Even if digital sales were included to bump up NBA 2K25 and Zelda, Astro Bot being in the top 10 is great news, especially for an unknown and unproven IP in mainstream terms. It sharing the same chart that includes sports, Zelda, Star Wars, and Harry Potter is awesome to see.
I love the first Wolf Among Us, but I've reached the point where I don't even want to hear about this project anymore until it gets a firm release date. Maybe Telltale would be in a better position if they hadn't wasted time and money on that Expanse game very few people wanted and strictly focused on this instead.
It's a fascinating multi-faceted situation, especially in cases like PlayStation, which I could passionately discuss for hours. But I think the biggest problem all of these publishers share (aside from Nintendo) is that they have trained their mainstream and casual audiences for multiple generations that the most worthwhile games are the ones that focus on scale and/or graphical fidelity. We see this all the time now. A lot of casual gamers have a hyper-fixation of game length, graphical detail, and sheer volume of content, and these smaller games rarely serve any of those desires.
As good as Lost Crown is, I can't blame a lot of casual audiences for dismissing it for any number of reasons, especially since Prince of Persia hasn't been a big thing for ages now. In Lost Crown's case specifically, I'm curious what their financial expectations were when they released this a week before the start of the constant and popular game releases earlier this year and it was missing from Steam. It's no surprise it financially underperformed under those self-sabotaging circumstances.
@Medic_alert Oh for sure. I'm not implying the devs at Ubisoft Montpellier are responsible for shipping the game with those issues. They made a cool-ass game even with its problems that a few months in the oven could have fixed. But that's the saddest part, isn't it? The game underwhelms financially and the talented people are the ones that receive the lion's share of the consequences.
@Medic_alert Even Lost Crown didn't release bug-free. It had a big bug at launch that could lock people out of finishing one of the few side quests in the game. It was eventually patched, but people whose save files were affected had to start a new file to avoid the bug. Bugs aren't exclusively a Ubisoft problem, but they have a reputation for them and a general lack of polish at launch that far exceeds many other publishers.
@Medic_alert I think locking a relatively niche game on the PC market behind their Ubisoft launcher had something to do with it. If it was available on Steam on day one, I think it would have seen more day-one sales.
Another problem stated countless times is that many people know Ubisoft games go on sale quickly. Many of Lost Crown's potential customers possibly went "that looks fun, but I'll wait for a discount". They either got it later at a cheaper price or forgot about it entirely because the first quarter of this year was flushed with good games that overshadowed it.
If this is true, this is the second time this decade that Ubisoft has either declined or canceled a sequel to one of the rare games I like from them. Immortals and Lost Crown deserved so much more than this.
Because PlayStation's live service initiative disrupting their pipeline, costing them billions of wasted dollars, and putting a stink on their image hasn't been bad enough this gen...
I wouldn't mind if they got Keith David to voice Sylens. David is awesome and has a long heritage in video games.
If not, I hope they brought on someone with a powerful and magnetic voice like Reddick had. He was the main reason Sylens is my favorite character in the series. I would pick Adetokumboh M'Cormack, who was outstanding as Isaac in Netflix's Castlevania series.
I think it's fine, but this game and Horizon: Forbidden West have come to symbolize modern PlayStation's worst tendencies when it comes to their massively budgeted single-player games: a bland, focus-tested, and very safe vision to appeal to the largest possible audience with no thought for risk, niche appeal, or edginess.
With this game specifically, my biggest issues were the ho-hum story and boring writing. The symbiote storyline did not mix very well with the Kraven stuff, the pacing constantly got in its own way with pointless padding like the stupidly long science institution sequence and those awful MJ missions, and Insomniac continues to write the blandest dialogue in human existence. At this point, I think Insomniac's writers lack any talent for witty and fun dialogue with a slight edge. All of their recent games feel like a children's show with their blatantly stated morals and themes that lack any kind of subtlety or nuance in their delivery. Hell, even old episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine had way more of a rough edge to them than these recent Insomniac games.
The simplest explanation I can think of for why they axed the DLC is that they wanted to use the resources elsewhere. They already spent over $300 million on Spider-Man 2. It makes sense they would want to move on to something cheaper to make (Venom?) or invest more into something creatively different (Wolverine).
Like Horizon, I'd rather see them return to the drawing board and make it an animated show. A God of War game with the art style of Castlevania or Arcane would be cool.
I won't be playing this remaster. After viewing side-by-side footage of this and the original, I really don't like the change in color palette and much more aggressively bright lighting. Yet another PlayStation remaster that sacrifices art direction for raw detail.
The $50 price isn't a big mystery to me. It's a semi-linear turn-based RPG focusing on art direction over raw graphical detail from an unproven studio and new IP.
However, the existence of physical copies on day one is shocking to me, because Keplar Interactive never does physical copies of their games on day one. This must be a big investment for them.
An option I would have voted for would have been: "clearly there is a creative void in AAA games, but there's plenty of creativity out there if you're willing to dig for it and try new things".
Also, as I said in a different story a few weeks back, Shawn Laydon didn't have a perfect track record with PlayStation. But, the man had excellent instincts for what the casual and hardcore audiences wanted from the company. He had way better creative and business instincts than the muppets currently running the show.
It's an annoying practice, but I'm part of the problem sometimes and will continue to be depending on the game. I don't usually buy deluxe editions of games, but "early access" is far more compelling to me than extra costumes, a digital "art book", or music tracks I can easily find on YouTube. I know myself too damn well to know I'd fork over extra to play GTA VI or Ghost of Yotei "early".
I wonder if the reason PlayStation hasn't done this sooner is that they want their games to feel like "events", so they don't want spoilers out there even faster than usual. I'm sure they'll do this eventually because the extra revenue is too tempting, but I'm curious if this is the rare time the massive egos at PlayStation unintentionally gave them some restraint.
@DonJorginho Yes, the young 19-year-old woman who looks intentionally much older and weary to show the physical effects of life-long abuse isn't attractive. These people are idiots.
@Loamy Again, it isn't "bad", but the remake's version of it lacks the emotional gut punch that the monologue in the OG delivers. It's obvious Monica Taylor Horgan was holding back real tears delivering that monologue in the recording booth and those cracks in her voice make the moment all the more raw. I miss that genuine human touch in the remake's version of it.
Everyone else in the remake is outstanding though, especially whoever they got to play Angela.
@TruestoryYep The actress playing Mary/Maria isn't "bad"; just inconsistent IMO. I think she just got poor directing at times, especially in the very flat delivery of the final monologue. That's one of my favorite bits of acting in a video game in the original and they butchered it in this remake.
Regarding difficulty, I found it harder than the original because of the increased number of enemies that could appear at a time. Especially during the Brookhaven and Toluca Prison, I had to be very careful with ammo conservation or I'd be screwed.
A solid 7 from me. I liked it a lot, but it's not perfect. The stupid mannequin jump scares, pacing issues, and an inconsistent performance from Mary/Maria's actress are my biggest gripes.
Even with those in mind, this is probably the best survival horror game ever made from sound design and art direction perspectives. It's been a very long time since I've played a horror game this emotionally and mentally draining. The highest compliment I can give is that I never want to play this again.
I'd be curious to hear from others with first-hand experience, but Xbox was non-existent in the lexicon of the many people on my Middle Eastern side of the family. If you bought anything game-related, it was a PlayStation or a handheld Nintendo device. Granted, this is just my limited experience, but I also currently know quite a few Middle Easterns that associate gaming purely with PlayStation.
This is one of the biggest surprises in my gaming history. Bloober Team remaking SIlent Hill 2 always sounded like a recipe for disaster, but they actually pulled it off. I'm shocked.
The idea of a co-op Horizon game has always intrigued me. However, I don't trust the chuckleheads now running PlayStation to fully realize this concept's potential. Their multiplayer instincts have been mostly garbage. If anyone will find a way to screw this up, it's modern PlayStation.
Ghost of Yotei was easily the highlight for me. I was also excited to see the Astro Bot DLC, obviously. Hell is Us, The Midnight Walk, and the Legacy of Kain remasters are also things I have my eye on.
@Loamy The first game had quite a few compelling female characters. Outside of Jin, Lady Adachi was the most interesting character in the game IMO. I'm all in if Atsu is even one-half as well-written as she was.
@get2sammyb @Americansamurai1 Agreed. Shu, Andrew House, and Shawn Laydon did not have perfect records, but they were way more competent at assessing quality than the clowns now running the show at PlayStation.
If true, this is truly shocking and disheartening to read. I imagine all of the smaller and more genre-varied games we could have gotten this gen being thrown in the trash in favor of this and it puts my long-time support of PlayStation into an existential crisis. Dramatic, I know. But....damn......
Hulst parading Concord around as "the future of PlayStation" and a "Star Wars level IP" is pure insanity.
Comments 3,070
Re: Sep 2024 USA Sales: Astro Bot PS5 a Top Seller, Only FC 25 Above It
Even if digital sales were included to bump up NBA 2K25 and Zelda, Astro Bot being in the top 10 is great news, especially for an unknown and unproven IP in mainstream terms. It sharing the same chart that includes sports, Zelda, Star Wars, and Harry Potter is awesome to see.
Re: The Wolf Among Us 2 PS5 Has Not Been Cancelled, Telltale Insists
I love the first Wolf Among Us, but I've reached the point where I don't even want to hear about this project anymore until it gets a firm release date. Maybe Telltale would be in a better position if they hadn't wasted time and money on that Expanse game very few people wanted and strictly focused on this instead.
Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report
@Medic_alert @get2sammyb @AdamNovice
It's a fascinating multi-faceted situation, especially in cases like PlayStation, which I could passionately discuss for hours. But I think the biggest problem all of these publishers share (aside from Nintendo) is that they have trained their mainstream and casual audiences for multiple generations that the most worthwhile games are the ones that focus on scale and/or graphical fidelity. We see this all the time now. A lot of casual gamers have a hyper-fixation of game length, graphical detail, and sheer volume of content, and these smaller games rarely serve any of those desires.
As good as Lost Crown is, I can't blame a lot of casual audiences for dismissing it for any number of reasons, especially since Prince of Persia hasn't been a big thing for ages now. In Lost Crown's case specifically, I'm curious what their financial expectations were when they released this a week before the start of the constant and popular game releases earlier this year and it was missing from Steam. It's no surprise it financially underperformed under those self-sabotaging circumstances.
Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report
@Medic_alert Oh for sure. I'm not implying the devs at Ubisoft Montpellier are responsible for shipping the game with those issues. They made a cool-ass game even with its problems that a few months in the oven could have fixed. But that's the saddest part, isn't it? The game underwhelms financially and the talented people are the ones that receive the lion's share of the consequences.
Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report
@Medic_alert Even Lost Crown didn't release bug-free. It had a big bug at launch that could lock people out of finishing one of the few side quests in the game. It was eventually patched, but people whose save files were affected had to start a new file to avoid the bug. Bugs aren't exclusively a Ubisoft problem, but they have a reputation for them and a general lack of polish at launch that far exceeds many other publishers.
Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report
@Medic_alert I think locking a relatively niche game on the PC market behind their Ubisoft launcher had something to do with it. If it was available on Steam on day one, I think it would have seen more day-one sales.
Another problem stated countless times is that many people know Ubisoft games go on sale quickly. Many of Lost Crown's potential customers possibly went "that looks fun, but I'll wait for a discount". They either got it later at a cheaper price or forgot about it entirely because the first quarter of this year was flushed with good games that overshadowed it.
Re: Ubisoft Disbands Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team After Poor Sales, Claims Report
If this is true, this is the second time this decade that Ubisoft has either declined or canceled a sequel to one of the rare games I like from them. Immortals and Lost Crown deserved so much more than this.
Re: PlayStation, Bungie Still Going Ahead with Internal Live Service Team
Because PlayStation's live service initiative disrupting their pipeline, costing them billions of wasted dollars, and putting a stink on their image hasn't been bad enough this gen...
Re: Horizon's Sylens Will Be Recast Following the Passing of Lance Reddick
I wouldn't mind if they got Keith David to voice Sylens. David is awesome and has a long heritage in video games.
If not, I hope they brought on someone with a powerful and magnetic voice like Reddick had. He was the main reason Sylens is my favorite character in the series. I would pick Adetokumboh M'Cormack, who was outstanding as Isaac in Netflix's Castlevania series.
Re: Poll: One Year Later, How Would You Rate Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on PS5?
I think it's fine, but this game and Horizon: Forbidden West have come to symbolize modern PlayStation's worst tendencies when it comes to their massively budgeted single-player games: a bland, focus-tested, and very safe vision to appeal to the largest possible audience with no thought for risk, niche appeal, or edginess.
With this game specifically, my biggest issues were the ho-hum story and boring writing. The symbiote storyline did not mix very well with the Kraven stuff, the pacing constantly got in its own way with pointless padding like the stupidly long science institution sequence and those awful MJ missions, and Insomniac continues to write the blandest dialogue in human existence. At this point, I think Insomniac's writers lack any talent for witty and fun dialogue with a slight edge. All of their recent games feel like a children's show with their blatantly stated morals and themes that lack any kind of subtlety or nuance in their delivery. Hell, even old episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine had way more of a rough edge to them than these recent Insomniac games.
Re: Some Marvel's Spider-Man 2 PS5 Fans Are Furious It's Not Getting DLC
The simplest explanation I can think of for why they axed the DLC is that they wanted to use the resources elsewhere. They already spent over $300 million on Spider-Man 2. It makes sense they would want to move on to something cheaper to make (Venom?) or invest more into something creatively different (Wolverine).
Re: Spider-Man 2 Won't Receive Any PS5 Story DLC
I'm fine with this. I wasn't a big fan of this one so I'm happy they're moving on to hopefully a much better game like Venom or Wolverine.
Re: Like a Dragon's PS5 Date Change Will Let You Play Monster Hunter Wilds with Peace of Mind, Director Says
Uhhhhh someone needs to tell RGG that normal, working people can't finish their behemoth games in one week lol
Re: Boy! Sony and Amazon to Start from Scratch on God of War TV Show
Like Horizon, I'd rather see them return to the drawing board and make it an animated show. A God of War game with the art style of Castlevania or Arcane would be cool.
Re: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Dodges Monster Hunter Wilds with New PS5, PS4 Release Date
Seeing the big port city be called "Madlantis" made me laugh out loud.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Sounds Like a Ridiculously Good PS5 Upgrade
I won't be playing this remaster. After viewing side-by-side footage of this and the original, I really don't like the change in color palette and much more aggressively bright lighting. Yet another PlayStation remaster that sacrifices art direction for raw detail.
Re: Fans Can't Fathom Why PS5 RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Is So Cheap
The $50 price isn't a big mystery to me. It's a semi-linear turn-based RPG focusing on art direction over raw graphical detail from an unproven studio and new IP.
However, the existence of physical copies on day one is shocking to me, because Keplar Interactive never does physical copies of their games on day one. This must be a big investment for them.
Re: Ex-PlayStation Exec Shawn Layden Says There's Been a 'Collapse' in Gaming Creativity
An option I would have voted for would have been: "clearly there is a creative void in AAA games, but there's plenty of creativity out there if you're willing to dig for it and try new things".
Also, as I said in a different story a few weeks back, Shawn Laydon didn't have a perfect track record with PlayStation. But, the man had excellent instincts for what the casual and hardcore audiences wanted from the company. He had way better creative and business instincts than the muppets currently running the show.
Re: Anticipated PS5 RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Attracts All-Star Cast
Andy Serkis as one of the villains (I assume) is very exciting. He's got so much natural charisma as an actor.
Re: Opinion: The Price of Playing PS5 Games Day One Is Getting Higher and Higher
It's an annoying practice, but I'm part of the problem sometimes and will continue to be depending on the game. I don't usually buy deluxe editions of games, but "early access" is far more compelling to me than extra costumes, a digital "art book", or music tracks I can easily find on YouTube. I know myself too damn well to know I'd fork over extra to play GTA VI or Ghost of Yotei "early".
I wonder if the reason PlayStation hasn't done this sooner is that they want their games to feel like "events", so they don't want spoilers out there even faster than usual. I'm sure they'll do this eventually because the extra revenue is too tempting, but I'm curious if this is the rare time the massive egos at PlayStation unintentionally gave them some restraint.
Re: First Astro Bot PS5 Speedrun Level Is Out Tomorrow, the Rest on a Weekly Basis
Sweet. This gives me something small to look forward to every Thursday for a while.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Silent Hill 2?
@DonJorginho Yes, the young 19-year-old woman who looks intentionally much older and weary to show the physical effects of life-long abuse isn't attractive. These people are idiots.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Silent Hill 2?
@Loamy Again, it isn't "bad", but the remake's version of it lacks the emotional gut punch that the monologue in the OG delivers. It's obvious Monica Taylor Horgan was holding back real tears delivering that monologue in the recording booth and those cracks in her voice make the moment all the more raw. I miss that genuine human touch in the remake's version of it.
Everyone else in the remake is outstanding though, especially whoever they got to play Angela.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Silent Hill 2?
@TruestoryYep The actress playing Mary/Maria isn't "bad"; just inconsistent IMO. I think she just got poor directing at times, especially in the very flat delivery of the final monologue. That's one of my favorite bits of acting in a video game in the original and they butchered it in this remake.
Regarding difficulty, I found it harder than the original because of the increased number of enemies that could appear at a time. Especially during the Brookhaven and Toluca Prison, I had to be very careful with ammo conservation or I'd be screwed.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Silent Hill 2?
A solid 7 from me. I liked it a lot, but it's not perfect. The stupid mannequin jump scares, pacing issues, and an inconsistent performance from Mary/Maria's actress are my biggest gripes.
Even with those in mind, this is probably the best survival horror game ever made from sound design and art direction perspectives. It's been a very long time since I've played a horror game this emotionally and mentally draining. The highest compliment I can give is that I never want to play this again.
Re: Helldivers 2 Concludes 60-Day Overhaul Plan with Latest Balance Update on PS5, PC
Arrowhead really pulled it off. Even before this patch, the last update made the game so much more enjoyable on the highest difficulties again.
Re: PS5 May Soon Be Unchallenged by Xbox in Some Regions
@Amppari It is amusing. It's typical Xbox corpo non-speak.
Re: PS5 May Soon Be Unchallenged by Xbox in Some Regions
I'd be curious to hear from others with first-hand experience, but Xbox was non-existent in the lexicon of the many people on my Middle Eastern side of the family. If you bought anything game-related, it was a PlayStation or a handheld Nintendo device. Granted, this is just my limited experience, but I also currently know quite a few Middle Easterns that associate gaming purely with PlayStation.
Re: PS5 May Soon Be Unchallenged by Xbox in Some Regions
Jez Corden is continuing to play defense for his beloved Microsoft, I see.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing Metaphor: ReFantazio?
I'd love to play this, but I simply don't have the time to get sucked into another 100+ hour Atlus JRPG right now.
Re: PS Store Sales Charts: Astro Bot, Space Marine 2, and Sports Games Slug It Out in September
Astro Bot placing in the top 4 in both regions is great news.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing Silent Hill 2?
This is one of the biggest surprises in my gaming history. Bloober Team remaking SIlent Hill 2 always sounded like a recipe for disaster, but they actually pulled it off. I'm shocked.
Re: PS5 Exclusives Astro Bot, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Lead Golden Joystick Nominations
Astro Bot is the easy GOTY for me, but I love Rebirth too. I wouldn't mind seeing either win GOTY here.
Re: Tencent, Guillemot Family Reportedly Considering Ubisoft Buyout
Ubisoft could shut down tomorrow and I wouldn't care less.
Re: Astro Bot's Excellent Soundtrack Is Now Available on Music Streaming Services
Papa Tree, Casino (No Guarantino), Quel Fromage, Discotree, Tan Tradicional, Marine Serene, and Trapped in Time SLAP so damn hard.
Re: PlayStation Begins Pre-Orders for PS5's Chroma Collection, Horizon Remastered, More
I'm a sucker for green, so that chroma teal controller looks slick as hell to me.
Re: Crickets as Suicide Squad Endures Another Muted Launch
@Golem25 I couldn't believe my eyes and ears when Lawless at one point said "I Columbus'd some of Catwoman's merchandise".
It made me want to puke.
Re: Dragon of Dojima Roars in Official Like a Dragon: Yakuza Trailer
Automatic F grade if Kiryu doesn't sing Baka Mitai at some point.
Re: Sony's Live Service Push 'No Joke', A Lot of People Working on Horizon Online
The idea of a co-op Horizon game has always intrigued me. However, I don't trust the chuckleheads now running PlayStation to fully realize this concept's potential. Their multiplayer instincts have been mostly garbage. If anyone will find a way to screw this up, it's modern PlayStation.
Re: In the UK, PS5 Pro Has Already Completely Sold Out
@RubyCarbuncle Oh definitely. I'm also in this queue to try to get one for a friend. I couldn't care less if I got the Pro bundle for myself.
Re: In the UK, PS5 Pro Has Already Completely Sold Out
I know I won't get one, but I'm in the queue anyway just for the thrill of it. Hoping to snag one of those sexy controllers though.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn PS5 Wins Over PlayStation Fans
It's amazing what the announcement of a cheap upgrade does for public perception. It definitely shut me up about this remaster.
Re: The Biggest PS5, PS4 Winners from a Humongous State of Play
Ghost of Yotei was easily the highlight for me. I was also excited to see the Astro Bot DLC, obviously. Hell is Us, The Midnight Walk, and the Legacy of Kain remasters are also things I have my eye on.
Re: PS5's Ghost of Yotei Triggers Social Media, Ex-Sony Exec Says 'If You Don't Like It, Don't Buy It'
@Loamy The first game had quite a few compelling female characters. Outside of Jin, Lady Adachi was the most interesting character in the game IMO. I'm all in if Atsu is even one-half as well-written as she was.
Re: PS5's Ghost of Yotei Triggers Social Media, Ex-Sony Exec Says 'If You Don't Like It, Don't Buy It'
These losers need to get laid and chill out. Jesus Christ...
Watching something like Blue Eye Samurai, Kill Bill, or Lady Snowblind probably triggers mental breakdowns for them.
Re: Ghost of Yotei Is the Ghost of Tsushima Sequel We Needed, Slashing to PS5 in 2025
YEEEEEEAH BABYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@ChrisDeku Working on a AAA budget live service in Washington state for five or more years would be comically expensive.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@Cutmastavictory Concrete Genie and Dreams were before PS5 and Sony sent those out to die.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
@get2sammyb @Americansamurai1 Agreed. Shu, Andrew House, and Shawn Laydon did not have perfect records, but they were way more competent at assessing quality than the clowns now running the show at PlayStation.
Re: Rumour: Concord Cost $400 Million, Sony Believed It Was the 'Future of PlayStation'
If true, this is truly shocking and disheartening to read. I imagine all of the smaller and more genre-varied games we could have gotten this gen being thrown in the trash in favor of this and it puts my long-time support of PlayStation into an existential crisis. Dramatic, I know. But....damn......
Hulst parading Concord around as "the future of PlayStation" and a "Star Wars level IP" is pure insanity.