StrickenBiged

I don't do PvP or live service, so it's a thanks-but-no-thanks from me. I hope those who are into this sort of thing enjoy it though.

I should have thought the fairest thing would be royalty payments. If the game does gangbusters, everyone wins. If it flops, then everyone is left disappointed.

Miles is very cool and all, but Peter is the OG, and I foresee that I'll be playing mostly as him. That being said, Miles did have a cool set of abilities, if perhaps a little OP.
I'm guessing Miles' tree will tap into his powers, whereas Peter will have more unlockable tech gizmos to balance the two of them. Or more symbiote powers, depending on where they take that in the story.
At the moment, while both are very cool characters, I feel like Miles needs his own game to have the room to breathe as a character. Maybe it's just me, but Peter is the Spider-Man that everyone knows best, and I think most people will play as most of the time.

I can wait on all these. I just picked up H:FW on Amazon for £31, so have a replay of H:ZD on the patched-in ultra-hard NG+ difficulty ahead of me to remind me of the story, and the DLC to finish off on that, before I get into H:FW and Burning Shores.
Plus I'm waiting at least a year on Diablo 4 to see how the monetisation really pans out.
Plus plus Warhammer 40k 10th Edition launches this month and I am desperately trying to get my army painted up in time to play some games of that.
But yeah, it's a strong month for PS5 if you're into these games.

Remedy realise how handily the disc-PS5 outsold the digital only one, right? And that they're releasing the game during the period when everyone is looking for and buying Christmas presents, right?

They should have made it meta. I'd like to break into ActiFission publishing HQ and rob Bobby Crotchstick's secret stash to get back my £'s spent on UnderBlotch skins I didn't want to get out of a 'swag-sack'. I'd like to smash my way into EA (Eccentric Amusements) and steal back all the money hoarded from players of FIFA (Football Impersonating Financial Acquisition-engine).

Shame there's no plat, but I'm still all over this for the setting.

@Futureshark Some of the Boomers were in their 30's in the 1990's, like my father and his buddies. They were the guys playing DOOM over dial-up internet, with their kids (me and my brother) looking over their shoulders in awe and thinking 'what a time to be alive' and 'this is so much cooler than Mario'. XD

DS was my first Kojima game, and I 'got it'. Those moments when Low Roar's music (a very sad RIP) came in when you approached a new location after an arduous trek across hostile terrain are among the best in my gaming experience. And I loved tinkering with ziplines and making a very efficient network to quickly get around the map in the endgame. Very much looking forward to seeing where the series goes next.

@grapetrap I'm still an Essential Tier scrub! Buuut... they keep making it more and more tempting to upgrade! XD

Is there still an upgrade path to get the director's cut on PS5 without having to pay the full game price? I have the original game on PS4, on disc.

I tried to have a look on PSN for a directors cut upgrade item, but was only able to find the PS4 version and that only refers to being able to buy the expansion, no reference to a PS5 upgrade. Do I need to buy that first to be able to 'see' the PS5 upgrade?

Edit: I'm only on PS+ Essential too. I'd rather just buy the upgrade, if that's possible.

If it was a movie about CoD, presumably the tagline would be "From Gamer to Racist"?

(Only took me 2 weeks to think of that one, good thing I don't write headlines for a living.)

@PSXDave Would absolutely love a remaster or sequel to Brutal Legend. Such a shame Double Fine was snapped up by MS...

More options should be great for accessibility, allowing less-able gamers to get in on the action. Great news.

I bet it's a pain in the bum to put a bomber jacket on over your wings.

First I've heard of this website. The Stardew Valley sheet music book makes me want to learn piano...

" it's now impossible for Geralt to eat or drink underwater [...] consuming pints of ale or grilled meats underwater is too much of a stretch."

Sorry CDPR, but all you need to do is go on YouTube and search 'eating underwater' to see that it is possible.

Sorry Bliz, I just don't believe you anymore. I'm going to give it at least a year before jumping in, if at all.

For the Emperor!

I started XV the other day - still in the very early stages of it. My first FF experience (save for occasionally glancing over a friend's shoulder when he was playing VII way back in the early 00's on his laptop). My only gripe so far is that the menus are a bit clunky and you can't dismiss the popups that come up when you turn in a quest or a hunt, which slows down the boring bits. Combat is very different to what I'm used to, but I'm cool with having something which is a bit more chill to actually play. If that's only 13th on this list, and based on my enjoyment so far, then it looks like I'm going to have a good time poking around this franchise.

4:17 - The NPCs got quite existential there, didn't they...

Well a biopic is much more interesting than what I assumed the movie was going to be - some drole racing drama.
Yeah, the slogan absolutely sucks. "From Gamer to Racer" is pathetic. How about "From Virtual to Reality; one man's journey to the chequered flag"? You could probably delete everything after the semi-colon, but this was suggested to me by ChatGPT, and is far better.

I wonder how much use they made of the haptic feedback...

@OrtadragoonX Not quite correct to say that the CMA's decision had nothing to do with Sony. Sony's "Theory of Harm 3" in their responses to the CMA's preliminary decision focussed on cloud gaming. See page 15 onwards here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/637cecede90e076b8043d8cd/Sony_Interactive_Entertainment.pdf

I have to say, I have been wondering why neither MS nor ABK have bothered to make any statements actually criticising the decision and explaining why its incorrect, but are attacking the consequences (as they see it) of the decision in terms of their investment decisions, etc. Do they not have an answer to the CMA's findings? Or can they not come up with another remedy which wouldn't require ongoing regulatory oversight (which is not supposed to be the CMA's job)?

Perhaps they're keeping their powder dry rather than prejudice their appeal by making inconsistent statements now.

When it comes to games developed in Japan, I'm not convinced that Sony is actually locking those down in every case. XB has a tiny, tiny market share there, which is its own fault for not making games or products that appeal to that market. If I were a Japanese dev making a game, I'm not sure I'd bother with all the hassle involved in developing, certifying, keeping patched and updated, etc, for a console where I don't expect to sell very many copies.

I'm looking forward to the court case. We got such an interesting insight into what goes on behind the scenes in the gaming industry from the disclosure in Epic v Apple, and (despite the redactions) in the submissions made by Sony and MS to the various regulators in relation to this acquisition. Personally, I hope this thing runs and runs and we continue to get these tid-bits of information that the companies usually keep to themselves.

@Kidfried I was already lamenting the loss of any potential Sekiro sequel. My favourite of the Souls-likes so far.

But at least we'd always have Bloodborne... right PlayStation... right... please?

@stua12t Well, we have MS' word for it, but no insight into how they reached that conclusion. Do they, for instance, include the foregone sales of full priced game releases? Or is it just a calculation based on "we made X in gamepass subscriptions, and spent Y on acquiring licences to put games on gamepass. X exceeds Y therefore we are profitable"?

Fascinating.

Given their comments, I assume that MS and ABK must have had advance notice of the decision. If not, then announcing an appeal before your lawyers have had a chance to review the decision is never a wise move. Keep your cards close until you're ready to play and all that.

I bet Ryan is popping champagne.

I'd be playing already if I could get the damned save-transfer system to work! My NG+-ready save is trapped on the PS4 version of the app, and CDPR's save transfer system just refuses to work for me despite repeated attempts!

I'm not entirely sure this is good news. By implication, isn't he saying that the overheads provided by the PS5 meant that they didn't have to spend so long optimising the game? If so, that may not bode well.

Thanks for the heads-up. Nabbed it.

On reflection, I downgraded Elden Ring from a 10 to an 8. In the last year I just haven't been able to enjoy a repeat playthrough or NG+. I think once the sense of discovery is gone the game loses a lot of its magic and its flaws become a lot more apparent.

@NEStalgia My assumption too. You'd have thought that the director or producer would step in and say something.

Why do the actors in these things always hold and press buttons on the controllers weirdly? Like how they stab at the buttons, don't rest their fingers on the triggers, etc.

I'm waiting to see what the monetisation is like before I touch D4 with even a bargepole. Sadly, Blizzard has lost my trust on that front with their more recent releases.

I'd love to buy one, but at that price I've got more pressing priorities. Appreciate it's probably the best VR out there at the moment, but all the same a big price cut needed.

Sackboy and this rat game sound good to me.

@Beerheadgamer82 I can top both of these. Was on the deck of a ferry waiting to depart. There were a lot of seagulls around. I said to my mate "we're going to get shat on standing here". Looked up at the sky, just in time for a large amount of seagull poo to hit me right between the eyes and splatter across my entire face. My friend was literally rolling on the floor laughing his head off for a good while.

Bond should be fun. I hope they're looking to the older films and what have you for inspiration. I want disappearing cars with machine guns hidden behind the headlights, watches that can saw through things, exploding pens, eye glasses that can scan for intel, that sort of thing. Silly as Hitman can get when you set things up right, it's much more grounded than Bond.

@Clankylad I'd have thought they could easily fill in Season 2 of the TV show by showing us what happened in-between Part 1 and Part 2 of the games. That sort of time jump makes more sense in gaming, or even a sequel to a feature film, but I'd have thought it would be more jarring in a TV show.

@WizzNL Story quality is debatable. Personally I thought it was full of plot holes. I can appreciate what the writers were going for and thought they mostly nailed it, but I thought they could have got there in a more intelligent, and possibly a more emotionally impactful, way. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those rabid detractors who 'hated' the game, I enjoyed it a lot, but thought Part 1 had a much better story.) I recommend you play it for yourself, and maybe you'll see what I mean.

@nomither6 Appreciated, thanks! Baffled as to why they felt the need to re-invent the nomenclature used in their platform - calling it a "server" made it sound far more techy than it needs to be!

Is there a guide for how to use Discord in the first place? I've tried to use that platform many times and I just can't seem to get my head around how it's organised. Maybe I'm following the wrong/badly organised channels, but I find it utterly impossible to use.

It's just a crying shame that Hogwarts Legacy doesn't feature a time-management system a-la Bully, where you had to attend classes according to a schedule, and that the being-a-student role-play is somewhat lacking. They could have given you time to do longer quests with the time-turner device from the books. I've been doing so much side content already, I don't think I've set foot in the school grounds in what must be at least an in-game month! The professors must think I died somewhere.

@get2sammyb Thanks! When it comes to FF7, I'm thinking I might wait until they have remade the whole thing. I'm expecting a "complete edition" to drop, hopefully not in vain.

I'll move FFXV up my backlog I think. I'm enjoying Hogwarts for the moment, but eager to try something completely new to me after that's done.

I've never played a FF game. I think I've got FFXV in my PSN Library through the PS Plus Collection. Can I just jump in there?

The State of Play killed my (admittedly, already low) interest in this game entirely.

Yes, DA:O with remade animations, graphics, and a streamlined UI and class system (I seem to recall that you could waste skill points on perks that didn't suit your build if you didn't know what you were doing) would be ace. It had a great story that I replayed many times to see all the permutations of the story, and interactions with the world and party members based on your choices.