Playstation 5 Console Discussion

[Julius]

Here we go again: a slew of new indie announcements and updates incoming. 

Update #1 @ 16:00 GMT - PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe arrives later this year. 

Update #2 @ 16:15 - a new look at the awesome looking Animal Well. 

Update #3 @ 16:30 - an update on Eternights (can love on a battl– I mean, uh, bloom after the apocalypse?), coming this summer. 

Update #4 @ 16:45 - an update on Pacific Drive, coming later this year.

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Julius

[drahkon]

Been playing that rhythm game since yesterday...you know the one.
It's awesome. Got me straight out of my gaming lull. No more "CoD only" during my gaming time It's now 90% Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line and 10% CoD.

Think I'm finally going to throw in Wild Arms soon, too. Been clamoring for a JRPG and even though this is a very slow one (especially the battles), I want to give it a go and see what all the fuss is about.

Edited February 18, 2023 by drahkon

[Julius]

Lies of P is coming to PlayStation in August 2023, available to wishlist now:

I mean, it's always looked very Bloodborne, but it looks even more Bloodborne in this trailer. So...guess I'll wait to see how it reviews 

[drahkon]

On 2/18/2023 at 11:20 AM, drahkon said:

It's now 90% Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line and 10% CoD.

Well, that has changed It's now 50/50.

Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line is great, but when you don't know about 80-90% of the songs because you never played the majority of the games it's a tad...boring is the wrong word, but I don't know how else to describe it.

On 2/18/2023 at 11:20 AM, drahkon said:

Think I'm finally going to throw in Wild Arms soon, too. Been clamoring for a JRPG and even though this is a very slow one (especially the battles), I want to give it a go and see what all the fuss is about.

5 hours in and it's not bad. It's a - what the Angry Video Game Nerd so eloquently describes as - "where the fuck do I go kinda game". I'm all for exploring and less handholding but holy hell this is a bad one. You basically gotta talk to everyone and if you're unlucky the one you need to talk to in order to trigger something is the last one

Wild Arms' battles are also a prime example for why there needs to be a speed-up option for the emulation. It's good turn-based fun, but sooooo slow.

Characters and story seem fine so far. There's a bit of mystery to the origin of, well, everything. Especially the bad guys. Are they aliens? Are they ancient beings? Quite interesting.

Anyways, not playing much these days. Only finished 4 games in February and I doubt it'll change much for March. Real life is keeping me busy (it's good for my wallet, though. Aside from the PS+ Premium sub I've only spent 35 bucks on gaming so far ).

[Julius]

There will be a LeBron James limited edition pair of plates and a DualSense releasing later this year. 

Yeah, I'm having a tough one piecing together how LeBron is the one getting the first official limited edition plates for PS5 too. If memory serves, only the second limited edition DualSense too (after the one for Ragnarök)? 

C'mon now PlayStation, really, this?! 

[bob]

On 01/03/2023 at 4:05 PM, Julius said:

There will be a LeBron James limited edition pair of plates and a DualSense releasing later this year. 

Yeah, I'm having a tough one piecing together how LeBron is the one getting the first official limited edition plates for PS5 too. If memory serves, only the second limited edition DualSense too (after the one for Ragnarök)? 

C'mon now PlayStation, really, this?! 

Did you miss how he redefines play?

[Julius]

Babe wake up, the new PS5 system software update just dropped 

 

[drahkon]

Thanks to some real life stuff I haven't played much these last few weeks.

I spent quite a bit of time with Undermine, though. A lovely rogue-lite. Starts off a little too slow but once you unlock some stuff it ramps up pretty quickly.
Well worth the money and time.

Started Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom last night. Seems fun.

Pre-ordered MH:R Sunbreak, of course. Can't play it on release day, though, as I will be in France that weekend

[Julius]

PlayStation have acquired Firewall Studios - not to be confused with the previously acquired Firesprite! 

Quote

I'm excited to announce that we've expanded our relationship with Firewalk Studios and are thrilled to welcome them to PlayStation Studios. Firewalk is home to a remarkably talented team of creatives who have launched some of gaming's most celebrated experiences, and they're already hard at work on their first original AAA multiplayer game for PlayStation.

Since announcing our publishing partnership with ProbablyMonsters and Firewalk in 2021, we continue to be impressed by the team's ambitions to build a modern multiplayer game that connects players in new and innovative ways. The studio shares our passion for creating inspiring worlds grounded in exceptional gameplay, and we want to continue to invest in their mission. We're excited for Firewalk to bring their technical and creative expertise to PlayStation Studios to help grow our live service operations and deliver something truly special for gamers.

Based in Bellevue, WA, Firewalk was formed in 2018 as part of ProbablyMonsters, an independent AAA game company founded by CEO Harold Ryan (former CEO, President and Chairman at Bungie) that builds sustainable game teams focusing on original AAA games. Firewalk's team of best-in-class developers, led by industry veterans Tony Hsu (Studio Head, previously GM and SVP of Destiny at Activision) and Ryan Ellis (Game Director, previously Creative Director at Bungie), have years of collective expertise on some of gaming's most successful and impactful multiplayer titles. ProbablyMonsters and Firewalk announced an exclusive publishing partnership with SIE in April 2021 and now Firewalk will be the 20th studio to join PlayStation Studios.

Taken from the PlayStation Blog. 

[Julius]

Per their End of Financial Year report for the year ending 31st March 2023, the PlayStation 5 sold 6.3 million units in Q1 2023, which is Q4 in FY23 for Sony, which has resulted in them breaking the recor for most consoles sold in an opening quarter for a calendar year and contributed to the highest revenue on record for Sony in their FY Q4. This comes after previously projecting sales of 5.2 million units and 6.2 million units for the quarter. 

Overall, this brings the PlayStation 5 up to a lifetime sales figure of 38.4 million units sold. Safe to say it's over the production slump which saw it (more than understandably) stumble out of the gates at launch! 

Now let's hope they deliver the good in June/September/whenever with some more game announcements 

ETA: Sony are aiming to sell a record number of PlayStation consoles in a 12 month window – 25 million units. 

Gentle reminder that publicly stated aims are almost always going to be a lowball for the sake of investors (so that they can outdo their own goals); this almost certainly means that, should things go smoothly, they're probably more realistically projecting 27 million to 30 million units sold in the next 12 months. 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Julius

[Julius]

It has been announced that Pixelopus (Concrete Genie, Entwined) is being closed down.

From their Twitter:

Following this, IGN reached out for comment, to which PlayStation responded:

Quote

PlayStation Studios regularly evaluates its portfolio and the status of studio projects to ensure they meet the organization’s short and long-term strategic objectives. As part of a recent review process, it has been decided that PixelOpus will close on June 2.

A huge shame, especially seeing as they had reportedly been working on a game in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation. After Japan Studio, this really hurts – feels like yet another smaller and very creative studio being pushed out. 

I've had Concrete Genie sitting on my shelf for a year or two now. Think this is a sign to dive in and give Pixelopus their due. 

[Julius]

Some more details on PlayStation's accessibility controller - which they've now seemingly given an official title of 'Access controller' after previously referring to it as Project Leonardo? - have been shared for Global Accessibility Awareness Day. 

Good stuff 

[Julius]

The Backbone One - PlayStation Edition for Android finally releases today:

 

[Julius]

New accessories from today's Showcase, Project Q streaming portable and wireless earbuds:

Quote

Take a sneak peak at new accessories revealed at today's Showcase the Project Q device for playing games installed on your PS5 and streamed over WiFi, plus our first official wireless earbuds offering lossless audio on PS5 and PC. More details to come in the months ahead.

In for the earbuds, because my overears get waaaaaaaaaay too warm, but not that interested in Project Q. 

[Jimbob]

If PlayStation offered a cloud-based service akin to Xbox (e.g. not needing the PS5 to play PS5 games) with this new Project Q device, i'd probably be more interested.  But as it is, it's not something i'm overly interested in.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Jimbob

[Julius]

Factions has seemingly been delayed internally, with Naughty Dog putting out a statement that the game needs more time in development. More on that below. 

They've also announced that they're working on a "brand-new single-player experience" (Naughty Dog? Never! But yeah, this was obviously expected, and Neil teased that something else was cooking over there a little while back). I would guess this isn't Part III but a new IP, purely based on the wording and that I feel the best way to shut down concerns for the franchise with this Factions news would have been to announce Part III in any capacity (if it was being worked on). 

Further to this news about Factions, though, Bloomberg and Schreier once again seem to have the scoop on what's been going on...and it doesn't sound good. 

Quote

Sony Group Corp. has slowed down development on an upcoming multiplayer game in its long-running The Last of Us video game series as the creators reassess its quality and long-term viability, according to four people familiar with the project.

The team working on the game was scaled back after a recent evaluation, said the people, who asked not to be named because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. A small group remains on the project while the company reevaluates the direction. While the game has not been canceled, many of its developers have been moved to other projects.

Following requests for comment from Bloomberg News, Naughty Dog, the Sony subsidiary working on the project, put out a statement on Twitter saying that "we've realized what's best for the game is to give it more time."

Naughty Dog has been developing the multiplayer title for at least four years. It started as a complementary mode to The Last of Us: Part II, the single-player game released in 2020, but the creators grew ambitious and decided to make it into its own game, Naughty Dog said.

Sony has invested heavily in "games as a service," or video games designed to be monetized beyond their initial sales through ongoing purchases. As part of that push it asked another of its video-game studios, Seattle-based Bungie, to evaluate the games across its portfolio. Bungie raised questions about the The Last of Us multiplayer project's ability to keep players engaged for a long period of time, which led to the reassessment.

Coming up on three years since the launch of The Last of Us Part II and in a few months that launch of the PS5, and we've yet to see the reveal of anything original from Naughty Dog for the console – particular wording used here because of course they put out Part I, the remake of the original game, last year, as well as the next-gen versions of Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy in the Legacy of Thieves Collection, but the former project didn't start at Naughty Dog, and it was widely believed that neither project was a studio-wide effort, what with Factions and their single-player project in development. 

It's crazy to think that we're coming up on three years of the PS5 and we still have no original announcement for the console from Naughty Dog, PlayStation's premier studio. I'm happy to wait and trust that whatever they turn out will be quality, but it's yet another feather in the cap of doubters about PlayStation's recently adopted GaaS-oriented strategy.

Got to imagine there'll be something, even if just another piece of concept art, released for Factions or Part III - any TLOU news at all - for the game's 10th anniversary this year. 

[Cookyman]

Fuck Fuck Fuck FUCK!

When is this coming out???

This all sounds very downbeat - WTF?

[Ashley]

A $400 smaller and slimmer PS5 will come out this year according to... Microsoft?

Obviously from that court case going on. They also allege the handheld thing will be out later this year for under $300

https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-expected-to-release-a-playstation-5-slim-later-this-year-priced-39999-microsoft-says

 

 

[bob]

Genius by Microsoft. Announce a new/cheaper console for the opposition. Everyone is excited. Get them to come out and deny it. Everyone gets annoyed at Sony for cancelling the new console.

[Julius]

13 hours ago, Ashley said:

A $400 smaller and slimmer PS5 will come out this year according to... Microsoft?

Obviously from that court case going on. They also allege the handheld thing will be out later this year for under $300

https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-expected-to-release-a-playstation-5-slim-later-this-year-priced-39999-microsoft-says

Feels like a bit of a nothing story: it's just an internal doc of Microsoft/Xbox taking stock of the rumours for the hardware and release timing that have been floating around for both pieces of hardware over the last 6-12 months, and anticipating them accordingly. They do the same internally (or via third party review companies) with documents on Sony's and Nintendo's first-party games to assess the strengths/weaknesses/expectations/results of some major releases. It's simply a case of them trying to predict where things are going - apparently leaning on the rumour mill - and not a case of them actually knowing anything. 

Obviously it's going to gain a lot of traction because of the court case, and, well, IGN sprucing things up with statements like:

Quote

It’s the final sentence in this paragraph that’s sure to ruffle Sony boss Jim Ryan’s feathers, as it not only outs the long-rumoured existence of a PlayStation 5 Slim, but its price too. IGN has asked Sony for comment.

Jim Ryan is way too busy trying to make a hash out of PlayStation's first party studios to have his feathers ruffled by this. And it doesn't "out" anything about the console's existence or price, it just repeats what has been rumoured and couples it with some sense (the price for Project Q or the modular Slim haven't leaked, far as I know, but Xbox will have the analytics to back their assumptions on price). Shame on you IGN, how far (some of) your reporting has fallen. 

Anyways, PlayStation 100% have similar documents anticipating Xbox's and Nintendo's next moves. 

Goodness knows about Nintendo, though, it could be either they're that deep into understanding Xbox and PlayStation that they can then recognise markets that their competitors don't seem to really be going for...

...or they play Jenga and have a fortune teller use the smell of the blocks they pull to guess where things are going. 

"This one smells fresh...hmm, well, after 5 comes 6, but what no-one will be anticipating is that they're going to skip ahead to the PlayStation 7" 

[Ashley]

Oh yeah the information itself isn't that shocking and of course the companies have information about the others but it's more the way it came about and the fact if it's true the information will have come from Microsoft instead of Sony.

We all know the pain companies feel when information is leaked just before an event, imagine the feeling of your direct competitor do it in a court of law. 

[Sheikah]

Oh yeah the information itself isn't that shocking and of course the companies have information about the others but it's more the way it came about and the fact if it's true the information will have come from Microsoft instead of Sony.

If it's true the information will come from Sony, if/when it does. That's a bit like if I said there'll be a Final Fantasy XVII, then claiming I revealed it when Square-Enix finally confirm it.

This sounds like pure conjecture to me.

[Dcubed]

Oh yeah, every console manufacturer will have similar internal documents that forecast what their competitors are likely to be doing.  Some of it will be based on real leaks (especially if they're sharing hardware suppliers) and some of it will be based on educated conjecture.

FWIW, MS and Sony's info on each other will be based on some reliable info (since they share most of the same hardware from AMD and have access to each other's development kits and SDKs), but things like timing, pricing and marketing strategy will be mostly conjecture.  Their info on Nintendo will be much more limited however (especially considering how Nintendo are very selective about how they give out prototype hardware & new console dev kits to outside developers).

Edited July 5, 2023 by Dcubed

[Ashley]

4 hours ago, Sheikah said:

If it's true the information will come from Sony, if/when it does. That's a bit like if I said there'll be a Final Fantasy XVII, then claiming I revealed it when Square-Enix finally confirm it.

This sounds like pure conjecture to me.

Oh I wasn't trying to say Microsoft officially announced it or anything, just amusing they have potentially revealed stuff before Sony wanted to. 

[Choze]

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gran_turismo_the_movie

Anyone watched this? Comparison with Mario?

Edited August 9, 2023 by Choze