At the end of the day, 70% of a 3 times larger audience is a lot more money than 100% of a much smaller one. As a purely business decision on the software side, it makes sense; but how does the XBox hardware fare when they start loosing what distinguished them from the PS?
I have only played on Continents Plus, and did notice the awful strips of islands. What is worse is that the AI will settle on even a single tile island. Trying in eradicate another Civ is aggravating, since there are penalties for keeping the 1-tile-city (settlement limit), and penalties for razing it (permanent war bonuses awarded to all other civs).
@ATaco I can deal with bugs, but knowing that major patches are incoming in March (as per their communication), I don't want to put 100+ hours in, suffering through bugs and poor design choices, when a little patience will let me play a more polished version.
Part of the issues with the UI are shown in the few posts here. The design for things like trade routes is not clearly communicated and so that its easy to just assume its a bug because there are so many that are absolutely bugs that its hard to separate poorly communicated intentions from outright broken UI.
It is a fun game, and I enjoyed the time I put in it over the weekend, but I will be waiting for the March patches before jumping back in (and lets hope its March for PS5, since they seem to patch PC first and have consoles as secondary concern, as seen with the latest patch)
The UI is bad on the PC but its atrocious on the PS5. There are so many bugs from popups never going away, to entire sections just not working (I still can't get the trade route UI to work reliably on the PS5).
Its bland and unintuitive; but I could live with it, if it actually worked most of the time. I finally managed to win a victory on Sunday; but wont be picking it back up until the UI issues have been resolved.
@GirlVersusGame I am hoping for a mostly stable experience on the PS5 for Civ7
If you are having issues with Civ6 on PS4/5 I have found that its a lot more stable if you turn internet off on the system. It seems like between every turn (even in offline play) its trying to phone home, and if it has a connection issue, will lock up until its succeeded. If network is off on the PS4/5 it will not even try.
I am surprised that the scores are generally high, since Civ7 has a lot of major changes (more so than usual), its going to be pretty divisive until most players have had a good long time with it to really digest the changes and see if they are good or bad.
There are some changes that I am not fond of, but overall it looks like they have fixed quite a few of the shortcomings that recent Civ games have had. Only time will tell if they managed it without sacrificing what makes Civ fun.
While I wouldn't pay $100 for GTA 6 (I probably wouldn't buy it at any price point) there are many games that I would buy at that price point. Its not popular opinion but I would prefer fewer games, that had longer to cook, at a higher price point.
If the argument is the exact same game, just as buggy, with micro-transactions shoehorned everywhere, then no, I wouldn't pay $100 for a game.
There are only 2 games on the lists that I have played, and those don't even start up until 14-15 (depending on region). An interesting list, though for me, full of uninteresting filler games; but one mans trash and all.
Its interesting to see the wildly different views on which Mario is great and which is...not so much. I wonder how much age impacts this? I think that most might like the Mario that was the most popular during their formative years more than the rest. A bit of nostalgia biasing their picks? I would place Super Mario World above all of the 3d outings.
As for Astro Bot, I haven't played the latest game, but if its just a bigger version of Astros Playroom (which I did platinum), then its a great game but doesn't quite hit the fun factor that Mario games do.
The thing about a terrible game in a franchise is that its quality doesn't tend to impact its initial sales (though it will impact its long term numbers), since the initial sales and pre-order numbers are a result of the success of previous releases and the trust/goodwill that the studio has built up over the years.
Its always the next release that tends to be impacted by the poor reception of a game release. Trust and goodwill that was eroded by the previous release has to be re-earned.
@Rog-X It does make the math a little better in GP favor if you get it at a discount; for sure, though I avoided "sales" numbers because this can get really complicated, really fast, for example you can buy used games, games on sale, etc..., so this all kind of evens out.
@Randinator123 But is it pro consumer? It really depends on your specific use case.
GP Ultimate is $20/month, lets say you subscribe for 5 years. That's what $1,200? (12 * 5 * 20).
Lets take that same cost and buy AAA full priced games, you would get 17 (1200 / 70) games with that money.
If you unsubscribe to GP, you lose everything. You no longer have access to any of the titles you paid to access; but had you bought the games, you would still have them.
For some use cases, it might make sense, and there is definitely something to be said about having access to more titles to try games that you wouldn't have bought otherwise; but I don't think its as pro-consumer (for the average consumer), as it would seem at face value.
@nomither6 Sure, but understand that these are important to me, they might not be for you, and that with the SteamDeck and the rise in popularity with SteamOS, some of these are getting better.
1. A single (ish) target for developers. No need to test for thousands of combinations (and inevitability still have issues with certain combinations). This not only gives developers time to get used to a specific hardware set, but means that over its generation, they can optimize for it. Additionally having a driver stack that is all owned by a single platform holder rather than hundreds of thousands of different companies is a godsend.
2. Controller support in 100% of titles (with the minor exception of games designed for some specific peripheral). I think a lot of people overestimate the number of PC titles that have full controller support, with consoles I don't have to wonder if there will be controller support or if it will be some half-baked implementation.
3. A dedicated gaming OS/Environment. Turn it on, select a game, play. Even if you set up Windows with auto launching Steam or Launch Box, its still no where near the same experience not to mention there are no forced Windows Updates, no driver updates that crash your specific setup, etc... This is where SteamOS is really making in-roads, especially with recent announcements.
4. 100% compatibility with games in a clearly defined generation. If I buy a game for a PS4, I know that it will work with a PS4. Some future update for the PS4 isn't going to make the games from its first couple years just stop working all of a sudden, and I know that the performance (should) be good (with some infamous exceptions), without having to try and gauge where my hardware combination sits within the (never accurate) published system requirements. This is less of a problem than it used to be, but is still a problem.
5. No (additional) DRM or Kernel Level Anti-Cheat nonsense. Because of the walled garden (signed executables), developers don't find it necessary to add in garbage DRM and KLAC.
6. Physical Titles. I know that the future of physical titles (especially in another generation or two) is still up in the air, and if consoles ever stop supporting these entirely, it will be another conversation; but for now, this is still one of the most important points and the reason I stopped buying PC games.
I have thought about getting an Xbox multiple times to play some exclusive titles, but the left analog stick on the controller always put me off.
It doesn't matter much anymore, but if there were quality 3rd party controllers (not the garbage MadCatz or PDP, etc...) that had a symmetrical layout like this, I might have bought one. :shrug:
@RobN It doesn't requiring being a fanboy. There are a lot of things that a console offers that a PC doesn't.
SteamOS is heading in the direction of solving many of these and in the future a set-top Steam Box might just make consoles pointless; but at that point, is it PC gaming, or Steam OS gaming?
With that said, even taking into account SteamOS devices, its unlikely that they will make enough progress by the release of the PS6 to make me choose anything else.
If you release a game on PC, part of that contract is knowing that it will be broken at some point, you have the option to fix it and maintain good will for future purchases, or to stop support (and sales).
As much as I would love to dogpile on Microsoft, the fact of the matter is that there are so many variables, so many hardware and software combinations that even if they wanted to, they couldn't maintain 100% compatibility with everything, nor should they try, that way lies stagnation.
Its not as simple as that. While the PSVR and PSVR2 headsets seem similar since they are both VR headsets with some sort of camera based tracking, at the hardware level they are as different as PS5 controller and a HOTAS. The raw input (which is what most games will be reading, rather than some high level VR API) will be incredibly difficult and unlikely to work in most cases.
That's not even mentioning the custom in-game calibration tools in many games that directly use the camera and its raw input.
To be clear, I am not excusing Sony, these problems were solved with convergent high level APIs on the PC before the PSVR existed, so they should have designed it better so that a remapping could easily be done; but I do not think they did, and don't think its possible for them to do so at a system level.
I love the design of the PSVR2, and the controllers are pretty great; but the headset is physically painful to wear! Even with the Globular Cluster mod (which unfortunately doesn't change the facial interface). I wish Sony put more effort here, rather than supporting third party devices.
@LuXifer I am in a similar boat (except I stopped at 4). Mostly because 5, and 6 were not released in the US until over a decade later on the NDS, and by the time VII released I had forgotten about the series.
While I was a big fan of DQ/DW in the early years (1-4), I kind of lost touch with the series until the phenomenal DQ11. Going to be playing through the ones I missed eventually, a remaster would be nice, though I prefer OG hardware.
@MrHabushi
Sony will not keep supporting older titles indefinitely. Its costly and they will eventually discontinue updates; however that's not really the main issue.
Sony could also get out of the gaming business entirely; maybe SteamDeck (or new SteamBoxes?) get so popular that they no longer see a point, or maybe they make an incredibly stupid mistake that irreparably damages the brand, or any number of possibilities.
The point isn't to think about the myriad of what-ifs, just that there is a very real possibility that 10/20/30 years from now the games will no longer be playable and I do not want to support the "games are ephemeral" mindset.
Tangentially related, my ISP was having issues recently and we were without stable internet for over two weeks.
@MeanBeanEgg (Note: I am speaking generally, not about this or that game specifically)
Take this to its logical extreme, imagine a game that is so obviously bad that only one person in the world bought it, and they gave it a 8/10. Should we discount the opinions of the rest of the world that recognized a stinker before spending their money on it, because their opinions are not valid unless they paid for the game? Should this game go down in history as a great game, an 8/10, or should it be recognized that its flaws were obvious enough that one could easily make a judgment on the game without having bought it?
I don't agree with reviewing a game that you haven't done any kind of research on; but I also don't think that you have to buy the game for your opinion on it to matter either. Do I know the solution? No. But discounting all voices that didn't buy the game is going to give you a very slanted viewpoint.
Controversy aside, how much a long awaited game that is a sequel to a beloved franchise sells in its first month is mostly irrelevant. Many people will buy the game based on expectations and history. Its long tail (how it sells over time) and how many buy the next one, is a far more telling metric.
Unfortunately, I think 2024 was lukewarm year for console gaming, nothing really excited me or pushed the bar. I think I played more PS4 titles than PS5 this year. Nothing wrong with a nice calm year to catch up on some backlog though.
@Johnnycide It's funny how that ends up the case. Quite a few pieces of entertainment in the gaming sphere this year have come from games that I didn't even play.
@DrVenture69 @MrHabushi Unfortunately An "update" is not a viable solution to me, because the update servers will eventually also be taken down, in which case you wont be able to get the update that disables the requirement.
Granted these are (potentially) long term worries, and many don't care about them; but its a deal breaker for me.
@DrVenture69 The issue (at least for me) isn't about how well it works now, its about the single player game being almost completely unplayable when they eventually shut the servers down for good, which they will, its only a matter of time.
@UltimateOtaku91 The PSP had 24-pin multi AV output port that could connect to a display. It wasn't as useful as the Switch "dock and go" or even the SteamDeck dock; but it did exist.
It depends, if it is independent of the PS5/PS6 (different game library) then no, I do not want this. I do not have unlimited time or money to support two separate ecosystems. IMHO this a contributing factor for the lower adoption of the PSP and PSV.
If its like the the SteamDeck, in that its the same games as its big brother but with different performance profiles, absolutely. Day One.
@UltimateOtaku91 While I do think that there is a bit of politics in the online discourse, I don't think its lower scores are a reflection of that. When commenters make the accusation that its all politics; that discounts the opinions of those that actually just don't like the game.
I say this as someone that genuinely doesn't like the game, and I don't have any issues with its origin. I am actually happy to see more cultures throwing their hat into the ring.
@dancingstar93 Yeah the trials do offer an occasional roadblock to the Duty Support solo play; but they tend to be a lot shorter and have less vitrol; so are not as big of an issue for solo play as dungeons (at least in my experience). It would be nice to see the MSQ ones in Duty Support so you are not reliant on others (especially for DPS).
I wasn't aware that Duty Support works for dungeons that far back though.
@LavenderShroud
About three expansions back, FFXIV added Duty Support, a way for you to play MSQ (Main Scenario Quest) dungeons with an NPC party (and the system actually works well). They started adding support for older content recently, so the requirement to team up for MSQ content is as low at it has ever been.
Of course that's just MSQ content, if you want side content, you will need to team up occasionally.
I have been playing FFXIV since 1.0 and most of the time I play solo; so if you are worried about being forced to team up, don't be. You can play a lot solo, and the few times you have to team up, the Duty Finder makes this fairly painless.
@nomither6
" and didn’t even mention games from the ps2 era with couch co-op too."
I could have been clearer in my original post; but, single-player being just multi-player with bots, or multi-player being just single-player but co-op; are not games I classify as having different multi-player and single-player modes for the purpose of split resources (since the overlap in resources in developing these games is quite high)
I actually enjoy these types of games, and think the extra effort either way is actually worth it.
@nomither6 I don't agree with your list; however I could show an equal list of games that were terrible that had both modes, so cherry picking some that happen to work doesn't really prove anything.
Its irrelevant anyway; because I didn't say that there are not good games that have both modes, just that if the resources that were split between both modes, were given to a single dedicated mode that the game would better.
I am not trying to argue with you about your tastes or what you think works or what you want, or that what you want is wrong and what I want is right. My entire point was that we have different opinions, and they can often be mutually exclusive so its difficult for developers to decide who they are going to listen to.
@nomither6 I disagree. The two modes co-existing has never "worked" imo. Mathematically resources (time, money, etc...) used on one aspect, are resources not available to the other aspect (with very little overlap). Even if you manage a decent game with a split resources, it just means that the game (either half) could have been so much better if it were the only focus.
With that said, if I am being honest, my desire for separation is in part (a big part) because I abhor multiplayer, and I don't want to be forced to play it to get the trophies for a single player game, and I am bitter about it.
@Monstermash40 Being a sequel to an older game most certainly played a role; but even with a lot more people going digital as you mention (anywhere from 60/40 to 40/60 depending on where and when you check), we can average it to 50/50, that means you are losing 50% of potential buyers, which is no small number. Combine these two issues, and its pretty easy to see why it sold poorly.
The number going all digital is misleading though, for example a lot of the digital only buyers, are a newer generation of gamers, which don't hold older games in as high regard. So the target audience for a sequel to a much older game? I would wager that they lean more heavily in the physical direction than the digital. A new IP or a sequel to a more modern game might be different and skew the other direction.
If all 4 million sales were at launch price $70, then that's 280 million gross. 30% loss for the platform holder fee would be 196 million profit.
If its anything like Control, it won't hit 3-4 million in that $70 launch window, it will be a long tail. For example Control Ultimate Edition (all the DLC) has very regularly been on sale for $9.99 (and has gone as low as $7.99). (I don't know the price for the base game).
If we went by that price (say $10 for a round number) then 4 million sales would be 40 million gross, or 28 million after the platform holder fees.
The actual profit will be a mixture of these two; and depending on the initial few months sales, will probably be more of the latter than the former.
@Monstermash40 I can't speak for everyone, only myself and some other commenters that I see online; but Alan Wake 2 originally launched Digital Only, and even though I loved Control and and Alan Wake, Digital Only is a no-go.
They eventually released it physically, but I only found out about it accidentally, since I had already written the game off as a no-play.
How many others don't even know it had a physical release? How many have written it off the same way I had? How many aren't willing to pay $80 for a physical copy of year old game?
The audience for different games have different digital/physical splits, and we don't have enough information to tell if this was a large contributing factor, or just a small dent in the overall potential sales; but it paints a pretty clear picture from my point of view.
Maybe I am the odd one out; but looking at these lists; makes me sad for the last year of gaming. Is this really the best of 2024? 2025 can't come fast enough.
@OmegaStriver I want single player titles that are at least 30+ hours with no funding going to some tacked on multiplayer. If you are going to make a multiplayer game, make a multiplayer game, if you are going to make a single player game, make a single player game; and if I am spending $60-$70 for a game, I want 30+ hours worth of entertainment out of it.
The industry is so divided because we are so divided. Different players with different tastes want a different experience which are often opposing or mutually exclusive experiences so if you make group A happy, it angers group B, and vise versa.
@Oxy I love these smaller budget or indie games; but I will not buy a digital only game. Unfortunately, lower budget and no physical release, often go hand-in-hand.
Sometimes, I am lucky enough to get them at LimitedRunGames and similar places; but that only works for a handful of titles and only if I happen to know I want to play a game at the same time they are doing their print runs.
@Dynamq How is using money that you earn, for things you want, "Lack of basic life knowledge"?
If you can barely afford to eat/pay-bills and you are spending the money you should be using for rent, on a PS5 Pro, sure. But if all your bills are paid, and you have disposable income; what does it matter what you choose to spend it on? You could light it on fire if it makes you happy, you earned it, do what you want with it.
To the topic at hand, they absolutely should have the option to use the old modes. Even a "good" patch might have trade-offs that I am not willing to make on a game-by-game basis, so it would be great to be able to turn that off. A simple solution would be to allow you (at the system level) to toggle PS5/PS5 Pro flag on a per-game basis.
@PuppetMaster Currently Fortnite makes $26 BILLION a year (as of 2023). Thats $71 million per month. When taken into context, a $200+ million failure (over multiple years)? That's barely a blip. Sony can easily eat a dozen Concords for the chance at a single Fortnite. This is the golden goose they are chasing.
They do risk devaluing their reputation; but they are trying to buffer this with AAA single player games.
To be clear, I am not excusing what they are doing, just putting it in context.
@PuppetMaster While I agree with you completely as a consumer, the reality is that with a live service game, they can fail multiple times, and have just one success, and still make a lot more money at the end of the day than if they had many single player successes.
The only way this live service craze ends is when the cost of the failures far exceeds the theoretical profit from success. In a real way, Sony (and similar) are playing a game akin to the loot boxes they adore. As long as every now and then they get something decent, they will keep rolling for that big prize.
@Cerny But those 10 new devices are less different year over year than the PS5 to PS5 Pro. I agree that there are way too many PS5 Pro articles; but comparing a mid generation refresh (the second one Sony has ever done) to a company that releases minor incremental changes in a yearly cadence is unfair at best.
@PuppetMaster When one company uses another companies game engine, it usually involves royalty fees, for example Epics Unreal Engine is 5% of the profit. I would assume that a similar deal exists here, which would mean that Sony would still make money on every unit sold, no matter where its sold.
Comments 1,584
Re: Xbox Boss Says He's Given Up Trying to Convince PS5 Players to Switch Systems
At the end of the day, 70% of a 3 times larger audience is a lot more money than 100% of a much smaller one. As a purely business decision on the software side, it makes sense; but how does the XBox hardware fare when they start loosing what distinguished them from the PS?
Re: Civilization 7's Random Map Generator Still Needs Some Work
I have only played on Continents Plus, and did notice the awful strips of islands. What is worse is that the AI will settle on even a single tile island. Trying in eradicate another Civ is aggravating, since there are penalties for keeping the 1-tile-city (settlement limit), and penalties for razing it (permanent war bonuses awarded to all other civs).
Re: Nightdive Rebrands System Shock 2 Remaster, Teases Release Date
The first remake was masterfully done, I am very much looking forward to this.
Re: PS5, PS4, PC Players Can't Decide Who Civilization 7's UI Was Made For
@ATaco I can deal with bugs, but knowing that major patches are incoming in March (as per their communication), I don't want to put 100+ hours in, suffering through bugs and poor design choices, when a little patience will let me play a more polished version.
Part of the issues with the UI are shown in the few posts here. The design for things like trade routes is not clearly communicated and so that its easy to just assume its a bug because there are so many that are absolutely bugs that its hard to separate poorly communicated intentions from outright broken UI.
It is a fun game, and I enjoyed the time I put in it over the weekend, but I will be waiting for the March patches before jumping back in (and lets hope its March for PS5, since they seem to patch PC first and have consoles as secondary concern, as seen with the latest patch)
Re: PS5, PS4, PC Players Can't Decide Who Civilization 7's UI Was Made For
The UI is bad on the PC but its atrocious on the PS5. There are so many bugs from popups never going away, to entire sections just not working (I still can't get the trade route UI to work reliably on the PS5).
Its bland and unintuitive; but I could live with it, if it actually worked most of the time. I finally managed to win a victory on Sunday; but wont be picking it back up until the UI issues have been resolved.
Re: Poll: How Long Does It Take You to Beat a Big RPG?
I think that the second poll needs an additional option. I do everything that is required of the trophy list, no more, no less.
Re: Round Up: Civilization 7 Reviews Are Glowing Ahead of PS5 Launch
@GirlVersusGame
I am hoping for a mostly stable experience on the PS5 for Civ7
If you are having issues with Civ6 on PS4/5 I have found that its a lot more stable if you turn internet off on the system. It seems like between every turn (even in offline play) its trying to phone home, and if it has a connection issue, will lock up until its succeeded. If network is off on the PS4/5 it will not even try.
Re: Round Up: Civilization 7 Reviews Are Glowing Ahead of PS5 Launch
I am surprised that the scores are generally high, since Civ7 has a lot of major changes (more so than usual), its going to be pretty divisive until most players have had a good long time with it to really digest the changes and see if they are good or bad.
There are some changes that I am not fond of, but overall it looks like they have fixed quite a few of the shortcomings that recent Civ games have had. Only time will tell if they managed it without sacrificing what makes Civ fun.
Re: $100 for GTA 6 Is 'A Bridge Too Far' Even for Rockstar, Says Analyst
While I wouldn't pay $100 for GTA 6 (I probably wouldn't buy it at any price point) there are many games that I would buy at that price point. Its not popular opinion but I would prefer fewer games, that had longer to cook, at a higher price point.
If the argument is the exact same game, just as buggy, with micro-transactions shoehorned everywhere, then no, I wouldn't pay $100 for a game.
Re: PlayStation Reveals Top 20 Most Downloaded PS5 Games of 2024
There are only 2 games on the lists that I have played, and those don't even start up until 14-15 (depending on region). An interesting list, though for me, full of uninteresting filler games; but one mans trash and all.
Re: Astro Bot 'Almost' a Nintendo Beater, Says Reggie Fils-Aimé
Its interesting to see the wildly different views on which Mario is great and which is...not so much. I wonder how much age impacts this? I think that most might like the Mario that was the most popular during their formative years more than the rest. A bit of nostalgia biasing their picks? I would place Super Mario World above all of the 3d outings.
As for Astro Bot, I haven't played the latest game, but if its just a bigger version of Astros Playroom (which I did platinum), then its a great game but doesn't quite hit the fun factor that Mario games do.
Re: Shuhei Yoshida on PSVR2: 'I'm Sorry'
I love the PSVR2 but it is painful to wear so I can't get into it as often as the Index or Quest
Re: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Director Is Leaving BioWare
The thing about a terrible game in a franchise is that its quality doesn't tend to impact its initial sales (though it will impact its long term numbers), since the initial sales and pre-order numbers are a result of the success of previous releases and the trust/goodwill that the studio has built up over the years.
Its always the next release that tends to be impacted by the poor reception of a game release. Trust and goodwill that was eroded by the previous release has to be re-earned.
Re: Video Game Industry 'Doesn't Want a Game Pass', Says Market Analyst
@Rog-X It does make the math a little better in GP favor if you get it at a discount; for sure, though I avoided "sales" numbers because this can get really complicated, really fast, for example you can buy used games, games on sale, etc..., so this all kind of evens out.
Re: Video Game Industry 'Doesn't Want a Game Pass', Says Market Analyst
@Randinator123 But is it pro consumer? It really depends on your specific use case.
GP Ultimate is $20/month, lets say you subscribe for 5 years. That's what $1,200? (12 * 5 * 20).
Lets take that same cost and buy AAA full priced games, you would get 17 (1200 / 70) games with that money.
If you unsubscribe to GP, you lose everything. You no longer have access to any of the titles you paid to access; but had you bought the games, you would still have them.
For some use cases, it might make sense, and there is definitely something to be said about having access to more titles to try games that you wouldn't have bought otherwise; but I don't think its as pro-consumer (for the average consumer), as it would seem at face value.
Re: Talking Point: Is PlayStation Right in Saying PC Isn't a 'Major Risk' to Console Business?
@nomither6 Sure, but understand that these are important to me, they might not be for you, and that with the SteamDeck and the rise in popularity with SteamOS, some of these are getting better.
1. A single (ish) target for developers. No need to test for thousands of combinations (and inevitability still have issues with certain combinations). This not only gives developers time to get used to a specific hardware set, but means that over its generation, they can optimize for it. Additionally having a driver stack that is all owned by a single platform holder rather than hundreds of thousands of different companies is a godsend.
2. Controller support in 100% of titles (with the minor exception of games designed for some specific peripheral). I think a lot of people overestimate the number of PC titles that have full controller support, with consoles I don't have to wonder if there will be controller support or if it will be some half-baked implementation.
3. A dedicated gaming OS/Environment. Turn it on, select a game, play. Even if you set up Windows with auto launching Steam or Launch Box, its still no where near the same experience not to mention there are no forced Windows Updates, no driver updates that crash your specific setup, etc... This is where SteamOS is really making in-roads, especially with recent announcements.
4. 100% compatibility with games in a clearly defined generation. If I buy a game for a PS4, I know that it will work with a PS4. Some future update for the PS4 isn't going to make the games from its first couple years just stop working all of a sudden, and I know that the performance (should) be good (with some infamous exceptions), without having to try and gauge where my hardware combination sits within the (never accurate) published system requirements. This is less of a problem than it used to be, but is still a problem.
5. No (additional) DRM or Kernel Level Anti-Cheat nonsense. Because of the walled garden (signed executables), developers don't find it necessary to add in garbage DRM and KLAC.
6. Physical Titles. I know that the future of physical titles (especially in another generation or two) is still up in the air, and if consoles ever stop supporting these entirely, it will be another conversation; but for now, this is still one of the most important points and the reason I stopped buying PC games.
Re: This New Xbox Controller Looks Exactly Like a PS5 Pad
I have thought about getting an Xbox multiple times to play some exclusive titles, but the left analog stick on the controller always put me off.
It doesn't matter much anymore, but if there were quality 3rd party controllers (not the garbage MadCatz or PDP, etc...) that had a symmetrical layout like this, I might have bought one. :shrug:
Re: Talking Point: Is PlayStation Right in Saying PC Isn't a 'Major Risk' to Console Business?
@RobN It doesn't requiring being a fanboy. There are a lot of things that a console offers that a PC doesn't.
SteamOS is heading in the direction of solving many of these and in the future a set-top Steam Box might just make consoles pointless; but at that point, is it PC gaming, or Steam OS gaming?
With that said, even taking into account SteamOS devices, its unlikely that they will make enough progress by the release of the PS6 to make me choose anything else.
Re: Random: Assassin's Creed Origins Catching Strays as Ubisoft Review Bombing Gets Underway
If you release a game on PC, part of that contract is knowing that it will be broken at some point, you have the option to fix it and maintain good will for future purchases, or to stop support (and sales).
As much as I would love to dogpile on Microsoft, the fact of the matter is that there are so many variables, so many hardware and software combinations that even if they wanted to, they couldn't maintain 100% compatibility with everything, nor should they try, that way lies stagnation.
Re: The Talos Principle 1 Returns in a PS5 Remaster with New Content
I have been meaning to play this for awhile now, if the remaster gets a physical version, I might just dive in.
Re: Sony to Make PSVR2 Pads Usable on Apple Vision Pro, New Report Claims
@Max_the_German
Its not as simple as that. While the PSVR and PSVR2 headsets seem similar since they are both VR headsets with some sort of camera based tracking, at the hardware level they are as different as PS5 controller and a HOTAS. The raw input (which is what most games will be reading, rather than some high level VR API) will be incredibly difficult and unlikely to work in most cases.
That's not even mentioning the custom in-game calibration tools in many games that directly use the camera and its raw input.
To be clear, I am not excusing Sony, these problems were solved with convergent high level APIs on the PC before the PSVR existed, so they should have designed it better so that a remapping could easily be done; but I do not think they did, and don't think its possible for them to do so at a system level.
Re: Sony to Make PSVR2 Pads Usable on Apple Vision Pro, New Report Claims
I love the design of the PSVR2, and the controllers are pretty great; but the headset is physically painful to wear! Even with the Globular Cluster mod (which unfortunately doesn't change the facial interface). I wish Sony put more effort here, rather than supporting third party devices.
Re: Outstanding PS2 RPG Dragon Quest 8 Is Now 20 Years Old
@LuXifer I am in a similar boat (except I stopped at 4). Mostly because 5, and 6 were not released in the US until over a decade later on the NDS, and by the time VII released I had forgotten about the series.
Re: Outstanding PS2 RPG Dragon Quest 8 Is Now 20 Years Old
While I was a big fan of DQ/DW in the early years (1-4), I kind of lost touch with the series until the phenomenal DQ11. Going to be playing through the ones I missed eventually, a remaster would be nice, though I prefer OG hardware.
Re: My First Gran Turismo Has Been Rated for Release on PS5, PS4
@MrHabushi
Sony will not keep supporting older titles indefinitely. Its costly and they will eventually discontinue updates; however that's not really the main issue.
Sony could also get out of the gaming business entirely; maybe SteamDeck (or new SteamBoxes?) get so popular that they no longer see a point, or maybe they make an incredibly stupid mistake that irreparably damages the brand, or any number of possibilities.
The point isn't to think about the myriad of what-ifs, just that there is a very real possibility that 10/20/30 years from now the games will no longer be playable and I do not want to support the "games are ephemeral" mindset.
Tangentially related, my ISP was having issues recently and we were without stable internet for over two weeks.
Re: Analyst Says Dragon Age: The Veilguard Had a Good, But Not a Great Launch
@MeanBeanEgg (Note: I am speaking generally, not about this or that game specifically)
Take this to its logical extreme, imagine a game that is so obviously bad that only one person in the world bought it, and they gave it a 8/10. Should we discount the opinions of the rest of the world that recognized a stinker before spending their money on it, because their opinions are not valid unless they paid for the game? Should this game go down in history as a great game, an 8/10, or should it be recognized that its flaws were obvious enough that one could easily make a judgment on the game without having bought it?
I don't agree with reviewing a game that you haven't done any kind of research on; but I also don't think that you have to buy the game for your opinion on it to matter either. Do I know the solution? No. But discounting all voices that didn't buy the game is going to give you a very slanted viewpoint.
Re: Analyst Says Dragon Age: The Veilguard Had a Good, But Not a Great Launch
Controversy aside, how much a long awaited game that is a sequel to a beloved franchise sells in its first month is mostly irrelevant. Many people will buy the game based on expectations and history. Its long tail (how it sells over time) and how many buy the next one, is a far more telling metric.
Re: Site News: Write to Us About Your PS5 Game of the Year for 2024
Unfortunately, I think 2024 was lukewarm year for console gaming, nothing really excited me or pushed the bar. I think I played more PS4 titles than PS5 this year. Nothing wrong with a nice calm year to catch up on some backlog though.
Re: Secret Level's Concord Episode Has a Trailer, and It Feels Really Weird
@Johnnycide It's funny how that ends up the case. Quite a few pieces of entertainment in the gaming sphere this year have come from games that I didn't even play.
Re: My First Gran Turismo Has Been Rated for Release on PS5, PS4
@DrVenture69 @MrHabushi Unfortunately An "update" is not a viable solution to me, because the update servers will eventually also be taken down, in which case you wont be able to get the update that disables the requirement.
Granted these are (potentially) long term worries, and many don't care about them; but its a deal breaker for me.
Re: My First Gran Turismo Has Been Rated for Release on PS5, PS4
@DrVenture69 The issue (at least for me) isn't about how well it works now, its about the single player game being almost completely unplayable when they eventually shut the servers down for good, which they will, its only a matter of time.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Want a Steam Deck-Like Portable PlayStation?
@UltimateOtaku91 The PSP had 24-pin multi AV output port that could connect to a display. It wasn't as useful as the Switch "dock and go" or even the SteamDeck dock; but it did exist.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Want a Steam Deck-Like Portable PlayStation?
It depends, if it is independent of the PS5/PS6 (different game library) then no, I do not want this. I do not have unlimited time or money to support two separate ecosystems. IMHO this a contributing factor for the lower adoption of the PSP and PSV.
If its like the the SteamDeck, in that its the same games as its big brother but with different performance profiles, absolutely. Day One.
Re: Black Myth: Wukong Declared Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards 2024
@UltimateOtaku91 While I do think that there is a bit of politics in the online discourse, I don't think its lower scores are a reflection of that. When commenters make the accusation that its all politics; that discounts the opinions of those that actually just don't like the game.
I say this as someone that genuinely doesn't like the game, and I don't have any issues with its origin. I am actually happy to see more cultures throwing their hat into the ring.
Re: Huge PS5, PS4 MMO Final Fantasy 14 Is Being Shrunk Down for Mobile
@dancingstar93 Yeah the trials do offer an occasional roadblock to the Duty Support solo play; but they tend to be a lot shorter and have less vitrol; so are not as big of an issue for solo play as dungeons (at least in my experience). It would be nice to see the MSQ ones in Duty Support so you are not reliant on others (especially for DPS).
I wasn't aware that Duty Support works for dungeons that far back though.
Re: Huge PS5, PS4 MMO Final Fantasy 14 Is Being Shrunk Down for Mobile
@LavenderShroud
About three expansions back, FFXIV added Duty Support, a way for you to play MSQ (Main Scenario Quest) dungeons with an NPC party (and the system actually works well). They started adding support for older content recently, so the requirement to team up for MSQ content is as low at it has ever been.
Of course that's just MSQ content, if you want side content, you will need to team up occasionally.
I have been playing FFXIV since 1.0 and most of the time I play solo; so if you are worried about being forced to team up, don't be. You can play a lot solo, and the few times you have to team up, the Duty Finder makes this fairly painless.
Re: Do You Really Want Devs to Make Lower Budget, More Original Games for PS5?
@nomither6
" and didn’t even mention games from the ps2 era with couch co-op too."
I could have been clearer in my original post; but, single-player being just multi-player with bots, or multi-player being just single-player but co-op; are not games I classify as having different multi-player and single-player modes for the purpose of split resources (since the overlap in resources in developing these games is quite high)
I actually enjoy these types of games, and think the extra effort either way is actually worth it.
Re: Do You Really Want Devs to Make Lower Budget, More Original Games for PS5?
@nomither6 I don't agree with your list; however I could show an equal list of games that were terrible that had both modes, so cherry picking some that happen to work doesn't really prove anything.
Its irrelevant anyway; because I didn't say that there are not good games that have both modes, just that if the resources that were split between both modes, were given to a single dedicated mode that the game would better.
I am not trying to argue with you about your tastes or what you think works or what you want, or that what you want is wrong and what I want is right. My entire point was that we have different opinions, and they can often be mutually exclusive so its difficult for developers to decide who they are going to listen to.
Re: Do You Really Want Devs to Make Lower Budget, More Original Games for PS5?
@nomither6 I disagree. The two modes co-existing has never "worked" imo. Mathematically resources (time, money, etc...) used on one aspect, are resources not available to the other aspect (with very little overlap). Even if you manage a decent game with a split resources, it just means that the game (either half) could have been so much better if it were the only focus.
With that said, if I am being honest, my desire for separation is in part (a big part) because I abhor multiplayer, and I don't want to be forced to play it to get the trophies for a single player game, and I am bitter about it.
Re: Remedy Offers Control 2 Insight, AAA Action RPG on €50 Million Budget
@Monstermash40 Being a sequel to an older game most certainly played a role; but even with a lot more people going digital as you mention (anywhere from 60/40 to 40/60 depending on where and when you check), we can average it to 50/50, that means you are losing 50% of potential buyers, which is no small number. Combine these two issues, and its pretty easy to see why it sold poorly.
The number going all digital is misleading though, for example a lot of the digital only buyers, are a newer generation of gamers, which don't hold older games in as high regard. So the target audience for a sequel to a much older game? I would wager that they lean more heavily in the physical direction than the digital. A new IP or a sequel to a more modern game might be different and skew the other direction.
Re: Remedy Offers Control 2 Insight, AAA Action RPG on €50 Million Budget
@3Above
If all 4 million sales were at launch price $70, then that's 280 million gross. 30% loss for the platform holder fee would be 196 million profit.
If its anything like Control, it won't hit 3-4 million in that $70 launch window, it will be a long tail. For example Control Ultimate Edition (all the DLC) has very regularly been on sale for $9.99 (and has gone as low as $7.99). (I don't know the price for the base game).
If we went by that price (say $10 for a round number) then 4 million sales would be 40 million gross, or 28 million after the platform holder fees.
The actual profit will be a mixture of these two; and depending on the initial few months sales, will probably be more of the latter than the former.
Re: Remedy Offers Control 2 Insight, AAA Action RPG on €50 Million Budget
@Monstermash40
I can't speak for everyone, only myself and some other commenters that I see online; but Alan Wake 2 originally launched Digital Only, and even though I loved Control and and Alan Wake, Digital Only is a no-go.
They eventually released it physically, but I only found out about it accidentally, since I had already written the game off as a no-play.
How many others don't even know it had a physical release? How many have written it off the same way I had? How many aren't willing to pay $80 for a physical copy of year old game?
The audience for different games have different digital/physical splits, and we don't have enough information to tell if this was a large contributing factor, or just a small dent in the overall potential sales; but it paints a pretty clear picture from my point of view.
Re: All The Game Awards 2024 Nominees Revealed, Astro Bot Up for 7 Awards
Maybe I am the odd one out; but looking at these lists; makes me sad for the last year of gaming. Is this really the best of 2024? 2025 can't come fast enough.
Re: Do You Really Want Devs to Make Lower Budget, More Original Games for PS5?
@OmegaStriver
I want single player titles that are at least 30+ hours with no funding going to some tacked on multiplayer. If you are going to make a multiplayer game, make a multiplayer game, if you are going to make a single player game, make a single player game; and if I am spending $60-$70 for a game, I want 30+ hours worth of entertainment out of it.
The industry is so divided because we are so divided. Different players with different tastes want a different experience which are often opposing or mutually exclusive experiences so if you make group A happy, it angers group B, and vise versa.
Re: Do You Really Want Devs to Make Lower Budget, More Original Games for PS5?
@Oxy I love these smaller budget or indie games; but I will not buy a digital only game. Unfortunately, lower budget and no physical release, often go hand-in-hand.
Sometimes, I am lucky enough to get them at LimitedRunGames and similar places; but that only works for a handful of titles and only if I happen to know I want to play a game at the same time they are doing their print runs.
Re: Disgruntled PS5 Pro Owners Campaign to Disable Support After Slew of Shoddy Patches
@Dynamq How is using money that you earn, for things you want, "Lack of basic life knowledge"?
If you can barely afford to eat/pay-bills and you are spending the money you should be using for rent, on a PS5 Pro, sure. But if all your bills are paid, and you have disposable income; what does it matter what you choose to spend it on? You could light it on fire if it makes you happy, you earned it, do what you want with it.
To the topic at hand, they absolutely should have the option to use the old modes. Even a "good" patch might have trade-offs that I am not willing to make on a game-by-game basis, so it would be great to be able to turn that off. A simple solution would be to allow you (at the system level) to toggle PS5/PS5 Pro flag on a per-game basis.
Re: Sony Comments on Concord Disaster, Says Game Should Have Been Tested Earlier
@PuppetMaster Currently Fortnite makes $26 BILLION a year (as of 2023). Thats $71 million per month. When taken into context, a $200+ million failure (over multiple years)? That's barely a blip. Sony can easily eat a dozen Concords for the chance at a single Fortnite. This is the golden goose they are chasing.
They do risk devaluing their reputation; but they are trying to buffer this with AAA single player games.
To be clear, I am not excusing what they are doing, just putting it in context.
Re: Sony Comments on Concord Disaster, Says Game Should Have Been Tested Earlier
@PuppetMaster While I agree with you completely as a consumer, the reality is that with a live service game, they can fail multiple times, and have just one success, and still make a lot more money at the end of the day than if they had many single player successes.
The only way this live service craze ends is when the cost of the failures far exceeds the theoretical profit from success. In a real way, Sony (and similar) are playing a game akin to the loot boxes they adore. As long as every now and then they get something decent, they will keep rolling for that big prize.
Re: Hypnotic PS5 Pro Boot Screen, Background Worth the Upgrade
@Cerny But those 10 new devices are less different year over year than the PS5 to PS5 Pro. I agree that there are way too many PS5 Pro articles; but comparing a mid generation refresh (the second one Sony has ever done) to a company that releases minor incremental changes in a yearly cadence is unfair at best.
Re: Death Stranding Gets a Surprise Xbox Series X|S Port, Out Now
@PuppetMaster When one company uses another companies game engine, it usually involves royalty fees, for example Epics Unreal Engine is 5% of the profit. I would assume that a similar deal exists here, which would mean that Sony would still make money on every unit sold, no matter where its sold.