Vacuumator

I've not completed it yet, but it's a good short film so far. From a graphical and world-building perspective, it's very impressive. But from the point of view of being a demo? In the first ten minutes, I held the triangle button down on the controller for a minute or two, then pushed forwards on the left stick for 10-20 seconds at a time. I'm not certain who thought giving the player such brief control/agency was a good idea. I'd rather it just give me the cut-scenes straight for ten minutes, then hit me with the gameplay. I'm not knocking the achievement by any means, I'm just a little intrigued by the choices regarding player interaction in the demo.

This isn't really news is it? Different games made by different size teams with different budgets take varied amounts of time to come to fruition. I chatted to an indie dev in 2016 about their game. It might be out next year from the looks of it.

This discussion seems to relate to scale and scope. Six years for a huge game with Hi-Fidelity, or 2-3 years for a game with slightly less ambition and scale from a AAA. It's about what they want to make. They choose to make these expansive worlds because they can and they have the budget, everything else can be left for the indie and AA devs. I would gladly take more frequent releases from AAA, but it's not going to happen, unless of course it's a studio like Insomniac, again, they have the money and the team size to devote to multiple projects with a more frequent release schedule.

I’ve played some, not all of the demo. It’s a very clever concept, one that immediately makes one wonder why this hasn’t been done before.

Well the show is already better than Sony's showcase and it's only 20 mins in.

For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.

Hopefully this game will disappear too.

Morning to all. BOTW. I may check out the Lies of P. Demo.

The PS5 doesn’t really get a whole lot of play time these days.

For any creative people out there struggling to get a break in your chosen field, it’s things like this that give you reason to keep at it.

What a load of nonsense.

@ManifoldCuriosity

It hovers around £25-30. It’s a perennial fluctuator.

All I want to know is how this affects the value of my PS3 copy.

It’s becoming more and more awkward watching Geoff sell those MMOFTPRPG mobile games that have paid a ton of money for the privilege of some stage and screen time.

Blood Curse on PS3 is superb, one of the few games I’ve found genuinely horrific and unnerving.

@scpnightwing

I agree, it’s a little bit “no-news”. I’d like to see some more features and critical pieces, but appreciate that these do require more work.

@mariomaster96

Beat me to it. There is the possibility that it doesn’t, it might just be a “thought-game”.

Google Lens. Was it Lens? See? Speak volumes.

Who is this product for ?

I disliked that this was a story months back with some such other game and I dislike it perhaps ever so slightly more now.

Does this mean that some people have played the game near non-stop since release?

If I have the chance to play anything, it will be BotW.

I thought the option was there as a toggle already? Or at least something related to switching/toggling sprint (it’s been a while since I played GTAV, clearly).

I look at the prices for GOW and TLOU and I’m perfectly happy with the £30 each I paid for the physical editions a few months after release.

Survivor 1&2 and Darkside Chronicles. In VR.

Go with that, do something different.

@sanderson72

The prohibitively expensive proprietary memory and those missing controls which made remote play a little less appealing didn’t help matters either.

Ideally I would have loved to have purchased PSVR2 on release, but for the price, it just wasn’t justifiable. Considering I have a backlog to last a lifetime, the handful of games I would have been playing on the device were not worth the outlay.

I still have so many PSVR games I’ve not played, buying the new headset would just not make sense. I’d have liked to have seen more in the way of updates to older titles for VR2 at launch. Could Sony not have invested in supporting some studios to update some of their titles where it has not been financially feasible for them to do so independently?

There are lots of games that may remain locked to original PSVR, so I’m not going to dispose of that headset. I’ve actually only just set up the CUH-ZVR2 I got as a replacement for the launch model, I’m happy with that for now. It really was a folly for Sony to release that unit without HDR passthrough. VR2 has a very simple one-cable setup, but the streamlined refinements of the CUH-ZRV2 are notable. The thinner cable is absolutely noticeable when using the headset and not having to fiddle around to find the in-line controls makes it far easier to use. Having the earphones plug directly to the headset means far less tangling.

It’s fascinating to study all Sony’s console iterations over the years, but equally as interesting to look at the slightly bizarre decisions they made. A PSP with a mono speaker and no WiFi? It’s cost-cutting if nothing else.

@belmont

I actually picked up both a Steam Deck and Series S around this time last year. I think I’ve had more usage out of both of them than I would have with VR2.

@Loamy

Thank you for saving me from being that person.

Of course I see the news first on Hot UK Deals…

These ports exist only to keep Digital Foundry in business.

So this is sort of a live-service, choose your own adventure Silent Hill television programme?

I actually don’t know what to make of it. It’s different. I won’t be watching this, it will probably be hidden behind a subscription to a television service I have no interest in paying for.

Breath of the Wild. Finally got hooked on this after only ever playing it briefly.

I get why some games hire well-known actors, and can see how having some horror/B-movie actors in a game like The Quarry fits, but sometimes it feels a little unnecessary.

There is some interesting commentary from Harvey Smith regarding the first Dishonored. He stated how great it was to be able to have a number of well-known actors on board, but also how scheduling and costs made it less sustainable. He found that is was easier to work with voice actors and theatre actors, as it was easier to tone down over the top performances rather than coax something less understated from the film actors.

I’m not sure how much of a selling point having film actors really is for a game. Games have always looked to cinema for inspiration, but they will never be cinema. Perhaps it feels better not to be drawn out of the experience by seeing recognisable faces in games.

Shocking, nothing else to say.

Who comes up with ideas for games nowadays? It’s monkeys sitting at typewriters having their projects greenlit by gorillas in bowler hats, surely?

Why is there this sudden clamouring to spend millions on forgotten failures? I’d like to think I’m being unfair, but sadly all too many of these projects fail, or don’t even come to fruition at all.

Gamers really can accept something different that isn’t the same as everything else as long as it’s good.

Also, as with the Deviation game, stop trailing a concept of nothing until there is some substance. It’s only going to backfire in the long term.

I’ve decided not to renew my Plus subscription and so deleted all the MP games from my system to save space for some games worthy of my time. It felt slightly cathartic.

Sony obviously has a lot of first party titles that aren’t GaaS that are in the works. That this Showcase showed off very little that isn’t multi-platform is confusing and somewhat concerning.

I’ve been been a PlayStation only gamer since forever, but the past few years have seen me acquire a Switch, Xbox and Steam Deck. I loved Nintendo as a child, but felt that their games were something I’d grown out of. Going back to their games now, I see so much quality and innovation, both in single player and multiplayer that doesn’t rely on live service.

As an older gamer, I see less and less that appeals to me from the bigger publishers. I’d actually rather play a Kirby game on the Switch than something like Fairgames, which looks so much like any other game of its type.

Sadly, games are too afraid to deviate from formulas nowadays, mostly due to fear of failure. What cannot be fathomed is how a publisher thinks that attempting to cash in on Splatoon with a game that is highly likely to fail is a good idea. Make something original or don’t bother. No wonder companies like Sony are buying up all the smaller studios, as this is seemingly the only sector where innovation lies.

I don’t see anything in presentations such as this showcase that makes me think “wow, that looks intriguing/original/unique, I want to see more of that”.

It looks like someone pitched a concept and they just went with it, not really actually sitting back and assessing whether this is any good or what anyone wants. It looks like Teen Watch Dogs.

Perhaps let those ideas gestate for a bit?

That first screenshot, of the two eleven things, it’s from the PS3 version of Shadow of Mordor, right? It was a mistake that it was slipped into this review, correct?

@ThunderSteve85

According to the support page it’s only for AirPods Pro manufactured before October 2020. Take them into an Apple Store and they will test them. The replacement programme runs for three years after manufacturer of the first unit.

"It's like people who say Tannoy when they mean public address system. Tannoy is a brand name”.

I noticed someone in the live chat say they wanted a serious AAA game. I concur. I see the same generic looking sci-fi and fantasy settings. If it’s an indie game it’s either overly cute or some pseudo-cel shaded exploration effort with a faceless main character. This is of course generalising, but there is often little to get excited about in gaming these days, when everything starts to look like a version of something else.

“Serious” or “ mature” games seem to be served up by the horror genre, but that market is overly saturated with mediocre products.

Foamstars was truly shocking, legal action for copyright infringement level shocking.

@ThunderSteve85 Are they 1st generation? If so, the static is a known issue. Apple will replace them free of charge if so.

Still don’t know what GOAT means.

Who here actually plays and enjoys GaaS? I’m curious as to the reasons why people make the decision to dedicate their time to games of this ilk. Is is the social aspect, connecting and playing with others? Satisfaction gained from the gameplay loop and progression?

What’s the demographic of players who play GaaS? How does devoting time to these games fit into player’s schedules?

Is there now a shift away from GaaS? We hear more and more games of this type being announced, but many seemed doomed to fail before release.

It will be interesting to see what happens to London Studios multiplayer game…

I see Redfall being mentioned a fair bit here. I’ve put a few hours into the game. It’s no exaggeration to say it’s the most buggy game I’ve played. I’ve seen numerous issues of items floating in space, NPCs stuck in T poses, as well as freezes and crashes. On top of this, there are so many aspects of the overall design that just don’t work, or detract from what could have been a great experience.

Why Microsoft didn’t step in and oversee the development of the project is questionable. As the first Xbox-only Bethesda release, it stands as a huge failure. The situation puts far more pressure on Starfield to succeed - hopefully the delay to its release is to make sure MS don’t have another Redfall situation and lose even more confidence in the brand.

I gave up on the game at the weekend and deleted it. It wasn’t fun and continuing to play was a waste of a valuable time.

I was wary of this Deviation project as soon as they wheeled the devs out to promote the acquisition, with little to speak of the game itself.

If this was to be a live-service game, then sadly it is no great loss.

“People like them, let’s make some more of them”.

@Ausertoo

I agree, I’m just wondering whether from a name change is a good idea from a marketing/brand recognition perspective.

I’d prefer a new name also, but going with 2 or a subtitle is sadly safer.

I’m trying to think of notable examples of sequels where the name of the game changes, rather than being given a number or a subtitle. Are there any prominent ones?

Whether you’ve… no.

I like my rock, I shall remain under it.

@Sanquine

I’m wondering if there is there is any difference in tolerance for VR across the two generations? Does the improved resolution of VR2 help?

I deleted Redfall last night. Too many bugs and glitches and crashes. Met a boss that seems more designed for a co-op experience and decided that this game just isn’t fun.

I only played a few hours of BOTW, so decided to refresh and start a new game on that. It’s the latest Zelda game, right?

This discussion again. I hope it doesn’t happen, otherwise it is going to become a trend. The refresh doesn’t offer vast improvements, it’s purely going to offer more stability and better frame rates. For enthusiasts that can and want to invest, this is fine. We have seen console generations lasting around seven years, for those who want to update, that is now halved.

There have been cross-gen games dating back a number of generations, so what we are seeing is nothing new. It remains that a healthy amount of games continue to be released for the PS4, a machine now ten years old. Some people will be happy playing games this way until support stops. There appear to be a lot more cross-gen releases from PS4-PS5 than there were with the previous generation.

It seems a lot to ask for people to pay up to £500 for slightly improved performance.

I don’t believe that a Ghost of Tsushima sequel would adopt a different name. Marketing executives would probably shout obscenities if this was attempted.

Had never heard of The Expanse. I have now gained intelligence +1.

Gems! Gems of all things! As if we all have a stack of those around to spare.

The important question is does Crime Boss have a character called Clive in it? Does it? It might, but I doubt it.