viktorcode

@Integrity I mostly agree with you, except the part about the effect of the deal on other industry players.

Google is done buying game studios. Stadia was enough gaming for them, and now they want to sell it as a service to other businesses, rather than players.
Apple won't start buying game publishers. There's no point; they own the biggest game store on the planet in terms of revenue, and are also paying developers directly for presence on Arcade.
Even Amazon at this point had enough of buying studios. Year after year of failed projects will do that.

After all, game development is a high-risk business. Especially comparing to running online game store.

Apple and Google are the two companies that keep the gates to the largest game market of them all: mobile. Microsoft is obviously envious. Probably they dropped their mobile ambitions after understanding that they've lost the momentum necessary to dominate this market.

@Rmg0731 Tencent don't dictate its studios and publishers how to do business. Tencent trusts them to grow with the help of investment.
Disclosure: worked for a company that got investment from Tencent, about 10% os shares.

For those who believe that cloud gaming is popular and Microsoft is going to reach everyone on every piece of hardware through GamePass cloud subscription, here's some analysis:

In 2021 whole cloud gaming market is estimated to have generated $1.5B revenue.
In 5 years time this number is projected to reach $3-6B by various estimates.
In 10 years time it is projected to grow further, but is still expected to lag existing platforms.

In short, cloud streaming will earn less money than native port. This trend is expected to continue for at least 10 years.

@dasd2 They had to say something for investors to hear. I don't think they are very worried though. Sony Entertainment is not a company whose survival depends on market domination. They still be around even with a smaller market share.

Why you all have decided that that CoD is leaving PlayStation? Microsoft is not going to recoup $70Bn by leaving the most profitable store for the franchise just to spite a competitor.

@Alduin Yeah, I can imagine Microsoft not wanting to dominate a billions making industry because a competitor decided to NOT make timed exclusives. It is sooooo relevant.

@TommyNL Pfft... Apple may just open Japanese subsidiary for the merger. Most likely they already have one.

@Col_McCafferty There's no point buying Xbox if you have a PC. Microsoft will continue releasing games on Windows. That alone undermines purchasing Xbox.

@get2sammyb
" there’s no acquisition that the Japanese giant could feasibly make to fill the void of one of the biggest brands on its platform"

Apple buys Sony. Boom. All of a sudden there's lot of money and access to bleeding edge hardware teams. PlayStation incorporates Apple Arcade and other services into PS+, and that alone can't be matched by Microsoft.

@naruball It is a process of monopolisation, where the end point (after many acquisitions) is a monopoly. That reduces competition.

And if you don't have competition then you already have a monopoly in this market, by definition.

I don't think they will make all of Activision-Blizzard exclusive. $70 Bn is hard to recoup.

@naruball But monopoly is anti-competition.

@Deadlyblack So far Nintendo only experimented with mobile market. I can't see why they are going to port anything to different console though. After all, Sony does not port their games to Xbox

@Radekbejbl1 How much patience do I need to wait for Bloodborn port? When it's coming to PC?

@lolwhatno You are totally right. For indies getting on Steam isn't a matter of preference; it's business necessity.

@Juanalf Hardcore PC crowd is a minority of PC sales. it is good to appeal them as they are very active online, but game developers know, they aren't those who their game should be directed to

@nessisonett Can't imagine a game developer voluntarily avoiding the biggest money generating platform outside of mobile

@dasd2 I think this will happen at the advent of PlayStation 6. So far it is a brilliant advertising campaign to bring new players to the platform. In this case, to play Ragnarok.

For people who struggle:
1. Turn on always sprint in settings. Just do it.
2. Try different weapons. They all become tremendously good as you permanently unlock new perks.

@Ashkorsair There's a simple trick to finding glyphs and logs: complete a biome, if you still have something to find there - restart the cycle from the menu (not dying). Followed this tip and it worked for me.

@nessisonett That's no the plot. The plot tells you answers to the questions you don't yet know, because they will be presented at the end of act 2 in cinematic.

@WallyWest Not really a miracle; it's just developer studios haven't had enough experience on using raytracing efficiently yet. Low resolution raytracing for global illumination works wonders in Metro Exodus. I expect more of this kind in future games.

If raytracing is used solely for reflections, it can be safely ignored. 60 FPS mode of course is the only one playable in highly dynamic games.

This game sorely needs 60 FPS. Current video makes it clear why: at 30 FPS animations all look jerky

@AdamNovice NMS had different problems than Cyberpunk. Mainly, it was a perception problem, where gamers expected one game, but got another. Despite that the basis of the game was solid. And it didn't change with years, as more futures were added.

Enjoyed it, but stopped at expeditions because that was the place where fun stops and grinding starts. Balancing issues made the game most fun at the beginning, where your powers are actually at peak, and later the enemies grow faster than you do. I might come back if balancing will patch this reverse power play.

@Royalblues @RedKnight34 You are comparing Sony that created its own exclusives with Microsoft that locked previously available franchises to its platforms.

@Ultrasmiles I think majority of players won't buy the game. They will have it as part of Game Pass subscription, since it's cheaper

@Flaming_Kaiser That's rendered very differently. Movies have built-in perfect motion blur. Games render each frame sharp, and blur is just a post processing effect of varying quality.

A movie at 24 FPS without motion blur would be an unwatchable jerkfest

I noticed people here are using "RT" term, like some sort of known effect. Raytracing is used for very different things in games. There are raytraced reflections in some games. There is global illumination and shadows, like in Metro. And then there's just behind the scenes calculations, like in Returnal.

In the essence, the last example is what RT actually is: acceleration of some graphics related jobs. Different games employ it for different purposes, and results vary greatly.

@Nightcrawler71 Based on my experience with Demon's Souls, they aren't hard per se. They are "unusual". Your experience in previous games does not matter. But since the mechanics in every From game is repeatable, you learn what to expect and how to react. After that the game is easy

Earlier in the game I might have used that, but then the game finally clicked for me, and I'm sold. Sounds tired, but the more you play, the better you get. And I'm enjoying the game much more than when I started. Not playing now, but intend to try platinum that. Don't really care about saving a run (and yes, I have a toddler), I'm okay to continue from scratch.

Technically you can achieve something similar with a phone and PlayStation remote app. What stops me is that those games weren't designed for smaller screens

This reminds me of a Phillips patent that describes a tele with unskippable ads (can't switch away when ad is playing). Same chances of adoption

@truerbluer I expect those games to hit PC at the end of lifetime of PlayStation 5, after PlayStation 6 or whatever will be announced.

@Amusei Tell that to Nintendo and Microsoft

@jinx20001 Sorry, yeah, you are totally right that there is boost mode that drops input lag even more. My original reply though was to the claim that LG С1 has input lag of 1ms (and thus Sony's 6ms is so slow).

@Perryg92 It's not just Sony. Samsung and LG got Apple TV+ too. They really are trying to push it everywhere, just like any other streaming service does

@jinx20001 They test TVs latencies in game mode and outside of it. 13 ms is for game mode.

It's no contest. The first one. It created the genre of open world shooter before Ubisoft bastardised it.

For once there's a hope that the former Apple Arcade lead will help Sony to enter premium mobile gaming, not f2p.

@Denni5m LG CX has 13 ms input lag, as measured by rtings

I did. I also bought some Porter beer to help me on the journey

I'm looking forward to playing Director's Cut (which of course must be called Kojima's Cut in this case). I even bought porter (the beer) to consume while playing

@RubyCarbuncle
"no Consumer should have to buy the same digital game again just so they can play it on a more up to date Console."

They don't have to. PS4 games work on PS5 perfectly fine. I see no reason for your stated disgust, other than desire for free upgrades.

@get2sammyb Why Sony need an excuse for not participating in the race to the bottom of game prices? Their games are selling well enough allowing them to experiment with the pricing.

On the other hand, if Sony had a product like Metro Exodus, that's been on permanent sale for a very long time, and then decided to upgrade it to PS5 using the technology already existing in a PC version, then yes, that kind of upgrade is expected to be free.

The trajectory of Crytek as a company is spectacular. They started with a tech demo for GeForce cards. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, FarCry came out. And it brought open world gameplay to shooters, as we know it now. Freedom of movement + vehicles + encounters on your own terms. And the amount of content was staggering.

Then Crysis came out. This was a point where gameplay and technologies diverged at the company: technology climbed higher and became better with every game instalment, while the fun parts, i.e. what makes game a game, suffered. Crysis, as a game, was boring when compared to FarCry. But nobody cared; it was the tech masterpiece.

I never played Crysis 2, but haven't heard anything good about it. And Crysis 3 became more a rail shooter, than anything open world stands for. To make it even worse, you spend the latter part of the game in darkness, so you won't even be able to see the technological prowess that is still lurking there somewhere.

And modern Crytek struggles to survive, with delayed salaries and a single ongoing niche game to its name. This is very sad. I wish they made FarCry 2 instead. Not that Ubimination, but the real one. A continuation of the game, that change the genre forever.

@nessisonett Had the drift. Can't be actual wear that soon. So I partially disassembled it and sprayed a contact cleaner on the stick. It was grime. Works as new now.

To all concerned that the new version is somehow worse or less reliable: don't. It is the first version that was overkill. It would be stupid for Sony not to cut manufacturing costs by making changes to the new revisions.