leucocyte

i decided to order it for next week. it's uniqueness and boldness to do something different has me intrigued. i may still not like it at all, but it doesn't sound like a rinse-n-repeat that a lot of modern AAA games are. i haven't actually bought a game all year, and i found this for £41, so it's not too much of a risk. i've only played two games all year - anthem which is frankly terrible, and CoD:MW which i thought was a bit of disappointment. i just can't see this being worse than anthem, in any circumstances.

i actually didn't think it would average in the mid-80s to be honest. i half-expected in the main that kojima would be called out for his self-indulgence.

that's some clever trolling.

@Nightcrawler71 - it's not really a campaign, there are three different war stories based in different regions of the WW2 conflict. each one is maybe an hour and a half or so, i think.

the decima engine i think played a big part, it's apparently quite easy to work with, from a development perspective, and very powerful of course.

but i'd well believe kojima had the first ideas for DS in 2012. i recall an interview with herman hulst from guerrilla games, sometime between KZ2 and KZ3, where official playstation magazine asked him if he had unlimited resources and budget what kind of game would he like to make.. and the reply was something along the lines of open world rpg with ninja, dinosaurs and monsters. the first ideas of H:ZD probably began 7 years before it actually came out.

even if all of those titles were available on launch day, it wouldn't convince me to buy a PS5 right off-the-bat. anything i wanted that already released on PS4, i would have bought already. i don't see how necessary it is to port games to PS5.. and whether publishers will expect people to pay twice if they already bought PS4 games.

said it before, but i think there is close to zero chance than H:ZD2 will launch with PS5. given how long it took to make the first one, and the fact it sold 10m+ copies.. they're not going to get anywhere close to that number in the first year of PS5, unless practically every owner buys it.

i think destiny 3 might be a possibility. arriving early on PS4 really helped the original destiny thrive, imo, and being a launch title. and given the typical cycle of base game, followed in two consecutive years by a major expansion, next year would be when a new numbered release could be expected.

hmm.. colour me interested. even the 'negative' reviews seem to be marking it down because it's not full of the familiar tropes of AAA games, or it's too 'weird', or too kojima.

people need to have a read of this to see just how far this microtransaction garbage can go. i don't know if there's evidence that console games have gone this far, but quite frankly this is scary stuff about using AI to target direct monetisation at specific types of players, and how getting people to make in-game MT purchases is more likely to keep them engaged in the game, to buy more MTs.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-10-21-yodo1s-ai-driven-whale-hunt-is-a-bad-look-for-the-games-industry-opinion

'affordable' is relative. $999 might be affordable if you bought it on credit with 0% interest for 12 or 18 months, or you're the kind of person that drops $150k on a free-to-play mobile game.

@Mega-Gazz - except PS4. its launch price was $399, and estimated manufacturing costs of $380. the days of sony accepting losses of hundreds of dollars on units are long over. for microsoft as well. both divisions suffered losses of billions in the early years of PS3/xbox - the former because it was extremely expensive to manufacture (even with its price tag), and the latter because the hardware failure rate was colossal.

155m is unrealistic.. though i suppose it depends on just how much cheaper they can sell a PS4 and whether it can tap into markets/territories where incomes are generally lower than US/Europe/Japan. at $150 say (or lower), it might bring it into the budget of more consumers.

but i would guess it'll probably have one last hurrah this winter, before sales tail off considerably. how many PS3s were sold after PS4 was announced and subsequently released? i think it'll probably top out at about 110-120m.

growth and investment doesn't necessarily mean going out and buying a bunch of studios. look at guerrilla or naughty dog.. guerrilla is now about 400 employees, with the staffing resources to work on more than one project. same for naughty dog.

as for remedy.. control wasn't exactly much of a hit, would it have done better as a sony exclusive?. in some circumstances, i think focus on a single platform, and the marketing/first party attachment can help. for example, imo, i don't think heavy rain or detroit become human would have been as successful as multiplatform titles (yes, i know they've now been announced for PC, but at the time...). whilst quantic dream wasn't a SCE studio, its relationship was pretty much exclusive with sony for almost a decade, it felt as such.. it's almost as if their style of games is synonymous with playstation. much like insomniac. not sure exactly sure where/how that close partnership broke down, but quantic dream would have been an obvious one.

not that their games appeal to me, but how about from software? more bloodborne and new IPs. though it's probably unlikely their parent corp would let them go.

an additional sports title?. baseball? it mentions fan favourite remasters and then command and conquer... whatever. i'm not sure mass effect really needs a remaster to be honest, and if they were to do it in frostbite, they really shouldn't bother. bioware has really struggled with that engine.. though i suppose it's unlikely EA would get bioware to do it themselves. knowing EA, it'll be dante's inferno, SSX and skate or something.

from a personal pov, i'd prefer a remaster of kingdoms of amalur, because i haven't played it. dead space 1 and 2 are really good (3 was rubbish) but i've played them already and probably wouldn't have the same impact, you'd kind of know where all the scares are coming from.

or bad company 2 , since it doesn't seem like DICE are going to make a third one, and it was EA's (and DICE's) best shooter by a mile.

for a star wars game, the build up to the launch of this game almost feels muted in a way to me, which seems a bit weird. and the launch trailer quotes a bunch of sources (other than games radar) that i've never heard of, which throws up a minor red flag for me.

i disagree to some extent, i think the campaign is a bit of a disappointment overall, i had hoped for better to be honest, especially considering CoD4:MW is one of the series highlights as far as campaigns go. don't get me wrong, it looks nice enough, especially in the cutscenes, and technically it's very solid.. but it's mostly just more call of duty. it's all just very flat imo.. there's no real emotional attachment to any of the characters, its story is mostly nonsensical magubbins, even the attempts at 'controversy' by re-writing some history under the guise of fiction cause little more than the rolling of eyeballs. it missions are a collection of par-for-the-course CoD stuff.. there's the night vision bits, there's the sniper bit (immeasurably dull - especially in contrast to the iconic pripyat), there's the call in the drones bit, the take out the chopper bit.. a couple of infiltrations.. the chase the bad guy bit, and so on. it's not so much a re-imagining, but a re-cycling just a with a shinier finish and a more solid technical foundation. there are a couple of frustrating difficulty spikes near the end too, which pad out its length, so it clocks in at about 6 hours.

as much as i like uncharted games, personally i feel it had a satisfactory conclusion and it's time to move on and stop milking it. on the other hand, UC4 has sold more than 16m copies, and as a commercial entity that's just way too hard to put on the shelf.

sticks in the right place:

https://scufgaming.com/uk/playstation

at this point it probably doesn't matter at all. if it were releasing next year as a PS5 launch title (no PS4 version) then it definitely would matter more imo. exclusives are a differentiator, they're what persuade people to buy that hardware.. if you don't have that, and people are persuaded to go elsewhere, then what happens when the third party support dries up because the install base isn't worth the effort?. just look at the wii-u.

@LemonHaze - i played the disc version for a good part of the weekend before returning it. i had no technical issues with it at all. apart from having to waste a few hours downloading a 60gb update, and the usual annoying/exasperating aspects of CoD multiplayer aside, it was fine. the campaign was a bit of a disappointment though in my opinion.

i've already got a PS4 and a PS4 pro. the upgrade option seems unlikely to apply to people who currently own a machine, and it seems a bit like a desperate ploy by MS have some 'momentum' going in to next gen. i'm not a big fan of locked-in subscriptions (my phone isn't even on a contract), or hire purchases (i'd rather pay it all up front or wait til i can cover the cost) so it's not really for me. it depends how much PS5 is going to cost.. if it's going to be fairly pricey, then a smartphone style subscription model might appeal to a lot of people, so maybe something they could consider, assuming they have broader marketplace presence to do so. not that i'll be buying an xbox ever, but its all-access plan really would only give me the option to deal with game and i wouldn't put a lot of faith on its continued highstreet survival.

regardless of the 78% split, i'd be surprised if it really sold that many retail copies at all, especially considering it sold less than a crappy WWE game, and only just more than a nostalgia trip on a single platform.

i'm kinda surprised sony is allowing the leverage of guerrilla's decima engine for PC, if indeed that is the case, as more than likely they will not be publishing it.

PS4. after 5 years in development,, not sure there's much room to change the scope of the game for PS5, bar some visual upgrades.. also most launch titles are bundled in with consoles as a loss leader, so launching it only on PS5 would be costly. suppose it might depend on whether game sales fall off a cliff next year, as people are either saving for new consoles or hedging their bets that next-gen versions might be announced later.

at present, i'm unlikely to pick up on either console, so have no personal preference either way.

i don't think horizon zero dawn 2 will be anywhere near the launch, as i don't expect it to be released before 2022. i think possibly there might be something different from guerrilla, not on the scale of H:ZD but still able to show off all the tech prowess of PS5. and the start of a generation is a good time to launch something new, with modest expectations you can lock people in with mass bundling, and if it turns out well, there's a base to grow it into a franchise or something bigger.

shocker.

this is what happens when you don't have any idea how to give a game a unique identity, and just crowbar in stuff from the standard ubisoft checklist.

ghost recon lost most of its identity with wildlands, which was an awful lot like far cry bolivian druglord edition far cry 3 was more popular than future soldier, so obviously wildlands has to be more like far cry. the division was most successful new IP in ages, so let's add those mechanics into the new ghost recon. the result is game that looks like it was designed by formula. it's the ubisoft patent these days.

i suspect it's because the retail edition doesn't actually have the multiplayer on the disc.. what other reason would there be for a 57gb (!!) day one patch? instead of manufacturing a second disc, activision have cheaped out and just made the MP a patch since you need to be online anyway.

i'm not particularly bothered, i'll play it whenever it comes out. delays happen of course, but it is slightly embarrassing that a month after having a big press blowout and annoucing the release date, that it's decided it needs three months more.

all the consoles are being lined up at the tokyo olympics next year for a race. PS5 obviously has some 'secret juice' to make sure it will cross the line first.

MAG, but i'd like it remade with guerrilla's decima engine. failing that, resistance 3. it's by far the best of the three. sony just didn't even try this gen on the FPS front.. something it needs to correct for PS5, imo.

allegedly the thrust of the campaign involves rebel forces fighting a russian occupation of a fictional country and depicts russian soldiers murdering a young girl's father at one point. so some apprehension might be understandable given the sensitive/political nature of ukrainian/crimean occupation. maybe it's not fictional enough.. , but presumably it's been certified by whatever the russian equivalent of PEGI is.. MW2 didn't release at all on consoles there.

when does the review embargo lift? so we can find out for ourselves if it's controversial or not?. less than 24 hours to release (in Australia) and no sign of reviews seems a tad suspicious, especially when there seems to be more of a positive buzz surrounding a CoD release in a long while.

surely they'll still be able to buy it on disc in russia though?. i suspect it's about something more than just story content.

@FullbringIchigo - not from me. witcher 3 didn't do much for me, personally. i thought the combat was terrible.. no matter how good the rpg elements might be, the moment-to-moment gameplay just frustrated me, so i gave up on it after several hours. plus i'm not a huge fan of that style of fiction to begin with.

you have to wonder what on earth DICE is up to, because the whole chapter content thing doesn't seem to have delivered anywhere near the same amount of content as the old expansion packs used to. though i suppose it's free v £10 a pack. after a year, BF4 had 30+ maps available, but i recently tried this at a mate's house and it only had 13 maps after almost a year.. they've altered between Battlefield and Battlefront for the past 4 years, but there's no shooter this year.. wonder if they're pumping most of their resources and going all in for modern (ish) warfare next year on new consoles?.

probably none of them. i didn't have a PS1, so have no nostalgia for games from that era, and medievil doesn't look like the kind of thing i'd like. outer worlds hasn't caught my attention, that launch trailer did very little for me.. graphically it looks a bit garrish and janky to me. and even if it is half decent, it's going to be a one and done deal on playstation, so i'm asking myself why bother. CoD is a difficult one.. i played the beta, and shooting feels very solid, better than CoD has done in the past in that aspect, but most of the annoyances and irritating mechanics of its multiplayer are still there in abundance, and in returning to modern warfare, it seems a bit devoid of new ideas.. but i don't mind a quick romp through CoD's campaigns for 5-6 hours, and with a couple of friends the spec co-op missions might be a bit of fun.. but i can wait, and maybe pick it up cheap on black friday.

because nothing says brand new beginning like the twelfth sequel to a franchise that began two generations prior.

i don't think it'll be out before xmas 2022 personally. horizon is a 10m+ selling franchise.. i just can't see how sony/guerrilla could grow the franchise if they release after a year with an install base (optimistically) of 20m.

a factor between PS4 and XB1 at the start of this gen, other than price and the always-online drm stuff, was that much fewer people bought games digitally, and i'd guess most gamers had disc-based games. the XB1 wouldn't play x360 discs, so xbox users had less to lose by switching. i think this time around, probably a significant share of PS4 users would have more to lose if they switched, due to backwards compatibility with most of your library.
i think the two next-gen consoles will be more or less the same price.

the launch price is not really my major concern, but what i'll be able to play on it. with all due respect, i doubt any of sony's major first party studios will be releasing titles on day 1, and third party stuff will be fairly predictable.. another assassin's creed snoozefest, more CoD and battlefield pew-pew, annual sports games.. i wouldn't pay £299 for that, never mind the £499 (at least) that i expect it to be. unless sony has some exclusive deals cooking with independent development studios to boost its launch line-up, i'll probably wait and get one later on.

@Flaming_Kaiser - i have more than 150 PS3 discs in the attic, but i played about 200 or so (and yes, there were quite a number of total duds in that). i think i have about 50 or so on PS4, but about half of those are from the first 18 months of PS4, most of which aren't that great. i just don't really like where modern gaming is going to be honest. games-as-a-service turns fun into a chore, endless open world borefests, games with post-release "roadmaps" months before they launch, £40 dlc before a game is even out, season passes....

curious to see if PS4 owners will be able to stream PS5 games.

@Flaming_Kaiser - i haven't bought a PS4 game in 18 months. i think i bought 3 times as many games on PS3. if i was only able to keep 10 PS4 games, it probably wouldn't be that difficult a choice for me.

i'd prefer PS3 backwards compatibility more than any of the others, it's got a much better/broader library than PS4 imo. i guess being able to play a few vita titles like uncharted : golden abyss or killzone mercenary on a big screen would be nice. in the remaster/remake generation, i'm surprised sony didn't consider of these. but i own physical versions of both of those, and wouldn't buy the vita version again digitally, no matter how cheap they were.

however, i reckon that PS3 backwards compatibility is a non-starter, no matter how powerful the PS5's CPU is.

since stadia's architecture is linux-based, one could hope the number of PC titles that natively support linux would increase, which would greatly attract some of us to include PC gaming as an option without the need for using the privacy-breaching-telemetry-ridden-OS-as-a-service garbage that is windows 10.

H:ZD is a 10m+ selling game - there's not a chance it would be a launch title imo. given the likely scale and budget of a sequel, i doubt we'll see it before end of 2022 at the earliest. however, given guerrilla's strength with tech and graphical prowess, i think it's more likely a smaller project, possibly a multiplayer project (KZ2/3 had great multiplayer imo, not so much shadow fall), might be targetted as a showcase for launch. most launch titles are loss leaders anyway, so could be something with much more modest ambition than H:ZD2 but still have a bit of the wow factor.

tbf, they've improved a lot this gen for their bigger games. marketing/promotion on a lot of their bigger/AAA games on PS3 was pretty terrible - though the playstation department was haemorrhaging money in general for the first 3 or 4 years of PS3, the marketing budget was probably non-existent.

as for concrete genie, it's been at the forefront of the psn store for the last couple of weeks, it would be pretty hard to miss it there. expectations for it are likely to be pretty modest, so it's not going to get a 90-second trailer on TV, or a big billboard on piccadilly circus. maybe sony does have a bit of that "it's one for the playstation fans" mentality about it, and in todays connected world, it just expects those to know about it. it barely put out any copies to retail.

i was at the cinema yesterday, and there was a 3 minute trailer/advert for death stranding. since even avid playstation/kojima fans still can't figure out what this game is about, i've know how idea it markets it to people who mainly pick up FIFA, call of duty or spiderman. it's probably spending its Q3 marketing budget entirely on death stranding.

@huyi - i don't know about amazon since i didn't check as i never buy games from amazon, but i was out and about at the weekend, and didn't see it anywhere - potential impulse buy lost. if physical stores aren't stocking it, it's massively limited its sales potential.

might have helped if you could actually find concrete genie anywhere. neither of the 2 game stores, the hmv, nor any of the big supermarkets near me bothered to stock it in the first place. game did stock trine 4 discs, but it didn't even make top 40.

poor launch line-up and i'll probably wait. most of the multiplatform stuff will be on PS4 anyway. i still think that when the UK price is converted to $, it'll be way more than $500.

mini ninjas 2!

i'll probably wait until this is in a sale, i kinda expected this to be in the £10-15 range (and the previous ones might not have been even that), not £25.

not sure i like the idea of an always listening controller to be honest. if it can't be disabled, i'll be sticking with dualshock 4s. while adaptive triggers and haptic feedback on DS5 might be improvements, they don't add anything for me personally, so wouldn't miss them.