themightyant

@RawnDawn For Michael!

Classic.

Already pretty sold on this, not sure I want to see another half hour of the quest. Might just watch a few snippets.

Nice. Falls into that category of “wasn’t going to buy again, but happy to give it it a go for nostalgia”

Looks sweet. Thanks for the heads up.

Glad to see Wolfeye Studio (Raphael Colantonio et al.) is getting another shot after their debut Weird West. That didn't quite hit for me, but there were enough ideas and promise that I'm interested in what they cook up next.

@Zeke68 my bad. I thought you were talking about the other article.

@Oram77 Sadly, from a Western perspective, I don't see many of these newer Asian studios prioritising performance or bug free experiences. Visually they are often stunning, but technically lacking. Yes Crimson Desert also looks like it might be a hot mess at launch, but hopefully the delay MIGHT help.

@bluemage1989 What a weird thing to say. This looks nothing like, nor has the same vibe, as things like Genshin Impact, F.I.S.T. or Bladed Fury.

Sounds like it's coming in VERY hot, with a lot of bugs, unless that build was many months old there's no time to fix all those issues by launch. But it's one to keep an eye on for later.

Strong month. Pacific Drive and Thank Goodness You're Here are both on my wishlist. Can also recommend Still Wakes the Deep for the writing and voice acting alone. It flows like a real conversation unlike so many games that feel 'written', it deserves awards for that.

EDIT: I enjoyed Talos Principle 1 so the sequel is a nice get too.

@Art_Vandelay I never said they did tell the whole story, they are clearly leaks, albeit quite in depth ones from very reliable leakers.

But I agree even if all the leaked specs are accurate, which they might not be, there's enough wiggle room in all the in the things we don't know for performance to be very different. This is why the original report said things like 6x - 12x Ray Tracing improvement over PS5, I just chose the lower number to play it safer.

But the node shrink could be 3nm in PS6, rather than 7nm in the original PS5, 6nm in PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro and 4nm in PS5 Pro.

Either way it's at least two years away, nothing to get excited about for a long while yet. Just a bit of conjecture.

It was similar with the PS4, but people forget this, there were some quieter first party spells but they absolutely nailed it in the last few years before PS5. I expect this to be the same.

Saros, Intergalactic, Wolverine, Marvel Tokon Souls, [Santa Monica Game]. Plus others that may hit before PS6. e.g. games from Guerilla, Firesprite, Meida Molecule, etc.

@Rich33 FYI I did take the lower numbers from the report which said 2.5x - 3x rasterization performance over PS5 and 6x - 12x ray tracing performance. I specifically said 2.5x and 6x, not 3x and 12x to play it safe. I agree we should take the lower number.

Rasterization performance uplift isn't that important going forward as that is an area that we have definitely hit diminishing returns - whether a character has 30,000 polygons or 100,000 polygons doesn't really make much difference in what our eyes can actually perceive on TVs (it's an oversimplification, but you get the idea). Meanwhile things like RT, AI and ML are things the PS5 is lacking and can see much larger jumps next gen. It's here that we should see much larger jumps.

I disagree 30fps modes should be gone. Because SOME people choose graphics over frame rates (according to Cerny about 25%). Thought I will personally ALMOST always choose performance modes but that shouldn't stop people who want ultimate graphical fidelity also having a choice.

As for 90fps+ modes, I don't think that's all that important on console. Most people still don't have HDMI 2.1 120Hz VRR TV's that can utilise this so it shouldn't be a key focus. But it's a nice option to have for those that do. Personally I believe 60fps is more than enough for the vast majority of games and 40fps is often the sweetspot for many others. It's only the ultra sweaty, often competitive, games where higher framerates really come into play.

I keep hearing people say things like "this generation hasn't started" but if that is the case why is PS5 selling broadly in line with PS4, their fastest selling console. Why are more games sold on PlayStation than ever before? It's the vocal minority that like to moan. Meanwhile the rest of us just play our games. I'm sure it will be the same with PS6.

Would I prefer 2028? Yes, probably, but ask me in two years, not now.

Gameplay looks great, not a fan of the art style which seems like it tried to mimic Hollow Knight a bit but ends up a bit of a disjointed mess. Incongruous.

I’ll wait for reviews.

@PuppetMaster Yes absolutely, that's part of what I meant, there's a lot of restructuring required. WB comes with a lot of baggage.

@PuppetMaster WB games is a bad buy. Their value is really in their IP (Batman, Harry Potter, Lego) which other than Mortal Kombat likely wouldn’t be part of the deal. Many of their studios are on a downward trend (Rocksteady, Neverrealm, WB Montreal, WB Boston) and they closed Monolith, Snowblind, WB San Diego and others. The main studios that have made successful games recently are Avalanche and Travellers Tales, but again both based around IP you wouldn’t get. Sony absolutely shouldn’t buy them.

@UltimateOtaku91 the idea that Sony cancelled Factions 2 because of Bungie is utter nonsense. This story needs to die.

Yes Bungie looked at it and gave their advice (this is more common than you think) but you don’t cancel a tens or hundreds of millions project on a whim. Do you really think if they were onto a winner Sony would cancel it? Really?

If I had to make an educated guess based on everything that was said… then Factions 2 was fun in short bursts but didn’t have the legs to make it a lasting game. Players would drop off.

Moreover it was designed in such a way that it would take most of Naughty dog to maintain it as a game. It would prevent them working on multiple single player games. Lastly it seems like monetising it wasn’t going to be easy. All the above meaning it was likely to fail as a live service and not see a return on investment. If true cancellation seems like the best option rather than throwing good money after bad.

This is good news. The reason Switch gets such incredible Japanese publisher support is because of how much it sells in Japan. If PS5 can sell more in Japan we should get more Japanese games eventually. This is more a long term play for PS6 though.

@Art_Vandelay PS5 Pro is stuck using the same Zen 2 CPU with a slightly upgraded RDNA 3 GPU with some RDNA 4 features. PS6 is reported to have Zen 6c with RDNA 5 and GDDR7. The leaked specs are here if you want to learn more.

Either way if I’m right we have less than 2 years to find out. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Looks great, and Artful Escape was wonderful. Looking forward to this one, release it when it's ready.

The leaked specs show RDNA5, Zen 6, more and faster GDDR7 memory and suggest at least a 2.5x increase in pure raster performance, but more importantly at least a 6x increase in RT and ML performance. When we see what technologies like DLSS can do, e.g. double framerates and/or add far more details to a scene for the same framerate at resolutions that appear the same to the eye, then this is where the big step will be next gen. But we are at diminishing returns.

I still think it will be cheaper than PS5 Pro, release in Nov 2027... so we've only got 2 years to see if i'm wrong! Though personally I wouldn't mind if it was Nov 2028.

@Fiendish-Beaver I can understand that. FWIW I don't think Microsoft is going anywhere as a platform holder, I expect them to keep making consoles. But at the same time they are the most likely to flip, do a 180, and exit the space.

If I ONLY played on one platform I would probably be more worried. But as a multi-platform gamer XSX is basically my Game Pass device, Switch 2 is my Nintendo exclusives device and I play everything else on PS5... so I guess I have less skin in the game if one fails.

I think there are far too many fake rumours about Xbox, but I can also understand that they have created an environment where fake news gains traction because they keep changing their policies. Therefore you can't trust the things they say. I generally believe they mean them at the time, but they flip-flop so often it doesn't age well.

I'm not convinced there will be a mass Xbox exodus next gen, I think most gamers are pretty entrenched in their platforms, with their libraries, and I think the neXtbox could be quite compelling IF (and it's a big IF) they manage to deliver on PC / Xbox Hybrid AND keep all the great Game Pass games coming. The problem will be cost.

Personally I think the future's quite bright for all 3 platform holders... but then i'm an eternal optimist!

It's 2025 and PS4 has only just been discontinued in Japan but is still being manufactured and distributed globally. It will be the same for PS5, it's in the 'middle' of THAT lifecycle. This has nothing to do with next gen which I would bank on being November 2027.

@Titntin @Zeke68 The article was about US sales only. PS5 is still just behind PS3 globally (84.2m v 87.2m) but it doesn't really matter it will be ahead in the next month or so.

The more interesting one is PS5 v PS4, their fastest selling console. Currently the PS5 is 2.1 million units behind but that gap is tracking about the same. Whether it beats PS4 sales really depends on when the PS6 launches and how long the PS5 is sold for after. (E.g. PS2 was sold for a LONG time after, especially in emerging markets)

If PS6 releases in Nov 2027 as expected, PS5 will probably be just short of PS4, if it is later, it will likely outsell it. But things like GTA6, Wolverine, Intergalactic could still make up for that 2.1 million. It's neck and neck.

@Fiendish-Beaver Define 'BETTER'. PlayStation is doing better in some metrics, Xbox in others, it depends what you are looking at. We can always find a metric to say one is doing better than the other.

But more than anything i'd say why compare at all? Their businesses are very different now. Since ABK and Zenimax Xbox is more of a publisher first and platform holder second, they make most of their money through selling their OWN games cross-platform, as well as live services and mobile titles.

Whereas PlayStation is still mostly the traditional platform holder model making most of their games through OTHER people's games on their own platform. They make most of their money from keeping people on PSN and taking a 30% cut. Only 7.8% of games sold were their own last quarter. And only 2.3% of their revenue was from other platforms. VERY different business model to Microsoft.

Both are doing well in their own ways imo. I like they are all doing different things.

@Fiendish-Beaver Candy Crush! + COD, Warcraft etc. In short ABK.

Candy crush alone has an estimated 250+ million monthly players

But no they all likely use slightly different ways of measuring such that you can't fairly compare them.

@Fiendish-Beaver According to Sony's own financial report

Monthly Active Users is an estimated total number of unique accounts that played games or used services on the PlayStation™Network during the last month of the quarter and is based on company research, and may be updated in the future

Yes PC, or mobile, will count too if they are logged into PSN, as they should, it's users across PSN.

@Elfuggingjefe No worries. I wouldn't read too much into it. We can only really compare to PS4 and to a lesser extent PS3. PS1 and PS2 numbers are all a bit wooly and Wordlwide release dates are too separated to make it a fair comparison.

What we can say without doubt is PS5 is doing exceptionally well for Sony, and their PlayStation financials are very strong again.

Here's a few other factoids from their investor report

• Sales of 1113.2 bn Yen / up 3.89% YoY / new quarterly record
• Income of 120.4 bn Yen / down 13.26% YoY / 2nd highest Q2
• Profit margin was a healthy 10.82%
• 72% digital sales / up from 70% Q2 2024 / down from 82% Q1
• 80.3 million games sold / new quarterly record
• 7.8% of those games sold (6.3 million) were first party
• 119 million MAUs / up 2.5% YoY from 116 million

Great numbers. They should hit 100 million Q2 or Q3 of next year.

@Elfuggingjefe Todays numbers are up to Sept 2025 when PS5 has been on sale for around 58 months / 20 quarters. It's hard to compare with previous gens precisely as Sony only used to update us at the end of the Financial year (March) and consoles used to launch in different territories at different times (e.g. PS1 came out 9+ months later than Japan for rest of world) so take this as a very ROUGH guide.

But as of the most recent financial year (to March 2025) after 5 Financial Year reports on the market

• PS1 - 71.97 million
• PS2 - 71.3 million
• PS3 - 50.21 million
• PS4 - 81.2 million
• PS5 - 77.8 million

But take with a huge pinch of salt. It's tracking just behind PS4, their fastest selling console, which considering the higher cost and supply issues early on is surprising imo.

@Northern_munkey People are racist, sexist, and send her death threats and she posts a, pretty amusing, image clapping back at incel tears... good for her. Not sure what you think is wrong with that. Hardly a controversy and doesn't need reporting on here.

I'd pay for an upgrade, I likely wouldn't buy it again, at least not at full price. There were many amazing aspects to RDR2, technically, acting, parts of the story. But the gameplay was sluggish and the story dragged on at least 10 hours too long.

@Balaam_ I understand your pain, but don't get it twisted YOU are forcing yourself to preserve some arbitrary number like 100% completion, no one else is.

It's entirely up to you alone whether you do this, you have free will, right?

For publishers: Bigger numbers, they can consolidate all CoD players into one big number to compete with Fortnite and other games that are now launchers to other games within games. That helps with investment and keeping stocks high.

Long term there's also a chance these become their own platform of sorts, a potential long term play.

For the consumer. Nothing.

It IS "flawed but pretty good" but also "it's still a disappointment", both are true for me.

Not a bad game but a step back after Fallout 3 and New Vegas, I still put in a lot of hours but, like Starfield, was ultimately disappointed.

@Jrs1 ... then lose even more money on the divorce.

Utterly bizarre, but also goes to show how much of a landmark global event a GTA launch is.

Wow, using a fan translation mod seems like a fast and efficient solution to the problem, but it’s bizarre, I can’t think of game doing something similar so close to release.

@Propaperpusher No reason it shouldn’t stream PS6 games.

@Megabeenz @1970sGamer DF are great at what they do, but they are also pedants, you have to judge everything they say through the lens of wanting the best of the best.

For example in the same episode Alex said several times "PS3 sucks" just because it's not as high fidelity or high res as his beloved PC. They are, of course, entitled to their viewpoint, however I don't know about you, but PS3 didn't suck for me.

Although I would agree that GeForce Now is absolutely best in class. I tried it at a mates and couldn't have told you it was streaming. PS Cloud isn't THAT good.

@rjejr It's not for everyone but I think there's a pretty large potential market for it.

I think it's more the other way around. If you are already paying for Ultimate then paying $200 for the Portal makes a lot of sense for a lot of users if it allows you to actually play PlayStation more. That's a lot of people who might not always have access to the TV or are able to keep playing when the wife, kids etc. need the TV. At which point it seems like good value imo.

To be fair i've not played Avatar, Helldivers 2 or Star Wars Outlaws but I can't imagine them being better than Clair Obscur: It's already one of the Greatest soundtracks of all time.

Sword of the Sea and Indy were great musically, but again not as strong as E33 imo. But that's the thing, it's all opinions and we all like different things. There is no right and wrong even if this feels like it.

@TrollOfWar Anthem is a game that absolutely SHOULD always have been playable offline in my view. I was actually thinking of picking it up for £1 at CEX and giving it a whirl before this date... because FOMO! But who's got the time!

Games like this, or the Crew, I am fully in support of. I just think these are the minority, most games like this ARE playable offline already. If SKG shrank their scope to JUST these types of games they might be more successful.

@Ainu20 They give other examples (like Lawbreakers, a Team Deathmatch game) that would either need a lot of work and/or creating and distributing private server code, which many studios are understandably not willing to do.

At the end of the day I support many of SKG ideals, I just think their way of going about them is a bit naïve in regards to changing legislation, and as a result sadly won't lead to the changes we want. Worse I worry if implemented into law as is it could lead to unexpected consequences like studios not making certain games.

@Ainu20 Words are cheap, it's easy to say that, but many examples given WOULD cost plenty to implement. The "as possible" is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

I respect you feel differently, but to me there needs to be a better balance between expectations and reality, then we might actually go about getting some change, which is what we all want.

@Ainu20 Moving around the Warzone map with no one to fight is exactly the sort off offline crippled form that would cost very little to implement which we could end up with if SKG was successful in it's demands being made law. Is that what you or people signing the petition ACTUALLY want? or similar experiences in other online games?

I don't think that is misrepresenting SKGs mission at all.

As I have CLEARLY said, I am in support WHEN it makes sense, but many games don't make sense to me. You feel differently, fine, we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

@Ainu20 Not really. Almost everything they are asking for WOULD cost money to develop and implement. Yet SKG makes it sound like it's so carefree and easy to implement when it isn't.

That means online games should either remain playable offline

Just think about what that entails for a moment. Most online games only exist online, to play against other human players. To make them playable offline, and all that entails in adapting the game, is a HUGE amount of work in many cases.

But of course it's not one size fits all, i'm all for having it WHEN it makes sense.

if that's in an empty world, then so b(e) it,

In the cases where it might make sense, like The Crew, I am fully in support. But this isn't most games that are being shuttered. Would people be happy with just moving around the Warzone map with no one to fight for example? That's no longer Warzone. SKG demands need to be more flexible to cater for the many examples, it isn't one size fits all.

... or that players can host their own servers

This makes a bit more sense IN SOME CASES but there's also many concerns with releasing proprietary code to allow this. Again it's not as simple as they like to make it sound.

All I am saying is that SKG needs to have a better balance between consumer wishes and business realities while also realising it's not one size fits all. There absolutely will be games where this is easy to achieve and it should be done as a matter of course. I am fully in support here. E.g. The Crew.

BUT there will be other games (lets use Forntite or Warzone as examples) where you just couldn't get the game to work offline without a LOT of work. I don't think mandating these modes are created is sensible. It would cost a small fortune. The law of unintended consequences would probably lead to some dire outcomes as a result, like studios not making certain games.

P.S. Not sure what you expected from me other than some real world takes, not dream world ones that ONLY consider consumers. There needs to be a better balance or SKG will fail, and I don't want it to.

@Markatron84 But making an offline version is not free and often will cost a lot of money to develop.

Offline modes should be made available WHEN IT MAKES SENSE (e.g. mostly single player games), but many online games it doesn't.

To give one example: Many online games specifically work because you are playing against other humans, not bots. Developing the AI to make these type of games work offline is a LOT of work. I get the impression a lot of people think it's like flicking a magic switch. There are a lot of other hurdles to overcome all of which cost something to consider and develop. They will vary game to game.

I'd love to see SKG succeed, but I think it needs to be more realistic to the actual costs and considerations of making games, at the moment it's too pie in the sky, and one size fits all, every project is different.

As expected. SKG is far too consumer focused. If they want to ACTUALLY have things change then they need to meet companies half way with realistic goals.

@Jrs1 Vita is a console, with it's own library of games, Portal is really an accessory. You can't really compare them.

I loved my Vita, great bit of kit, still have it, and until Steam Deck it was my go to retro handheld. But it failed as a console for Sony.

PS Portal is a great bit of kit, but stats like "'PS Portal Users Are More Engaged Than Non-Users" are utterly useless. Of COURSE users that are engaged enough to have bought a piece of kit specifically designed to give them more playtime are more engaged, it wouldn't be doing it's job if they weren't.

That's fine. We need to get away from these crazy expectations on game anniversaries, it's more toxic than anything, and the definition of entitlement.