mookysam

Hooray! April will be busy between this and Persona.

I'm not too far in at the moment but so far I think it's pretty awesome and it looks absolutely gorgeous. Good job!

The first one was great and this one looks even better! Really looking forward to it if this is true.

Final Fantasy XV is on its way! I watched Brotherhood last night and it warmed me to the characters a lot more. Tonight I'll be watching Kingsglaive so i'm ready for Tuesday. Until it arrives I'll hopefully get lots of Pokémon Moon played. The fire kitten Litten is so cute! I've not played much so far because it's been a very hectic week but hoping to chill tomorrow. Captain Toad and Dragon Quest Builders will have to go on the backburner for a while!

I never understand the criticism Sony receive for not releasing "big" games in the autumn. Do they suddenly stop existing or something? I haven't yet bought Uncharted 4, but now, six months later, it's half the price it was at launch.. Microsoft released Gears of War 4 just a month ago but because it sold poorly it is now heavily discounted. Ubisoft, bless 'em had the gall to launch their biggest game one week before Black Friday and now complain of poor sales. The tactic of releasing all of the blockbuster games in one block in the autumn is foolhardy because of how crowded the period is. The biggest multiplat games tend to sell more than first party games so why not give the first party exclusives a chance to shine in the quieter periods?

I reckon fatigue and a very crowded release period are part of the problem. Talking about the UK specifically, perhaps the drop in household income for many people coupled with large increases in the cost of living are also to blame. Many people can only afford to pick up one or two games - especially now that the average price of games has actually increased. Add to that the games people are buying, they are are happier to play for longer periods.

In terms of my own buying habits I have been getting less in recent years but that is down to not wanting to buy too many things I know will just stay wrapped on a shelf for months if not years. Now I just buy things I really want and have a good chance of enjoying. My backlog still has last gen and even PS2 and Gamecube games. I do think that many releases recently have been less interesting as the industry has got more risk averse. My game of the year so far is Dragon Quest Builders, which has been an absolute delight and the only games I plan to get for the rest of the year are Pokemon Moon and Final Fantasy XV, as well as asking for a few for Christmas.

I loved the first one so I'll be asking for this for Christmas. I would have bought it myself if I weren't waiting for Pokémon and Final Fantasy XV. A little surprised at the huge drop in sales compared to the first one, even with the lack of launch reviews, but this has been an extremely crowded time for big game releases.

I'm playing Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and am quite enjoying it. It's like the first one (which I loved) on steroids and finding shortcuts in the city is quite rewarding. I just wish the races would show the finish on the map.

I've been dabbling with the Pokémon Sun and Moon demo in the week and am returning to do the extras, but think I will start Dragon Quest Builders for my handheld fix.

I'm about halfway through Bioshock on the PS4. I'd already played it to death on the 360 but it's nice to go through it again.

Very tempted to get Dragon Quest Builders. I played the vita demo and so will probably get it for that. It seems a nice fit for little sessions on the handheld.

I got the BioShock Collection and Dragon Quest 7 on Friday.

I would rate the first BioShock and Infinite as two of my favourite games of all time. I didn't like 2 as much when I first played it in 2010 but oddly I appreciated it a lot more when I replayed it a few years ago. The gameplay has a lot of polish even if the world lacks the surprise of the first. Although it lacks the huge figures and ideological totems of its predecessor I did appreciate the more intimate story. Looking forward to playing the remasters!

@Ralizah Yeah the world feels really complete and alive. The attention to detail is impressive. The game really surprised me actually. The story is definitely quite slow burning but heats up a lot towards the end. The ending is awesome but a cliffhanger so I guess that's why people were so desperate for SC to be localised. Hats of to XSEED for their dedication and releasing a PSP game in 2015!

I'm currently playing Tales of Xillia 2 which I think is a nice continuation of the first one. The characters are all likeable and there have been some pretty funny skits. I really like the battle system. I'll probably be finished with it this week then I'll move on to Mirror's Edge Catalyst which I picked up cheap in Sainsbury's.

@Ralizah I love that game! I got second chapter in a sale earlier this year and really look forward to playing it but might have to replay the first one.

This is one of my all-time favourites. Ivalice is so well realised it feels like a verh complete world. I've wanted to replay it for quite a while but the PS2 original looks hideous on my television. Very pleased it's getting a remaster!

Fallout 4! Today a few enormous enemies gave me quite a surprise. I bested a mirelurk queen despite being woefully underlevelled. She was an utter cow but I was able to hide behind a corner and pelt her with grenades.

More Fallout 4! I've neglected it recently but will play it all day tomorrow.
On the handheld front I've been playing Pokémon Alpha Sapphire.

I love the diamond logo which I automatically attach to the PS1 startup.

@get2sammyb I was just thinking that. Could its focus now shift more to the needs of the American market first like the Xbox brand?

Today I'm finishing off Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call. I enjoy the story and presentation, which is the main reason I play the games, but many of the puzzles are ridiculous.

Tomorrow I think I'll continue with Fallout 4, which I've really started to get into - especially now I've started modding my armour and weapons.

I really enjoyed the first one. I hope Torneko from 4 is a new character!

No Steps? For shame!

Fetty wap sounds like a masturbation technique. :-/ No idea who any of the user ones are apart from Rihanna.

So gorgeous. I wanted the PS2 version for years so am pleased this new version is being released.

2016 is set to be full of great first party games and isn't it better to spread them out throughout the year rather than squeeze them all into one three-month window? There are so many games coming out anyway I'm not sure how people have time to play everything immediately!

Bastion is rather expensive compared to the US.

I might get some of the PS2 games when they're in a sale, but I'm not in any real rush. Is £8.99 the permanent price for Final Fantasy VII?

I thought it was good. Final Fantasy VII looks wonderful and No No Kuni II was an incredible surprise. There were also a nice selection of indie titles on display. I don't expect everything shown at these conferences to appeal to me, so the fact that they focused on Call of Duty for a bit doesn't really bother me. I didn't expect them to show any new big first party games. They need to have surprises for next year's pressers. The ending was odd, I agree that it seemed like they had cut a section at the last moment.

Gorgeous.

The battle system looks similar to Kingdom Hearts, which is good because the combat in recent Kingdom Hearts games has been brilliant. The graphics and presentation looks excellent.

Very pleased by the announcement of No No Kuni 2. I wasn't expecting it at all! Was good to see some footage from the remake of Final Fantasy VII, too.

Overall a good show with lots of games. I didn't think they would show a new God of War or the Sony Bend game because they have to save stuff for next year's shows.

I'm just doing the final side missions in Dragon Quest Heroes. If I can finish that today I think I'll start Donkey Kong Country Returns Tropical Freeze.

The pricing does seem a little bit steep. Regardless, Rogue Galaxy is a lovely game and I would recommend it fully to anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to play it!

Hopefully there will eventually be a comprehensive offering of games. The PS2 is such an amazing system Sony should preserve its legacy as much as possible.

Episode 1 is lovely so looking forward to this.

So many PS2 games must have licensing issues these days but I'd like to see as many as possible. I still have my PS2 hooked up and while many are easy to get really cheaply a great number of games are now rare and expensive on eBay.

Anyhoo, top of my list would be Dragon Quest 8 and Final Fantasy 12. And Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner I can't remember the rest of the title. It hasn't been released on PSN here yet. I'd love the sequel, too, which was never originally released in Europe.

One thing I particularly love about the system is the speed of the OS. Everything is so zippy and as you say it is very efficient at downloading updates in the background. I'm also a fan of the rest functions. Sometimes if I have something to do but am in the middle of playing a game, it is so convenient to just put it in sleep mode rather than turn the whole thing off.

I wouldn't pay more than £8 to download a game of that age. I think Dragon Quest VIII is the only game I already own that I would rebuy digitally. It's still reasonably attractive even on an HDTV as the art style is so lovely but I think cleaning up the visuals would really make it shine once more.

It's been fine for me on the PS4, although it was a little slow synching trophies. Is it all of the UK or just certain areas? I'm in the West Midlands.

@Boerewars It's cold, dark and windy outside. I think I would rather stay indoors!

I think it would be an absolutely wonderful feature if it did run the games off discs (PS1 games included) I'm not sure it would be a system seller for the wider market but would be a lovely extra for long time gamers. The PS3 was able to play PS1 games off discs after all.

Not sure this is an issue. The tracks are already composed they just need orchestrating. Many already have been over the years, performed by live orchestras, or remixed for other games.

Still slowly progressing through Dragon Quest Heroes! Also a little Gears of War 3 horde. I've been in more of a reading mood than gaming mood recently.

Exploring the wasteland while listening to the classics on the radio was such a wonderful gaming experience. The music was so wonderfully selected in Fallout 3, I'm sure it'll be just as great here.

@get2sammyb Keeley Hawes is the best Lara ever. Such a great actress.

Normally I don't care about sales or any of that malarkey but my only concern with this is that if it seriously underperforms it doesn't have a negative impact on the future of the franchise. Square-Enix don't exactly have form when it comes to realistic sales projections. As others said, this was surely to be Microsoft's Uncharted this Christmas, but when the deal was made I doubt they anticipated Xbox One sales would be as poor as they are.

Still one of my favourite games of all time. I reckon the Wii version is the best.

@Anchorsam_9 My first encounter with him scared the absolute s**t out of me. Leon being decapitated in such gruesome fashion was horrifying to witness.

I think I'll resume the play through of PS1 Resident Evil I started last Halloween.
Still playing Dragon Quest Heroes, albeit slowly as I've been busy.

@JaxonH I guess for certain genres grouping games together maybe gives them more visibility. Dragon Quest Heroes, Tales of Zestiria and Disgaea 5 all launched on the same day in the UK. At first I thought it was odd because surely they'd be competing with each other but maybe the consumer going to the shop to buy DQ would also see Tales and think "hmm I might buy that later".

One release date I've never understood is Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption. Bizarre.

WiLD gets my vote. It has a huge amount of potential and I find the concept really interesting. Like a lot of the games on the list it's quite different. There's certainly a lot of variety in the line-up.

Not sure I get all the hoo-ha surrounding first party titles for the Vita as none of them sold particularly well post-launch. Would it really make it hugely more attractive to the masses if Sony spent lots of money making lots of AAA games? The Japanese third party support is reasonably solid and it has excellent indie support. If you enjoy RPGs (which I do) then it's an excellent device and the digital PSP and PS1 games are just sumptious icing on an already tasty cake. Truth is the handheld market has shrunk enormously and I would rather Sony focused on making the PS4 as great as possible instead of splitting their efforts and facing the same problems Nintendo has supporting multiple platforms at once.

Ooh just in time for my birthday.

@ShogunRok One thing I really liked about Persona 3 and 4 was how the characters shadow selves juxtaposed with their real selves. The themes of the TV shows and dungeons were also interesting. The first few hours of the games were slow paced but once it passed that hurdle I really enjoyed how hey were structured.

This has so much potential. Nice to see a game where you're not killing the animals.

This has certainly piqued my interest. It's incredibly strange but I like that Sony is willing to fund these types of projects. If Media Molecule can pull it off this could be excellent, but I just hope they don't get too ambitious. One thing I wasn't too keen on was how the character doll thing seemed to control and it would have been nice to see some of the creation tools.

I thought it was a decent show. It didn't top the excitement of e3 but that had huge announcements Sony couldn't reasonably replicate here, so I'm not sure what people were expecting. No platform holder can reveal absolutely everything people want to play all at once. The pacing could have definitely been snappier but they showed an interesting and diverse range of games. The PS4 looks like it will have a great line-up going forward into 2016 and beyond.

That is brutal. I think the only times I've actually winced when gaming was when I played God of War 3, Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us.