If they don’t do this already, video game companies should hire a reviewer (or two) as a consultant to play through the game(s) and give constructive criticism. Annoying things like the audio problems in these Game Gear Sonic games could then be headed off and fixed prior to launch, and 100K or more consumers wouldn’t be scared off from buying the game from poor pre-release criticism.
@NikNakk THANK YOU for answering the question I was about to ask: Is it multiplayer and, if so, online or couch or both?
I really, really wish a developer would create a more westernized Katamari-like game…you know, a version that isn’t so damn bat-sheet crazy, and one that features full voice-support instead of a bazillion lines of text. Donut County was ok, but it had too many levels with puzzle-based things, whereas I just want to roll up stuff into a big ole ball.
Heck, for that matter, I’d love to see another Tornado Outbreak game. THAT game is one of the best PS3 couch co-op games that no one ever talks about.
Robust character creator, eh? Cool. That reminds me…
Everyone hates micro transactions, right? What if SF6’s character creator had the ability to charge micro transactions on customer-created content (meaning you could download other user’s creations for, say, $1 per download) with, say, 80% of the fee going back to the player who created it and 20% going to Capcom?
Would you be more or less interested in buying SF6 if you had the ability to create characters that other players could download and you’d get $ for it? Just curious.
I decided to download Thymesia from PS+, and I’ve been playing that and yelling at my tv a lot. The problem I have with games like this is that I suck at blocking, so I’m constantly dying, and I don’t have the patience to continue playing because it’s such a grind to go back and pick up my lost essences after respawning. Are there any good Souls-like games like Thymesia where I don’t lose my essences every time I die?
@ShadowofSparta Fair enough. It’s a new turn-based battle system that implements cards, and it features lots of Marvel superheroes and villains, a fun story, and high production values. Cool.
I’m honestly not sure what it’d take to move the needle for me. I just know my needle hasn’t moved when I’ve watched gameplay. It doesn’t seem to be moving other gamers’ needles, either, since it hasn’t sold well. Maybe it’s been poorly marketed. Not sure. Anyway, I’m glad you really dig it.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m burnt out on the superheroes and villains of Marvel and DC. Been there, done that…too many times.
It seems like this generation of games is all about tweaking past experiences and making subtle improvements, and not so much about creating new, unique, mind-blowing experiences. But maybe it’s just me.
I wish everyone who worked there—and those who continue to work there—the best. They’re talented developers, that’s for sure.
If it’s back to the drawing board, let’s add some fun characters to the mix. Why stop at the Prince of Persia? How about the… —Bard of Babylon —Temptress of Tunisia —Infiltrator of Iran —Salacious Seductress of Syria —Joker of Jordan —Baron of Bahrain —Bombardier of Bhutan —Sultan of Sudan —Assassin of Azerbaijan —The Masked Marauder of Mauritania …and make the setting be the Utiopia of Ethiopia
How much do they expect parents to Peyo for this smurfy Mario Kart knock-off?
Serious question: Has there been ANY real game-changing innovation to kart racers since, oh, about 1997 when Mario Kart 64 released?
Boost from the start…
Drift around corners…
Pick up items on the track to increase speed or shoot projectiles or lay down mines…
Race from a behind-the-kart 3rd person view on cartooney-looking tracks…
Compete to earn points on races to win a cup championship…
Smurfs should’ve just sold their rights to Nintendo to add playable Smurf characters into the next Mario Kart game. They’d get more press and player goodwill from that than they ever will from this hackneyed, by-the-numbers snoozefest.
I really hope I’m wrong and this game turns out to be a gem. I just don’t see it.
Sony usually does pretty well with marketing, but there have been a few really good games where Sony’s severely sucked in this regard. Puppeteer is one of ‘em. MAG is another. Gravity Rush and GR 2 come to mind. And Concrete Genie is a final nail in the coffin.
Concrete Genie is a really solid—albeit niche—game, and it was hurt badly by poor marketing (or, perhaps, I should say “utter and complete lack of marketing”). In places, Concrete Genie is magical and amazing—majestic, original, and mind-bendingly beautiful. In other places, it’s damn depressing. It’s slow and plodding. It tackles bullying, and it succeeds, but it also fails because it’s a tough topic that mainstream gamers aren’t going to jump up and down for excitedly.
I wish the employees the best of luck. They’re a talented group, no denying that.
If there was a positive that could come from in-game advertising, ok. Like, for example, if Pepsi signs showing up on a roadside billboard within a game led to the game being lowered in cost from $70 to $50, I’d be ok with that. But if the ad is being force fed to the players… 😄…😐…😧…🤢…🫢…🤮!
Sometimes seeing an ad for a video game within a game is fun, and sometimes it’s annoying. In Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3, there are ads for one of the Ys games when you go into one of the shops and walk by their tvs. I thought that was pretty dang awesome when I stumbled upon it, and I thought it was a cool way to cross-promote their games. But, just a straight up ad of another game within a game, like on the fighter’s screen in MK XI? That just sounds like a cheap, exploitative way to market software and tick off their gamers.
@Microbius Yep, totally understand. Stacking is the key. I started with PS+ back in the PS3 days, and the sheer number of PlayStation Plus games I now have in my back catalog for PS, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, and Vita is astounding. If you’ve had Microsoft Gold for 3 years, I imagine it’s the same thing.
The timing of this article is fascinating. It comes a day after Sony announces they’re removing, what, 36 games from the service? And, it’s only three or four days from now when all 14 of the PS4 PS+ Essential games are being removed so that new PS5 owners can’t claim them.
That said, I get it…. It makes sense that PushSquare would publish a pro-PS+ article. If PS4 and PS5 loses its gamer base, it means less readers will be interested in PushSquare’s content, and that hurts the old bottom line $.
Anyway, I like PS+. I always have. I’m a premium subscriber, and that’s not going to change. 😎 XBox has a dumb UI, and I really like the haptic feedback from the PS5’s dual sense controller. It’s just too bad the Vita wasn’t supported like it should’ve been. They should’ve been giving ‘em away with purchases of the PS4. (Put the system in the gamers’ hands, and consumers will spend money on games & subscription services!)
As an aside, I’m kinda surprised Sony doesn’t have a PS5 rental service…like, for $99.99 per year, you can rent a PS5 with basic PS+ service! Seems like it’d be an easy way for game sales to skyrocket.
@Flaming_Kaiser Exactly. That’s the point. They likely wouldn’t put the whole game on the disc nowadays because it would open the door for hackers to figure out a way to more easily pirate the game.
Of those who already purchased the pc version, I’d be curious to know… —How many already played through the game? vs. —How many paused their playing to wait for an improvement patch like this one before continuing on with the journey?
And, from Sony’s perspective, did they make the patch primarily to… —appease the folks who’d already purchased the pc game? Or… —salvage Sony’s reputation? Or… —entice pc players who haven’t yet bought the game to shell out the bucks and buy the game?
Re: Huge download and insane game size? It’s par for the course. For those folks saying that they buy physical copies so they can sell ‘em on the secondhand market or keep em and play em in 15 years when the servers are shut down, I say this:
In this day and age, it’d be stupid for any company to put the entire game on a disc. It’d make the game easier to bootleg and sell/give to their buddies. Don’t be surprised if damn near every game disc will soon require a healthy download just to make ‘em operable. And, when the game server shuts down, even if you have a physical disc it won’t be surprising if it doesn’t work in 10-15 years. Why?
For better or worse, we’re now living in that future that XBox’s Don Mattrick got ripped for back in 2013, when he said this: “Fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity, it's called Xbox 360. If you have zero access to internet, that is an offline device..” In other words, the future is now. Out with the old ways of doing business and in with the new.
Planer Coaster was okay, but the controls were wonky and unintuitive. The best one I’ve played is the FIRST Jurassic Park Evolution; it’s much better imo than the sequel and it’s still the standard I judge theme park games by. Anyway, I sure hope this Park Beyond game is good. I’m ready for an intuitive game that gives the player lots of customization opportunities.
Quick question: Are there any games like this that have more realistic, non-cartoony graphics? No offense to Park Beyond or Planet Coaster, but I’m kinda tired of games that look like The Sims. Photo realism would be cool. We are in 2022 with machines that can handle the technology.
@BAMozzy You make a great point. Rovio has the knowledge and expertise of the mobile market, and if Sega wants a stronger footprint there, Rovio would be a company you’d want on your side.
Seven years ago I was interested. Now? Hmm…maybe. Probably wait for a sale. At $20, I’d pull the trigger. So, in about 2 years it’ll be in my collection.
Ok, €775 million purchase price for a company that totaled €317 million in revenue in 2022. Of the €317 million, €209.54 mil was the operating expense, and supposedly the actual profit for 2022 was €22.19. So, it’d take roughly 33.85 years just to get back to even…and ROI? Ugh. ROI is return on investment, and its formula is (profit-cost)/cost), If revenues and profits stay the same, which we know won’t happen, it’ll be quite a while before an actual return on that investment occurs.
Anyway, if Sega folds the Rovio workload into their own staff (and, umm, “relieves” some of Rovio’s 523 employees from the payroll), Sega could cut those costs down and increase yearly profit, but, bottom line, it’d still take a long, long time to make an actual profit over the €775 mil purchase price. Sega MUST have something big in mind for growing the Angry Birds franchise, because that purchase price is HUGE and could lead to financial ruin quickly if Angry Birds popularity wanes even a little.
In case their marketing department needs some ideas on what else could be cleansed, I’ve got a few ideas they can use free of charge (as long as they thank me in the credits):
—Muckingham Palace…We’re going to battle. Let’s cleanse the castle!
—The Blight House in WASHington, D. C. (Dirty City). Cleanse the corruption.
—Oh no! The Chichen Itza’s leftover pizza!
—Brace yourselves for The cLeaning Tower of Pisa.
—The Taj Mahal’s greatest fall? The mildew covered toilet stall!
—The Temple of Artemis at Ephesis…it’s soiled by butt creases!
—The Mausoleum at Halicarnassis…it’s toxic with gases!
—Macchu Picchu…power wash it, we beseech you!
—The Statue of Liberty…wash her nose with your rubber hose. And spray down her armpit…it smells like sh_t!!
It’d be a good change of pace to revitalize the Western genre with a Red Dead Redemption series. We have a few shows now, like Yellowstone and Deadwood, that have rekindled the flame a bit, so let’s fan the flame!
The “Western,” as a film/tv show genre, was hugely popular from the 1950s-early/mid 1970s, with the mainstream American audience gobbling them up just as much as we gobble up zombie/horror programs now. Television shows like Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Rawhide, The Big Valley were huge, as were movies like High Noon, The Searchers, John Wayne flicks, John Ford flicks, Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, and the Western movies of Clint Eastwood (Good, Bad and Ugly, High Plains Drifter, A Fistful of Dollars, and others). Make it so, Rockstar!! Adapt Red Dead Redemption for the small screen.
@C25CLOUD Since it’s a cross-platform game, don’t those numbers include all players? Not sure. Anyway…
This game was in beta? Hmm. It was fun for a week or so, but needs about twice the number of characters and should include ‘em with the base game.
Whichever company can develop a fighting game that includes features that include a really, REALLY robust create-a-player (a la the character creator for Saints Row) with your own sound effects, create-a-move, create-your-own combos, and create-your-own playfield…that’ll be the game that financially succeeds on a massive scale. The Guilty Gear Strive game has a cool create a combo feature, so at least there’s one dev on the right path…. We’ll see if any of ‘em figure it out or if they continue on with the same old stuff—the SFII clones, the Smash Bros clones, and the MK clones.
Is the Syphon Filter game worth playing? Or are the controls and visuals so janky that it’s only fun if you’ve already played them years ago and want to reminisce and wax nostalgic?
@thefourfoldroot1 I get ya. Trophies are important, and there should be some specific for the VR version. Trophies outwardly display your mastery of the game, and if a game doesn’t have trophies, I often skip ‘em and play something else. I’ve got a big backlog, and if all else is equal, I’ll play one with trophies.
@Cherip-the-Ripper I’m an old gamer—46! Eek, that’s getting old. Anyway, I’m torn on remakes. I’m all for new IP and new experiences, and yet I still enjoy playing remakes if the developers put the necessary time, energy, and passion into the project.
If it seems like a remake is a quick cash grab for video game companies, that’s when I get annoyed. Perfect example: When Resident Evil 4 was re-released on PS3 with fancy new HD graphics, I was excited to play it, but that excitement immediately turned to disappointment, then annoyance, and frustration. The old, antiquated controls from the PS2 version hadn’t been updated for the PS3 version, and, even though it featured sharper, crisper graphics, the gameplay was still inferior to the awesome Wii controller/nunchuck control scheme. I felt like I’d wasted my money on the HD PS3 version, and even though I’d paid full price, I stopped playing it after about an hour.
I came back to Resident Evil 4 HD on PS3 and tried it again a few years later to see if maybe I was being too critical initially, but same thing—controls sucked, don’t want to play it, still annoyed at Capcom’s weak effort.
How dare PushSquare give a game a perfect 10 score and get the players all excited only to find out that the game doesn’t release for a few more days. Bah! C’mon time. Hurry up. 😋
It’s a good thing I still have a couple of episodes of Physical: 100 to watch on Netflix. That’ll keep me busy for a bit.
I always loved the Wii version because you’d aim and shoot with the controller while walking around with the nunchuck attachment. I hope this release lives up to the Wii version’s greatness.
Fantastic game is only hurt by the insane grinding that’s required to get past a few boss battles. I spent about 50 hours progressing nicely through the game to get to about 75% completion, and the final 25% completion took another 40 hours to get my characters’ levels up to between 70-75.
Quick Tips:
—Keep buying and upgrading weapons at the Romance Workshop. Even if you don’t need the weapons, crafting them will improve your intellect, style, etc.
—Spend the necessary time it takes to make Ichiban’s Confections a big business success. It’ll get you the 20Mil yen needed to invest in the Romance Workshop.
—As soon as you get Job EXP boosters, equip them! It’ll save grinding time. Do a Google search for “yakuza like a dragon job exp boosters“ and the NEO Seeker website page will tell you where to get ‘em.
—Grind at the battle arena….again and again and again. This will get you awesome armor, lots of leveling up EXP, and lots of money (which, again, you can use to invest in the Romance Workshop).
—SAVE YOUR GAME prior to starting areas that ask “are you ready?” Once you enter those areas, you won’t be able to save (and auto-save won’t kick in) until you finish the area and/or beat the bosses.
—You don’t need too many HP items because, after you win a battle, you can hit the options button and then press square to auto-refill your HP (on easy and normal difficulty). HOWEVER, you SHOULD buy lots of MP boosters to replenish your numbers before and during battles.
—I jacked up my players’ dexterity as much as I could. That stat increases the odds that you’ll evade the enemies’ attacks.
@Bentleyma Fair point. I’m guessing Konami will have tracking mechanisms in place to analytically verify users’ play time, and the data will be parsed to determine the feasibility of future releases in the west.
I remember seeing a YouTube video some years ago on the Dreamcast version of this game, and it was really solid then. I can’t imagine it’d be crap now.
It seems silly that Konami never made an English version of it until now. I mean, it’s a BASEBALL game. Of course folks in the west will play it! Philippines? No, they like basketball, not baseball. But, in the US? You betcha. (Go Twins!)
Konami’s just gotta change some text from Japanese to English for player names and in-game menus. It’s not as though it’s a story-heavy JRPG with 100 hours of Japanese story content that needs translation. Easy money…get our buy in for .99 now, and you’ll likely get our $9.99 or $14.99 next season and beyond.
Wales Interactive games are great. Five Dates was a lot of fun, and I didn’t realize a sequel was in the works. Sweet! Gotta check it out right away.
I showed Five Dates to two different friends separately—separate days, separate times. When I started the game, they both said something to the effect of “oh, come on. What is this crap?!” And then they started watching, playing, laughing, thinking through how they should respond, talking through the responses with me, as if I was going to spill the beans on what they should choose.
One of the friends made decisions as if he was the protagonist. The other friend said, “I wonder what this guy would do,” and made choices that way. Ultimately, when they finished, both friends had a really good time...but, funny, NEITHER of them would admit it to me! They both said, “meh, that was ok.” Mmmhmm. Just ok? Sure. 😉
I can see some truth to Phil Spencer’s statement that putting a game on Game Pass was "leading to more sales of the game.” For example, I never would’ve purchased a Yakuza game…or a Mafia game…or a Just Cause game…or a Sniper Elite game…or, heck, the sequel to Party Hard, if they hadn’t been made available on PS+. Still, Microsoft KNEW it’d harm game sales. Their goal all along was to win market share in XBox console sales through Game Pass. Once you’ve got market share, you can rest on your laurels. That’s what Madden football has done for 20+ years.
The PS5 system sales are fully dependent on how many machines are manufactured. In the US, I’ve STILL never seen one in a brick and mortar store, with the exception of seeing 1 non-working machine safely secured behind unbreakable glass at a Best Buy. Heck, I’ve seen just as many DMC DeLoreans in the past year as I have seen PS5s (1 DeLorean vs. 1 PS5, and the PS5 was mine!).
Cosmic Smash was a fun Dreamcast game. Seems like the perfect fit for PSVR2. The trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, though. With all the games coming into the market today, THAT’S what the marketing team is pinning their hopes on? It’s not as though Cosmic Smash has a huge fanbase and can rest on their laurels. They need all the trailer views and positive word of mouth they can get…unless they want to continue to be as unknown today as they were back in 2001.
Ooh, the physical copy for PS5 sells at GameStop for $59.99, and it’s a hybrid slasher/shooter from the makers of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive. Looks interesting, sounds promising, and I always like cheesy FMV and janky cinematics. May wait for it to go on sale, though.
@DukeeDukems Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll check that out. I only played Madden 23 for a couple of hours back when they had a free weekend of it. I see it’s on sale now for $20.99, but I don’t know.
I’m totally up for buying a new football game, and maybe this Modus Maximum Football game will be fun, but if it’s anything like Modus’ Maximum Football 2018, I want nothing to do with it. That game is really, really bad. Like, on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s MAYBE a 2.
Bring back NFL Blitz, I say! …Oh, hey, here’s an idea! Make the PS3 NFL Blitz game available for streaming through PS+ Premium. That’d be a reason to continue paying for PS+ Premium. 😁
I think it’s sad that all the football games essentially look and play the same with the same standard viewpoint. What made Tecmobowl fun and unique? It went side to side. Why was 10 Yard Fight interesting? It had a top-down view. Kudos to Modus for trying a free to play model, but if its goal is to look and play just like Madden, it’s already lost.
Message for developers:
With so many FPS, top-down shooters and 3rd person shooters for PS5 owners (PS1 and PS2 remasters, streamable PS3 classics, basically ALL PS4 games, and PS5 games), what IS IT that sets apart the games that PS5 owners buy vs. those they don’t?
—It is the DualSense trigger mechanism, Skippy! THAT is the game changer that XBox ain’t got. It’s what makes modern games immersive.
Without meaningful DualSense integration in the game, you just got plain old vanilla ice cream, man. No offense, I like vanilla ice cream and I eat plenty of it, but you’re more likely to get my coin if you put that chocolate syrup and the cherry on top…and that’s what DualSense integration is—it’s the chocolate syrup and the cherry. I might end up getting this game because I’ve been wanting to give it a try, but there are some other really tempting dessert options in that PS store.
@get2sammyb If I were you, I wouldn’t feel bad about not owning a PS5 physical game. Sometimes owning a physical game is a negative. For example, I own Witcher 3 on PS4 disc, and recently the owners of PS4 Witcher 3 got the free upgrade to the PS5 version…except I didn’t get the free upgrade because I own the disc and not the downloadable version. ☹️
Comments 744
Re: Sonic Origins Plus Isn't Even Out on PS5, PS4 Yet But Fans Are Already Mad
If they don’t do this already, video game companies should hire a reviewer (or two) as a consultant to play through the game(s) and give constructive criticism. Annoying things like the audio problems in these Game Gear Sonic games could then be headed off and fixed prior to launch, and 100K or more consumers wouldn’t be scared off from buying the game from poor pre-release criticism.
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Street Fighter 6?
Is it better than Guilty Gear Strive? That’s the benchmark for me so far this generation.
Re: We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie (PS5) - A Great Version of the Series' Highlight
@NikNakk THANK YOU for answering the question I was about to ask: Is it multiplayer and, if so, online or couch or both?
I really, really wish a developer would create a more westernized Katamari-like game…you know, a version that isn’t so damn bat-sheet crazy, and one that features full voice-support instead of a bazillion lines of text. Donut County was ok, but it had too many levels with puzzle-based things, whereas I just want to roll up stuff into a big ole ball.
Heck, for that matter, I’d love to see another Tornado Outbreak game. THAT game is one of the best PS3 couch co-op games that no one ever talks about.
Re: Street Fighter 6 Fans Are Having Fun Creating Famous PS5, PS4 Characters for World Tour
Robust character creator, eh? Cool. That reminds me…
Everyone hates micro transactions, right? What if SF6’s character creator had the ability to charge micro transactions on customer-created content (meaning you could download other user’s creations for, say, $1 per download) with, say, 80% of the fee going back to the player who created it and 20% going to Capcom?
Would you be more or less interested in buying SF6 if you had the ability to create characters that other players could download and you’d get $ for it? Just curious.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 479
I decided to download Thymesia from PS+, and I’ve been playing that and yelling at my tv a lot. The problem I have with games like this is that I suck at blocking, so I’m constantly dying, and I don’t have the patience to continue playing because it’s such a grind to go back and pick up my lost essences after respawning. Are there any good Souls-like games like Thymesia where I don’t lose my essences every time I die?
Re: Tech Industry Continues to Take a Beating with Marvel's Midnight Suns Dev Latest to Be Hit by Layoffs
@ShadowofSparta Fair enough. It’s a new turn-based battle system that implements cards, and it features lots of Marvel superheroes and villains, a fun story, and high production values. Cool.
I’m honestly not sure what it’d take to move the needle for me. I just know my needle hasn’t moved when I’ve watched gameplay. It doesn’t seem to be moving other gamers’ needles, either, since it hasn’t sold well. Maybe it’s been poorly marketed. Not sure. Anyway, I’m glad you really dig it.
Re: Tech Industry Continues to Take a Beating with Marvel's Midnight Suns Dev Latest to Be Hit by Layoffs
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m burnt out on the superheroes and villains of Marvel and DC. Been there, done that…too many times.
It seems like this generation of games is all about tweaking past experiences and making subtle improvements, and not so much about creating new, unique, mind-blowing experiences. But maybe it’s just me.
I wish everyone who worked there—and those who continue to work there—the best. They’re talented developers, that’s for sure.
Re: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake Back at Concept Stage After Total Reboot
If it’s back to the drawing board, let’s add some fun characters to the mix. Why stop at the Prince of Persia? How about the…
—Bard of Babylon
—Temptress of Tunisia
—Infiltrator of Iran
—Salacious Seductress of Syria
—Joker of Jordan
—Baron of Bahrain
—Bombardier of Bhutan
—Sultan of Sudan
—Assassin of Azerbaijan
—The Masked Marauder of Mauritania
…and make the setting be the Utiopia of Ethiopia
Re: Bus Simulator 21: Next Stop (PS5) - Bright and Breezy Sim Is Better Than Ever
We really need a remake of the old Dreamcast game Tokyo Bus Guide. That game was really something. 🤣
Re: Horizon's Writers Haven't Thought About Series without Lance Reddick
They need a side story off-shoot: The Chronicles of Reddick.
Re: Days Gone Dev Can't Wait to Show You Its First PS5 Exclusive
Ooh, it’s the InFamous MAG Warhawk Resistance title that everyone’s been hoping for!
Re: Smurfs Kart Targets Game of the Year Status on PS5, PS4
How much do they expect parents to Peyo for this smurfy Mario Kart knock-off?
Serious question: Has there been ANY real game-changing innovation to kart racers since, oh, about 1997 when Mario Kart 64 released?
Boost from the start…
Drift around corners…
Pick up items on the track to increase speed or shoot projectiles or lay down mines…
Race from a behind-the-kart 3rd person view on cartooney-looking tracks…
Compete to earn points on races to win a cup championship…
Smurfs should’ve just sold their rights to Nintendo to add playable Smurf characters into the next Mario Kart game. They’d get more press and player goodwill from that than they ever will from this hackneyed, by-the-numbers snoozefest.
I really hope I’m wrong and this game turns out to be a gem. I just don’t see it.
Re: Concrete Genie Developer PixelOpus Is Shutting Down
Sony usually does pretty well with marketing, but there have been a few really good games where Sony’s severely sucked in this regard. Puppeteer is one of ‘em. MAG is another. Gravity Rush and GR 2 come to mind. And Concrete Genie is a final nail in the coffin.
Concrete Genie is a really solid—albeit niche—game, and it was hurt badly by poor marketing (or, perhaps, I should say “utter and complete lack of marketing”). In places, Concrete Genie is magical and amazing—majestic, original, and mind-bendingly beautiful. In other places, it’s damn depressing. It’s slow and plodding. It tackles bullying, and it succeeds, but it also fails because it’s a tough topic that mainstream gamers aren’t going to jump up and down for excitedly.
I wish the employees the best of luck. They’re a talented group, no denying that.
Re: Mortal Kombat 11 PS5, PS4 Fans Can't Believe the Game's Been Filled with Hogwarts Legacy Ads
If there was a positive that could come from in-game advertising, ok. Like, for example, if Pepsi signs showing up on a roadside billboard within a game led to the game being lowered in cost from $70 to $50, I’d be ok with that. But if the ad is being force fed to the players… 😄…😐…😧…🤢…🫢…🤮!
Re: Mortal Kombat 11 PS5, PS4 Fans Can't Believe the Game's Been Filled with Hogwarts Legacy Ads
Sometimes seeing an ad for a video game within a game is fun, and sometimes it’s annoying. In Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3, there are ads for one of the Ys games when you go into one of the shops and walk by their tvs. I thought that was pretty dang awesome when I stumbled upon it, and I thought it was a cool way to cross-promote their games. But, just a straight up ad of another game within a game, like on the fighter’s screen in MK XI? That just sounds like a cheap, exploitative way to market software and tick off their gamers.
Re: Soapbox: PS Plus Might Be Gaming's Best Subscription Service Now
@Microbius Yep, totally understand. Stacking is the key. I started with PS+ back in the PS3 days, and the sheer number of PlayStation Plus games I now have in my back catalog for PS, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, and Vita is astounding. If you’ve had Microsoft Gold for 3 years, I imagine it’s the same thing.
Re: Soapbox: PS Plus Might Be Gaming's Best Subscription Service Now
The timing of this article is fascinating. It comes a day after Sony announces they’re removing, what, 36 games from the service? And, it’s only three or four days from now when all 14 of the PS4 PS+ Essential games are being removed so that new PS5 owners can’t claim them.
That said, I get it…. It makes sense that PushSquare would publish a pro-PS+ article. If PS4 and PS5 loses its gamer base, it means less readers will be interested in PushSquare’s content, and that hurts the old bottom line $.
Anyway, I like PS+. I always have. I’m a premium subscriber, and that’s not going to change. 😎 XBox has a dumb UI, and I really like the haptic feedback from the PS5’s dual sense controller. It’s just too bad the Vita wasn’t supported like it should’ve been. They should’ve been giving ‘em away with purchases of the PS4. (Put the system in the gamers’ hands, and consumers will spend money on games & subscription services!)
As an aside, I’m kinda surprised Sony doesn’t have a PS5 rental service…like, for $99.99 per year, you can rent a PS5 with basic PS+ service! Seems like it’d be an easy way for game sales to skyrocket.
Re: Puzzle Strategy Classic Clash of Heroes Is Getting an Upgraded PS4 Re-Release
I remember this being a really fun game. Not sure if I’ll buy it again on PS5, but I can attest that if you haven’t played it, it IS worth a look.
Re: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor PS5 Physical Copies Require a Download to Play
@Flaming_Kaiser Exactly. That’s the point. They likely wouldn’t put the whole game on the disc nowadays because it would open the door for hackers to figure out a way to more easily pirate the game.
Re: The Last of Us' Busted PC Port Is on the Up with 25GB Patch
Of those who already purchased the pc version, I’d be curious to know…
—How many already played through the game?
vs.
—How many paused their playing to wait for an improvement patch like this one before continuing on with the journey?
And, from Sony’s perspective, did they make the patch primarily to…
—appease the folks who’d already purchased the pc game? Or…
—salvage Sony’s reputation? Or…
—entice pc players who haven’t yet bought the game to shell out the bucks and buy the game?
Re: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor PS5 Physical Copies Require a Download to Play
Re: Huge download and insane game size? It’s par for the course. For those folks saying that they buy physical copies so they can sell ‘em on the secondhand market or keep em and play em in 15 years when the servers are shut down, I say this:
In this day and age, it’d be stupid for any company to put the entire game on a disc. It’d make the game easier to bootleg and sell/give to their buddies. Don’t be surprised if damn near every game disc will soon require a healthy download just to make ‘em operable. And, when the game server shuts down, even if you have a physical disc it won’t be surprising if it doesn’t work in 10-15 years. Why?
For better or worse, we’re now living in that future that XBox’s Don Mattrick got ripped for back in 2013, when he said this: “Fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity, it's called Xbox 360. If you have zero access to internet, that is an offline device..” In other words, the future is now. Out with the old ways of doing business and in with the new.
Re: Park Beyond Looks Like the PS5 Spiritual Successor to Theme Park You've Been Longing For
Planer Coaster was okay, but the controls were wonky and unintuitive. The best one I’ve played is the FIRST Jurassic Park Evolution; it’s much better imo than the sequel and it’s still the standard I judge theme park games by. Anyway, I sure hope this Park Beyond game is good. I’m ready for an intuitive game that gives the player lots of customization opportunities.
Quick question: Are there any games like this that have more realistic, non-cartoony graphics? No offense to Park Beyond or Planet Coaster, but I’m kinda tired of games that look like The Sims. Photo realism would be cool. We are in 2022 with machines that can handle the technology.
Re: SEGA Buys Angry Birds Maker for $775 Million
@BAMozzy You make a great point. Rovio has the knowledge and expertise of the mobile market, and if Sega wants a stronger footprint there, Rovio would be a company you’d want on your side.
Re: Dead Island 2 (PS5) - A Surprisingly Refreshing Zombie Slasher
Seven years ago I was interested. Now? Hmm…maybe. Probably wait for a sale. At $20, I’d pull the trigger. So, in about 2 years it’ll be in my collection.
Re: SEGA Buys Angry Birds Maker for $775 Million
Ok, €775 million purchase price for a company that totaled €317 million in revenue in 2022. Of the €317 million, €209.54 mil was the operating expense, and supposedly the actual profit for 2022 was €22.19. So, it’d take roughly 33.85 years just to get back to even…and ROI? Ugh. ROI is return on investment, and its formula is (profit-cost)/cost), If revenues and profits stay the same, which we know won’t happen, it’ll be quite a while before an actual return on that investment occurs.
Anyway, if Sega folds the Rovio workload into their own staff (and, umm, “relieves” some of Rovio’s 523 employees from the payroll), Sega could cut those costs down and increase yearly profit, but, bottom line, it’d still take a long, long time to make an actual profit over the €775 mil purchase price. Sega MUST have something big in mind for growing the Angry Birds franchise, because that purchase price is HUGE and could lead to financial ruin quickly if Angry Birds popularity wanes even a little.
Numbers taken from Rovio’s annual statement for 2022: https://investors.rovio.com/sites/rovio-ir-v2/files/2023-02/Rovio%20Q4-2022_interim%20report.pdf
Re: PowerWash Simulator Getting Free and Paid DLC Throughout 2023, Physical Editions Revealed
In case their marketing department needs some ideas on what else could be cleansed, I’ve got a few ideas they can use free of charge (as long as they thank me in the credits):
—Muckingham Palace…We’re going to battle. Let’s cleanse the castle!
—The Blight House in WASHington, D. C. (Dirty City). Cleanse the corruption.
—Oh no! The Chichen Itza’s leftover pizza!
—Brace yourselves for The cLeaning Tower of Pisa.
—The Taj Mahal’s greatest fall? The mildew covered toilet stall!
—The Temple of Artemis at Ephesis…it’s soiled by butt creases!
—The Mausoleum at Halicarnassis…it’s toxic with gases!
—Macchu Picchu…power wash it, we beseech you!
—The Statue of Liberty…wash her nose with your rubber hose. And spray down her armpit…it smells like sh_t!!
Re: Jack Black Calls for Red Dead Redemption Movie, Story 'Even Better Than The Last of Us'
It’d be a good change of pace to revitalize the Western genre with a Red Dead Redemption series. We have a few shows now, like Yellowstone and Deadwood, that have rekindled the flame a bit, so let’s fan the flame!
The “Western,” as a film/tv show genre, was hugely popular from the 1950s-early/mid 1970s, with the mainstream American audience gobbling them up just as much as we gobble up zombie/horror programs now. Television shows like Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Rawhide, The Big Valley were huge, as were movies like High Noon, The Searchers, John Wayne flicks, John Ford flicks, Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, and the Western movies of Clint Eastwood (Good, Bad and Ugly, High Plains Drifter, A Fistful of Dollars, and others). Make it so, Rockstar!! Adapt Red Dead Redemption for the small screen.
Re: Best PS3 Games
@sanderson72 That’s a lot of racin’ games. Let’s toss Blur and Driver San Francisco into the mix as well. 👍
Re: Koei Tecmo Wants to Know Which PS5, PS4 Games You Want on PS Plus
Tecmo Superbowl, homeboy! Remake it, upload it, make us proud.
Re: MultiVersus Going Offline in June, Full Launch Planned for Early 2024
@C25CLOUD Since it’s a cross-platform game, don’t those numbers include all players? Not sure. Anyway…
This game was in beta? Hmm. It was fun for a week or so, but needs about twice the number of characters and should include ‘em with the base game.
Whichever company can develop a fighting game that includes features that include a really, REALLY robust create-a-player (a la the character creator for Saints Row) with your own sound effects, create-a-move, create-your-own combos, and create-your-own playfield…that’ll be the game that financially succeeds on a massive scale. The Guilty Gear Strive game has a cool create a combo feature, so at least there’s one dev on the right path…. We’ll see if any of ‘em figure it out or if they continue on with the same old stuff—the SFII clones, the Smash Bros clones, and the MK clones.
Re: PS Plus Premium's Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Ape Academy 2 Have Trophies
Is the Syphon Filter game worth playing? Or are the controls and visuals so janky that it’s only fun if you’ve already played them years ago and want to reminisce and wax nostalgic?
Re: PS Plus Premium's Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Ape Academy 2 Have Trophies
@thefourfoldroot1 I get ya. Trophies are important, and there should be some specific for the VR version. Trophies outwardly display your mastery of the game, and if a game doesn’t have trophies, I often skip ‘em and play something else. I’ve got a big backlog, and if all else is equal, I’ll play one with trophies.
Re: Resident Evil 4 (PS5) - A True Masterpiece Made Even Better
@Cherip-the-Ripper I’m an old gamer—46! Eek, that’s getting old. Anyway, I’m torn on remakes. I’m all for new IP and new experiences, and yet I still enjoy playing remakes if the developers put the necessary time, energy, and passion into the project.
If it seems like a remake is a quick cash grab for video game companies, that’s when I get annoyed. Perfect example: When Resident Evil 4 was re-released on PS3 with fancy new HD graphics, I was excited to play it, but that excitement immediately turned to disappointment, then annoyance, and frustration. The old, antiquated controls from the PS2 version hadn’t been updated for the PS3 version, and, even though it featured sharper, crisper graphics, the gameplay was still inferior to the awesome Wii controller/nunchuck control scheme. I felt like I’d wasted my money on the HD PS3 version, and even though I’d paid full price, I stopped playing it after about an hour.
I came back to Resident Evil 4 HD on PS3 and tried it again a few years later to see if maybe I was being too critical initially, but same thing—controls sucked, don’t want to play it, still annoyed at Capcom’s weak effort.
Re: Resident Evil 4 (PS5) - A True Masterpiece Made Even Better
How dare PushSquare give a game a perfect 10 score and get the players all excited only to find out that the game doesn’t release for a few more days. Bah! C’mon time. Hurry up. 😋
It’s a good thing I still have a couple of episodes of Physical: 100 to watch on Netflix. That’ll keep me busy for a bit.
Re: Resident Evil 4 (PS5) - A True Masterpiece Made Even Better
I always loved the Wii version because you’d aim and shoot with the controller while walking around with the nunchuck attachment. I hope this release lives up to the Wii version’s greatness.
Re: Surprise! Forspoken and Other Square Enix Games Didn't Meet Sales Expectations
So…which company gets gobbled up by Sony, Microsoft, or the Embracer Group first: Ubisoft or Square Enix?
Re: Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Fantastic game is only hurt by the insane grinding that’s required to get past a few boss battles. I spent about 50 hours progressing nicely through the game to get to about 75% completion, and the final 25% completion took another 40 hours to get my characters’ levels up to between 70-75.
Quick Tips:
—Keep buying and upgrading weapons at the Romance Workshop. Even if you don’t need the weapons, crafting them will improve your intellect, style, etc.
—Spend the necessary time it takes to make Ichiban’s Confections a big business success. It’ll get you the 20Mil yen needed to invest in the Romance Workshop.
—As soon as you get Job EXP boosters, equip them! It’ll save grinding time. Do a Google search for “yakuza like a dragon job exp boosters“ and the NEO Seeker website page will tell you where to get ‘em.
—Grind at the battle arena….again and again and again. This will get you awesome armor, lots of leveling up EXP, and lots of money (which, again, you can use to invest in the Romance Workshop).
—SAVE YOUR GAME prior to starting areas that ask “are you ready?” Once you enter those areas, you won’t be able to save (and auto-save won’t kick in) until you finish the area and/or beat the bosses.
—You don’t need too many HP items because, after you win a battle, you can hit the options button and then press square to auto-refill your HP (on easy and normal difficulty). HOWEVER, you SHOULD buy lots of MP boosters to replenish your numbers before and during battles.
—I jacked up my players’ dexterity as much as I could. That stat increases the odds that you’ll evade the enemies’ attacks.
Re: Mini Review: WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros (PS4) - Balling Arcade Baseball Costs Less Than a Buck
@Bentleyma Fair point. I’m guessing Konami will have tracking mechanisms in place to analytically verify users’ play time, and the data will be parsed to determine the feasibility of future releases in the west.
I remember seeing a YouTube video some years ago on the Dreamcast version of this game, and it was really solid then. I can’t imagine it’d be crap now.
It seems silly that Konami never made an English version of it until now. I mean, it’s a BASEBALL game. Of course folks in the west will play it! Philippines? No, they like basketball, not baseball. But, in the US? You betcha. (Go Twins!)
Konami’s just gotta change some text from Japanese to English for player names and in-game menus. It’s not as though it’s a story-heavy JRPG with 100 hours of Japanese story content that needs translation. Easy money…get our buy in for .99 now, and you’ll likely get our $9.99 or $14.99 next season and beyond.
Re: Mini Review: Ten Dates (PS4) - A Much Improved Rom-Com Sequel
Wales Interactive games are great. Five Dates was a lot of fun, and I didn’t realize a sequel was in the works. Sweet! Gotta check it out right away.
I showed Five Dates to two different friends separately—separate days, separate times. When I started the game, they both said something to the effect of “oh, come on. What is this crap?!” And then they started watching, playing, laughing, thinking through how they should respond, talking through the responses with me, as if I was going to spill the beans on what they should choose.
One of the friends made decisions as if he was the protagonist. The other friend said, “I wonder what this guy would do,” and made choices that way. Ultimately, when they finished, both friends had a really good time...but, funny, NEITHER of them would admit it to me! They both said, “meh, that was ok.” Mmmhmm. Just ok? Sure. 😉
Guilty pleasure? You betcha.
Re: Microsoft Admits Xbox Game Pass Is Harming Software Sales After All
I can see some truth to Phil Spencer’s statement that putting a game on Game Pass was "leading to more sales of the game.” For example, I never would’ve purchased a Yakuza game…or a Mafia game…or a Just Cause game…or a Sniper Elite game…or, heck, the sequel to Party Hard, if they hadn’t been made available on PS+. Still, Microsoft KNEW it’d harm game sales. Their goal all along was to win market share in XBox console sales through Game Pass. Once you’ve got market share, you can rest on your laurels. That’s what Madden football has done for 20+ years.
Re: PS5 Sales Increased 202% in Europe Year-over-Year, Xbox and Nintendo Switch Both Down
The PS5 system sales are fully dependent on how many machines are manufactured. In the US, I’ve STILL never seen one in a brick and mortar store, with the exception of seeing 1 non-working machine safely secured behind unbreakable glass at a Best Buy. Heck, I’ve seen just as many DMC DeLoreans in the past year as I have seen PS5s (1 DeLorean vs. 1 PS5, and the PS5 was mine!).
Re: Dreamcast Classic Cosmic Smash Is Being Reborn on PSVR2
Cosmic Smash was a fun Dreamcast game. Seems like the perfect fit for PSVR2. The trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, though. With all the games coming into the market today, THAT’S what the marketing team is pinning their hopes on? It’s not as though Cosmic Smash has a huge fanbase and can rest on their laurels. They need all the trailer views and positive word of mouth they can get…unless they want to continue to be as unknown today as they were back in 2001.
Re: Mental Clean-'Em-Up PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe Punches to PS5, PS4 in 2023
A beat-em-up with dump truck nearby. As a genre, I’m calling it a “slap and scrap.”
Re: Wanted: Dead Brings Big Bargain Bin Vibes in PS5, PS4 Trailer
Ooh, the physical copy for PS5 sells at GameStop for $59.99, and it’s a hybrid slasher/shooter from the makers of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive. Looks interesting, sounds promising, and I always like cheesy FMV and janky cinematics. May wait for it to go on sale, though.
Re: Madden NFL Rival Maximum Football Goes Free-to-Play on PS5, PS4
@DukeeDukems Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll check that out. I only played Madden 23 for a couple of hours back when they had a free weekend of it. I see it’s on sale now for $20.99, but I don’t know.
I’m totally up for buying a new football game, and maybe this Modus Maximum Football game will be fun, but if it’s anything like Modus’ Maximum Football 2018, I want nothing to do with it. That game is really, really bad. Like, on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s MAYBE a 2.
Bring back NFL Blitz, I say! …Oh, hey, here’s an idea! Make the PS3 NFL Blitz game available for streaming through PS+ Premium. That’d be a reason to continue paying for PS+ Premium. 😁
Re: Madden NFL Rival Maximum Football Goes Free-to-Play on PS5, PS4
I think it’s sad that all the football games essentially look and play the same with the same standard viewpoint. What made Tecmobowl fun and unique? It went side to side. Why was 10 Yard Fight interesting? It had a top-down view. Kudos to Modus for trying a free to play model, but if its goal is to look and play just like Madden, it’s already lost.
Re: Mini Review: World War Z: Aftermath (PS5) - Performance Issues Can't Stop XL Zombie Fun
@NoCode23 Just wait for the PS6. It’ll be nuts!
Re: Mini Review: World War Z: Aftermath (PS5) - Performance Issues Can't Stop XL Zombie Fun
Message for developers:
With so many FPS, top-down shooters and 3rd person shooters for PS5 owners (PS1 and PS2 remasters, streamable PS3 classics, basically ALL PS4 games, and PS5 games), what IS IT that sets apart the games that PS5 owners buy vs. those they don’t?
—It is the DualSense trigger mechanism, Skippy! THAT is the game changer that XBox ain’t got. It’s what makes modern games immersive.
Without meaningful DualSense integration in the game, you just got plain old vanilla ice cream, man. No offense, I like vanilla ice cream and I eat plenty of it, but you’re more likely to get my coin if you put that chocolate syrup and the cherry on top…and that’s what DualSense integration is—it’s the chocolate syrup and the cherry. I might end up getting this game because I’ve been wanting to give it a try, but there are some other really tempting dessert options in that PS store.
Re: PS5 Shipments Eclipse 32.1 Million Units, with Huge Year Ahead
32 million PS5s sold and I’ve still never seen one in stock at a brick and mortar store. Ha. Got mine through PS Direct.
Re: Check Your Inbox for 10% PS Store Discount Code on PS App
@get2sammyb If I were you, I wouldn’t feel bad about not owning a PS5 physical game. Sometimes owning a physical game is a negative. For example, I own Witcher 3 on PS4 disc, and recently the owners of PS4 Witcher 3 got the free upgrade to the PS5 version…except I didn’t get the free upgrade because I own the disc and not the downloadable version. ☹️