HonestHick

@SlipperyFish you scared me for a second. I thought you were coming off that way a little. Also there is more than 1 Sony studio and a few they invested in. Back to the point at hand. It’s a little scary someone at Sony thought these games were good enough to invest in and even make a special edition controller for it. Let’s hope Sony get’s this figured out. The good thing is MS will be bringing their live service games to the PS5 for the fan base, but that isn’t the cash cow Sony is trying to have. Interesting generation so far my friend. I think it’s safe to say this is my least favorite console cycle yet.

@SlipperyFish the rules to the game were very simple sir. Do you have any successful games then 1st party wise. I thought i was being nice giving both invested and owned. Is it fair for me to assume you have no list to provide? Sony is not good in this space is the point. They were smart to let Jimbo go and get back to making single player games. So far the live service push has been BaaaaaaaaaaD!!

@Deityjester still shocked they didn’t try and buy that studio. HD2 was a decent game. I got bored of it quickly and then Sony did some shady stuff with it that gave it a black eye for a bit, but over all really solid and i think a HD3 could be really great.

@riceNpea i was being nice and giving him at least one to start with. HAHA! Truth told Bungie needs to snap out of their funk. It’s not to impressive lately with what they have going on either. I still believe in them, but i am concerned.

@get2sammyb i agree that the add on disc drive will work. But i think it’s time that gamers realize physical is now second to digital, meaning gamers that want physical will have to pay extra for the drive as a add on and the games releasing will only be fewer and fewer, think Alan Wake 2. The profits and large mass sales are digital. Not to mention Video game hardware is one of the last major devices in the world using a disc drive. Car’s no longer come with cd players, computers rarely have them, everything is disc less these days. So for the niche market that wants physical it will be there as an add on expense. I will bet anything the PS6 release’s without a disc drive as well. The add on could come down to how profitable the add on is this gen. Cause the parts and manufacturing of disc drives is getting to be rare and expensive.

@SlipperyFish let’s play a game together shall we. I will call it success and failures. Here’s the rules i will name games Jim Ryan signed deals with using Sony funds or out right bought and used Sony funds with for failed live service games.

1. Destruction All stars
2. Concord
3. Twisted Metal
4 Last of us Factions
5 Foam Stars

Now it’s your turn to name the ones they partnered with or bought outright that have been a success.

We need to see that Jim Ryan invested 50% of the budget into games that aren’t good. That also pushed back games that Sony are great at making that we could be playing this year.

@IamJT they don’t own the studio, but yes it was a big game for sure. Kinda surprised they didn’t try and buy them or maybe they did and they don’t want to be owned, not sure. But Sony’s own studios have been flop after flop with online games lately.

This game is DEAD! You need high player counts for these games to work and even then they have some struggles. Sad to see, cause i really would like to support Sony’s efforts into multiplayer games, but they just haven’t had a hit yet there. They will in time. But concord is far far from that.

@__jamiie i am good with all of that. I was shocked to hear Nintendo under $499, i thought $399 would be the high. Cause it does sound like it will pack a little more tech this time around. But $500 for what is pegged to be a PS4 power handheld. Seems a bit much. We know Nintendo loves to profit on hardware but still. Anyways i will get one no matter the price. But would like to see them stay family friendly on price in order to sell a ton of them.

Xbox, yes you are right on the money. I hope it’s more of a PC/console hybrid and opens up the doors even more for games all in one place. If i can play PC, Xbox and PS games on it. Wow that is a big time win for me and maybe even MS. That might sell a little better than thier last two offerings.

PS5 Pro, i mean with no big upgrade to the CPU, i am a little less interested. But i am sure it will still be a nice upgrade and if i can sell my Digital launch unit for a decent price i will use that to pay the extra and upgrade. I think you know this about me but as a reminder. I love PS consoles, i love PS games from time to time. But buddy their controllers for me are about as comfy as putting my hand in a mouse trap over and over. I think it’s the position of the sticks, NES on here thinks its that and the high tension on the thumbsticks. I don’t know, but after like 30 mins my left thumb hurts and i slip off their sticks a lot. So i have to limit my play time on PS5 to just here and there for the exclusives. I know many on here think i am a Xbot fanboy cause i buy most my games on it. But it really is as simple as the controller and nothing to do with console war non sense. I know you know that part.

So in closing, i wish all to game where it makes sense and more importantly the most fun for them. To have fun is why these dev’s spend countless hours at work away from their families and friends to produce fun and entertaining content for us players. There is no reason to not enjoy their hard work in the best way possible for the player and that is why I believe games in more places and consoles is a good thing. I truly hope yourself gets the time and enjoyment out of the industry as much as you can. Through all the negative news and downside of this industry, it still brings the biggest smile to my face when it does what it does best. I hope 2025 and beyond brings us new content and ways to play. I think it just might do that for all 3 console makers.

@__jamiie appreciate it more than you know. Yeah all platforms have their die hard and they aren’t normally open to round table industry talk. It’s we can dash the other platforms as long as well all agree our platform is perfect and does no wrong. So lame and tiring. Tho i will say some are starting to get some issues with Sony here and there now. The one that got me was them pushing up the price of PSN to $80. Just cause!! Rumors are coming out that MS will drop the pay to play online core function next gen. If true that will be a nice selling point, i think with MS bringing more of it’s games to other places they will have to have GP and other features to make the Xbox a place to play, that would for sure be a smart one. I wanna see this September show Sony has rumored to be. Hope we see some thing software wise that is exciting. As always buddy we will be here telling it like it is. Don’t leave me behind Hahaha! I need ya here! 😀

@NEStalgia AMD is normally better bang for the buck for sure. But Nvidia while mostly overpriced has a lot of advantages i like. I would want the 4090 or soon to be 5090 even tho they cost stupid amounts of cash, but man would Gears of War E Day ever look sweet on that rig.

Yeah i am concerned and interested in PS5 Pro, i do think the GPU will be capable. As we know consoles optimize very well and the power on paper is never the story with consoles. Heck i am still surprised at what dev’s are getting out the the Tegra 1 on switch. I mean on paper that thing shouldn’t be able to run anything at this point. So i think but i am not sure, that the GPU in the Pro will be able to hold its own. But again that CPU is going to bottle neck most of it to low frames per second for higher intense games. Unless there is a way around that that me and you don’t know. Then i think we will still see lot’s of 30fps games on it. Which at that point along with the controller and Ui suck for me. I might just pass. I’ll just pick up the next gen Xbox and Xbox handheld and wait on the PS6 and see how much larger they make the touch pad so the controller is even wider.

@NEStalgia if i buy a gaming PC it will be Nvidia. AMD is just ok and all but not my favorite. I wish the consoles would use Nvidia but thats another topic. I tell tell you easily why Sony is using their own upscaling tech. Two words, Cocky & Cheap. Cocky cause deep in Sony’s lab’s they still think they are top class engineers. They still think their Magic proprietary tech is ahead of the competition and the cheap part speaks for itself. They don’t want to pay for other’s tech. They didn’t want to do it with Dolby even tho MS did do a deal with them, it was largely stated Sony was making its own sound and not using Dolby vision. Maybe this is a bad take from me but it’s the one thing i don’t like about Sony products anymore and why i don’t own any outside of the PS5.

I think the GPU for a console will be a monster but the CPU will let it down and the more i think about this console the less and less excited i am for it then i was when the rumors started about it. Normally i like Pro consoles you know that. Even if the gains are slim. I still get them. I am not sure. I am not using my PS5 much this year. Again the controller alone makes it were i only play the exclusives on it and those have not been around much, unless we want to all play Concord together, i kid i kid.

@NEStalgia the stick tension is a tad high for sure. But the width of the controller is a bit rude also. It’s just not comfy to me at all. Like i can use it of course, but i game way less on it and since i have a Xbox i just turn it off and go to the Xbox controller. Same thing if i owned a PC, i would just play on PC with a Xbox controller over my PS5. I will play Astro Bot and finish it and then not play much on it until 2025.

Yeah troubleshooting PC don’t sound like fun for sure. Even my work PC act’s a fool from time to time. Haha

@NEStalgia Haha thats all very true. Here is a great GPU but the frames per second still stink. I don’t know we have to see what their upscaling tech can do. That could help a little i suppose.

@Vault_Mcfly Yeah PC is for sure expensive, the rig i want is $3K just for the tower and i would still need a high end monitor and good chair, so that investment would hit the pockets for sure. I have always been a console gamer, own all 3 and always have. I do NOT want consoles to go away ever, i don’t think they will, they will continue to change over time of course, but i think they will always be around. As for if PC gaming is for me, i don’t even know for sure. But I’d love to give it a try.

@Old-Red most of the PS5 titles running 60fps are cross gen games. Spider-man 2 is a PS4 title, so it hit’s 60 on the PS5 much easier. Not saying the PS5 can’t run 60fps, it can and it does. Same with the Series X. But certain titles just don’t have enough CPU power to do it. We don’t know what the limitations of the PS5 truly is behind the scenes cause we haven’t seen much new PS5 only software yet. So the Pro will be a nice spec bump and of course make sure Sony has the best place to play GTA 6. I just wouldn’t expect GTA 6 to hit 60fps with that CPU.

@NEStalgia @OldGamer999 agreed with NES. With no big bump to the CPU, we are going to just get prettier 30fps games. Which is likely for most titles. Which is still a decent box but not the problem solving solution to what is holding the gen back and that is we are still stuck to 30fps gaming while PC is 60 and above. Most games i play i am fine with 60fps. Shooters i would happily take 120 and some do that on Series X and PS5.

@NEStalgia i was never a Bill Gates fan and never will be.i too have seen where it has been publicly stated that Gates has influence over MS. I would like to get into PC but right now i don’t have the money i would want to throw at it. If i did i would go Steam for my store and get a Steam deck. For now i still support all 3 consoles of course. But i was playing some PS5 last night and man that controller still annoys me and my left thumb. Sony has never had a controller i thought to myself this is super comfy and i love playing with it. NEVER!

The consoles now use online to check for DRM. Sure the Kinect cameras and are no longer a part of modern consoles. But lots of under the hood stuff is there. However i am happy for whats not cause the Xbox one was a dumb idea in more than a few areas. They are still paying for it, as they should. Take your PS5 offline completely and see how much of it you loose. You can’t even play games cause it can’t tell if you own the game.

@OldGamer999 i would like to see more 60fps games and if Sony can pull them off on the base and the Pro then that would really be awesome. Stalker 2 on Series X has said they will be 60fps. I think we might see that with others. But it will depend on the dev team and what they want to push. Fidelity sells more than performance, so we will likely see some of that. I hope Gears Of War E day is 60fps.

@NEStalgia Nadella is a huge issue at MS, they aren’t not nearly as innovative under him. They just put all their products on all devices. Even the Mac now is one of the best windows laptop cause of all the support Nadella has given to Apple. Xbox tried to have a console with a purpose and it was the Xbox One. Which was not the right marketing move and a little ahead of its time cause right now the PS5 and Series X is more and more like what the Xbox One was trying to do. I think MS is going to go even further into play all games every where heading into Next Gen. which i am just not sure is going to gain them all that much more audience. Time will tell, but the machine would have to play all those games really really well. I just don’t want to see an unchecked Sony. I think that is bad for the industry.

@OldGamer999 yeah all Oled’s are a good choice these days it seems, but the lack of the HDMI’s on Sony’s was a deal breaker for me. Yeah the 30fps sucks, but we are seeing that become the normal now. Even most games on PS5 will be 30. The Pro might be able to help some. PC seems to be the place to be for 60fps and above of course. This gen hasn’t been very good so far. Really hope it picks up in 2025 cause it’s a little stale at the moment.

@OldGamer999 the lack of HDMI 2.1 ports is what lead me to the LG Oled. Which in itself is the slightly better gaming TV overall. But i used to only buy and use Sony TV’s. Always had great luck with them. But only 2 HDMI’s with 1 being usable on a high end TV is just pathetic. So i passed. If they fixed that i might return. However my LG C2 Oled has been great. Dolby Vision and Atmos on Series X is really good. HDR on PS5 is nice as well.

@Intr1n5ic @NEStalgia I agree with the marketing blunders. But i think it’s cause they lost to the PS4 so badly that they knew this console would not fly off shelves. To Intr1’s point no killer launch title and a 12 month gap of major releases doesn’t help. I think i have finally came to my own opinion of Xbox. They can’t market the future cause no one knows what that is, but MS wants in on Cloud, PC and console and mobile trying to be a catch all and have that user base and titles ready for when a shift happens. They said it themselves they can’t out console Sony. That user base is to big and loyal world wide. So they are trying to be in that “new” sweet spot of where gamers are heading while being in all places now so they can move more software units. It’s a marketing mess. Thats not wide a net to tell someone in a short ad what the plan is. I have said and taken my insults on this site that i trust and like and even understand Sony’s business practices with PS more and the only reason i don’t go with PS more is cause i don’t love the controller and Ui. With Xbox i am starting to wonder how much longer they do the hardware game and that will push my purchases more to PS5, unless i pull the. Trigger on a PC, which is something i am still on the fence with. The industry has become so odd this gen. I am dating a girl with a 11 year old, and he has a $4K gaming PC and won’t touch his consoles anymore. Maybe the future of PC and handheld PC’s really will eat into console sales more and more. I don’t know. For now i am sticking to the consoles and looking forward to PS5 Pro. But MS really needs to be more clear with what they are doing on their console side cause it’s wild how many mood swings the brand takes. They were on a high after a amazing June Showcase, now it’s filled with Xbox is dead cause Indiana Jones is coming to PS.

@Intr1n5ic i agree, cause if they say everything or in my case Gears of War, then i don’t really need a Xbox. I would still have one cause i like the controller better, but I wouldn’t need it cause i would know my favorite titles from them are headed to other platforms. I do think the Disney licensing had some to do with Indiana Jones but likely not the only factor. But i think case by case would be the smarter choice. As the industry continues to figure out how to make money on the software and where games are headed.

@__jamiie once again i find your point and reasoning to be spot on. The industry is changing and not for the better if we don’t tear and peel away some of its older years business models. Sure people will take that as me saying Sony will bring titles to the Xbox and thats not what i am saying. But i am saying what worked even just 8-10 years ago isn’t going to help some studios in today’s industry. This site forget’s all the time that Sony is running at 4% profit margins and investors aren’t having that. Single player games that Sony is know for and gamers on this site want is all well and good but they are going to have to find a way to get cheaper cause they just don’t make enough on return like a successful multiplayer game on all platforms. I am going off topic a but, i just wanted you to know i read your comments and as always i agree and think you are spot on my friend.

@get2sammyb i don’t think Phil was trying to make MS problems Sony problems. We have seen Jim Ryan and now the current CEO’s of PS say they want and need more reach of their games than just the PS console. The continue to add games to PC which wasn’t something they were doing 10 years ago. Just because they aren’t bringing God of War to Xbox doesn’t mean the industry for even PS isn’t changing, Sony is running at 4% profit that will have to change or they will continue to lose investor money. Maybe Spider-man 3 has to be 15 hours to keep the budget down or if it’s 25 plus hours it will not make back much on the return. So the industry is changing and i think Phil is correct, MS and Xbox are just doing it differently of course. Software cost is the main reason for all these changes as we all know. For all we know Sony could be day and date with PC come PS6 time, we can’t sit here and say we know. In closing if Sea of thieves sold a million on PS5, there is no reason the Last of Us Part 1 couldn’t do the same or even more on Xbox. How long will Sony leave that money on the table or be allowed too? We don’t know but we do know the cost of video games and investors are changing the industry and Phil isn’t wrong here.

@NEStalgia you telling me ole Jimbo wasn’t good with the budgeting plans? The heck you say sir! Hahahaha

@nomither6 i am the same way only haven’t made a switch to PC yet, how do you like it? There are things about PC i don’t like so i am always unsure if thats a good place for me when i own all 3 consoles. But i hear what you are saying for sure.

@Rob_230 im ok with Sony having some live service games. But the ones they have released have all been trash and died quick. Then they pick up this dev team a Jim Ryan special for sure and this game will add to the list of dead attempts Sony has done. Problem is Microsoft and a few others own all the top level talent making those games that are cash cows. There’s not much room for Sony left to get great talent, i thought Bungie was a smart move, i was wrong up until now at least cause they have been shaky at best. Looks like it’s back to single player which is great but it get’s harder and harder to be profitable with those games unless they fill them with $20 dollar skins and that won’t go over well. Not sure what the answer for them is.

@NEStalgia Agreed, i am still in shock with how many defended $70 dollar games when most were cross gen stuff on older engines and not even pushing the PS5. I knew $70 was going to hurt software sales and thats before we even get into most games aren’t worth $30 at launch cause they are broken and rush to market and need a year of updates. Or in cyberpunk 2077 case 2 years of updates haha. The cheapest one bedroom apartment where i live is $1800 and that is just the base rent, with the valet trash services and extra stuff they put on it’s like $1900 and you still have all your extra expenses. Gaming takes a back seat and a free COD or Free to play game that you said were you can throw a few bucks at it here and there to make it feel new is the way a lot of gamers play now. Or they shell out of FIFA and play it for 12-14 months. PC gamers buy plenty of games, the people saying PC gamers don’t buy games are just talking out their pockets, they don’t know, they just need something to make fun of and justify their purchase. These are the same people saying Xbox is leaving Hardware. Always some thing to make fun of cause thats the industry at large.

@Zeldorf I would buy half to over half that list, Ugh that is frustrating to see. So many good ones never to be made again it seems.

@NEStalgia i agreee 100%, exclusives don’t move the needle much anymore. Apex, Fortnite, COD, GTA and FiFA is where the money is and those aren’t even Gen 9 titles. There is a small hardcore market of us that do buy those other titles. But we are pennies on the dollar for Sony and Microsoft. I see it getting worse. People aren’t going to just stop playing those pillar titles. I wish Sony and MS would team up more in console gaming instead of battling cause that would help console be more competitive to mobile and PC where most of the money is going these days. This has been a bad generation so far for me and my tastes. Gears of War E day is my most wanted title and that could even slip to Generation 10 for all i know.

@DTfearTheBEARD i only have 1 white and black standard and an Edge. On Xbox believe it or not i only have 2 black stocks at the moment, i keep thinking the Elite 3 is around the corner and it sure isn’t. I do have some for Xbox One. Wish i would have kept the 360 stuff. I do have a Wavebird for GameCube, one of my favorite controllers ever.

@Czar_Khastik man it was HARD not to open it. Not going to lie. Haha, it’s my favorite PS design. I loved the design of PS1 and the colors. Maybe nostalgia is playing a bit of a factor. But i liked it when it came out and never stopped. PS2 was mostly good looking to, i disliked the PS3 look and the Spider-man logo. PS4 looked a little cheap and lazy to me for what Sony can produce and the 5 is ok but a little big and loud in my setup. So PS1 is still my favorite. Good luck finding one of those controllers, they are out there.

@DTfearTheBEARD thats a solid collection you have, if you keep those unopened you are sitting on cash money in 10 years or so. I bought 2 of the PS4 grey PS1 editions, I opened one and kept one sealed. I think in time it will be bonkers in price.

I like the original white one, somehow i think they nailed that, so i have 2 of those and the Edge. But this one is by far the best of the limited game controller release. Not sure if i will buy one or not. I might, but i will be getting the game for sure.

@IamJT factions being cancelled hurt my enjoyment in PS5 overall. That was my most wanted title. I love online games. I play most of them on my Series X. So to have this title for PS5 was huge for me. I was really upset to see it canned. For sure Socom would be the bigger title. The only issue i could see with Socom is the art direction is so inline with COD that Sony just don’t want to compete with COD cause truly no one does really. It’s a juggernaut yearly. Resistance was really fun for me. But yeah the sales back then weren’t great, but a reboot with some really high end graphics and better story i think could move some units. But not Socom and for sure COD numbers. Hard to tell what Sony will do next for its online games but Concord just ain’t it. It’s so dead and that will set that team back a lot of money which isn’t good.

DOA!!! Now had Sony made a New Socom or Resistance we would be seeing their multiplayer gaming efforts doing really well. No one really wanted Concord, even the most hardcore Sony does nothing fans truly want this game. They might say they do but they won’t stick with it. DOA

Played it enough to know i am waiting for Call of Duty Black Ops 6, however it did a few nice things. In time i would like to come back to it cause well it’s fun.. just needs a little more time in the oven in my opinion.

@Sergo yeah shouldn’t take it long to make its money back. Not saying they made the game for penny’s i know it cost some. But it’s not a Spider-man or Gears of war type budget. I haven’t pre ordered it yet. But i will get around to it and for sure play it day 1.

@Kidfunkadelic83 i agree 100%. I think this will easily be the most fun title to play on PS5 in 2025. Obviously thats subjective. But for me it will be. PS will need the big AAA’s in 2025. But for now this will be a lot of fun and make money. So much so i wouldn’t be surprised to see another game on PS6 in 3-4 years.

And it will be profitable in less than a week or two. These are games that can really help, plus they are just fun. I’m looking forward to it.

@NEStalgia now thats a Bingo!!! HAHA

@NEStalgia Xbox can have a show this large every year with that many studios so this is a ball that is going to continue to roll down hill now after all the years of rolling it uphill. Plus now with them signing deals for 2nd party games that is an impressive lineup. This was the goal set for GP to grow and be huge. It needed a AAA game every 3 months, i think they are still working on that goal but with this showcase you are starting to see how it would be possible. Sony will have their hands full trying to keep up game wise as it seems like they are confused their studios with the back and forth on live service games. Game development is long enough these days so when you throw the back and forth thing and cancelled projects that put’s a lot of games even further out. Sony should have a nice show for next year. But it will still feel smaller in scope as they can’t advertise any of these studios MS owns. Sure they get the games but not the hype and advertising rights to them. Sounds like no big deal to us hardcore guys, but the casuals flock to the marketing rights. Just look at COD for an example. I give it 2 more years and GP is going to explode to become the true exclusive left standing between the two makers.

I am thinking next years Bingo card from you might have to take a swing or two at something this unexpected. HAHA

@NEStalgia Load up Push Square, read the comments, "Xbox saved SGF!"

Is it safe for me to assume this wasn’t on your bingo card? HAHA

@NEStalgia i feel the same way, I’ve even seen a few people go out and buy a Xbox after the showcase. Remember i said Xbox sales were up 221% on Amazon the day after COD got announced for GP. Can’t say if it was related to that announcement or just coincidental. Maybe we can live in a world when all gamers enjoy the healthy competition between console and PC makers and play the games they like where they want and how they want…. Who am i kidding everyone will be fighting again soon enough.

On a side note.. many journalists and close fan’s were told by Xbox workers that there was more games that could have shown and just didn’t make the show for time. But then said be at game con in august. So the rumors are Xbox might have 3-5 more titles to show there. If so they are just crushing it. Plus they are signing 3-4 second party games.

@BacklogBrad well for sure we know Bethesda and ABK won’t ever be able to show games at the Sony shows. So that alone keeps Sony shows smaller in comparison to Xbox. Throw in the fact Xbox has around double the studios and i think this is the way the shows are going to look going forward. Xbox will beat Sony 2-1 if not 3-1 in game announcements. Which seems small but over time younger kids will see Xbox Gamepass on all the big titles coming out. Something i am sure Sony isn’t thrilled with but they will still of course have Doom and COD.

@Mustoe i get it. Internet isn’t cheap. They do bump up the price a lot. Tho normally and not always the speed increases, if not then that is just a bad deal and time to switch. I switch my truck insurance every few years to get a better price. Someone out there wants your business and is willing to under cut whom you are using currently. That can be said for a lot of things outside of internet and insurance. Hope you get what you want when the time is right. 😊

@Mustoe HAHA, well i work from home and the internet has to be fast so i went for it. Truth told the price is really good. It used to be $50 a month for 200-300mbps, then it went to 500mbps for $50 and the deal i got was $80 for the 1000mbps. So i took it. It’s nice but sometimes my PS5 and Xbox only pull around 650-850 of it and my iPad and work computer are almost never below 900 and sometimes even over 1000mbps. I buy all my games digital so it nice to have. 😀