Sequel

@Ainu20 I'm not convinced either.. But he might not have a choice, the market might decide for him.

Seems like they are (finally) emerging from the fog of the Jim Ryan era. Astro Bot came at the perfect time.. and what a game it is, I had high expectations and they've been blown away.. I played the mouse level last night and was laughing out loud.. easily my favorite ps5 game mot even close (have to stop myself ranting too much)

Nintendo have been doing really well at this with games like Animal Crossing & splatoon. Not f2p, but living/evolving games.. and charging full price. This isn't far off that, yes it's marketing, but you can see how this could work in a full on service game, or how 'live' elements could work in more traditional games. There's actually a lot of traction here..

I was quite confident this would get a lot of tens. I think people who have played rescue mission kind of knew that they could knock a full game like this out of the park. The sheer amount of ideas and creativity these guys have matched with flawless execution is something else..

After this was announced I made a comment pegging this to be a potential hit.. mainly based on there being ex bungie devs with tight gunplay potential. Probably most off the mark I've ever been..

Love it. On a side note Goodsmile US are doing a restock of their Astro figure for $45.. it's an absolutely stunning figure with awesome detail. Scalpers sold the last run over $350 a piece on ebay.

Very nice, loving the release day push here, and that emotive trailer. Amazon is telling me maybe up till 10pm.. which usually means late for me, so I have secured one from target to pick up here shortly. Controller not coming till end of month now but such is life enjoy everyone!

Update: my young son LOVED this. We did the whole countdown and I was strongly encouraged to dance.

So cute. Team Asobi just ooze creativity.

Anyone receive their controller btw? My pre order is looking a bit iffy now

I always wanted to be a professional Playstation player. If I buy this who's cutting my cheque?

I read that piece, didn't elicit as strong emotion from me but didn't particularly resonate either.. though I enjoy hearing a different opinion. This feels like a celebration, PS has a wild and diverse history that's broken the barriers of pop culture down. Realistically I can't help but feel like a Jak & Daxter reboot or Parappa revival wouldn't do that well and might sully the memory of the original. They have to keep pushing forward.. but I think a lot of people are feeling... where are they pushing forward to now? This is the first time it feels PS is struggling to find/forge a new identity. Insominiac are working on Marvel games for the foreseeable future (big sellers but hardly pushing boundaries), we've heard nothing from other big studios outside of canceled titles.. the new GaaS initiate has been hit or miss? The big budget single players are supposedly incredibly expensive. What are the new faces and franchises of PS now? (Will Astro be? I hope so) I feel like the negative sentiment towards these old IP references is rooted in a bit of nervousness in where this is all going. I doubt Playstation are sitting on their hands or ignoring the sentiment over there, I think we'll see a return to greatness

For years I've been screaming this is Playstations 'mario rival'.. now PS & Asobi have more than done their part.. it's just left to the public now to embrace the character and lift this game up. Wish them every success, some of the best talent PS has imo.

This is my GOTY so far.. but likely only to pipped by Astro tomorrow. I think because I had my expectations in check wukong blew them away

How are people getting their copies early!?! Who do I have to bribe??

Well... this certainly adds to the excitement. Roll on tomorrow..

@nomither6 For me it starts this Friday with Astro Bot..

Oh well.. you never know 🤞

Hahahaha. Worth a try I suppose. I'll still stand by that limited edition controller though. Was a looker. Still did the Astro one instead saying that.

Wonder what PS management must have been thinking watching WBs splashy single player (like Sony is known for) blowing up and their GaaS suicide squad hitting the skids. Especially knowing that the former has been Playstations bread and butter and the latter being where they'd shifted resources to at the detriment of the former.

I haven't been to the cinema since the mario movie.. and this will not change that.

This is quite an odd generation

Don't jinx yourself Sony. The trailer on this one looked proper cheese on toast, and not in a good way. If it wasn't for Astro I'd say Sony was actively trying to lose me as a customer these days. Seem to be courting a different crowd to the abandonment of those who've been there from the start. Balance is off

In case of fire break glass **Bloodborne 2**

I appreciate the visual updates, but I've just never been able to get into any ace attorney/Edgeworth games I'm HD, I like the softer pixilated look & play the others on my DS & 3DS. A graphics toggle would have sealed it for me here, but I'll hold for now.

Looks like a lot of these companies wanted to move to live service more than their customers did. Unfortunately a bunch of studios and jobs are paying the price

They likely can't say or promise anything right now as a potential pivot or futute moves are uncertain. Can't blame them for keeping mum, whatever they say will likely be wrong.

Con that's a stealth pro lol. Gaming is a strange past time, we actively seek out addiction where most other people try to minimize it. Addictive flow state is our digital nirvana, where hours somehow evaporate through the sweat of our thumbs.

Getting my last two bots today, wonder what obscure objectives I'll need to do. Anyone notice the Team Asobi updated logo on the splash screen?

At some point, but not for a while. Will likely check out the Avatar game long before, haven't even seen the films more for the visuals/world.

7 days to go. Finishing early next Friday to jump on it.. what a geek.

@DennisReynolds Although saying all that. Playing a couple of titles with path/ray tracing, particularly Wukong.. I think this might be worth not getting to 4k/60 sooner, it's going to look really really good. I'm playing wukong at 1440p with the full raytracing setting at it looks awesome. I can live with the detour if it's this good looking

@DennisReynolds I never said this gen, i said honing in. Demons souls, Astro Bot & others look fantastic at 60fps, yes upscaled but brilliant crisp visual fidelity and smooth framerate. I have a 4080 and it's been fantastic outside of the most recent releases. When I say 'honing in' I don't think it was that unreasonable to think next gen would finally deliver 4k 60fps.. which it it would have if not for ue5/ray tracing. Now 4k 60fps is multiple gens away.

Felt like we were finally honing in on 4k 60fps, especially after seeing demon souls and astro kick off the gen could almost taste it. Then ray tracing, ue5, fsr overload etc.. and it's slipped away again

@RubyCarbuncle Rescue Mission was one of best platformers I've ever played. I feel that Astro has a better future if it can blow up and become more mainstream, which unfortunately I don't think will happen with VR. Even worse Asobi could end up finished stuck on VR. You never know... if these games start making Astro more Mario-like, maybe there'll be a PSVR2 rescue mission port.. or even sequel? I feel your pain, but this is by far the best next move for the franchise. Also note kids can't play VR but can play this.

Loved those speedruns in Playroom. Might even go for the Platinum on this, which I very rarely do and haven't done since Resogun.

Good to hear. My PC has been taking it too easy lately

The trailer for this was gorgeous, but was just a trailer. Wasn't this originally an extraction shooter, but then changed to a hero shooter? Haven't followed too closely. It's all a bit concerning really, they are 'lucky' xbox dropped the ball too or Playstation could have been in trouble this gen.

Even as a pc gamer too, I'd like to see this stay console.. at least for a decent while. Ps5 needs some magic to make it feel special. As a side note: I'm not seeing much marketing for this? Thought tv spots would even be good, it's a mass appeal family game.. but most people aren't looking at gaming news. Hope Sony appreciate the magic they have on their hands here, they seemed to have poured far more fuel on concord tbh. Heck, they could even have more success with the astro universe as a live service.. AS LONG as they keep making the SP platformers along side. So much potential here

Never say never, but I don't see it personally. Reconfiguring to f2p would take more resources and frustrate original buyers who were excited to avoid that. Just have to learn from it. They also spent more marketing this than astro bot which i think is a mistake as astro has mass appeal, but understandable being a new IP. Sony used to feel cutting edge in the 90s and 2000s, Wipeout, tomb raider, FF7, resident evil.. so many more. They were leading pop culture, lately it feels like they're following.

@Kraven I'm not finding it very difficult either... which I'm actually really enjoying. It makes a nice contrast to all the soulslikes I've been playing, I know I can play it for a session and make good progress without hitting a wall. I hope the whole 'soulslike' thing doesn't put people off because it doesn't have that kind of challenge: 1) much easier bosses 2) no loss of resources 3) bosses are close to shrines 4) OP powers if want to use them. It's just a really spectacular action game that i hope people aren't put off because of imagined 'difficultly'.

9/10 for me. Most of the criticisms are kind of true.. but I just can't stop playing it, it's so addictive.. for me that's what counts. I'm also one of slither playing on a high end PC connected to an LG OLED TV so that does help matters. Only 10 hours in so my feelings could change.

Looks wonderful, but it was a pang to the heart to see roguelike. Rougelikes are to me what soulslikes are to others. Will probably end up buying it nonetheless..

Wonder how management felt watching Elden Ring blow up after having that relationship with fromsoftware.. which I believe they dropped to change tact? Seriously, go open world with a bloodborne sequel, people love the open world stuff and Fromsoftware have shown they can make the best open worlds out there. Can Sony get them on the hook for it though after Elden Ring? Not even sure they have the bandwidth now with talk of an ER sequel.

I quite enjoyed the more linear experience of the first, but they seem very capable so I trust their direction. Was day 1 last time and will be day 1 again here if they can repeat the magic 🤞

Was a few things that looked good, but that Reanimal really caught my eye.

Episodes were supposed to be for iconic and revered games. The people decide what those are, not corporate marketing budgets. Touch of arrogance here.

Without Kojima I'd personally prefer they stick aggressively to the original, so this sounds good to me.

12 inches of Henry! Oh matron!!

Big difference between psp/vita days is ptoliferation of brilliant indies which can sustain play between first party titles.

Good to see some love for Real Bristol. We're gonna do it this year lads!