Comments 3,058

Re: Physical Game Sales Hit All-Time Low in the US

sanderson72

@Super_Pine_89 While it would be fantastic to be able to buy a complete edition of a game, the problem is that, since the inception of the PS5 era, Sony have become a bunch of money grabbing bar stewards who only care about the dollar signs.

They would rather fleece people on the PS Store rather than doing anything so pro-consumer. At least they leave the patches available for download when you install from disc (see my comment about Driveclub above).

Re: Physical Game Sales Hit All-Time Low in the US

sanderson72

At launch of a game:
Price on PSN store = £60
Price of physical (shop around) = £55

After a month or two:
Price on PSN store = £60
Price of physical = <£40
That's enough incentive for me to keep buying discs.

Also, bought a 2nd hand copy of Driveclub for a fiver a few months back. Can't buy that digitally even if you wanted to but putting the disc into the PS4 downloaded the patches without any problem.

Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for March 2026?

sanderson72

ESO is awesome, especially if you've not tried it before. The game world is absolutely massive and you now get the best expansions included. Given that it's often available for a fiver, it's a bit of a poor inclusion.

Might give MHW a go but wasn't overly keen on the previous instalments.
For golf, I'll stick with Easy Come, Easy Golf on the Switch.

Re: Opinion: Sony's Disgraceful Bluepoint Closure Should Concern Every PS Studios Fan

sanderson72

There have been many failures from Sony on the studios front - as mentioned by other people:

  • Evolution (that Ryan was in part responsible for shutting down)
  • Japan Studio (anyone with half a brain would've seen the Everybody's Golf fallout from that one)
  • Studio Liverpool (responsible for the THE most iconic PS racer of all time)

It all comes down to the $$$$ signs with PS these days. I am very close to just binning off my PS5 as it is nothing but a glorified, oversized PS4 Pro and I've already got one of those which isn't a ****ing eyesore.
If I listen closely, after almost 30 years of PS ownership, I can hear a gaming PC calling...

Re: Here's Why Shawn Layden Thinks Sony 'Can't Get Away' with Making PS6 Digital Only

sanderson72

I'd like a PS6 with a disc drive, assuming backwards compatibility with the PS4 & PS5. That said, I suspect the PS6 will do the same as the PS5 Slim and offer a buy-it-if-you-want-it plug in disc drive.

At least you can sell on physical games if you complete or don't like it (looking at you Everybody's Golf: Hot Shots - or rather I'm not any more!!)

Can we get Layden back as head of PS Studios? He seems to talk about PlayStation more than the Sony management (unless it's $$$s)!

Re: Sony Will Offset Soaring RAM Prices by Further Monetising PS5 Players

sanderson72

So, Sony's plan to offset the cost of RAM chips is by p*ss*ng off the player base??
Wow, way to go Fony - I mean it's not as if the overweight PS5 hasn't been breaking even/making money not long after its launch (disc versions took a bit longer) followed by "we need more profits" price rises and the even cheaper to make not very Slim.
We never did get that £30 price reduction due to "exchange rates" outside of the US of Donald either.

Re: Opinion: The Euphoric Reaction to PS6's Rumoured Delay Really Confuses Me

sanderson72

As an addition to my earlier comments, I'd say this:

The PS5 Pro may be impressive but it will be held back by the PS5.

The same thing happened to the PS4 Pro being held back by the PS4 base (although the support for 4K & super-sampling was an obvious visible step up).

The PS6 will be a generational 'clean break' for new tech and no doubt will fix all the problems that the PS5 Pro is suffering with on some games as the console will be designed from the ground up with enhancements to PSSR and so on and games will be designed with that in mind.

Re: Opinion: The Euphoric Reaction to PS6's Rumoured Delay Really Confuses Me

sanderson72

@get2sammyb " I challenge you to dig out your crusty old PS4 and spend one full week with creaky 30fps games and glacial loading times. "
My SSD-equipped PS4 Pro is still playing rather well thanks, Sammy!

I'll keep an eye on the PS6 when it breaks cover. I will not be buying one for FOMO like I did with the PS5, that's for sure!

Hopefully it'll be better looking (can't be much worse, can it?), have a much better UI, better more comfortable controllers and will have some decent exclusives plus the extra grunt to run PS1/PS2/PS3 games natively. Unfortunately with the current incumbents of Sony/PS, they'll only do something like the latter if they can work out a way to fleece their subscribers.

Re: 20 PS5 Predictions for State of Play February 2026

sanderson72

Maybe a bit more of MOUSE: P.I. for Hire?

All I predict is another PS+ sub rise.
That said, I had an email from Sony saying that mine Essential was going to run out soon so I decided, as I wasn't really using it, to cancel.
Followed the link on the website and pressed the cancel button only to then receive an offer from Sony to have another year of Essential for £45!

Re: PS5 Officially Outsells PS3, Now at 92.2 Million Units

sanderson72

Let's not forget that the PS4's sales figures were capped at 117 million by Sony not being bothered to count them any more.
As we saw with the PS2 though, we'll no doubt get the final total as and when they stop selling them (which they've not done yet). Must've cleared 120 million by now?

Re: Sorry, PS3 Users, Netflix Is Dropping Support for Sony's 20-Year-Old Console Next Month

sanderson72

@Nakatomi_Uk Does it show the YLOD or is it just beeping and shutting down?
You might want to try reformatting/replacing the hard drive and possibly pop the lid and clean out many years of fluff. My brothers PS3 Slim experienced something similar and all I did was replace the hard drive with a 500GB Western Digital Blue I had knocking around, applied the latest firmware and it's been fine ever since. The amount of dust & fluff that came out of just the hard drive caddy slot was alarming (and possibly a biohazard!)

Re: Sony's Sending Messages to PS4 Players Encouraging Them to Upgrade to PS5

sanderson72

@MrPeanutbutterz Well the PS4 Pro is a little different as it has a 6GB/s SATA 3 interface whereas the base PS4 just has a 3GB/s SATA 2.
To put it in context, the PS5 has a 5GB/s interface with transmission rates going up to 9GB/s when using compressed data and the Kraken hardware.
Only other difference would be the clock/DMA speed and bandwidth of the bus so from that point of view, obviously the PS5 is be quicker (9GB/s with compressed data vs 6GB/s with no compression) given its newer hardware. Thing is, given what everyone said about the SSD (don't get me wrong, it's nice to have one as standard) I wasn't blown away.

You're doing well on the DS5 front and most people on this site seem to have had at least 1 drift failure.

Re: Sony's Sending Messages to PS4 Players Encouraging Them to Upgrade to PS5

sanderson72

@MrPeanutbutterz Not sure about Death Stranding 2 but I did some tests on Horizon Zero Dawn a year or two ago and it took the PS5 about 8 seconds to load a save game while the Pro clocked up a perfectly respectable 12 seconds. Fallout 4 seems to takes anywhere up to double the time that the PS5 does so hardly a hardship.

I've still got 3 official DS3 controllers for my PS3 with no drift. I've got 4 controllers with my PS4 and no drift. I've got 2 controllers with my PS5 and one of them started going left constantly. While I appreciate the fact that ll the controller parts are made by one company, the DS5 does seem a lot more susceptible to drift. Wish Sony would allow us to use the DS4 with the all PS5 games but they wouldn't cut off that revenue stream.

Re: Sony's Sending Messages to PS4 Players Encouraging Them to Upgrade to PS5

sanderson72

@datamonkey To be fair, Sony says "to upgrade to a PS5 console." but it''s Push Square that says "to upgrade your PS5 console.".
Even upgrading the PS5 has become more expensive with 1TB SSDs costing upwards of £100 whereas my Pros 1TB 2.5" SSD cost about £40.

@JustMyOpinion I bought my mint condition PS5 fatty disc version from Music Magpie for £344 and it came with a 1TB expansion that someone forgot to take out so you can get cheap deals on the 5. Didn't give any money to Fony either.
Question is, is it a much better console? UI is much worse, the controllers are uncomfortable and the load times aren't much better than my Pro, with only the Kraken decompression hardware doing a reasonable job so the load times are faster. Inability to download multiple things at once is a total backwards step though.

Hopefully the PS6 will come with some real purchase reasons, plus a better looking case than the current eyesore and better controllers wouldn't hurt either, as I've already had to return 1 DriftSense due to constantly going left whereas the DS4s are still going strong despite them being much older and having much more use.

Re: Sony's Sending Messages to PS4 Players Encouraging Them to Upgrade to PS5

sanderson72

@LifeGirl Absolutely spot on! I bought an original PlayStation, PS2, PS3 and PS4 because there were games I wanted to play on those generation of systems. PS5 was totally due to FOMO and it is still a disappointment, especially coming from a PS4 Pro with an SSD inside.

It's a bit like Microsoft nagging us to upgrade to Win 11 when it's a worse experience than 10 and 10 is still getting updates if you sign up.

Re: These PS2, PSP, and PS Vita Games Managed to Sell 1 New Copy in 2025

sanderson72

PS3 is the earliest I go these days after my fat 60GB PS3 died with the YLOD after about 5.5 years solid service.

I don't bother trying to track down new, using CEX/eBay for anything on the PS3 or PSP (sold the Vita last year after many years of non-use). Recently bought a cheap copy of Lego Indiana Jones 2 for the PSP in excellent condition and still had the manual!

Re: PS4 Games Are No Longer a Focus for PS Plus

sanderson72

@DennisReynolds Dunno really - I prefer the PS4 UI and the DS4 controllers are still way nicer to hold than the DS5. It has a USB stick in the front port to back up game saves outside of PS+.
In my experience, some games play better on the PS5 and some don't.
As for hard drive speed, well, the PS4 Pro's SATA 3 is rated at up to 6GB/s and the PS5 is anywhere between 5 (uncompressed) - 9 (compressed) GB/s. True the PS5 is quicker (probably more bus speed and clock frequency) but not by as much as I thought.

Re: PS4 Games Are No Longer a Focus for PS Plus

sanderson72

Still play on my PS4 Pro with SSD, even though there is a PS5 sitting grotesquely in the corner nearby.

Is it a problem not having PS4 only games? Well, there are far more bangers on the PS4 than the 5 so I wonder what stuff PS+ will start getting if they are going to prioritise PS5-only games - can't imagine them giving away AAA titles all the time so we could be running out of decent games quite soon.

Just because a game is on PS4 & PS5 doesn't make it invalid to include it. Ultimately, to me, it doesn't matter which platform the game is on so long as the game is fun.