Comments 286

Re: Poll: Are You Playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?

michaelf

Not for me. I’ll give it a go if it ever ends up on Plus Essential. I’d rather have played Justice League: kill the Suicide Squad. Single player, not GaaS, natch.

I’ve loved the former team since the reading their comics from 1980’s and couldn’t give two hoots about the latter.

Re: Rumour: PS5 Pro Specs Could Leak Very Soon as Dev Kits Go Out to Studios

michaelf

I bought a PS4pro on release (it’s now my dedicated PSVR machine) but I won’t be replacing my PS5 with an interim pro model.

The current one does me well; it services my PS4 backlog and it entertains me with a select choice of PS5 games. I don’t need to get the machine with the best specs and tbh I don’t have the “wow” factor of this gen like I did with the PS4.

I do think it’s a good idea to have such a machine exist, as it can push developers or enable existing ideas to be realised - and great for those new to this generation.

It’s just not for me.

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for December 2023 Announced

michaelf

These three aren’t anywhere near any ‘must buy’ lists, and they’re totally not AAA (or arguably AA), but they are collectively worth the £5 this month’s PS+ has cost me (I stacked on the old price until Nov 2024), so I’ll add them. I added nothing last month.

So 2023’s PS+ Essential list has added around 20 games out of the selection to my library this year. These are the ones I will play, not adding for the sake of it.

So PS+ E has been worth the annual expenditure for the year for me. Hopefully 2024 will be ‘better’ !

Re: Oh No! Ubisoft Appears to Be Testing In-Game Ads in Old Assassin's Creed Titles

michaelf

AC: Mirage has adverts on the righthand screen of the opening menu. Whilst I tut at that, it's kinda acceptable there. Within the game, having adverts for real-world items is just not acceptable and for me, this will be an insta-avoid for any PS game that does this.

It tells me that the publishers believe that paying customers are nothing more than exploitable bags of cash and they should be unequivocally targeted at every opportunity. Which in all reasonableness, has been the attitude for a couple of decades at least in the gaming world.

There used to be the balance between consumer and provider, with the consumer getting an item for a fair price. This balance has long since gone, with consumers totally exploitable and nothing more than percentages on a spreadsheet for shareholders to solely reap the benefits.

But that's capitalism for ya!

Re: Guide: PS Portal FAQ - All Your Questions Answered

michaelf

Here’s a question I’ve not seen an answer to. Can you connect the Portal to your phone’s mobile hotspot?

I’ve successfully, and with a decent experience, played via Remote Play on my phone using just a strong 5G signal, so interested in the answer.

If it’s a no, then my iPhone+Backbone One may be the better option

Re: Sony Delays Six Live Service PS5 Games, But Company Remains Committed to Model

michaelf

Whilst I'm uninterested in playing this type of game; I'm pretty much a single player game type of guy, this sentence in the quote from the main article is interesting, and appears to be nuanced differently from the general '12 live service game' message. Or at least that's how I'm reading it!

The sentence is "That’s the total number of live service and multiplayers titles" - note if this was purely live service, there wouldn't need the "and multiplayer" wording there, so perhaps there is a mix of live service games and multiplayer-focussed (like CoD is).

Or just a consequence of translations ...

Time will tell, I guess.

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for November 2023 Announced

michaelf

Aliens will get tried; was looking at buying but playing solo, so having it on plus means I’m forking out any additional money.

Mafia 2 remastered is an interesting choice as this version totally panned in the Push Square review and I’ve still got the PS3 version from Plus many years ago!

The other game doesn’t pique my interest.

Whilst the ‘there’s something for everyone’ mantra, I remember getting AA & AAA games on PS+ for PS3 and PS4 more often than not whereas now Sony doesn’t appear to be upping their gaming quality to justify the PS+ price increase.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 497

michaelf

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage for the most part. Had an hour or so last night and seems decent so far. Also had a handful of Evercade games pop thru the post too, so will be playing the Sunsoft and Delphine collections too.

Will find some time for No Man’s Sky too, which has been sat on my ‘to download’ list for a good while but took the plunge on PS5 a couple of weeks ago and I’m very happy wandering around, doing random stuff and occasionally progressing the story, such as it is!

Re: Delete PlayStation Account Search Traffic Rockets Following Alleged Security Breach

michaelf

@themightyant absolutely. I agree with everything that you're saying. I have to deal with this type of event as my day job, and if there is no investigations, due diligence carried out to confirm what is being said, then I'd not be doing my job.

In this particular instance, I'd be not taking the Hacker's "proof" as gospel whatsoever, however I would be having my Cyber Team carrying out forensic work and reviewing logs et al to determine if there's any shred of evidence in their claim.

Re: Delete PlayStation Account Search Traffic Rockets Following Alleged Security Breach

michaelf

@themightyant exactly and if there has been anyone affected, they need to be informed, again, as promptly as possible. As a DPO, this is one of the 'worst' parts of my job.

But it needs to to happen, so the data subjects can reasonably respond to the information as quickly as possible.

We are still none the wiser if there has been any confirmed breach and if Sony are keeping silent when they know otherwise, without informing any affected data subjects, then that's not good. Especially if this has the potential to affect people across multiple countries.

Re: Marvel's Avengers Is Dirt Cheap Ahead of Getting Thanos Snapped Later This Month

michaelf

The single-player campaign and the DLC are generally worth playing, especially if you can buy it for a fiver. The game has plenty of 'same thing again' moments, from destroying big baddies to loot n shoot type cycles, but there's also plenty of other games that do that too.

It's not the best game since sliced bread, but it's hardly the worst game in existence and as I paid £17 for the disc version, and happy with it, £4.49 in my eyes is absolutely worth it.

Re: Secret PS5 Firmware Update Feature Spotlights Your Wall of Shame

michaelf

Just checked mine; all small fry compared to most peoples here! And all firmly from the PS4 era too:

1. Days Gone - 138 hrs;
2. Batman: Arkham Knight - 117 hours;
3. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - 110 hours.

The only other 100+ hour game is Assassin’s Creed: Unity at 102 hours. I haven’t played any of the later AC games, so I’m sure this will change when I do!

The longest PS5 game is Gotham Knights at 54 hours!

Re: Baldur's Gate 3 (PS5) - One of the Greatest RPGs of Our Time

michaelf

@Savage_Joe sounds like a you problem to me. Game will be purchased on PS5, knowing the limitations and restrictions of said hardware. I understand that chapter 3 on PC has had some performance issues, due to be resolved by patching. That may or may not assist with the PS5 version, but if it does; wonderful. If it doesn’t and it’s not game-breaking, I’ll deal with it. It’s kinda what you have to do, knowing in advance what your hardware limitations are

Re: Reminder: Last Chance to Stack PS Plus Subscriptions Before Price Rise

michaelf

I did this, this morning. Logically, it's a bit silly for me though. I'm on Essential tier and a long-standing Plus subber covering PS3 - PS5 + Vita machines, all of which I still use. So effectively for me, with the price increase, I'm paying £5 per month for access to a catalogue of over 250 games I've still not played, never mind those I have completed over the years and not including the games yet to be added to the service. This is in comparison to the £4.17 per month I have been paying.

So even with no new features or benefits, it's worth it for me, so I've locked in another 12 months. So see if I moan in November 2024 lol.

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for September 2023 Announced

michaelf

I’ve got the other Saints Rows from earlier PS+ monthly games, so I think I’ll give this one a miss. The other two seem average at best and I’m unlikely to be incentivised by an almost four year old MMO when Baldurs Gate 3 is out the day after this trio launches.

My sub runs out in Nov and I’ve had it since 2012, so I’m just going to think about whether I want to continue given Essential (my current tier) is going up another tenner next week.

Not a good way to “soften the price increase blow”, Sony.

However I’ve just reminded myself I can “cheat” the price rise by getting another years’ sub early so may just do that !

Re: Dead or Alive, You Should Watch This RoboCop: Rogue City PS5 Trailer

michaelf

Yes, it's not an AAA+ blockbuster, but tbh upon release, neither was the first RoboCop film - but it was super gory, clever and a schtick regarding the topics of the time.

This game seems to capture the elements that made the film great and I expect I'll buy on or close to release, as long as it's not stupidly priced or bugged to hell.

Re: PlayStation Portal Is Sony's PS5 Remote Play Handheld, Priced at $200 / £200

michaelf

As cool as this product looks, it's way too late for me. I bought a PS-branded Backbone controller in the last Prime Sale Day and that does the job on multiple levels; it serves the main function that this does via my phone or using as a controller on my laptop.

The biggest selling point for the PlayStation Portal for me is the haptics and rumble function, as the Backbone doesn't support that.

I can see this having a use, but it's very niche. And about £60 too expensive.

Re: Anthropomorphic Animal RPG Terra Memoria Embarks on PS5 Adventure 'Soon'

michaelf

I note your tongue in cheek reply

I choose to get my COD fix whenever they are included on PS+ Essential tier and only if they have a single player version and have an 8bit computer filter option applied to the graphics.

All supplied on a C90 tape (both sides used).

Whether Terra Memoria is worth £50 is yet to be determined. How it plays is more important than how it looks for me. But a pretty and playable game is clearly the first choice.

Re: Anthropomorphic Animal RPG Terra Memoria Embarks on PS5 Adventure 'Soon'

michaelf

@Neptunes I think you're missing the point here. People will buy whatever console they want, to play the games they want, irrespective of what you think.

Yes, you may feel that it's ludicrous to have purchased a high-value console just to play pixel art or graphically 'aged' games, but other people do not.

Your analogy about this game looking like a GBC game is also inaccurate; it looks better than that, but I also understand your attempt, which was to say that the game doesn't look advanced or sufficiently "4k enough" to be worthy of being on a PS5.

Or words to that effect.

Re: PS5's Remote Play Portable Appears to Leak Online

michaelf

Using my iPhone + PS-branded Backbone One controller seems to meet my requirements. The only restriction of that combo is the lack of dual sense haptics. Not sure about gyro moment as I’ve not tried any games that would benefit from that yet.

For this device to succeed, Sony need to make the experience seamless, better than anything the market currently offers and at a competitive price.

Oh and support it appropriately too.

Re: Strategy Series The Settlers Makes Its PlayStation Debut Today

michaelf

I also played to death the Amiga original back in the day. I've had a bit of a look at this on the PS Store and for a £50 game, I'm sighing that there's in-game currency available to purchase.

Yes, all optional but it does make me think why this is necessary outside of the obvious 'whale scalping' scenario.

Back on the 'wait for a deep sale price assuming it's good' list for this one.

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for July 2023 Leaked Early

michaelf

Sounds like a good month to me! Alan Wake is on my wish list; CoD appears to have a decent single player campaign, so I’m happy with that. The indie Endling game, from the cursory Googling I’ve done also appears to be good. So I’m going to say this is a win for me 😊

Re: PS Plus Essential Games for June 2023 Announced

michaelf

Looks like a good month, even if I have zero interest in basketball. I’ll nab Jurassic World 2 and Trek. I have the first Dino game for switch, so looking forward to trying the better version on the PS5. I have no idea about Trek but happy to try!

Worth the monthly fee (£4.17) especially as I added none of last months to my library

Re: Zool Redimensioned Brings Gremlin's 90s Ninja Icon to PS4

michaelf

Zool (definitely NOT a Ninja Ant!) was reasonably good; Zool 2 was the better game. Pity this doesn’t include both games in the one collection. I’d be tempted to get that, rather than just the first.

I do like the idea of ‘modernised gameplay’ though. Some 80’s and 90’s gaming elements just made things waaaay too tough for me then, never mind now!

Will this include the CGI rendered intro from the CD32 version? Probably not, but for nostalgia purposes would be sweet

Re: Talking Point: Would You Care About a PS5 Remote Play Handheld?

michaelf

I'm interested as I like gadgets, but from a practical point, no. I rarely used remote play on my Vita for PS4 games, although it was cool when I did (just hampered by the Vita not having L2/R2 buttons).

I do like the idea of streaming PS4/5 games in the living room when the tv is otherwise being used, but tbh I'd rather invest in the Backbone PS edition for my iPhone. It seems to fit the need for all the right buttons at least.

I wouldn't expect that the streaming element would be qualitatively improved on a dedicated device, as I think that there are too many third party factors involved in streaming?

Especially when you consider the experience outside of the home is going to be inconsistent and variable to stream PS5-quality assets and again, at the behest of the internet capacity and capabilities where you are.

Hmmmmm

Re: Marvel's Avengers PS5, PS4 Upgraded to Definitive Edition, Most Content Now Free

michaelf

As a Live Service game, it's well and truly dead. I enjoyed the demo I got on initial release and have kept an eye on this to see what happens. I can get the PS5 version on Amazon for £18.39, so for a single-player game, that's a decent price.

I'm not expecting God of War / Uncharted levels of AAA mastery, but people saying it's decent for solo player, I'll bite.

I'm also not paying the £44.99 the PS Store is asking for though!

UPDATE: succumbed and got it for £17.75 from Amazon