@PuppetMaster I would disagree.. the locating of shrines/springs/etc etc was a veritable laundry list... riding the countryside during the end-game was not fun, or interesting (if I'm being honest). It was painful, pointless (as there were no rewards) and repetitive. Having spent over 100h in all versions/DLC... the game got very tired very quickly once you beat the game. I know that everyone's experience is very different - but I'd like to understand what you found interesting about the end-game experience?
@Ainu20 my worry would be that they try to tell a Western using the trappings of a Japanese samurai game. There's a lot of similarities cinematically (between samurai and western genres)... but I also think, we're not playing a movie. Having some nearly 25 years going to Hokkaido and learning its culture and history, I am a little nervous - but will give SuckerPunch the benefit of doubt (because I DO think they want to make a great game, and do the Japanese experience/history right). And I also understand - it's only a game.
So I thought GoT was a solid game, with some beautiful scenery, and some fun combat (but which often became repetitive because there wasn't that much variety). I didn't however think it was as perfect as it seems to be discussed in 2024.
I jumped into the PS5 DC (today) to confirm my recollection (2 years ago?)... the game is pretty rough from a technical perspective (not art direction which was top notch). The physical presence of Jin is not very good (it's called inverse kinematics) which relates to the interaction with the characters body and the landscape. There was so much clipping and occlusion it kinda was surprising to go back to it and see. It was definitely constrained by the base PS4.
The story is also pretty basic as well... and if you were to ask me what was Jin's major character moments... I'd be hard-pressed to answer outside a couple of sentences. I know it's subjective (so if you liked him, that's a good thing) - but I think he's the male version of Aloy... like a blank canvas, that if you stare at long enough wanting to see character, you might will yourself to see something. Completing the platinum was just - and I don't over-state this - boringly repetitive. It was just riding from point A to B admiring scenery with annoyingly repetitive encounters with the same group of slightly varied enemy along the way (that I ended up just riding around to save time) - or fast-travelling to avoid playing the game.
So I think whilst a lot of people rag on Assassin's Creed - I think that GoT had the honour of being a really honest, and artful telling of a samurai (or not) story. I think they also benefited from releasing a Japanese AC-like game first. I do however think that AC games are better designed for the completionists in construction... as the moment to moment was more interesting. You also met more memorable NPC's. Name 5 non-main characters you interact with in the GoT world? What really unexpected or memorable places/people do you discover? It was a really good game, but for me not perfect by a long way. I just hope GoY learns a lot of lessons.
And I know given this site - lots of fans will jump on anyone saying anything less than complimentary.
Oops - just saw that the Death Stranding 2 Deep Dive presentation has been extended from 60 to 90 minutes... please Sony... don't tell me you're NOT going to present DS2 in your own SoP. That would literally be the definition of "head-stuck-in-own-ass"... But I'm 95% sure it will be at the SoP... well... 90% sure.
@Bez87 there will be some first party showing there - in recent time, if they know that there's nothing at all, they will telegraph it to avoid the major disappointment. So yeh, there's something... but at the very least, that could be Death Stranding 2. And hopefully NOT just remasters... because that could cause a RIOT!
It would be interesting to finally get another Pragmata update... that might be interesting, but not fitting for a TGA reveal (if it's at all near release and/or hasn't been completely cancelled - and yes, I know it was "indefinitely delayed"... which doesn't sound encouraging, but that was a year ago)
@DennisReynolds At this time - Sony has no need to develop good-will... what are we going to do?... go to eXBox? Buy a PC that's difficult to set up? Sony is going to double down on being Sony... and give the barest minimum:
Preview a handful of games on display at TGS;
Two so-so PSVR2 games
Lego Horizon;
Final Silent Hill 2 trailer;
Slitterhead....
a HZD remaster highlighting PS5Pro mode (no Days Gone)
Baby Steps and Neva...
Fatal Fury: City of Wolves
Something from the Hero dev program (from China and India)
My (leftfield) stretch would be Starfield.
A few Japanese games in particular, given the TGS proximity (infinity Nikki again???).
DeathStranding 2 trailer will be the climax... or a GoT2 teaser (not trailer); or a teaser for an Atreus half-game
Finally, I think SE are unlikely to show edit: ANYTHING (and most definitely NOT RE9... though it would be intriguing if they did... I meant to write FF9 Remake...)... I think they want to make a point of NOT favouring Sony at this stage. I also hope (personally) we don't see another Monster Hunter Wilds (that's getting a lot of bites already); nor Fairgame$ (though I think this is possible). I think if Spider-Man DLC is coming, it'll be saved for TGA.
Edit - I honestly also thought that Palworld was going to get a showing. And for those that wondered why did Nintendo wait... I think the reason they went ahead and sued now was intentionally to stop Palworld being released as a full game on PS (my conspiracy theory of the day)
@get2sammyb So I'm just gonna say it now... my bet is that Sony have been very quickly determining whether or not they can scrub PalWorld from their SoP presentation (without it being obvious)... or deciding if they just delay it. Can you imagine the sh*tshtorm that would follow if Sony pulled another game (especially if it's a PS+ game) within days of announcing it (what with the likely legal injunctions going on). My guess - there's a reason the SoP hasn't been announced properly... because something's gone wrong, and Sony are in panic mode. Either that... or it's just Sony being Sony (which is perhaps just as likely).
Edit - and that's the "wash the car" moment, when they suddenly announce the most amazing SoP ever.
@NEStalgia I go back to this - it doesn't matter if it was 400M, 300M or even 200M. Sony had an exclusivity contract with them from 2021 (apparently at that stage they were three blokes and a garage... exaggeration)... then ended up buying the studio which they helped develop... then a year later we got Concord. At all levels, and at all times, it would seem (as an outsider) that every mistake was made.
At the time, and from the inside, I'm sure every decision was justified (if not justifiable). It's not actually the budget - but the reason Colin's rumour hit a nerve (despite being so outlandish) is that nothing in the Firewalk/Concord story makes sense - and there's that niggling worry, that this ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
Hermen may be a great guy - but he's not a technical developer, he's not a creative, and he's by his own admission not really a gamer. That's fine... sometimes the best managers are people removed from the fray. However... if you can't smell the whiff of BS... sometimes you'll get sold a turd sandwich.
@NEStalgia Yep from Techland interview with Hermen in 2010.... which at least the marketing started off in gaming (UbiSoft). But he's not really a game 'developer' and I'm not sure he's much of a gamer to be honest.
@reek the thing is - he IS deeply part of management now... he's been the head of PlayStation Studios since 2019 (and apparently was deeply involved in the management much earlier). Since he became coCEO (this year), there's no chance that he's getting kicked out....
The problem is (from public perception) is that they believe that Hermen is a game devleoper... whereas he's an external business manager that was hired as the managing director for Geurilla Games... and is only interested in making number go up (which apparently he is not very good at doing). Talk about failing upwards.
@CutchuSlow the studio is a dead-man-walking. There's absolutely nothing they can do to survive this now that this is out. Nothing... and not even as a support studio.
@reek what is truly scary is that Sony made Hulst co-CEO - after they'd already gone 400M+studio buyout (130M) in the red without selling a single copy. Having just watched Colin's video, I am now convinced Hulst is actually an existential threat to Sony; and unfortunately he's also most probably entirely protected from being fired. And - unfortunately he's surrounding himself with people promoting ideas/concepts that have proven track records of failure; and he can't tell good ideas from just blowing smoke up his own ass.
@themightyant I tend to agree, that a lot of numbers are being thrown about... however. once you do start looking at the history of Concord in particular, it starts showing up some troubling signs for how PlayStation under Hulst was performing. Covid notwithstanding, I think there's increasing evidence that Sony has taken it's eye of it financial due-dilligence, but what's worse, also losing their understanding what makes good games.
I think also, what we don't know is how many times Firewalk had to re-invent Concord along the way... I suspect that Sony contributed upwards of 160-180M in ProbablyMonsters 2022 investment announcement of 250M (as they were the only major publisher that had been investing at that point). I think after they acquired them, they just continued to sink money in hoping a working game would appear. Which... clearly it didn't.
@truerbluer people keep thinking that he was a game developer... he was a managing director at Geurilla Games... he's a money man; who apparently sucks at managing money.
As everyone loved to put every bad decision on Jim Ryan, and they thought of Hermen as PlayStation's Phil Spencer (which he's not). Hermen took over the reigns as the head of ALL PlayStation studios (and their x- and trans-media work) from Nov 2019 (about 10 months after Jim Ryan became president).
Now Probably Monsters (a publishing house/developer studio) formerly started in late 2019 (though had existed since 2016)... from ex-Bungie workers; and Firewalk Studios came out of that, being created in October 2019. The same time that Hulst became the head of Playstation Studios. The whole selling point of ProbablyMonsters was that it was an inclusive (pandemic-borne) studio that wanted to promote non-toxic gaming. A "modern" message that clearly resonated with Hermen, because in the beginning of 2021 Sony signed an exclusivity deal with Firewalk for what would become Concord, 1.5 years after Firewalk started, and about 3.5 years before the game was released. By mid-late 2022; ProbablyMonsters had raised about 250m investment across 3 studios (Sony obviously was part of that, and likely a BIG part of it). Sony then purchased Firewalk (from ProbablyMonsters) in early 2023; within a couple of months, ProbablyMonsters had closed it's other founding studio Cauldron, cancelling their game. It hasn't released a single game, and both founding studios were sold/closed.
In my opinion - Hulst was flimflammed into buying a dream (of non-toxicity and inclusivity in multiplayer gaming enabled by a focus on work-from-home development). He invested heavily in the ProbablyMonsters hype, and it turned out both Firewalk and Cauldron were failing (expensively) to make their games. I suspect, Sony purchased Firewalk was because their 2 year investment was about to fold, and they wanted to get something back from it... and on top of that, Hermen was now knee-deep in Hollywood with transmedia and that hype-train. That's how Concord was born... and while I can't believe that 400M was spent by Sony on the actual development, I can believe it was a crap-tonne.
So that's nearly 5 years ago since Hermen took the top job at PlayStation Studios; and I think it's fair to say that we are only now starting to really see the influence Hermen has had (that wasn't projects already in the mix). Not only do we have the purchase of Firewalk, the acquiring of an untested Haven, the overly expensive Bungie acquisition, closing Japan Studios, the cancelling of Factions, the shift to pushing remasters.... and it's likely only a single 1st party game (AstroBot) to come entirely out of his tenure as head of PlayStation Studios. Though kudos should be given for Astro at least.
Something is not right at modern PlayStation... and the rot starts at the top. I think we'll eventually hear just how deep the rot went, and how hard Sony either ignored the problems, or were being fooled too. Remember... Sony paid USD 229M for all of Insomniac Games at the start of 2019... done under Yoshida. How far things have fallen. This could be the end of Sony - not because of one game, but because the people involved won't change, and had no idea (and likely still don't).
@Intr1n5ic events, like farts, don't always happen when you want. The problem is - everyone keeps talking about who said what/when... business doesn't work like that. Things change... XBox and Microsoft (or the world) isn't the same as when those leaks happened. That's the difference between successful businesses and yesterday's news. Adaptability to change. I can actually guarantee that.
@Intr1n5ic my point is that everyone and their dog has 'numbers'... their numbers may not be wrong, but at the end of the day, the numbers aren't that important as compared to the macro-scape (what's happening with consoles in general, and what's happening with Sony/MS specifically...) and that has more to do with their strategy. Not the day-to-day (month-to-month, or even quarterly numbers). Decisions for change take a long time to happen, and the public data often lags what the companies are seeing/testing.
I just have to state the obvious - because it's hurting my brain - the ratio is the same (at the moment); but whoever wrote this seems to be looking at the total number of sales... half-way through the life-cycle, and look... it's about half what last gen was. Who is letting this crap through? It's the same with PlayStation... about half the PS4 gen. What was the actual point of this other than to try and rile up the masses?
@PsBoxSwitchOwner I think the problem is that MS are on the lowest level... so they got hit by the lack of new console players first. I think Nintendo is safe - but PS needs to be careful that it doesn't pitch itself as a PC replacement, and finds it's a PC-redundant.
Edit - and yes, GP is floundering... but MS have a longer term view.
@get2sammyb but Sammy.... Hermen is cool... he's not like Jimbo... he's one of us. He's PS-branded Spencer (EUR-style with stripes!)... he will save the day.
Bungie: We make the best live service games ever - and we ALWAY SWILL...... New gamers: tumbleweeds Sony: We'll pay twice market value... hell.. make it 3 times.
Bungie ex employees: We made the best live service games ever. And we can give you the magical beans... All gamers: more tumbleweeds... Sony: we'll buy you and throw ALL the money at you. We love beans.
UbiSoft: We made all the best games.... no really... we did... Analysts/investors/gamers/execs/devs/the guy who walks his dog in the morning: looking nervously at the window... Sony: Can't buy UbiSoft... but let's buy the next best thing... ex-UbiSoft....We only see the dollars... all da tumbleweed$
At what point did Sony take the "bring your children to work" thing a little too seriously? And what is it with all the tumbleweeds????
@trev666 cheaper consoles helped; but having a great form factor + LOTS OF FIRST PARTY ICONIC GAMES that can't be played anywhere else was more likely the ticket. Sony seems to care less and less about it's core IP benefit, and is slowly sinking to become just a generic cheap PC alternative (though the Pro seems to be pushing even those boundaries). And while Sony is selling much better than XBox... can anyone really (honestly) tell me what's the difference at this point?
First off it was 2:1; then it suddenly went up to 5:1, and now it's 3:1.... I don't particularly pay attention to any of the numbers.... and if no one noticed, Microsoft hasn't been about consoles in maybe 4-5 years. Their strategy is two things : creating content (increasingly anywhere) and creating a delivery of a subscription based service (everywhere). I think focusing on ratio of sales is kind of dwelling on the past. If no one noticed... shrinking XBox numbers also means that there are fewer people buying traditional consoles. That's not good for any console players - regardless of preference..... edit: after all these years, I finally worked out markups because I learned to distinguish [] from <> lol.
@Ilyn yes - it's most probably better not to announce a game 4 years in advance... with the exceptions of their major tentpoles (GoW / Spider-Man / TLOU etc... because everyone knows its coming anyway). The problem is, they are not announcing at all the last minute, and there's no time for Sony to react to or gauge interest. Clearly (as Concord showed) their market testing is NOT working. Also, I think the real reason they don't reveal early is that Sony is likely binning a lot of games in development - like they did with Factions - and that can cause more anger than a lack of games. But that in itself is indicative of a wider problem... the lack of risk tolerance (or bad management). To be fair, outside the now deleted Concord, I'm guessing GoT was their last original (1st party) game in 2020.... so it's been 4 years anyway. The only things that have been announced were Concord, Fairgame$ and Marathon (and the also cancelled Factions).... which were all LiveService.
I do believe however, they need to provide their consumers with at least a short term road map to maintain enthusiasm, rather than trying to build this cynical marketing strategy that's a twist on the FOMO strategy; where it's the fear of not getting something, that drives desire for anything.
@__jamiie XBox is doing their updates as natural updates for Series X/S... not as separate purchases (or AFAIK they don't even charge for them). They are part of a specific "consumer-facing" technical program.
I do think a $10 update fee is perfectly fine for a significantly more than 60FPS boost.... and if there's actually new games coming as well. We just aren't getting the new games.
@Playstationdemodisc they are remastering recent games because (1) they are likely to still have the code in a decent state (and they're unlikely to be using old or deprecated engines); (2) they are already sure due to the 60FPS patches that they can achieve a base level of performance on PS5; (3) they know how many people bought these games recently, so they know how popular the IP is (whilst a lot of people here keep talking about the older IPs, there's no guarantee that the wider gamer base will come out to buy 15-20 year old games; (4) those older games can't just be remastered by adding in extra fidelity textures... they would need serious work under the hood to bring them up to spec... so more like a remake than a remaster (and hence a crap-tonne more investment in dollars). At least, that's my guess.
@LowDefAl unfortunately, people remember the history that most appeals to them... and while Japan Studio definitely released a lot of different titles, they also tended towards disregarding what would sell in favour of experimentation. Which is fine and all, but not that sustainable; they needed people that could manage both the creative; and the business aspects.
@johnedwin to be fair - I think the comparison was really meant to be SIE - not all of Sony Group. The point is - Nintendo's business is quite a bit narrower, but they definitely have a more successful console (switch vs PS4 based on sales); and I have to say Nintendo fans are definitely more dedicated that Sony (or XBox). It was however naive for the person to think that Nintendo was worth more; and I'm all for people posting facts (I'd suggest adding your source... just in case people don't believe you).
I think people need to stop hitting the panic button at the first opportunity... and understand, whether you like online live service games, it's in no one's interest for Marathon to fail. How about we all just wait till we know more - and accept that not everyone has to like the games you like; and it doesn't have to be a zero sum game.
@themightyant so that's not quite right... only 19% said they'd buy it, another 23% said they were waiting to see. I do agree that 19% is most probably enough of a potential pool (assuming that PushSquare in any way reflects the gaming gene pool) that for the outlay, it's most probably worth doing. However, no one would have an issue with remasters if they had a decent cadence of first party releases.
@MrPeanutbutterz they also made it part of a console pack, and gave it away for free during the pandemic (which I suspect may actually be bolstering those numbers). And I'm someone that has perhaps put in similar hours to yourself... but to be honest, that's more likely an OCD indicator rather than because I love the game (I actually really fell off the the hype train with HFW)
I think the idea to use remasters as an 'intern' project seemed like a great idea... apart from the fact that you actually need to release new games in addition. So I'm not convinced this isn't about milking it's consumer base for low-cost/low-risk remasters. Sony doing Nintendo.
@OldGamer999 I''m sure that COVID had a lot to do with delays; and I suspect that Sony Mgt thought the remake/remaster route was a low-risk (even if low pay-off) path to keep games coming out, so that the 'silence' didn't become deafening. The counter that has emerged is that Sony doesn't need first party when they can just buy timed exclusivity... and I think that's another list for another day. Either way - timed exclusives might be 'marketable' but the Sony badge of quality was what people were dedicated to.
I think this need to meet Sony standards has been their rod, because it also has meant they're (IMO) too frightened to release something that isn't polished to the nth degree; where every edge is now rounded, where (IMO again) they've started to lose the forest for the trees in terms of quality and fun experiences. That's why people have gravitated so much to AstroBot (I hope Sony doesn't get the message that we all just need more nostalgia.... when the message should be more focused and fun gaming experiences).
Sony may "win the console war" (which doesn't really exist) - but it HAS also lost it's identity as a producer of great gaming (in lieu of impressively made games). And producing one "tentpole" game a year (as they recently stated was their goal), and filling the rest with remasters/live-service was never the right direction. The hardest part of the list for me was the fact that all the games barring Returnal (which was bought) are sequels/remasters. I hope Sony hasn't forgotten how to make new games.
Just something to think about - First Party PS5 Exclusives (not including PSVR2 - of which there is 1):
2020:
PC Horizon Zero Dawn (PORT) PS5 Astro's Playroom (pack-in)
PS5 Demon Souls (REMAKE?) * (2nd party at release)
PS5 Spider-Man REMASTERED PS4/PS5 Miles Morales
2021: PS5 Returnal * (2nd party at release) PS5 Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
PC Days Gone (PORT)
PS4/5 Ghost of Tsushima DC (REMASTERED)
PS5 Death Stranding REMASTERED (strictly 2nd party)
2022:
PC God of War (2018) (PORT)
PS5 Uncharted Legacy of Thieves (REMASTERED) PS4/5 Horizon Forbidden West
PC Spider-Man REMASTERED (PORT)
PC Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves (REMASTERED/PORT) PS4/5 Gran Turismo 7
PS5 The Last of Us Part 1 (REMAKE)
PC Miles Morales (PORT) PS4/5 God of War Ragnarok
2023:
PC Returnal (PORT)
PC The Last of Us Part 1 (PORT)
PC Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (PORT) PS5 Spider-Man 2
2024:
PS5 The Last of Us Part 2 (REMASTERED)
PC Ghost of Tsushima DC (PORT) PS5 Concord (REMOVED) PS5 Astro Bot
Summary of First Party Output over approx 4 years of PS5: 4 PS4/5 originals 4 PS5 originals (1 deleted from existence and not counted; though Playroom most probably could count as the 5th game) 7 Remakes/Remasters (note: 6 if you exclude DS) 10 PC Ports of older PS4/5 games
Note: At least 2 more remakes/remasters to be released imminently. AND OF COURSE - this doesn't include the many more 2nd party exclusives.... which seems to be Sony's approach now. It also doesn't include MLB The Show, as these are cross-platform. It also doesn't include where 2nd party studios have worked on Sony IP (like Sack Boy / Helldivers). I also didn't include DLC (eg Burning Shores, or the Valhalla DLC)
The scary thing - in the last 4 years, PlayStation has added only a single new IP (Returnal) which was acquired... and the game that shall now never be mentioned again. I also remain unconvinced that the push to remaster/remake/port has not impacted original game releases.
@dark_knightmare2 how can this remaster be "necessary" to anyone though? Once again - it's a remaster of a perfectly good game when played at 60FPS on a PS5 patched game. I get the 'people don't need to buy it' argument; but when Sony are putting out only 1 first party game a year... but seemingly handfuls of remasters.... I think THAT's the reason why people are upset or annoyed.
@MFTWrecks thank you... my sentiment exactly. Though I think the trajectory for HZD3 is pretty well locked in, and incoming. I'm not sure if it's Hermen's influence or not, but I'm sure that Sony will just double, then triple down on the HZD and it's current bloated (and bland) direction.
@mariomaster96 well with Sony, you can never tell if they're going to remaster the game after 12 days, or remove it from ever existing. Then again... I just read a new rumour. Concord Remastered in-coming!
@get2sammyb ok - so there's 2 main games, 2 DLC's (the second was treated like a half game... given that it was PS5 only), a VR game, a lego game (about to be released), a lego set, a Multiplayer game (imminent... maybe), a mobile game (supposedly)... a netflix series (recently canned)... and god knows what else (edit: of course - I forgot the PC version). I think it's fair to say that Sony is milking the franchise for all its worth. The funny thing is - at least IMHO - the game has been steadily going downhill in terms of quality of story writing; and Aloy would have to be one of the most characterless and bland protagonists of any Sony game. AND I DID REALLY LIKE THE FIRST GAME... just it started to feel like they had ... well... jumped the shark. It is however built from one of their most amazingly good engines.
I think your voting options are a bit silly - what about people that like the game, but don't need a re-master. I would have thought that was the most obvious option (given the constant comments on HZD remasters).
@get2sammyb I think the issue with Sony is more that they don't telegraph departures that well - sometimes with less than a month's notice. It's hard to plan your games when you don't know what's going.
@Titntin no probs - and I think while I was pretty well dismissive of the Pro (at that price, without a drive - because I do collect and have a lot of legacy games on disc), I think one of the problems is that the marketing (the 9 min NOT-technical presentation) was horribly bad... and to be honest, I've felt that all PlayStation marketing has gone down the tubes since the PS5 released. There's enough information out there to suggest the advantages are much more complex than presented, but I don't expect Sony to put any effort into selling it further.
The one thing I'd say - I definitely support your stand on GP... my view is that it devalues games. You can of course argue without an (extra) barrier to entry, a lot of smaller games get much more visibility. I'm sure that's true... but I also think, even for the indie market, it then becomes a patronage system in terms of MS. I think for bigger tent-pole releases, the idea of considering them almost like F2P is quite risky for the gaming business - because at some point, people may just stop paying for the games, and then we're totally at the whim of the platform holders. Of course- everyone still keeps up the best deal in gaming mantra - whilst so many decent to good games are kinda struggling. For me - the games I've played the most this year have all been ones that I've bought outright, and not through a subscription. It's the wrong way of looking at it, but for me subscription games tend to be 'win me over in 1-2 hours, or uninstalled'; because it doesn't cost me any more other than temporary storage and time to sample. I know I just don't value those 'free' games as much as ones that I've purchased myself.
@kevinm360 It's crazy - and my heart goes out to everyone in the UK... which I had thought was a really good market for Sony. Seems like it's good, but not for the reasons I thought.
@kevinm360 how about they show us.... for a full experience of the advantage. At the moment, there's just not enough info to make real judgements - but I can judge that AUD1400 IS A LOT OF MONEY.
Comments 307
Re: Ghost of Yotei's Gorgeous Open World Will Be Less Repetitive Than Tsushima's
@PuppetMaster I would disagree.. the locating of shrines/springs/etc etc was a veritable laundry list... riding the countryside during the end-game was not fun, or interesting (if I'm being honest). It was painful, pointless (as there were no rewards) and repetitive. Having spent over 100h in all versions/DLC... the game got very tired very quickly once you beat the game. I know that everyone's experience is very different - but I'd like to understand what you found interesting about the end-game experience?
Re: Ghost of Yotei's Gorgeous Open World Will Be Less Repetitive Than Tsushima's
@Ainu20 my worry would be that they try to tell a Western using the trappings of a Japanese samurai game. There's a lot of similarities cinematically (between samurai and western genres)... but I also think, we're not playing a movie. Having some nearly 25 years going to Hokkaido and learning its culture and history, I am a little nervous - but will give SuckerPunch the benefit of doubt (because I DO think they want to make a great game, and do the Japanese experience/history right). And I also understand - it's only a game.
Re: Ghost of Yotei's Gorgeous Open World Will Be Less Repetitive Than Tsushima's
So I thought GoT was a solid game, with some beautiful scenery, and some fun combat (but which often became repetitive because there wasn't that much variety). I didn't however think it was as perfect as it seems to be discussed in 2024.
I jumped into the PS5 DC (today) to confirm my recollection (2 years ago?)... the game is pretty rough from a technical perspective (not art direction which was top notch). The physical presence of Jin is not very good (it's called inverse kinematics) which relates to the interaction with the characters body and the landscape. There was so much clipping and occlusion it kinda was surprising to go back to it and see. It was definitely constrained by the base PS4.
The story is also pretty basic as well... and if you were to ask me what was Jin's major character moments... I'd be hard-pressed to answer outside a couple of sentences. I know it's subjective (so if you liked him, that's a good thing) - but I think he's the male version of Aloy... like a blank canvas, that if you stare at long enough wanting to see character, you might will yourself to see something. Completing the platinum was just - and I don't over-state this - boringly repetitive. It was just riding from point A to B admiring scenery with annoyingly repetitive encounters with the same group of slightly varied enemy along the way (that I ended up just riding around to save time) - or fast-travelling to avoid playing the game.
So I think whilst a lot of people rag on Assassin's Creed - I think that GoT had the honour of being a really honest, and artful telling of a samurai (or not) story. I think they also benefited from releasing a Japanese AC-like game first. I do however think that AC games are better designed for the completionists in construction... as the moment to moment was more interesting. You also met more memorable NPC's. Name 5 non-main characters you interact with in the GoT world? What really unexpected or memorable places/people do you discover? It was a really good game, but for me not perfect by a long way. I just hope GoY learns a lot of lessons.
And I know given this site - lots of fans will jump on anyone saying anything less than complimentary.
Re: State of Play Coming Today, 20+ PS5, PSVR2 Games Included
Oops - just saw that the Death Stranding 2 Deep Dive presentation has been extended from 60 to 90 minutes... please Sony... don't tell me you're NOT going to present DS2 in your own SoP. That would literally be the definition of "head-stuck-in-own-ass"... But I'm 95% sure it will be at the SoP... well... 90% sure.
Re: State of Play Coming Today, 20+ PS5, PSVR2 Games Included
@Bez87 there will be some first party showing there - in recent time, if they know that there's nothing at all, they will telegraph it to avoid the major disappointment. So yeh, there's something... but at the very least, that could be Death Stranding 2. And hopefully NOT just remasters... because that could cause a RIOT!
Re: State of Play Confirmed for Tomorrow, 20+ PS5, PSVR2 Games Included
@BansheeNorn I think MGS delta is a strong possibility (maybe certainty)... but GTA6 is a definite no this far out.
Re: State of Play Confirmed for Tomorrow, 20+ PS5, PSVR2 Games Included
@BansheeNorn It was "indefinitely delayed". Not the same as cancelled, though looking possible admittedly. Has there been any official update?
Re: State of Play Confirmed for Tomorrow, 20+ PS5, PSVR2 Games Included
It would be interesting to finally get another Pragmata update... that might be interesting, but not fitting for a TGA reveal (if it's at all near release and/or hasn't been completely cancelled - and yes, I know it was "indefinitely delayed"... which doesn't sound encouraging, but that was a year ago)
Re: State of Play Confirmed for Tomorrow, 20+ PS5, PSVR2 Games Included
@DennisReynolds Dóh! Engaged fingers before brain. My brain was meaning FF9 remake... by heart was saying RE9... my fingers just flipped a coin.
Re: State of Play Confirmed for Tomorrow, 20+ PS5, PSVR2 Games Included
@DennisReynolds At this time - Sony has no need to develop good-will... what are we going to do?... go to eXBox? Buy a PC that's difficult to set up? Sony is going to double down on being Sony... and give the barest minimum:
Finally, I think SE are unlikely to show edit: ANYTHING (and most definitely NOT RE9... though it would be intriguing if they did... I meant to write FF9 Remake...)... I think they want to make a point of NOT favouring Sony at this stage. I also hope (personally) we don't see another Monster Hunter Wilds (that's getting a lot of bites already); nor Fairgame$ (though I think this is possible). I think if Spider-Man DLC is coming, it'll be saved for TGA.
Edit - I honestly also thought that Palworld was going to get a showing. And for those that wondered why did Nintendo wait... I think the reason they went ahead and sued now was intentionally to stop Palworld being released as a full game on PS (my conspiracy theory of the day)
Re: Days Gone PS5 Remaster Rumours Start to Snowball
@get2sammyb So I'm just gonna say it now... my bet is that Sony have been very quickly determining whether or not they can scrub PalWorld from their SoP presentation (without it being obvious)... or deciding if they just delay it. Can you imagine the sh*tshtorm that would follow if Sony pulled another game (especially if it's a PS+ game) within days of announcing it (what with the likely legal injunctions going on). My guess - there's a reason the SoP hasn't been announced properly... because something's gone wrong, and Sony are in panic mode. Either that... or it's just Sony being Sony (which is perhaps just as likely).
Edit - and that's the "wash the car" moment, when they suddenly announce the most amazing SoP ever.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@NEStalgia I go back to this - it doesn't matter if it was 400M, 300M or even 200M. Sony had an exclusivity contract with them from 2021 (apparently at that stage they were three blokes and a garage... exaggeration)... then ended up buying the studio which they helped develop... then a year later we got Concord. At all levels, and at all times, it would seem (as an outsider) that every mistake was made.
At the time, and from the inside, I'm sure every decision was justified (if not justifiable). It's not actually the budget - but the reason Colin's rumour hit a nerve (despite being so outlandish) is that nothing in the Firewalk/Concord story makes sense - and there's that niggling worry, that this ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
Hermen may be a great guy - but he's not a technical developer, he's not a creative, and he's by his own admission not really a gamer. That's fine... sometimes the best managers are people removed from the fray. However... if you can't smell the whiff of BS... sometimes you'll get sold a turd sandwich.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@NEStalgia Yep from Techland interview with Hermen in 2010.... which at least the marketing started off in gaming (UbiSoft). But he's not really a game 'developer' and I'm not sure he's much of a gamer to be honest.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@reek the thing is - he IS deeply part of management now... he's been the head of PlayStation Studios since 2019 (and apparently was deeply involved in the management much earlier). Since he became coCEO (this year), there's no chance that he's getting kicked out....
The problem is (from public perception) is that they believe that Hermen is a game devleoper... whereas he's an external business manager that was hired as the managing director for Geurilla Games... and is only interested in making number go up (which apparently he is not very good at doing). Talk about failing upwards.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@CutchuSlow the studio is a dead-man-walking. There's absolutely nothing they can do to survive this now that this is out. Nothing... and not even as a support studio.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@reek what is truly scary is that Sony made Hulst co-CEO - after they'd already gone 400M+studio buyout (130M) in the red without selling a single copy. Having just watched Colin's video, I am now convinced Hulst is actually an existential threat to Sony; and unfortunately he's also most probably entirely protected from being fired. And - unfortunately he's surrounding himself with people promoting ideas/concepts that have proven track records of failure; and he can't tell good ideas from just blowing smoke up his own ass.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@themightyant I tend to agree, that a lot of numbers are being thrown about... however. once you do start looking at the history of Concord in particular, it starts showing up some troubling signs for how PlayStation under Hulst was performing. Covid notwithstanding, I think there's increasing evidence that Sony has taken it's eye of it financial due-dilligence, but what's worse, also losing their understanding what makes good games.
I think also, what we don't know is how many times Firewalk had to re-invent Concord along the way... I suspect that Sony contributed upwards of 160-180M in ProbablyMonsters 2022 investment announcement of 250M (as they were the only major publisher that had been investing at that point). I think after they acquired them, they just continued to sink money in hoping a working game would appear. Which... clearly it didn't.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@truerbluer people keep thinking that he was a game developer... he was a managing director at Geurilla Games... he's a money man; who apparently sucks at managing money.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
As everyone loved to put every bad decision on Jim Ryan, and they thought of Hermen as PlayStation's Phil Spencer (which he's not). Hermen took over the reigns as the head of ALL PlayStation studios (and their x- and trans-media work) from Nov 2019 (about 10 months after Jim Ryan became president).
Now Probably Monsters (a publishing house/developer studio) formerly started in late 2019 (though had existed since 2016)... from ex-Bungie workers; and Firewalk Studios came out of that, being created in October 2019. The same time that Hulst became the head of Playstation Studios. The whole selling point of ProbablyMonsters was that it was an inclusive (pandemic-borne) studio that wanted to promote non-toxic gaming. A "modern" message that clearly resonated with Hermen, because in the beginning of 2021 Sony signed an exclusivity deal with Firewalk for what would become Concord, 1.5 years after Firewalk started, and about 3.5 years before the game was released. By mid-late 2022; ProbablyMonsters had raised about 250m investment across 3 studios (Sony obviously was part of that, and likely a BIG part of it). Sony then purchased Firewalk (from ProbablyMonsters) in early 2023; within a couple of months, ProbablyMonsters had closed it's other founding studio Cauldron, cancelling their game. It hasn't released a single game, and both founding studios were sold/closed.
In my opinion - Hulst was flimflammed into buying a dream (of non-toxicity and inclusivity in multiplayer gaming enabled by a focus on work-from-home development). He invested heavily in the ProbablyMonsters hype, and it turned out both Firewalk and Cauldron were failing (expensively) to make their games. I suspect, Sony purchased Firewalk was because their 2 year investment was about to fold, and they wanted to get something back from it... and on top of that, Hermen was now knee-deep in Hollywood with transmedia and that hype-train. That's how Concord was born... and while I can't believe that 400M was spent by Sony on the actual development, I can believe it was a crap-tonne.
So that's nearly 5 years ago since Hermen took the top job at PlayStation Studios; and I think it's fair to say that we are only now starting to really see the influence Hermen has had (that wasn't projects already in the mix). Not only do we have the purchase of Firewalk, the acquiring of an untested Haven, the overly expensive Bungie acquisition, closing Japan Studios, the cancelling of Factions, the shift to pushing remasters.... and it's likely only a single 1st party game (AstroBot) to come entirely out of his tenure as head of PlayStation Studios. Though kudos should be given for Astro at least.
Something is not right at modern PlayStation... and the rot starts at the top. I think we'll eventually hear just how deep the rot went, and how hard Sony either ignored the problems, or were being fooled too. Remember... Sony paid USD 229M for all of Insomniac Games at the start of 2019... done under Yoshida. How far things have fallen. This could be the end of Sony - not because of one game, but because the people involved won't change, and had no idea (and likely still don't).
Re: PS5's Commanding Console Position Is Seemingly Insurmountable
@Intr1n5ic events, like farts, don't always happen when you want. The problem is - everyone keeps talking about who said what/when... business doesn't work like that. Things change... XBox and Microsoft (or the world) isn't the same as when those leaks happened. That's the difference between successful businesses and yesterday's news. Adaptability to change. I can actually guarantee that.
Re: PS5's Commanding Console Position Is Seemingly Insurmountable
@Intr1n5ic my point is that everyone and their dog has 'numbers'... their numbers may not be wrong, but at the end of the day, the numbers aren't that important as compared to the macro-scape (what's happening with consoles in general, and what's happening with Sony/MS specifically...) and that has more to do with their strategy. Not the day-to-day (month-to-month, or even quarterly numbers). Decisions for change take a long time to happen, and the public data often lags what the companies are seeing/testing.
Re: PS5's Commanding Console Position Is Seemingly Insurmountable
I just have to state the obvious - because it's hurting my brain - the ratio is the same (at the moment); but whoever wrote this seems to be looking at the total number of sales... half-way through the life-cycle, and look... it's about half what last gen was. Who is letting this crap through? It's the same with PlayStation... about half the PS4 gen. What was the actual point of this other than to try and rile up the masses?
Re: PS5's Commanding Console Position Is Seemingly Insurmountable
@PsBoxSwitchOwner I think the problem is that MS are on the lowest level... so they got hit by the lack of new console players first. I think Nintendo is safe - but PS needs to be careful that it doesn't pitch itself as a PC replacement, and finds it's a PC-redundant.
Edit - and yes, GP is floundering... but MS have a longer term view.
Re: Dev Behind PS5, PC Flop Concord Could Close as Director Steps Down
@get2sammyb but Sammy.... Hermen is cool... he's not like Jimbo... he's one of us. He's PS-branded Spencer (EUR-style with stripes!)... he will save the day.
Re: Dev Behind PS5, PC Flop Concord Could Close as Director Steps Down
Bungie: We make the best live service games ever - and we ALWAY SWILL......
New gamers: tumbleweeds
Sony: We'll pay twice market value... hell.. make it 3 times.
Bungie ex employees: We made the best live service games ever. And we can give you the magical beans...
All gamers: more tumbleweeds...
Sony: we'll buy you and throw ALL the money at you. We love beans.
UbiSoft: We made all the best games.... no really... we did...
Analysts/investors/gamers/execs/devs/the guy who walks his dog in the morning: looking nervously at the window...
Sony: Can't buy UbiSoft... but let's buy the next best thing... ex-UbiSoft....We only see the dollars... all da tumbleweed$
At what point did Sony take the "bring your children to work" thing a little too seriously? And what is it with all the tumbleweeds????
Re: PS5's Commanding Console Position Is Seemingly Insurmountable
@trev666 cheaper consoles helped; but having a great form factor + LOTS OF FIRST PARTY ICONIC GAMES that can't be played anywhere else was more likely the ticket. Sony seems to care less and less about it's core IP benefit, and is slowly sinking to become just a generic cheap PC alternative (though the Pro seems to be pushing even those boundaries). And while Sony is selling much better than XBox... can anyone really (honestly) tell me what's the difference at this point?
Re: PS5's Commanding Console Position Is Seemingly Insurmountable
First off it was 2:1; then it suddenly went up to 5:1, and now it's 3:1.... I don't particularly pay attention to any of the numbers.... and if no one noticed, Microsoft hasn't been about consoles in maybe 4-5 years. Their strategy is two things : creating content (increasingly anywhere) and creating a delivery of a subscription based service (everywhere). I think focusing on ratio of sales is kind of dwelling on the past. If no one noticed... shrinking XBox numbers also means that there are fewer people buying traditional consoles. That's not good for any console players - regardless of preference..... edit: after all these years, I finally worked out markups because I learned to distinguish [] from <> lol.
Re: Reaction: Why There Are So Many Unnecessary PS5 Remasters for Games That Don't Need Them
@Ilyn yes - it's most probably better not to announce a game 4 years in advance... with the exceptions of their major tentpoles (GoW / Spider-Man / TLOU etc... because everyone knows its coming anyway). The problem is, they are not announcing at all the last minute, and there's no time for Sony to react to or gauge interest. Clearly (as Concord showed) their market testing is NOT working. Also, I think the real reason they don't reveal early is that Sony is likely binning a lot of games in development - like they did with Factions - and that can cause more anger than a lack of games. But that in itself is indicative of a wider problem... the lack of risk tolerance (or bad management). To be fair, outside the now deleted Concord, I'm guessing GoT was their last original (1st party) game in 2020.... so it's been 4 years anyway. The only things that have been announced were Concord, Fairgame$ and Marathon (and the also cancelled Factions).... which were all LiveService.
I do believe however, they need to provide their consumers with at least a short term road map to maintain enthusiasm, rather than trying to build this cynical marketing strategy that's a twist on the FOMO strategy; where it's the fear of not getting something, that drives desire for anything.
Re: Reaction: Why There Are So Many Unnecessary PS5 Remasters for Games That Don't Need Them
@__jamiie XBox is doing their updates as natural updates for Series X/S... not as separate purchases (or AFAIK they don't even charge for them). They are part of a specific "consumer-facing" technical program.
I do think a $10 update fee is perfectly fine for a significantly more than 60FPS boost.... and if there's actually new games coming as well. We just aren't getting the new games.
Re: Reaction: Why There Are So Many Unnecessary PS5 Remasters for Games That Don't Need Them
@Playstationdemodisc they are remastering recent games because (1) they are likely to still have the code in a decent state (and they're unlikely to be using old or deprecated engines); (2) they are already sure due to the 60FPS patches that they can achieve a base level of performance on PS5; (3) they know how many people bought these games recently, so they know how popular the IP is (whilst a lot of people here keep talking about the older IPs, there's no guarantee that the wider gamer base will come out to buy 15-20 year old games; (4) those older games can't just be remastered by adding in extra fidelity textures... they would need serious work under the hood to bring them up to spec... so more like a remake than a remaster (and hence a crap-tonne more investment in dollars). At least, that's my guess.
Re: Sony Priming 'Even Less Exciting' PS5 Remaster for State of Play
@LowDefAl unfortunately, people remember the history that most appeals to them... and while Japan Studio definitely released a lot of different titles, they also tended towards disregarding what would sell in favour of experimentation. Which is fine and all, but not that sustainable; they needed people that could manage both the creative; and the business aspects.
Re: Sony Priming 'Even Less Exciting' PS5 Remaster for State of Play
@johnedwin to be fair - I think the comparison was really meant to be SIE - not all of Sony Group. The point is - Nintendo's business is quite a bit narrower, but they definitely have a more successful console (switch vs PS4 based on sales); and I have to say Nintendo fans are definitely more dedicated that Sony (or XBox). It was however naive for the person to think that Nintendo was worth more; and I'm all for people posting facts (I'd suggest adding your source... just in case people don't believe you).
Re: Fresh Marathon Details Cover Heroes, Pricing, and Bungie's Silence
I think people need to stop hitting the panic button at the first opportunity... and understand, whether you like online live service games, it's in no one's interest for Marathon to fail. How about we all just wait till we know more - and accept that not everyone has to like the games you like; and it doesn't have to be a zero sum game.
Re: Sony Priming 'Even Less Exciting' PS5 Remaster for State of Play
@themightyant so that's not quite right... only 19% said they'd buy it, another 23% said they were waiting to see. I do agree that 19% is most probably enough of a potential pool (assuming that PushSquare in any way reflects the gaming gene pool) that for the outlay, it's most probably worth doing. However, no one would have an issue with remasters if they had a decent cadence of first party releases.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
What outrage are you talking about?
Re: Sony Priming 'Even Less Exciting' PS5 Remaster for State of Play
@MrPeanutbutterz they also made it part of a console pack, and gave it away for free during the pandemic (which I suspect may actually be bolstering those numbers). And I'm someone that has perhaps put in similar hours to yourself... but to be honest, that's more likely an OCD indicator rather than because I love the game (I actually really fell off the the hype train with HFW)
Re: Sony Priming 'Even Less Exciting' PS5 Remaster for State of Play
I think the idea to use remasters as an 'intern' project seemed like a great idea... apart from the fact that you actually need to release new games in addition. So I'm not convinced this isn't about milking it's consumer base for low-cost/low-risk remasters. Sony doing Nintendo.
Re: Sony Priming 'Even Less Exciting' PS5 Remaster for State of Play
@SolarSailor that is so true... HZD can't even win the bad-news competition.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
@OldGamer999 I''m sure that COVID had a lot to do with delays; and I suspect that Sony Mgt thought the remake/remaster route was a low-risk (even if low pay-off) path to keep games coming out, so that the 'silence' didn't become deafening. The counter that has emerged is that Sony doesn't need first party when they can just buy timed exclusivity... and I think that's another list for another day. Either way - timed exclusives might be 'marketable' but the Sony badge of quality was what people were dedicated to.
I think this need to meet Sony standards has been their rod, because it also has meant they're (IMO) too frightened to release something that isn't polished to the nth degree; where every edge is now rounded, where (IMO again) they've started to lose the forest for the trees in terms of quality and fun experiences. That's why people have gravitated so much to AstroBot (I hope Sony doesn't get the message that we all just need more nostalgia.... when the message should be more focused and fun gaming experiences).
Sony may "win the console war" (which doesn't really exist) - but it HAS also lost it's identity as a producer of great gaming (in lieu of impressively made games). And producing one "tentpole" game a year (as they recently stated was their goal), and filling the rest with remasters/live-service was never the right direction. The hardest part of the list for me was the fact that all the games barring Returnal (which was bought) are sequels/remasters. I hope Sony hasn't forgotten how to make new games.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
@Flaming_Kaiser not worried about PC specific ports (ACTUALLY... I most probably should adjust... hold on)
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
Just something to think about - First Party PS5 Exclusives (not including PSVR2 - of which there is 1):
2020:
PC Horizon Zero Dawn (PORT)
PS5 Astro's Playroom (pack-in)
PS5 Demon Souls (REMAKE?) * (2nd party at release)
PS5 Spider-Man REMASTERED
PS4/PS5 Miles Morales
2021:
PS5 Returnal * (2nd party at release)
PS5 Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
PC Days Gone (PORT)
PS4/5 Ghost of Tsushima DC (REMASTERED)
PS5 Death Stranding REMASTERED (strictly 2nd party)
2022:
PC God of War (2018) (PORT)
PS5 Uncharted Legacy of Thieves (REMASTERED)
PS4/5 Horizon Forbidden West
PC Spider-Man REMASTERED (PORT)
PC Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves (REMASTERED/PORT)
PS4/5 Gran Turismo 7
PS5 The Last of Us Part 1 (REMAKE)
PC Miles Morales (PORT)
PS4/5 God of War Ragnarok
2023:
PC Returnal (PORT)
PC The Last of Us Part 1 (PORT)
PC Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (PORT)
PS5 Spider-Man 2
2024:
PS5 The Last of Us Part 2 (REMASTERED)
PC Ghost of Tsushima DC (PORT)
PS5 Concord (REMOVED)PS5 Astro Bot
Summary of First Party Output over approx 4 years of PS5:
4 PS4/5 originals
4 PS5 originals (1 deleted from existence and not counted; though Playroom most probably could count as the 5th game)
7 Remakes/Remasters (note: 6 if you exclude DS)
10 PC Ports of older PS4/5 games
Note: At least 2 more remakes/remasters to be released imminently. AND OF COURSE - this doesn't include the many more 2nd party exclusives.... which seems to be Sony's approach now. It also doesn't include MLB The Show, as these are cross-platform. It also doesn't include where 2nd party studios have worked on Sony IP (like Sack Boy / Helldivers). I also didn't include DLC (eg Burning Shores, or the Valhalla DLC)
The scary thing - in the last 4 years, PlayStation has added only a single new IP (Returnal) which was acquired... and the game that shall now never be mentioned again. I also remain unconvinced that the push to remaster/remake/port has not impacted original game releases.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
@dark_knightmare2 how can this remaster be "necessary" to anyone though? Once again - it's a remaster of a perfectly good game when played at 60FPS on a PS5 patched game. I get the 'people don't need to buy it' argument; but when Sony are putting out only 1 first party game a year... but seemingly handfuls of remasters.... I think THAT's the reason why people are upset or annoyed.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
@MFTWrecks thank you... my sentiment exactly. Though I think the trajectory for HZD3 is pretty well locked in, and incoming. I'm not sure if it's Hermen's influence or not, but I'm sure that Sony will just double, then triple down on the HZD and it's current bloated (and bland) direction.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
@mariomaster96 well with Sony, you can never tell if they're going to remaster the game after 12 days, or remove it from ever existing. Then again... I just read a new rumour. Concord Remastered in-coming!
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
@get2sammyb ok - so there's 2 main games, 2 DLC's (the second was treated like a half game... given that it was PS5 only), a VR game, a lego game (about to be released), a lego set, a Multiplayer game (imminent... maybe), a mobile game (supposedly)... a netflix series (recently canned)... and god knows what else (edit: of course - I forgot the PC version). I think it's fair to say that Sony is milking the franchise for all its worth. The funny thing is - at least IMHO - the game has been steadily going downhill in terms of quality of story writing; and Aloy would have to be one of the most characterless and bland protagonists of any Sony game. AND I DID REALLY LIKE THE FIRST GAME... just it started to feel like they had ... well... jumped the shark. It is however built from one of their most amazingly good engines.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
I think your voting options are a bit silly - what about people that like the game, but don't need a re-master. I would have thought that was the most obvious option (given the constant comments on HZD remasters).
Re: 10 Major PS5, PS4 Games Are Getting Axed from PS Plus Extra, Including LittleBigPlanet 3
@get2sammyb I think the issue with Sony is more that they don't telegraph departures that well - sometimes with less than a month's notice. It's hard to plan your games when you don't know what's going.
Re: PS6 Is Already Deep in Development, Backwards Compatibility of High Importance
@Titntin no probs - and I think while I was pretty well dismissive of the Pro (at that price, without a drive - because I do collect and have a lot of legacy games on disc), I think one of the problems is that the marketing (the 9 min NOT-technical presentation) was horribly bad... and to be honest, I've felt that all PlayStation marketing has gone down the tubes since the PS5 released. There's enough information out there to suggest the advantages are much more complex than presented, but I don't expect Sony to put any effort into selling it further.
The one thing I'd say - I definitely support your stand on GP... my view is that it devalues games. You can of course argue without an (extra) barrier to entry, a lot of smaller games get much more visibility. I'm sure that's true... but I also think, even for the indie market, it then becomes a patronage system in terms of MS. I think for bigger tent-pole releases, the idea of considering them almost like F2P is quite risky for the gaming business - because at some point, people may just stop paying for the games, and then we're totally at the whim of the platform holders. Of course- everyone still keeps up the best deal in gaming mantra - whilst so many decent to good games are kinda struggling. For me - the games I've played the most this year have all been ones that I've bought outright, and not through a subscription. It's the wrong way of looking at it, but for me subscription games tend to be 'win me over in 1-2 hours, or uninstalled'; because it doesn't cost me any more other than temporary storage and time to sample. I know I just don't value those 'free' games as much as ones that I've purchased myself.
Re: Vince Zampella Defends PS5 Pro Price, Says 'It's Actually Not That Bad'
@kevinm360 It's crazy - and my heart goes out to everyone in the UK... which I had thought was a really good market for Sony. Seems like it's good, but not for the reasons I thought.
Re: Vince Zampella Defends PS5 Pro Price, Says 'It's Actually Not That Bad'
@kevinm360 how about they show us.... for a full experience of the advantage. At the moment, there's just not enough info to make real judgements - but I can judge that AUD1400 IS A LOT OF MONEY.