Wake me up when a PS5 exclusive makes it to PC within 2 years - we get the same outrage with every PC port of a PS4 game, and people prophesising day one PC releases of first party games.
Not that I'd be against it personally, but I don't think monetising the previous generation's games to people who haven't bought the console when given almost it's entire lifespan in which to do so speaks to that as a strategy.
For me Premium was never going to be a good value proposition, and Extra is where it's at - I haven't owned a PlayStation before the PS5 so I'm not interested in nostalgia from games I either never played, or are in my Steam library already, and I'm not interested in streaming stuff I could just as easily play locally.
That said, those are both things a lot of people are interested in. I would guess there are a lot of awkward issues with who holds copyright for a lot of the back catalogue, but one would hope that they'd be adding first party stuff every month until their entire catalogue is on there. If it was all there day 1 then fair enough, but I don't get the impression that's the case?
The streaming isn't nothing though, as for those who share a PlayStation, or even don't have one, it means you can play on PC.
I'm not really looking forward to playing these (along with 20+% of readers), but it's fine, there's tonnes in the library it released with which I'm yet to play, some of which expire soon, and this month's Essential was pretty good too, so when you consider what I have access to this month, rather than what's added, it's pretty good)
It's pretty, sure, but how buggy is this version going to be? I love how easy it is to get going with Unity but it has never been as a stable or extendable as Unreal, and once you've written everything in C# it's hard to port to another engine so you're locked in.
Double tapping the home button was a new one to me, and I'd forgotten I could change the capture buttons. Other than that the only one I didn't know is one I'll never use (changing your online status)
Meanwhile I have a clip so I can mount my phone to my "spare" Dualsense controller. Works great including all the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback
I've been playing Empire of Sin via Plus Extra. It feels like it's so close to being a good game but it's missing something I can't quite put my finger on. It's odd because I love turn based tactics, and I love the 20s mob theme.
@Ogbert this exactly. Not to mention how environmentally irresponsible NFTs and proof-of-work cryptocurrency is, when for most things all you need is a simple database (sure that centralises it, but for games you need the developer to make stuff part of the game anyway).
A year can also be any period of 12 months, Develop: Brighton run theirs in the summer, rather than the winter, and consider the games released during the preceding 12 months.
Edit: just saw that themightyant already made this point, but somehow not all the comments had loaded.
I am only subscribed to Extra, rather than Premium, because almost everything that appeals to me is on Extra. There's maybe 2 games on Premium currently that I want to play more than anything in my existing backlog, so either when I'm done with my backlog, or more likely a couple of months before I'm due to renew, I'll upgrade to Premium, play those, and then let me sub lapse and resub back at Extra, which is astonishingly good value for money.
@The_Moose An opinion piece in an American publication by a Conservative commentator? You're going to have to try harder.
It's widely acknowledged that they're Social Democracies and I have multiple friends who live in Denmark, Sweden, Norway who either moved there, or returned there after spending years in the UK, specifically because of Socialist welfare policies and more representative democratic systems.
@nessisonett do you think it's worth pointing out to @GreatAuk how much better Nordic countries are doing under Democratic Socialism versus our Conservative and Unionist Party's austerity policies that have resulted in one of the largest tax burdens in the world, rampant inequality which UN special rapporteurs have described as human rights violations, and the most corruption the UK has ever seen?
@jcvandan it's certainly a title where I'll wait for a deep sale or an appearance on Extra. If I was that interested in playing it [enough to pay those prices] I'd have done so on Steam years ago.
Personally I'm really hoping that there will be hybrid games where, for instance in a third person Open World I can play the majority on a flat screen, but if I get into a car I can put on my headset and have a vr driving experience (because I have yet to pay an Open World game in which I can reliably do a three point turn, reverse around a corner, bay park or parallel park without hitting things or mounting the curb, despite doing these things on a regular basis. Driving fast should feel dangerous, etc etc etc)
@munstre I think the main reason it's hanging around in the top 10 is that a large part of its market want to play it on PS5, maybe don't realise they'd get a free upgrade when they can find a console, and this means that instead of selling most of its units in the launch window, it's a much slower drip than most franchises get to see. Similar to how Miles Morales was right up to the announcement the it would be free with Plus Extra.
Obviously none of us can know for certain, but given how few bundled units there are out there in any given month, and the success of the first game, it seems like a much more likely scenario.
I'd like them to add some single player games, something that's not already available or something that's due to expire soon from the higher tiers (like Red Dead).
Knowing Sony's current way of doing things though, it'll probably be Horizon Zero Dawn, an obsolete Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter game, and something full of microtransactions, i.e worse than nothing.
It would be even better if the cheater wasn't aware they were being penalised, for instance they do low/no damage, but on their end it looks like they're getting kills, still have weapons, etc. Meanwhile everyone else sees them armed with NERF guns, running straight past other players or breaking off engagements where they've barely tickled their opponent. I'd guess it would mean more comedy value for legit players, and the cheaters are more likely to stay on so their exploits can be analyzed.
I kinda wish it had a different visual style. This doesn't look to have the "soul" the Portal games did, and I can see the visual nods just leading to a constant low level feeling of disappointment.
That said, if it eventually supports psvr2 I could see it setting itself apart in a way that makes up for it.
For me, whether I buy this depends on how the extra buttons appear on PC - I'm fairly happy with the Dualsense on PS5, but it doesn't quite replace my Steam Controller on PC. The Steam Controller feels kinda cheap and nasty in comparison, but the rear paddles and the fact the left stick is a trackpad (as is the right "dpad") make it 100% better for PC games. If the Dualsense Pro (or whatever they call it) exposes the back buttons directly, rather than just duplicating other input, then I'll forego the easy-to-reach left trackpad (because mouse aiming is superior for FPS, and it works better on the desktop/in RTS type interfaces too) for the premium construction and the fact it'll likely still see support of years to come. Using it with the PS5 too would be a bonus.
Basically what @get2sammyb said. It's not what I was expecting/hoping for, but it looks awesome.
@thefourfoldroot: the guys in the video seemed to think no microtransactions, but I'm not sure how much they actually know/what they're basing that off - they didn't say whether they'd asked the devs or whether it's just that the current build (which was still buggy) didn't include them.
@Milktastrophe I think the difference with GoW is that not only has it been in Now for ages, not only is it part of the Collection for PS5, bit it's also one of the titles that was always going to be part of Extra. So on top of being frequently under £5, it has already been part of two giveaways, and was already scheduled to be (or in some regions already) given away a third time.
The fact that it's in the Collection means it's irrelevant for PS5 owners, which means that you can ignore 20 million people with a higher than average attatch rate for PS+ subscriptions, of which there are <50 million globally, so that's likely 30-40% of subscribers who already own it through that. Now is likely responsible for another 5-10%, especially when that translates into Premium or Deluxe with the switchover. That leaves you with 50-65% of Plus subscribers who haven't been given it through one of those channels, or 25-30 million subscribers on PS4. A load of those will have bought the game long ago, and a load of them will have been planning to upgrade to Extra or Premium. Out of those who remain, how many of them do you expect have any interest in playing the game?
I'd guess maybe 10% of subscribers will be receiving a copy of GoW that they don't already have access to and are interested in eventually playing. To those 10% it's worth £5, which means that to the average plus subscriber it's worth £0.50.
I won't complain about months where games I don't like, but which others are looking forward to, are given away, because I can recognise that on average it's valuable to the subscriber base, and eventually these things shake out, I'll get mine some other month. This however devalues their other offerings and provides very little value on average. As usual I'm not going to say "it's a crap selection", but I'm certainly "not very happy" and "not looking forward to any of them".
Getting the house onto the market, so when I find time I'll be relaxing with some Planet Coaster, it's a lovely bit of stress relief that doesn't really ask much from you.
@KundaliniRising333 Sony's only comment about day 1 releases on PS Plus was about first party games, which makes sense to me. As much as I'd love to be able to pay my sub and never have to buy anything else, it's not a good business model for Sony. Striking a deal for third party games to appear on day 1 is a very different proposition and one that has precedent.
I think a lot has been made of day 1 releases on the sub without people appreciating the distinction, especially with an indie game versus one which takes a team of many hundreds around the globe the best part of a decade to put together.
@Hypoman eh, the collection makes sense as a lure for people buying a PS5, because there aren't really enough current gen only games to entice people right now. It's a value-add for your £450 or whatever it costs in your region.
I can see it from that perspective, but there's a danger that PS Plus Essential could become irrelevant to PS Plus Extra/Premium subscribers, because Sony could use your justification to effectively pool from the list of Extra/Premium games to give Essential members something to play — basically rendering that tier pointless for members of the higher ones.
Of course the inverse of that is also true: if the best games are given away for free to Essential tier customers, what's the value of Extra? And what's the value of Premium beyond streaming (which was why Now never did very well)?
My plan is still up upgrade the rest of my subscription to Extra until it runs out at the start of December, possibly even upgrade again to Premium for November, but if the games routinely come to Essential, that's where I'll end up when my subscription lapses. Previously I'd been assuming I'll end up on Extra for most of the year, upgrading to Premium for a month or two at the end of each sub.
It's only disappointing because it's the flagship game this month, leaving anyone who has access via any other avenue without anything of value from this month's Essential tier offering.
Comments 1,582
Re: Video: Top 10 PS5 Platinums for Beginners
@naruball sounds like one of many knowledges
Re: Sony's Death Stranding Special Delivered to PC Game Pass on 23rd August
Wake me up when a PS5 exclusive makes it to PC within 2 years - we get the same outrage with every PC port of a PS4 game, and people prophesising day one PC releases of first party games.
Not that I'd be against it personally, but I don't think monetising the previous generation's games to people who haven't bought the console when given almost it's entire lifespan in which to do so speaks to that as a strategy.
Re: Devolver Debunks Ludicrous Rumour Claiming Sony Paid to Keep Cult of the Lamb Off Xbox Game Pass
@get2sammyb you should see the shiz we have to put up with in the World of Darkness Discord RE Bloodlines 2
Re: Poll: Is PS Plus Premium Good Enough?
For me Premium was never going to be a good value proposition, and Extra is where it's at - I haven't owned a PlayStation before the PS5 so I'm not interested in nostalgia from games I either never played, or are in my Steam library already, and I'm not interested in streaming stuff I could just as easily play locally.
That said, those are both things a lot of people are interested in. I would guess there are a lot of awkward issues with who holds copyright for a lot of the back catalogue, but one would hope that they'd be adding first party stuff every month until their entire catalogue is on there. If it was all there day 1 then fair enough, but I don't get the impression that's the case?
The streaming isn't nothing though, as for those who share a PlayStation, or even don't have one, it means you can play on PC.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for August 2022?
I'm not really looking forward to playing these (along with 20+% of readers), but it's fine, there's tonnes in the library it released with which I'm yet to play, some of which expire soon, and this month's Essential was pretty good too, so when you consider what I have access to this month, rather than what's added, it's pretty good)
Re: This Unity Tech Demo Running on PS5 Is Super Impressive, and We Ain't Lion
It's pretty, sure, but how buggy is this version going to be? I love how easy it is to get going with Unity but it has never been as a stable or extendable as Unreal, and once you've written everything in C# it's hard to port to another engine so you're locked in.
Re: A New Fatal Fury / Garou Game Has Been Announced
@Juanalf so they can hire people to work on it, this announcement isn't for us
Re: Beat It, PS Vita! Marvel's Spider-Man PC Will Fully Support Steam Deck
@nessisonett I'd disagree, but I don't want it from my gaming hardware 😉
Re: Uh Oh! Square Enix Demands Removal of Leaked Tomb Raider Script from Patreon
I feel like maybe they do understand the Streisand Effect, and see the opportunity to get a tonne of marketing for the cost of a DMCA takedown notice
Re: The Last of Us 2 Is 'One of the Greatest Games Ever Made' Say Avengers Endgame Directors
It's probably one of the best linear stories in games, and the Russos wouldn't be doing what they do if that wasn't what they value most.
It's not what gets me most excited, but you know, horses for courses and all that?
Re: Video: Did You Know All 20 of These PS5 Tips and Tricks?
Double tapping the home button was a new one to me, and I'd forgotten I could change the capture buttons. Other than that the only one I didn't know is one I'll never use (changing your online status)
Re: PS5, PS4 Finally Go Portable with Officially Licensed PlayStation Backbone One
Meanwhile I have a clip so I can mount my phone to my "spare" Dualsense controller. Works great including all the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback
Re: Gear Up For Some Wetwork in Hitman 3's New Ambrose Island Map, Available Now
I'll probably return to do this at some point, but I've got many other games I want to play more right now
Re: Stray Is a Meowsive Hit Judging By Day One Concurrent Numbers
I'm leaving it a few days in the hopes that some of the jank mentioned in reviews gets fixed, but I do kinda want to dive in already
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 435
I've been playing Empire of Sin via Plus Extra. It feels like it's so close to being a good game but it's missing something I can't quite put my finger on. It's odd because I love turn based tactics, and I love the 20s mob theme.
I'll likely start Red Dead Redemption 2 next
Re: PS Stars' Digital Collectibles Are 'Definitely Not' NFTs, Sony Stresses
@Ogbert this exactly. Not to mention how environmentally irresponsible NFTs and proof-of-work cryptocurrency is, when for most things all you need is a simple database (sure that centralises it, but for games you need the developer to make stuff part of the game anyway).
Re: An Early Build of Skate 4 has Leaked, and the Developers Have Asked Fans Not to Play It
@Mikey856 Man, these anti piracy ads are getting really mean.
https://youtu.be/ALZZx1xmAzg
Re: Horizon Forbidden West Has Its First GOTY Award Already
@Constable_What @Tecinthebrain
A year can also be any period of 12 months, Develop: Brighton run theirs in the summer, rather than the winter, and consider the games released during the preceding 12 months.
Edit: just saw that themightyant already made this point, but somehow not all the comments had loaded.
Re: Reaction: We Need to Talk About PS Plus Premium
I am only subscribed to Extra, rather than Premium, because almost everything that appeals to me is on Extra. There's maybe 2 games on Premium currently that I want to play more than anything in my existing backlog, so either when I'm done with my backlog, or more likely a couple of months before I'm due to renew, I'll upgrade to Premium, play those, and then let me sub lapse and resub back at Extra, which is astonishingly good value for money.
Re: Gaming Spend Will Continue to Decline in US as Living Costs Increase, Says NPD Report
@The_Moose An opinion piece in an American publication by a Conservative commentator? You're going to have to try harder.
It's widely acknowledged that they're Social Democracies and I have multiple friends who live in Denmark, Sweden, Norway who either moved there, or returned there after spending years in the UK, specifically because of Socialist welfare policies and more representative democratic systems.
Re: The Latest PS5 Firmware Update Is Available to Download Now
I'm glad they still said the thing
Re: Gaming Spend Will Continue to Decline in US as Living Costs Increase, Says NPD Report
@nessisonett do you think it's worth pointing out to @GreatAuk how much better Nordic countries are doing under Democratic Socialism versus our Conservative and Unionist Party's austerity policies that have resulted in one of the largest tax burdens in the world, rampant inequality which UN special rapporteurs have described as human rights violations, and the most corruption the UK has ever seen?
Re: Feature: What Are Your Most Anticipated PS5, PS4 Games for the Rest of 2022?
@The_Pixel_King that's almost exactly my list, except instead of TLOU remake I went for Midnight Suns
Re: Poll: Are You Happy With Your PS Plus Essential Games for July 2022?
I can imagine it would be great if I had Crash-based nostalgia, but as it is I'm just waiting to see what'll be added to Extra
Re: Insanely Deep PC Strategy Game Rim World Comes to PS4 Next Month
@jcvandan it's certainly a title where I'll wait for a deep sale or an appearance on Extra. If I was that interested in playing it [enough to pay those prices] I'd have done so on Steam years ago.
Re: First Photo of PSVR2 in the Flesh Emerges
Personally I'm really hoping that there will be hybrid games where, for instance in a third person Open World I can play the majority on a flat screen, but if I get into a car I can put on my headset and have a vr driving experience (because I have yet to pay an Open World game in which I can reliably do a three point turn, reverse around a corner, bay park or parallel park without hitting things or mounting the curb, despite doing these things on a regular basis. Driving fast should feel dangerous, etc etc etc)
Re: Horizon Netflix Show Will Be Called Horizon 2074, Crew Includes Talent From The Boys, The Expanse
@Vacuumator He plays Silens in the Horizon games, was Hatch in Quantum Break, as well as being famous for shows such as The Wire, etc
Re: UK Sales Charts: Only Three Top 10 Games Are Available on PlayStation
@munstre I think the main reason it's hanging around in the top 10 is that a large part of its market want to play it on PS5, maybe don't realise they'd get a free upgrade when they can find a console, and this means that instead of selling most of its units in the launch window, it's a much slower drip than most franchises get to see. Similar to how Miles Morales was right up to the announcement the it would be free with Plus Extra.
Obviously none of us can know for certain, but given how few bundled units there are out there in any given month, and the success of the first game, it seems like a much more likely scenario.
Re: Talking Point: What PS Plus Games for PS5, PS4 Do You Want This Month? (July 2022)
I'd like them to add some single player games, something that's not already available or something that's due to expire soon from the higher tiers (like Red Dead).
Knowing Sony's current way of doing things though, it'll probably be Horizon Zero Dawn, an obsolete Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter game, and something full of microtransactions, i.e worse than nothing.
Re: A Handful of Games Separate PS Plus Extra, Premium Lists in USA, Europe
I have to admit the only games I feel like I'm missing out on here are from the ResE series
Re: Sony Invites You to Find Your Zone on 28th June
@nessisonett Hash-tag not all gamers? 🤣
Re: Call of Duty's Anti-Cheat System is Punishing Cheaters in a Suitably Hilarious Way
It would be even better if the cheater wasn't aware they were being penalised, for instance they do low/no damage, but on their end it looks like they're getting kills, still have weapons, etc. Meanwhile everyone else sees them armed with NERF guns, running straight past other players or breaking off engagements where they've barely tickled their opponent. I'd guess it would mean more comedy value for legit players, and the cheaters are more likely to stay on so their exploits can be analyzed.
Re: System of Souls Is a First-Person Puzzler in the Spirit of Portal, Available Now on PS5, PS4
I kinda wish it had a different visual style. This doesn't look to have the "soul" the Portal games did, and I can see the visual nods just leading to a constant low level feeling of disappointment.
That said, if it eventually supports psvr2 I could see it setting itself apart in a way that makes up for it.
Re: PS5's Rumoured Pro Controller Could Have a Sturdy Solution to Stick Drift
For me, whether I buy this depends on how the extra buttons appear on PC - I'm fairly happy with the Dualsense on PS5, but it doesn't quite replace my Steam Controller on PC. The Steam Controller feels kinda cheap and nasty in comparison, but the rear paddles and the fact the left stick is a trackpad (as is the right "dpad") make it 100% better for PC games. If the Dualsense Pro (or whatever they call it) exposes the back buttons directly, rather than just duplicating other input, then I'll forego the easy-to-reach left trackpad (because mouse aiming is superior for FPS, and it works better on the desktop/in RTS type interfaces too) for the premium construction and the fact it'll likely still see support of years to come. Using it with the PS5 too would be a bonus.
Re: Test Your PlayStation General Knowledge - Issue 11
10, would have been nice to see what the next category was called
Re: Here's What the Card-Based Combat of Marvel's Midnight Suns Looks Like
@Victor_Meldrew I'd guess because cover doesn't feel very heroic, and a lot of the enemy attacks would likely shred straight through it anyway?
Re: Watch a New Cut-Scene from PS5's Forspoken
Nothing will ever beat
Re: Here's What the Card-Based Combat of Marvel's Midnight Suns Looks Like
Basically what @get2sammyb said. It's not what I was expecting/hoping for, but it looks awesome.
@thefourfoldroot: the guys in the video seemed to think no microtransactions, but I'm not sure how much they actually know/what they're basing that off - they didn't say whether they'd asked the devs or whether it's just that the current build (which was still buggy) didn't include them.
Re: Marvel's Midnight Suns Dated for 7th October on PS5, PS4
Can't wait to see some reviews of this. I want to believe it's going to be something really special.
Re: God of War Ragnarok 2023 Delay Seemingly Debunked
@KundaliniRising333 all the leaks I've seen report that it'll release early September on PS5 but not PC until later.
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Games for June 2022?
@Milktastrophe I think the difference with GoW is that not only has it been in Now for ages, not only is it part of the Collection for PS5, bit it's also one of the titles that was always going to be part of Extra. So on top of being frequently under £5, it has already been part of two giveaways, and was already scheduled to be (or in some regions already) given away a third time.
The fact that it's in the Collection means it's irrelevant for PS5 owners, which means that you can ignore 20 million people with a higher than average attatch rate for PS+ subscriptions, of which there are <50 million globally, so that's likely 30-40% of subscribers who already own it through that. Now is likely responsible for another 5-10%, especially when that translates into Premium or Deluxe with the switchover. That leaves you with 50-65% of Plus subscribers who haven't been given it through one of those channels, or 25-30 million subscribers on PS4. A load of those will have bought the game long ago, and a load of them will have been planning to upgrade to Extra or Premium. Out of those who remain, how many of them do you expect have any interest in playing the game?
I'd guess maybe 10% of subscribers will be receiving a copy of GoW that they don't already have access to and are interested in eventually playing. To those 10% it's worth £5, which means that to the average plus subscriber it's worth £0.50.
I won't complain about months where games I don't like, but which others are looking forward to, are given away, because I can recognise that on average it's valuable to the subscriber base, and eventually these things shake out, I'll get mine some other month. This however devalues their other offerings and provides very little value on average. As usual I'm not going to say "it's a crap selection", but I'm certainly "not very happy" and "not looking forward to any of them".
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 429
Getting the house onto the market, so when I find time I'll be relaxing with some Planet Coaster, it's a lovely bit of stress relief that doesn't really ask much from you.
Re: Reaction: Sony Kickstarts the Summer with Sizzling State of Play
@KundaliniRising333 Sony's only comment about day 1 releases on PS Plus was about first party games, which makes sense to me. As much as I'd love to be able to pay my sub and never have to buy anything else, it's not a good business model for Sony. Striking a deal for third party games to appear on day 1 is a very different proposition and one that has precedent.
I think a lot has been made of day 1 releases on the sub without people appreciating the distinction, especially with an indie game versus one which takes a team of many hundreds around the globe the best part of a decade to put together.
Re: Horizon Call of the Mountain Is a Real PSVR2 Spectacle, Aloy Cameo Confirmed
Can't wait to jump beck into the Forbidden West, I'd already done everything and needed an excuse
Re: What Time Is the Next State of Play Livestream?
@Bismarck I can see the headset itself perhaps being a loss leader, try and keep the price down near that of the main console.
Re: Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Is a Retro-Style FPS with Big DOOM Energy
@Elodin yup it looked like the classic Doom-style sprite animation, with some deliberately-left-there outline aliasing
Re: PS Plus Members Bemused by Potential God of War Inclusion Across Multiple Tiers
@NEStalgia as long as they don't change the actor and models for Kratos?
Re: PS Plus Members Bemused by Potential God of War Inclusion Across Multiple Tiers
@Hypoman eh, the collection makes sense as a lure for people buying a PS5, because there aren't really enough current gen only games to entice people right now. It's a value-add for your £450 or whatever it costs in your region.
Re: PS Plus Members Bemused by Potential God of War Inclusion Across Multiple Tiers
get2sammyb wrote:
Of course the inverse of that is also true: if the best games are given away for free to Essential tier customers, what's the value of Extra? And what's the value of Premium beyond streaming (which was why Now never did very well)?
My plan is still up upgrade the rest of my subscription to Extra until it runs out at the start of December, possibly even upgrade again to Premium for November, but if the games routinely come to Essential, that's where I'll end up when my subscription lapses. Previously I'd been assuming I'll end up on Extra for most of the year, upgrading to Premium for a month or two at the end of each sub.
Re: PS Plus Members Bemused by Potential God of War Inclusion Across Multiple Tiers
It's only disappointing because it's the flagship game this month, leaving anyone who has access via any other avenue without anything of value from this month's Essential tier offering.