mookysam

I was hoping to have finished Uncharted 4 by now but I'm currently recuperating on the sofa after badly twisting my knee. It will apparently take 4 weeks to heal but hopefully I'll be able to move around properly and be back in my man-cave long before then!

Anyhoo, I'm spending another weekend focusing on handheld titles. I'm on the chapter 5 trial in Danganronpa V3 so starting to near the end. It's getting very interesting. At this point I honestly don't know what's what and I'm usually good at guessing things.

@ApostateMage Dishonored is awesome, eh. One of my last-gen favourites. I thought Dishonored 2 was even better. Shame they're so underappreciated!

I'm not getting it but wouldn't have got it at launch anyway. My brother was going to get it as he enjoyed the beta but has now been completely put off by all the loot box crap.

The "doubt" option really annoyed me last time, so it sounds like changing it is a big improvement. I didn't think the interrogations were particularly elegantly written and you can basically tell if a character had something to hide if their eyes dart around and they pretend they're looking at the ceiling. I did really like the story though.

Voted for Oliver, Wheatley and Nick Valentine. I love Tales of Symphonia but Nick is simply awesome. My favourite Fallout 4 character with an interesting backstory and good side quest. Wheatley is hilarious (incredible voice acting also) so that was an easy one. In Ni No Kuni Oliver grows so much as a character as he works through his grief and helps the residents of the other world. The beginning of the game made me cry and I really felt for him. I haven't played Sleeping Dogs or Infamous Second Son so left out that one.

Rayman Legends is pretty tempting at that price. How does the co-op work? The asynchronous multiplayer in the Wii U version is really fun.

@Fight_Teza_Fight I loved the monster companion aspect! My trusty behemoth commando was awesomely powerful.

Perhaps it's a remake of the DS sequel to XII, Revenant Wings?

I never really understood the articles at the time saying people didn't want console experiences on the go. Nintendo portables, while rudimentary in terms of technology, always had fully-featured full-length games, whether it be Zelda, Mario or Pokémon. The graphics and sound were worse than whatever was on the SNES or N64 or GameCube, but the games felt like the real deal. The idea that portables were the preserve of throw-away bite-sized games was always wrong. Also, I reckon a lot of people play their handhelds at home rather than "on-the-go". I certainly do. I like to be comfy. Maybe the Vita just wasn't an attractive enough proposition for the average gamer. Why would someone buy one to play Need for Speed when they can play it on a PS3 they already own? It's not about not wanting a console experience in handheld form, it's about not needing it.

Sony gave up pretty early and had they put more into it, maybe it would have sold more, but it is very difficult to say. Nintendo are more committed to the success of their portable hardware than Sony as they have far more at stake. The 3DS had to succeed and now so must the Switch. Now that it is the only new Nintendo hardware, it will be the only place for people to get their Nintendo fix. Also, Nintendo have always been an important part of popular culture and I feel that now they have a product that is attractive, fans are coming back. Of course, it remains to be seen if it will be able to sustain its sales and be a success in the long-term.

So many awesome games have released earlier this year (most of them sequels ) and sold well that don't think anyone should begrudge sports and racing games charting highly this time of year. They do every year, and if people enjoy playing them then I can't say it bothers me one way or the other.

More Danganronpa! I've just finished Chapter 4. I started Uncharted 4 the other day and reckon I'm halfway through-ish, but will play more during the week. The car chase in Madagascar was pretty thrilling!

As I type this I'm in the midst of playing Uncharted 4. I'm roughly halfway through so can't really say where it ranks just yet although it is definitely better than Uncharted 1. I'm missing the smooth 60fps of the remasters! I haven't played the Vita one or Lost Legacy, but I'll definitely play LL after 4.

I'd be down with a 2020 release. I still have lots of games to play and feel in no rush to upgrade. The library finally feels like it has hit its stride this year with a constant rhythm of quality releases. With the console selling so well, I'm not sure the demand is there for a 2018 release. I'd also like Square to actually release Final Fantasy VIIR while the PS4 is still "current-gen"!

The PS5 will need to be powered by technology that doesn't just offer true 4K but a tangible leap over current hardware. Games certainly look pretty on the Xbox One X, but they are still the same games that are on the base Xbox One and PS4. To really mark a new gen the PS5 will need to offer games that the PS4 is incapable of running. To get that level of technology at an affordable price will take a few years.

I'm not really interested in either and can wait until the next gen consoles, especially as I'm still rocking a 720p set in my man-cave. I'm happy with my base PS4 and the Xbox One library doesn't particularly appeal to me.

I didn't think next year could possibly come close to 2017 but Sony has an extremely strong line-up not to mention the third party games. First party exclusives alone could top Sony's 2017 offerings. I'm particularly looking forward to Ni No Kuni 2, God of War, Spiderman and Far Cry 5.

I'm away all weekend for a wedding so not much gaming for me. I finished chapter 3 of Danganronpa V3 yesterday (what a bizarre conclusion to the trial!) so I'm going to play some Metroid Samus Returns as I've neglected it since Danganronpa came out.

It does look gorgeous. I haven't played an Assassin's Creed since the first one but I'm really looking forward to playing this. I love the look of the ancient Epyptian setting. My Nana was from Alexandria (not the ancient kind although at times I couldn't be sure). It's always fascinated me.

They definitely need to start tracking digital sales alongside their retail counterparts. We're just not getting an accurate picture of game sales anymore to the extent that many games are being labelled as market failures when that may not actually be the case.

I tend to buy most games physical unless there's a good deal on PSN. I do own quite a lot of digital PS3 titles and a few PS4 ones (and lots of digital only games of course). My brother gets almost everything digitally now, mostly because it is convenient. I can see why the gap is closing. Game prices have certainly gone up on shopping websites and are closer to their RRP than I can ever remember. Margins must be a lot smaller. I remember getting Mass Effect 2 at launch for £30 from Amazon. That sort of discount just wouldn't happen now!

I'm at my Mum's this week so not much gaming for me. I did bring my Vita so have been doing little bits of Danganronpa V3 here and there. I'm in the middle of the third class trial.

Wow awesome. Just a few days after my birthday too!

There probably will be a PS4 price drop. In the UK we should easily see Slim consoles going for £150 (maybe even less if the retailer is feeling ambitious) around Black Friday. It wasn't far off that last year!

In terms of games, I agree that the show's proximity to Playstation Experience means this probably won't be a particularly exciting event with lots of new things. Maybe next year they won't bother, but it's nice to have a European-centric event. Hope they do show Dreams though.

That looks really sweet. I agree it would be lovely to play on the Vita.

This is hideous. People can spend their money on what they like, but surely it takes a rather addictive personality to spend $15,000 on Mass Effect 3 multiplayer cards. Is it right for EA to purposely design their games to exploit these people?

I'm sure the limitations of the Vita were well known when they announced it. :-/ I hadn't heard of this before now but visual novels are perfect on the Vita. I can't imagine playing Danganronpa V3 on the PS4. I guess it's how I associate them with books.

It seemed an extremely negative place to me and I strongly dislike the witch-hunts and trial-by-media.

I'm not going to berate a game for having a short playtime. I'd rather a tight, razor-focused linear campaign that's 10 hours long versus a bloated open-world behemoth if the former is well-made and fun. Long games can sometimes be so exhausting.

Almost finished Dishonored 2. I've enjoyed it a lot. The level design is so much more intricate than the first game.

I'm also continuing with Danganronpa V3. I finished Chapter 2 yesterday. The game is bonkers!

Whilst I think the evidence points to AAA single-player games dwindling among the big third party publishers, I don't think single-player games will disappear altogether. AAA game development is very expensive, almost to the point of economic self-harm, but what about Indies and Japanese developers? They're not going to stop making them because EA decided to. In fact, it provides even more of a niche to fill. While games like Nioh, Nier and Persona 5 were modest sellers by Western AAA standards, all three actually over performed and I think suggest that there is indeed continued demand for single-player content. Sony and Nintendo seem committed to producing quality single-player content and I doubt either will abandon it.

Variety is good, innit? Luckily I think smaller developers and publishers will always keep releasing them, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that single-player focused games are becoming squeezed in the AAA space. Are ballooning budgets to blame?

I wanted the transparent blue one!

@ShogunRok Haha I was the same when I got The Darkness for £5 from Blockbuster.

I think I'll get Wolfenstein in preparation for the new one.

Such a shame. Not everything needs to be always online, service driven and microtransaction littered. They have their place and EA have Battlefront for that. A linear, single player and strongly narrative driven experience was kind of the point of the original concept and I assume why Amy Hennig was brought on board in the first place. I think a lot of people were excited at the prospect of Uncharted: Star Wars edition.

Sad to see another studio shuttered. Dead Space was great.

Yesterday the sun was red and today we have this news?! Whatever's next?

I'm being a bit more conservative with my purchases at the moment. There's no point in buying anything until I get my backlog down a bit. I'm still playing through last year's games!

That said I'll probably ask for Assassin's Creed Origins for Christmas. I'm really fascinated by ancient Egypt and am looking forward to seeing Ubisoft's spin on it. Wolfenstein 2 looks ace but like most Bethesda games will probably be a tenner by the spring.

My most anticipated game overall is Super Mario Odyssey. All I need is a Switch to play it on!

Same as last week. I stayed up until 2.30am last night playing Danganronpa V3 because I was in the midst of a class trial and finished chapter one. Not many games are able to keep me up that late these days, so that is surely a mark of a great game. It's quite gripping.

I'm about halfway through Dishonored 2, I think. I was initially playing it with no kills, but at the end of the previous chapter it said I killed someone. I was quite confused as I was being very careful. Anyhoo, not wanting to redo the whole mission I'm now playing it with Corvo as a brutal killer - which is much more fun, to be honest.

I started Super Mario 3D World earlier this week and am playing a bit each day so I don't get through it too quickly. It's good and very whimsical, but so far it's not wowed me like the Galaxy games did.

Today I've decided to start Dishonored 2, which I got last Christmas but has remained in its cellophane until now! It's currently downloading the hefty update which even on my 50mb connection is still taking forever. Silly slow PSN grr.

Last but not least my early-morn and before bed game is Danganronpa V3. It's much weirder than the other two and some of the dialogue has been so crude it's made me laugh out loud. I also enjoyed a reference to alternate facts. I'm not very far into it but I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes. It's all very mysterious so far!

I only bought Danganronpa V3 last month so I guess it's my top PlayStation game of September by default. I also got Samus Returns which is awesome but that doesn't count haha.

Danganronpa V3! Amazon couldn't honour my preorder but I managed to get it elsewhere and it arrived this morning.

Gonna continue with Doom later too. I'm on Chapter 11 now so not too much more to do. It's awesome. I really like exploring the levels to find secrets and upgrade my runes and weapons.

It's a shame that pure portables have gone the way of the dodo. Although some games work very well on phones, they aren't really an adequate replacement overall as they are restricted by their controls. Too many games are built around micro transactions, which is horrid.

I love the Vita and although I fully understand the economics behind not producing a successor, I do still wish they would. Sony made two lovely, capable handheld consoles in the PSP and Vita that felt like premium devices compared to Nintendo's cheaper offerings. The Vita is easily my second favourite portable ever behind the DS Lite. I find it comfortable to hold (a must for me as I have an arthritic condition) and the screen is nice, big and vibrant.

I've always enjoyed gaming on handhelds and feel that they can offer a different experience to consoles. I like getting comfortable on the sofa or in bed without having to stare at the TV. On the DS and PSP, handhelds almost single handedly sustained the Japanese RPG genre which was brilliant. They were also cheaper to develop for so it was easier for developers to take a risk. There are certain games that feel "at home" on portables, such as visual novels, owing to the large amount of reading involved. Although Danganronpa V3 is also out on the PS4, I've opted to get it for the Vita. I also got the Vita versions of Final Fantasy X, Odin Sphere and Trails of Cold Steel among others over the PS3 ones. It has a great library irrespective of Sony's piss-poor support.

I'm a big console gamer too and there are a lot of games that I'd only play on a console. A handheld would never be a replacement for a console, but would nicely compliment it. Although the switch is a nice concept I wouldn't want Sony to copy it. Have the PS5 as a traditional console with a decent bump in power over the current generation.

I forgot to get this before it went up in price. Beautiful game that I look forward to replaying!

I hadn't heard of this before and played the demo on a whim as it was nearing time to leave EGX. I'm glad I did because I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed my few minutes of playtime a lot. It's very beautiful looking and has decent voice acting too. Horrid misspelling though!

I played the demo earlier at EGX but sadly the controls were so laggy it was difficult to shoot properly (the dude said it was the Bluetooth). I liked the setting and the gameplay was pretty much Far Cry. I was just about to rampage in a huge truck when we were told our time was over haha. I like Far Cry do will buy this!

I finally finished Final Fantasy XII so started Doom, which had been in its cellophane since last Christmas!

Also continuing with Samus Returns on the 3DS.

X is my favourite. It's splendiferous in every way and a very special game to me. VI is my very close second favourite Final Fantasy (it's amazing in every way) followed by VII and then IV and XII.

I guess IX would therefore be my sixth favourite Final Fantasy. It's a very charming game with lots of gorgeous areas to visit and a beautiful soundtrack. It's probably the most "fantasy-ish" of the lot and I love the opening sections. The evil forest is so creepy! I also really like the main cast and comedic villains although some of the stuff they get up to is really quite horrific. The only real negatives I can think of are that the battle system is a little slow compared to the others and I will admit to getting stuck on the card game in Treno. Once I got past it I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the game.

Everybody copies everyone else but that isn't actually a bad thing. Certain features become industry standards or expected of specific genres, and most games have imitated or iterated on others in one way or another. I think this bloke's statement is quite ridiculous to be honest.

I started Metroid Samus Returns. It's brilliant so far! Six months ago it would have seemed crazy to think that there would be a new side scrolling Metroid. They've really nailed it.

I've spent most the day continuing with Final Fantasy XII. I'm almost done now, I reckon I'll have it finished this week. Tomorrow I'm going to carry on with Metroid though!

I usually do feel inclined to do everything in a game, but I'm honestly beginning to feel like I don't give a rat's arse for long games at all let alone long games filled to the rafters with obnoxious side quests. I'm still playing Final Fantasy XII and while it is an exceptional game, it is also a tad too long. I played the original when I was 21 and this time round I don't have quite the same stamina.

Last year I played Fallout 4 for over 400 hours and although I did enjoy most of my playthrough, it did start to get to the point where I thought to myself, "I've been playing this for five months, I need this to end so I can do something else!".

Even Breath of the Wild adopted a couple of the more tedious elements of modern open world games. The side quests, for one thing, are dreadful. I did start off doing them, but once I decided it wasn't worth breaking my best weapons for an opal or some carrots, I was better off ignoring them altogether. And the game is more enjoyable as a result. Thankfully the world itself is a joy to traverse and so exploring for its own sake never gets dull. It doesn't need to be packed with side quests or collectibles to be fun.

I do feel that for many games being open-world has led to somewhat sloppy design. It is usually typified by filling out these enormous worlds with collectibles and irritating "side-stuff" so that there are things for the player to do. I would much rather play a tightly designed linear game driven by a strong narrative. I'm also starting to really appreciate shorter games.

I'm getting back into Final Fantasy XII after taking a bit of a break from it to play Ocarina of Time and BioShock. It's truly a gargantuan game and I've still got a tonne of side-stuff left, but I am nearing the end of the story.

I started Crash Bandicoot 2 the other day so will continue with that too. I'm finding it more difficult than the first one, which is surprising.

Lastly, I continue with my snails-pace playthrough of Pokémon Moon. I've had it since launch but I'm now determined to finish it before Danganronpa V3 is out!

Danganronpa V3 for me on the Vita. I've been looking forward to it since it was announced.

And we all thought the Final Fantasy XV merchandise was odd.

Wow they're gorgeous. I'm usually unimpressed by special editions so don't bother but the King's Edition looks lovely.