Comments 897

Re: Sony Coy on Potential PS5 Price Increase

Bleachedsmiles

@get2sammyb A rational mind would say raising the price of the ps5 probably isn’t going to be welcomed… but then we’ve seen the majority of people on here defend £70 games and £10 upgrades pretty passionately… they’ll just do the same with a console price rise. The rational minds are rarely the loudest, you know that.
This will be spun and welcomed.

The rest will buy an Xbox series S until the ps5 is now not only in stock but also the price they originally asked for…by which point they’ll be invested in the Xbox ecosystem.

Re: Sony Discontinuing PS5 Accolades As No One Used Them

Bleachedsmiles

First time I learned about this feature, and used it, was playing co op in returnal where after a co op game it puts it upfront.
Barely used it, but if the feature already exists… does it really take that much more effort from Sony to keep it?

Maybe it could be a pretty interesting move to create almost a ‘tip’ system. Where you can donate some of your reward points to decent players who help you out in games? Thus giving more encouragement for players to ‘send positive message to one another’…rather than give up on the idea completely.

Their reward system will definitely help with player engagement. Has done wonders for Xbox. But you know what ‘looking at the amount of playtime invested’ really translates to for Sony…they’ve not been shy about it. It’s live service games. Next few years we’ll see the fruition of that for sure.

Apparently there’s rumours now they’re thinking about increasing the price of the ps5. The message the vocal Sony fanboys sent has been heard. Let’s see what that does for player engagement.

Re: Rumour: God of War Ragnarok Will Have 60fps, 30fps Options on PS5

Bleachedsmiles

@Shinnok789 I’m with you. The whole ‘choices are good’ when it comes to compromising resolution/graphical settings (it’s never just resolution), or frame rate…is starting to become a bit of a pet peeve.
The whole point of a console is that it’s not a PC. It’s a closed box where games should be fully optimised for the hardware. Not rely on ‘a choice’. It doesn’t stop at frame rate or resolution…we’re already seeing this. It’s also graphical options are now a choice…turn ray tracing on/off. Soon we’ll probably be picking our AA of choice. As we step further and further away from the plug and play nature of a console. Cause ‘choice is good’… yet these same people are desperate for these games to no longer be on ps4 too.

I’d much prefer devs just focus on bringing us the very best 60fps version them and the hardware is capable of. I don’t need to have the psychological torment of knowing that whatever cool moment I see there’s the choice available for me to see it looking better but playing worse. That serves no benefit. There’s a term for this for a reason - ignorance is bliss.

Another bow in the cap for a streaming future.

Re: Sony Announces PlayStation Stars, a Free Loyalty Scheme for PS5, PS4 Fans

Bleachedsmiles

This is excellent news. MS rewards really is the unsung hero of gamepass on Xbox. This year alone I’ve got 50’000 points so far…which is probably like £35? It can easily get addicting collecting those points, knowing you’re making some money for very little effort. Equally as important though rewards have made games so much more engaging than achievements alone. They’ve prompted me to try so many games I would have never…and I’ve ended up discovering ones I’ve really enjoyed.

This is definitely the right step for PlayStation. Even Nintendo has a rewards point system.

Re: Poll: Was Sony's State of Play the Best Gaming Showcase of June?

Bleachedsmiles

@get2sammyb ‘old outdated press conferences of June’… do gamers really look back on E3 years and think “well that was boring…hope I never have to go through that again”?
Far as I can remember E3 was always looked forward to by gamers. Full of excitement and hype. A three day weekend dedicated to what we supposedly love. Some liked to bitch and moan at how ‘E3 is dying’ but we still all tuned in, all soaked up an event celebrating what we love. I definitely miss those days…I don’t know we any gamer wouldn’t welcome back the days of the big three having conferences back to back…all the speculation that came before it…and all the excitement that came after it. It was a whirlwind of sensory information…the occasional disappointment, but mostly reaping some sort of reward from the one up man ship going on between Microsoft Sony and Nintendo.

Now it’s little tokens throughout the year… there’s not the same level of anticipation. Nor that same level of reward. When given something frequently, every few months.

This year was lacking in excitement. If Xbox stick to the 12 month thing then next year going forward should be decent and show more surprises. But I’d personally love Sony and Nintendo to come out fighting in June alongside them again. I don’t care if it makes them less financial sense. I don’t care if it risks games getting overlooked by the average viewer. I care about the build up, the buzz those 3 days created around the gaming community. The conversation. The excitement it personally gives me.
The only reason why Sonys state of play (showing nothing but 3rd party) in June impressed more than expected is because there isn’t that same level of excitement/anticipation/expectation around PlayStation in June since they removed themselves from the traditional E3 like conferences. To me, this isn’t a pro for a lack of E3 and it’s ‘out dated’ format. The games shown are good, but the show itself offers no room for anything special. It’s not an event. And gaming having a true event isn’t a bad thing.

Re: First Photo of PSVR2 in the Flesh Emerges

Bleachedsmiles

@themightyant also this is ‘new Sony’. Nobody would have thought PlayStation exclusives would be coming so regularly to pc to the point where most logically envision day 1 releases within the next couple of years. I wouldn’t be overly shocked if they made psvr 2 pc compatible…especially with the ps5 install base being so limited compared to the ps4s when psvr came out. And if this headsets over the £300 mark it may make more sense to release it to a larger audience rather rely on the console gamers spending close to a thousand on hardware in the space of a couple of years. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if in psvr2 a life cycle they made it pc compatible.

I just wish Xbox would do a deal with valve or some other third party and make their VR headset compat with Xbox series consoles. We need them all to be in if VR is properly going to start taking off

Re: First Photo of PSVR2 in the Flesh Emerges

Bleachedsmiles

@Bismarck VR is transformative…that can’t be argued against. It adds another dimension to games…that can’t be argued against. And enhances gaming experience - playing RE7 in psvr is an enhanced experience over flat - a game that controls exactly the same but simply adds to the experience. It demonstrates the potential of VR without the constraints of the controls.
Other flat games are far more enhanced in VR such as Skyrim or No man’s sky…but comes with the barrier of the move controls.

VR carries certain genres of games beyond what flat is capable of. Light gun games get new life due to VR. Horror games add an unprecedented level of fear that flat horror games could never hope to match. This is hard to argue against.

But psvr does come with barriers. The move controls can me gotten used to but I imagine when we go back in years to come it will be like playing early 3D games like Goldeneye on a N64 controller…it is t going to age well.
The headset steams up the lenses when you first put it on.
It’s tethered to a console
The vast majority of the games don’t have the big budgets behind them so end up being little more than ‘experiences’ or shovelware

All these things will prevent VR being mainstream.

But to say VR is just rubbish outright is completely ignorant to the clear potential there. It’s going through it’s growing pains just like 2D did, just like 3D did. It will eventually get there…it will take a little longer.
The games that do VR well though are already a next leap in gaming for those capable of enjoying/experiencing them.

Re: First Photo of PSVR2 in the Flesh Emerges

Bleachedsmiles

All gonna come down to price for me. You already need a £450-600 machine to use it. With ps5 still hard to get hold of I wonder if this will end up getting pushed to the later half of next year. Either way it’s a big ask for people to spend so much on a console and then anything over £200 for this (and I honestly can’t see this being below £300). I can’t see the install base being great initially…which gets me nervous on how much support it will get in year 2/3/4/5…
Psvr 1 came with a healthy ps4 install base around it.

It’s a shame this won’t support ps4 pro or pc too

Re: A Plague Tale: Requiem Brings Back Rats on 18th October for PS5

Bleachedsmiles

@Reeneman Again, this is a different argument. That’s the thing I’ve noticed about you guys…you can’t just stick to the original point you was attempting to make - that gamepass has already effected the quality of Xbox studio games. The goal posts move because there’s nothing behind it other than it being a lazy comment.

The future releases…who knows? Hell blade 2 may be of lesser quality than hell blade 1…from what I’ve seen of it it doesn’t look like they’re not getting the time and budget they need to make it.
We’ve just seen starfield get delayed…whether it’s a good game at release or not who knows. But has gamepass effected the quality of that game?

And that’s the point. When somebody says a subscription service has effected quality of the games there’s only two ways it could do that correct?… budget will either be cut. Or games will be rushed out. Unless something else comes to your mind?
What have we seen for a fact so far? AAA games releasing day 1 on gamepass from Xbox getting delays…so we know they’re not being rushed for the service.
We also know for a fact so far that day 1 releases from Xbox game studios haven’t had their budgets lowered because of gamepass.

The games actually being good or not is a different argument. And has nothing to do with them releasing day 1 on gamepass effecting their quality. Unless you believe games like halo infinite would have been loads better had it not come out on gamepass. Crack down 2 loads better had it not come out on gamepass etc

Re: A Plague Tale: Requiem Brings Back Rats on 18th October for PS5

Bleachedsmiles

@Reeneman actually read what I wrote.
The argument that the quality of Xbox’s own games have suffered due to day 1 gamepass mandate is a false narrative. Often spun on here because Sony have come out and said their first party quality would suffer.
Nothing Xbox has shown so far shows that Xbox’s own studio first party games have suffered in quality for being day 1 on gamepass.

How you feel about halo infinite is a different argument. It had the developement time invested in it (it even got delayed a year like I said). It had the big budget… in fact there’s been zero reports gamepass has effected any games budget negatively.
If it’s a bad game (I personally enjoyed it) it was ALWAYS going to be a bad game regardless of day 1 gamepass or even if gamepass existed. 343 have shown they have internal problems.

‘Promises and announcements’ - again, that’s a different argument. What does that have to do with gamepass effecting their quality??? These games are not being rushed out. If there’s issues developing these games then there was always going to be issues regardless of gamepass. Are you starting to understand the point?

Sea of thieves is an example of one of the very few first party games that has come out on gamepass day 1. It’s an example that, regardless of your enjoyment of it, is a critically acclaimed and successful game for them. Why do you think they’re still supporting it now??

Re: A Plague Tale: Requiem Brings Back Rats on 18th October for PS5

Bleachedsmiles

@Reeneman Name one Microsoft game you’ve seen the quality suffer directly due to gamepass…

In the 5 years the service has been out they’ve released like a handful of exclusive games day 1 on it from their studios. (Since owning said studio)
From what I can think off the top of my head there’s
Sea of thieves - critically acclaimed. Still millions playing
Forza horizon 4 +5 - both critically acclaimed
Gears 5 - critically acclaimed. (Regarded as a step up in quality over 3-4 by most)

So that in my mind leaves crackdown 3 and halo infinite? …crack down 3 had how many years in developement hell?
Halo infinite had how big a budget? How many years in developement? And was also delayed a full year…
These two games certainly aren’t the result of gamepass… certainly weren’t rushed out the door. And certainly didn’t have low budgets due to gamepass day 1.

Seriously, this whole narrative that day 1 effects quality is what Sony has spun you because they don’t have the resources Microsoft has. We’ve seen nothing of Xbox first party day 1 releases to suggest that the quality of their games are suffering due to being placed on the service day 1. Hell, we’ve literally just seen their two big games for this year get delayed until next year! We’ve seen gameplay from one game from all the studios they picked up in 2018…not one release from them yet…and not any coming in the next 12 months! Games are not getting rushed out for the service are they?
These games aren’t low budget. Again halo infinite, one of the most expensive games ever made.
No, if these games come out lacking in quality they were always going to be lacking in quality, regardless of gamepass.

Re: Soapbox: PS Plus Premium Has Turned My Email Inbox into a Nightmare

Bleachedsmiles

It’s annoying. Another thing that really annoys me is that they still keep demos and trails in your game collection… tricking you into thinking you have the full game available to you.

I can see it’s also going to be annoying seeing premium package games as part of my scrolling through the extra package games.
Basically, the whole things pretty messy …which is a shame as some of the games offered are pretty decent. Just needs some better menu organisation

Re: Sony Launches New PS Store Credit Vouchers for PS Plus

Bleachedsmiles

Why is everything Sony is doing these days with PlayStation so …awkward? Like they want to be competing with what Xbox is doing but rushing it… £84 credit? Just print 12 months psplus extra on a card… everything about these new tiers have been made way more complicated than they needed to be by them.

Re: Sony's Latest State of Play Has Been Watched More Times Than Any of Its E3 Conferences

Bleachedsmiles

Pretty depressing really when you know the reality is we’re never getting E3 formula of Microsoft one day, Sony the next, and then Nintendo. Those days were simply awesome for gamers…3days of non-stop excitement for those really into it.
Obviously these make more sense financially for Sony. But their absence has definitely taken something away from the gamers.

Be interesting to see if Xbox sticks to its ‘12 months’ thing. The first one was always going to be abit flat. If they can refrain from revealing games later down the line at gamescom and the like then next years should hopefully offer some excitement and new reveals next years E3 at least.

Re: The Callisto Protocol's Horrifying Gore Spent Years in the Making

Bleachedsmiles

They keep using the words ‘the main character’ which, along with the fact it’s a different guy from when they first showed the game, makes me think we’re playing as multiple characters throughout this game? Or…there’s co op… have they said this is purely a single player experience?

Tbh when I first heard it was tied to the pub g universe, and saw they were playing as a different guy, I thought it could have been a case of if you die you start over again as a different character. So maybe ‘main character’ could mean ‘first character’ I guess?

Either way, it’s an odd use of words if there’s just one guy you’re playing as

Re: Take-Two Boss Believes New PS Plus Is the Right Approach to Subscriptions

Bleachedsmiles

@PoopScoop Do you know how much of the Beatles back catalog the Beatles own? Do you know how much of a cut labels used to take from artist? How much money an artist would make from their records? Do you know that bands always made the most immediate money from touring? Have you heard of bootleggers? Do you know that it was common place to record songs from a radio…that’s crazy right? Do you know music used to come on cassette tapes? Do you know that you can still buy physical albums today?

The music industry isn’t dead. It’s just more commonly delivered differently…and as a result of that you’ve seen music stores shut down and figured there’s no money in music, right? But popular artists are making more money today than popular artists did in the 60s/70s/80s/90’s. Platforms like Spotify have allowed lesser known artists a far larger reach than they ever did being restricted to regional radio stations.
Artists now have more control over the rights to their music. There’s less need for major labels.
Their music is now available on far more formats…you can now have your music played on phones, carried around with you where ever you go - that’s not killing an industry. That’s making one more accessible…which in turn results in more people listening to more different types of music…which in turn leads to more ticket/album sales…which in turn leads to more money for the artist.
Since the birth of Spotify there’s not less music being made. There’s just less music retail stores.

Re: PS Plus Collection's Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Won't Upgrade to PS5 for Free

Bleachedsmiles

It will be because ps5 doesn’t have smart delivery. I remember it was the same with other games on psNow that had free upgrades but only offered the ps4 version. Due to no smart delivery the ps5 versions a completely different download…thankfully we no longer have to download both versions of games now when you do get the ps5 versions. But hopefully they get on this…especially if they’re streaming these games too.

Re: Take-Two Boss Believes New PS Plus Is the Right Approach to Subscriptions

Bleachedsmiles

What I’ve never understood is gamers eagerness to deny themselves the very best value available to them today. So concerned with if it’s ‘sustainable’ when today is the best time there’s ever been to be a gamer if you take advantage of it.
What do I, as a gamer, honestly care if ‘daddy Phil opens his wallet’?? When I benefit from that?
Whether something is sustainable or not should be of no concern to the gamer. Gamepass or any subscription ‘failing’ is not going to kill the fastest growing biggest media format - gaming isn’t going anywhere. Gaming is going to keep growing regardless of subscription services getting content day 1.

Whether publishers put their games on subs is, and has always been, their choice. Nobody is forcing them. They’ll go with what makes sense.

He’s correct in that the majority of gamers don’t consume games like movies/tv. The majority being casual. They’ll purchase 1 or 2 games a year…so maybe yearly subscription makes less sense for them. But then if they’re playing those 1 or 2 titles once a week throughout a year…and get exclusive perks and content packs via their subscription service maybe it will make sense - look at what gamepass is about to do with league of legends where you save £100s. Or f2p games like Fortnite where you get content via gamepass. Or say if gamepass starts putting cod/fifa packs out etc. I think thats when yearly subs start making sense for casual gamers…especially when the alternative is £70 for base game then also the mp paywall on top per year. Every new cod will be on gamepass day 1.

Obviously both Sony and MS are investing in so many studios because they know it’s their own first party that will push subscriptions…exclusives are more important than ever. It’s why we’ve seen every subscription service outside of gaming invest heavily in exclusivity.
And right now numbers are growing in subscribers. If there was no money to be made they wouldn’t keep investing in subscription services. And that money comes to billions over the space of a year…most invested back into gaming.

I also never got the whole ‘subscriptions are bad for gaming’… when we all acknowledge that majority of gamers are casual that buy 1 or 2 games a year. When subs will open up those gamers to trying more games they’d never have bought anyway.
Surely games with £70 price tags has a more detrimental effect on gaming? I know it’s put me off from buying as many Sony games day 1 this gen so far. I’m waiting for sales or buying preowned.

Regardless of if third party continue to make day 1 deals or not. I don’t get why any gamer today would complain about games hitting their subscription day 1. We’re still in the honeymoon…Xbox guys enjoy it. Sony guys spend this time worrying about it. When ultimately if subs don’t take off it changes nothing. If they do take off it offers you more value. Quality of games doesn’t become less important as the aim is to KEEP subs. And you still have that choice to vote with your wallet.

Re: Neill Blomkamp's Gran Turismo Movie Speeds to Cinemas on 11th August, 2023

Bleachedsmiles

Sounds truly terrible. So basically it’s top gun… only instead of being the best pilot and going to top gun you’re the best GT teenage Sony pony… sent to an elite group of other GT players. Maybe they’ll even be a gamer girl in there. And your best gamer friend dies first day on the track, blinded by reflections as GT has no on track ray tracing….

Actually, I’d watch that.

Re: No, Kojima Productions Isn't Ditching PlayStation in Favour of Xbox

Bleachedsmiles

@JJ2 @dschons It’s exclusive, but you’ll be able to play it anywhere that has gamepass… that’s the point. Get some gamepass subs. Them saying working with Xbox teams makes me think he may be using one of the engines from Xbox too… which I guess it why we won’t see death stranding on Xbox.

Cloud gaming could mean anything. There’s a few games that already use the benefits of the cloud on Xbox - flight sim being a good example.

I honestly think his game is going to be an episodic horror that will use the cloud to incorporate real time events (news stories ect) to add to immersion. Maybe they’ll even break the fourth wall further and have your gamer tag/Xbox dashboard be part of the game.
But I’ve been saying this since it was first rumoured. It could literally be anything.

Either way, it’s a good get for Xbox.