Comments 355

Re: Indiana Jones Game Deal Amended to Exclude PS5, PS4

AK4tywill

I really effing wanted this, more than any other announced game, and based on recent comments from Bethesda spokespeople ("it's not exclusive") it sounded like a PS5 release was a surefire thing.

It's honestly so disheartening hearing MS pulled the PS5 version. I was.never fussed about Starfield or Redfall, but losing The Elder Scrolls VI was painful and as a big Indiana Jones/Treasure Hunter fan, this cuts extra deep.

Microsoft's portfolio growth route is the most ugly and cynical one in the industry. If you really can't see the difference between what PlayStation are doing with Spiderman and their other exclusives vs this you're either willfully ignorant or misguidedly trying to adopt an middle ground position.

This is predatory and worsening the video games landscape for consumers. Thank God Microsoft are taking a beating from regulators on the Activision Blizzard acquisition. They want total monopoly and they have the money to accomplish it.

We must always remember why they need to resort to these tactics: because they've proven time and time again that they're the one hardware manufacturer incapable of supporting their development teams properly. They have the most studios, yet the least appealing portfolio of games to consumers. The culture at Microsoft is known to be rotten, and their blitzkrieg of the industry should be stopped at all costs.

Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for June 2023?

AK4tywill

While I'm excited for Killzone Liberation, Premium continues to have dreadful offerings and Sony should be ashamed. Even if no third party publisher agreed to put their games on the service, Sony would still have hundreds of their own games they could port to service if they were at all interested in fulfilling their promises to their subscriber base.

Extra is doing great though.

Re: Reminder: Last Chance to See Your PlayStation Wrap-Up for 2022

AK4tywill

Wooo I love these. Overall I played much less than last year, which isn't surprising given how busy 2022 was. Death Stranding was my most played, up from 2nd place last year. Surprised I put so much time into Vice City, but I was going for that platinum so it must have clocked up. Deathloop and Ratchet were great fun, and BF1 is my go to online game for playing with mates (though I rarely play multiplayer).

Top Games:
1) Death Stranding Director's Cut (96 Hours)
2) GTA Vice City Definitive Edition (93 Hours)
3) Deathloop (71 Hours)
4) Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (40 Hours)
5) Battlefield 1 (29 Hours)

Re: September 2022 NPD: Replenished PS5 Stock Sends Sony's System Soaring

AK4tywill

@Shepherd_Tallon The majority of the market are people who want to play Fortnite, Call of Duty, Fifa and the occasional first party blockbuster that breaks into the zeitgeist. They are largely unaware of the micro-factors affecting the Playstation ecosystem and are uninterested in issues the hardcore base raise, such as diversity of experience in the first party catalogue or closures of studios due to a failure to meet lofty financial targets. The PlayStation brand is sturdy and built on the shoulders of a near-three decade long, largely successful run.

The more hardcore audience such as Push Square readers represent a minority in the market and are overwhelmingly more likely to have already picked up their consoles, so their grievances will have little to no effect (at least in the short term) on sales for the platform.

If you're enjoyment of your experience with PlayStation is dictated by their sales success, you have no reason to worry. If you are, however, an enthusiast gamer with a vested interest in a healthy gaming community and marketplace and your values and desired experiences are being threatened by increasingly profit-driven market moves, I can understand why you might have criticisms to voice - and a gaming news website for enthusiasts is probably a good place to do it.

Re: PS Plus Extra, PS Plus Premium Now Live Across the USA

AK4tywill

@dark_knightmare2 I really don't feel like I'm downplaying the Retro list. How many games have they added? From what I can tell most of them were part of PS Now already.

You're right that there are more new high profile additions than I mentioned (Guardians is a great one), but I was only listing examples. The thing is these games still aren't particularly new and they're competing with day 1 launches. I don't mind if Sony want to skip that, but they have to go all in on every other aspect, and so far it doesn't seem like they're doing that. (I will say the one exception I've seen - Stray - is a doozy!)

I do think it's unacceptable that the highest tier is launching with so few classic games, though the mid tier seems to be a better value proposition.

I've been a Playstation player all my life and want them to succeed (I pre-emptively subscribed to the highest tier of plus for the next three years), but I don't think this is how you launch a new brand if you're trying to avoid obscurity and correct the mistakes of PS Now. They easily had the power to do more and give themselves a fighting chance, so it's frustrating that they dropped the ball in so many places.

Re: PS Plus Extra, PS Plus Premium Now Live Across the USA

AK4tywill

@dark_knightmare2 Aside from a few high profile additions like AC Ragnarok, Demons Souls and Returnal, the selection is basically just a cut down PS Now catalogue (at twice the price), and the highest tier classic games total about 10 games. This isn't going to make a dent in Gamepass (yes, they are competing), and it's likley to piss off the most faithful Playstation gamers who opted for the highest tier only to get shafted out the gate.

Re: Rumour: God of War Ragnarok Delayed into 2023, Say European Sources

AK4tywill

This smells like a load of farts in the wind to me, and I've always been critical of the presumption it would get delayed into '23.

It's as if the gaming community had an over-correction at some point from being too optimistic for early releases and not appreciating the work needed, to suddenly mass predicting that all non-anual games would get a delay because that's what we became used to .

Let's look at this practically. It was originally announced for 2021, and while that may have been a bit unrealistic/marketingy to begin with, it must have had some foundation in reality.

-Last year we also saw gameplay - lots of it, that was no vertical slice. It's safe to say the game had been largely put together at that point.

-Unlike GOW 2018, the foundations for this game were in place. The engine was already built, as we're a large proportion of assets. Basic design decisions were done, the script likely already had a good structure. Essentially there is far less workload and production time needed for this game.

-Artists on the project have long said the game is playable, and Santa Monica were early this year very heavy handed in their affirmations that the game would release this year.

-Voice actors playing major roles on the project have stated their work is finished on the project which means that all those final call-backs for additional dialogue often done very soon before release have concluded.

I think the game is clearly in some sort of near-finished state. The only possible reason I can imagine for a delay to next year would be something catastrophic (I can't say what) or a need to redesign something fundamental due to something like overwhelming negative play-tester feedback, which honestly I doubt knowing the caliber of talent at Santa Monica and the fact that likely 90% of the game mechanics are returning from God of War, and already critic and consumer approved.

It's of-course possible and I could have egg on my face, but it just seems more likely that these "rumours" are the last anxious twitches from the fans and press before the fears are hopefully soon put to bed, likely in a release-dated showcase or trailer coming sooner than people think.

Re: Skull & Bones Finally Resurfaces Thanks to Leaked Gameplay Footage

AK4tywill

I think they've missed the mark in understanding what people loved about Black Flag. I want to be wrapped up in a pirate yarn, playing as a character with agency, not just some mute avatar. I want to be able to jump off my ship and swim to nearby islands, walk around towns at night and get into brawls in local taverns, not just designated safe hubs. Not for me.

Re: Unannounced Remake Project Added to Naughty Dog Employee's Resume

AK4tywill

@nessisonett But the technological and quality of life jumps were far bigger then than now, it's apples to oranges. A 2022 game is far more similar in design to a 2012 game than a 2002 game is to a '96 game. Also, all of the major issues that needed to be addressed like frame rate and resolution were fixed in the 2014 PS4 release, which itself runs perfectly on the PS5.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Gran Turismo 7?

AK4tywill

@kyleforrester87 Well Polyphony kind of circumvented the negative press by postponing these economy changes until after the metacritic scores and initial sales had come in (this looks totally pre-meditated in my book), so I see these scores as something of an equaliser, at least a way for those consumers who already bought the game to get their voices heard. Dirty tactics on dirty tactics.

Metacritic user scores are still a terrible way to decide if you want to buy a game though.

Re: Horizon Forbidden West Has Gyro Aiming, Many Accessibility Options

AK4tywill

I remember having my mind blown when I first played Ps Vita games like Uncharted Golden Abyss, Killzone Mercenary and Gravity Rush and realised how great gyro-aiming was.

I was then so disappointed when Uncharted 4 didn't have it. Of all the improvements, it would have been no.1 for me on the PS5 collection. Hopefully Playstation see a positive reaction to this and studios start patching it in.