nessisonett

If it’s genuinely true that they’ve turned the Pro Skater 4 levels into exclusively 2 minute timed runs then they’ve managed to f*ck up immediately. It does a massive disservice to the map design of 4 to have you explore it 2 minutes at a time. Many levels are just too big to accommodate it, Alcatraz is probably my favourite level in the series but if you start at the bottom then I see almost no way to reasonably get to the roof within two minutes consistently. There’s literally a goal to get collectibles on a path from the roof back to the very bottom and it’s one of the hardest in the game because that’s a fairly difficult line to hit. Even in College hitting the colosseum, the logs and the parking lot within two minutes is a stretch. Kona, San Fran and Zoo I can see working within that format as they’re more linear maps even if Zoo’s charm comes from the goals opening up more of the map. London’s another one I see as just too vast if you want to cover under the bridge and all the way over at Marble Arch in one run. It’s a genuine shame but I do think that VV would have preserved the format if they’d still been on this project. Iron Galaxy were clearly hired to do half a job based on existing code and it shows how Activision undervalue the series despite 1+2 being a return to form.

The last one’s DD seasons thing was truly terrible. I’ve been playing MVP 2005 the last week though (got in the mood after watching Ken Burns’ Baseball) and that game stomps on The Show’s gameplay despite its age. At least my main man Manny Ramirez from my Red Sox file in that game is being added to The Show 25 alongside the greatest name of all time Cool Papa Bell!

@8thDoctor PAUL MCGANN

@Dimey That’s a fundamental castration of what makes 4 work if true. If you’re happy about making the 4 levels only have 2 minute runs then you clearly haven’t played 4. The maps are far too big to utilise everything in 2 minutes.

Ok this looks incredible. Anything Wallace and Gromit is automatically peak media.

Looks brilliant, new parks is an interesting one too. Still need to know how the 4 campaign works though! And it looks like 1+2 stuff is being reused which I’m ok with, Steve Caballero looks like the same model.

I always find it absolutely baffling when people clamour for console versions of crap like this. Now you can be fleeced while sitting on your couch rather than on the toilet?

@Nyne11Tyme Generative AI was always going to lead to deceit, it’s pretty much the primary use case. The normalisation is how we end up at this point and this site is part of the issue, using AI generated cover images and then quietly removing them with no apology or explanation. ‘Grindset’ mentality has instilled a whole generation to set out to swindle as many people as possible in the constant pursuit of wealth and generative AI is a golden ticket to rip people off, from corporations using it to your average idiot trying to con old people with AI generated images of Elvis.

Utterly horrid. God if it wasn’t for Tony Hawk I’d want nothing to do with them.

@Mole17 I’m hoping that VV were pretty far into development before the plug was pulled, I still just cannot wrap my head around why they were gutted and turned into a COD support studio when THPS1+2 both sold well and reviewed well.

@PloverNutter Pro Skater 4 in particular has so much content though, it remains to be seen how it’s being addressed. The pro challenges are the highlight of the game and it would be a shame to lose them but I doubt they’re going to add new ones for the modern skaters. There’s also all the minigames like tennis, baseball, monkey dodgeball etc. I really hope they pull it off.

Iron Galaxy are doing it. I am slightly worried about that, they’re not exactly known for being lead devs on projects. AndyTHPS not being involved as a consultant is a worry too, his influence was clear to see across 1+2. I just hope this is good so badly.

I still can’t beat it on Expert at normal speed!

For me yeah but I don’t necessarily blame them. Gran Turismo 7 is consistently expensive as well.

I was halfway through this but with it leaving PS Plus next month I just abandoned it. It’s alright but the combat just isn’t interesting enough, which is a shame as I did enjoy the traversal.

£5.79 is wild. If it was 50p I’d still say it was nonsense but that’s an absurd price.

Sammy when somebody’s jokingly pedantic

I love MercurySteam’s output but this doesn’t really appeal to me much unfortunately. Guess that means they aren’t partnering with Nintendo on a game to be revealed in April too!

Absolutely buzzing for this. Been saving for it too, it’ll probably be my only purchase of the year unless Tony Hawk comes this year too. Finished Wolfenstein The New Order last night, only gotten halfway through it before, and even the rough parts don’t detract from how talented MachineGames clearly are, it’s one hell of a game.

That’s a lot to be honest. I did love Horizon 4, I’d take that ported for £20!

The questioning of ‘should we have connected’ feels very topical. The first game really resonated during Covid with the whole bringing people together through their connections with each other. But then look what’s happened since with atrocities being committed while major powers utilise the conflict to further their own goals or enrich themselves (very MGS4). Democracy also being undermined by the erosion of objective truth due to AI (again, very MGS2) and now I assume from the premise that this game will tackle the idea of public forums and free speech being weaponised to drive a wedge between people instead of connecting them. Kojima’s always got a political slant to his games and they really do age well. I’m not sure if that’s necessarily an encouraging sign though, if we’re repeating mistakes enough for commentary from 20 odd years ago to still be relevant.

@Buckeye4Life2015 It’s funny because Breath of the Wild has a quest log yet I found that far more aimless than Elden Ring which had no guidance on that front. It probably just depends on our own preferences.

Really looking forward to this one, Rebellion are great devs and the setting’s a banger idea.

@SleeplessKnight Brit lol, worst thing about being a programmer is having to use Yank spelling for certain words.

Big month but personally not a Dragon Age fan so uh, Sonic Colours for me I guess.

@breakneck Feels like a targeted campaign to make it seem worse than it is. All I’ve heard is that it’s good. Not an all-timer but well worth a playthrough. And that was similar to what I heard about The Outer Worlds and I really enjoyed that.

It looks alright to me, was probably more likely to be excited about Richard Ayoade being in it about 2 years ago than I am now lol

I still maintain it’s odd to bundle two games that are fundamentally structurally different but oh man, I’m so ready for more THPS. 4’s my favourite one too, played it to death as a kid, got every RetroAchievement for it after going back a couple years ago and I’m ready to get the platinum this time. Probably. I’m yet to get to level 100 in 1+2 to get the platinum there.

Whoever saw this one coming? WB are an absolute mess, what a disaster especially given how Monolith were a clearly talented studio.

This specific blend has been seen more than once to the point that I question whether indie devs are just statistically more likely to have this fetish.

@Deadhunter At that point just draw it yourself. Going back to edit AI generated artwork is pointless as it lacks the bones of real art, like only having one surface layer instead of the many, many layers of paint built up from an initial sketch. A real painting created by a human, each individual element is informed by the others just due to how the human brain works, we can literally see the bigger picture. AI art looks like that because they have zero idea of the bigger picture, it’s quite literally one pixel next to another for the entire image and so inconsistencies extend beyond the fixable as pixels do not combine to create one cohesive image. Gets a bit ‘Trigger’s broom’ (Ship of Theseus if you’ve seen WandaVision and pretend you’re into Greek myth like a poser), if you’re going over it pixel by pixel to make it look like it’s from a human. That’s what suits are banking on, it being ‘good enough’ for people to not care and make us settle for less because it costs them less to produce. AI cannot dream. AI cannot feel. Anything created by AI lacks the human experience that informs every single piece of media ever, I will take the worst piece of crap ever produced by a human over a soulless approximation of the human condition guesstimated by an algorithm.

Johnny Storm is legitimately dreadful in any hands other than a one-trick. Thing too to an extent. Teamwork does seem to be borked recently though, a lot of downright stupid players ruining it for everyone else and I’m sitting in GM.

Pro tip, if you draw a zombie yourself then it won’t have 6 fingers.

@tameshiyaku NO THAT’S ROBBIE WILLIAMS

This is real cool. Reminds me of how much time I spent on Scapes in Gran Turismo Sport!

Absolutely not suited to a movie. Souls plots are meant to be explained to you via a Wiki and not through any sort of actual plot device.

@Boxmonkey The chances of YouTubers giving positive impressions in exchange for access to games is far, far higher than legacy media. In fact, I’m fairly sure the DMCC bill that passed last year explicitly makes such a thing illegal for media based in the UK like this site. YouTube is the Wild West and far more narrative driven than sites with multiple writers and viewpoints. Let’s face it, you just want to find reviews that confirm your own biases and if the game’s decent then you won’t find that unless you hunt for them. Occam’s razor; if a game reviews in the 70s-80s like AC often does, it’s because they’re well-made games with mass appeal and decent amounts of content. It’s not a conspiracy.

It’s embarassing vapourware being pushed conveniently close to the start of the financial year. Microsoft can get stuffed pushing this. The sooner generative AI is slaughtered by copyright law, the better. So you’re telling me that passion projects by fans they pour time and effort into are taken down instantly but there’s no way that this model was trained on copyrighted material and so could be sniped the same way? It’s tw*ts in suits’ wet dream, a way to reduce staff despite the obvious drop in quality and generate artificial growth. No wonder the government are pushing it so hard.

PS4 Pro brought 4K gaming. This brings essentially nothing of a similar level.

It’s just vile. Playing with people’s livelihoods.

@wildcat_kickz That requires trust in the capitalist machine. Look at nuclear power, do you genuinely see cheap, plentiful energy or do you still see coal and gas being extracted, price gouging by the energy companies and a reluctance to spend the upfront cost to commission nuclear power plants? The money men win every single time, it’s better to never let them near these sorts of tools than have blind faith that things will work out.

Suuuuper excited regardless of what the project is. The challenges system in 1+2 is the best thing they ever did, so so much replayability. 4 and Underground’s free roam with the challenge system would be up there with my favourite games of all time.

@wildcat_kickz Do not presume that I don’t know what I’m talking about. The degree and subsequent industry experience specifically dealing with generative AI taught me one thing - that it is the most fundamental danger facing mankind since the nuclear bomb. It’s already being used to destabilise democracies across the world. This is the less serious application of generative AI but the same dangers apply. If a developer says they would like to use it as a helping hand, the suit pulling the strings will find a way to use it to replace that dev outright. You’re saying that it’s ok that Phil’s spouting nonsense because Mr Professor says it’s nonsense, but the difference is that Phil literally runs Xbox. It doesn’t matter how stupid his ideas are, he has the means and the opportunity to implement them no matter what the experts say. Just look at Trump, it’s very easy to just ignore people who know what they’re talking about in favour of your own misguided ideas. Ego and power are a very dangerous combination.

Yeah this can get in the bin. Special place in hell for suits who are destroying the creative arts.

@J-Dubs Would be seen as second-party back in the day.

God this just makes me want Konami to bring Yakyuu Spirits west.

@Oram77 Yes, which cannot be bought on two variations of the PS5 without buying a separate disc drive. If they take away all means of sharing or gifting games on those consoles then they’re no better than Xbox were.

He should just pivot to become a culture war personality and suck up to Musk, then he’s essentially untouchable because if he loses the case it’s the ‘deep state’.

He’s spot on, although I’d contest that graphics are incapable of providing that ‘wow’ moment these days, it’s more that devs are pushing for visual fidelity with sterile art directions. Even something like Driveclub looks more impressive in some aspects than modern racing games due to the focus on specific graphical flourishes. But yeah, I’d love to see innovative gameplay advances due to hardware, which is what I think Insomniac nailed with Rift Apart even if it was underused. GTA VI I expect to have technical wizardry in terms of population density combined with AI. Gameplay innovation would be the ‘wow’ moment for me, and it’s what I felt playing Death Stranding for the first time and wandering around with entirely new mechanics to mess around with, as opposed to games utilising one of about 3 control schemes.