy Platinum Trophy
I’m usually not one for shovelware, but if it’s semi-entertaining shovelware, ok, hand over the shovel. 💩
Say, if you like Qix-like games, I recommend Gal’s Panic S2 and Gal’s Panic S3. Problem is, they’re arcade games so they’d have to be played through PC on something like MAME. With all the arcade games that have been ported to PS4 and PS5, it’s a shame neither have been made available.
Re: Rumour: Call of Duty's $300 Million Xbox Game Pass Gambit Could End
@LowDefAl @Northern_munkey Interesting. The owner of the company where I used to work—for 13+ years—is one of the richest men in the US; he’s a billionaire just like Gates, Allen, and the like. Some might even say he’s a beacon of hope in a tempestuous sea. He donates millions to the local university—his and my alma mater—along with donating millions more to the local schools, and even more to the city’s library and local city center projects. He’s quite the upstanding guy to the public with all those donations, and the chamber of commerce loves the guy. Know what, though? He outsourced hundreds of local jobs overseas (which directly led to my being laid off—after I trained in all the overseas’ employees, that is). He closed down factories in seven states that had employed several hundred employees in each location, and for the positions he’s kept here in his hometown, he’s paying $12/hour with a max ceiling of $18, and many of those employees are divorced women with children who live in section 8 housing because they don’t earn enough to afford to live in places with normal rent prices. And while my tale is just one example (and I’ve now moved on to a better job with better pay elsewhere), I’m not alone.
But, hey, yeah! Some owners, CEOs, CFOs, etc., do a great job with donations…and they’re even better at keeping up appearances for the public. One $10M local donation can do wonders to mitigate the devastation from mass layoffs. But, hey, I get it: A for-profit business’ goal is to make money—as much as possible. If making more money means limiting wages, lowering/eliminating bonuses, getting rid of profit sharing, and capping raise percentages, so be it. And, if moving a business elsewhere where lower wages can be paid (while good, hardworking, loyal employees lose their jobs or deal with wage stagnation), so be it. The CEOs and decision makers are still good people, right?! 😉
One final point: If the billionaire employers had paid the workers what they should’ve been paid all along, perhaps those billionaires wouldn’t be billionaires. They’d only be hundred millionaires…or just millionaires. Perhaps they wouldn’t have had the funds to donate $10M for the new Student Union on campus or $20M for the university basketball stadium, but I’m guessing there’d be a lot more people in my town (and in many other cities where profitable factories were shuttered in favor of outsourcing overseas for even higher profit) who could afford to buy a house, who wouldn’t have to rely on reduced meal prices at schools, who could afford to donate money to charities, too.
About this Microsoft situation, I get it. They feel they can make more money by charging full price for Call of Duty. Ok. People will pay it. Supply and demand—if the game is good, there will be demand, and people will buy it. If I were CEO, I’d probably charge ‘em full price for the game, too. But I’m not CEO, and I don’t have a billion dollars. I’m a gamer with a PS5, and if prices get too high, I’ll either save up or I’ll go through my backlog of games and play ‘em till I’m caught up. I’m one of the lucky ones; I’ve got enough good games to keep me busy for quite a while. 👍
Re: Rumour: Call of Duty's $300 Million Xbox Game Pass Gambit Could End
Microsoft today is worth $2.75 Trillion. Their net income was up 36.68% year over year in the last fiscal quarter (end of 2025) and net income for that fiscal quarter was $38.46 Billion. So…if they squandered $300 Million in potential COD XBox profits, that’d mean their last QUARTER would’ve only netted them $38.16 Billion in income. That’s gotta be rough. Put up the white flag. Shut ‘er down! As Bill Paxton so eloquently stated in the movie Aliens, “Game over, man!” 🤣🤣🤣
Re: Rumour: Call of Duty's $300 Million Xbox Game Pass Gambit Could End
Bah! Internet says Bill Gates is worth $104 to $107 Billion, former CEO Steve Ballmer is even richer than Gates, and Paul Allen’s estate is worth more than $20 Billion. It’s about time the rich start giving back to the people. With those three alone, Game Pass could include Call of Duty for free about, oh, 833 more times. 🤣
Re: 'Sony Finally Understands': Over 70% of PS5 Fans Agree with Decision to Scrap PC Ports
I haven’t read anyone’s comment yet so my opinion isn’t being swayed by others…yet.
From a big company’s perspective, it makes sense to release a few of the biggest tentpole games onto different platforms, like PC and XBox. That way, you open other gamers’ eyes to your product. It grows awareness, whets gamers’ appetites for more, and adds to the fanbase. THEN, you pull back and release the next games in those flagpole IPs ONLY on PS6. Why? It gets all those new fans to, at bare minimum, HIGHLY CONSIDER investing in a PS6 to continue their journey with the new IPs they just learned to love.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if XBox does the exact same thing Sony’s doing: After releasing a bunch of their games onto PS4/PS5, Microsoft pulls back from Sony and decides to ONLY release their next games onto the next XBox. It’s a genius marketing move: It makes PS5-only users keenly aware of what they’re missing by not buying the next XBox system. Is it devious? Perhaps. But that’s business: Manufacture your own buzz and put consumers into positions where they now “must buy” the newest, hottest games…ONLY available on your system.
Re: Turns Out You Can Access God of War: Sons of Sparta's Locked-Off Co-Op Mode Early
The Konami code with L1, R1, Touch Screen replacing B, A, Start. Interesting. So it’s Gods of War (plural). 😉 Got it.
Do many modern video games even use cheat codes anymore? On NES, Super NES, Genesis, and handhelds, cheat codes were all the rage. There was no internet back then. You’d ALWAYS go straight to the magazine rack area at Target, Walgreens, Walmart, B. Dalton, Borders Books, Barnes & Noble (or to someplace else with a good magazine rack of game magazines) just to check out the newly discovered cheat codes…and I’d go there all sneaky-like with a piece of scratch paper and pen to write them all down.
Back then, you might have one or two subscriptions to things like EGM or Game Informer, but if you didn’t have a job or super-understanding parents, you didn’t have enough money to buy all the magazines you needed to keep up with the codes you wanted/needed, and the compilation books of cheat codes they had were never new enough to include the brand new games that just released that month). Living back then was definitely something. Instant gratification? Nope. It was delayed gratification, and it felt all the sweeter when you FINALLY got that cheat code you wanted.
Re: Here Is Why Sony Put Helldivers 2 on Xbox
@Skyliner @nomither6 Perhaps it just depends on where you live and who you know. Worldwide you’re likely right, but anecdotally, two of my best friends both have an XBox X, and they both bought it over the PS5 because the gaming friends they made with XBox 360 and XBox One playing COD and Battlefield had upgraded to the XBox X, and my friends specifically wanted to keep playing COD and Battlefield with those guys.
Re: Here Is Why Sony Put Helldivers 2 on Xbox
“The Xbox Series X|S port of Helldivers 2 is killing it.” Of course it is. Since the XBox 360, Microsoft’s machines are, by reputation, shooters’ systems. For years and years (and even more years), if you want to play a shooter—like COD, Gears of War, Battlefield, or Halo, the XBox is the system you buy. That’s their bread and butter, and their systems play ‘em well.
The better question is why is Helldivers 2 only rated 4 stars, and since I haven’t played the XBox version, I can’t comment on whether the game looks and plays better/worse than PS5. That said, I have theories!
1) The game got overhyped, and when it finally released for XBox, the reaction was “yeah, it’s pretty good.”
2) Enough Sony haters/XBox fanboys bought a copy and decided to slam the ratings and it affected the overall numbers.
3) Many Microsoft gamers get their games free through their Gamepass thing, so even paying just $39.99 wasn’t the “deal” that Sony users felt it was on the PS5.
Re: Pure Pool Pro Brings the Glossiest Balls You've Ever Seen to PS5 Next Week
I don’t understand myself. I have four or five pool games from the past couple of Sony systems, yet a new version of Pool Pro comes out and I’m, like, ooh, shiny balls! Will the chalk go “poof” like it did on the last version of Pool Pro? Will the balls make that same satisfying “ka-plunk” sound when they fall in their pockets?
Re: Blackmail Is at the Centre of This Potentially Unsettling PS5 Game
Fascinating! I do enjoy FMV games with choices, so I’ll probably pick this up.
As an aside, if you enjoy FMV games, the new one (from Sept 2025) by Wales Interactive is pretty dang good—it’s called Dead Reset. It’s a space horror game, much like the movies Alien/Aliens, and when you die with the wrong choices made (which you will, repeatedly), you respawn, much like that really good Tom Cruise movie, Edge of Tomorrow (Live. Die. Repeat.). Definitely worth a look.
Also, @get2sammyb please update PushSquare’s FMV game page and the Wales Interactive page to list Dead Reset. 👍
Re: MLB The Show 26 PS5 Release Date, Cover Star Officially Revealed
Three questions:
1. Is this the first time the same player has donned the cover of MLB The Show in multiple years?
2. Aaron Judge was the AL MVP (and Shohei Otani was the NL MVP), so it makes sense that one of ‘em would be on the cover. That said, would it spark more interest in the game if the cover had both Judge AND Otani…like a west vs. east or AL vs. NL kind-of thing?
3. Instead of just Judge on the cover, would the cover spark more interest if it featured a whole team of players (a la the winning World Series team) rather than just one guy? I realize it may be easier to market a superstar player than a whole team of players, but baseball IS a team sport, so why is the winning team’s success not the main focus? (And NO, I’m neither a Dodgers nor Blue Jays fan. I’m a Twins fan from southern Minnesota.). 🧢
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for January 2026?
I’ll scream it from the mountain tops: PS+ Premium should also regularly include a PSVR/PSVR 2 game.
Do you know what got me to buy a used PSVR? It was the fact that there were a bunch of VR games that were playable on PS+: Moss, Astrobot, Transference, Werewolves Within, Walking Dead Sinners & Saints, and others.
I knew that if I plunked down a couple hundred bucks on a VR headset, I’d be able to immediately play some quality VR games with good variety without it immediately further impacting my finances. That, in and of itself, sold me on buying the PSVR. And if Sony wants the PSVR 2 to sell, that’s what they need to do NOW.
Do you know what sold me on PSVR 2? My awesome experience with playing the PS+ games for PSVR and knowing the PSVR 2 games would be even more awesome. But, many gamers didn’t try out those PSVR games, so they’re still skeptical of VR, and skepticism doesn’t lead to sales.
Long story short, PSVR 2 will continue to be a niche product until Sony steps up and makes it a priority to support their products and products’ customers. PSVR 2 games for PS+ Premium! Make it so, Sony.
(And, yes, RE: Village IS playable as a PSVR 2 game, but there’s no mention of that in their marketing, so Sony’s not even capitalizing on that.)
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for January 2026 Announced
I don’t have any of the three games, though I can’t say any of them truly excite me. That said, it’s fine. I just wish we’d get more bang for the buck with PS+ Premium, meaning I’d love it if they gave us a PSVR2 game every month in addition to the PS1/PS2 games.
Re: 'If I Don't Belong in the Games Industry, I'll Have to Look Elsewhere': Keita Takashashi Moves Back to Japan After To a T Flopped
I do really enjoy the Katamari games, though I haven’t played To a T. It looks quirky and somewhat interesting, though I likely wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it unless it was really cheap. Too many games, not enough money.
That said, PS+ could do a WAAAAY better job of including more indie games into the service. I realize lots of people love getting big, AAA games through PS+, but for me, PS+ is best when it introduces me to games I’ve never heard of and gives me variety.
Re: Preview: Avatar PS5 Is Transformed in Third-Person, Expanded in From the Ashes DLC
A co-worker of mine has the Avatar game; he says it’s good, but ultimately is just a re-skinning of a FarCry game. Thoughts? Is he correct or is he full of baloney?
As for the new 3rd person mode and the DLC: If the new DLC were to come out as a standalone game so that I didn’t have to buy the Avatar game first, well, that’d be an entry point I’d be willing to enter. But, unless the main game gets put on PS+ or drops in price to oh, about $9.99, I’ll likely pass.
Re: Shovel Knight Dev Might Live or Die Based on the Sales of Mina the Hollower
Here’s a solution: Sony, pump ‘em up with some funds by making Shovel Knight available on PS+.
But, hey, if they sell Mina the Hollower as it is, it’s not false advertising…it’ll be more hollow than what most people think it should be.
Re: The Next Game from the Makers of GoldenEye and TimeSplitters Is Balatro Meets Scrabble
Nice! As soon as I hear this has been released, I’ll be getting it.
As an aside, the PS5 has NO traditional crossword puzzle games. (Those games by POWGI don’t count as there aren’t typical crossword clues offered.) C’mon devs. Get a clue! 😉
Re: Valve Won't Subsidise Steam Machine, Expected to Be Pricier Than More Powerful PS5
“(The price) is more in line with what you can expect from the current PC market.”
And THAT is why VALVE’s Steam machine won’t overtake Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft as the best, most popular console on the market anytime soon.
Re: Sony Trying to Silence Concord Revival Project After Fans Brought PS5, PC Disaster Back
Here’s the idea: Make a “Sony’s Arcade” where the user enters an old 1980s-style arcade, and then put a stand-up Concord machine in there so that you can play some of it. They wouldn’t have to have the complete game of it then…just a couple of locations with skirmishes. If they went this route with the game, they could then incorporate older Sony titles into the mix, too, like Warhawk, Dark Kingdom, Mag, Beat Sketch, Sorcery, Aquatic Holiday, Buzz trivia, When Vikings Attack, Starhawk, Tokyo Jungle, and so on…lots of unique Sony titles exist, and they’d be awesome to bring back in decent-sized doses.
Re: Poll: Is PS Portal the Biggest Surprise Hit of the PS5 Generation?
The Vita was great because my daughter could watch her kids’ shows on the tv and I could play a game on the Vita. I do have a Portal but don’t play it a whole lot; I used it a lot on vacation, though, and it works great as an extra PS5 controller when a friend comes over.
I am impressed by its response time—it doesn’t lag, though streaming a game like PS+’s PS3 game Hot Shots Golf World Invitational can be a bit more challenging to get the timing just right.
Is the Portal really popular? The local Pawn America has a bunch of ‘em for sale for $134.99, and they all look brand new and untouched.
My biggest problem with Portal is that it’s big, bulky, and heavy, and my hands get sore holding it for long stretches of time. That said, the vibrant picture is brilliant, the sound is great, the screen is a nice size to see all the graphical details. Battery life is good. I’d love to bring it to work and use it on my lunches and breaks, but I’m afraid it’d be stolen. So, most of the time it sits in its carrying case, which cost an extra $30.
Re: After Xbox's Contraband Cancellation, Don't Expect Another Just Cause Game
Here’s the three point plan to regain that inner fire and make a game that’ll excite players and make a difference in the real world:
1. License the IP to Sony Interactive Entertainment;
2. Sony assigns BluePoint to remake Just Cause 3; and
3. Avalanche takes the money made (from licensing the Just Cause IP to SIE) and ramps up design and production on a new IP called, get this, “Avalanche.” It’ll be a bit like the Sly Stallone movie Cliffhanger…it’ll include expedition planning and resource management (a la Oregon Trail), crude crafting (a la Far Cry), in-depth triaged injury scenarios (a la Night Shift), extensive usage of real first aid techniques (a la ???) and life-saving surgery techniques (a la Surgery Simulator/Autopsy Simulator), intense mountain climbing (a la Jusant/Uncharted or Tomb Raider on steroids), cave exploration (a la Tomb Raider/Uncharted) with digging (a la Cave Digger), and snow shoe-use, cross-country & downhill skiing (a la Steep).
End result: We’d get the remake of Just Cause 3 we all want, and we’d get an awesome new game, too. Yeah, it’d be totally sweet. 🤣🤣
Re: PS Plus Looks Better Than Ever After New Xbox Game Pass Price Rises
For a cost of $30/month, it should be more like a phone contract—with a 3 year contract and the user would get the XBox for free.
Re: Sony Is a 'Terrible Company' That's 'Blowing It in the Games Business', Says Michael Pachter
@LazyDaisy Interesting. I just remember him liking Nintendo back in the days when everyone had a Wii, Microsoft was surging with their XBox 360, and PS3 was struggling. That’s when I used to see Pachter all over the place on the internet. But maybe my memories are misleading me and I’m way off. Hmm.
Re: Sony Is a 'Terrible Company' That's 'Blowing It in the Games Business', Says Michael Pachter
The PushSquare Pachter pic has to be 6-7 years old, I’d guess. His hair is much more white now, and he looks a bit more grizzled.
I used to enjoy listening to Michael Pachter when he was on YouTube regularly. (If he’s still on YouTube regularly, the videos aren’t showing up in my feed anymore.) He’s an interesting guy, and I disagree with him a lot of the time, but his voice is still worth hearing, if for no other reason than to hear an alternative perspective. I mostly remember that he seemed to be big on Nintendo and then Microsoft…and not so much on Sony.
I’ll just say this: Don’t underestimate the power of the video game console market. People like console systems. I don’t see that changing. Sony is in a good position to continue thriving, but they better not be resting on their laurels or taking their customers for granted. They did that back in the beginning of the PS3 days by overpricing the system, and they struggled to catch up to Microsoft for the entirety of that console generation.
Re: Borderlands 4 (PS5) - A Chaotic Return That Shoots Straight, Even if Its Performance Stutters
It’d be interesting to have a game mechanic in Borderlands whereby when you pick up a new gun, it might tell you what the gun does, but you only find out how powerful and accurate and recoil-y the gun is by using it, and the more you use it, the more it can level up and improve. That way, you’d always be looking for different kinds of guns with different modifiers in your quest to find that one perfect gun that you really love and then can work to level up. And, of course, the more you use a gun and level it up, the more you could sell it for. Anyway, it’s just a thought.
Re: 'Finish Him': Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection Launches 30th October on PS5, PS4
@StitchJones I remember those days fondly. Back in then, the idea of consoles like the SNES and Genesis reproducing the graphical and sound quality of the arcade versions seemed like such a fantastical, futuristic, fantasy world dream. But, hey, that’s exactly why arcades were so damn awesome: The games there were always waaay better than the home console versions. That said, it never stopped us from buying the SNES/Genesis games. 😁
I distinctly remember scouring through four or five different video game magazines’ previews and reviews again and again—as many video game magazines as I could get my hands on—to compare the graphics and to know which console version got the best review score so that I’d know what to save for. The Genesis version with blood mode—yeah, that was the good one!
Looking back, it’s silly how important it was to me that MK and MKII had blood in them. It was sooo realistic! 🤣
Re: Popular Vampire Survivors Alternative Halls of Torment Is Auto-Attacking PS5 Soon
Been hooked on Vampire Survivors for a few months now. Loads of fun, and it seems there’s always something more to unlock. I haven’t played Brotato, but I can recommend Nerd Survivors; it’s also a lot of fun. And Halls of Torment? Looks awesome,
Re: 35+ PS5, PS4 Games to Buy in PS Store's PlayStation Indies Sale (North America/Europe)
On a whim I bought a game on sale called Nobody Wants to Die. The noir setting and Blade Runner-esque world you’re in look and feel fantastic. I’m only about an hour into the game, but I feel I’ve already gotten my $10 worth. Definitely watch a trailer or read a review on it. I’d never heard of it before, but I’m glad I clicked on it in the store. (I saw it in the Under $15 sale.)