I mean, of all the live service games announced this, to me, was the most visually appealing.
Would I rather a single player/coop campaign that looked like this? 100%. But I know I'm not the audience they're all trying to woo because I've never given a live service game any money.
I'd have given it a go if it were free. But I'm not paying for it if there's no campaign attached and I'm just getting an online multiplayer that's then going to pester me for more money for battle passes and such.
Well this guy sucks and the comment about “the adults are talking” is incredibly ironic.
The game might be cartoon in style, but that doesn’t make it small or lesser and it’s really puerile behaviour to act like it is. Having to prove you’re grown up by pooping on something that kids can also enjoy? That’s one of the least grown up things you can do. Grow up dude and get some perspective.
Astro Bot and Asobi are celebrating so much of PlayStation’s history, including the flops, equally and lovingly. It’s clearly jealousy speaking here.
It didn't really grab me like it seems to have everyone else. I quickly got to a point where my character was nigh invincible and I just left them stood there as hoards of enemies surrounded me to no avail. My only input was selecting an upgrade every 20 seconds or so, which was at that point reduced to just health or coins. Then when the timer hit about 20 mins, the game just dropped a lich directly on top of me an insta-killed me.
So yeah, I dunno. I see the appeal for quick bursts, I think as a mobile title it's a good format for quick bursts. But the visuals are really ugly and inconsistent and I felt no reason to just keep doing the exact same thing over and over with different characters.
I tried Geometry Survivors too and played that a bit longer (it at least visually appealed to me and enemies felt more varied) but after a while it felt like there was little point to progressing.
Each to their own, but for me it's a 5. It's a solid base, but unappealing visuals and needs something more.
@ThorsHammer I certainly hope so! I know I have nostalgia for that period but I do try and look at it with a critical eye too, and I have about triple the number of PS3 games than I do PS4 and PS5, plus the portables. Also it seems to be exactly what Nintendo are doing and they're thriving at the moment.
"Sony needs a cash cow, because its single player games are costing too much and taking too long to make."
Ooor. Go back to a model where smaller, cheaper titles can be made more frequently to prop up the company and add diversity and variety to the catalogue in between the massive blockbusters. But actually promote them too and accept that some might not make the money back ten-fold on pre-orders alone.
I love the God of Wars and the stuff Naughty Dog puts out but expecting every game to be those levels and then gain the sales those levels warrant is insane and not working.
It's disappointing they didn't give it more than 2 weeks to prove itself. But that being said the numbers were really bad, I'm genuinely not sure how much longer it could have gone on for anyway.
It's been really weird. I've seen the character designs blamed, I've seen the game design blamed, I've seen the live service blamed, I've seen the lack of advertising blamed. Honestly I think there's likely elements of all those and more, it's just really unfortunate.
The characters are not immediately likable, but I have to say some of them grew on me, not the main spikey guy but the others. They gave me old sci-fi comic book vibes, as did the colour palette. The graphic design and UI was super nice too, very retro futuristic...but perhaps a little too late to the trend?
The gameplay sounded solid if generic, but it's not like these games don't change and evolve overtime. A solid but generic base is a good starting point to grow with the community from.
The advertising...there was a ton of it and it looked high quality...but I never really saw it naturally. I had to search it out. Even that upcoming Amazon series has a Concord episode in it, assuming that's not also pulled. But all that stuff never rose above the negative.
Being live service, or GaaS, I think was it's biggest issue. There are so many places chasing that now and it's clearly money motivated rather than creatively motivated. Also it's a genre dominated by immovable, unmatchable titans like Fortnite. Same for the hero shooter genre, though Overwatch is faltering. I think that combined with people's disdain for Sony announcing like 20 of the damn things and then cancelling 2 of the ones people were actually interested in prior to this. It all just left Concord in a bad spot, it could have been amazing and I think it would have struggled.
Either way, my thoughts go out to the devs. I can't imagine morale or job security is high right now. I hope you guys are able to take what you made and make something else, something more successful, out of it. I said it before but a 10-20hr single player game in this world would be awesome to me!
@PloverNutter I don't know the full details and it's entirely possible that it was 100% a studio decision to make the game this way. But I don't think it's as simple as some decisions being on the devs.
Any new studio going independent for 6 years needs investors, especially one making a game this size and scope. And those investors often get a say in the studio and the product at some level. It may well be they tailored the product as a live service to get investors in the first place, putting the onus back on the studio. Or it might be that it pivoted to some degree as a request by a potential investor to secure the money. Maybe it was intended as a more old-school multiplayer game and the live service was a condition of investment? Maybe not? We don't know. So it may not be as black and white as it seems.
Also when we talk about the 'devs' there is still a hierarchy. It'll be a set few studio heads and directors that decide the ultimate direction of the game. So even if the studio made the decision to go Gaas, it's not really on the devs per se, it's on the studio heads...who may also be devs, but a handful of high ranking devs.
Either way it worked out for the investors when Sony bought them, but less so for the team who are probably worried about their jobs right now.
I think a huge part of the problem is the industry is now such a big money earner, it's now so corporate, that we can't have a game like Resistance sell 2 million copies and still get a trilogy and a portable spin-off. That's no longer seen as viable. Big money gets thrown around to buy IP and studios and that big money expects big returns.
And yeah it does mean that we can get more visually impressive games, we can get stupidly big open-worlds. But it's also damaging. It stifles creativity and leads to safe bets or chasing golden geese, the current goose being GaaS.
It's a shame because, ugly characters and GotG vibes aside, I like what Concord is trying to do with it's world. It's certainly unique and recognisable. I want that sort of risk-taking and I want to support it. But the GaaS side just feels egregiously corporate and hollow. They don't feel about having fun anymore. Multiplayer modes used to feel like an added value and fun way to extend the game. But all this live service feels like it's trying to trap you. To lock you in so the shareholders and suits can squeeze a few more pennies out of you and your friends.
Honestly, with Concord, same characters, same world as a 10-20hr single player campaign with a multiplayer mode and I'd have bought this. And I still would if they made exactly that with the same assets to recoup some losses.
@get2sammyb I've never played SOCOM but Killzone and Resistance had solid single player campaigns with a multiplayer mode. And Resistance did some really interesting things with their weapons and such.
Concord just doesn't seem too, and it's built as not just a multiplayer game but a game-as-a-service (or GaaS) first and foremost. Which is really what people have an issue with.
It's a saturated market and it can be quite aggressive with it's "micro"-transactions and battle passes (the genre, not Concord specifically), it's one that everywhere is currently chasing trying to be the new Fortnite and it's that hollow cash over creative drive that is upsetting people. And yeah there is space for innovation in that genre but from what everyone has seen...this doesn't seem to have it.
I think for many the main frustration is Playstation was at one point a bastion for both creativity and variety and that was what made them stand out and feel special. So when they announced basically everything was going to be a GaaS it was really disappointing to hear. What happened to the publisher that funded The Unfinished Swan and Journey and Flower? Who made games like Patapon, Loco Roco and Vib Ribbon alongside blockbuster titles like Uncharted and God of War? They used to make creatives risks rather than follow trends and they made and funded some of the best and most iconic games in gaming history as a result. So of course people are upset to hear their plans now are to throw that all away and chase the golden goose, and more so to see the results not even panning out for them.
@exit I think you misunderstand me? I am not saying physical violence and harassment is any more or less traumatic and horrifying than sexual violence and harassment. I'm saying the two are equally bad and awful, but the media we take in (not just games) has a huge effect on our perception of what is and isn't acceptable.
Some here think they are immune to this and only a few weaker minded individuals are affected, which is frankly stupid. Marketing, advertising and propaganda are all real and all just ways of taking and manipulating this unfortunate fact to a desired end, be that to sell chocolate or incite riots. Racism used to be considered ok by those not at the receiving end of it because everywhere people saw it happening as a normal, everyday thing. Same for homophobia. Same for gender roles. Ableism. Transphobia. etc etc. The more these things are presented everywhere as ok, the more ok people think they must be. Consciously or otherwise. And likewise the more they are shown as the truly awful and abhorrent things they are the more people realise this and stop doing them.
Real violence is horrifying. And even though it's presented as fun and sometimes silly in the game, it's also still presented as horrible. There is blood and gore and someone dies. The repercussions are clear, regardless of the points and glory or jokes that result of it. But it's clearly something that out of the context of this game is bad. And for someone to recreate that violence in real life, it would take a lot from a person to be able to do that. It's fun in the game world but it's clearly not being encouraged or belittled in the real world. So my point here is the violence in games and it's effect (or lack thereof) on people who consume them in the real world is not the same as sexual harassment in video games. The two cannot be compared and to do so is just a straw man argument to avoid confronting the real issue of how we as a society, perceive the seriousness of sexual harassment and how our media perpetuates that.
The fact is the game used to reward it, with points and humour and titillation. It didn't show the harmful side at all. And it takes a lot less of a person to go and up-skirt a woman than it does to chop their head off with a chainsaw. All the more so if all the media they've seen has just been saying that it's fun and victimless.
@LifeGirl weird take. I’m not blaming games or saying it’s an excuse for people, I’m saying people are influenced by the media we take in.
Look at history, look at what used to be considered ok in media and public attitudes. Ethnic slurs used to be normalised. Homophobia used to be normalised. Gender roles were normalised. These opinions, and subsequent actions based on them, were bolstered by the media that was consumed at the time. Video games are no different, nor is people’s susceptibility to it.
Belittling or trivialising a serious and very current issue in any format will influence people. It’s not an excuse for people to act that way, we should all look outside our bubbles and be aware of these things so we can help to combat them, but it can be a reason and cause for those who don’t.
Firstly are we still perpetuating the falsehood that gamers are all/largely straight men and therefore this is what they want? Because that’s just not true on both levels. And even if it were true on a numbers level (which is is not), do we not want to share games and expand their audience and our community?
Secondly, sexual harassment is a very real, very common thing many people across the world face, especially women. It’s not something that should be encouraged or made to be seen as harmless fun. And the straw man argument of “but what about the violence, are we saying that video games cause violence now?”, no we are not. Because the simple fact is it takes a lot more from a person to smash someone’s face in with a hammer than it does to upskirt a woman. In the same way that seeing an advert for an ice cold Pepsi does make me want an ice cold Pepsi, but watching American Psyco does not make me want to murder people. It’s not a one size fits all statement, there is nuance. Advertising exists and it exists because people can be sold and swayed by media that the intake.
Also the violence, whilst presented as fun, is not being presented as harmless. People die as a result of violence in video games, it might be fun but a digital simulation of a life has ended. You see a direct correlation between your actions that also applies to those actions in real life. That is not the case with the perving on women in the game, which is presented as entirely positive and harmless. You are not faced with the disgust and trauma that it causes. You are not faced with the damage that sort of behaviour being constantly inflicted on a person causes. You’re just rewarded. It’s completely different. And it’s not even the point of the game, homage to equally exploitative horror movies of old or not, it’s not necessary.
And it’s not a slippery slope as some may say, because sexual harassment is very common and something many experience on a daily basis. This isn’t censoring for the stable masses due to a few unstable individuals, the statistics on sexual harassment are disgustingly high. It’s sadly not something restricted to a few unstable individuals and it never will be if we make light of it in this particular way.
Honestly it's weird that this was expected to be a massive hit? Braid is a great little game and I'm really glad it and others are sticking around and remaining easily accessible for new players. But I don't think it was ever going to be the hit it was first time around, the space has changed so much since then.
There are so many great indie games now, it's hard to fit them all in and it's hard to stand out amongst them.
It just feels pretty niche, which is awesome but not something that generates huge sales.
Honestly, whilst I'm kinda sad that the known and safe IP is doing better than the new, original one I'm not surprised and I am glad the one with the fun and interesting art style is doing better than the one focussing on realism in it's rendering.
I'd not seen Fairgame$ before but looked it up after everyone mentioning it. Yeesh. The unabashed irony of a game with the sort of monetisation preaching about how the wealth is all being horded by the few? They're not wrong but in context it felt kinda gross.
@TedSeattle Also if you think about the average game dev time being 3-4 years, the timing of when this game started development makes it even more questionable.
I didn't watch either presentation as a whole, I just watch the trailers separately, so I might have missed some part of what made this so great for people. But I thought both were decent offerings.
To be honest neither had a huge amount for me, but I thought both had decent variety and a few interesting things. Doom and South of Midnight caught my attention in Xbox. But Doom is cross platform anyway. And Astrobot is the game I'm most excited for for out of anything. So personally, they balance out.
If I had my own way though Sony would have announced a new Uncharted and Ratchet & Clank, and Xbox would be bringing back Jet Force Gemini and Banjo Kazooie. But I'm not going to start a petition about it.
It's not the first time they've done this, we've had Fez, two Ori games and Cuphead all start as Xbox exclusives before finding more success on other consoles. Plus Minecraft, but that was multi-plat before they owned it.
I wouldn't be surprised in The Gunk is one of these exclusives or one that gets ported in the future, if not to Switch (that would be quite the visual downgrade) then to Playstation.
"golden parachute" of at least $15 million"
"blamed a decline in stock price on the game, deflecting scandals during his tenure"
"threatened to have an employee killed"
This is also the same guy who said, to paraphrase, 'the problem with hiring creatives like writers and artists is they ask for too much money, that's why we need AI'.
But this guy was worth the money apparently? Absolute joke. His golden parachute alone could pay for a years wages for 150 - 200 or more mid to senior level artists and writers (depending where you live of course). That many highly skilled and experienced, talented people's livelihood, or one scumbag's leaving gift.
Yeah this is a pretty blatant rip-off. Also didn't Mr Beast do that collab with Fall Guys at the start and now he's moving on to this clone? What a shill!
The UI is a real mess of visuals. Some pixel icons, some vector. Some textured backplates some flat colour. No pixel fonts. Modern, clean vector shapes in a fantasy themed world.
Honestly, the UI is a big part of this genre, it's disappointing to see it not get more thought and attention. The rest looks nice enough though.
Yeah we can put on the box/download page that there are lootboxes but for years I've seem parents willfully ignore the 18+ and detailed PEGI ratings on boxes, so that feels more to cover the industry's back than protect the kids. Point 8 is a weird one. If I bought the lootbox and it's contents, is it not mine to sell? Perhaps I am misunderstanding?
That aside this seems sensible. I actually miss loot boxes now that everything is a battle pass, which feels worse to me, so I'm glad it's not just a ban. Yeah I know what's in a battle pass so I'm not taking a gamble at the contents, but now I'm bound to a FOMO grind to actually get what I paid for. A grind that is often exploited with further microtransactions to speed it up.
Urgh, I don't have space on my drive and I hate having to go in and faff about deciding what to delete or not to make it. Having to re-download old games because you had to delete them to play new games sucks and takes ages, just let me swap the disc out.
It’s a sad turn of events. I feel like the PS3/PSP era was a time when Sony were backing all different levels of games, from indies to triple A. Now they only want the prestige triple A and the library feels much smaller and less diverse as a result. (It’s still good, but not quite as good for me at least)
Yeah I know people get hyped and buy those bigger titles more but…you’re Sony you can do more to help sell the double A and experimental titles too. And maybe those studios if nurtured and supported can make you a ‘prestige’ title later like Housemarque did with Returnal.
Yes, threaten a country because your corporation didn’t get its way. That in no way entirely proves exactly why this sort of deal needed to be stopped in the first place…
Not interested in VR myself, find it uncomfortable and nausea inducing after a while even on the better headsets. Plus I just don’t feel it improves the games all that much, but that’s personal preference.
Interesting to see how many are super into it though, though I suspect there is a degree of many not interested just didn’t click the article. Anyway, good luck to everyone trying to get one at launch!
The gameplay looks alright, but that setting is so dull and still looks like an Unreal Engine asset flip. If they’d made a properly stylised word I think I’d be a lot more on board.
@Abeedo There are many involved in the final visuals of a game.
Concept artists will create proposals and eventually final visual designs for characters and environments and weapons etc. But they are working to both the guidelines and needs set by the Design team, and the art style that is set and enforced by the Art Lead.
But it doesn't stop at the Art Lead either. Depending on the size of the company there may also be a Studio Art Lead / Art Director and the company executives that require input (for better or worse). Larger companies also tend to have Marketing and BI departments that do research into what is and isn't doing well at the moment and how people react to reveals and Betas etc and things can change as a result of that too.
You also have the other people under the Art Lead, the 3D artists for one have to take the concept and model it well and they often have a bunch of technical limitations on them even now. And then that model isn't going to look any good unless the Tech Art and Lighting teams can back it up. All of that is dependant on the target platforms too. You've also got UI Art that have their own set of challenges and technical limitations trying to match the same brief and feedback too. We've not even got into the Animation department.
On top of that Producers have to keep everything running smoothly and on time, so you'll have them sometimes having to make the hard call to cut something or call it done. And they're often only having to do that because of budgets which are again set by both the executives and the results of marketing data and such. Oh and any additional deadlines that might come from things like GamePass or external investors and such.
You can have the best piece of concept art in the world reduced to a generic and muddy looking game through no fault of one individual.
So it's great playing as a cat but if you didn't play as a cat it would maybe not be so great...but you do play as a cat so the point is moot.
Hey what is The Last of Us didn't have clickers and the same atmosphere but instead was just shooting at paper targets, would it still be that good you guys?
@Milktastrophe Nope. the tone so Smash is different (and of PSASBR). It's a celebration of gaming and it's icons and they're all meant to be toys being battled in a child's imagination anyway. And it lets us all fight out the age old playground question of in a fight between Mario and Sonic who would win?
Multiversus doesn't feel that way to me. Sonic vs Pac-Man vs Cloud, yeah they're a bunch of video game icons that shaped the industry that's fun watching them duke it out. Gandalf vs Jake the Dog? Why? What's that a celebration of? It's just WB desperate to keep all it's IP relevant. And it's called multiversus, it's saying all these IP exist together in the same multiverse. American Chavez could punch a star portal in Middle Earth and end up in Ooo.
It's not done for the love of the characters (though the devs are clearly doing their best), it's done to establish a multiverse because they are an in thing. And nobody has ever asked who would win in a fight between Shaggy and Godzilla.
The more crossovers this gets...the less appealing I find it. which is unfortunate as it's the entire concept. It just feels WB really wants to push all it's IP into a multi-verse and they don't need to be. Gandalf and Batman side by side is already too much for me, let alone Gandalf, Batman, Jake the Dog and Scorpion.
I hope those that are into it though enjoy it, it looks well made and I do like the idea of the co-op moves that buff your teammates.
@AndyKazama It's not NFT's because it's nothing to do with blockchain and crypto, as they have stated. An NFT is a specific bit of technology reliant on and entrenched in these technologies.
Sure it sounds like it's doing all those things NFTs claim to magically grant the ability to do, so you might wonder how it's not an NFT? Well that's because everything that NFT pushers claim NFTs enable, is actually 100% doable already and has been for some time. Sony could even implement a system to let you sell and trade these digital collectable already without them being NFTs. The only thing NFTs add is a way for crypto currencies to scam you.
So in this case, if it looks like an NFT and it sounds like an NFT...it's actually just that NFTs are useless and add nothing to anything.
Oof I would not be putting out that artwork with that Japanese worm anymore! In fact I remember some of the voice packs you used to be able to pick, I jut wouldn't put out old Worms games anymore.
But the online in older titles is cool and a nice way to keep them alive.
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Re: Jaw-Dropping 30th Anniversary PS5 Pro Console and Accessories Will Bankrupt You
Dang those controllers are nice!
Re: Fresh Marathon Details Cover Heroes, Pricing, and Bungie's Silence
I mean, of all the live service games announced this, to me, was the most visually appealing.
Would I rather a single player/coop campaign that looked like this? 100%. But I know I'm not the audience they're all trying to woo because I've never given a live service game any money.
I'd have given it a go if it were free. But I'm not paying for it if there's no campaign attached and I'm just getting an online multiplayer that's then going to pester me for more money for battle passes and such.
Re: Days Gone Director Roasts 'Small Game' Astro Bot PS5 for Deacon St John Cameo
Well this guy sucks and the comment about “the adults are talking” is incredibly ironic.
The game might be cartoon in style, but that doesn’t make it small or lesser and it’s really puerile behaviour to act like it is. Having to prove you’re grown up by pooping on something that kids can also enjoy? That’s one of the least grown up things you can do. Grow up dude and get some perspective.
Astro Bot and Asobi are celebrating so much of PlayStation’s history, including the flops, equally and lovingly. It’s clearly jealousy speaking here.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Vampire Survivors?
It didn't really grab me like it seems to have everyone else. I quickly got to a point where my character was nigh invincible and I just left them stood there as hoards of enemies surrounded me to no avail. My only input was selecting an upgrade every 20 seconds or so, which was at that point reduced to just health or coins. Then when the timer hit about 20 mins, the game just dropped a lich directly on top of me an insta-killed me.
So yeah, I dunno. I see the appeal for quick bursts, I think as a mobile title it's a good format for quick bursts. But the visuals are really ugly and inconsistent and I felt no reason to just keep doing the exact same thing over and over with different characters.
I tried Geometry Survivors too and played that a bit longer (it at least visually appealed to me and enemies felt more varied) but after a while it felt like there was little point to progressing.
Each to their own, but for me it's a 5. It's a solid base, but unappealing visuals and needs something more.
Re: Astro Bot (PS5) - One of the Greatest PlayStation Platformers of All Time
@ThorsHammer I certainly hope so! I know I have nostalgia for that period but I do try and look at it with a critical eye too, and I have about triple the number of PS3 games than I do PS4 and PS5, plus the portables.
Also it seems to be exactly what Nintendo are doing and they're thriving at the moment.
Re: Reaction: PlayStation Needs to Take a Long, Hard Look at Itself
"Sony needs a cash cow, because its single player games are costing too much and taking too long to make."
Ooor. Go back to a model where smaller, cheaper titles can be made more frequently to prop up the company and add diversity and variety to the catalogue in between the massive blockbusters. But actually promote them too and accept that some might not make the money back ten-fold on pre-orders alone.
I love the God of Wars and the stuff Naughty Dog puts out but expecting every game to be those levels and then gain the sales those levels warrant is insane and not working.
Re: Astro Bot (PS5) - One of the Greatest PlayStation Platformers of All Time
With this and Space Marine 2 it's feeling like the PS3 again...but a lot prettier! I know it won't last, but I shall revel in it whilst I can!
Re: Minecraft's Weird Live Action Movie Is Going to Be Massive, Isn't It?
Wrong kind of silly and strange. And unfathomably ugly to look at.
Re: Sony Flop Concord Axed Two Weeks After PS5, PC Release
It's disappointing they didn't give it more than 2 weeks to prove itself. But that being said the numbers were really bad, I'm genuinely not sure how much longer it could have gone on for anyway.
It's been really weird. I've seen the character designs blamed, I've seen the game design blamed, I've seen the live service blamed, I've seen the lack of advertising blamed. Honestly I think there's likely elements of all those and more, it's just really unfortunate.
The characters are not immediately likable, but I have to say some of them grew on me, not the main spikey guy but the others. They gave me old sci-fi comic book vibes, as did the colour palette. The graphic design and UI was super nice too, very retro futuristic...but perhaps a little too late to the trend?
The gameplay sounded solid if generic, but it's not like these games don't change and evolve overtime. A solid but generic base is a good starting point to grow with the community from.
The advertising...there was a ton of it and it looked high quality...but I never really saw it naturally. I had to search it out. Even that upcoming Amazon series has a Concord episode in it, assuming that's not also pulled. But all that stuff never rose above the negative.
Being live service, or GaaS, I think was it's biggest issue. There are so many places chasing that now and it's clearly money motivated rather than creatively motivated. Also it's a genre dominated by immovable, unmatchable titans like Fortnite. Same for the hero shooter genre, though Overwatch is faltering. I think that combined with people's disdain for Sony announcing like 20 of the damn things and then cancelling 2 of the ones people were actually interested in prior to this. It all just left Concord in a bad spot, it could have been amazing and I think it would have struggled.
Either way, my thoughts go out to the devs. I can't imagine morale or job security is high right now. I hope you guys are able to take what you made and make something else, something more successful, out of it. I said it before but a 10-20hr single player game in this world would be awesome to me!
Re: Players Complain of Lengthy PS5 Matchmaking Times As Concord Numbers Dwindle
@PloverNutter I don't know the full details and it's entirely possible that it was 100% a studio decision to make the game this way. But I don't think it's as simple as some decisions being on the devs.
Any new studio going independent for 6 years needs investors, especially one making a game this size and scope. And those investors often get a say in the studio and the product at some level. It may well be they tailored the product as a live service to get investors in the first place, putting the onus back on the studio. Or it might be that it pivoted to some degree as a request by a potential investor to secure the money. Maybe it was intended as a more old-school multiplayer game and the live service was a condition of investment? Maybe not? We don't know. So it may not be as black and white as it seems.
Also when we talk about the 'devs' there is still a hierarchy. It'll be a set few studio heads and directors that decide the ultimate direction of the game. So even if the studio made the decision to go Gaas, it's not really on the devs per se, it's on the studio heads...who may also be devs, but a handful of high ranking devs.
Either way it worked out for the investors when Sony bought them, but less so for the team who are probably worried about their jobs right now.
Re: Fill the Advance Wars-Shaped Hole in Your Heart with Warside on PS5, PS4
"evokes"??? That's just a straight-up copy.
Re: PS Plus Essential Games for September 2024 Announced
Looking forward to Little Nightmares 2, but I'm not even going to bother adding Quidditch to my library.
Re: Talking Point: Can PS5, PC Shooter Concord Be Saved?
I think a huge part of the problem is the industry is now such a big money earner, it's now so corporate, that we can't have a game like Resistance sell 2 million copies and still get a trilogy and a portable spin-off. That's no longer seen as viable. Big money gets thrown around to buy IP and studios and that big money expects big returns.
And yeah it does mean that we can get more visually impressive games, we can get stupidly big open-worlds. But it's also damaging. It stifles creativity and leads to safe bets or chasing golden geese, the current goose being GaaS.
It's a shame because, ugly characters and GotG vibes aside, I like what Concord is trying to do with it's world. It's certainly unique and recognisable. I want that sort of risk-taking and I want to support it. But the GaaS side just feels egregiously corporate and hollow. They don't feel about having fun anymore. Multiplayer modes used to feel like an added value and fun way to extend the game. But all this live service feels like it's trying to trap you. To lock you in so the shareholders and suits can squeeze a few more pennies out of you and your friends.
Honestly, with Concord, same characters, same world as a 10-20hr single player campaign with a multiplayer mode and I'd have bought this. And I still would if they made exactly that with the same assets to recoup some losses.
Re: Things Are Getting Worse for Floundering PS5, PC FPS Concord
@get2sammyb I've never played SOCOM but Killzone and Resistance had solid single player campaigns with a multiplayer mode. And Resistance did some really interesting things with their weapons and such.
Concord just doesn't seem too, and it's built as not just a multiplayer game but a game-as-a-service (or GaaS) first and foremost. Which is really what people have an issue with.
It's a saturated market and it can be quite aggressive with it's "micro"-transactions and battle passes (the genre, not Concord specifically), it's one that everywhere is currently chasing trying to be the new Fortnite and it's that hollow cash over creative drive that is upsetting people. And yeah there is space for innovation in that genre but from what everyone has seen...this doesn't seem to have it.
I think for many the main frustration is Playstation was at one point a bastion for both creativity and variety and that was what made them stand out and feel special. So when they announced basically everything was going to be a GaaS it was really disappointing to hear. What happened to the publisher that funded The Unfinished Swan and Journey and Flower? Who made games like Patapon, Loco Roco and Vib Ribbon alongside blockbuster titles like Uncharted and God of War? They used to make creatives risks rather than follow trends and they made and funded some of the best and most iconic games in gaming history as a result. So of course people are upset to hear their plans now are to throw that all away and chase the golden goose, and more so to see the results not even panning out for them.
Re: Dead Rising's PS5 Remaster Will Strip Bonus Points for Erotic Photos
@exit I think you misunderstand me? I am not saying physical violence and harassment is any more or less traumatic and horrifying than sexual violence and harassment. I'm saying the two are equally bad and awful, but the media we take in (not just games) has a huge effect on our perception of what is and isn't acceptable.
Some here think they are immune to this and only a few weaker minded individuals are affected, which is frankly stupid. Marketing, advertising and propaganda are all real and all just ways of taking and manipulating this unfortunate fact to a desired end, be that to sell chocolate or incite riots. Racism used to be considered ok by those not at the receiving end of it because everywhere people saw it happening as a normal, everyday thing. Same for homophobia. Same for gender roles. Ableism. Transphobia. etc etc. The more these things are presented everywhere as ok, the more ok people think they must be. Consciously or otherwise. And likewise the more they are shown as the truly awful and abhorrent things they are the more people realise this and stop doing them.
Real violence is horrifying. And even though it's presented as fun and sometimes silly in the game, it's also still presented as horrible. There is blood and gore and someone dies. The repercussions are clear, regardless of the points and glory or jokes that result of it. But it's clearly something that out of the context of this game is bad. And for someone to recreate that violence in real life, it would take a lot from a person to be able to do that. It's fun in the game world but it's clearly not being encouraged or belittled in the real world. So my point here is the violence in games and it's effect (or lack thereof) on people who consume them in the real world is not the same as sexual harassment in video games. The two cannot be compared and to do so is just a straw man argument to avoid confronting the real issue of how we as a society, perceive the seriousness of sexual harassment and how our media perpetuates that.
The fact is the game used to reward it, with points and humour and titillation. It didn't show the harmful side at all. And it takes a lot less of a person to go and up-skirt a woman than it does to chop their head off with a chainsaw. All the more so if all the media they've seen has just been saying that it's fun and victimless.
Re: Dead Rising's PS5 Remaster Will Strip Bonus Points for Erotic Photos
@LifeGirl weird take. I’m not blaming games or saying it’s an excuse for people, I’m saying people are influenced by the media we take in.
Look at history, look at what used to be considered ok in media and public attitudes. Ethnic slurs used to be normalised. Homophobia used to be normalised. Gender roles were normalised. These opinions, and subsequent actions based on them, were bolstered by the media that was consumed at the time. Video games are no different, nor is people’s susceptibility to it.
Belittling or trivialising a serious and very current issue in any format will influence people. It’s not an excuse for people to act that way, we should all look outside our bubbles and be aware of these things so we can help to combat them, but it can be a reason and cause for those who don’t.
Re: Dead Rising's PS5 Remaster Will Strip Bonus Points for Erotic Photos
Wow what a disappointing reaction.
Firstly are we still perpetuating the falsehood that gamers are all/largely straight men and therefore this is what they want? Because that’s just not true on both levels. And even if it were true on a numbers level (which is is not), do we not want to share games and expand their audience and our community?
Secondly, sexual harassment is a very real, very common thing many people across the world face, especially women. It’s not something that should be encouraged or made to be seen as harmless fun. And the straw man argument of “but what about the violence, are we saying that video games cause violence now?”, no we are not. Because the simple fact is it takes a lot more from a person to smash someone’s face in with a hammer than it does to upskirt a woman. In the same way that seeing an advert for an ice cold Pepsi does make me want an ice cold Pepsi, but watching American Psyco does not make me want to murder people. It’s not a one size fits all statement, there is nuance. Advertising exists and it exists because people can be sold and swayed by media that the intake.
Also the violence, whilst presented as fun, is not being presented as harmless. People die as a result of violence in video games, it might be fun but a digital simulation of a life has ended. You see a direct correlation between your actions that also applies to those actions in real life. That is not the case with the perving on women in the game, which is presented as entirely positive and harmless. You are not faced with the disgust and trauma that it causes. You are not faced with the damage that sort of behaviour being constantly inflicted on a person causes. You’re just rewarded. It’s completely different. And it’s not even the point of the game, homage to equally exploitative horror movies of old or not, it’s not necessary.
And it’s not a slippery slope as some may say, because sexual harassment is very common and something many experience on a daily basis. This isn’t censoring for the stable masses due to a few unstable individuals, the statistics on sexual harassment are disgustingly high. It’s sadly not something restricted to a few unstable individuals and it never will be if we make light of it in this particular way.
Let’s all have some perspective.
Re: Mini Review: LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival (PSP) - A Frustrating Yet Jubilant Jamboree
Ah I remember the disappointment of this one. Lost all the chill of 1 & 2 and became just frustrating.
I wish Playstation still made games like those.
Re: It Doesn't Sound Like Braid: Anniversary Edition Quite Set the World on Fire
Honestly it's weird that this was expected to be a massive hit? Braid is a great little game and I'm really glad it and others are sticking around and remaining easily accessible for new players. But I don't think it was ever going to be the hit it was first time around, the space has changed so much since then.
There are so many great indie games now, it's hard to fit them all in and it's hard to stand out amongst them.
It just feels pretty niche, which is awesome but not something that generates huge sales.
Re: Aim Your Blaster with the PS5 Controller's Gyro in Star Wars Outlaws
Nice! I love finessing my aim with gyro on Nintendo systems, I always instinctively try it on PS and Xbox so I'm glad it'll work here at least!
Re: Marvel Rivals' Closed Beta Is Putting Concord's Player Numbers into Perspective
Honestly, whilst I'm kinda sad that the known and safe IP is doing better than the new, original one I'm not surprised and I am glad the one with the fun and interesting art style is doing better than the one focussing on realism in it's rendering.
I'd not seen Fairgame$ before but looked it up after everyone mentioning it. Yeesh. The unabashed irony of a game with the sort of monetisation preaching about how the wealth is all being horded by the few? They're not wrong but in context it felt kinda gross.
Re: UK Sales Charts: Prince of Persia, Cyberpunk Jump Back into Top 10
I mean it was a good price on Prime day I'm not surprised PoP has jumped back up again
Re: Forget Battle Bus, Tesla Cybertruck Touching Down Tomorrow in Fortnite
@ShadowofSparta assuming you don't kill yourself on the sharp corners before even getting in
Re: Interview: Learning All About The Precinct, PS5's Super Promising Sandbox Cop Game
@TedSeattle Also if you think about the average game dev time being 3-4 years, the timing of when this game started development makes it even more questionable.
Re: PS5 Fans Beg Sony for a More Fulfilling Livestream in the Aftermath of Xbox Show
I didn't watch either presentation as a whole, I just watch the trailers separately, so I might have missed some part of what made this so great for people. But I thought both were decent offerings.
To be honest neither had a huge amount for me, but I thought both had decent variety and a few interesting things. Doom and South of Midnight caught my attention in Xbox. But Doom is cross platform anyway. And Astrobot is the game I'm most excited for for out of anything. So personally, they balance out.
If I had my own way though Sony would have announced a new Uncharted and Ratchet & Clank, and Xbox would be bringing back Jet Force Gemini and Banjo Kazooie. But I'm not going to start a petition about it.
Re: Sony Polls Players on Favourite Games That Aren't Bloodborne
@BeerIsAwesome Legit the my favourite game I've played on the system.
They left out Sackboy too.
Re: Sony's London Studio, Media Molecule Were Reportedly 'Highest on the List' for Closure
Japan Studio & Pixel Opus gone, Media Molecule on the chopping block. Insomniac loaded up with Marvel. Asobi stuck making the game that comes free.
don't think I'll bother with the next Playstation at this rate.
Re: Xbox Is Bringing Four Exclusives to PS5, But It Won't Say Which
It's not the first time they've done this, we've had Fez, two Ori games and Cuphead all start as Xbox exclusives before finding more success on other consoles. Plus Minecraft, but that was multi-plat before they owned it.
I wouldn't be surprised in The Gunk is one of these exclusives or one that gets ported in the future, if not to Switch (that would be quite the visual downgrade) then to Playstation.
Re: Former Call of Duty Dev Says Decisions Made by Bobby Kotick 'Made Our Games Worse'
"golden parachute" of at least $15 million"
"blamed a decline in stock price on the game, deflecting scandals during his tenure"
"threatened to have an employee killed"
This is also the same guy who said, to paraphrase, 'the problem with hiring creatives like writers and artists is they ask for too much money, that's why we need AI'.
But this guy was worth the money apparently? Absolute joke. His golden parachute alone could pay for a years wages for 150 - 200 or more mid to senior level artists and writers (depending where you live of course). That many highly skilled and experienced, talented people's livelihood, or one scumbag's leaving gift.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla?
Not a fan of rougelikes / rougelites so I’ll pass. But it’s pretty cool it exists and I’m glad it’s good!
Re: Free-to-Play Fall Guys, Fortnite Competitor, Stumble Guys, Announced for PS5, PS4
Yeah this is a pretty blatant rip-off. Also didn't Mr Beast do that collab with Fall Guys at the start and now he's moving on to this clone? What a shill!
Re: Anthropomorphic Animal RPG Terra Memoria Embarks on PS5 Adventure 'Soon'
The UI is a real mess of visuals. Some pixel icons, some vector. Some textured backplates some flat colour. No pixel fonts. Modern, clean vector shapes in a fantasy themed world.
Honestly, the UI is a big part of this genre, it's disappointing to see it not get more thought and attention. The rest looks nice enough though.
Re: Won't Someone Think of the Children? UK Moves to Protect Kids from Loot Boxes
Yeah we can put on the box/download page that there are lootboxes but for years I've seem parents willfully ignore the 18+ and detailed PEGI ratings on boxes, so that feels more to cover the industry's back than protect the kids. Point 8 is a weird one. If I bought the lootbox and it's contents, is it not mine to sell? Perhaps I am misunderstanding?
That aside this seems sensible. I actually miss loot boxes now that everything is a battle pass, which feels worse to me, so I'm glad it's not just a ban. Yeah I know what's in a battle pass so I'm not taking a gamble at the contents, but now I'm bound to a FOMO grind to actually get what I paid for. A grind that is often exploited with further microtransactions to speed it up.
Re: Random: The Barbie vs. Oppenheimer Feud Has Reached Final Fantasy 16 Voice Actors
As an adult male I am very excited to see the Barbie movie.
I do also want to see Oppenheimer, but I'm more excited to see Barbie.
Re: Alan Wake 2 Is a Digital-Only Release, $60 on PS5
Urgh, I don't have space on my drive and I hate having to go in and faff about deciding what to delete or not to make it. Having to re-download old games because you had to delete them to play new games sucks and takes ages, just let me swap the disc out.
Re: Former PlayStation Boss Saddened by PixelOpus Studio Closure
It’s a sad turn of events. I feel like the PS3/PSP era was a time when Sony were backing all different levels of games, from indies to triple A. Now they only want the prestige triple A and the library feels much smaller and less diverse as a result. (It’s still good, but not quite as good for me at least)
Yeah I know people get hyped and buy those bigger titles more but…you’re Sony you can do more to help sell the double A and experimental titles too. And maybe those studios if nurtured and supported can make you a ‘prestige’ title later like Housemarque did with Returnal.
Re: Concrete Genie Developer PixelOpus Is Shutting Down
Very disappointed by this news! It wasn’t a perfect game but it was interesting and different and a lot of fun regardless.
I really hope the team are able to stick together and reform in a new studio.
Re: Microsoft Goes Scorched Earth Over UK's Activision Buyout Block
Yes, threaten a country because your corporation didn’t get its way. That in no way entirely proves exactly why this sort of deal needed to be stopped in the first place…
Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for November 2022?
I only have the basic PS+ but I would enjoy having all those Ratchet & Clank games!
Re: Poll: Will You Pay the PSVR2 Launch Price?
Not interested in VR myself, find it uncomfortable and nausea inducing after a while even on the better headsets. Plus I just don’t feel it improves the games all that much, but that’s personal preference.
Interesting to see how many are super into it though, though I suspect there is a degree of many not interested just didn’t click the article. Anyway, good luck to everyone trying to get one at launch!
Re: Mini Review: LEGO Bricktales (PS5) - Solid Puzzler Taps into the Creativity of LEGO
@Yaycandy wow we had very different launch day experiences!
This looks good, exactly what I wanted. Though the review reads like it's really not what the reviewer wanted to play!
Re: Google Stadia Exclusive GYLT Likely Getting Ported to PS5, PS4
Never heard of this but it looks pretty good!
Re: Run Rings Around the Opposition with This Sonic Frontiers Gameplay Overview Trailer
The gameplay looks alright, but that setting is so dull and still looks like an Unreal Engine asset flip. If they’d made a properly stylised word I think I’d be a lot more on board.
Re: First Impressions: SEGA's Multiplayer FPS Hyenas Is Baffling, But Maybe in a Good Way
@Abeedo There are many involved in the final visuals of a game.
Concept artists will create proposals and eventually final visual designs for characters and environments and weapons etc. But they are working to both the guidelines and needs set by the Design team, and the art style that is set and enforced by the Art Lead.
But it doesn't stop at the Art Lead either. Depending on the size of the company there may also be a Studio Art Lead / Art Director and the company executives that require input (for better or worse). Larger companies also tend to have Marketing and BI departments that do research into what is and isn't doing well at the moment and how people react to reveals and Betas etc and things can change as a result of that too.
You also have the other people under the Art Lead, the 3D artists for one have to take the concept and model it well and they often have a bunch of technical limitations on them even now. And then that model isn't going to look any good unless the Tech Art and Lighting teams can back it up. All of that is dependant on the target platforms too. You've also got UI Art that have their own set of challenges and technical limitations trying to match the same brief and feedback too. We've not even got into the Animation department.
On top of that Producers have to keep everything running smoothly and on time, so you'll have them sometimes having to make the hard call to cut something or call it done. And they're often only having to do that because of budgets which are again set by both the executives and the results of marketing data and such. Oh and any additional deadlines that might come from things like GamePass or external investors and such.
You can have the best piece of concept art in the world reduced to a generic and muddy looking game through no fault of one individual.
So let's not blame individuals.
Re: Soapbox: I'm Sorry, But Your Cute Cat Game Isn't That Great
So it's great playing as a cat but if you didn't play as a cat it would maybe not be so great...but you do play as a cat so the point is moot.
Hey what is The Last of Us didn't have clickers and the same atmosphere but instead was just shooting at paper targets, would it still be that good you guys?
Re: MultiVersus Founders Pack Suggests at Least 19 New Characters Will Join the Fight
@Milktastrophe Nope. the tone so Smash is different (and of PSASBR). It's a celebration of gaming and it's icons and they're all meant to be toys being battled in a child's imagination anyway. And it lets us all fight out the age old playground question of in a fight between Mario and Sonic who would win?
Multiversus doesn't feel that way to me. Sonic vs Pac-Man vs Cloud, yeah they're a bunch of video game icons that shaped the industry that's fun watching them duke it out. Gandalf vs Jake the Dog? Why? What's that a celebration of? It's just WB desperate to keep all it's IP relevant. And it's called multiversus, it's saying all these IP exist together in the same multiverse. American Chavez could punch a star portal in Middle Earth and end up in Ooo.
It's not done for the love of the characters (though the devs are clearly doing their best), it's done to establish a multiverse because they are an in thing. And nobody has ever asked who would win in a fight between Shaggy and Godzilla.
Re: MultiVersus Founders Pack Suggests at Least 19 New Characters Will Join the Fight
The more crossovers this gets...the less appealing I find it. which is unfortunate as it's the entire concept. It just feels WB really wants to push all it's IP into a multi-verse and they don't need to be. Gandalf and Batman side by side is already too much for me, let alone Gandalf, Batman, Jake the Dog and Scorpion.
I hope those that are into it though enjoy it, it looks well made and I do like the idea of the co-op moves that buff your teammates.
Re: PS Stars' Digital Collectibles Are 'Definitely Not' NFTs, Sony Stresses
@AndyKazama It's not NFT's because it's nothing to do with blockchain and crypto, as they have stated. An NFT is a specific bit of technology reliant on and entrenched in these technologies.
Sure it sounds like it's doing all those things NFTs claim to magically grant the ability to do, so you might wonder how it's not an NFT? Well that's because everything that NFT pushers claim NFTs enable, is actually 100% doable already and has been for some time. Sony could even implement a system to let you sell and trade these digital collectable already without them being NFTs. The only thing NFTs add is a way for crypto currencies to scam you.
So in this case, if it looks like an NFT and it sounds like an NFT...it's actually just that NFTs are useless and add nothing to anything.
Re: SEGA Announces Hyenas, a Team-Based FPS About Stealing Merch in Space
Using the glue gun from Prey to make bridges looks cool...though kinda pointless if it's zero-g...
Re: PS1 Game Worms World Party Appears to Have Online Multiplayer on PS5, PS4
Oof I would not be putting out that artwork with that Japanese worm anymore! In fact I remember some of the voice packs you used to be able to pick, I jut wouldn't put out old Worms games anymore.
But the online in older titles is cool and a nice way to keep them alive.