Why cant they keep the engine and some of what is there like shooting mechanics (after all, it ran well didnt it), and use what they keep to create a decent single player shooter?
They could do the old marketing line of "we've learned from our mistakes".
One of the best games i have ever played. Unlike some, i was hoping for more Atreus towards the end of the game or maybe the ability to swap once they were back together, as i really liked the change of pace but he didnt get enough fighting sections. The production values on this game were incredible.
There are some really good games this gen including a lot of Sony 1st party, until this year when all we have had is the (Amazing) Astro. I have really enjoyed everything from Insomniac, GOWR, Demon Souls, as well as others, and not to mention 3P titles like Hogwarts and Lies of P.
The problem is now Astro is out we have no real idea of what we can expect from Sony and when... do we have to wait another year I wonder, and if so, what on earth are they playing at?
Oh dear, that game was one of the worst polished games in recent memory. It actually put me off SE to the point as soon as i heard about muddy graphics in FF7Rebirth i didnt even bother looking at the demo (though as I said before, and to be fair, i had already been put off by remakes story changes).
Not that they are an excuse for poor performance, but there isnt even any of the normal problems:
Too much ambition over ability - the big battles in the demo seem to run ok, it was the normal areas that suffered.
Ray tracing or similar - I dont think they had anything like this. (As we spoke about earlier removing this fixed Jedi Survivor on PS5).
Lack of time to optimise - a year...
Designing the game for high spec PC - PS5 Exclusive.
SE have really got to get it together and stop blaming exclusivity imo.
Unrealistic expectations then. But also (Speaking as someone who has purchased a lot of SE games in the past):
FF16 - Framerate was appalling - played demo, didnt buy (laughable considering PS5 was the only version they needed to get right).
FF7 rebirth - Didnt buy as was put off by the story of part 1 (I am informed the parts of the story that put me off were the new to remake parts). Graphics also not good.
If its a £10 upgrade path, maybe - not sure. This series has always seemed good, but not great, unlike series like GOW (the new games from 2018, not the old), and the Spider man games, which i would snap up another game of tomorrow.
@ApostateMage I always preferred the original - something about the story and worlds just hooked me in more. Survivor had its moments, but not like Fallen order for me.
@jrt87 How long after launch did you last play it because they more or less fixed the performance mode a year ago (it was a long time after launch) by turning the ray tracing off (Im not interested in quality modes as I cannot play 30fps so I cant remember fully, but i think the quality mode wasnt touched so remained bad). The resolution also went up a bit. Im very sensitive to framerate and got though it after the patch - all i remember was a little traversal stutter left on the main planet but much better than launch.
Annoyingly I bought it at launch and couldnt play it - this was the game that stopped me pre ordering / buying 3rd party without first seeing a performance review.
DF did an update video September of last year after the patch.
Clearly the last last patch didnt quite work - they are trying to patch in a PS5 Pro. It costs 700 gold coins and sits horizontally, but for an extra 25 coins you can stand it vertically!
Next patch is a disk drive for it for another 100 gold coins.
The patch after that is that they are adding the song "P S S R", though this may take a bit longer as it sounds like a swearword (thank you DF).
I dont have any internal knowledge, and im sure there are counter examples people could reel off, but the over riding feeling ive always had is that, prior to the Live service push, Sony looked after and helped grow its dev teams - certainly when compared to others.
@get2sammyb Keep them coming - my main issue with Sonys presentation was the actual lack of real detailed info / specs - ie what does my £700 actually buy me - i mean we were nearly in the realms of "its better". Also PSSR imo is probably the part of Pro (as hardware based) that may well deliver the most.
@simondud1 @McTwist To be fair PS5 'juice' has been generally 'sqeezed' flat out for the last couple of years - its just that in a lot of (but not all) cases third party devs dont put enough thought or effort into platform specific optimisation (or dont have the ability to do so), that Sony 1st Party do.
eg they use resource intensive systems, engines, or graphical effects, which PS5s just are not powerful enough to handle properly, or without a major hit to performance or visual quality.
They target powerful PCs to give them something flashy to advertise, even though they know the PS5 or average PC versions will not look close or will perform like slideshows.
When more games move to UE5 this will only get much worse as for what you get, it is incredibly resource hungry (mostly on GPU i think).
In the case of Sony 1st Party - in the most part, they have been running the PS5 properly optimised and flat out, all gen - the insomniac games, GOWR, HFW, GT7 and others push the PS5 as far as it can be, except in a few cases like GOWR in terms of load speed.
@themightyant Yeah, with the current price of PS5 and Pro I think end of 2028 is likely - 2027 seems early unless they want PS6 to £700-800 for the standard console or not much more powerful than PS5 Pro.
@REALAIS Yeah, i was somewhat pleased with that news - only somewhat as i worry they are going to ruin it by changing it too much.
But thats sort of part of my point. HL was the best example i could think of where its stories could have been continued in a massive content expansion ie 'year 2', rather than an actual sequel.
They could have sold this for half the price of a full priced game, but as it would build on what is already there, it would not cost them the time/money of half a full game budget to make.
They would not need to spend vast sums of money changing the engine which ran really well. They would not need to do massive and expensive map changes, just enough to make it feel like a year had passed and add more open world challenges, and move around / change enemy distributions and difficulty levels (so on top difficulty i couldnt just walk in and wipe out 20 ish dark wizards in a camp in less than 1 minute). There would also not be the sequel related expectations to change things up - which both costs money, and can prove very divisive. But all this allows them to spend their time adding lots of good content.
I just think that a number of games that have sold well would really benefit from genuine large expansions, that make people that buy them happy, and the devs money. Cut price, lower expectation, but high content expansions vs a true (but expensive) sequel you have to wait 3 times as long for.
IoA once they sorted out the performance issues (in the patch a month or so after it went on PS Plus), was a decent enough game. Was it the best thing ever - no, but i enjoyed it well enough.
Would have bought it at full price (around launch) if not for the technical mess it was in, so i waited for it to be fixed.
Then I added it to my library for free via PS Plus, and i held off playing for a month or so until the already announced performance patch was released.....
Microtransactions in full price games are quite obscene in the most part (and all games with them in should also be 18+).
However a genuine game expansion is a different thing entirely - i would actually like to see more of these in games i enjoy.
Eg Hogwarts Legacy could easily have done a massive content expansion for 'year 2' including full story, companion stories, side quests, and a few new locations for them etc, for £30 or so. 'Bandit camps' and other world challenges / enemy locations and types could all change once you enter your characters 2nd year. It would save devs having to completely redo engines and mechanics (potentially ruining them) and just work on content.
Does PC threaten Console - not yet, but as PC gets easier (particularly as i understand its now simple to use a normal TV) it may do.
I have always been Console but more and more consider PC.
Unoptimised games / <60fps will be a big contributer - and from Mark Cernys recent presentation, Sony know this. Consoles only have 1 or 2 versions, but are not that powerful, so need careful optimisation to get the best results.
Sony exclusives will help to retain customers (just like they helped build the brand), but if you put them all on PC (or dont release enough)....
@Stale-Bread Quite agree on price - though i will add that some devs dont help themselves with all the unoptimised crap these days, which is a cause of them losing money not an effect imo, but thats another discussion! I hope the rumours ive read/heard (which may only have come about from Japan sales) prove to be rubbish too. And we must remember, Astro was probably produced with a smaller budget than most AAA games due to how much they had already from playroom (which is not a critisism).
@naruball Its a fine balance. On 1 hand I hate companies that try to fleece people ('maximise profits' i think they call it eg full price and microtransactions), but on the other hand the state of the industry in general and hesitation to try something whether big, new, or original is quite sad, and clearly shows a lot of financial risk. Even Sony (who have a much bigger problem with mismanagement to be sure) seem reluctant to try new IPs in case they bomb.
Im glad you understood where i was coming from - i tried to word carefully, because i know there are a lot of genuine people out there (and its not like i dont remember when i had to limit myself to only a couple of games a year, or sales) - but there are those who 1 minute are outraged that devs are not taking large numbers of varied AAA game financial risks on their behalf, then never buy games unless on sale yet still expect sequels, then complain that Sony or whoever are not subsidising their console (ie selling at big loss) for them. I think the rumours of low Astro sales have made me touchy!
@PuppetMaster I wonder how many of those complaining about 'No original games' or 'Not enough new games' havent bought Astro (a universally praised game) because they will 'Wait for a sale'!
For clarity, i know games are expensive, and fine if its just not your thing at all, but you cant complain about 'No original / new games' if you arent willing to put your hand in your wallet.
@NEStalgia Yeah, didnt realise you would need a special antennae (as opposed to just better wifi) until you said - probably im just adding 2 and 2 together and making 5 (mainly because i was surprised they were using upgraded Wifi for Pro).
@NEStalgia Wasnt sure tbh as Wireless VR is not anything ive looked into too much - i just thought it a strangely coincidental timing as we have just found out Pro will have upgraded WiFi.
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare To be fair I sometimes get quite envious of PC where instead of modes you get various options to set to your own tastes - mine would be framerate, then decent res/picture quality, then everything else. Sure, have a couple of preset modes for those who cant be bothered, or cant actually see framerates, and allow custom settings for the rest of us - which is probably a lot of those who would be interested in pro.
Totally get your point about dev optimisation / Pro availability and sales enabling poorer base versions - if i was in charge at Sony i would ban all advertising footage captured in modes that do not maintain 60fps 99% of the time... (or just outright ban less than 60fps entirely) - we would very quickly find out that devs CAN make really good looking performance modes if thats all they could advertise. Lol.
@nedbvai Not just a kids game - I suspect the average age of people enjoying it and giving this a 10 or 9 is significantly older than you are, and I certainly am older. If its not your type of game thats absolutely fine (we all have our tastes), but labelling it a kids game is just wrong. In fact, a lot of the references / easter eggs in this game are aimed at people older than children.
I probably will buy the Pro because i dread to think of what base PS5 games are going to be subjected to in terms of performance and optimisation, as soon as Pro has been out a while - its already getting bad now!
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare I did read down to the end, as you were making a lot of sense. The problem is that the presentation itself was very poor indeed.
For the target market, which would include myself, it was far too short and didnt give me anywhere near the level of info i wanted.
Now im no super tech expert, but i do understand the basics, and they didnt cover most of them, and certainly didnt try to explain anything - eg i know what an upscaler is, but why is PSSR so good (other than having a hardware component). They didnt even cover the 2TB SSD!
Mark Cerny was wasted as he could have done 30mins easy on this, not 9mins.
The only really interesting part of it was that 3/4 choose performance, and his polite but pretty firm nudging of devs.
The only way to break this cycle and truly have a next gen PS6 is if they have a GPU that is better than PS5 pro, but not too much, and put the money saved from not going overboard on the GPU into really enhancing the CPU.
@Porco "it is sad that many games will be poorly optimized on the base ps5 now that the pro exists (many games were already poor long before the pro as well), particularly from 3rd party developers."
And this is the reason i will probably buy a Pro, and next gen will consider PC.
I have been complaining about this for a while now, and voting with my wallet - FF16, DD2, BMW, Lords of Fallen and more not bought. Sadly a lot of apologists exist, as well as sites (Not Pushsquare) that will not heavily downmark a game for this.
I will probably get the PS5 Pro, and i think the days of console makers in general heavily subsidising the machines is coming to an end which explains the price, but that presentation was really really bad at showing what it can do.
What a waste of Mark Cerny who clearly should have been doing an in depth 30mins including all key technicals, not 9mins.
If Astro doesnt do well then the only message Sony (+ others) will get is never try anything else new, because if games players arent willing to 'take a punt' on such a well praised game, why should they risk making them!
@Vaako007 For 3/4 of all PS5 users to play in performance mode, a lot of casual players prefer Performance. They may still buy the game if its only 30fps (unlike myself who will not play it even if it was free), but those that prefer 60fps may not be as happy.
Completely agree that not being capable of 60fps is a dev choice, particularly when we have a number of big budget games at 80-90fps. Ive said it elsewhere, but Mark Cerny pushing 3/4 prefer performance sounded like a polite but firm nudge to devs to me.
If its not 60fps I (and others) just wont buy it and save the money to buy a decent game that does.
They could easily make this game 60fps by cutting back on CPU overloading rubbish, and if Sony insisted on 60fps as a minimum im sure the devs would suddenly find a way to do it.
I still think Mark Cerny stating the massive preference for 60fps was a polite but forceful nudge.
I only buy games these days that are confirmed as almost locked 60fps or higher (unless i can confirm its playable for me via a demo).
What i found most intriguing was this sounded like a very forceful 'nudge' to developers to stop with the 30fps modes, particularly when you consider he didnt have to mention how many choose what mode for his sales pitch of best of both...
Whilst i will very probably buy a Pro at launch (providing i can get hold of one), i did think the presentation was very poor - Mark Cerny clearly needed 30mins to go through the proper specs / details, not a 9min top line.
The point that seems almost forgotten is that on base PS5 we are already seeing quite a few 3rd party games with very poor framerates, or poor visual quality - yes this is often due to developers ambitions being beyond their capability level (and im not thinking about poor launch optimisation), but UE5 games seem to be a particular problem due to how power hungry the engine is.
I suspect we are only going to see things get much worse from here on out.
@OldGamer999 Yeah, mine is a slightly different model and a little smaller (due to space), but i have played around with those 2 settings quite a bit for each of my inputs to get the best results.
Funnily enough, one of my main interests in the Pro is the PSSR, partly because of how well they seem to understand this area - eg TV / general upscaling in PS5 games.
Watched the whole DF reaction video earlier - trouble is, as they do keep rightly stating, without full specs its really hard to form a real opinion at the moment. Sony really needed a 30min livestream to go into more detail, particularly given their target audience.
Console Timing / Price/ Power will likely be the big conundrum with PS6 - release it too early and it will not be much more powerful than PS5 PRO, or it will be similar power difference to PS4 Pro to PS5 but cost around the same as PS5 Pro - £700. Cant see it happening for another 4yrs tbh.
@Throb 60fps - definitely not yet. No idea if this patch will fix it. Played the demo when it was put out - definitely thought framerate was in the 'dumpster fire' category. It didnt even need to be a complex area and the framerate tanked to the 40's. Hogwarts legacy looks better and runs at getting on for double that in similar areas.
Comments 398
Re: Dev Behind PS5, PC Flop Concord Could Close as Director Steps Down
Why cant they keep the engine and some of what is there like shooting mechanics (after all, it ran well didnt it), and use what they keep to create a decent single player shooter?
They could do the old marketing line of "we've learned from our mistakes".
Re: Minecraft Is Dropping PSVR Support Early Next Year
I dont own a PSVR or 2, so dont have a horse in the race so to say, but this is a really sh#tty thing to do - and quite concerning too.
Removing functionality out of a game that people have spent money on is not good, and even low use numbers cannot justify it.
Re: Sony Priming 'Even Less Exciting' PS5 Remaster for State of Play
I was talking with someone yesterday about Knack and Knack 2 (remembering previous Sony 'Mascots'). A remake bundle wouldnt be unwelcome.
Re: God of War Ragnarok's PC Launch Trailer Reminds You It's a Classic
One of the best games i have ever played.
Unlike some, i was hoping for more Atreus towards the end of the game or maybe the ability to swap once they were back together, as i really liked the change of pace but he didnt get enough fighting sections.
The production values on this game were incredible.
Re: PS5 Promo Video Promises It's Time to Play
There are some really good games this gen including a lot of Sony 1st party, until this year when all we have had is the (Amazing) Astro.
I have really enjoyed everything from Insomniac, GOWR, Demon Souls, as well as others, and not to mention 3P titles like Hogwarts and Lies of P.
The problem is now Astro is out we have no real idea of what we can expect from Sony and when... do we have to wait another year I wonder, and if so, what on earth are they playing at?
Re: PS5 Exclusives Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Failed to Meet Expectations
@jrt87
RE year to polish FF16
Oh dear, that game was one of the worst polished games in recent memory. It actually put me off SE to the point as soon as i heard about muddy graphics in FF7Rebirth i didnt even bother looking at the demo (though as I said before, and to be fair, i had already been put off by remakes story changes).
Not that they are an excuse for poor performance, but there isnt even any of the normal problems:
SE have really got to get it together and stop blaming exclusivity imo.
Re: PS5 Exclusives Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Failed to Meet Expectations
Unrealistic expectations then. But also (Speaking as someone who has purchased a lot of SE games in the past):
FF16 - Framerate was appalling - played demo, didnt buy (laughable considering PS5 was the only version they needed to get right).
FF7 rebirth - Didnt buy as was put off by the story of part 1 (I am informed the parts of the story that put me off were the new to remake parts). Graphics also not good.
Re: Horizon Zero Dawn's PS5, PC Remaster Is Very Much the Real Deal
If its a £10 upgrade path, maybe - not sure.
This series has always seemed good, but not great, unlike series like GOW (the new games from 2018, not the old), and the Spider man games, which i would snap up another game of tomorrow.
Re: 'Final Chapter' of Star Wars Jedi Series Currently in Development
@ApostateMage
I always preferred the original - something about the story and worlds just hooked me in more. Survivor had its moments, but not like Fallen order for me.
Re: 'Final Chapter' of Star Wars Jedi Series Currently in Development
@jrt87
How long after launch did you last play it because they more or less fixed the performance mode a year ago (it was a long time after launch) by turning the ray tracing off (Im not interested in quality modes as I cannot play 30fps so I cant remember fully, but i think the quality mode wasnt touched so remained bad).
The resolution also went up a bit.
Im very sensitive to framerate and got though it after the patch - all i remember was a little traversal stutter left on the main planet but much better than launch.
Annoyingly I bought it at launch and couldnt play it - this was the game that stopped me pre ordering / buying 3rd party without first seeing a performance review.
DF did an update video September of last year after the patch.
Re: Astro Bot Update 1.004 Is Available Now on PS5, and Nobody Knows What It Does
@MrPeanutbutterz
"yet some of his death yelps are piercing"
That is your punishment for getting such a cute robot killed, not a bug!
Re: Astro Bot Update 1.004 Is Available Now on PS5, and Nobody Knows What It Does
Clearly the last last patch didnt quite work - they are trying to patch in a PS5 Pro. It costs 700 gold coins and sits horizontally, but for an extra 25 coins you can stand it vertically!
Next patch is a disk drive for it for another 100 gold coins.
The patch after that is that they are adding the song "P S S R", though this may take a bit longer as it sounds like a swearword (thank you DF).
Re: Yoshi-P Pleads for Modder Restraint Ahead of Final Fantasy 16 PC Launch
Restraint.... lol
Sorry Pushsquare - I dont normally comment on your writing, but i dont think many people know the meaning of that word these days...
Re: Sony Finally Pulling Bungie's 'Heads Out of Their Asses' Was a Good Thing, Says Ex-Lawyer
I dont have any internal knowledge, and im sure there are counter examples people could reel off, but the over riding feeling ive always had is that, prior to the Live service push, Sony looked after and helped grow its dev teams - certainly when compared to others.
Re: PS5 Pro Shows Real Promise in First Expert Analysis
@get2sammyb
Keep them coming - my main issue with Sonys presentation was the actual lack of real detailed info / specs - ie what does my £700 actually buy me - i mean we were nearly in the realms of "its better".
Also PSSR imo is probably the part of Pro (as hardware based) that may well deliver the most.
Re: PS6 Is Already Deep in Development, Backwards Compatibility of High Importance
@simondud1 @McTwist
To be fair PS5 'juice' has been generally 'sqeezed' flat out for the last couple of years - its just that in a lot of (but not all) cases third party devs dont put enough thought or effort into platform specific optimisation (or dont have the ability to do so), that Sony 1st Party do.
eg they use resource intensive systems, engines, or graphical effects, which PS5s just are not powerful enough to handle properly, or without a major hit to performance or visual quality.
They target powerful PCs to give them something flashy to advertise, even though they know the PS5 or average PC versions will not look close or will perform like slideshows.
When more games move to UE5 this will only get much worse as for what you get, it is incredibly resource hungry (mostly on GPU i think).
In the case of Sony 1st Party - in the most part, they have been running the PS5 properly optimised and flat out, all gen - the insomniac games, GOWR, HFW, GT7 and others push the PS5 as far as it can be, except in a few cases like GOWR in terms of load speed.
Re: PS6 Is Already Deep in Development, Backwards Compatibility of High Importance
@themightyant
Yeah, with the current price of PS5 and Pro I think end of 2028 is likely - 2027 seems early unless they want PS6 to £700-800 for the standard console or not much more powerful than PS5 Pro.
Re: Blizzard Reportedly Made $150 Million in Diablo 4 Microtransactions
@REALAIS
Yeah, i was somewhat pleased with that news - only somewhat as i worry they are going to ruin it by changing it too much.
But thats sort of part of my point. HL was the best example i could think of where its stories could have been continued in a massive content expansion ie 'year 2', rather than an actual sequel.
They could have sold this for half the price of a full priced game, but as it would build on what is already there, it would not cost them the time/money of half a full game budget to make.
They would not need to spend vast sums of money changing the engine which ran really well.
They would not need to do massive and expensive map changes, just enough to make it feel like a year had passed and add more open world challenges, and move around / change enemy distributions and difficulty levels (so on top difficulty i couldnt just walk in and wipe out 20 ish dark wizards in a camp in less than 1 minute).
There would also not be the sequel related expectations to change things up - which both costs money, and can prove very divisive.
But all this allows them to spend their time adding lots of good content.
I just think that a number of games that have sold well would really benefit from genuine large expansions, that make people that buy them happy, and the devs money.
Cut price, lower expectation, but high content expansions vs a true (but expensive) sequel you have to wait 3 times as long for.
Re: Dan Houser's Absurd Ventures Scoops Up Immortals of Aveum Talent, Forms New Studio
IoA once they sorted out the performance issues (in the patch a month or so after it went on PS Plus), was a decent enough game. Was it the best thing ever - no, but i enjoyed it well enough.
Would have bought it at full price (around launch) if not for the technical mess it was in, so i waited for it to be fixed.
Then I added it to my library for free via PS Plus, and i held off playing for a month or so until the already announced performance patch was released.....
Re: Blizzard Reportedly Made $150 Million in Diablo 4 Microtransactions
Microtransactions in full price games are quite obscene in the most part (and all games with them in should also be 18+).
However a genuine game expansion is a different thing entirely - i would actually like to see more of these in games i enjoy.
Eg Hogwarts Legacy could easily have done a massive content expansion for 'year 2' including full story, companion stories, side quests, and a few new locations for them etc, for £30 or so.
'Bandit camps' and other world challenges / enemy locations and types could all change once you enter your characters 2nd year.
It would save devs having to completely redo engines and mechanics (potentially ruining them) and just work on content.
Re: Suda 51 Says 'Everyone Cares Too Much About Metacritic Scores'
I used to use metacriric a Lot, but take almost 0 interest now.
The main reason being Review bombing of games by fanboys / people with agendas (eg):
I also am fed up with 'critic scores' from publications that do not seriously mark scores down for games which are unoptimised or buggy messes.
Re: Sony Boss Says 'PCs Are Difficult to Set Up', Firm Will Focus on PS5
Does PC threaten Console - not yet, but as PC gets easier (particularly as i understand its now simple to use a normal TV) it may do.
I have always been Console but more and more consider PC.
Unoptimised games / <60fps will be a big contributer - and from Mark Cernys recent presentation, Sony know this. Consoles only have 1 or 2 versions, but are not that powerful, so need careful optimisation to get the best results.
Sony exclusives will help to retain customers (just like they helped build the brand), but if you put them all on PC (or dont release enough)....
Re: State of Play Rumoured for This Month As Sony Looks Set to Skip PS Showcase in 2024
@Stale-Bread
Quite agree on price - though i will add that some devs dont help themselves with all the unoptimised crap these days, which is a cause of them losing money not an effect imo, but thats another discussion!
I hope the rumours ive read/heard (which may only have come about from Japan sales) prove to be rubbish too. And we must remember, Astro was probably produced with a smaller budget than most AAA games due to how much they had already from playroom (which is not a critisism).
Re: State of Play Rumoured for This Month As Sony Looks Set to Skip PS Showcase in 2024
@naruball
Its a fine balance. On 1 hand I hate companies that try to fleece people ('maximise profits' i think they call it eg full price and microtransactions), but on the other hand the state of the industry in general and hesitation to try something whether big, new, or original is quite sad, and clearly shows a lot of financial risk. Even Sony (who have a much bigger problem with mismanagement to be sure) seem reluctant to try new IPs in case they bomb.
Im glad you understood where i was coming from - i tried to word carefully, because i know there are a lot of genuine people out there (and its not like i dont remember when i had to limit myself to only a couple of games a year, or sales) - but there are those who 1 minute are outraged that devs are not taking large numbers of varied AAA game financial risks on their behalf, then never buy games unless on sale yet still expect sequels, then complain that Sony or whoever are not subsidising their console (ie selling at big loss) for them. I think the rumours of low Astro sales have made me touchy!
Re: State of Play Rumoured for This Month As Sony Looks Set to Skip PS Showcase in 2024
I dont care about showcase vs state of play, but 15-20 mins a month isnt too much to ask for, surely....
Re: State of Play Rumoured for This Month As Sony Looks Set to Skip PS Showcase in 2024
@PuppetMaster
I wonder how many of those complaining about 'No original games' or 'Not enough new games' havent bought Astro (a universally praised game) because they will 'Wait for a sale'!
For clarity, i know games are expensive, and fine if its just not your thing at all, but you cant complain about 'No original / new games' if you arent willing to put your hand in your wallet.
Re: PS5 Fans Think Sony's Accidentally Leaked a Wireless PSVR2 Headset
@NEStalgia
Yeah, didnt realise you would need a special antennae (as opposed to just better wifi) until you said - probably im just adding 2 and 2 together and making 5 (mainly because i was surprised they were using upgraded Wifi for Pro).
Re: PS5 Fans Think Sony's Accidentally Leaked a Wireless PSVR2 Headset
@NEStalgia
Wasnt sure tbh as Wireless VR is not anything ive looked into too much - i just thought it a strangely coincidental timing as we have just found out Pro will have upgraded WiFi.
Re: Feature: PS5 Pro's Been Clowned on By the Entire Internet, and the Memes Will Make You Laugh
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare
To be fair I sometimes get quite envious of PC where instead of modes you get various options to set to your own tastes - mine would be framerate, then decent res/picture quality, then everything else.
Sure, have a couple of preset modes for those who cant be bothered, or cant actually see framerates, and allow custom settings for the rest of us - which is probably a lot of those who would be interested in pro.
Totally get your point about dev optimisation / Pro availability and sales enabling poorer base versions - if i was in charge at Sony i would ban all advertising footage captured in modes that do not maintain 60fps 99% of the time... (or just outright ban less than 60fps entirely) - we would very quickly find out that devs CAN make really good looking performance modes if thats all they could advertise. Lol.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Astro Bot?
@nedbvai
Not just a kids game - I suspect the average age of people enjoying it and giving this a 10 or 9 is significantly older than you are, and I certainly am older.
If its not your type of game thats absolutely fine (we all have our tastes), but labelling it a kids game is just wrong.
In fact, a lot of the references / easter eggs in this game are aimed at people older than children.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Astro Bot?
Easy 10. Love the way every level feels different, and technically its fantastic.
I just hope it sells well to encourage Sony and others to take a few more chances on the types of game they make.
Re: PS5 Fans Think Sony's Accidentally Leaked a Wireless PSVR2 Headset
For PS5 Pro only? (Due to wireless connection?)
Re: Feature: PS5 Pro's Been Clowned on By the Entire Internet, and the Memes Will Make You Laugh
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare
I probably will buy the Pro because i dread to think of what base PS5 games are going to be subjected to in terms of performance and optimisation, as soon as Pro has been out a while - its already getting bad now!
Re: Feature: PS5 Pro's Been Clowned on By the Entire Internet, and the Memes Will Make You Laugh
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare
I did read down to the end, as you were making a lot of sense.
The problem is that the presentation itself was very poor indeed.
For the target market, which would include myself, it was far too short and didnt give me anywhere near the level of info i wanted.
Now im no super tech expert, but i do understand the basics, and they didnt cover most of them, and certainly didnt try to explain anything - eg i know what an upscaler is, but why is PSSR so good (other than having a hardware component).
They didnt even cover the 2TB SSD!
Mark Cerny was wasted as he could have done 30mins easy on this, not 9mins.
The only really interesting part of it was that 3/4 choose performance, and his polite but pretty firm nudging of devs.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth 'Hugely Improved' on PS5 Pro, a 'Night and Day' Difference
The only way to break this cycle and truly have a next gen PS6 is if they have a GPU that is better than PS5 pro, but not too much, and put the money saved from not going overboard on the GPU into really enhancing the CPU.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth 'Hugely Improved' on PS5 Pro, a 'Night and Day' Difference
@Porco
"it is sad that many games will be poorly optimized on the base ps5 now that the pro exists (many games were already poor long before the pro as well), particularly from 3rd party developers."
And this is the reason i will probably buy a Pro, and next gen will consider PC.
I have been complaining about this for a while now, and voting with my wallet - FF16, DD2, BMW, Lords of Fallen and more not bought. Sadly a lot of apologists exist, as well as sites (Not Pushsquare) that will not heavily downmark a game for this.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth 'Hugely Improved' on PS5 Pro, a 'Night and Day' Difference
I will probably get the PS5 Pro, and i think the days of console makers in general heavily subsidising the machines is coming to an end which explains the price, but that presentation was really really bad at showing what it can do.
What a waste of Mark Cerny who clearly should have been doing an in depth 30mins including all key technicals, not 9mins.
Re: Astro Bot Update 1.003 Is Available to Download on PS5 Now
Adds a PS5 Pro to the game for 700 gold coins!
Edit: just worked out you can display it horizontally at the crash site, or vertically for another 25 gold coins!
Re: Japan Sales Charts: Astro Bot Barely Registers at Retail, PS5 Numbers Plummet After Price Hike
If Astro doesnt do well then the only message Sony (+ others) will get is never try anything else new, because if games players arent willing to 'take a punt' on such a well praised game, why should they risk making them!
Re: PS5 Pro Probably Won't Run GTA 6 at 4K 60FPS, Tech Expert Claims
@Vaako007
For 3/4 of all PS5 users to play in performance mode, a lot of casual players prefer Performance. They may still buy the game if its only 30fps (unlike myself who will not play it even if it was free), but those that prefer 60fps may not be as happy.
Completely agree that not being capable of 60fps is a dev choice, particularly when we have a number of big budget games at 80-90fps. Ive said it elsewhere, but Mark Cerny pushing 3/4 prefer performance sounded like a polite but firm nudge to devs to me.
Re: Feature: Everything You Can Do in PS5's New Welcome Hub
The customise ability will be most 'welcome'
Re: PS5 Pro Probably Won't Run GTA 6 at 4K 60FPS, Tech Expert Claims
If its not 60fps I (and others) just wont buy it and save the money to buy a decent game that does.
They could easily make this game 60fps by cutting back on CPU overloading rubbish, and if Sony insisted on 60fps as a minimum im sure the devs would suddenly find a way to do it.
I still think Mark Cerny stating the massive preference for 60fps was a polite but forceful nudge.
Re: Random: Skyrim Player Ascends the 7,000 Steps to High Hrothgar on Inclined Treadmill
When i read the headline i thought someone had added something in game via a mod and had visions of an extreme version of the TV show Gladiators!
Re: PS5 Players Choose Performance Mode 75% of the Time
I only buy games these days that are confirmed as almost locked 60fps or higher (unless i can confirm its playable for me via a demo).
What i found most intriguing was this sounded like a very forceful 'nudge' to developers to stop with the 30fps modes, particularly when you consider he didnt have to mention how many choose what mode for his sales pitch of best of both...
Re: PS5 Pro Reveal Is Already Sony's Most Disliked Console Announcement
Whilst i will very probably buy a Pro at launch (providing i can get hold of one), i did think the presentation was very poor - Mark Cerny clearly needed 30mins to go through the proper specs / details, not a 9min top line.
Re: 'It Felt Like Putting New Glasses On,' Claims First PS5 Pro Hands On
The point that seems almost forgotten is that on base PS5 we are already seeing quite a few 3rd party games with very poor framerates, or poor visual quality - yes this is often due to developers ambitions being beyond their capability level (and im not thinking about poor launch optimisation), but UE5 games seem to be a particular problem due to how power hungry the engine is.
I suspect we are only going to see things get much worse from here on out.
Re: How to Pre-Order PS5 Pro
@OldGamer999
Yeah, mine is a slightly different model and a little smaller (due to space), but i have played around with those 2 settings quite a bit for each of my inputs to get the best results.
Funnily enough, one of my main interests in the Pro is the PSSR, partly because of how well they seem to understand this area - eg TV / general upscaling in PS5 games.
Re: 'It Makes Sense Why the PS5 Pro Price Is So High,' Say Tech Experts
Watched the whole DF reaction video earlier - trouble is, as they do keep rightly stating, without full specs its really hard to form a real opinion at the moment.
Sony really needed a 30min livestream to go into more detail, particularly given their target audience.
Re: 'It Makes Sense Why the PS5 Pro Price Is So High,' Say Tech Experts
Console Timing / Price/ Power will likely be the big conundrum with PS6 - release it too early and it will not be much more powerful than PS5 PRO, or it will be similar power difference to PS4 Pro to PS5 but cost around the same as PS5 Pro - £700.
Cant see it happening for another 4yrs tbh.
Re: Capcom Finally Breaks Silence on Dragon's Dogma 2, Confirms New Update Is Incoming
@Throb
60fps - definitely not yet. No idea if this patch will fix it.
Played the demo when it was put out - definitely thought framerate was in the 'dumpster fire' category. It didnt even need to be a complex area and the framerate tanked to the 40's. Hogwarts legacy looks better and runs at getting on for double that in similar areas.