Astro Bot (6th September 2024)

[Glen-i]

13 hours ago, Julius said:

Makes for a really interesting talking point. What was that article I was reading earlier...oh, here it is: Astro Bot Isn't A Celebration, It's A Graveyard. 

This is an interesting article here. Some people on Era are trying to play "Whataboutism" by claiming Nintendo are just as bad with Smash, but I don't think that's comparable in the slightest.

If we take the franchises that haven't had a new release in the latest 2 generations, we have Mother, Ice Climbers, Game & Watch, R.O.B, Punch-Out, Duck Hunt, and Banjo-Kazooie. And that last one's not even on Nintendo!

Not every IP should live forever, but it's the sheer magnitude of dead franchises that Sony pretty much ignore that I think the linked article is trying to point out, and I agree with that.

That said, can't wait for this to come to PC, I'm really looking forward to a Mario Galaxy structured game, especially after how disappointing Odyssey was, so I'll be hanging out with @martinist in that strip club.

[Julius]

Per VGC and some content they had come out of a trip to Asobi's studio in Tokyo last month, a presentation shared with them during the trip seemed to suggest that 5 speedrun levels and 10 challenge levels are planned for the game's post-launch free DLC, though obviously it's not clear if plans have stayed the same. 

I'm praying that speedrun levels are coming to this thing. 

Spawning out of that same trip is the below excellent video from VGC in which Nicolas Doucet shares some of the philosophies, design and team strategies, and whimsy behind Astro Bot – having watched the video, fair warning, it spoils a couple of Bots we've yet to see and so might be one best saved until after you've played through the game. 

But again: I really implore that you watch this. We don't get enough of a look at how games are made these days, period, and for PlayStation it generally seems to be saved for massive AAA offerings with fully produced documentary-style videos, like the ones we've seen for The Last of Us and God of War before now. I mean they still go through the effort of drawing up ideas with pen and paper, and there are some great insights to glean from that! 

25 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

This is an interesting article here. Some people on Era are trying to play "Whataboutism" by claiming Nintendo are just as bad with Smash, but I don't think that's comparable in the slightest.

If we take the franchises that haven't had a new release in the latest 2 generations, we have Mother, Ice Climbers, Game & Watch, R.O.B, Punch-Out, Duck Hunt, and Banjo-Kazooie. And that last one's not even on Nintendo!

Not every IP should live forever, but it's the sheer magnitude of dead franchises that Sony pretty much ignore that I think the linked article is trying to point out, and I agree with that.

Yeah, I definitely think it's worthy of a discussion at least, even if I do feel like it also blends into a conversation a number of us have had on here before a number of times of there being a pretty skinny - but generally still very strong in terms of quality - list of first-party offerings on PS5 this gen, even just when compared to PS4. 

I think the problem came about with the myriad of studio closures and the focus then being pooled into GAAS, something I think everyone was against – sure, it makes business sense...but about as much business sense as using your quarterly earnings to buy lottery tickets. The success of Helldivers 2 has been enormous and yet is the only serious justification so far for PlayStation's GAAS initiative which has seemingly floundered if it hasn't altogether been quashed – again, just go buy lottery tickets before you sleep on the piles of cash made from being the gacha machine the PS5 is with games like Genshin, not to mention the upturn it's going to see next year when GTA VI releases and Shark Cards make their dreaded return. 

I don't know if Astro Bot puts any dent in their plans, but I guess with Nintendo, even when IP gets left behind, those teams go onto flourish in creating a number of other games, and it very rarely seems like Nintendo has much of a misstep in terms of project management. Naughty Dog comes up a lot here, and with good reason – this is PlayStation's premiere studio and they haven't announced anything new which has seen the light of day - i.e. not a remaster or a remake, and not the now-cancelled multiplayer Factions game - since PSX in December 2016, when Uncharted: The Lost Legacy was revealed to be a standalone title having evolved out of being mere DLC for Uncharted 4, and The Last of Us Part II was revealed for the first time. They literally haven't announced and released a new project since before the Switch launched, isn't that absolutely nuts? 

I said it when this game first got announced, but the layer of irony cannot be overstated of PlayStation salvaging Team Asobi from Japan Studio, and yet having their game be THE tentpole, stinger reveal for that State of Play we had earlier this year. 

But, yeah, I do think it's a worthy conversation...just maybe for another time, and I don't think that leaning on IP and "politics" (?) alone is a fair assessment of why this game has been recognised the way it has by reviewers around the world, as has been suggested earlier in the thread. 

For now though: the hype train is rolling and it is absolutely not allowed to stop 

42 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

That said, can't wait for this to come to PC, I'm really looking forward to a Mario Galaxy structured game, especially after how disappointing Odyssey was, so I'll be hanging out with @martinist in that strip club.

I'd definitely be curious to hear/your thoughts if/when it comes to PC, which I agree with you really needs to be the case. Curious as well how they adjust their approach to some controls and the use of the controller considering just how heavily tied into the hardware of the PS5 the thing is – having not yet played this yet but having played Playroom with the DualSense, it pains me to think about experiencing the game without all of those features in tow.