#release it on PC already sony

[amygobrrr]

used ps4 9.00 firmware w/dualshock 4: $173

aimvice KB+M adapter for ps4: $16

usb flash drive x2: $15

goldHEN jailbreak: $0

bloodborne game of the year edition pkg: $0

fromsoft modding and pkg tools: $0

total: $204

bit bold of sony to charge over $200 for bloodborne 💀

[foone]

AAA games? Pfft. Indie games? Double pfft.

I only play games from the alternate history where Hillary Clinton was elected in 2008 and banned all video games. You can only imagine how weird their underground gaming scene is. People like to call unlicensed games "bootlegs" but they've got actual bootlegged games! I've played games about helping your grandmother in hospice care realize she's a lesbian by reading Sappho to her, at 2am in a speakeasy in Baltimore. The cops raided it the next night, hundreds of Gamers were arrested. They posted pictures all over Friendster of the Baltimore PD destroying the arcades with axes.

I nearly got busted once because I was imaging old disks from a 386 and someone tipped off the gaming cops that there was a copy of Commander Keen in there. I had to prove that I didn't know it, I was imaging the disks blind and then indexing them later, and I would of course turn over any contraband to the proper authorities.

I was already on a watch list because I'd been known to have some gamedev-related activities pre-ban. They can't arrest me for making games back in 2007 when it was still legal, but they do want to keep an eye on me since I have the skills to break the law.

Anyway that universe's bootlegs are mainly PC games. Can't really have console games if there hasn't been a console release since the Wii/PS3/360 era. At one point Nintendo threatened to release the Wii SDK so game devs in the US could make unlicensed games, but that didn't happen as there were quickly no functional Wiis left in the US, except for very rare holdouts that never move. PC games are easy to distribute samizdat and hide on a USB stick or CD-R labeled "nickelback".

Japan's games industry is still going, so the later Nintendo and Sony consoles still exist, but Microsoft got out of the business of course. They sold the franchise to Sega who were hoping to release the 360 successor (the Xbox One in our universe) as the Sega Phoenix but it never materialized, either through their own financial incompetence or because of pressure from the US. There's a lot of international treaties that the US has pushed "and this aid only goes through if you ban games" clauses into. That would have been an official UN resolution if the USSR hadn't vetoed it. For once, thank God for the security council, eh?

I mainly get my gaming news through Japanese gaming sites (through a set of VPNs, since they're blocked at the border firewall), and some tor onion site run by a weird guy in Minnesota who is obsessed with documenting all the underground US games.

There's a lot being worked on, but it's always a tricky trade off. Too much attention and the police might be able to track down the creators, and it's basically impossible to fund underground games, as the VISA/PayPal etc funds get seized immediately. There's a whole task force for that.

Anyway one of the weirdest differences between our two time lines is that they've gone back and edited out gaming from a bunch of movies. Those that they can, of course. War games was just banned because they couldn't remove the tic tac toe ending. The Net just removed the scene at the beginning where she's playing Wolfenstein 3D, by recording some new screen footage and a new voice over. She's fixing a spreadsheet in the new edition.

(Yes, I've seen The Net from this alternate timeline. On Laserdisc, of course. I'm just that kind of person!)

They even edited Star Wars. You know that scene where R2-D2 is playing holochess with Chewie? They edited it to be a board game instead of holograms, because that made it too "video gamey".

Technically it's not illegal to show gaming in a movie, but it needs to be an 18+ film and you have to show the deleterious effects of gaming and/or the gamesters coming to a bad end.

This has affected films less than you'd think, to be honest. They were never great about showing video games even before they banned them.

Anyway, go have fun playing your AAA games with hundred-million-dollar budgets. I only play indie games made by people under a constant threat of arrest for their art.

[gravitycircuit]

🎂🥳IT'S GRAVITY CIRCUIT'S ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! 🥳🎂 Time sure has flown by, can't believe we're already a full year on from the game's release, and the reception still has us floored! To celebrate, we've got a few things in store for you lovely folks -- starting off with this wonderful group piece by @jmanvelez! Stay tuned for more! Have you played the game? What did you think? Let us know! Remember, Gravity Circuit is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch and Sony PS4/PS5!

[askagamedev]

From past responses you clearly have some experience with the console cert process. I was wondering: why do so few games offer cross platform play? Does the cert process become disproportionately more difficult when communicating to other systems becomes involved? Or is it just a difficult feature from a purely engineering pov? Thank you!

There are two major groups of hurdles to crossplay - technical and political. Both of these issues were primarily ironed out by Epic in late 2018, and then they opened up the doors for everybody else by releasing their set of crossplay tools and tech to the public for free.

On the technical side, the various walled garden networks - PSN, XBL, Nintendo Online - each have their own set of protocols, ports, technology, etc. They do not talk to each other or transfer information in the same way. There's a good reason for this - they weren't built by the same people or using the same technology, so their internal workings are all different. In order to solve this, the any third party developer needs to build a system that can take data from any supported service and translate it in real time so all players on other platforms understand what's happening in the game. This requires a fairly hefty engineering effort.

On the political side, console platform networks are walled gardens that generate a lot of revenue for the platforms. Every sale within that walled garden typically earns the platform owner a 30% cut. This is why they can afford to sell game consoles at a loss, they hope to make it back from their users. Allowing other players on other platforms to play with their users takes away from their exclusivity. This attitude permeates their certification rules, which are then enforced on all third party developers. Even now that crossplay is allowed, there are a lot of rules in place about things like communication between platforms (e.g. Rocket League was not allowed to let Playstation players communicate with PC players because of potential content ratings).

In 2018, Epic pushed to allow crossplay for their lifestyle game juggernaut Fortnite. Microsoft had already been dabbling in that arena by allowing Xbox to play with PC players (since most players ran on Windows anyway, so they were both Microsoft platforms), but Sony refused. Epic smoothed this over by paying Sony a significant sum of money to 'make up for lost revenue' and developing their own tools and technology to handle the technical issues of allowing crossplay. Sony begrudgingly agreed, so Fortnite went crossplay. Then, in typical fashion, Epic released their entire suite of crossplay tools to the public for free. Games like Dauntless and Rocket League soon followed to crossplay, and by 2019 Sony had changed their stance to accept crossplay.

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[otternalremnant]

Switch 2 Price: Objectively

Before I get started let me just say that I absolutely agree that $450 is a lot of money, not denying that one bit. Please do not be mean in the comments, I am mildly autistic and was abused as a child so I cry stupidly easy.

It goes without saying that some of this price has also been adjusted due to the new 24% tariffs on Japanese goods. (This has not been confirmed by Nintendo but it follows the market trend of companies passing those costs directly to consumers).

With that out of the way, lets look at the hardware specifications of the Switch 2 that have been confirmed by Nintendo and nvidia.

4k 120 FPS when docked

7.9" 1080p HDR LCD screen built in

DLSS, ray tracing, and g-sync support

256GB SSD storage

These specifications put the Switch 2 firmly above the capability of a PS4 in the form factor of what is essentially a tablet. The Switch 1 was about as capable as the PS3, which is also somewhat impressive for the formfactor. While we likely won't have actual benchmark tests until review units go out near launch, we can still see that the hardware is quite good based on the info we have. Now let's take a look devices with similar capability of Switch 2 that are currently available on the market.

PS5

The PS5 is a more powerful system than Switch 2 without a doubt with Sony originally toting 8k resolution support. However it is also a much larger device and is notoriously sold at a loss as has been the trend with all console manufacturers since the 1970s. The PS5 slim comes in at the same $450 as Switch 2 due to its lack of Bluray drive. It also cannot be played anywear other than your home unless you invest in the $200 Playstation Portal streaming handheld.

Xbox Series X/S

While the Xbox Series S comes in at $150 cheaper than the Switch 2, it has also been notoriously hard for developers to get their games running in 4k on the device and is widely considered a non option for others, with Microsoft having to wave certification requirements for certain games such as Baldur's Gate 3 in order for Larion Studios to even consider porting it to the Xbox.

These are also not a portable system and are likely to be discontinued soon due to Microsoft shifting focus away from console exclusivity and on to their GamePass streaming service.

Laptops

The lowest price I could find on a laptop that features similar performance to Switch 2 will cost you around $650. And while laptop PCs can do much more overall due to the nature of the Windows desktop environment, I'm looking at this from a purely gaming performance focus. These lower end devices often suffer from performance dips due to lack of proper cooling and the overhead of the OS as well.

Handhelds/Steamdeck likes

The Steam Deck is a pretty incredible value starting $400 with access to a vast amount of the Steam Library. However it struggles with running complex games in 4k and its ray tracing support is quite lacking as well, but to be fair the device was not really designed to do that. It also only has a 720p 60hz display and is quite a bit bulkier than the Switch. Steam Deck competitors such as the ROG Ally and Legion Go are a bit more capable, but have notoriously poor battery life and are much more expensive in the $700-800 range.

Switch 1

The Switch 2 is also bound to compete with the Switch 1 for sales due to pricing and availability in the first couple of years of its lifespan. While the system is 8 years old, it still has quite a vast amount of support from developers and publishers due to it having a great lifetime sales figure. It has unfortunately been notoriously under-powered since its initial launch in 2018 with developers often having to greatly pare down their games in order to get them running on the system and often releasing 1-2 years after they have already launched on other platforms. The system also hasn't dropped its price from $300 outside of rare holiday sales.

The extra power of the Switch 2 should allow for more games to run on the system at a much less compromised experience compared to PS5/PC ports.

TLDR; Yes $450 is expensive, but the cost of the hardware is a fair market price.

$80 for the games is batshit insane tho.

[mariacallous]

Earlier this week, after warping across the galaxy for 90 hours in a sentient spacecraft, Twitch streamer John Wissmiller realized that Concord was the best first-person shooter he’d played in a decade.

“The gunplay was crunchy, the movement was smooth, and the progression felt rewarding,” he says. “I was even more enthralled by the world the developers had created when I looked into the lore.”

He wasn’t alone. “One of the biggest perks about the game was the absence of toxicity within the player community,” says Kelle Dees, a content creator at KDeesGamez. “Everything about the game was positive and inclusive.”

On Wednesday, less than two weeks after the game’s August 23 launch, Sony announced it was taking Concord offline and offering full refunds to anyone who had purchased it on PlayStation 5 or PC. “While many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended,” wrote Ryan Ellis, Concord’s director at Firewalk Studios, a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

“I was completely devastated,” Wissmiller says. “We’ve never seen a first-party title from Sony get this kind of treatment.”

In fact, we’ve never seen any AAA video game get this kind of treatment—and that’s what could make Concord a horrifying canary in the coal mine for gamers and game workers alike.

“It’s unprecedented for a game of this scale to be shut down so quickly,” says Liam Deane, a video game analyst at Omdia. “Usually publishers keep games that struggle at launch on life support for a while, but in Concord’s case the launch was so bad there was clearly no way back.”

Like Fortnite, Destiny 2, and Valorant, Concord was meant to be a live-service game that constantly released new updates over the course of several years. But while those other games are free to play—and rely on microtransactions to make money—Concord cost $40 up front. “It's just very difficult to break into competitive multiplayer games [and] displace the existing top titles,” says Simon Carless, an industry analyst who publishes the GameDiscoverCo newsletter. “These are the kind of titles that players socialize with their friends in, and they're often not motivated to switch games.”

Sony hasn’t revealed how many copies of Concord sold between August 23 and September 3, but the number of active PC players on the Steam platform peaked at just 697 on launch day. That’s abysmally low for a major release that spent eight years in development; Sony’s previous live-service game, Helldivers 2, had over 155,000 players on its first day, back in February, and later peaked at 458,709.

Helldivers 2, though, was a breakout hit that already had an established fanbase. Concord, on the other hand, was a brand-new franchise that didn’t get much of a marketing push and drew the ire of “anti-woke” snivelers who complained about the game’s use of pronouns on its character selection screen.

“For big companies, it's difficult to work out what bets—and how large bets—you should make,” says Carless. “Some of the corporate overexuberance during Covid and low interest rates has meant that large companies overextended, and the pullback has been—and is going to be—painful.”

Over the past 20 years, the brutal blockbuster-or-bust mentality of Silicon Valley startups has spread to executives across the entertainment industry. Movies with $100 million production budgets are considered dead on arrival after a bad opening weekend and are quickly ripped from theaters. TV series are canceled after failing to meet undisclosed performance metrics in their first seasons.

Now, the quick death of Concord, which officially went offline today, points to a similar mindset in the video game industry that could kill creativity, reduce jobs, and shutter entire studios.

“If you have a stable parent company with a balanced set of single-player and [live-service] releases, you should be in decent shape,” says Carless. But “the middle of the market is disintegrating. The games industry is deprofessionalizing in many ways; games as a stable profession will be tricky for many people in high-GDP countries.”

If studio C-suites keep cutting all the buds that don’t instantly blossom, the golden age of gaming of the 2020s—a mix of AAA blockbusters like Elden Ring, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Baldur’s Gate 3, alongside smaller-budget gems like Tunic, Chants of Sennar, and the reimagining of 1997’s Riven—could already be over.

“I think innovation is more likely to come from smaller companies with lower budgets that are happier to take risks,” says Piers Harding-Rolls, who leads the games research team at Ampere Analysis. “This has really been true for many years, but the current commercial environment makes that truer than ever.” Still, even the future of indies is uncertain and may be somewhat dependent on funding efforts like Innersloth’s Outersloth initiative.

Concord may have gotten off to a slow start with gamers (most of whom hadn’t heard of it yet) and critics (who didn’t love the initial character designs), but the same could be said of Elder Scrolls Online, which has since made more than $2 billion, or the Destiny franchise, which celebrates its 10-year anniversary this year, or No Man’s Sky, which has become a cult classic.

If those games were released now, would they survive longer than Concord did—longer than the lifespan of a honeybee? The answer lies with the most ruthless beekeepers in the industry, and all they care about is the honey.

[archoneddzs15]

Super Famicom - Lemmings

Title: Lemmings / レミングス

Developer/Publisher: Sunsoft / Psygnosis

Release date: 18 December 1991

Catalogue Code: SHVC-LE

Genre: Puzzle Action

Your task is to rescue the Lemmings across 120 levels of fast-paced puzzling. These creatures simply walk blindly through the world in the hope of reaching safety at the end of the level - unfortunately, these levels include steep drops, gaps in the ground, barriers, and rivers amongst other hazards.

Lemmings is a series of puzzle action games originally spearheaded by DMA Design who are these days known as Rockstar Games North. Since then, Sony now own the Lemmings franchise rights. The variety of lemmings at your disposal is just right - not too many, not too few. Just when you've gotten into a habit of sacrificing the little dudes, along comes a level where you've got to save 90% or more of them. There are hundreds of levels but amazingly, the game never gets tedious, as there's enough variety of different challenges to keep you interested.

There's literally nothing to dislike about Lemmings. As close as I can figure, it's a perfect game. The lack of Super Famicom Mouse support may be a bit of a downer though, considering that the 3DO and PC Engine Super CD ports already include that functionality. This game began life on a slew of computers, after all.

Super Famicom owners can search eBay for this strongest overall adaptation. The solutions give a great sense of accomplishment, and the multiplayer makes the SFC version a must-own for Lemmings fans. Every skill is important, and the ways they need to be used become more creative as the levels progress. It's a thinking person's game, and the Lemmings formula never gets tiring. A masterpiece of rich, compelling gameplay, great use of colors, cute little animations, and fun happy music. A must play for anyone who calls themselves and old-school gamer.

[iuriinacio]

Obscure Movies: Jungledyret Hugo

P.S.: This will be a repost of my opinion on the film Jungledyret Hugo for English speakers, I will leave the Portuguese version of my review below, Some things were changed from the original post, to better suit the adaptation:

So let's get to the review.

In my critical review of the movie 100% Wolf, I had talked about this obscure Danish movie released in 1993, so I'm going to tell you a little about how I got to know this movie, so here we go.

Well, I discovered this movie in September of last year, through a Twitter/X user (now defunct) known by the nickname Studio Zolo. This user used to write critical reviews of movies. One day, he posted a post about this mysterious movie, called "Jungledyret Hugo", which I had never heard of or seen. From this post, I researched the movie in depth and discovered that it had a dubbed version in my language, known as Hugo, o Tesouro da Amazônia - Aventura na Cidade or As Aventuras de Jungle Jack (VHS Dubbing). After that, I decided to look for the movie to download and, fortunately, I managed to find the first dubbed movie. Before moving on to the next topic, the movie had two more sequels, a spin-off series (the latter was never distributed and dubbed for other countries) and a game based on the movie released in 1995 for PC. The movie was produced by the Danish animation studio A.Film A/S, which, for those who don't know, is the same one that made the movie "The Ugly Duckling and Me!", released in 2006.

● History

The story of the movie begins with a creature named Hugo, a rare and last animal of his species who lives with his friends Zik and Zak somewhere in South America, but his peaceful life ends up being interrupted when an ambitious filmmaker Izabella Scorpio wants to use him to be the star of her new movie, but during the plot of the film he escapes and accidentally ends up on the ship that goes to Copenhagen (capital of Denmark), it is on this trip that he meets a chef known as Meatball Charlie who becomes his friend.

Afterwards, Hugo ends up at the zoo and there he meets a very talkative and snobbish lion who calls him "Majesty", but at the same time Hugo meets a hyperactive fox named Rita (who in a source from the fandom wiki that I read, Hugo has a certain crush on her, although it was a platonic love) and she teaches Hugo how to live in the urban world during the plot so he can return to his home.

This is just a brief summary of the plot, now I will talk about the curiosities of this movie.

● Movie Trivia

● In the United States, the movie was released, edited and dubbed by Miramax in 1998, under the name Hugo The MovieStar, but from what I researched, the movie in the USA had some cuts and censorship in some scenes.

● The movie contains a CD with the movie's soundtrack released by Columbia (CBS) of Denmark (Now Sony Music Entertainment) in 1993.

● In addition to the soundtrack CD, there is also an audio movie version of the movie also released in 1993 on cassette tape.

● Final Considerations

Despite there being a lot of stuff about the movie on the internet, it is still a obscure movie since few people talk about it or remember it. It is no wonder that when I went to add the hashtags the name of the movie did not appear.

About the story of the movie, I've already watched it and to be honest it's actually good, but I found it a bit weak compared to other European animated movies that I've seen out there, my final grade for this movie will be 6.5 out of 10, well I'll leave it here and see you next time.

[jimquisition]

The state of mainstream games is just fucking pathetic. 

Helldivers 2 has been out for well over a week and yet it still suffers from the kind of connection issues that would be (and were) unacceptable by launch day standards, let alone days later. As if that were atrocious enough, further bugs and breakages wait in the wings to further scupper any attempt to enjoy Arrowhead's already stripped-down sequel.

[sylvyspritii]

Hey @square-enix-official I have an idea, it's a great idea that will 100% give you a lot of money (because we know that's what you truly care about)

Okay so you know that new game right?

Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2?

That game you are so proud of and want everyone to play?

Well I have some good news and some bad news dear Square Enix, you fucking sugarcube;

The good news is, a lot of people really want to play your new game! They're very excited about it and would even give you money (the thing you care about)

Unfortunately, you have made a small little mistake; you've released your game for a strange device that no one has ever owned, the "Pee Es Five", which is rumoured to be one of those strange old outdated devices sometimes revered to as a "console"

Now, Square Enix, it's okay, everyone can make a mistake once in a while, but fixing this one should--- JUST FUCKING RELEASE THE GAME ON PC ALREADY YOU MOTHERFUCKERS AND ALSO WHILE YOU'RE AT IT RELEASE FINAL FANTASY XVI ON PC TOO I WILL NEVER PLAY A GAME IN 30 FPS EVER AGAIN YOU CORPORATE FUCKS WHY DID YOU SIGN A FUCKING EXCLUSIVITY DEAL WITH SONY AND WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS SO FAR BEHIND WHEN IT COMES TO PC PORTS AND RELEASES AAAAAAA

Yes basically I WANT TO GIVE YOU MONEY but you won't LET me, I will NOT buy an underpowered console to play a game I'll love in an INFERIOR way!

[jeffgerstmann]

Do you think the PS5 Pro will have an effect on Sony's PC strategy? Im hoping to see TLOU2 and Spiderman 2 hit PC hopefully soon, but if Sony is pushing Pro upgrades for those games as possible system sellers for the PS5 Pro does that push those PC ports further out, if at all?

I think the audience for the PS5 Pro more or less consists of people who say they want the best experience they can get while still being on a console. The audience for PS5 games on PC are people who already invested in the PC and are willing to wait for games to release their rather than go out and buy another device specifically to play first-party games.

Not a ton of crossover there, so I wouldn't think that games getting updated for Pro would have a direct impact on that. Also the PC ports tend to get handled by Nixxes or another team while patching a game for Pro is probably happening internally with the original developer.

I wouldn't think there would be many technical reasons for one to delay the other, it'd be more a matter of Sony thinking that it's worth delaying a PC version specifically to market it on Pro... which is kind of a niche device either way, so... yeah, I wouldn't think they would do that, that doesn't seem like a successful approach.

[gamesception]

I've seen a lot of posts and comments and videos and what have you dunking on Sony for the absurd price point of the PS5 pro and how the screencaps of pro vs regular look exactly the same and, yeah, it's fun to dunk on a corporation for being obviously bad and dumb. People are like filling buckets of popcorn to watch the pro crash and burn like it's the second coming of Morbius, but, like, not to rain on the parade but sadly I don't think the PS5 pro failing would even matter.

Nintendo hasn't been competing in the AAA gaming space since the Wii, and XBox is actively collapsing - with the mid gen update that the PS5 pro was supposed to compete against being cancelled outright. Even PC isn't meaningfully holding Sony in check right now - between Intel's ongoing cpu disaster, AMD's incredibly disappointing new offerings, NVIDIA's own price gouging and hard pivot into AI, and everything Microsoft's been doing to Windows, now isn't exactly a great time to buy a new gaming PC. The main alternative for gamers who want a AAA experience but can't stomach the PS5 pro's price is the original model PS5.

Like, seriously, I've seen more than one person post something like 'at that price I'll just buy a regular ps5' as though giving Sony half a grand was somehow a bad for them.

Sony can eat the ill will now since they won this gen already and are only really competing with themselves at this point, and an overpriced PS5 pro - even if it fails - still primes customers to expect and accept a higher price for the PS6 than they otherwise would have.

Best case for Sony (ie the worst case) is that gamers get over the sticker shock and buy the PS5 pro anyway when GTA comes out, in which case they'll do the hard work of brainwashing themselves into accepting $700 for a console, priming themselves to pay even more for the PS6 a couple years later without all the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The more likely scenario is that the market rejects the PS5 pro, but that's no big loss for Sony. The dev cost for the pro was already sunk and, again, at this point they're really only competing with themselves. If that happens, Sony can target a slightly lower but still absurd $600 or even $650 price point for the PS6 and start the next console gen with a mountain of good will for 'listening to consumers' and 'lowering prices', despite the fact that in a parallel universe where the pro had never released people would be nearly as angry at a $600 PS6 as they are right now at a $700 PS5 pro.

[apple-pecan]

Marvel's Spider-Man (2018)

admittedly, i've been pretty apathetic about playstation's IPs since around the early 2010's. a lot of their dozens of good franchises like parappa, jak & daxter, sly cooper, and wild arms have been put to pasture solely so they can milk last of us for all it's worth, and maybe throw some other series like god of war and gran turismo a bone every now and then. i played a lot of third party games on the ps4 but rarely would i bother with any of sony's offerings.

however, one fateful day, sony announced "we're going to publish a spider-man game inspired by the absolutely GOATed PS2 Spider-Man 2. it's gonna be a PS4 exclusive, and we're having the ratchet and clank devs make it" and my instant reaction was "... yeah you fucking BET im buying that shit". i got it close to release but unfortunately for my insufferable weeb self, Dragon Quest XI came out a few days earlier on the same fucking week and i ultimately put way more time into that game and barely touched Spider-Man. 5 years later, with the """remastered""" version on PS5, i set out to rectify that and i am very glad i did.

think of the aforementioned treyarch PS2 game and imagine that with a way WAY higher budget, and you essentially have this game. it starts off with a bang as you immediately web swing your way through new york city to storm fisk tower and put a stop to kingpin. a very fun first impression, and once it's over you can just swing all over new york with some really fun movement; i know when i first got this game i spent most of my time with it just moving around from building to building, it was that much fun.

combat is essentially arkham combat, which was the style at the time, especially for super-hero games, but it feels more tuned up and engaging than what that would usually imply; my favorite thing to do is to air launch enemies and combo their pathetic asses in mid air like im playing MvC. ah, the good old days. sometimes you have to use stealth to progress, but they've made it ass simple so you wouldn't get frustrated, and in most cases it's entirely optional...

...except for the periodic times where you have to play as MJ during the main story. and maybe miles morales too. these are much slower sections where you have to sneak around enemies and distract them to get to the goal, and if one sees you, it's an instant game over. these missions aren't my favorite, obviously, and i DID groan every time one of them was about to start, but i've seen way worse mandatory stealth sections in games (suck my ass wind waker), and some of them have fun twists like MJ being able to lure enemies so spider-man can capture them and web them up on the ceiling.

tying it all in is a captivating and fun story that sure, while some parts you can see coming from a mile away even if you have even just basic spider-man lore knowledge, it still doesn't make it any less engaging. the last third of the game is particularly intense, with impossibly high stakes culminating in a tragic final boss fight and a very bittersweet ending. two scenes of the ending in particular had me on the verge of tears, something i absolutely did not expect jumping into this game. simply put, if you liked the 2000's sam raimi spider-man movies, you'll enjoy this plot quite a bit too.

all this being said, if you own a modern sony system (or now, even a PC that can handle this game), it's a no brainer, you HAVE to play this, especially if you have any fondness for the franchise it's based off of. this is the best spider-man game i've played yet, and this is coming from someone who played BOTH PS1 games!!!! play it!! or, more likely... you already have. i mean, it IS the best selling ps4 game of all time so... aw heck PLAY IT AGAIN THEN

9/10

NOTE: i dunno who's idea it was to make j jonah jameson into an alex jones-esque insane radio show host, but whoever it was, i just wanna say... FUCK YOU. at least you can turn it off in the settings XD

[first-impressions-gaming]

GAMING RECAP (September 19-27) Part 2

Paradox reveals new 4X game Millennia

Paradox Interactive has finally revealed its new title: Millennia. In Millennia, players will create their own nation in a historical turn-based 4X environment. From there, players will shape the nation across 10,000 years of history starting with the dawn of humanity and stretching into the future. According to Paradox, each playthrough will be unique as you craft an epic story based on your actions.

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Cute Lord of the Rings game Tales of the Shire revealed in 2024

The scourge of Cosy/Cozy Gaming has finally come for Middle-earth, and more specifically the Shire, which I guess was pretty cosy/cozy to begin with. Wētā Workshop and Private Division have announced Tales of the Shire, a "heart-warming" experience that will release on PC in 2024.

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Resident Evil 4 Remake will cost £57.99 on mobile

Resident Evil 4 Remake is heading to mobile, but it'll cost players £57.99 to play in full.

The game's listing on the App Store has the game available for free but with in-app purchases. Scrolling down, those purchases are listed in full with "Resident Evil 4 (with bonus)" priced at £57.99.

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New Xbox Game Pass titles for console, PC and Cloud have been announced

The following titles will leave Game Pass on September 30:

Beacon Pines (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Despot’s Game (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Last Call BBS (PC)

Moonscars (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Outriders (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Prodeus (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Weird West (Cloud, Console, and PC)

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Sony has confirmed October’s PlayStation Plus Essential games

Confirming a recent leak, next month’s PlayStation Plus titles will include The Callisto Protocol (PS5, PS4) and Farming Simulator 22 (PS5, PS4).

They’ll be joined by action RPG and immersive sim Weird West (PS5, PS4), the debut title from WolfEye Studios, which was formed in 2019 by the creative director and executive producer of Dishonored.

PlayStation Plus members will be able to claim the games from October 3 until November 6.

Everything Revealed At The Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2023 Event

Two Ori characters are coming to Party Animals next Monday!

Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright Trilogy joins Xbox Game Pass on September 26th

New trailer for Palworld, hitting Xbox in 2024

A closer look at Persona 5 Tactica ahead of its November Game Pass release

New Forza Motorsport trailer with a focus on the Japanese Hakone track

Octopath Traveler 2 is finally coming to Xbox in early 2024

Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi is a fantasy adventure game "coming soon" to Xbox

Another trailer for Mineko's Night Market, already confirmed for Game Pass in October

A closer look at Persona 3 Reload ahead of its early 2024 Game Pass release

Fallout 76: Atlantic City's first update arrives December 5th

New trailer for Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty's next DLC launching on September 27th

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name joins Xbox Game Pass on November 9th

Like a Dragon: Ishin will also join Xbox Game Pass at some point in 2023

In-depth trailer for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, releasing with Game Pass in 2024

The Elder Scrolls Online launches in Japan with full localisation on November 15th

New PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds "Erangel" update coming in October

My Lovely Empress is an empire management sim heading to Xbox in 2024

Exoprimal Season 2 begins October 18th on Xbox Game Pass

A first look at gameplay for Hotel Barcelona from Suda51 and Swery65, arriving in 2024

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[gamebleed]

On the last day of 2020 (!!) I posted this image outlining my favourite games of the eighth console (& PC) video game generation. Now that I think i've caught up with most of the games that I was interested in from that era, i've revisited and revised my list somewhat. There are three changes to note:

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut replaces Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Deep Rock Galactic replaces Horizon: Zero Dawn.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon replaces Firewatch.

I have included Disco Elysium: The Final Cut because the base game released in 2019. I played Deep Rock Galactic when it released on PS5 in January 2022, but it had been on PC and Xbox long before then. And similarly, Yakuza: Like a Dragon had its original release back in 2020 although I played the PS5 version which came out in early 2021.

So yeah, I think that just about settles it as far as my top 20 for gen 8 goes. We're in the ninth gen now & i've already played a few games that'd likely make the next list, such as Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring & Lost Judgment. And who knows, maybe by the time that I consider doing another one of these, i'll have seen my dreams made reality if Sony reboots Ridge Racer & Syphon Filter. And also maybe Lost Planet comes back too. (cc: Capcom).

[lord-radish]

When the Metal Gear Solid collection got announced for Switch I legit SCREAMED. This is like Life is Strange all over again, knowing it's confined to another platform and then getting slapped in the face with a Switch reveal.

This reveal has layers, both personally, regarding Nintendo and for the greater MGS history.

First of all? Like straight-up, I just wanted it. The Switch is my main thing until I get a good computer, so being able to have the first five Metal Gear games on the Switch is so good. Right out of the gate, we're already off to a great start.

Secondly, it's significant that this collection is coming to the Switch because despite Metal Gear being known predominantly as a Sony franchise, Nintendo has the longest history with Metal Gear out of all the major publishers:

Konami's subpar NES port of Metal Gear 1 was the only worldwide release, and they released a subpar sequel on the same console that Kojima not only wasn't involved in, but wasn't even aware of. The only reason Metal Gear 2 on the MSX2 exists at all is because Kojima wanted to show what he could do with what was ostensibly his franchise. That directly led into the first Metal Gear Solid game, which was a massive trailblazer.

Nintendo has two major exclusive Metal Gear games. The first one is a top-down 2D game in the style of the original duology called Ghost Babel - it's non-canon. The second one is a 6th gen remake of the first Metal Gear Solid game on the GameCube, which has never been ported to anything else.

The only other Metal Gear game on a Nintendo platform, to my knowledge, is a port of Metal Gear Solid 3 to the 3DS in the early 2010's. Not counting spinoffs, the only (canon) Metal Gear games on Nintendo consoles are a shitty port of the first game, a remake of the first 3D game and an underpowered port of the third 3D game.

As such? The Master Collection will be the first time that Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2 will be playable on a Nintendo console.

Third, and lastly - the version of Metal Gear Solid 1 they're using.

Metal Gear Solid 1 is a PlayStation 1 game, and as such it has been notoriously hard to access beyond the PlayStation 1 release. There was an obscure PC port that apparently isn't great, but besides that, MGS1 only exists as a digital download on the PS3 and beyond. Even the Legacy Collection, which has EVERY MAINLINE GAME from 1987 to 2012, only had a download code for Metal Gear Solid; everything else was on-disc.

Before the PS3-exclusive Legacy Collection, there was a HD Collection released for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The only games on it were Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, which may have to do with the general congruity of those two PS2 titles, but which could also be because of MGS1's nature as a PlayStation exclusive causing its exclusion.

That exclusivity, along with MGS4 being a PS3 exclusive, means that the PlayStation 3 is the only games console on Earth capable of playing every single Metal Gear game, from the original MSX2 game to Metal Gear Solid 5.

The Master Collection that's releasing on the Switch uses the PS1 version.

This is the first fucking time that Metal Gear Solid 1 has natively been available on anything outside the PS1, excluding that PC port no-one seems to like. It has been locked up on the same platform, excluding emulation, for over 20 years. And what's more - they didn't substitute the original release with the GameCube remake, which is notable because if they were gonna keep the visual style of the three games congruous, they could have opted to port that remake instead.

The reason they're going with the PS1 version is because it's almost universally beloved for its voice-acting and music. The remake re-recorded everything, including script changes from Kojima who disliked the looser feel of the localised dialogue, and the score for the first game is iconic and unique before Harry Gregson-Williams took over composing duties for the second game onwards - including writing a whole new OST for the MGS1 remake, which doesn't hit quite as hard.

That last part is whatever since Xbox is getting it too, but I'm so excited for this collection for all of the above stated reasons. There's so much about this announcement that caught me completely off-guard.