@JB_Whiting (this was one comment before the system decided to debate its size😄)
As far as Zelda goes... the questionably chosen medium doesn't make it a movie aimed at an older audience per se, but it's not like the "well-established professionals" haven't been known for flinging your own list of accusations towards the latter kind of movies either. Dogs and caravans are a universal and timeless image.
There's only one anatomical orifice for critical reception, whether scathing or awestruck. As for Zelda, I don't consider its fantasy world a manageable environment for live action and don't have enough interest in seeing it to generate any expectations whatsoever. At least Bloodborne has reportedly had better luck; for all I know, I might even end up seeing its adaptation instead someday.
@1UP-HUSKY my backlog priorities haven't had me rewatch the first Mario movie in a year or so, but I still remember what transpired therein. It wasn't TLK or even Sing tier but a worthwhile chronicle in its own right, and I expect the same from SMGM. Remembering stuff is a product of resonance in kids and adults alike; by the time I came across an opinion about The Road to El Dorado having "not a single memorable song", I could quote any of them if woken up at 4 a.m. As for box offices, they're a dice roll this decade, and I don't consider them ultimately indicative either, but if the earned money is channeled into expanding (or, as is fashionable to say online, "milking") the respective franchise and fictionverse further, cheers - regardless of my own affinity. I've never cared much for Minions that Illumination cooks by similar recipes, but those movies' existence is no skin off my back either. And the same would have applied to the studio's take on Mario if it had rubbed me against the fur - to paraphrase a Frozen character, my childhood is not fragile.
@JB_Whiting I, for one, definitely "you do realise that these "so called critics" are working on this very site" and stick to the belief that both NL and PS reviewers can take their reviews and shove them; in case this crosses the boundaries of civility, I will certainly not contest a ban, but if you ever see me say that "game critics matter", then the mods also better immediately ban my account as hacked.😆 I have my own shameful baggage in this accursed field, and even getting a degree in actual critique (aka honest fiction studies where "creative analysis" isn't a fancy hijacked name for verbosely expressed admiration/boredom) failed to promptly put a lid on it way back when; I can't even guarantee no relapse in this regard, but I don't look forward to one and I lack incentive to bridle my general sociopathy towards the yellow-papered buffoonery in question. There are unarguably more deplorable "well-established professions" out there, but it says something when TV Tropes manages to be tangibly closer to serious critique than all the "professionals" involved - and it's a site with reported roots in imageboards! Like I said above, somehow processing the previous Mario movie wasn't rocket science for me either, and I'm neither too much of a kid in my cynical 39 nor too obsessed with the franchise I have played through maybe a half dozen early entries from.
In the end, being underwhelmed by stuff like SMG is nothing to bash either - unlike pseudocritical fanbloid behaviour directed at underwhelming entertainment experiences, especially the one you're expected to profit in any way from. For all of my own obscene fanhead past, I do make attempts to follow the golden rule - "I have the right to dislike what a fiction work does as long as the fiction work has the right to do what I dislike".
Horizon is definitely one of the highlights but long installed on my Deck even after a fair few hours poured into the purchased PS4 original; "remastered" certainly sounds rich in this context. I also have Warriors Abyss on Switch; Monster Train, while wishlisted on eShop, might make for an advance toe dip in this batch but somehow never made it to PS4 despite showing up on XBO. Still, that leaves Motorfest and Wild Arms 4 to actually consider trying, and those two represent two of my fave genres, so hey.
So... three modes and all of them revolving around the very same frixels PS5 Pro is still expected to qualify as a "pro" experience on the basis of? Did the update at least introduce gyro, previously exclusive to NS2?🤔
Did the game's content shrink to a sliver of its former self over these 20+ years? Nope, it would seem it even gained a few QoL extras instead. Or did its presentation age poorly? Nope, as a myriad of new games channeling similar audio and visuals (often for similar prices at launch) can attest. And shmup RPG hybrids haven't exactly become a crowded niche over time either.
I wouldn't rule out catching up with the game during a later sale myself, but the primary reason behind such cases is a gluttonously oversized wishlist contrasting the capability of my wallet (although non-discounted investments and even preorders still happen), so I lack an incentive to pontificate about developers and publishers' pricing policies.
I'm quite in the market for a gacha game like Genshin, but I'm in the market for them on Switch (including the long-promised Genshin itself), not on button-allergic hi-tec GSM-equipped bookmarks or even higher-tech wall-plugged air moisturizer lookalikes. That includes NTE (which I've only tapped into on mobile for the potential option to send the pre-registration bonuses crossplat later), especially since you can never have too many vehicular openworlders on Switch, and that includes Endfield as well.
And no matter how we feel about market saturation (which impacts such games less due to gameplay similarities and more due to the proverbial live service baggage), the fanbloid terminology is getting old. "Clones" and "copycats" have historically stood between a game and a genre in recurrent cases throughout the medium's history, but neither Genshin nor BotW it was once accused of cloning on its own end ever invented the recipes they were built on.
Another neat month overall even if nothing on the menu is likely to make its way to my PS4, be it for want of an appropriate port (but I've already put Lords of Apocalypse on Vita anyway) or for preference of Switch ones.
"Analysts" and execs still haven't got the memo about the kind, spread and affordability of infrastructure required to make game streaming actually competitive with consoles. Most people - and, as a likely result, most devs including the entire indie segment - will just stick to older hardware which has sufficed for creating any imaginable kind of full-fledged video game experience for the last 10-15 years.
That moment when even the genuinely console-focused Nintendo lasts longer in mobile gaming than a consumer tech giant with literal smartphones among its products.
Gaming leaks 101 - once the clickbaits about a specific "impending" release reach the critical mass, you can always fall back on the equally rumoured cancellation/hiatus as per equally reliable and equally anonymous sources. "Switch Pro" says hi. And "solid track records" send one's mind to nothing but ye olde saying about broken clocks in this regard.
Push Square is really eating good with the amount of clicks and comments generated over a week's worth of articles without a single source.😆 But the poll results are predictable indeed - chances are there aren't many Deck owners frequenting this site, and to those with the time to dedicate to a PS5, an equally home-tied port (barring a proportionally capable laptop but those are likely no cheaper) must appear rather redundant.
Even humouring such drivel for a second... "easily pushed 4K, 120 fps and improved ray tracing"? And that's everything a Gen 10 home console is supposed to offer? This doesn't sound entirely dissimilar from wasting components and resources on AI-generated cats.
I mean, we're talking the company that introduced system level button remapping on PS4 while making Vita's Remote Play deal with a recurrent awkward default scheme that overrides the thing.
@get2sammyb Nintendo's own platform retains the advantage of being the only portable console for what can currently seem like two generations in a row, appealing to the most nostalgic markets for Marielda and other classics (older people with only so much time to spend in front of a TV screen). And as long as TotK etc are on said portable consoles, they can also be on Amazon Alexa for all I care.
Home console exclusivity matters for gamers in the school/college, first world work schedule and retired demographics. The exclusivity of the otherwise absolute headturners like Xenoblade X and Tokyo Mirage Sessions never drove me to buy Wii U because I couldn't take the experience with me downtown where I tend to be stuck most of my non-sleeping hours. Same reason I was never in the market for the generally neat Switch projects like Labo or MK Home Circuit. And PS5's lack of Vita support (or Sony's estimated memory of the machine, for that matter) means that the company's pastgen portability remains chained to prohibitively higher resolutions on a much less functional but equally expensive device even on the streaming side. Meanwhile, for all of its linuxoid fine print, Steam Deck has at least offered a more legit compromise, to the point where my first Steam splurge after getting the thing included a then-discounted Days Gone and a full-priced Horizon Zero Dawn. I can even afford slowly chipping away at the latter's various trials these days - something I wouldn't have even considered during my first toe dip on the game's native platform prior.
Of course, Bloidberg can wipe themselves with their routinely anonymous "people familiar with the company's plans", but even hypothetically, I would only cheer for Sony giving up their PC porting efforts if that meant a harder pivot towards Switch/NS2 (a much less farfetched notion in the wake of Freedom Wars, Patapon and Everybody's Golf, the latter titles' publishing duty delegation notwithstanding). Bias is a harsh master, and Sony still has no proper alternative to offer (outside the oh so rumoured "handheld PS6" whose value remains in the domain of nether region hygiene just like this discussion's topic until an actual friggen announcement).
Once again, no amount of exclusivity can sell hardware to people who can't expect to consistently use it. It's a game console, not a singing Santa Claus doll.
No Switch/NS2 at launch, but unironic mobile ports to drive vehicles on the touchscreens of? And then gamers label racing titles unplayable without analog triggers with a straight face.😏
Given crossplat support out the gate, I pre-registered just in case, but so far the only viable device for this game is Deck, and its relationship with freemium launchers is a dice roll that bears casting literally every update.
The golf has a hybrid port anyway (unlike, sadly enough, Slime Rancher 2 which can feel odd for a Unity indie whose prequel is already on Switch), but while I have the other two on other platforms as well, they could easily make the month by themselves overall. ESO is a bittersweet sight in particular - I bought it on my main account years ago after finding the free trial event somewhat manageable with Vita's controls, then double-dipped on Steam with a laptop before eventually taking that version to its true home on Deck... and THEN begrudgingly uninstalling it because the launcher kept throwing a tantrum with almost every update and demanding 80 Gb of "repairs" (last time it happened, the repair button didn't even go away after I reinstalled all ~120 Gb, the very final straw that got the game shelved). This edition's promise of "every expansion until [2024's] Gold Road" sounds like it would access more of Tamriel than my PC playthrough had unlocked (with Bethesda stuff region-locked on Steam these days, I only got a couple regions from anniversary quests and giveaways), but going back to PS4 for it, with a start from scratch and similarly massive install/update sizes to face on a machine where I have to plan big downloads on top of cramming them in (my PS4 isn't usually plugged in if I can't hope to get a tangible session out of it)... mixed feelings, mixed feelings everywhere.
MHR is certainly not something I'd install here over the full package with blackjack and Sunbreak Switchside, but it's easily among the year's IGC highlights already. Out of curiosity, though, does it have gyro? PS4 and PS5 ports are infamous for often ignoring the controller tech, but in a temporary Switch exclusive like this, you'd think the devs would have to deliberately disable this feature, and it really enhances the gameplay.
I've been plenty concerned since SJS became a skeleton crew of its former self. A lot of that studio's output was peak PlayStation regardless of how many PlayStation fans and their wallets it managed to distract from photorealistic blockbusters. At least Astro Bot has happened in the following years, but the jury's still out on whether it's a rebound or a bottled lightning.
Press F for PixelOpus, too. For all I know, we may be extremely lucky to still have Media Molecule around.
Any serious reaction to a rumoured delay of a rumoured release evokes confusion. PS6 was established as a distant prospect the moment PS5 Pro was announced. PS5 itself only came out four years after the preceding "upgrade", three years into the ongoing Gen 9 - so why is PS6 expected anytime before 2028?
"I challenge you to dig out your crusty old PS4 and spend one full week with creaky 30fps games and glacial loading times."
I only don't spend one full week because affording that long on a home console before retirement is easier said than done in general. But I do unshelve my PS4 from time to time and spend what I can dedicate to it just fine - most recently, on a portable 11.6" screen to boot.
I'm not through with the first Spider-Man yet (and it would have to be a sideload after never coming back to local Steam - heck, even Forbidden West and Stellar Blade have apparently gone poof from the latter instead), but Solar Crown is a crueler tease in its platform limitations here - with the long announced Switch port still unaccounted for and the first TDU refusing to function on Deck, I would have certainly been tempted to dip a toe here, but what will you do when even Venba lacks a PS4 port.😏 Well, Venba IS on Switch, as are Neva and the first two MHS games (the latter already in my own hybrid library to boot), so all of this leaves... Season to check out? Fine by me.
I rarely have much to say about a home console game focusing on online multiplayer, but I won't lose any more sleep over its existence than I did over the similarly dramaticized Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Even despite Sony's mood swings of the previous generation, more solo Horizon content is doubtlessly happening in due time, too.
All the stuff I can access is also on Switch, but it serves to reaffirm that PS4 is too early to count out in IGC lineups. Still plenty of crossgens out there.
The only caveat to have foreseen was the inherent one I've talked about more than once myself. MMOs and "live services" are simply an easier market to saturate because they habitually expect their userbases to treat them like a day job. Other often fan-ridiculed horns of plenty like metroidvanias or farming sims can keep coming out the wazoo because they're finite and backlog-friendly experiences; this niche's FOMO realm of passes, events and general server support (often synonymous with playability, as Anthem itself is our witness) begs to differ.
@Mikeg1965 chances are few people could have pictured Nintendo succeeding in the online arena shooter segment as well, and yet Splatoon is a whole damn franchise by now.
Expeditions is on Switch and Village is bound for NS2, but I'm still lowkey tempted to dip toes in both (especially since my respective franchise binges are a fair bit behind regardless), but only if I can get the streaming to work well again - my PS4 storage is pretty strained after downloading Wolfenstein New Order (which I just did due to the very streaming issues in the first place - and more generally due to the game's sideload refusing to launch on Deck, of course).
A fantastic lineup all in all, although Unbound is bittersweet in its PS4 absence and the other two are already on Switch anyway (eh, I don't rule out using them as "demos" until procuring the hybrid ports anyway). Good to see that, even despite the announced focus shift to PS5, crossgens are still on the table for PS4-maining subscribers - and I'm pretty sure said crossgens remain a horn of plenty.
With PS5's upper hand in hardware being often wasted on extra frixels or optimization shortcuts instead of meaningful gameplay enhancements, PS4's remains a bit of an overkill in regards to how much you need to make a quality modern game. It also boasts millions of users yet to move on to PS5 (partly for the reason above), forward compatibility for games and Remote Play compatibility with a handheld that can also play its own games. It may be two generations old by now, but it's still a worthwhile "ecosystem" to develop for, especially you don't need to blow and then flaunt a small town's budget as your game's status badge.
I've been keeping whole 10 Gb free on NS2 as of late, hesitant to use the space for anything else lest something like a Cyberpunk update should pat me on the shoulder again.
PS5 remains too prohibitively home-chained (whether for lack of Portal or for the local infrastructure impeding its solutions) and most of its power still appears wasted on frixels rather than on game design novelties that Mark Cerny once painted the picture of. But its controller features (their factual application ratio aside👀) and embers of past Nintendoesque SJS glory in titles like Astro Bot, alongside the familiar quality freeroamers like Horizon and Spider-Man, still make its sales numbers deserved. "Good but could have been better", then? Or maybe couldn't, because making it actually better in this day and age would be to make it hybrid - and Portal has demonstrated that Sony is only willing to go so far in that direction. Which will most likely leave Vita and PSP sharing the top of the pedestal among Sony hardware (and third place in my console rankings overall) - but hey, maybe if/when I live to be retired, I'll look back and consider picking up at least a used unit?😄
@SeaDaVie I was referring to how the Yakuza producer used to explain the franchise's absence on Switch by the console's more family-friendly image and his reluctance to see a tonally and thematically "underground" series like that share the store shelf space with something like Animal Crossing. That bias didn't seem to age well since we have four or five Yakuza games across the two hybrid generations by now. So much for those "image" concerns.
@SeaDaVie "and they probably think the hit to their image would be greater. Yeah, that’s weird, but that’s how brand marketing works"
Right, I remember this kind of logic surrounding Yakuza/LaD. And how it ended.😏 Besides, of we go discussing images, there's always one of a Japanese company's products losing grip on its home turf.👀😅
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 also reportedly uses AI tools, looks gorgeous and lacks extra fingers. Which might just indicate where these tools are actually used as tools to empower and support the studio's effort, not as cost cutter snake oil to throw at the wall in hope that something will stick.
Fan fury can be taken and shoved, but sending such a game out past the consoles to the detrimentally buttonless devices and the domain infamous for adorning server-crutched games with variably moody launchers can raise some eyebrows indeed. Freemiums are THE live service model representatives; wasn't Sony crazy about making more of those on PS5?
I suppose it's still a more accessible Horizon entry in comparison to Call of the Mountain, but it's still ironic to see such a heavily action-oriented game prioritize platforms one needs to go and purchase separate controllers for (and in the phones' case, a controller will only be as reliable as the holder used with it🙄).
@UltimateOtaku91 to be fair, the majority of Nintendo's mobile games are much less reliant on the offerings traditional controllers. And personally, I'm still lowkey salty that Dragalia Lost, the one original IP in that bunch, never made it to Switch.
Nowhere on the hybrids yet, Pacific Drive has occupied my Steam wishlist almost since release but I'm definitely tempted to get a taste of it h- OH, COME ON.
Oh well, Still Wakes the Deep looks interesting as we- OH, COME ON!
I guess there's Insurgency, but it sounds like a strictly online multiplayer title. Thank Goodness is on Switch and the two aforementioned highlights will have to wait their turns on Deck or Switch/NS2 announcements.
@zebric21 between demonizing Nintendo over the recent patenting smokescreens and unironically expecting a game to be sued for tapping into established gameplay features, gamers really need to choose one.
@Kingy nah, I remember when Gleamlight was likewise bashed as an alleged "Hollow Knight clone" well before anyone had even heard of Palworld.
"None of this is hugely surprising given the bespoke nature of the PS Portal – if you bought it, you probably did so for Remote Play"
Well, duh, unlike PSP and Vita, this Remote Play device is literally useless for anything else.😅
Personally, I still stand by my skepticism which has had time to waver with positive experience reports suggesting that the service CAN competently compress PS5's redundant resolutions for mobile internet and reinforce itself with first-hand experience of our local mobile internet's deterioration. Heck, forget mobile internet - for the last couple months, even attempting PS+ Premium streams on the laptop via the normally more than decent home wi-fi has produced enough lag to force-close the session (if start it at all). This is ultimately no medium to toss around graphically bloated amounts of data over unreliable third party infrastructure in, and it's already been years since even Google learned it the hard way.
The Portal at least seems to fare better with the first world internet hotspots - again, a machine devoid of autonomous functionality wouldn't be finding such a market otherwise, - but in the end, it looks like I won't be picking up a PS5 until my retirement after all. And to think that Portal itself can actually be found on the same Minsk store shelves that have yet to stock up on NS2s.😏
Comments 1,247
Re: Pokémon, Palworld Rip-Off in Hot Water as Publisher Intervenes and Takes It Off Steam
@Fizza and unobstructedly does it on Switch among other platforms.
Re: After Critics Panned Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Maybe Sony's Legend of Zelda Film Can Pull It Back
@JB_Whiting (this was one comment before the system decided to debate its size😄)
As far as Zelda goes... the questionably chosen medium doesn't make it a movie aimed at an older audience per se, but it's not like the "well-established professionals" haven't been known for flinging your own list of accusations towards the latter kind of movies either. Dogs and caravans are a universal and timeless image.
Re: After Critics Panned Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Maybe Sony's Legend of Zelda Film Can Pull It Back
There's only one anatomical orifice for critical reception, whether scathing or awestruck. As for Zelda, I don't consider its fantasy world a manageable environment for live action and don't have enough interest in seeing it to generate any expectations whatsoever. At least Bloodborne has reportedly had better luck; for all I know, I might even end up seeing its adaptation instead someday.
@1UP-HUSKY my backlog priorities haven't had me rewatch the first Mario movie in a year or so, but I still remember what transpired therein. It wasn't TLK or even Sing tier but a worthwhile chronicle in its own right, and I expect the same from SMGM. Remembering stuff is a product of resonance in kids and adults alike; by the time I came across an opinion about The Road to El Dorado having "not a single memorable song", I could quote any of them if woken up at 4 a.m. As for box offices, they're a dice roll this decade, and I don't consider them ultimately indicative either, but if the earned money is channeled into expanding (or, as is fashionable to say online, "milking") the respective franchise and fictionverse further, cheers - regardless of my own affinity. I've never cared much for Minions that Illumination cooks by similar recipes, but those movies' existence is no skin off my back either. And the same would have applied to the studio's take on Mario if it had rubbed me against the fur - to paraphrase a Frozen character, my childhood is not fragile.
@JB_Whiting I, for one, definitely "you do realise that these "so called critics" are working on this very site" and stick to the belief that both NL and PS reviewers can take their reviews and shove them; in case this crosses the boundaries of civility, I will certainly not contest a ban, but if you ever see me say that "game critics matter", then the mods also better immediately ban my account as hacked.😆 I have my own shameful baggage in this accursed field, and even getting a degree in actual critique (aka honest fiction studies where "creative analysis" isn't a fancy hijacked name for verbosely expressed admiration/boredom) failed to promptly put a lid on it way back when; I can't even guarantee no relapse in this regard, but I don't look forward to one and I lack incentive to bridle my general sociopathy towards the yellow-papered buffoonery in question. There are unarguably more deplorable "well-established professions" out there, but it says something when TV Tropes manages to be tangibly closer to serious critique than all the "professionals" involved - and it's a site with reported roots in imageboards! Like I said above, somehow processing the previous Mario movie wasn't rocket science for me either, and I'm neither too much of a kid in my cynical 39 nor too obsessed with the franchise I have played through maybe a half dozen early entries from.
In the end, being underwhelmed by stuff like SMG is nothing to bash either - unlike pseudocritical fanbloid behaviour directed at underwhelming entertainment experiences, especially the one you're expected to profit in any way from. For all of my own obscene fanhead past, I do make attempts to follow the golden rule - "I have the right to dislike what a fiction work does as long as the fiction work has the right to do what I dislike".
Re: 8 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for April 2026 Announced
Horizon is definitely one of the highlights but long installed on my Deck even after a fair few hours poured into the purchased PS4 original; "remastered" certainly sounds rich in this context. I also have Warriors Abyss on Switch; Monster Train, while wishlisted on eShop, might make for an advance toe dip in this batch but somehow never made it to PS4 despite showing up on XBO. Still, that leaves Motorfest and Wild Arms 4 to actually consider trying, and those two represent two of my fave genres, so hey.
Re: Genshin Impact No Longer Playable on PS4 as Support Officially Ends
@Areus the game has its own achievement system anyway, I'll wait for it to carry over to the overdue and now even more topical hybrid port.
Re: Hands On: Cyberpunk 2077 Is Now Utterly Essential on PS5 Pro
So... three modes and all of them revolving around the very same frixels PS5 Pro is still expected to qualify as a "pro" experience on the basis of? Did the update at least introduce gyro, previously exclusive to NS2?🤔
Re: Obscure GBA Genre Mashup Returns on PS5, But It's Not Cheap
Did the game's content shrink to a sliver of its former self over these 20+ years? Nope, it would seem it even gained a few QoL extras instead. Or did its presentation age poorly? Nope, as a myriad of new games channeling similar audio and visuals (often for similar prices at launch) can attest. And shmup RPG hybrids haven't exactly become a crowded niche over time either.
I wouldn't rule out catching up with the game during a later sale myself, but the primary reason behind such cases is a gluttonously oversized wishlist contrasting the capability of my wallet (although non-discounted investments and even preorders still happen), so I lack an incentive to pontificate about developers and publishers' pricing policies.
Re: Arknights Endfield Dev Says PS5 Players Want More Than a Genshin Impact Clone
I'm quite in the market for a gacha game like Genshin, but I'm in the market for them on Switch (including the long-promised Genshin itself), not on button-allergic hi-tec GSM-equipped bookmarks or even higher-tech wall-plugged air moisturizer lookalikes. That includes NTE (which I've only tapped into on mobile for the potential option to send the pre-registration bonuses crossplat later), especially since you can never have too many vehicular openworlders on Switch, and that includes Endfield as well.
And no matter how we feel about market saturation (which impacts such games less due to gameplay similarities and more due to the proverbial live service baggage), the fanbloid terminology is getting old. "Clones" and "copycats" have historically stood between a game and a genre in recurrent cases throughout the medium's history, but neither Genshin nor BotW it was once accused of cloning on its own end ever invented the recipes they were built on.
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for April 2026 Announced
Another neat month overall even if nothing on the menu is likely to make its way to my PS4, be it for want of an appropriate port (but I've already put Lords of Apocalypse on Vita anyway) or for preference of Switch ones.
Re: 'The Solution Is to Get Rid of Consoles': Analyst Predicts $1,000 PS6 and a Transition to Game Streaming
"Analysts" and execs still haven't got the memo about the kind, spread and affordability of infrastructure required to make game streaming actually competitive with consoles. Most people - and, as a likely result, most devs including the entire indie segment - will just stick to older hardware which has sufficed for creating any imaginable kind of full-fledged video game experience for the last 10-15 years.
Re: Rumour: Deus Ex Dev Spent Hundreds of Millions on an Open World Action Game Before Mass Layoffs Hit
@naruball and it enters the debugging phase but still doesn't have an established title.
Re: PlayStation Studios' Mobile Push Seems Dead as Layoff Reports Continue
That moment when even the genuinely console-focused Nintendo lasts longer in mobile gaming than a consumer tech giant with literal smartphones among its products.
Re: Rumour: Final Fantasy 9 PS5 Remake Development Is 'On Ice' Right Now
Gaming leaks 101 - once the clickbaits about a specific "impending" release reach the critical mass, you can always fall back on the equally rumoured cancellation/hiatus as per equally reliable and equally anonymous sources. "Switch Pro" says hi. And "solid track records" send one's mind to nothing but ye olde saying about broken clocks in this regard.
Re: As the Series Turns 24, Fans Are Asked to Wait One More Year for a Kingdom Hearts 4 Update
I'd rather have an update on Integrum Masterpiece, a rare case of a "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" I'm interested in for fairly obvious reasons.😏
No, it hasn't been announced yet, which only fuels my interest.
Re: PS Portal Gets Even Better with New Firmware Update, Improved Visuals and Enhanced Cloud Streaming
"1080p High Quality mode"
Is that some kind of 5G flex I'm too Eastern European to understand?
Re: 'Sony Finally Understands': Over 70% of PS5 Fans Agree with Decision to Scrap PC Ports
Push Square is really eating good with the amount of clicks and comments generated over a week's worth of articles without a single source.😆 But the poll results are predictable indeed - chances are there aren't many Deck owners frequenting this site, and to those with the time to dedicate to a PS5, an equally home-tied port (barring a proportionally capable laptop but those are likely no cheaper) must appear rather redundant.
Re: If You're Loving Resident Evil Requiem on PS5, There's a Good Chance You're Old
A franchise spanning decades has an audience spanning decades, more news at 6.
Re: 'They're Not Going to Delay PS6': Hardware Leaker Says 2027 Still Likely After Xbox Helix Reveal
Even humouring such drivel for a second... "easily pushed 4K, 120 fps and improved ray tracing"? And that's everything a Gen 10 home console is supposed to offer? This doesn't sound entirely dissimilar from wasting components and resources on AI-generated cats.
Re: 'You've Got to Be Joking': Street Fighter 6 Fans Rage at Slow Rollout of Skins
Literally Unplayable™
Re: After Cancelling Most PC Ports, Sony Promotes New 'PC Ready' Controller
I mean, we're talking the company that introduced system level button remapping on PS4 while making Vita's Remote Play deal with a recurrent awkward default scheme that overrides the thing.
Re: Opinion: Sony's PC Pullback Is the Right Move for PS5
@get2sammyb Nintendo's own platform retains the advantage of being the only portable console for what can currently seem like two generations in a row, appealing to the most nostalgic markets for Marielda and other classics (older people with only so much time to spend in front of a TV screen). And as long as TotK etc are on said portable consoles, they can also be on Amazon Alexa for all I care.
Re: Opinion: Sony's PC Pullback Is the Right Move for PS5
Home console exclusivity matters for gamers in the school/college, first world work schedule and retired demographics. The exclusivity of the otherwise absolute headturners like Xenoblade X and Tokyo Mirage Sessions never drove me to buy Wii U because I couldn't take the experience with me downtown where I tend to be stuck most of my non-sleeping hours. Same reason I was never in the market for the generally neat Switch projects like Labo or MK Home Circuit. And PS5's lack of Vita support (or Sony's estimated memory of the machine, for that matter) means that the company's pastgen portability remains chained to prohibitively higher resolutions on a much less functional but equally expensive device even on the streaming side. Meanwhile, for all of its linuxoid fine print, Steam Deck has at least offered a more legit compromise, to the point where my first Steam splurge after getting the thing included a then-discounted Days Gone and a full-priced Horizon Zero Dawn. I can even afford slowly chipping away at the latter's various trials these days - something I wouldn't have even considered during my first toe dip on the game's native platform prior.
Of course, Bloidberg can wipe themselves with their routinely anonymous "people familiar with the company's plans", but even hypothetically, I would only cheer for Sony giving up their PC porting efforts if that meant a harder pivot towards Switch/NS2 (a much less farfetched notion in the wake of Freedom Wars, Patapon and Everybody's Golf, the latter titles' publishing duty delegation notwithstanding). Bias is a harsh master, and Sony still has no proper alternative to offer (outside the oh so rumoured "handheld PS6" whose value remains in the domain of nether region hygiene just like this discussion's topic until an actual friggen announcement).
Once again, no amount of exclusivity can sell hardware to people who can't expect to consistently use it. It's a game console, not a singing Santa Claus doll.
Re: We're Really Getting Anime GTA on PS5 Before GTA 6
No Switch/NS2 at launch, but unironic mobile ports to drive vehicles on the touchscreens of? And then gamers label racing titles unplayable without analog triggers with a straight face.😏
Given crossplat support out the gate, I pre-registered just in case, but so far the only viable device for this game is Deck, and its relationship with freemium launchers is a dice roll that bears casting literally every update.
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for March 2026 Announced
The golf has a hybrid port anyway (unlike, sadly enough, Slime Rancher 2 which can feel odd for a Unity indie whose prequel is already on Switch), but while I have the other two on other platforms as well, they could easily make the month by themselves overall. ESO is a bittersweet sight in particular - I bought it on my main account years ago after finding the free trial event somewhat manageable with Vita's controls, then double-dipped on Steam with a laptop before eventually taking that version to its true home on Deck... and THEN begrudgingly uninstalling it because the launcher kept throwing a tantrum with almost every update and demanding 80 Gb of "repairs" (last time it happened, the repair button didn't even go away after I reinstalled all ~120 Gb, the very final straw that got the game shelved). This edition's promise of "every expansion until [2024's] Gold Road" sounds like it would access more of Tamriel than my PC playthrough had unlocked (with Bethesda stuff region-locked on Steam these days, I only got a couple regions from anniversary quests and giveaways), but going back to PS4 for it, with a start from scratch and similarly massive install/update sizes to face on a machine where I have to plan big downloads on top of cramming them in (my PS4 isn't usually plugged in if I can't hope to get a tangible session out of it)... mixed feelings, mixed feelings everywhere.
MHR is certainly not something I'd install here over the full package with blackjack and Sunbreak Switchside, but it's easily among the year's IGC highlights already. Out of curiosity, though, does it have gyro? PS4 and PS5 ports are infamous for often ignoring the controller tech, but in a temporary Switch exclusive like this, you'd think the devs would have to deliberately disable this feature, and it really enhances the gameplay.
Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan
I've been plenty concerned since SJS became a skeleton crew of its former self. A lot of that studio's output was peak PlayStation regardless of how many PlayStation fans and their wallets it managed to distract from photorealistic blockbusters. At least Astro Bot has happened in the following years, but the jury's still out on whether it's a rebound or a bottled lightning.
Press F for PixelOpus, too. For all I know, we may be extremely lucky to still have Media Molecule around.
Re: Opinion: The Euphoric Reaction to PS6's Rumoured Delay Really Confuses Me
Any serious reaction to a rumoured delay of a rumoured release evokes confusion. PS6 was established as a distant prospect the moment PS5 Pro was announced. PS5 itself only came out four years after the preceding "upgrade", three years into the ongoing Gen 9 - so why is PS6 expected anytime before 2028?
"I challenge you to dig out your crusty old PS4 and spend one full week with creaky 30fps games and glacial loading times."
I only don't spend one full week because affording that long on a home console before retirement is easier said than done in general. But I do unshelve my PS4 from time to time and spend what I can dedicate to it just fine - most recently, on a portable 11.6" screen to boot.
Re: Resident Evil Requiem Brings Leon Back to a Very Familiar Location on PS5
@Oram77 well, it does seem too early for the next Xenoblade entry, so...😏
Re: 10 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for February 2026 Announced
I'm not through with the first Spider-Man yet (and it would have to be a sideload after never coming back to local Steam - heck, even Forbidden West and Stellar Blade have apparently gone poof from the latter instead), but Solar Crown is a crueler tease in its platform limitations here - with the long announced Switch port still unaccounted for and the first TDU refusing to function on Deck, I would have certainly been tempted to dip a toe here, but what will you do when even Venba lacks a PS4 port.😏 Well, Venba IS on Switch, as are Neva and the first two MHS games (the latter already in my own hybrid library to boot), so all of this leaves... Season to check out? Fine by me.
Re: Here's Your Chance to Tell Sony What You Think of Horizon Hunters Gathering
I rarely have much to say about a home console game focusing on online multiplayer, but I won't lose any more sleep over its existence than I did over the similarly dramaticized Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Even despite Sony's mood swings of the previous generation, more solo Horizon content is doubtlessly happening in due time, too.
Re: The Internet Has Not Been Kind to Horizon Hunters Gathering
@ButterySmooth30FPS and courtesy of neural networks, even the latter may be up for debate now.
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for February 2026 Announced
All the stuff I can access is also on Switch, but it serves to reaffirm that PS4 is too early to count out in IGC lineups. Still plenty of crossgens out there.
Re: New Witcher Game Announced, But You Won't Play It on PS5
I've only played Kings and Queens so far, but it's pretty neat.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 Has an Official Name at Square Enix
@tomasu Reload is so last year, revivals are in fashion now.
Re: 'Could You Tell at the Time?': Ex-Producer Defends BioWare's Decision to Make ANTHEM
The only caveat to have foreseen was the inherent one I've talked about more than once myself. MMOs and "live services" are simply an easier market to saturate because they habitually expect their userbases to treat them like a day job. Other often fan-ridiculed horns of plenty like metroidvanias or farming sims can keep coming out the wazoo because they're finite and backlog-friendly experiences; this niche's FOMO realm of passes, events and general server support (often synonymous with playability, as Anthem itself is our witness) begs to differ.
@Mikeg1965 chances are few people could have pictured Nintendo succeeding in the online arena shooter segment as well, and yet Splatoon is a whole damn franchise by now.
Re: 9 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for January 2026 Announced
Expeditions is on Switch and Village is bound for NS2, but I'm still lowkey tempted to dip toes in both (especially since my respective franchise binges are a fair bit behind regardless), but only if I can get the streaming to work well again - my PS4 storage is pretty strained after downloading Wolfenstein New Order (which I just did due to the very streaming issues in the first place - and more generally due to the game's sideload refusing to launch on Deck, of course).
Re: Sony Patents AI Assistant That Can Help You Beat Games, or Just Beat Them For You
I bet nobody expected the 90s' title screen demo autoplays to come back with such a vengeance.😅
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for January 2026 Announced
A fantastic lineup all in all, although Unbound is bittersweet in its PS4 absence and the other two are already on Switch anyway (eh, I don't rule out using them as "demos" until procuring the hybrid ports anyway). Good to see that, even despite the announced focus shift to PS5, crossgens are still on the table for PS4-maining subscribers - and I'm pretty sure said crossgens remain a horn of plenty.
Re: Japan's New Language Locked PS5 Hasn't Made a Massive Difference to the Format's Domestic Fortunes
"We know Sony is plotting a handheld of its own"
links to an article with "rumour" right in the headline
Re: PS4 Will Still Get New Games in 2027
With PS5's upper hand in hardware being often wasted on extra frixels or optimization shortcuts instead of meaningful gameplay enhancements, PS4's remains a bit of an overkill in regards to how much you need to make a quality modern game. It also boasts millions of users yet to move on to PS5 (partly for the reason above), forward compatibility for games and Remote Play compatibility with a handheld that can also play its own games. It may be two generations old by now, but it's still a worthwhile "ecosystem" to develop for, especially you don't need to blow and then flaunt a small town's budget as your game's status badge.
Re: No Cyberpunk 2077 Update Planned for RPG's 5th Anniversary
I've been keeping whole 10 Gb free on NS2 as of late, hesitant to use the space for anything else lest something like a Cyberpunk update should pat me on the shoulder again.
Perhaps I owe everyone an apology?👀😆
Re: PS5 Roguelike Let It Die: Inferno Uses a Crapload of Generative AI
Let It Die died for this?🤔
Re: Poll: Five Years of PS5 - How Would You Rate Sony's Console?
PS5 remains too prohibitively home-chained (whether for lack of Portal or for the local infrastructure impeding its solutions) and most of its power still appears wasted on frixels rather than on game design novelties that Mark Cerny once painted the picture of. But its controller features (their factual application ratio aside👀) and embers of past Nintendoesque SJS glory in titles like Astro Bot, alongside the familiar quality freeroamers like Horizon and Spider-Man, still make its sales numbers deserved. "Good but could have been better", then? Or maybe couldn't, because making it actually better in this day and age would be to make it hybrid - and Portal has demonstrated that Sony is only willing to go so far in that direction. Which will most likely leave Vita and PSP sharing the top of the pedestal among Sony hardware (and third place in my console rankings overall) - but hey, maybe if/when I live to be retired, I'll look back and consider picking up at least a used unit?😄
Re: Ubisoft Is All In on Generative AI, Says It's as Big a Leap in Tech as the 'Shift to 3D'
"Sorry, NFTs, it's my turn to be a game tech leap as big as the shift to 3D"
Re: PS5 Sales Collapse in Japan as Sony Readies Overdue Rescue Plan
@SeaDaVie I was referring to how the Yakuza producer used to explain the franchise's absence on Switch by the console's more family-friendly image and his reluctance to see a tonally and thematically "underground" series like that share the store shelf space with something like Animal Crossing. That bias didn't seem to age well since we have four or five Yakuza games across the two hybrid generations by now. So much for those "image" concerns.
Re: PS5 Sales Collapse in Japan as Sony Readies Overdue Rescue Plan
@SeaDaVie "and they probably think the hit to their image would be greater. Yeah, that’s weird, but that’s how brand marketing works"
Right, I remember this kind of logic surrounding Yakuza/LaD. And how it ended.😏 Besides, of we go discussing images, there's always one of a Japanese company's products losing grip on its home turf.👀😅
Re: Embarrassing AI Art Plagues Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Launch
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 also reportedly uses AI tools, looks gorgeous and lacks extra fingers. Which might just indicate where these tools are actually used as tools to empower and support the studio's effort, not as cost cutter snake oil to throw at the wall in hope that something will stick.
Re: The Next Horizon Game Is an MMO for Mobile and PC, Prompting Fury from PS5 Fans
Fan fury can be taken and shoved, but sending such a game out past the consoles to the detrimentally buttonless devices and the domain infamous for adorning server-crutched games with variably moody launchers can raise some eyebrows indeed. Freemiums are THE live service model representatives; wasn't Sony crazy about making more of those on PS5?
I suppose it's still a more accessible Horizon entry in comparison to Call of the Mountain, but it's still ironic to see such a heavily action-oriented game prioritize platforms one needs to go and purchase separate controllers for (and in the phones' case, a controller will only be as reliable as the holder used with it🙄).
@UltimateOtaku91 to be fair, the majority of Nintendo's mobile games are much less reliant on the offerings traditional controllers. And personally, I'm still lowkey salty that Dragalia Lost, the one original IP in that bunch, never made it to Switch.
Re: 9 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for November 2025 Announced
Nowhere on the hybrids yet, Pacific Drive has occupied my Steam wishlist almost since release but I'm definitely tempted to get a taste of it h- OH, COME ON.
Oh well, Still Wakes the Deep looks interesting as we- OH, COME ON!
I guess there's Insurgency, but it sounds like a strictly online multiplayer title. Thank Goodness is on Switch and the two aforementioned highlights will have to wait their turns on Deck or Switch/NS2 announcements.
Re: Palworld Dev Is Publishing a Metroidvania Action Game with Strong Silksong Vibes on PS5, PS4
@zebric21 between demonizing Nintendo over the recent patenting smokescreens and unironically expecting a game to be sued for tapping into established gameplay features, gamers really need to choose one.
@Kingy nah, I remember when Gleamlight was likewise bashed as an alleged "Hollow Knight clone" well before anyone had even heard of Palworld.
Re: 'PS Portal Users Are More Engaged Than Non-Users': Sony's Hit Handheld Outperforms All Other Remote Play Methods
"None of this is hugely surprising given the bespoke nature of the PS Portal – if you bought it, you probably did so for Remote Play"
Well, duh, unlike PSP and Vita, this Remote Play device is literally useless for anything else.😅
Personally, I still stand by my skepticism which has had time to waver with positive experience reports suggesting that the service CAN competently compress PS5's redundant resolutions for mobile internet and reinforce itself with first-hand experience of our local mobile internet's deterioration. Heck, forget mobile internet - for the last couple months, even attempting PS+ Premium streams on the laptop via the normally more than decent home wi-fi has produced enough lag to force-close the session (if start it at all). This is ultimately no medium to toss around graphically bloated amounts of data over unreliable third party infrastructure in, and it's already been years since even Google learned it the hard way.
The Portal at least seems to fare better with the first world internet hotspots - again, a machine devoid of autonomous functionality wouldn't be finding such a market otherwise, - but in the end, it looks like I won't be picking up a PS5 until my retirement after all. And to think that Portal itself can actually be found on the same Minsk store shelves that have yet to stock up on NS2s.😏