Besides the obvious that remasters are relatively cheap to make, and an easy way to earn some money, they also move the game code to a new software base, which may increase its lifetime. Many people cry for backwards compatibility. I could imagine that ps5 games will have a very long lifetime, beyond the ps6.
Presumably I am not creative enough, but I do not see significant changes on the hardware side in the "near" future like fully programmable gpu's (ps3->ps4), "instant" I/O (ps4->ps5). I suppose pretty much all games are now designed for a more variable screen resolution. There were still significant improvements in terms of upscaling (ps4pro -> ps5 / ps5pro). But I could imagine that many of these areas now provide a very solid base and do not have to be changed much in the near future. Maybe even more significant were the changes to the network infrastructure which started with ps3(?).
Not sure what changes could come in the future which require significant changes to the software stack. I personally would like to see better handling of inputs to support games which work well both in VR and on the flat screen ? Maybe also better support for stereoscopic rendering? Fully ray-traced games ? Better support for game streaming (more relevant for the platform holder ... ) ?
PCs are great, You can chose the components You want without being limited to a single manufacturer (faster CPU? faster GPU? more RAM? nicer case ? More silent cooling solution? More ports? ). But the choice also means that You get a less polished overall experience compared to a solution provided by a single manufacturer e.g. PC vs Apple.
More component variety also means that game developers will not have tested Your particular configuration and the experience may vary depending on how close Your configuration is with respect to the configurations which have been used for development or testing.
Then there is the potential advantage to more incrementally upgrade the system. However, upgrades are not always uncorrelated. You want a faster CPU ? Possible, but the CPU You want requires a new socket or more power. So You have to upgrade the motherboard and PSU at the same time. Maybe also the cooling solution. The motherboard You want uses a different memory standard, so You need new memory modules. You upgraded to a shiny new graphics card, but to actually make full use of it, You also need a faster CPU. Choice is great but not all combinations make sense or are even possible.
Game development happens likely on pretty recent hardware, not something that is 5 years old. So, if the games should look good and perform reasonable. You presumably have to upgrade more often. A console has one (or two) version(s) over the cycle of ~8 years, and typically the games perform okay for the entire cycle. I think even nowadays most games also released for PS4 still run decently. At least it seems that many people are still not urged to upgrade.
They are useful for other things than just games, but they are also not tailored just for games. That also means You pay for something You do not need to run games. Games are also not necessarily the most trustworthy pieces of software (in particular free to play games). So, with the game You may also install some malware, which could steal Your banking credentials, or encrypts the data You need for work.
Finally there is the price, You can have a cheaper PC compared to a PS5, but it won't be anywhere close in gaming performance of a PS5, Even today It seems only possible to match the performance of a PS5 when using second hand components. If You want something to match the PS5 pro You are certainly looking at a price well above 1k EUR/USD/GBP. Likely even 1.5k if You want something that lasts. You likely upgrade more often than once during a 8 year cycle. So, even if You managed to stay in budget close to a e.g. PS5 You presumably spend more over the course of 8 years. Since there are better PC components every year, PC components also loose there value faster. Which might be an advantage if You use second hand components, but then You may not have any warranty.
Anyway in terms of price and simplicity there is nothing that beats a console. Although, today a console is also not just plug and play anymore, since You have to setup Your account, fiddle eventually with settings until it works well with Your TV and audio solution, pair controllers and such. Not a big deal but less simple than a PS1/2
Still in the process of finishing horizon forbidden west which I started some months ago. Beautiful game both in picture and sound ! In pretty much every aspect better than horizon zero dawn (which I also liked), except there are fewer surprises. One already kind of knows what to expect. But other than that, a very good game, maybe too easy for hard core gamers (not for me though ....). Though, I am surprised that there are a few occasions, in which horizon call of the mountain looked better, but I did not do A/B comparisons.
Then, I continued the artful escape (which I also started some time ago but did not finish). Presumably not the best game in terms of game play, but a wonderful visual and acoustic spectacle. I think that would also mesmerizing in VR, just the same game pad version, but being surrounded by all the scintillating colors would be quite something. Shame nobody tries to offer something like that.
Finally, I would like to give a shout-out to Nobody wants to die which I finished some time ago. Also maybe not the best game in terms of game play, and the character animations feel a bit stiff occasionally, but a well told interactive story beautifully arranged which reminded me a lot of heavy rain, or detroit becoming human in terms of the concept.
@RubyCarbuncle I am not quite sure where You buy PCs, but If I try to match a PS5pro I end up with a much higher bill. But I agree a PC can actually be useful and one has more control over how much one wants to spend on what. But it is also less plug&play and depending on the hardware Your experience may vary,
@Matroska where pc somehow always means performance like a 2k EUR pc but for the price of the cheapest pc one can find.
Even today You do not get a new PC for the price of ps5 which matches the performance of a PS5. Also, such a pc won't come with a disk drive and neither a controller.
But of course a console is just a console, and a PC can actually be used for useful things.
@Ralizah ... or maybe sony will only do even less risky projects in the foreseeable future to recover the losses of the failed projects ( last of us factions, bungie, concord, ... )
I wonder what "numbers on xbox" means. Are this all people who have some kind of xbox, activision, blizzard or king's account ? Or does it really mean the number of players actually playing on a xbox box.
Anyway if microsoft says that exclusives do not matter anymore, it must be true. Like with hbo, apple+, etc. clearly content-platforms are not chosen because of the content but because of something else.
Concord is not my kind of game (maybe if it had a VR mode , but still I find all the comments and drama around concord strange. People really want to hate the game without much of reason.
Maybe because it is not my type of game, I do not see what is bad about concord in comparison to all the other similar games. At the same time I don't see anything novel about concord (besides the vignettes). But what are the stand out features of other similar games ( that other games run worse on high end PCs compared to a PS5 ? Or are only playable on console ? Also have mouse and keyboard support on console ? Are actually third person adventure games with over the shoulder camera ? Have more pleasing color schemes ? Likable characters ?
there is also a decent discount on the artful escape if somebody is up for some psychedelic light but not too amped to pay full price for something that is light on gameplay.
@WaveBoy not excited about the quest3 platform. There are certainly some good games on quest, but the majority is from a graphical perspective underwhelming, the levels are typically very small, I suppose due to memory constraints, and the games which make it over to psvr2 typically look significantly enough better on psvr2 (provided the developers made the little extra effort) that in my book the psvr2 version would be the more desirable option.
Anyway, not sure why everybody thinks that quest3 is rocking and psvr2 is dead. Just because there are more quests than psvr2 out there ? As far as I understood the demographics are rather different, and most quests are used for e.g. gorilla tag. Where good games on psvr2 sell apparently not too bad in comparison to the assumed huge install base of quest.
At the moment when looking at all VR titles I have seen on all platforms, I am mostly looking forward to behemoth, which will most likely look better on psvr2. Then, I am very curious about what flat2vr studios will release.
From a business perspective it is presumably difficult to ignore the quest platform, on the other hand adding VR modes to existing flat games is most likely much easier on psvr2 than on quest, given the extra power of the ps5 + dynamic foveated rendering.
@Godot25 yes You can play quest games on quest and psvr2 with a more or less a similar fidelity, but You cannot play gt7, re4, re village on quest (and neither on pc). Also is pc compatibility really so relevant how many people have a gaming pc which is good enough for VR and a ps5? Are there really that many people that this would make a big difference ?
In a certain sense it is surprising, the technology for VR ps5+psvr2 is fantastic. Much more powerful PCs are needed to achieve the same fidelity. The flagship titles gt7, re4, re village, No Man's Sky, call of the mountain show what is possible, and are fantastic experiences You cannot have on the flat screen.
PSVR2 is expansive there are few titles available for which one would buy a psvr2, so I cannot imagine that Sony expected to sell Millions of headsets without doing much in particular if consumers are told by some analysts every week that psvr2 is dead since its beginning.
Adapting games like gt7, re4 and re village for VR certainly costs some money. But does it cost more money than it gains ?
Anyway it would be a shame and drive me off the platform.
I don't think it is so simple i.e. that the path to a successful game is to reduce length and simplify graphics. I would say it remains to be complex task to plan a game for a certain budget, to limit the ambitions to what is possible within the limits imposed by the budget, use the available tools, techniques to their maximum.
@trev666 and both great graphics and length also add value to the game i.e. just because length and graphics alone do not make a great game they are still part of the sum which makes a great game. Also in addition to graphics and length, there is also sound, haptics, animation which get more complex and costly but also add value.
When counting psvr1 titles through backward compatibility, Astro bot rescue mission might still be a very, very strong contender for the best 3D platformer on PS5, which also is more 3D than 3D on a flat screen.
Sure a VR version of a game which is fully designed for VR is better than a game that is not designed for VR and adapted later for VR. But there are many games for example in Dreams which were not designed for VR but are awesome in VR. Resident Evil 4 also was not designed for VR neither the remake, but the VR mode of Re 4 remake is the best way to play. There are countless VR mods on PC (also for platformer) which are very much enjoyed by PCVR community. From a perfectionists point of view I can understand the argument not to offer a VR mode if it is not "perfect", but the argument feels just like an excuse. I don't see anything in Astro's playroom that would not work in VR. I would be very surprised if is different for the new game.
It is a shame that sony does not "want" to produce more software for their excellent VR platform apparently.
I have to say I like big block buster games with beautiful rich worlds to explore with deep stories, and I also like shorter games which focus on a fun gameplay. I hope neither disappears.
Otherwise probably a mix of horizon forbidden west (got the physical complete edition during the days of play which still triggers a small download) and call of the mountain. Surprised how well call of the mountain stacks up against forbidden west in terms of visuals. At least the more linear parts of forbidden west should work absolutely on ps5+psvr2. But I guess we will never get such things outside of pcvr mods ....
@MrGawain There are quite a few "Indie" games which exceed their budget and are then either released in an unfinished state or the studio shuts down before the release. There are just many more indie developer with a small budget that the problems are less visible. Most of the indie games do not achieve the mass appeal as big budget titles. To some extend this is due to smaller marketing budget or because they do not exploit a popular franchise. But often it is also because they do not have the production quality of big budget AAA titles.
I don't know about nintendo. Are Nintendo games really much cheaper to make and take less time? (botw? totk?).
games or often criticised for being too short (e.g. miles morales was criticised as being just a DLC mostly because of its length). So, games have to exceed a certain minimal length.
with increasing hardware power, more and more detail is expected in games (also richer sound and haptics). Even with the better tools which exists nowadays, I suppose, every extra detail takes extra time.
with increasing power game systems get more and more complicated and it seems difficult, thus time consuming, to tune all the parameters.
@__jamiie Fully agree. It would be great to see more psvr1 games being ported. There are so many great games limited to the psvr1 audience, which is a shame. Many of them, besides the low resolution of psvr1, are better than most of the current VR games.
Its is also hard to understand why not more companies add VR modes like capcom. All VR modes I tried, really transformed the game. Such modes could even be sold as a DLC, I would bet. I doubt that one would make a lot of money with such modes, but such modes should be relatively "cheap" to make and it should be possible to regain the investment. I really do not understand why there are no (so few) people in game studios who think the same. But maybe most people who make games do not like or play games ?
@Cloud39472 There are zillion of the lego reimaginations of all kinds of franchises, which apparently sell. Such games seem to be often purchased for kids.So maybe You are just not part of the core audience of such a game ?
@__jamiie I don't really care whether games are third, second or third party as long they are interesting. But I agree with the sentiment that there is no visible engagement. It would be sufficient to know for example that the new game from IoI will have a VR mode. Even if that will release in 2 years. Things take time and they are better released in a ready state. So, if nothing is ready right now, at least give some signs that something is still coming, that there is a plan. There are many small games which are really good. Often small games are even more creative. But, at the same time it would be really good to know that some big block buster titles are still coming and will have full VR support (a la re4, village)
I cannot even rate the SOP. And I agree with the sentiment that the SOP did not speak to its fans. It felt very uninspiring.
It is always difficult to judge whether oneself is so over saturated with great games that it is difficult to be blown away once again or whether the presentations lack the necessary sparkle. I cannot say that any of the games looked bad. Presumably many of them are much higher quality in terms of visuals and maybe also game mechanics, but everything looked so similar, there was nothing that made me want to play any of the games.
I was very curious about concord, the cinematics kept my attention but the gameplay looked very generic and aimless. All the other games looked like games we already have seen a million times without any interesting evolution. Even the astro bot title did not bring anything new to the table in the trailer, to me it looked like a DLC for Astro's playroom.
Somehow it feels that the entire industry is just chasing the money and forgot to sell dreams.
Then concerning VR: it is hard to believe that sony developed this VR tech which is in my understanding partially in the PS5 itself, and the headset, which is available for a steep but compared to pcvr affordable price, without having any long term plan. The first year was fantastic with call of the mountain, gt7, re village, re4. And now all that is announced are some cross-platform titles limited by the capabilities of a mobile cpu/gpu, which we knew about for a year. It is so hard to believe that there is absolutely nothing else. Why put all that money into the technology ? Also it cannot be that difficult to add a little VR camera into astro bot, can it ? The game does not look so much better than rescue mission on psvr1, or does it ? Dreams has shown that platforms actually can work really well in VR in third person and that was on a ps4. Now with all that extra tech what is holding back a little investment into a similar mode for some flat titles? Sure VR will never sell as well as flat, but I am pretty sure that a small investment in a VR mode can be recovered. I am pretty sure such a mode could even be sold as a dlc. Why does nobody want to do that ? There are certainly many fans who are waiting for that.
All in all very puzzling to me but maybe I fell out of the core audience?
@__jamiie I only spend 599 EUR on the bundle. I cannot say that I had been disappointed up to now. At the moment I am waiting for something I fancy.
Do You think re4 and re8 are psvr2 exclusive because capcom thought psvr2 will rock ? Similarly why is re7 a psvr1 exclusive ? Maybe sony gave capcom a large enough sum of money. Would that not count as support in Your eyes ?
@__jamiie "And the way Sony have abandoned the PSVR2 so far has definitely given me buyer's remorse." Did sony ? So far psvr2 got as big VR exclusives gt7, cotm, re4, re8. Is that so bad for the first year? Is there any platform that is served better (given the still very small VR market) ? Maybe, there won't be anything interesting for psvr2 this year, but at the moment nothing is really known.
"At the same time the hardware is still being stressed for most cross platform games else why are we seeing so many 30fps 4K modes or 60fps with cut down settings?" Settings are lowered until it runs sufficiently well. Few studios take the time to really optimise the game for a platform. First party typically does, so typically they look so much better on the the same hardware. But the more the focus is on multiplatform the less also first part will optimise for the their platform and ultimately much more power is needed to get the same result.
" You had asked what was the point of developing something like a PS5… well it gives a LOT of benefits over a PS4. Especially in areas like load times, resolution, frame rates and pushing many of the sliders up increasing the fidelity and immersion possible. It’s far more like a PC upgrade in that regard, and worthwhile." I wanted to say what is the point of trying to implement cool ideas like this I/O chip which directly decompresses into vmem, why implement something like tempest, why think about new controller features, if in the end most of these features are not used. Why not take the pieces from the shelf (i.e. mostly what xbox does) and save development cost ?
"if you make a game for only one platform you reduce the amount of money that game can make. " on the other hand if you focus just on one platform You can eventually make something more special which is not possible to that degree on other platforms, something much more desirable compared to something more in line with what everybody else does. For example apple supports fewer devices and delivers in the end a more seamless experience.
"Earlier exclusive games were lower in budget (Returnal) or remakes (Demons Souls) or likely loss-leaders (Rachet) barely expected to make a profit. It’s a tough position to be in." Not sure how true this really is. The games will also sell throughout the life of the platform. You typically start with lower budget titles because they are also faster to develop, which is key for a new platform.
But now we kind of reached a point where the differences from platform to platform become incremental (not necessarily by numbers but by perception). The majority of time is spent on creating assets, acting, composing and the hardware is not so relevant anymore. In that sense going multiplatform makes sense because the differences due to a different platforms are for most people imperceptible. But this will also slow down progress, because it takes much more time to push a new feature to all platforms.
"Plus to REALLY make use of the hardware developers have to wait for, or develop, new tools, new engines and new mindsets to really push them. This all takes time." True. But do You want progress or not ?
I don't think there will be a showcase any time soon. I don't mind to be wrong, though. A state of play, is more likely. There might be a showcase for the ps6.
@themightyant resolution is scalable and you can chose a lower lod, reduce details for shadows, reflections, yes. But physics are likely scaled down until the game runs on all platforms sufficiently well to avoid possible disadvantages. Levels will be designed to fit into the memory of the lowest tier device. In the worst case games are designed to run okay with multiple input schemes e.g. mouse+keyboard, controller, touchscreen, controller + streaming latency, and are also playable on tiny screens like a phone.
Since there are so many devices to support, the optimisation stops once it runs sufficiently well. The power of modern console are less exploited than in the past when there were fewer devices to optimise for. So, in that sense multiplatform use platforms less efficiently and in a limited way, because the lowest tier device will limit the overall game design. Therefore exclusives are nice because they could use a platform to its fullest potential.
@themightyant concerning exclusivity: exclusives also mean that a title only needs to be optimised for a single platform, thus it better exploits the available features and might perform better. Though, nowadays hardware is so powerful that titles are presumably not so much limited by the lack of optimisations but more by the enormous amount of time it takes to create content ...
I was looking forward to playing stride fates but given how unsatisfactory the port seems to have turned out I gave it a pass and "played" "stray gods" instead. The "role playing musical" is not much of a game, but there is some game there and maybe it is sufficient to increase engagement with the characters? Anyway sometimes it is fantastic, sometimes I did not like it much, mostly because I did not like some of the interpretations of some of the singers of their roles, I think. I really liked the artwork and the orchestration, though. It is a short "game" but the length feels correct for what is on offer and the asked price, in particular since it is on sale right now, feels justified.
@NEStalgia Certainly price and friction holds VR back but then also the lack of very recognisable, popular games e.g. ex-fifa, cod.
The VR enthusiasts were all hoping that the majority of games would get a VR mode. But apparently the industry thinks otherwise for some reason. If one looks at the numbers of e.g. re4 it seems that one could make back the investment in a VR mode but presumably not much more. So from a financial stand point it presumably is not interesting to add VR modes, which might be the problem. As a future investment and maybe just from the perspective of an enthusiast (which hopefully still exist in the gaming industry) it would make sense at least for titles which sell well and do not seem to throw in many obstacles for a VR adaptation e.g. car games with cockpit views). Also why not a VR mode for helldivers 2, and yes why not a third person VR cam for stellar blade ?
one way to make a platform appear more dead than it is by ignoring everything that is appearing on that platform - even bigger games like madison. But, in the end it is a subjective choice also not all flat games are reported here I guess.
Comments 368
Re: Reaction: Why There Are So Many Unnecessary PS5 Remasters for Games That Don't Need Them
Besides the obvious that remasters are relatively cheap to make, and an easy way to earn some money, they also move the game code to a new software base, which may increase its lifetime. Many people cry for backwards compatibility. I could imagine that ps5 games will have a very long lifetime, beyond the ps6.
Presumably I am not creative enough, but I do not see significant changes on the hardware side in the "near" future like fully programmable gpu's (ps3->ps4), "instant" I/O (ps4->ps5). I suppose pretty much all games are now designed for a more variable screen resolution. There were still significant improvements in terms of upscaling (ps4pro -> ps5 / ps5pro). But I could imagine that many of these areas now provide a very solid base and do not have to be changed much in the near future. Maybe even more significant were the changes to the network infrastructure which started with ps3(?).
Not sure what changes could come in the future which require significant changes to the software stack. I personally would like to see better handling of inputs to support games which work well both in VR and on the flat screen ? Maybe also better support for stereoscopic rendering? Fully ray-traced games ? Better support for game streaming (more relevant for the platform holder ... ) ?
Re: Jaw-Dropping 30th Anniversary PS5 Pro Console and Accessories Will Bankrupt You
On the picture this ps5pro looks actually quite good ! Not sure whether it looks premium price good.
Re: Sony Boss Says 'PCs Are Difficult to Set Up', Firm Will Focus on PS5
PCs are great, You can chose the components You want without being limited to a single manufacturer (faster CPU? faster GPU? more RAM? nicer case ? More silent cooling solution? More ports? ). But the choice also means that You get a less polished overall experience compared to a solution provided by a single manufacturer e.g. PC vs Apple.
More component variety also means that game developers will not have tested Your particular configuration and the experience may vary depending on how close Your configuration is with respect to the configurations which have been used for development or testing.
Then there is the potential advantage to more incrementally upgrade the system. However, upgrades are not always uncorrelated. You want a faster CPU ? Possible, but the CPU You want requires a new socket or more power. So You have to upgrade the motherboard and PSU at the same time. Maybe also the cooling solution. The motherboard You want uses a different memory standard, so You need new memory modules. You upgraded to a shiny new graphics card, but to actually make full use of it, You also need a faster CPU. Choice is great but not all combinations make sense or are even possible.
Game development happens likely on pretty recent hardware, not something that is 5 years old. So, if the games should look good and perform reasonable. You presumably have to upgrade more often. A console has one (or two) version(s) over the cycle of ~8 years, and typically the games perform okay for the entire cycle. I think even nowadays most games also released for PS4 still run decently. At least it seems that many people are still not urged to upgrade.
They are useful for other things than just games, but they are also not tailored just for games. That also means You pay for something You do not need to run games. Games are also not necessarily the most trustworthy pieces of software (in particular free to play games). So, with the game You may also install some malware, which could steal Your banking credentials, or encrypts the data You need for work.
Finally there is the price, You can have a cheaper PC compared to a PS5, but it won't be anywhere close in gaming performance of a PS5, Even today It seems only possible to match the performance of a PS5 when using second hand components. If You want something to match the PS5 pro You are certainly looking at a price well above 1k EUR/USD/GBP. Likely even 1.5k if You want something that lasts. You likely upgrade more often than once during a 8 year cycle. So, even if You managed to stay in budget close to a e.g. PS5 You presumably spend more over the course of 8 years. Since there are better PC components every year, PC components also loose there value faster. Which might be an advantage if You use second hand components, but then You may not have any warranty.
Anyway in terms of price and simplicity there is nothing that beats a console. Although, today a console is also not just plug and play anymore, since You have to setup Your account, fiddle eventually with settings until it works well with Your TV and audio solution, pair controllers and such. Not a big deal but less simple than a PS1/2
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 546
Still in the process of finishing horizon forbidden west which I started some months ago. Beautiful game both in picture and sound ! In pretty much every aspect better than horizon zero dawn (which I also liked), except there are fewer surprises. One already kind of knows what to expect. But other than that, a very good game, maybe too easy for hard core gamers (not for me though ....). Though, I am surprised that there are a few occasions, in which horizon call of the mountain looked better, but I did not do A/B comparisons.
Then, I continued the artful escape (which I also started some time ago but did not finish). Presumably not the best game in terms of game play, but a wonderful visual and acoustic spectacle. I think that would also mesmerizing in VR, just the same game pad version, but being surrounded by all the scintillating colors would be quite something. Shame nobody tries to offer something like that.
Finally, I would like to give a shout-out to Nobody wants to die which I finished some time ago. Also maybe not the best game in terms of game play, and the character animations feel a bit stiff occasionally, but a well told interactive story beautifully arranged which reminded me a lot of heavy rain, or detroit becoming human in terms of the concept.
Re: 'It Felt Like Putting New Glasses On,' Claims First PS5 Pro Hands On
@RubyCarbuncle I am not quite sure where You buy PCs, but If I try to match a PS5pro I end up with a much higher bill. But I agree a PC can actually be useful and one has more control over how much one wants to spend on what. But it is also less plug&play and depending on the hardware Your experience may vary,
Re: Prospective PS5 Pro Buyers Cause Surge in Disc Drive Sales
can only be scalpers who haven't understood that the most hated console is DOA.
Who could possibly want a few more pixels and frames ? If that was the case expensive gaming PCs would be a thing ....
Re: 'It Felt Like Putting New Glasses On,' Claims First PS5 Pro Hands On
@RubyCarbuncle If there was no game that pushes the hardware (ps5) why would I buy a PC? Because on a PC I get a few more pixels and ray tracing ?
Re: 'It Felt Like Putting New Glasses On,' Claims First PS5 Pro Hands On
@Matroska where pc somehow always means performance like a 2k EUR pc but for the price of the cheapest pc one can find.
Even today You do not get a new PC for the price of ps5 which matches the performance of a PS5. Also, such a pc won't come with a disk drive and neither a controller.
But of course a console is just a console, and a PC can actually be used for useful things.
Re: Did You Know PlayStation Almost Had a Different Name?
Don't always trust Your marketing folks I guess ....
Re: Talking Point: Can PS5, PC Shooter Concord Be Saved?
@Ralizah ... or maybe sony will only do even less risky projects in the foreseeable future to recover the losses of the failed projects ( last of us factions, bungie, concord, ... )
Re: Reaction: It's Time for Xbox to Tell Us Which Games It's Bringing to PS5, and Which Games It Isn't
How should they know ? They have a business to run.
Re: Xbox on Bringing Exclusives to PS5: The Industry Is Changing for All of Us
I wonder what "numbers on xbox" means. Are this all people who have some kind of xbox, activision, blizzard or king's account ? Or does it really mean the number of players actually playing on a xbox box.
Anyway if microsoft says that exclusives do not matter anymore, it must be true. Like with hbo, apple+, etc. clearly content-platforms are not chosen because of the content but because of something else.
Re: Concord Probably Best Played on PC, According to Official Features Trailer
Concord is not my kind of game (maybe if it had a VR mode , but still I find all the comments and drama around concord strange. People really want to hate the game without much of reason.
Maybe because it is not my type of game, I do not see what is bad about concord in comparison to all the other similar games. At the same time I don't see anything novel about concord (besides the vignettes). But what are the stand out features of other similar games ( that other games run worse on high end PCs compared to a PS5 ? Or are only playable on console ? Also have mouse and keyboard support on console ? Are actually third person adventure games with over the shoulder camera ? Have more pleasing color schemes ? Likable characters ?
Re: Mini Review: The Artful Escape (PS5) – A Visual Treat That's Light on Gameplay
there is also a decent discount on the artful escape if somebody is up for some psychedelic light but not too amped to pay full price for something that is light on gameplay.
Re: Video: 31 Great PS5 Games Still to Come in 2024
All, I can say to this. There You have it: the condensed ps5 showcase.
Re: Sony Is Allegedly Pulling PSVR2 Funding, Report Claims
@Godot25 if You have a chance, You should try that. The best way to play these games.
Re: Sony Is Allegedly Pulling PSVR2 Funding, Report Claims
@WaveBoy not excited about the quest3 platform. There are certainly some good games on quest, but the majority is from a graphical perspective underwhelming, the levels are typically very small, I suppose due to memory constraints, and the games which make it over to psvr2 typically look significantly enough better on psvr2 (provided the developers made the little extra effort) that in my book the psvr2 version would be the more desirable option.
Anyway, not sure why everybody thinks that quest3 is rocking and psvr2 is dead. Just because there are more quests than psvr2 out there ? As far as I understood the demographics are rather different, and most quests are used for e.g. gorilla tag. Where good games on psvr2 sell apparently not too bad in comparison to the assumed huge install base of quest.
At the moment when looking at all VR titles I have seen on all platforms, I am mostly looking forward to behemoth, which will most likely look better on psvr2. Then, I am very curious about what flat2vr studios will release.
From a business perspective it is presumably difficult to ignore the quest platform, on the other hand adding VR modes to existing flat games is most likely much easier on psvr2 than on quest, given the extra power of the ps5 + dynamic foveated rendering.
Re: Sony Is Allegedly Pulling PSVR2 Funding, Report Claims
@JP80 There are very few VR games elsewhere which are better than gt7, re8, re4, no man's sky on psvr2. But better is obviously subjective.
Re: Sony Is Allegedly Pulling PSVR2 Funding, Report Claims
@Godot25 yes You can play quest games on quest and psvr2 with a more or less a similar fidelity, but You cannot play gt7, re4, re village on quest (and neither on pc). Also is pc compatibility really so relevant how many people have a gaming pc which is good enough for VR and a ps5? Are there really that many people that this would make a big difference ?
Re: Sony Is Allegedly Pulling PSVR2 Funding, Report Claims
In a certain sense it is surprising, the technology for VR ps5+psvr2 is fantastic. Much more powerful PCs are needed to achieve the same fidelity. The flagship titles gt7, re4, re village, No Man's Sky, call of the mountain show what is possible, and are fantastic experiences You cannot have on the flat screen.
PSVR2 is expansive there are few titles available for which one would buy a psvr2, so I cannot imagine that Sony expected to sell Millions of headsets without doing much in particular if consumers are told by some analysts every week that psvr2 is dead since its beginning.
Adapting games like gt7, re4 and re village for VR certainly costs some money. But does it cost more money than it gains ?
Anyway it would be a shame and drive me off the platform.
Re: Ex-Sony Boss Shawn Layden Explains How to Make Games Faster, Cheaper
I don't think it is so simple i.e. that the path to a successful game is to reduce length and simplify graphics. I would say it remains to be complex task to plan a game for a certain budget, to limit the ambitions to what is possible within the limits imposed by the budget, use the available tools, techniques to their maximum.
Re: Ex-Sony Boss Shawn Layden Explains How to Make Games Faster, Cheaper
@trev666 and both great graphics and length also add value to the game i.e. just because length and graphics alone do not make a great game they are still part of the sum which makes a great game. Also in addition to graphics and length, there is also sound, haptics, animation which get more complex and costly but also add value.
Re: Preview: Astro Bot on PS5 Could Be the Best 3D Platformer This Side of Nintendo
When counting psvr1 titles through backward compatibility, Astro bot rescue mission might still be a very, very strong contender for the best 3D platformer on PS5, which also is more 3D than 3D on a flat screen.
Re: PS5's Astro Bot Doesn't Support PSVR2 Because It Was Never Designed to Do So
Sure a VR version of a game which is fully designed for VR is better than a game that is not designed for VR and adapted later for VR. But there are many games for example in Dreams which were not designed for VR but are awesome in VR. Resident Evil 4 also was not designed for VR neither the remake, but the VR mode of Re 4 remake is the best way to play. There are countless VR mods on PC (also for platformer) which are very much enjoyed by PCVR community. From a perfectionists point of view I can understand the argument not to offer a VR mode if it is not "perfect", but the argument feels just like an excuse. I don't see anything in Astro's playroom that would not work in VR. I would be very surprised if is different for the new game.
It is a shame that sony does not "want" to produce more software for their excellent VR platform apparently.
Re: PS5 Hardware Architect Says It May Take Less Time to Build a Console Than a Game Now
I have to say I like big block buster games with beautiful rich worlds to explore with deep stories, and I also like shorter games which focus on a fun gameplay. I hope neither disappears.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 532
Otherwise probably a mix of horizon forbidden west (got the physical complete edition during the days of play which still triggers a small download) and call of the mountain. Surprised how well call of the mountain stacks up against forbidden west in terms of visuals. At least the more linear parts of forbidden west should work absolutely on ps5+psvr2. But I guess we will never get such things outside of pcvr mods ....
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 532
@IssyVeedz the über-awsome psvr1 version ? Anyway still waiting for the psvr2 port ....
Re: PS5 Hardware Architect Says It May Take Less Time to Build a Console Than a Game Now
@MrGawain There are quite a few "Indie" games which exceed their budget and are then either released in an unfinished state or the studio shuts down before the release. There are just many more indie developer with a small budget that the problems are less visible. Most of the indie games do not achieve the mass appeal as big budget titles. To some extend this is due to smaller marketing budget or because they do not exploit a popular franchise. But often it is also because they do not have the production quality of big budget AAA titles.
I don't know about nintendo. Are Nintendo games really much cheaper to make and take less time? (botw? totk?).
Re: PS5 Hardware Architect Says It May Take Less Time to Build a Console Than a Game Now
There are multiple problems, in my opinion:
Re: State of Play Officially Confirmed for 30th May, Updates on PS5, PSVR2 Games
@__jamiie Fully agree. It would be great to see more psvr1 games being ported. There are so many great games limited to the psvr1 audience, which is a shame. Many of them, besides the low resolution of psvr1, are better than most of the current VR games.
Its is also hard to understand why not more companies add VR modes like capcom. All VR modes I tried, really transformed the game. Such modes could even be sold as a DLC, I would bet. I doubt that one would make a lot of money with such modes, but such modes should be relatively "cheap" to make and it should be possible to regain the investment. I really do not understand why there are no (so few) people in game studios who think the same. But maybe most people who make games do not like or play games ?
Re: Round Up: What Was Announced at Summer Game Fest 2024?
@Cloud39472 There are zillion of the lego reimaginations of all kinds of franchises, which apparently sell. Such games seem to be often purchased for kids.So maybe You are just not part of the core audience of such a game ?
Re: State of Play Officially Confirmed for 30th May, Updates on PS5, PSVR2 Games
@__jamiie I don't really care whether games are third, second or third party as long they are interesting. But I agree with the sentiment that there is no visible engagement. It would be sufficient to know for example that the new game from IoI will have a VR mode. Even if that will release in 2 years. Things take time and they are better released in a ready state. So, if nothing is ready right now, at least give some signs that something is still coming, that there is a plan. There are many small games which are really good. Often small games are even more creative. But, at the same time it would be really good to know that some big block buster titles are still coming and will have full VR support (a la re4, village)
Re: Reaction: PS5 Livestreams Are No Longer Speaking to the Fans Who Built the Brand
I cannot even rate the SOP. And I agree with the sentiment that the SOP did not speak to its fans. It felt very uninspiring.
It is always difficult to judge whether oneself is so over saturated with great games that it is difficult to be blown away once again or whether the presentations lack the necessary sparkle. I cannot say that any of the games looked bad. Presumably many of them are much higher quality in terms of visuals and maybe also game mechanics, but everything looked so similar, there was nothing that made me want to play any of the games.
I was very curious about concord, the cinematics kept my attention but the gameplay looked very generic and aimless. All the other games looked like games we already have seen a million times without any interesting evolution. Even the astro bot title did not bring anything new to the table in the trailer, to me it looked like a DLC for Astro's playroom.
Somehow it feels that the entire industry is just chasing the money and forgot to sell dreams.
Then concerning VR: it is hard to believe that sony developed this VR tech which is in my understanding partially in the PS5 itself, and the headset, which is available for a steep but compared to pcvr affordable price, without having any long term plan. The first year was fantastic with call of the mountain, gt7, re village, re4. And now all that is announced are some cross-platform titles limited by the capabilities of a mobile cpu/gpu, which we knew about for a year. It is so hard to believe that there is absolutely nothing else. Why put all that money into the technology ? Also it cannot be that difficult to add a little VR camera into astro bot, can it ? The game does not look so much better than rescue mission on psvr1, or does it ? Dreams has shown that platforms actually can work really well in VR in third person and that was on a ps4. Now with all that extra tech what is holding back a little investment into a similar mode for some flat titles? Sure VR will never sell as well as flat, but I am pretty sure that a small investment in a VR mode can be recovered. I am pretty sure such a mode could even be sold as a dlc. Why does nobody want to do that ? There are certainly many fans who are waiting for that.
All in all very puzzling to me but maybe I fell out of the core audience?
Re: State of Play Officially Confirmed for 30th May, Updates on PS5, PSVR2 Games
@__jamiie I only spend 599 EUR on the bundle. I cannot say that I had been disappointed up to now. At the moment I am waiting for something I fancy.
Do You think re4 and re8 are psvr2 exclusive because capcom thought psvr2 will rock ? Similarly why is re7 a psvr1 exclusive ? Maybe sony gave capcom a large enough sum of money. Would that not count as support in Your eyes ?
Re: Open World Racer Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown Swerves onto PS5 in September
I wonder whether it will look remotely close to the trailer on ps5 or whether one needs a cluster of 4090s ....
Re: State of Play Officially Confirmed for 30th May, Updates on PS5, PSVR2 Games
@__jamiie "And the way Sony have abandoned the PSVR2 so far has definitely given me buyer's remorse." Did sony ? So far psvr2 got as big VR exclusives gt7, cotm, re4, re8. Is that so bad for the first year? Is there any platform that is served better (given the still very small VR market) ? Maybe, there won't be anything interesting for psvr2 this year, but at the moment nothing is really known.
Re: State of Play Officially Confirmed for 30th May, Updates on PS5, PSVR2 Games
@Max_the_German Or maybe both that would still be 10.5/10.
Re: Hermen Hulst, Hideaki Nishino Replace Jim Ryan As PlayStation CEOs
"At the same time the hardware is still being stressed for most cross platform games else why are we seeing so many 30fps 4K modes or 60fps with cut down settings?"
Settings are lowered until it runs sufficiently well. Few studios take the time to really optimise the game for a platform. First party typically does, so typically they look so much better on the the same hardware. But the more the focus is on multiplatform the less also first part will optimise for the their platform and ultimately much more power is needed to get the same result.
" You had asked what was the point of developing something like a PS5… well it gives a LOT of benefits over a PS4. Especially in areas like load times, resolution, frame rates and pushing many of the sliders up increasing the fidelity and immersion possible. It’s far more like a PC upgrade in that regard, and worthwhile."
I wanted to say what is the point of trying to implement cool ideas like this I/O chip which directly decompresses into vmem, why implement something like tempest, why think about new controller features, if in the end most of these features are not used. Why not take the pieces from the shelf (i.e. mostly what xbox does) and save development cost ?
"if you make a game for only one platform you reduce the amount of money that game can make. "
on the other hand if you focus just on one platform You can eventually make something more special which is not possible to that degree on other platforms, something much more desirable compared to something more in line with what everybody else does. For example apple supports fewer devices and delivers in the end a more seamless experience.
"Earlier exclusive games were lower in budget (Returnal) or remakes (Demons Souls) or likely loss-leaders (Rachet) barely expected to make a profit. It’s a tough position to be in."
Not sure how true this really is. The games will also sell throughout the life of the platform. You typically start with lower budget titles because they are also faster to develop, which is key for a new platform.
But now we kind of reached a point where the differences from platform to platform become incremental (not necessarily by numbers but by perception). The majority of time is spent on creating assets, acting, composing and the hardware is not so relevant anymore. In that sense going multiplatform makes sense because the differences due to a different platforms are for most people imperceptible. But this will also slow down progress, because it takes much more time to push a new feature to all platforms.
"Plus to REALLY make use of the hardware developers have to wait for, or develop, new tools, new engines and new mindsets to really push them. This all takes time."
True. But do You want progress or not ?
Re: Poll: Will the Rumoured PlayStation Showcase Be Announced Soon?
I don't think there will be a showcase any time soon. I don't mind to be wrong, though. A state of play, is more likely. There might be a showcase for the ps6.
Re: Hermen Hulst, Hideaki Nishino Replace Jim Ryan As PlayStation CEOs
@themightyant resolution is scalable and you can chose a lower lod, reduce details for shadows, reflections, yes. But physics are likely scaled down until the game runs on all platforms sufficiently well to avoid possible disadvantages. Levels will be designed to fit into the memory of the lowest tier device. In the worst case games are designed to run okay with multiple input schemes e.g. mouse+keyboard, controller, touchscreen, controller + streaming latency, and are also playable on tiny screens like a phone.
Since there are so many devices to support, the optimisation stops once it runs sufficiently well. The power of modern console are less exploited than in the past when there were fewer devices to optimise for. So, in that sense multiplatform use platforms less efficiently and in a limited way, because the lowest tier device will limit the overall game design. Therefore exclusives are nice because they could use a platform to its fullest potential.
Re: Hermen Hulst, Hideaki Nishino Replace Jim Ryan As PlayStation CEOs
@themightyant absolutely true. And many games nowadays feel like mobile games .
But why develop something like a ps5 if non of its technology is really used ?
Re: Hermen Hulst, Hideaki Nishino Replace Jim Ryan As PlayStation CEOs
@themightyant concerning exclusivity: exclusives also mean that a title only needs to be optimised for a single platform, thus it better exploits the available features and might perform better. Though, nowadays hardware is so powerful that titles are presumably not so much limited by the lack of optimisations but more by the enormous amount of time it takes to create content ...
Re: Random: Stellar Blade Has Reached Peak Marketing with a Limited Edition Burger
the burger looks like its rather eating yourself then You eating the burger ...
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 529
I was looking forward to playing stride fates but given how unsatisfactory the port seems to have turned out I gave it a pass and "played" "stray gods" instead. The "role playing musical" is not much of a game, but there is some game there and maybe it is sufficient to increase engagement with the characters? Anyway sometimes it is fantastic, sometimes I did not like it much, mostly because I did not like some of the interpretations of some of the singers of their roles, I think. I really liked the artwork and the orchestration, though. It is a short "game" but the length feels correct for what is on offer and the asked price, in particular since it is on sale right now, feels justified.
Re: Helldivers 2 on PS5, PC Is Sony's Fastest Selling Game of All Time
If there was a VR mode I'd happily bring democracy to virtual worlds.
Re: Square Enix to 'Aggressively' Pursue Multiplatform Strategy from Now On
I suppose if they go multiplatform they may not get the sony money. But who knows maybe they do better that way.
Re: Horizon: Call of the Mountain PSVR2 Director Made Redundant by Dev Firesprite
@TrickyDicky99 which is maybe not great but also not bad given that many people (20M) just got their ps5.
Re: Horizon: Call of the Mountain PSVR2 Director Made Redundant by Dev Firesprite
@NEStalgia Certainly price and friction holds VR back but then also the lack of very recognisable, popular games e.g. ex-fifa, cod.
The VR enthusiasts were all hoping that the majority of games would get a VR mode. But apparently the industry thinks otherwise for some reason. If one looks at the numbers of e.g. re4 it seems that one could make back the investment in a VR mode but presumably not much more. So from a financial stand point it presumably is not interesting to add VR modes, which might be the problem. As a future investment and maybe just from the perspective of an enthusiast (which hopefully still exist in the gaming industry) it would make sense at least for titles which sell well and do not seem to throw in many obstacles for a VR adaptation e.g. car games with cockpit views). Also why not a VR mode for helldivers 2, and yes why not a third person VR cam for stellar blade ?
Re: Capcom Hits Record High Profits for Seventh Year in a Row
must be driven by the VR modes for Resident Evil 4 remake and Village I don't see any other explanation
Re: New PSVR2 Games Release Dates in 2024
one way to make a platform appear more dead than it is by ignoring everything that is appearing on that platform - even bigger games like madison. But, in the end it is a subjective choice also not all flat games are reported here I guess.