somnambulance

While it’s a shame some will lose their jobs, realistically this may end up saving more jobs than would be lost if Sony didn’t step in. I’m all for Sony turning Bungie around.

@Gamer83 I don’t know if I’ve ever played something from a franchise I liked that much and was that disappointed by it. It was a shock by how revulsed I was by it.

Ender Lillies is a great add. First one I’ll actually download from Essential in ages.

Worst thing I’ve played in ages. I decided NOT to preorder Silent Hill 2 based on this game. Put me at real concern for what Konami will produce in the future.

I bought it. Loved Braid years ago and still do, but I do wonder what the expectations were. I mean, the price is double the original’s at launch and it’s a remaster of an indie from a time when it was novel that an indie could compete with AAA studios, you know? This wasn’t going to be a mass seller at launch, but a trickle seller over the longterm. Sort of sad that this is the mindset Blow has with regards to his game.

I never order the digital deluxe for any games, but shoot… I couldn’t resist. Maybe it was the passing of Toriyama making me emotional or something, but I said take all of my money when preorders went live on this one.

@tangyzesty I agree. I just don’t feel like I want to go back to Erdtree the same way I wanted to go back to Elden Ring. Maybe too much time passed or something, but I definitely feel like Erdtree has that “been there” quality to it, and it’s super tough in a sort of boring way. Unlike some, I don’t particularly want to grind to level in games anymore and that’s probably my problem since I get one-shot a lot in the DLC.

I must attempt to beat the scalpers and get this for my son for his birthday! His favorite game gets a sequel and a controller a week before his birthday, c’mon! What are the odds?

Astro was the clear highlight from the China Hero Project announcements. Can’t wait for the game. Hopefully Wukong can distract me from that anticipation for a bit. Can’t believe we’re getting a sequel to Astro and Link’s Awakening all in one month. Been a while since a single month felt so catered to my taste in gaming. This fall is going to be top shelf!

I’d like to finish Bo and the Path of the Teal Lotus this weekend and start Nobody Wants to Die. Maybe toss some Elden Ring in there. Maybe though.

For me, Wukong, Astro Bot, Life is Strange, Sparking Zero, and AC Shadows are the rest of the year. If Concord gets its release together, I’d add it. Plucky Squire if it does release this year. Silent Hill, I’d like to say I’m looking forward to it, but it’s Bloober, so I’m wincing, especially because A Short Message was the worst thing I’ve played all year. On the fence about Metaphor too…

And I don’t think I’ll have time for it, but it’s hard not to want to get DQ3 with Toriyama passing…. It’s such a good game too!

I’d rather play Concord.

I’ll put it like this: it’s not a genre that I gravitate toward or prefer, but I sure like Elden Ring.

Why in the world didn’t they do shorts like this before showing it off? I know gamers complain that they want gameplay more than anything else, but it’s absolutely baffling that they would do this after the beta. What were they thinking? This is the kind of ad they could’ve announced the game with to get people curious who these characters are and what they do.

I really liked the beta, but, like Forspoken and a few other games that “the internet” was critical of before they even launched, I suspect this one is doomed. No one played it and no one seems to want to give it a chance. The damage is already done. Unless they say, “Hey, you know what? Forgot to tell you there’s a single player campaign coming shortly after release,” I think there’s less than a dozen people here that will buy the game. Which is bad when we’re some of the most dedicated gaming fans there are.

@SuntannedDuck2 I always turn it off, personally. Skyward Sword was the first Zelda game that I genuinely could not enjoy and that was because the motion controls put a bad taste in my mouth. Any time it’s the default in a game and I encounter it, I rush to turn off the gyro controls in a way similar to how I’d rush to leave a room with a bad smell. But I get it. Some people like them. Just leave it as an option. I dislike VR too, doesn’t mean I don’t want it to exist. I just want an alternate to exist when possible.

Just remember to NOT support publishers if they prioritize AI over people. Vote with your wallet and encourage others to do the same. If we don’t act now, the industry in 20 years will be all Fortnite-likes with AI generated content to keep the hamster wheel spinning.

@get2sammyb I agree. I’ll get this on sale when people don’t buy it. I like it. To be fair, I liked Concord too. Looks like we’ve got our next Knockout City, Sammy. 😤

Persona 5 is already like 200 hours, so this must be for people that never want to play anything other than Persona. I’m not sure how people can balance other games and the constant flow of Persona 5 spin-offs these days.

If it’s an option, that’s great for people that like them, but I hate gyro controls, so if they’re mandatory, that’s a guarantee I’ll never buy the game. The Wii era was my most contentious era with Nintendo for a reason.

@Korgon I’m 100% feeling the same exact way. I liked it better than any competitive shooter I’ve played in a while. On one hand, I’m wondering if nobody actually played it, and, on the other hand, I’m wondering if I’ve got poor taste and I’m out of touch.

I have to work more in the summer, so I game less. I have more family activities and get togethers as well.

I’m here with you, Aaron, lamenting the beta for Concord’s negative reception. This Marvel title looks like F2P dross. A shame this will likely be millions of times more successful.

Not gonna lie, with that approach, if this wasn’t DoA, I’d definitely purchase. That type of progression is exactly what I want from a multiplayer title. It sounds like how Halo used to be.

That’s a shame. No way I’ll ever touch this Marvel game, but I did enjoy my time with Concord, even if the character designs were simultaneously generic and try-hard.

Man, that is awful news. They’ve published a few games that were genuine hits for me.

I will gladly take more Megaman games, Capcom. The Blue Bomber is missed…

@UltimateOtaku91 I don’t think Fairgame$ will get cancelled. I sort of feel like it was supposed to release this year, but Sony slated it back because of the reception to its trailer. Otherwise the fact that they had people sign up for a closed beta last year doesn’t really make sense. I have a feeling it’ll launch as a functional game, but it’ll get an even more hostile reception than Concord. Though I could be wrong. Sega cancelled Hyenas, their most expensive production to date, after doing a closed beta with media representatives.

I’ll be that guy in the room. Can’t stand Valorant and, while I gave Overwatch a 10/10 at release, it lost me when it went F2P. Felt like I wasted money on Helldivers 2 and I still don’t get what made it such a flash in the pan. But I actually enjoy a couple of matches of Concord. I like that it’s a bit slower. Yeah, the character designs suck (not that they’re worse than designs in other games of similar genres though that are aiming for mass appeal), but I actually thought about purchasing the game for a second during the beta. The game feels polished and visually flashy. It feels good to play in a sort of similar way to how Destiny feels good to play (even though Destiny is practically impenetrable to return to if you dropped out of it for a few years now). Then I saw the player count and I was sort of scared the game wouldn’t be alive in a year, so I changed my mind. I mean, I really liked Knockout City, bought that, and look what happened there. Oh well! I’ll get it when it discounts, which I imagine will be pretty soon after release if the low player count doesn’t have them shift their strategy with the game. Can’t imagine Sony just… sending the game out to die… though they did sort of let Forspoken get eaten alive by the press and talking heads too (I know it’s Square but it was still advertised by Sony before launch). I wish Marathon more luck!

I sort of feel like the internet echo chamber is sort of bad for good, but not great games.

A little bit of Concord, a little bit of Erdtree (as great as it is as DLC, I’m not enjoying it as much as the base game, though I do want to beat it), a little bit of Kunitsugami, and I picked up Bo Path of the Teal Blue Lotus yesterday with $20 I got from PS Stars coming back online and a $5 credit I had from Sony Rewards. Last night, I pushed through to Sakura City (man, that Sengobo Bridge section was hard as nails), and I’m really enjoying the game, even though the platforming is sort of floaty and it can be exceptionally challenging at times. Concord, Erdtree, and Kunitsugami I’ll play a little bit with, but Bo, I’m going to play that one a few more hours if I can. There’s a part of me that wants to buy Nobody Wants to Die as well and try that out too.

You know, this is such a weird one. It looked so lavish in its initial trailer that it looked like a scam, then there were no reviews, but they’re starting to trickle out and I’ve got to admit I’m curious. I think I may pick up this or Bo tonight with the money I earned from PS Stars resurrecting itself!

I liked it. Thank god for Capcom being Capcom. I’ll be playing it on Gamepass til my sub runs out. Might be the best game on the service yet this year.

I enjoyed it, but didn’t love it. I’ll play more if I have the time. While it’s free, it’s a decent enough break from the frustrations of Erdtree.

It’s interesting just how negative the discourse is on this one. I do think that Concord was better than current Overwatch (though it’s got nothing on Overwatch in its glory day) and certainly Valorant.

I’d guess the $40 price tag is probably something Sony decided when Helldivers took off better than expected. But that price tag is going to kill the game flat out, even if it’s better than most people think it is.

Honestly, this is the first time I can say I’ve been excited for a F2P FPS. I really enjoy a game of Splitgate every once in a while.

This list is emblematic of the reason why many of us are frustrated with the industry and why executives are baffled by our frustration

Fallout is the first new show in maybe two years that I made it through, so I’m happy to see it get some nominations. I really enjoyed it, my wife enjoyed it, looking forward to the next season. My wife and I binging a show together hasn’t happened in a long time, so it honestly felt like a time machine to when we both liked TV more a little bit.

Rebirth is undeniably GotY at this point in the year. There’s still time that could change, but the gulf between Rebirth and anything else is vast and it would take a surprise to change that.

3-5 tier, so a 4, I suppose. It represents a lot of the current problems in the gaming industry.

And I was one of them! For an hour-ish, but I’ll never come back. Thought the game was boring, but it was free, so why not try it? I’m sure freeness has a lot to do with this number.

Played a couple matches and so far, I’d say it’s a competent hero shooter. Like Overwatch before it, it’s an FPS that you can pick up and play and not need to be a sweat-lord to be able to enjoy it. My biggest frustration with mp fps games these days is that the barrier to entry is so high since so many people are so invested into the genre that it’s not really a genre for casuals. I say this as someone that WAS a hardcore Halo player through Halo 4, but the keyword to that is WAS. The last ten years or so, the genre has not been one I get particularly invested in, so, despite the fact that I used to love mp fps games, I’ve usually gotten frustrated that clearly they are typically designed for people that want to play the games more seriously than I do. And I get it, I totally do. My years of being am-pro level in Halo make me understand that craving to be the best. I’m the one that changed and started preferring less competitive games.

What I do like about Concord is that I was competent to start. There’s no dedicated meta or anything like that right now, which means that you can just pick up and play without going against people that have boiled things down to a science, and I appreciate that. It does remind me of Overwatch 1 because that one felt very similar, even after the meta developed.

However, it differs strongly in the vibe of the game and the characters. Overwatch had an exceptionally balanced roster. Concord does not. Some characters are essential to a team, others are practically useless in the current balancing of the roster. That may change following the beta, of course. As much as I love to steamroll in a match, I didn’t feel like I did that by skill or teamwork, but by picking the right set of characters, or rather, by not picking the junk characters.

The visuals and overall aesthetic is very polished, if slightly bland as a setting. The world definitely feels “done this before” in a not so positive way. I’m not a fan of Guardians of the Galaxy or Marvel or whatever, so I’m not as familiar with that stuff as others, but, still, I definitely feel the designs are derivative of sci-fi tropes I’ve seen elsewhere. That can be ok, of course, but we get so many games that feel static and flat these days and Concord feels like another one. Not sure why so many sci-fi stylized things have that quippy tone to them where they deliberately pair clowns with flat characters, but Concord is another one of those. And even so, it feels a little off on that too. Depending on where they go with the characters, I can see some people really appreciating the cast. The alien designs seem oddly a little off and b-movie, given the budget for this one, and it does seem to have a fairly inclusionary cast, which some people really enjoy. It could have its followers.

It seems the internet has chosen to disregard the game at large already too, so the game’s got an uphill battle. Other games that have snagged on “the internet” have historically struggled no matter the genre or the quality of their content. Having played what I’ve played, I don’t think Concord will be able to beat the internet, but I do think it’s possible it may start with a dedicated and niche fanbase that appreciates the entry level difficulty and has some interest in the characters. As nice as niche games are, given the budget on this one, I don’t think that’s what Sony wants out of this one.

Giving Concord a go and… uh… two birthday parties and a funeral, so there’s my weekend.

I no longer sub, but I’d say that it’s a strong month for those that do and actually utilize the service. Might buy Jeanne d’Arc if it’s for sale sometime.

Works for me and was able to redeem $20 right away for my preorders for the rest of the year.

I’ll download it. Why not try a free beta? If it’s good, it’s good. If it sucks, it sucks. Free is free. Won’t take more than an hour to know either which way.

I’d imagine Sony was surprised at the early reception of it and general lack of buzz, especially when the beta should be the highest profile gaming event in a bone dry July.

@GymratAmarillo @Wilforce I suppose you’re right that it’s not currently a live service title at this time. The way it’s structured just feels like it will become one down the line. I only played for maybe a dozen hours or so.

It’s really interesting how this is going down with Sony. I didn’t know that about Aniplex. That’s genuinely really interesting to me. Given that Xbox is a husk in Japan, I am surprised Palworld isn’t on PS. I wonder if Nintendo will allow it on Switch 2…

@B0udoir I wonder how much longer they’ll go with it. I can’t imagine the whales are too large on this one.

It’s a live service game, so of course Sony wants a piece of the pie. I suspect it’ll be on PS soon enough.

Honestly, Palworld is practically the most “this is just ok” game I’ve played this year, so I don’t get the hype, but, hey, that’s 2024 in games for me in a nutshell so far.

Nope, the lack of new games coming to the service caused me to lose interest. I wouldn’t sub to PS+ in any capacity if you didn’t need it for online play. I’m going to be unsubscribing (again) from Gamepass due to the price hike. I’ll resub on occasion to save money on Day 1 games. NSO, weirdly enough, is the only one that seems to be the right price for the value.

In my opinion, I think the streaming service, GaaS, perpetual income strategy is irrevocably damaging the industry and the executives refuse to see that, but such ignorance is already having consequences and I suspect the consequences will continue to grow.

Isn’t this game hitting sub-100 player counts at this point?

This is what a sales chart looks like in a month without major releases after a month without major releases ahead of a month with no major releases.