breakneck

Again it's simple. Don't buy it if you don't want it. If you want to build a PC build it (Sony are already porting to it). The PS4 Pro never replaced the base PS4. The PS5 is still a great console unlike the PS4 which was already struggling at this time in its life cycle.

People need to be more zen. The invisible hand of capitalism will either reward or punish Sony and they'll accordingly double down or course correct.

It is expensive but it makes the base PS5 look a lot more reasonable in comparison. People complain about that too but international logistics and procurement are horrible now.

I had to summon an online player for the first time ever in a Souls game to beat this unfair *****. So if this helps new players or those who gave up, I'm happy. Still should never have released so broken that the visuals literally had my eyes aching.

I think this is a good way to handle it. Environmentally safe, and an affordable option for those who can't otherwise and you get a warranty so you are safe for 12 months.

I want to see Alan Wake 2 and DD2 analysis by DF. I think of anything sells this console it will be those two. The improvements in the Ff7 Rebirth photos posted by one of the directors shows a significant improvement to lighting.

Seeing so many comments about the vertical stand is interesting. Everyone in my friends group keeps the fat PS5 horizontally including me. I wonder what the split is like overall.

@OldGamer999 2TB as per the blog

I think we need to see in action with Digital Foundry (Monster Hunter Wilds, Ff7 and Alan Wake 2 comparisons from them will help more than this video) before we can pass judgement. The breakdown on YouTube was too fast.
It is at the end of the day an enthusiasts console which is cheaper than an enthusiast PC but this won't help with Playstations negative perception.

Important info from the blog:
The PS5 Pro console will be available this holiday at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $699.99 USD, £699.99 GBP, €799.99 EUR, and ¥119,980 JPY (includes tax). It will include a 2TB SSD, a DualSense wireless controller and a copy of Astro’s Playroom pre-installed in every PS5 Pro purchase. PS5 Pro is available as a disc-less console, with the option to purchase the currently available Disc Drive for PS5 separately.

PS5 Pro will launch on November 7, 2024 and will be available at participating retailers and directly from PlayStation at direct.playstation.com. Preorders will begin on September 26, 2024.

@CrashBandicoat yup there is definitely still a market for it. But the lack of PS5 price cuts is also adding to the negative sentiment. Either way let's see how it does. Sony never announced the breakdown of PS4 and Pro officially.

That price is not going to go down too well but again it depends on the hardcore enthusiasts and what they are willing to pay. The Portal proved successful so I wonder if they see a market at this price.

@DDDD I think this is just Playstation now. Even Spider-Man 2 and Gowr went on sale after 7-8 months digitally and they still don't go beyond 30% off.

I think word of mouth will help the game and goty nominations. Also a lot of people nervous about spending due to length and the UK public generally having no money.

Doesn't help Warhammer also came out which is a massive franchise. I think Playstation execs are smart enough to know that Astro is meant to be an evergreen title to sell over the years.

I think he does have a point. It is also quite eye opening to see how his generation thinks about these things versus people now.

The survival mentality of the early 2000's doesn't exist anymore with a more defeatist attitude now with a hint of entitlement/desperation. Not the fault of current employees either as it's been beaten out of them and companies have taken more and more advantage.

Just a fundamental change in thinking overall.

@Deljo people are already complaining about how they feel the gen has just started since late 2022. I think we have to get used to the fact that Console cycles will get longer not shorter.

Only 9 minutes. Interesting. I assume one-two mins will be a console ad. So 7-8 mins of spec breakdowns?

@PuppetMaster I think so and it still won't give Square the results they desire because most of their games are disappointing and mismanaged.

@UltimateOtaku91 yup. Outside of dragon quest I don't think Square has a good reputation there anymore.

I won't be surprised if Square removed their characters if they had any. Probably in an attempt to distance themselves from Playstation and show their Multiplatform stance.

Foolish either way given how well the cameos have been received by everyone

@Mostik yeah I thought it'll just be a fun way to kill some time but they actually had me quite invested in the world and characters and getting Wellers back to voice Robo was incredible.

@Duck_Farmer original sin 2 is the better divinity game by a country mile. Imo it's better than Baldurs Gate 3 as well.

Got Astro Bot today but I'll probably start it tomorrow or on Monday as I'm in the final 2-3 stages of Jeanne D'arc and want to finish it. Great game but a little silly how the end chapter requires you to grind so much.

It is very funny but around 45 days back I bought Jeanne D'arc, Robocop and The Sexy Brutale on sale thinking they were all short and could be beaten before Astro Bot.
I was wrong. Ended up going for the platinum with Robocop and Jeanne D'arc is longer than I expected for a PSP game. Sexy Brutale will have to wait.

@knowles2 I also think Playstation started marketing it properly too late. For a single player game they've nailed the marketing but live services are different and New IP are tough sells especially from a brand new studio.

I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding here:
Astro/God of War Ragnarok/Baldurs Gate can be called 'evolving games' but not live service

Concord, gt7, Helldivers 2 are live services.

All live services are evolving games but not all evolving games are live services.

@themightyant yeah I realized this when I grinded out the Ni No Kuni 2 platinum. Good game but a horrible platinum that made me hate the game with a vengeance.
After that I decided I'll only go for platinum trophies that are easily attainable (Alan Wake 2) or really fun (Spidey 2).
I also switched off trophy notifications after they popped up during Shadow of The Colossus when the Colossi would die and the sad music would play. Seriously who thought that was a good time for a trophy notification .

@Rob_230 he hasn't used Twitter since he got the jew job. He's on the podcast though.

Tbf seeing how bad Twitter comments are it's the right choice. Harada schools idiots. Every time a Sony studio posts the top replies are 'where game' or 'please no dei'. Insomniac get replies like 'this is why you got hacked' because of Spidey DLC.

@Kidfunkadelic83 mine is available for pick up tomorrow so I'm rushing through the final missions of Jeanne D'arc 😭. I'm so excited for this game!

This is so sweet. I love these Playstation CG trailers. They're all great though this one reminds me of the Death Stranding trailer with its mix of CG and real humans.

@Korgon two million but the next game from a new IP hits 20+ million it's more than the entire Killzone franchise. Also, when Playstation did try to shop franchises to new studios the results weren't great (Thieves in Time and Jak The Lost Frontier). I would like to see a single player FPS from Playstation though and I think Concord would've actually worked better with a good Single player campaign which plays to Sonys strength.

Looks really interesting! Can't wait to see more of it.

@NoHope I mean they've been promoting Astro Bot for ages. I saw a trailer for it during the Imax screening for Deadpool and Wolverine. Covering Mumbais trains with ads, champions league physical presence. Playable demos in Canada.

They've followed the same strategy they usually do which is final month marketing. America is the only region where it feels they gave Concord a bigger presence.

@Korgon I understood that Guerrilla were bored as well and Shadowfall didn't do too well critically and wasn't as successful as they expected commercially.

The gamer.com is a joke. They're always cynical. They're maybe the most pro-Nintendo site out there. Also, their walkthrough of P5R nearly ruined my playthrough.

Playstation early generation always wanted each generation to be defined by a new set of games. This only changes with the PS4 when the realization of strong IPs and IP cultivation became more important. Even then studios like SP and ND have said multiple times they make the games THEY want to make (Factions 2 was Naughty Dogs idea).

There are issues that need to be worked on though:
1. More diverse IP. If Media Molecule didn't waste over a decade on nonsense like Dreams we probably wouldn't have this complaint either.

2. A little More focus on children's games. Getting the young generation into gaming is important.

3. Better communication. Not over sharing like Xbox is good. But unlike Nintendo, Playstation doesn't have the constant output of exclusive games to fully earn the radio silence.

Now I just want this game to cross 5-6 million units so that Playstation see that there is an audience for these games (I've pre-ordered mine but there is a storm so I cannot pick it up before Monday)! A lot of people talk about Japan Studios but very few actually bought their games! Now it's time to let money talk.

@RudeAnimat0r honestly put it on easy mode (the combat isn't that interesting) and just focus on the VN. It shouldn't be too long.

I think this is the most important line:
Xbox platform limitations that have been raised to us."

Raised to us.

If they're hitting limitations Gamescience may have decided to focus on the other two platforms especially if Sony decided to be very helpful. Or maybe those issues have been shared and Microsoft will get the notification in two months. Also seeing the PS5 performance, I don't see how the Series S can handle it.

@patronmacabre buying a Chinese company is very difficult. A lot of government scrutiny and regulations from China. They could've tried being a minority investor though.

I think giving the refunds will retain some goodwill with the company but you can also tell that the way they went about launching this game was with little marketing like they had minimum confidence in it.

I did think they'd try to salvage it but I guess they're probably going to try and make it a tax write-off like WB does for it's movies.

Maybe this means Fairgames will be F2P instead.

I love these kinda games but this one looked uninteresting. I forgot it was even coming out. Still I was hoping it would be a good time killer if nothing else. But an uninteresting story is basically this game being rendered useless since that is the whole point.

Sony money! Stealing games from Xbox! Exclusivity!
-Jez and Paul Tassi in a day or two

I jest but it isn't a good look for Xbox especially having your submission process called out. I guess the devs are hoping that by doing this, Xbox takes them seriously.

@Ainu20 I do agree. Concord seems like a technically competent game but my god it's forgettable to look at and hero shooters depend on their cast of heroes to survive. I know 90% of OWs heroes even when I've not played the game. Same for TF2.

@PuppetMaster during the PS4 era and near the end of the PS3 Japan Studios hits fell heavily. I don't think GR2 even crossed a million sales. The Last Guardian had nearly 10 years in development and didn't review particularly well (when compared to its predecessors) or sell well.

@Worlock_ed Witcher 3 had horrible crunch that it became a huge talking point for the game and many top quality staff left the studio. It launched absolutely broken that they rebuilt entire mechanics in patches. Oh also building of an existing licensed IP versus a new IP from scratch, making the third game in a series means the studio has less hard work in creating the world.

If you're going to bring up history don't forget the context of that history. Also CP took around a decade to make and was restarted at least twice and still released broken.

@somnambulance I think they knew maybe not to this level but they knew. Remember they always said this year wouldn't feature major titles from big IP. You could also see the difference in how they marketed Helldivers 2 versus this (HD2 in multiple Sony state of plays and constant info drops)

@Alps_Stranger also there is a lot of nastiness under anything related to Concord from people blaming them for Japan Studios (nonsense started by Nintendo fans. Japan Studios was mismanaged with most games not being successful except for BB and Nioh which were second party developments) to Anti-wokes blaming them for Dei etc.

I remember how bad things were for Hello Games when NMS vanilla launched. Being quiet and working on the game is the best move for the devs but the worst move for journalists, outrage Bait seekers who want drama.

The Ape Escape bot was really fun to collect. Playing Simon Says at the end was cute and made me audibly go 'awwww'

@tangyzesty I enjoy seeing posts like yours because they're a reminder of how diverse tastes are among the gaming audience. I'm glad this month offers games you like.

@SlipperyFish 100% people need those bloody price cuts. Wage growth has stagnated, inflation is bad, value of all currencies except the USD is devalued.

@playstation1995 Mike Ybarra is saying Playstation and Nintendo are fine but Xbox messed up. For a change he's making sense 😵

@Malaise I do agree with this. I think the PC ports haven't really worked for Sony with sales. The games don't cater to that playerbase.