Cikajovazmaj

Was kind of expected I would say. Working on that CoD alternative portfolio..

Good news for Sony I guess, but I did hope there was going to be some competition this generation. MS shot themselves through both feet with zero current-gen games and downward spiraling quality of first party releases, and results seem to speak more than words ever could.
There is a chance new Nintendo system might make it more interesting and keep competition going, but I don't see them as same market (I would always own both those consoles, as they provide different experiences)

Moral on all time low I see. Sad thing is that there is a profile of person that will eat this up, and support it. Next week news, PS5 is tracking you and reporting activity to Japan headquarters, voting on ban in US..

Sackboy? What? Didn't that game get added to PS Plus Essential days ago?
Anyway, not a fan of Bethesda shooters except for Doom Eternal I have already beat. Kena is another highlight, but I beat that too, soooo..
Maybe next month

Seems like I'm not living under a rock, happen to have access to multiplatform gaming, and have not been enchanted by this game.
For some reason presentation style never quite clicked with me. I love indies, I do, but VS just feels like a weekend project using stock assets (it isn't, I know).
Doesn't take away from the award, it is obviously loved and appreciated by gamers.

Except for The Wonderful 101, I don't even know anything else 😯 I guess not a huge loss on my end then.

This sort of blatant lie should be called out by regulators and MS should be punished for it. It's not very different compared to fake news, and we all know damage these can do if they go viral (and not being stopped by followup dismissals).

This guy really ain't sharpest knife in the drawer, is he? Making such statements during ongoing acquisition holdups.. will probably get "promoted" to basement and fired after dust settles.
In other breaking news, companies with historical monopolization tendencies don't have consumer benefit at forefront of their plans! Who would have guessed!

Well.. not sure if I'm gutted about it.. would be nice, that's for sure. But I'll survive. Barely.

@jrt87 couldn't agree more... boundaries of "acceptable and sellable" have been pushed so far beyond what would be possible even just 5-10 years ago, that this whole industry needs a soft reboot to make it appealing again to people who "still member".

Awesome list. I'm not sure this pace can be maintained, but I'll enjoy it for as long as it lasts. About 70% of PS Plus Extra additions are games I would purchase in a future sale, or have purchased physical versions previously and sold after completion. Adding them allows me to revisit these titles down the line.
Year 2, instead of day 1 model has really been working for me (and I hope Sony).

Welcome addition indeed. It's hard to believe it took them this long to implement it.

What a mess. At least we get to play PS4 version until this gets patched (whereas there is no going back on XSX/S smart delivery)..

I had to re-read that twice. RE Village is on sale for $20! That is a great price, and I'm getting it.

@Starkei which would be fine and align better with 90% of people thinking GOTY is a game that does not win in traditional categories (that have nothing to do with the game part of videogame).
FYI, GOWR wouldn't be my GOTY. And most appealing part of that game is the handling of leviathan axe (having to manually retrieve it and manage where it is on the battleground), and similar immersive touches. GOTY almost always for me is something from Nintendo camp (except years that don't have their contender).

@Starkei I ain't denying ER potentially being a GOTY. It's just that with traditional categories we measure games with, it is not best in almost any of them.
Furthermore, it is not my GOTY, but that is beyond the point. I feel it has generated enough buzz that it proves I'm the odd one out.

Instead of measuring games similar to what we do with movies (which evolved from what we did with books and music), I would propose categories to be more inline with mechanics in videogames medium: best risk and reward system, most immersive experience, biggest innovation in gameplay loop, etc..

I feel like this would communicate properly why an indie game actually can be a GOTY contender, as it has innovated and excelled at fields that matter, not animation design budget.

I don't want to sound like a sore loser, as I'm not, and I feel all these games have their qualities.. but I just don't get all the awards for Elden Ring.
It has yet to win most individual categories awards on any event (almost always beat by GOWR), and ones it does win actually don't make sense given the true strengths of the game (Technical Achievements, Game design, Game direction).
Categories might not be ready to properly communicate what makes the game "good", but as it stands now, it's a bit odd. I would probably feel better about it if it only won GOTY, with no individual awards. That I could explain by rating system being too fresh and unpolished.

Love these, will try to get ahold of them. From what I understand they'll be doing themed envelopes too (probably not a lot of collectable value in those).
Also, UK is like a single timezone and an hour and a half flight away. It's not a big deal, I used to order stuff from UK all the time and it gets delivered in under a week (although there is import/customs now, so it's just not worth the hustle for anything not unique/rare). Works both ways, and I'm sure there will be resellers for these on ebay(eu).

Not a game I would outright buy on release, but I hoped it would justify my GP subscription. Doesn't seem like it though :/
I've pre-loaded it, so I'll give it a go. But everything listed as cons on day 1 available reviews is things that typically annoy me the most.

I can only hope and dream this message was supposed to be a bad twisted joke that was in poor taste and not properly communicated. That it was all "ironically".
As if it wasn't, world really is a scary place.

Around release it seemed very good to me. Best competition Smash had, gameplay-wise anyway. Unfortunately, it had that live service/upsell menu as soon as you boot it, and I just could not ignore that. Simply off-putting

That is a stellar lineup! I own half of that list, while I want to play the other half.

Growing by a million users in a quarter and over 2% in subsc numbers is not slight rebound. Just saying, it would be a huge win if that trend could be kept through the year (did the numbers quickly, annual growth would be 9,25%, which is a lot for established subsc service). Maybe report numbers are wrong?

Great to hear! The other day I've read a comment about how GoWR was already forgotten and failed commercially. Yeah, sure, seems like a failure alright.. 🤣🤣

PS Plus Collection was always supposed to be a temporary incentive for early adopters to jump onboard with PS5, so I'm not really surprised.

@Member_the_game @Darude84 while it is not for me, it is also not overpriced. Compared to similar spec headsets out there it is cheaper and Sony is probably losing money on it (at least right now).
However, I don't think we are at the point in time where VR gaming would be massively appealing. People think of it as a gamble and a sideshow, which is why they understandably won't invest more than 200 $/€/£. But it all comes down to technology not being cheap enough to provide immersive enough solution for that price point that would push consumers toward riskier commitment. It's catch 22.

Pre-ordered mine and I knew from previous experiences that later I got it, it would be harder, more expensive, and I would have the "newest" console for a shorter time (it does stay relevant only through its lifetime).
Long story short, if one can afford a console and plans on buying it, there is no better time than release. The second best would be now/immediately, whenever that might be.

Looks like a serious fiasco from what I've seen so far. In all honesty, it looked bad in trailers too and the demo was boring as hell.. so the writing was on the wall.

It might be an AAAA budget title, but it is in no way an AAAA published product. Very rough and buggy, if they invested as much they should have seen it through and finished the damn thing before release day.

Unlucky, it was one of the games I planned of playing. Hopefully it just gets added next month, but this is not a good look.

There is actually something for me here. Not a bad month:
Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition
Just Cause 4
Life Is Strange x2
Sayonara Wild Hearts

Damn, people did point out possibility of this happening when the acquisition spree started. What's the point of buying a gaming brand if all the talent leaves?

@Cyberpsycho technically it has to. There is a lot of RND specifically aimed at accessible interfaces, and people who don't need it are not very acceptive of a shared cost idea built into primary interface price.
People are cheap on their own health insurance let alone fellowman disability.

Cool idea, hopefully it works well. Playstation has really been pushing for accessibility, and that is a goal worth admiring (anybody who worked on accessible product knows how much effort and understanding is required to pull it off in a useful manner).

I actually don't care what won most GOTY awards. It was an excellent year, much better then I expected going in, there was something for anybody to call their own GOTY.
Except maybe for MS folks.. 😉 (sorry, had to)

I unfortunately had to take my time before getting around of finishing GOWR, but it is an amazing game. Hands down best of 2022, regardless of platform.
It takes a few hours for it to get going, but once it does, it just constantly 1ups a previous scene/setup. So much so, that last maybe 8-10 hours are just epic. Could not get the smile of my face.
All mediocre reviews of GOWR out there, which there are not many, I believe are simply by people who have not passed through that "same old" begining. To them I say, give it another shot, it will be worth it.

Would have preferred to play Axiom Verge 2 on Switch, but I'll take it. SW game is great, but I've beaten PS4 version when it came out. Might give it another go, in preparation for the next chapter. F76 I have zero interest in, even if it is a better game these days.

Phew, almost something I cared about alphabetically. Makes searching through the game catalog easier I guess.

I love DualSense and find it to be a great innovation on PS5. Said so on day one, and still believe it. Even a mediocre use of its features is making immersion that much better and incomparable to the competition (Switch has its own immersion features, so I would call that battle tied).
However, Edge controller is too expensive for me. I'm sure I'm not the only one that thinks the controller should not cost half of the premium console (with a basic controller included). WTF Sony?

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: there are worse things to be forced into, than buying an awesome game.
Hopefully, this keeps the franchise going as I for one love it.

@WizzNL I was not aware of that, thank you kind sir!

As usual, WWE doesn't work for me, because it used to have a trial.. will probably get fixed down the road, but it's getting ridiculous that they still launch monthly lineup with the same bug.

I loved last trilogy and would definitely be up for more. Maybe not as good as Uncharted series, but you can only replay those as many times..

Not a bad list at all, few games I hoped would join the service so I don't have to cash out money.
Totally OK with PS Plus Extra offering for now.

My top 5 choices from the list are all PS exclusives. And that right there folks is why I love Playstation.

Great idea, but won't be selling my unit.. no purpose really, assuming this is just a slim revision. Would have loved to buy this initially though.

This shall get bloody now (it was already quite messy, but we are turning a new gear and I love it). It's like Seconds before catastrophe

Yes, very much yes. Very happy 😊
These actually provide some value (although PS Plus Essential could have easily been just an online play tax).

Good month! Even if game 3 ends up being meh, Mass effect is 3 games in 1, and Biomutant is exactly the type for PS Plus Essential (mildly interested to try, but would never pay for it).

Still making my way through God of War Ragnarok, enjoying every second of it.