@IamJT the problem is that sales are struggling. Hardware sales, software sales, everything is slumped. Yes PS is the go to brand, but it doesn't matter if the market for every brand including to go to brand is contracting.
Yeah you're right about incomes but that's the problem with the bifurcated economy. The people make $100k now make $250k. The people making $40k are now making 42k. The lawyers that can afford a pro can afford 50 pros. But they don't have 50x the time to buy 50x more games. The industry still stagnates. It's the blue collar, not the lawyers, that have the time to play games to begin with. The average income in the US is something like $45k. And gaming primarily sold to the average. Great for chest beating of who sells the most plastic boxes. Not great for a thriving games industry.
Xboxs problems are.... Complicated. The shift to cheap should have thrived especially at the right timing in the market, and they entered the generation with serious momentum that way. Then incompetence took over and they set their pants on fire at a gas station.
@IamJT Yes, but wages have NOT. So if everyone's making roughly the same money and double for food and housing, then the idea they'd also be able to pay more for entertainment goes right out the door. The smart company recognizes the shift. Heck, even Meta discintinued their $1000 headset, and released a new $300 headset. Not saying Meta is winning the console war but they at least recognized where the market is as shifted to meet it while traditional gaming is just digging its heels in and plugging it's ears.
@OldGamer999 yeah, that's extreme. Granted, Xbox is flailing, Nintendo is down because they announced they're announcing new hardware so who would buy a new switch? But Sony being down is telling.
I'd like to couple that number with any growth or loss on PC games sales, as well as any growth in Mobile gaming, to see if they're pushing businesses away to cheaper alternatives and changing tastes, or if gaming itself has just lost public appeal.
@OldGamer999 Yeah, something really broke in consoles since 2019. "It's the economy, stupid." If you think, in 2019, a console cost, what $350 to get into? Less on sale? Games were $60 at most. Acessories were like $60 at most.
Now they want $550 for a console $70 (soon $80) for games with addon's and cost bundles, accessories are $70+. Meanwhile consumers have LESS money to spend. And the product itself isn't even all that interesting compared to the old product many already have. And meanwhile there's other alternatives to get similar experiences between subscriptions and general purpose hardware. Console has a market and a niche, but if they price the experience such that the market endlessly shrinks, and make only "safe" entertainment for it, where safe entertainment is available elswhere for far less or free....what do they think will happen?
Maybe every console needs a booze dispenser. Maybe that's not the worst idea.
@JohnKarnes I love love love NMS in VR, one of the best games ever. I JUST started Elite Dangerous. I remember trying ED years and years ago and I couldn't even dock my ship in the tutorial without blowing up and gave up. I figured I'd try in VR. Just tried it yesterday, and instead of the ship docking tutorial I get a ground first person shooter, and find out the ground parts aren't in VR at all. WTF? It's now this weird NMS experience but only half in VR.
@Ravix Interesting thing with BG3, I'm actually wondering if "Bear Sex(TM)" was the source of most of its success after all. I still haven't played it yet despite being a massive BG1 and 2 fan. Something never clicked for me. But I've been getting tempted from all the rave reviews. But I was reading through the reviews, especially early access reviews on GoG, and most were actually negative (despite an overall 4.5/5 rating), saying that it was BG in name only and it was obvious the game is just Divinity 3 with a Forgotten Realms skin slapped on top and it has no similarity to BG 1 and 2. Which mirrors how I'd felt about it from originally seeing it. Not that Divinity 3 would be a bad game, but it seems that it's not quite as rosy as it seems either. It might be why Larian didn't want to do a sequel, they really didn't know what to do with the BG world if they'd really made a Divinity game at the heart.
But yeah, I think if it's an exceptional game sales will thrive, if it's not....I'm not sure even mega marketing could save it, and then they'd lose another 35% of the revenue. Their games don't seem to be blockbuster material TBH, but that's not a bad thing, and they seem to attract a decent following.
Sony hasn't gotten a lot right this generation in terms of respecting their customers even slightly, if not openly flipping us off, but I have to say they got it right on this one. The remaster didn't need to exist, and there's a lot of reasons why it maybe shouldn't have, but, if they're going to sell it as basically a $10 mod pack for the base game, that's perfectly fair and reasonable, and makes them actually seem like they have a clue. They may not have got much else right in years, but this one, they actually got right.
@Ravix Yeah, though TBH, I think even the publishers are struggling to figure out how making a game popular in the casual space happens, these days. The market changed so much, and the companies keep flaming out trying to figure out what it changed to. To a large extent I don't think any of this "big" games are capable of being popular in the casual space, that's not what the casual market is interested in. Seems they either want quick pick-up-and-play experiences (mobile, Nintendo, sports games, Vampire Survivor), or they want social engagement spaces with activities. These "big" games keep struggling because they don't budget to recognize that their market isn't a very big one, and overlaps the same customers for every single other big game. In that sense, I'm not sure the marketing matters (cue Xbox jokes), so much as just getting people to talk about your game on the socials (Bear Sex(TM)) so that the non-casual in-the-know gamers feel like they need to participate. But even then, the games are a flash in the pan and then everyone moves on. Nintendo gets that more right with those long tail sales, where a game is made to be desirable for years and years rather than hyped.
Probably the best comparison for Pearl Abyss might be Frontier. The PC-focused, long standing MMO, the smaller games that never hit trend, but always sell in modest numbers, etc. In a lot of ways I think the PC market is a lot more stable than the console market. Console is about sell everything in a weekend, then everyone forgets about the game. PC seems to generate those long tail sales. Lower margin per unit, but even old games keep selling forever and ever.
The "Sony sales formula" seems dated. It used to work, but it now seems like they spend more on advertising than it can possibly generate. It makes a thing seem big, but they get no real return to speak of as a result, because the market doesn't respond like it did in the pre-internet 90's when a big marketing campaign was the only thing you saw and heard about. They can put XVI posters on as many busses as they want, but everyone will still play Vampire Survivor instead because that's what they heard everyone else talking about.
IMO what it comes down to is expectations. If they budgeted the game appropriately for sales expectations, don't overspend on advertising (lets face it $100-150M of the 300M Sony spent on Spiderman2 wasn't development, it was marketing expense), and let natural sales, press, and conversation sell the game, AND don't rely on "blockbuster launch" sales and expect to make their sales over a period of years (like Nintendo), I think they could easily end up ahead rather than chasing "launch weekend" sales.
But these days, who knows. Devs seem like they get it right, then fire the whole team for "disappointing sales'.
@Ravix I'm not sure the whole "being published by Sony boosts your brand value" thing really pans out these days. Look at FFXVI and Remake, we have ShiftUp expecting better sales on PC, on the opposite end we have Wukong, which is a special case, etc. I think that has a certain fanfare to a certain niche of the market, but I'm not sure in real world numbers that moves the needle all that much like it used to. I think Sony's publishing value at this point lies squarely in the raw numbers of the deal, not so much in raising brand value due to a "prestige" publisher. In the brick and mortar discs on a shelf days I think that had more power. In the social marketing world, I'm not sure the name on the corner means as much.
I think it works if you're too small to publish the game yourself and Sony offers a boon like that, like for ShiftUp, or if Sony's offering dev resources you don't have available, mocap for free etc, it might pay. But if you've got a solid studio that already has those resources, I doubt it's worth it to turn over so much control and revenue share to an external publisher. Heck, Sony wouldn't be offering the deal if it wasn't to their benefit, and it's not like they're worried about Xbox surpassing them if they don't score the big games.
Killzone was ok, it was never great. Arguably 2 was the peak of the series, and realistically, it was very average at best. I never thought very highly of Guerilla until Horizon, TBH. I did really enjoy Shadowfall,even though it felt short and rushed. But most of what made Shadowfall great, kind of went into Horizon, and it all feels like it was an experiment to test Horizon anyway.
I disagree with this notion that "deep sales hurt the industry." Gamers are going to have a budget for their games at some point. They might be a gamer that picks up 5 games on $20 sales totaling $100, or they might be a gamer that buys one gold Ubisoft game at $100 preorder, or they might be a gamer that subscribes to months of Game Pass or Premium for $100. But generally they're not going to move far beyond that budget. Convincing gamers to spend $70, $80, $100 at launch isn't going to significantly change the total industry spend by most consumers outside FOMO most-have-zeitgeist online games, all the pricing does is change what company gets what shares of the money, not the total industry revenue per user. The high price means the player's whole budget went into that one game from that one publisher. That was a goal that one of the Assassin's Creed producers said was the goal a generation ago about the future of AAA - capturing all of the user's spend on fewer bigger titles. But that mentality, not low pricing, is what hurt the industry. With every game overspending it's budget by attempting to be the ONE game people blow their gaming budget on they created a system where you either win big or you lose it all. Running the deep sales often isn't necessarily detrimental, if they can't be king of the hill as the next CoD or GTA getting ALL the revenue, they can generate more sales at lower margin and still scoop up a ton of revenue by tempting players to buy a game at a price they wouldn't have bought instead of another game at full price.
As an "I'll wait for deep sales only" gamer, I don't spend any less on games than if I only bought a few ultra premium priced games at launch. I simply buy tons more games every time I see sales and add them to the pile. I likely spend MORE than I would if I budgeted behind one high cost title. Much more. I just try more different things.
Speaking of Lost Crown, just bought it a few weeks ago for a low-low price. Bought it directly from UbisoftConnect store on their own sale - so they had to split no money with a storefront. I wouldn't have bought it at a higher price. And while I was there, Avatar was also a low price, so I bought it too. Never intended to buy it. And AC Mirage was on sale so I bought that too - was waiting for a good sale on that. So I walked away from the Ubisoft Connect store having spent $80 in their direct store. If I bought Lost crown at launch I'd have spent $70 or less and 30% would have gone to another store. Sales and low prices don't "hurt" industries. Walmart not only succeeded, but decimated nearly all other retail in the US, simply by selling at lower margin, thus multiplying volume. The model is tested and proven.
@Ravix It's not a new IP, it's part of the Black Desert IP that's been running for quite a while. It doesn't get the headlines but it's a pretty successful MMORPG. This is just the single player spinoff. The MMO's still going to be running.
I think like Wukong, most of their market is going to be on PC, and overlap with their existing Black Desert market. Additional I don't think they wanted to miss out on Xbox, because they already have a presence and history of Black Desert Game Pass perks on Xbox, so they know they have some amount of market on the platform. Being mostly on PC, keeping the 35% of publishing revenue on PS, and the 70% of revenue on Xbox, it makes sense that self publishing is the best bet for them, and keeps GP opportunities available to them, since they already have a history with the program. Especially with PC being a primary market for them.
The idea is great, but personally I think it would have been more interesting if it were a new unique story in the Horizon universe rather than just re-telling the exact same game as the first one only with Lego. It reaches a new audience well enough, but it seems redundant to the existing fan base. OG+remaster+Lego, the same game thrice.
Why make new games when you can just throw out attempts to be the next fortnite and see if one sticks?
@naruball If they wanted initial sales they'd have made a single player game. They want that 10-20 year revenue pumping cash factory, that's the purpose of making these games. Not flash in the pan one year wonders. Helldiver's succeeded in the way a single player game succeeds. As far as the suits that push this initiative are concerned that's still failure.
I've never been a big naughty dog fan, but I've always felt Jak1 was their best game. I've never been into the movie game thing more than an occasional palate cleanser. I'd be interested in something much more open from them. Especially if they can remember and lean into what is imo their best design from the Jak 1 days.
@LavenderShroud Compared to switch, 30fps seems blistering fast 😂. Splatoon is 60. Most mobile games are actually 60 or even higher on a decent phone. It could look weird though I suppose if you're so used to 30. As Tom Cruise called it for cinema frame Gen, "soap opera mode". Because uncharted is half a movie it makes more sense. If course nothing is moving faster in actuality, it's that you're seeing the full range of motion rather than stop motion more. The motions between the motions (like if your took a video of a car going by, and one camera took 30 shots per second, and one took 60 shots per second, the later would seem smoother and more like it looked in real life because it has double the captures of the changes in position of the car. Twice as much motion data. The car didn't go faster, it just captured the minute changes in position at double the amount of captures. Same with in game cameras.
I do a lot of VR and if course in vr it needs to look like you're really seeing it in person otherwise it messes up how your mind processes what you're seeing badly, and thus one component of "vr sickness", so 90, 100, 120fps is always preferable. But I do I lot at 60 for heavy games. Was just about to try uncharted 4 with a VR mod shortly. Got it installed on PC and everything. Weird game. Took half an hour to compile shaders. Most games take a minute.
@Medic_alert PS5 pro isnt quite as powerful as 4070. And pssr is no dlss. 1440p dlss to 4k at 30fps on a 4070? And pro is weaker, is AMD, and the scaler isn't as good. What's the internal resolution on the pro? It isn't 4k. It isn't 1400p. And/or the detail settings or level of rt isn't the same. The pro isn't going to match blows with a 4070 directly. So if a test looks like it's outperforming it, the test isn't comparing the same thing. Is one using frame Gen and the other not? You end up seeing apples when they show you oranges.
@LavenderShroud Ray tracing is more than reflections, but a lot of devs like to showcase that because that's basically what the market understands.
Basically conventional games light the world with "prelit" scenes, where it kind of fakes the lighting by applying light effect to the world where it should be lit, or where it dramatically looks good lighting it. In some ways more like a movie where everything is lit by point lights shining exactly where you want light even if it's not how a scene would naturally be lit in the real world.
Ray tracing is just a simulation of real light. You stick a lamp on a table, with a certain output intensity of a certain color temperature, and just let it shine on everything, and it shines as light really would, creates shadows as light really would, and reflects off reflective surfaces as light really would. It's a very complex physics simulation of real world photon movement to various degrees of accuracy.
The thing is, though, artificially lighting a scene can look fantastic, you don't always need a real world lighting simulation, you just need the scene to look good. So for the player, there's not often a necessarily huge perceptual benefit to RT. It can look "better" side by side. Mostly it looks "different" side by side, but you don't necessarily feel it's substantially better or worse assuming the "fake" lighting is applied well. Technically in the future it can make development faster by just plopping lights where they really should be and let the simulation do the rest rather than manually lighting everything. But the hardware performance cost is so great, we're a long way from that being the ONLY way they light a scene.
As for 60fps, and above, the point is to get closer to how reality moves. The human eye should be able to see well over 200fps, so that's how you see real life objects move. Everything else is varying forms of watching a rotoscope. BUT some people don't seem to be able to see a difference. You saw the difference, starkly and didn't like it. That's actually the first case of that I've heard. Usually the smoother the motion the more realistic the motion is. Not sure why your perception is to dislike it, that's actually the first time I've heard someone actively prefer slower fps. Many people say they can't tell the difference (I.E. it may be they see all of real life at 30-ish fps, much below the average person), But you don't, you did see a difference.
I don't know how I feel about it. I don't know how they'd do the story without Sylens, but, Sylens is Lance, and without him I don't feel the character has anywhere close to the weight he should have. He was a once in a generation unique presence in any role, and that presence can't be duplicated. Sylens loses his gravitas without Lance behind him. And he was the most interesting part of the Horizon world.
You can't really replace what was lost. I'd almost feel better if they found a creative way to develop the story where Sylens wasn't part of it.
@DennisReynolds high end video scalers are nothing new. Back years ago it was all about getting DVD to 1080p. TVs had good better best internal processors. Receivers went deeper down the rabbit hole. And external processor scalers for separates cost thousands in 2006 money. The trick for games is always making it good AND fast. The classic Anchor processors you could fry eggs on was the defacto choice for getting 1080p. Had 360 and PS3 setup behind an anchor. Output at 720p though processor to 1080p, boom, much better quality. And could get a room over 100F in the summer in half an hour 😂 Same thing at work in modern tv processors (or rack).
@Bigmanfan usually ai upscaling looks great in general. Not perfect, but better than native low res. Nothing beats native res but it's still good enough to be better than lowering res for the same performance.
@Neither_scene This. And it's also why console games run so bad, as the devs just plan on dlss and whatever happens on console happens.
@GamerGuy1970 Nice giving a PS5 to animal welfare. Too many animals go without video games despite the constant playtime seeking we see from cats laying on keyboards and controllers. People often forget the importance of games to animals. Cats seem to love Doom. The whole rip and tear thing speaks to their fuzzy blackened souls.
@McTwist It's depressing that the most physics based game we've played since Half Life 2 and Portal 2 are the new Zeldas that run on a 2011 tablet processor.
Ok, I know everyone knows I have a lot of issues with the pro, but that's neither here nor there. What I have the biggest problem with is the appearance that DF has become the primary marketing firm for this product and has appeared to give away all credibility as they continue to be nearly the only entity really taking about it all while having special favored status to play with the hardware granted by Sony on a leash. Nothing about it seems on the level. I don't expect Push Square (interestingly my autocorrect just suggested "Liam" as a replacement for "Push"... 🤔 ) to be unbiased and impartial but, why doesn't Push have this access? Why is push left to just republish special access by the vendor that's clearly oh so not conditional, to a single outlet or two? It's not like we've seen this sort of thing in gaming before, of course not.....
@Flaming_Kaiser Lol yeah. And the mobile OSes are even worse! Even though Android is Linux based! That's the whole crux of the value of Linux. It's the catch 22. Because most of the world is based on the commercial platforms, Linux doesn't get the software most people want to use, so it tends to be the domain of governments, academia, and uber nerds.
The other problem is UEFI. Like mobile devices it's become the OS behind the OS. Even with a clean Linux you never quite know if the hardware behind it is spying too. Would have been seen as paranoia, but Lenovo has been caught doing that, twice, to the point US gov banned their PCs as a security risk to China. I'm sure they're all spying. Now the add hardware AI...... Much as I love my games I just wish we could roll back to the 80s and get rid of the Internet.
Not gonna lie the official support for installing Linux on a PS3 is what prompted me to jump from PC to console in 08 😂. But the consoles are spying now too.
Not really interested in spidey2 on any platform, but since 1 has a VR mod, I'd buy it on a good sale later if Luke has a mod for it, and he probably will, he's been doing all the Sony games except gow (must be an engine thing.)
@GamingFan4Lyf has it right, @Rich33, basically you just plug it into the TV, just like a console. You have a few settings options to check/enable, but, that's not even different from console.
@belmont @TrickyDicky99 also total control of access. Sony just lost a big lawsuit in EU over trying to stop sale of "parasite mods" that attach to the process to let you skip content etc. they can't block the sale of the mods . But if they're on PSN accounts they can still ban accounts for using it ....
@gollumb82 People give the game so much grief, and it was never going to live up to expectations, but it's seriously such a cool game, between the theme and mixing parts of Deus Ex gameplay, it's really well put together. I'd started it on series X but it was competing with a lot of other games at the time, and naturally had to buy it on PC for the vr mod (plus great discount on new GOG sign-ups for that and Witcher 3 which I'm playing in semi 3d with vorpx. ) I'm blown away by how amazing it is in VR though. I think both the game and the VR mod have had some pretty big revisions since you tried it. Runs so well now. Better than other games on the same mod IMO. But still needs insane hardware by nature. I'm trying wukong on uevr too but getting some right eye artifacts. Looks insane though if I can fix that.
So far I've only seen the street kid into! Yeah, blade runner is still amazing. You read the original electric sheep, too?
@GreatAuk Yeah, I kind of do get that, but considering the story arc he's on now doesn't even bother remembering Greece exists it feels more pure general fantasy than a real Greek mythos rooted adventure since 2018. The games barely acknowledge his origins. Ironically Ubisoft at least got that relatively solidly with Odyssey and on the mythology side, Fenyx.
I think only PS2 oldies actually remember Kratos is supposed to be Greek at all!
@gollumb82 Couldn't help but think of you taking about cp2077 as your favorite game as I launched it for the first time with the Luke Ross VR mod on PC last night. Hooooly heck you would lose your freaking mind, it's insane, actually being in Night City. Runs insanely well in VR, granted that's on a 4090 but with these mods even that's not a guarantee. It was so impressive I bought phantom Liberty today before the modest sale ends lol. That's with full rt (minus path tracing) enabled in VR!
@Flaming_Kaiser Yeah, I think that's been the hope for 25 years, though lol. The problem with Linux being mainstream, used to be simply because it's a lot more complicated to work with and you need decent technical knowledge to run it. I think a lot of work has been done on that front, but the second problem is then simply, because it's basically a collection of non-profits, and various channels of it, there's no "marketing" effort, or profit angle to make one to push it into the consumer space.
Technically Linux already is mainstream. Android is based on Linux. Nearly everyone on Earth that isn't using Apple is using Linux, technically. SteamDeck/SteamOS is Linux. Nintendo Switch is Android, is Linux. MacOS is actually based on BSD underneath which is a sort of Linux competitor, a different offshoot from original UNIX. Chrome Books are Chrome OS which is....based on Linux. So it's out there, everywhere. Even MS has more and more officially supported Linux with things (.Net Core supporting it so you can use MS SDKs and run on Linux etc, and is part of how Proton is running a lot of Windows games on SteamOS.) But as a personal desktop OS the problem it deals with is limited support of legacy software (which is what most business needs), limited support with hardware and drivers. People expect to be able to buy a peripheral, plug it in and use it. But not so if the mfr doesn't have drivers for it, and then you find community drivers that work but need certain dependency versions that conflict with something else, etc. It's kind of the same problem that Xbox has with Japanese games. You can't make it mainstream of most things people need aren't supported, and you can't get most things supported if nobody uses it. It's infinitely cool, but always ends up a struggle, because no matter what you use a PC for, you almost certainly have "that one important use" that doesn't work right on it.
OTOH, IMO, it's infinitely more functional and has infinitely more support for infinitely more things than anything Mac, yet people flock to that.
This is one of those decisions where it's not about being able to play the game in a week, it's about the fact that most of Japan will shut down when MHW launches so there's no hope for any other game to sell.
I'm super slowly meandering through it and only got past the dungeon from the tutorial and wandering around town. Haven't had the big "sit and play for hours" sessions I thought I would, but it's just fantastic all the way around. I didn't have extreme hopes for it, but it's really just that good so far. Punishing, that's the SMT way, but so good.
@McTwist I think you're thinking of the 2nd war, not the 1st one. The 2nd was the one with debatable reasoning and where those leaks happened etc. The first was because they'd invaded a neighboring country that asked for help. Yes, that country just HAPPENED to be a major supplier of oil that all affected parties were eager to rescue for the sake of their own oil supply, but the country really did ask for the help, and really needed it.
@Matroska True enough, but at the same time I could also imagine people interested in digital revenge, too. I get why some people may not want to play it, but banning it as unacceptable doesn't really fit that either.
Though I do also agree with others, that recent real world politics and video games aren't a great mix to begin with.
@SweetSummerShunv That's also a very valid point, and I suspect that's much more in line. I can't imagine a government banning a game because "some people will find it traumatizing." I can imagine a government banning a game because it makes them look bad.
@nessisonett It may be close to home, but I also don't see the US banning a 9/11 game made by China. In fact I can cynically see network TV making billions by just running forced controversy over it for 4 months, and politicians trying to build their careers on taking a stand on it in to directions. But yeah, I get your point on Chinas interpretation of...well, anything historical, being likely unacceptable and the same applying to US media. Different from Germany though, that was a guilt issue and not wanting to normalize their own actions, which would be more in line with Iraq banning this. The countries invaded by Nazi's never banned such imagery. Still, I think SweetSummerShunv probably got the closest. Government's don't ban things to protect sensitivities of people that just wouldn't buy it. They do ban things to protect the skeletons in their closet.
I kind of don't get the ban. I can definitely see it being banned in Iraq, but why Kuwait? Isn't that like if France and Poland banned games where you shoot occupying Nazis?
@Gravity_Bear I've been saying that from the beginning and everyone keeps saying he's too old! I can't imagine why not use him. He's huge, he's built like the character, and he's got the trademark voice which is the single most important part. Maybe he's "old" but "boy!" Won't have nearly the same power without him. Ok he's very very not Greek.... Minor issue, but he's got the trademark voice, that makes it much easier to overlook.
Someone pointed out he just got past those back injuries, but if he's said he's up for it, yeah, he's the best choice by miles. You can suspend disbelief on appearance with his voice present.
@IOI yeah that's another weird part of the cash in TV shows. Most of the target market is likely too young to even know the original story, and may only know that reboot setting. They're cashing in on familiarity but the story of even the reboot makes zero sense if you didn't play the originals.
@Art_Vandelay Especially with don't nod and their themes, they naturally have a specific market that, IDK about culture shift because I'm not sure it was ever mainstream culture to begin with. Media culture maybe, Internet culture to a degree but I think their niche kind of had a very specific demographic of a particular age group of a particular zoomer to young millennial market and a particular world view of their segment. But the segment grew up (mostly) and has bigger problems now. Their themes don't have a large enough market to appeal to anymore.
But the industry as a whole, has a different problem and it's not clear what it is. Some of it is the long dev times. Like Concord a game made to match the trends of the late wiiu era launches while Nintendo's announcing 2 consoles later. It missed it's entire window if relevance. A lot connects to what Layden was saying. The money men make samey things then try to monetize it more then the market at large NEVER indicated it was willing to pay infinitely higher costs for those things. The biggest problem may be that executives have been grouping "gaming" as mobile plus console/PC since the PS4 launch era. Everything they do is under the belief that mobile financials are the achievable target. That it's all one industry. Then fortnite and genehin proves it to be true. Maybe we really are headed to a merger of mobile and traditional gaming. That would be a nightmare!
The fact that in a thread talking about square and data miners and spoilers about a pre release game has nearly all its comments discussing the grammar and syntax of the article makes very clear where we are in gaming 😂
@SystemAddict Yeah, maybe at their wholesale pricing it was almost no cost difference to throw it in, but at retail pricing it's at least a $50 difference. Even $650 may have not looked as unapproachable as $700, though I still think $600 was the right price to hit if they wanted to sell to more than the ultra enthused niche.
How did they even accidentally do the one legged Torii? Like who designs a period game and decided a crumbled ancient gate as it stands today is what would have been there as it is today? Did they do Odyssey and assume the current condition of the Acropolis is how it was in the period, too?
At some point someone needs to figure out what is wrong with the industry and fix it. We never more expensive hardware and more expensive games than ever, yet the industry is in continuous contraction. Something is very wrong with the industry and it's not the result of individual success or failure, the industry as a whole is in continuous deep trouble.
@SuntannedDuck2 You are the only poster that consistently out -text walls me... 😂
I agree with you about Rift though. I didn't line it as much as the PS4 r&c game. That one I replayed repeatedly to max everything. Rift,I got part way through the second replay and then just stopped. It wasn't as fun to replay. the levels were mostly built around gimmicks that were fun the first time through and then got old trying to do them again. They only work once, or did infrequent playthroughs
Pay more, get less. Guaranteed. That's the 9th gen promise!!
I truly do not understand these FOMO people. I have FOMO. Fear of missing out on the half price sale when it hits. Who in their right mind pays fortunes for things just to get a worse beta then the people that didn't pay fortunes.
Though in the DBZ example it's not a fair example. People didn't upsell to get early access, people upsold to get the DLC they were going to buy anyway because that's how fighters work now, and as a bonus for prepaying they got to play "early." I've bought Ubisoft "upsell editions", didn't touch the early access, it was just a good deal for the game and DLC when it also included one of their remasters of older games with it. The bundle price was cheaper than all the parts together, even on sale, because the DLCs rarely go on sale while the base games do.
Comments 6,970
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn PS5 Is an Absolutely Insane Upgrade
@IamJT the problem is that sales are struggling. Hardware sales, software sales, everything is slumped. Yes PS is the go to brand, but it doesn't matter if the market for every brand including to go to brand is contracting.
Yeah you're right about incomes but that's the problem with the bifurcated economy. The people make $100k now make $250k. The people making $40k are now making 42k. The lawyers that can afford a pro can afford 50 pros. But they don't have 50x the time to buy 50x more games. The industry still stagnates. It's the blue collar, not the lawyers, that have the time to play games to begin with. The average income in the US is something like $45k. And gaming primarily sold to the average. Great for chest beating of who sells the most plastic boxes. Not great for a thriving games industry.
Xboxs problems are.... Complicated. The shift to cheap should have thrived especially at the right timing in the market, and they entered the generation with serious momentum that way. Then incompetence took over and they set their pants on fire at a gas station.
Re: PS5, PS4 Fans Are Worried Cash Rewards Have Been Removed from PS Stars
After all these nerds they should just rename is PS Star.
@get2sammyb "free money just for clicking a button"
I knew I should have replied to that Nigerian prince.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn PS5 Is an Absolutely Insane Upgrade
@IamJT Yes, but wages have NOT. So if everyone's making roughly the same money and double for food and housing, then the idea they'd also be able to pay more for entertainment goes right out the door. The smart company recognizes the shift. Heck, even Meta discintinued their $1000 headset, and released a new $300 headset. Not saying Meta is winning the console war but they at least recognized where the market is as shifted to meet it while traditional gaming is just digging its heels in and plugging it's ears.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn PS5 Is an Absolutely Insane Upgrade
@OldGamer999 yeah, that's extreme. Granted, Xbox is flailing, Nintendo is down because they announced they're announcing new hardware so who would buy a new switch? But Sony being down is telling.
I'd like to couple that number with any growth or loss on PC games sales, as well as any growth in Mobile gaming, to see if they're pushing businesses away to cheaper alternatives and changing tastes, or if gaming itself has just lost public appeal.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn PS5 Is an Absolutely Insane Upgrade
@OldGamer999 Yeah, something really broke in consoles since 2019. "It's the economy, stupid." If you think, in 2019, a console cost, what $350 to get into? Less on sale? Games were $60 at most. Acessories were like $60 at most.
Now they want $550 for a console $70 (soon $80) for games with addon's and cost bundles, accessories are $70+. Meanwhile consumers have LESS money to spend. And the product itself isn't even all that interesting compared to the old product many already have. And meanwhile there's other alternatives to get similar experiences between subscriptions and general purpose hardware. Console has a market and a niche, but if they price the experience such that the market endlessly shrinks, and make only "safe" entertainment for it, where safe entertainment is available elswhere for far less or free....what do they think will happen?
Maybe every console needs a booze dispenser. Maybe that's not the worst idea.
Re: New No Man's Sky Event Gives You an Alien UFO for Halloween
@JohnKarnes I love love love NMS in VR, one of the best games ever. I JUST started Elite Dangerous. I remember trying ED years and years ago and I couldn't even dock my ship in the tutorial without blowing up and gave up. I figured I'd try in VR. Just tried it yesterday, and instead of the ship docking tutorial I get a ground first person shooter, and find out the ground parts aren't in VR at all. WTF? It's now this weird NMS experience but only half in VR.
Re: Crimson Desert Dev Found PS5 Exclusive Opportunity Appealing
@Ravix Interesting thing with BG3, I'm actually wondering if "Bear Sex(TM)" was the source of most of its success after all. I still haven't played it yet despite being a massive BG1 and 2 fan. Something never clicked for me. But I've been getting tempted from all the rave reviews. But I was reading through the reviews, especially early access reviews on GoG, and most were actually negative (despite an overall 4.5/5 rating), saying that it was BG in name only and it was obvious the game is just Divinity 3 with a Forgotten Realms skin slapped on top and it has no similarity to BG 1 and 2. Which mirrors how I'd felt about it from originally seeing it. Not that Divinity 3 would be a bad game, but it seems that it's not quite as rosy as it seems either. It might be why Larian didn't want to do a sequel, they really didn't know what to do with the BG world if they'd really made a Divinity game at the heart.
But yeah, I think if it's an exceptional game sales will thrive, if it's not....I'm not sure even mega marketing could save it, and then they'd lose another 35% of the revenue. Their games don't seem to be blockbuster material TBH, but that's not a bad thing, and they seem to attract a decent following.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn PS5 Is an Absolutely Insane Upgrade
Sony hasn't gotten a lot right this generation in terms of respecting their customers even slightly, if not openly flipping us off, but I have to say they got it right on this one. The remaster didn't need to exist, and there's a lot of reasons why it maybe shouldn't have, but, if they're going to sell it as basically a $10 mod pack for the base game, that's perfectly fair and reasonable, and makes them actually seem like they have a clue. They may not have got much else right in years, but this one, they actually got right.
Re: Crimson Desert Dev Found PS5 Exclusive Opportunity Appealing
@Ravix Yeah, though TBH, I think even the publishers are struggling to figure out how making a game popular in the casual space happens, these days. The market changed so much, and the companies keep flaming out trying to figure out what it changed to. To a large extent I don't think any of this "big" games are capable of being popular in the casual space, that's not what the casual market is interested in. Seems they either want quick pick-up-and-play experiences (mobile, Nintendo, sports games, Vampire Survivor), or they want social engagement spaces with activities. These "big" games keep struggling because they don't budget to recognize that their market isn't a very big one, and overlaps the same customers for every single other big game. In that sense, I'm not sure the marketing matters (cue Xbox jokes), so much as just getting people to talk about your game on the socials (Bear Sex(TM)) so that the non-casual in-the-know gamers feel like they need to participate. But even then, the games are a flash in the pan and then everyone moves on. Nintendo gets that more right with those long tail sales, where a game is made to be desirable for years and years rather than hyped.
Probably the best comparison for Pearl Abyss might be Frontier. The PC-focused, long standing MMO, the smaller games that never hit trend, but always sell in modest numbers, etc. In a lot of ways I think the PC market is a lot more stable than the console market. Console is about sell everything in a weekend, then everyone forgets about the game. PC seems to generate those long tail sales. Lower margin per unit, but even old games keep selling forever and ever.
The "Sony sales formula" seems dated. It used to work, but it now seems like they spend more on advertising than it can possibly generate. It makes a thing seem big, but they get no real return to speak of as a result, because the market doesn't respond like it did in the pre-internet 90's when a big marketing campaign was the only thing you saw and heard about. They can put XVI posters on as many busses as they want, but everyone will still play Vampire Survivor instead because that's what they heard everyone else talking about.
IMO what it comes down to is expectations. If they budgeted the game appropriately for sales expectations, don't overspend on advertising (lets face it $100-150M of the 300M Sony spent on Spiderman2 wasn't development, it was marketing expense), and let natural sales, press, and conversation sell the game, AND don't rely on "blockbuster launch" sales and expect to make their sales over a period of years (like Nintendo), I think they could easily end up ahead rather than chasing "launch weekend" sales.
But these days, who knows. Devs seem like they get it right, then fire the whole team for "disappointing sales'.
Re: Crimson Desert Dev Found PS5 Exclusive Opportunity Appealing
@Ravix I'm not sure the whole "being published by Sony boosts your brand value" thing really pans out these days. Look at FFXVI and Remake, we have ShiftUp expecting better sales on PC, on the opposite end we have Wukong, which is a special case, etc. I think that has a certain fanfare to a certain niche of the market, but I'm not sure in real world numbers that moves the needle all that much like it used to. I think Sony's publishing value at this point lies squarely in the raw numbers of the deal, not so much in raising brand value due to a "prestige" publisher. In the brick and mortar discs on a shelf days I think that had more power. In the social marketing world, I'm not sure the name on the corner means as much.
I think it works if you're too small to publish the game yourself and Sony offers a boon like that, like for ShiftUp, or if Sony's offering dev resources you don't have available, mocap for free etc, it might pay. But if you've got a solid studio that already has those resources, I doubt it's worth it to turn over so much control and revenue share to an external publisher. Heck, Sony wouldn't be offering the deal if it wasn't to their benefit, and it's not like they're worried about Xbox surpassing them if they don't score the big games.
Re: Sony's Guerrilla Sounds Completely Done with the Killzone Series
Killzone was ok, it was never great. Arguably 2 was the peak of the series, and realistically, it was very average at best. I never thought very highly of Guerilla until Horizon, TBH. I did really enjoy Shadowfall,even though it felt short and rushed. But most of what made Shadowfall great, kind of went into Horizon, and it all feels like it was an experiment to test Horizon anyway.
Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report
I disagree with this notion that "deep sales hurt the industry." Gamers are going to have a budget for their games at some point. They might be a gamer that picks up 5 games on $20 sales totaling $100, or they might be a gamer that buys one gold Ubisoft game at $100 preorder, or they might be a gamer that subscribes to months of Game Pass or Premium for $100. But generally they're not going to move far beyond that budget. Convincing gamers to spend $70, $80, $100 at launch isn't going to significantly change the total industry spend by most consumers outside FOMO most-have-zeitgeist online games, all the pricing does is change what company gets what shares of the money, not the total industry revenue per user. The high price means the player's whole budget went into that one game from that one publisher. That was a goal that one of the Assassin's Creed producers said was the goal a generation ago about the future of AAA - capturing all of the user's spend on fewer bigger titles. But that mentality, not low pricing, is what hurt the industry. With every game overspending it's budget by attempting to be the ONE game people blow their gaming budget on they created a system where you either win big or you lose it all. Running the deep sales often isn't necessarily detrimental, if they can't be king of the hill as the next CoD or GTA getting ALL the revenue, they can generate more sales at lower margin and still scoop up a ton of revenue by tempting players to buy a game at a price they wouldn't have bought instead of another game at full price.
As an "I'll wait for deep sales only" gamer, I don't spend any less on games than if I only bought a few ultra premium priced games at launch. I simply buy tons more games every time I see sales and add them to the pile. I likely spend MORE than I would if I budgeted behind one high cost title. Much more. I just try more different things.
Speaking of Lost Crown, just bought it a few weeks ago for a low-low price. Bought it directly from UbisoftConnect store on their own sale - so they had to split no money with a storefront. I wouldn't have bought it at a higher price. And while I was there, Avatar was also a low price, so I bought it too. Never intended to buy it. And AC Mirage was on sale so I bought that too - was waiting for a good sale on that. So I walked away from the Ubisoft Connect store having spent $80 in their direct store. If I bought Lost crown at launch I'd have spent $70 or less and 30% would have gone to another store. Sales and low prices don't "hurt" industries. Walmart not only succeeded, but decimated nearly all other retail in the US, simply by selling at lower margin, thus multiplying volume. The model is tested and proven.
Re: Crimson Desert Dev Found PS5 Exclusive Opportunity Appealing
@Ravix It's not a new IP, it's part of the Black Desert IP that's been running for quite a while. It doesn't get the headlines but it's a pretty successful MMORPG. This is just the single player spinoff. The MMO's still going to be running.
I think like Wukong, most of their market is going to be on PC, and overlap with their existing Black Desert market. Additional I don't think they wanted to miss out on Xbox, because they already have a presence and history of Black Desert Game Pass perks on Xbox, so they know they have some amount of market on the platform. Being mostly on PC, keeping the 35% of publishing revenue on PS, and the 70% of revenue on Xbox, it makes sense that self publishing is the best bet for them, and keeps GP opportunities available to them, since they already have a history with the program. Especially with PC being a primary market for them.
Re: LEGO Pitched the Brilliant LEGO Horizon Adventures to Sony
The idea is great, but personally I think it would have been more interesting if it were a new unique story in the Horizon universe rather than just re-telling the exact same game as the first one only with Lego. It reaches a new audience well enough, but it seems redundant to the existing fan base. OG+remaster+Lego, the same game thrice.
Re: PlayStation, Bungie Still Going Ahead with Internal Live Service Team
Why make new games when you can just throw out attempts to be the next fortnite and see if one sticks?
@naruball If they wanted initial sales they'd have made a single player game. They want that 10-20 year revenue pumping cash factory, that's the purpose of making these games. Not flash in the pan one year wonders. Helldiver's succeeded in the way a single player game succeeds. As far as the suits that push this initiative are concerned that's still failure.
Re: Naughty Dog's Next Game Will Reportedly Put More of a Focus on 'Player Freedom'
I've never been a big naughty dog fan, but I've always felt Jak1 was their best game. I've never been into the movie game thing more than an occasional palate cleanser. I'd be interested in something much more open from them. Especially if they can remember and lean into what is imo their best design from the Jak 1 days.
Re: PS5 Pro Adds Ray Tracing to Alan Wake 2 in Big Tech Improvement
@LavenderShroud Compared to switch, 30fps seems blistering fast 😂. Splatoon is 60. Most mobile games are actually 60 or even higher on a decent phone. It could look weird though I suppose if you're so used to 30. As Tom Cruise called it for cinema frame Gen, "soap opera mode". Because uncharted is half a movie it makes more sense. If course nothing is moving faster in actuality, it's that you're seeing the full range of motion rather than stop motion more. The motions between the motions (like if your took a video of a car going by, and one camera took 30 shots per second, and one took 60 shots per second, the later would seem smoother and more like it looked in real life because it has double the captures of the changes in position of the car. Twice as much motion data. The car didn't go faster, it just captured the minute changes in position at double the amount of captures. Same with in game cameras.
I do a lot of VR and if course in vr it needs to look like you're really seeing it in person otherwise it messes up how your mind processes what you're seeing badly, and thus one component of "vr sickness", so 90, 100, 120fps is always preferable. But I do I lot at 60 for heavy games. Was just about to try uncharted 4 with a VR mod shortly. Got it installed on PC and everything. Weird game. Took half an hour to compile shaders. Most games take a minute.
@Medic_alert PS5 pro isnt quite as powerful as 4070. And pssr is no dlss. 1440p dlss to 4k at 30fps on a 4070? And pro is weaker, is AMD, and the scaler isn't as good. What's the internal resolution on the pro? It isn't 4k. It isn't 1400p. And/or the detail settings or level of rt isn't the same. The pro isn't going to match blows with a 4070 directly. So if a test looks like it's outperforming it, the test isn't comparing the same thing. Is one using frame Gen and the other not? You end up seeing apples when they show you oranges.
Re: PS5 Pro Adds Ray Tracing to Alan Wake 2 in Big Tech Improvement
@LavenderShroud Ray tracing is more than reflections, but a lot of devs like to showcase that because that's basically what the market understands.
Basically conventional games light the world with "prelit" scenes, where it kind of fakes the lighting by applying light effect to the world where it should be lit, or where it dramatically looks good lighting it. In some ways more like a movie where everything is lit by point lights shining exactly where you want light even if it's not how a scene would naturally be lit in the real world.
Ray tracing is just a simulation of real light. You stick a lamp on a table, with a certain output intensity of a certain color temperature, and just let it shine on everything, and it shines as light really would, creates shadows as light really would, and reflects off reflective surfaces as light really would. It's a very complex physics simulation of real world photon movement to various degrees of accuracy.
The thing is, though, artificially lighting a scene can look fantastic, you don't always need a real world lighting simulation, you just need the scene to look good. So for the player, there's not often a necessarily huge perceptual benefit to RT. It can look "better" side by side. Mostly it looks "different" side by side, but you don't necessarily feel it's substantially better or worse assuming the "fake" lighting is applied well. Technically in the future it can make development faster by just plopping lights where they really should be and let the simulation do the rest rather than manually lighting everything. But the hardware performance cost is so great, we're a long way from that being the ONLY way they light a scene.
As for 60fps, and above, the point is to get closer to how reality moves. The human eye should be able to see well over 200fps, so that's how you see real life objects move. Everything else is varying forms of watching a rotoscope. BUT some people don't seem to be able to see a difference. You saw the difference, starkly and didn't like it. That's actually the first case of that I've heard. Usually the smoother the motion the more realistic the motion is. Not sure why your perception is to dislike it, that's actually the first time I've heard someone actively prefer slower fps. Many people say they can't tell the difference (I.E. it may be they see all of real life at 30-ish fps, much below the average person), But you don't, you did see a difference.
Re: PS5 Pro Adds Ray Tracing to Alan Wake 2 in Big Tech Improvement
Ray tracing at 30fps, or run the game properly at 60 without? For $700. This is getting sad. We're entering "even a $300 4060 can do this" territory.
Re: Horizon's Sylens Will Be Recast Following the Passing of Lance Reddick
I don't know how I feel about it. I don't know how they'd do the story without Sylens, but, Sylens is Lance, and without him I don't feel the character has anywhere close to the weight he should have. He was a once in a generation unique presence in any role, and that presence can't be duplicated. Sylens loses his gravitas without Lance behind him. And he was the most interesting part of the Horizon world.
You can't really replace what was lost. I'd almost feel better if they found a creative way to develop the story where Sylens wasn't part of it.
Re: Ubisoft Labour Woes Spread, Milan Office Strikes in Solidarity
@somnambulance so you're saying you can't see them Rayman solvent? They may just dance through this slump.
Re: PS5 Pro's Proprietary Upscaler PSSR Is Looking Very Promising
@DennisReynolds high end video scalers are nothing new. Back years ago it was all about getting DVD to 1080p. TVs had good better best internal processors. Receivers went deeper down the rabbit hole. And external processor scalers for separates cost thousands in 2006 money. The trick for games is always making it good AND fast. The classic Anchor processors you could fry eggs on was the defacto choice for getting 1080p. Had 360 and PS3 setup behind an anchor. Output at 720p though processor to 1080p, boom, much better quality. And could get a room over 100F in the summer in half an hour 😂 Same thing at work in modern tv processors (or rack).
@Bigmanfan usually ai upscaling looks great in general. Not perfect, but better than native low res. Nothing beats native res but it's still good enough to be better than lowering res for the same performance.
@Neither_scene This. And it's also why console games run so bad, as the devs just plan on dlss and whatever happens on console happens.
@GamerGuy1970 Nice giving a PS5 to animal welfare. Too many animals go without video games despite the constant playtime seeking we see from cats laying on keyboards and controllers. People often forget the importance of games to animals. Cats seem to love Doom. The whole rip and tear thing speaks to their fuzzy blackened souls.
@McTwist It's depressing that the most physics based game we've played since Half Life 2 and Portal 2 are the new Zeldas that run on a 2011 tablet processor.
Re: PS5 Pro's Proprietary Upscaler PSSR Is Looking Very Promising
Ok, I know everyone knows I have a lot of issues with the pro, but that's neither here nor there. What I have the biggest problem with is the appearance that DF has become the primary marketing firm for this product and has appeared to give away all credibility as they continue to be nearly the only entity really taking about it all while having special favored status to play with the hardware granted by Sony on a leash. Nothing about it seems on the level. I don't expect Push Square (interestingly my autocorrect just suggested "Liam" as a replacement for "Push"... 🤔 ) to be unbiased and impartial but, why doesn't Push have this access? Why is push left to just republish special access by the vendor that's clearly oh so not conditional, to a single outlet or two? It's not like we've seen this sort of thing in gaming before, of course not.....
Re: PS5 Pro Makes Quality, Performance Modes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard Better Than Ever
@Flaming_Kaiser Lol yeah. And the mobile OSes are even worse! Even though Android is Linux based! That's the whole crux of the value of Linux. It's the catch 22. Because most of the world is based on the commercial platforms, Linux doesn't get the software most people want to use, so it tends to be the domain of governments, academia, and uber nerds.
The other problem is UEFI. Like mobile devices it's become the OS behind the OS. Even with a clean Linux you never quite know if the hardware behind it is spying too. Would have been seen as paranoia, but Lenovo has been caught doing that, twice, to the point US gov banned their PCs as a security risk to China. I'm sure they're all spying. Now the add hardware AI...... Much as I love my games I just wish we could roll back to the 80s and get rid of the Internet.
Not gonna lie the official support for installing Linux on a PS3 is what prompted me to jump from PC to console in 08 😂. But the consoles are spying now too.
Re: Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Web Swings to PC in January 2025
Not really interested in spidey2 on any platform, but since 1 has a VR mod, I'd buy it on a good sale later if Luke has a mod for it, and he probably will, he's been doing all the Sony games except gow (must be an engine thing.)
@GamingFan4Lyf has it right, @Rich33, basically you just plug it into the TV, just like a console. You have a few settings options to check/enable, but, that's not even different from console.
@belmont @TrickyDicky99 also total control of access. Sony just lost a big lawsuit in EU over trying to stop sale of "parasite mods" that attach to the process to let you skip content etc. they can't block the sale of the mods . But if they're on PSN accounts they can still ban accounts for using it ....
Re: Expedition 33 Dev Confirms $50 Price Is Correct, '30+ Hours of Main Game'
Nice! Some studios are starting to get it!
This game piqued my interest at "e3" but had fallen off my radar. This definitely piques my interest again!
Re: Don't Nod Financials Result in Reorganisation and Layoffs, Cancelled Projects
@gollumb82 People give the game so much grief, and it was never going to live up to expectations, but it's seriously such a cool game, between the theme and mixing parts of Deus Ex gameplay, it's really well put together. I'd started it on series X but it was competing with a lot of other games at the time, and naturally had to buy it on PC for the vr mod (plus great discount on new GOG sign-ups for that and Witcher 3 which I'm playing in semi 3d with vorpx. ) I'm blown away by how amazing it is in VR though. I think both the game and the VR mod have had some pretty big revisions since you tried it. Runs so well now. Better than other games on the same mod IMO. But still needs insane hardware by nature. I'm trying wukong on uevr too but getting some right eye artifacts. Looks insane though if I can fix that.
So far I've only seen the street kid into! Yeah, blade runner is still amazing. You read the original electric sheep, too?
Re: Boy! Sony and Amazon to Start from Scratch on God of War TV Show
@GreatAuk Yeah, I kind of do get that, but considering the story arc he's on now doesn't even bother remembering Greece exists it feels more pure general fantasy than a real Greek mythos rooted adventure since 2018. The games barely acknowledge his origins. Ironically Ubisoft at least got that relatively solidly with Odyssey and on the mythology side, Fenyx.
I think only PS2 oldies actually remember Kratos is supposed to be Greek at all!
Re: Don't Nod Financials Result in Reorganisation and Layoffs, Cancelled Projects
@gollumb82 Couldn't help but think of you taking about cp2077 as your favorite game as I launched it for the first time with the Luke Ross VR mod on PC last night. Hooooly heck you would lose your freaking mind, it's insane, actually being in Night City. Runs insanely well in VR, granted that's on a 4090 but with these mods even that's not a guarantee. It was so impressive I bought phantom Liberty today before the modest sale ends lol. That's with full rt (minus path tracing) enabled in VR!
Re: Atlus Fans Don't Think Xbox's Marketing Is Doing Metaphor: ReFantazio Justice
@Flaming_Kaiser Yeah, I think that's been the hope for 25 years, though lol. The problem with Linux being mainstream, used to be simply because it's a lot more complicated to work with and you need decent technical knowledge to run it. I think a lot of work has been done on that front, but the second problem is then simply, because it's basically a collection of non-profits, and various channels of it, there's no "marketing" effort, or profit angle to make one to push it into the consumer space.
Technically Linux already is mainstream. Android is based on Linux. Nearly everyone on Earth that isn't using Apple is using Linux, technically. SteamDeck/SteamOS is Linux. Nintendo Switch is Android, is Linux. MacOS is actually based on BSD underneath which is a sort of Linux competitor, a different offshoot from original UNIX. Chrome Books are Chrome OS which is....based on Linux. So it's out there, everywhere. Even MS has more and more officially supported Linux with things (.Net Core supporting it so you can use MS SDKs and run on Linux etc, and is part of how Proton is running a lot of Windows games on SteamOS.) But as a personal desktop OS the problem it deals with is limited support of legacy software (which is what most business needs), limited support with hardware and drivers. People expect to be able to buy a peripheral, plug it in and use it. But not so if the mfr doesn't have drivers for it, and then you find community drivers that work but need certain dependency versions that conflict with something else, etc. It's kind of the same problem that Xbox has with Japanese games. You can't make it mainstream of most things people need aren't supported, and you can't get most things supported if nobody uses it. It's infinitely cool, but always ends up a struggle, because no matter what you use a PC for, you almost certainly have "that one important use" that doesn't work right on it.
OTOH, IMO, it's infinitely more functional and has infinitely more support for infinitely more things than anything Mac, yet people flock to that.
Re: Like a Dragon's PS5 Date Change Will Let You Play Monster Hunter Wilds with Peace of Mind, Director Says
This is one of those decisions where it's not about being able to play the game in a week, it's about the fact that most of Japan will shut down when MHW launches so there's no hope for any other game to sell.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Metaphor: ReFantazio?
I'm super slowly meandering through it and only got past the dungeon from the tutorial and wandering around town. Haven't had the big "sit and play for hours" sessions I thought I would, but it's just fantastic all the way around. I didn't have extreme hopes for it, but it's really just that good so far. Punishing, that's the SMT way, but so good.
Re: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Blocked in Kuwait, Activision Refunds Preorders
@McTwist I think you're thinking of the 2nd war, not the 1st one. The 2nd was the one with debatable reasoning and where those leaks happened etc. The first was because they'd invaded a neighboring country that asked for help. Yes, that country just HAPPENED to be a major supplier of oil that all affected parties were eager to rescue for the sake of their own oil supply, but the country really did ask for the help, and really needed it.
@Matroska True enough, but at the same time I could also imagine people interested in digital revenge, too. I get why some people may not want to play it, but banning it as unacceptable doesn't really fit that either.
Though I do also agree with others, that recent real world politics and video games aren't a great mix to begin with.
@SweetSummerShunv That's also a very valid point, and I suspect that's much more in line. I can't imagine a government banning a game because "some people will find it traumatizing." I can imagine a government banning a game because it makes them look bad.
@nessisonett It may be close to home, but I also don't see the US banning a 9/11 game made by China. In fact I can cynically see network TV making billions by just running forced controversy over it for 4 months, and politicians trying to build their careers on taking a stand on it in to directions. But yeah, I get your point on Chinas interpretation of...well, anything historical, being likely unacceptable and the same applying to US media. Different from Germany though, that was a guilt issue and not wanting to normalize their own actions, which would be more in line with Iraq banning this. The countries invaded by Nazi's never banned such imagery. Still, I think SweetSummerShunv probably got the closest. Government's don't ban things to protect sensitivities of people that just wouldn't buy it. They do ban things to protect the skeletons in their closet.
Re: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Blocked in Kuwait, Activision Refunds Preorders
I kind of don't get the ban. I can definitely see it being banned in Iraq, but why Kuwait? Isn't that like if France and Poland banned games where you shoot occupying Nazis?
Re: Boy! Sony and Amazon to Start from Scratch on God of War TV Show
@Gravity_Bear I've been saying that from the beginning and everyone keeps saying he's too old! I can't imagine why not use him. He's huge, he's built like the character, and he's got the trademark voice which is the single most important part. Maybe he's "old" but "boy!" Won't have nearly the same power without him. Ok he's very very not Greek.... Minor issue, but he's got the trademark voice, that makes it much easier to overlook.
Someone pointed out he just got past those back injuries, but if he's said he's up for it, yeah, he's the best choice by miles. You can suspend disbelief on appearance with his voice present.
Re: Boy! Sony and Amazon to Start from Scratch on God of War TV Show
@IOI yeah that's another weird part of the cash in TV shows. Most of the target market is likely too young to even know the original story, and may only know that reboot setting. They're cashing in on familiarity but the story of even the reboot makes zero sense if you didn't play the originals.
Re: Boy! Sony and Amazon to Start from Scratch on God of War TV Show
@nomither6 What could say war god more than trudging alone in desolate hinterlands with kid in tow?
Re: Boy! Sony and Amazon to Start from Scratch on God of War TV Show
@nomither6 I know people love it but I still think Norse was the least interesting possible way to use a Greek god.
@HotGoomba " a pretty intelligent TV show."
Isn't that like saying "burning ice"
Re: Don't Nod Financials Result in Reorganisation and Layoffs, Cancelled Projects
@Art_Vandelay Especially with don't nod and their themes, they naturally have a specific market that, IDK about culture shift because I'm not sure it was ever mainstream culture to begin with. Media culture maybe, Internet culture to a degree but I think their niche kind of had a very specific demographic of a particular age group of a particular zoomer to young millennial market and a particular world view of their segment. But the segment grew up (mostly) and has bigger problems now. Their themes don't have a large enough market to appeal to anymore.
But the industry as a whole, has a different problem and it's not clear what it is. Some of it is the long dev times. Like Concord a game made to match the trends of the late wiiu era launches while Nintendo's announcing 2 consoles later. It missed it's entire window if relevance. A lot connects to what Layden was saying. The money men make samey things then try to monetize it more then the market at large NEVER indicated it was willing to pay infinitely higher costs for those things. The biggest problem may be that executives have been grouping "gaming" as mobile plus console/PC since the PS4 launch era. Everything they do is under the belief that mobile financials are the achievable target. That it's all one industry. Then fortnite and genehin proves it to be true. Maybe we really are headed to a merger of mobile and traditional gaming. That would be a nightmare!
Re: Life is Strange: Double Exposure Spoiled by Square Enix's Early Access and Hubris
The fact that in a thread talking about square and data miners and spoilers about a pre release game has nearly all its comments discussing the grammar and syntax of the article makes very clear where we are in gaming 😂
Re: WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers May Be Another PS5 Soulslike, But At Least It Looks Decent
@tangyzesty. ditto to @Deoxyr1bose question. I can't really think of any persona clones at all. (And metaphor doesn't count, it's the same studio.)
Re: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Showcases the Problem with Sony's Games on PS5 Pro
@rjejr I'm not a doomer, I'm a realist. It's just that in reality, we're doomed
Re: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Dodges Monster Hunter Wilds with New PS5, PS4 Release Date
The bit where they change the date at the end from the 28th is hilarious! Everything about this game looks like the silliest thing gaming ever needed.
Re: PS5 Pro Makes Quality, Performance Modes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard Better Than Ever
@SystemAddict Yeah, maybe at their wholesale pricing it was almost no cost difference to throw it in, but at retail pricing it's at least a $50 difference. Even $650 may have not looked as unapproachable as $700, though I still think $600 was the right price to hit if they wanted to sell to more than the ultra enthused niche.
Re: Random: Blizzard's Overwatch Marketing Is Firmly Focused on Feet
@HotGoomba "but hornybaiting isn't gonna save your game"
But isn't that who most of the overwatch fandom is? 😂
@nessisonett Concord existed to emulate this. So... Does that mean Concord was successful 🧐
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Statue Manufacturer Pulls Controversial, 'Insensitive' Design
How did they even accidentally do the one legged Torii? Like who designs a period game and decided a crumbled ancient gate as it stands today is what would have been there as it is today? Did they do Odyssey and assume the current condition of the Acropolis is how it was in the period, too?
Re: Random: Blizzard's Overwatch Marketing Is Firmly Focused on Feet
In before $25 DLC to remove Crocs from all characters.
Re: Don't Nod Financials Result in Reorganisation and Layoffs, Cancelled Projects
At some point someone needs to figure out what is wrong with the industry and fix it. We never more expensive hardware and more expensive games than ever, yet the industry is in continuous contraction. Something is very wrong with the industry and it's not the result of individual success or failure, the industry as a whole is in continuous deep trouble.
Re: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Showcases the Problem with Sony's Games on PS5 Pro
@SuntannedDuck2 You are the only poster that consistently out -text walls me... 😂
I agree with you about Rift though. I didn't line it as much as the PS4 r&c game. That one I replayed repeatedly to max everything. Rift,I got part way through the second replay and then just stopped. It wasn't as fun to replay. the levels were mostly built around gimmicks that were fun the first time through and then got old trying to do them again. They only work once, or did infrequent playthroughs
Re: Opinion: The Price of Playing PS5 Games Day One Is Getting Higher and Higher
Pay more, get less. Guaranteed. That's the 9th gen promise!!
I truly do not understand these FOMO people. I have FOMO. Fear of missing out on the half price sale when it hits. Who in their right mind pays fortunes for things just to get a worse beta then the people that didn't pay fortunes.
Though in the DBZ example it's not a fair example. People didn't upsell to get early access, people upsold to get the DLC they were going to buy anyway because that's how fighters work now, and as a bonus for prepaying they got to play "early." I've bought Ubisoft "upsell editions", didn't touch the early access, it was just a good deal for the game and DLC when it also included one of their remasters of older games with it. The bundle price was cheaper than all the parts together, even on sale, because the DLCs rarely go on sale while the base games do.