hAll those of Akki Monster Hunter Wild Week Week Celebration: Capcom's thrilling action game for sale 8m unit In 3 days, that means there's a good chance that many of you are playing it. I'm a huge fan of this series and am pleased with the latest entries, but after submitting a review last week I barely had the time to play it after it came out. Regular readers will know that this is a familiar problem to me. I have two kids so my game time is strict and the living room TV is used very often.
I was expecting this, so on the landing to the release of Monster Hunter Wild, I spent £200 on the PlayStation Portal. This is basically a screen sandwiched between two halves of a PlayStation 5 controller. It's impossible to tell if Sony is one of the most cumbersome things that have come out so far, or one of the most elegant ones. You can stream games from the PS5, so the console can scream under the TV, be on the sofa on a small screen, waving x to convert. A scary octopus.
Here's how the portal works: Turn it on and it becomes a pleasant, futuristic noise. When you try to connect to the home console, a soothing pulsating circular portal appears. Then, if it works (sometimes I have tried a few times), your PlayStation 5 homepage will be displayed through that portal and expand to fill the entire screen in your hands. You can then use the controller's rumble and tactile feedback and more to play everything like you do on a TV. When your internet connection becomes unstable, your device will downgrade the appearance of the game rather than launching you. Rather than force the game to reconnect with pixel soup, it becomes a strange messy visual artifact.
I've played a lot of game streaming “solutions” over the years (at first GaikaiBack in 2009, we streamed games like World of Warcraft from the cloud, and at the time it was very novel and not always optimal. No matter how good your internet connection was, it has always been too much delayed. The streamed games always looked significantly worse. There was never wifi very It's reliable. However, the portal works surprisingly well in the wifi at my home. Monster Hunter looks perfect. It's a tough action game so lag feels like it's not playable right away, but I was able to play on the portal for hours without being too annoyed.
You can also use the portal to play PS5 games away from home and use your device to turn the console remotely in an empty house (tip: Yank to not turn on the TV before leaving the HDMI cable). I took the portal on a semi-annual holiday with my family – certainly more convenient than packing the entire console and all of its gubbins – and then tried connecting from my hotel room to my home's PlayStation 5. It took a few times, but did I also work on the hotel wifi. Unfortunately, in this situation, the quality of the streaming was very poor, and the game got worse on the PSP 15 years ago, making the delay seem unbearable. It wasn't the on-the-go PlayStation gaming experience I wanted.
The portal is a handy little gadget – at home, when it works. And that's the case for all kinds of internet-dependent game streaming: it's good When it works. One day, I want to be able to play games wherever I am, without sacrificing the quality of my game, but streaming technology hasn't gotten there yet. It's certainly getting better. I've streamed games from my Xbox Game Pass library from my Home Console Game Pass library and occasionally had problems. But what I really want is that I can stream games to the handheld when I'm in my office or while traveling.
The Nintendo Switch was released eight years ago, but it remains the gold standard for hybrid games at home/outdoors as it does not rely on an internet connection. It just works seamlessly. Pick it up, bring it in, put it in the dock, and it will appear on the TV right away. Switch changed my life by adjusting time for games with work, friends, travel and family. Steam decks are also transformative, allowing you to take games you review (or enjoy) from the office to the home, or play on long distance flights. We're used to this now almost ten years later, but it was really one of the most innovative technical things the console has achieved.
Until the Big Nintendo Switch 2 event becomes two events on April 2nd, we'll learn more about what this next console actually can do. Given that this is Nintendo, I would be surprised if internet-based game streaming was part of the new console offering. Nintendo tends to favor older, proven technology than risky bets. It's been eight years that Nintendo's competitors have completed alternative, neglected gaming solutions. Perhaps that's not possible. It's no wonder Switch 2 is stuck with what works.
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The manufacturer of the cooperative divorce platformer unexpectedly sold 230,000 copies. This will work if publishers remember this safe betting age – Divided fiction It's an ambitious, kind and stupid game about two writers who are forced to live in each other's stories. Sci-fi writer Mio and fantasy writer Zoe will compete in a meeting at Big Publishing House. Just jail in a machine that steals futuristic ideas.
This game requires two players. This is because it completely relies on working together on both puzzles and action bits. (Don't worry if there is a difference in skills between you and your future cooperative partner. One player can do most of the heavy lifts if necessary.) This was designed around cooperative play, whether this is full and playing with friends, partners, or older kids.
Available at: PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5
Estimated playtime: 15 hours
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Tony Hawk's Pro Skator I'm back again. The third and fourth entries in the series are Remastered by ActivisionAnd then I'm off in the summer.
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Activision performed a bunch Scary AI-ART ads Last weekend, on Instagram for a game Please don't actually exist. The ads link to a survey to a survey that is likely to measure interest in fake games, but instead everyone is talking about the band. Guitar Hero Mobile There are no four guitarists, singers, or phantom drummers.
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Rockstar has I bought an Australian studio It is executed by Brendan McNamaradirector of the 2011 detective drama game La Noire, was also published by Rockstar. His previous studio, Team Bondi, was closed shortly after Rawar ended his past development. A toxic, oppressive, crunchy work culture Leading by McNamara.
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Game Industry Analysts Matt Piscaterra Running the numbers, I discovered that 40% of all the time spent playing games in the US in January was spent playing The same 10 live service gamesMost of them are age. Draw a dark picture for developers who are about to break into this space.
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Question block
There was something wrong with the answer in question block last week: Doug I wrote it saying it was a Nintendo switch I'll do it I now have the YouTube app, but fortunately he says that parental control is enough to stop my 11 and 8 year olds from constantly loading it again.
Thanks to readers for this week's questions Emily:
“Did you previously love the game that you didn't enjoy playing today?”
I really had to think about this. We are sure
Source: www.theguardian.com
Gamers inundate with complaints after PlayStation Network shutdown
The PlayStation Network (PSN) is currently experiencing technical difficulties, causing online gamers worldwide to be unable to access weekend events.
PSN is a service utilized by Sony PlayStation console users to connect to online gaming networks, enabling them to play with other gamers globally.
The outage started in the UK late on Friday night, affecting approximately 71,000 gamers who have reported the problem on the PlayStation website, with many losing access to the online game lobby, PlayStation store, and their online accounts.
PSN offers subscriptions at different price points, ranging from £13.49 per month to £119.99 per month for a premium subscription. Users have been expressing their frustration over these costs when addressing Sony.
During weekends, specific games hold special tournaments and events, such as Electronic Arts’ FC 25 with its “weekend leagues” on the ultimate team platform. Additionally, Call of Duty fans will miss out on promotional weekends and Double XP events in Black Ops 6 and Warzone due to the ongoing PSN disruption.
Many disgruntled PlayStation users have taken to social media to voice their displeasure with the outage through memes, jokes, and complaints.
One user wrote, “Let’s be honest. Everyone should get free PS Plus this month. Paying a monthly fee only for the network to go down over the weekend is unacceptable.” Another user expressed frustration about missing out on gaming time due to the server issues.
Sony is actively working to resolve the problem and has advised users to check their digital services for updates. The Guardian has reached out to PlayStation, Electronic Arts, and Activision Blizzard for comments on the situation.
Source: www.theguardian.com
Thirty years of PlayStation: How the iconic console revolutionized the world of gaming
IIf you were an avid video game fan in the summer of 1994, you probably remember where you were when the August issue of Edge magazine went on sale. By that time, Sony had already announced its intention to develop a PlayStation console (in October of the previous year). But it was the cover of the world’s most advanced gaming publication that really opened up this machine’s potential. Edge not only listed the specs in full, but also attached glowing endorsements from Capcom, Namco, and Konami. One developer breathlessly told the magazine: “This will revolutionize the way computers work today.” Suddenly, the entire structure of the console gaming business was under threat. All I needed was a boost.
Sony’s entry into the video game industry has become the stuff of legend (and will probably be fodder for a regular Netflix movie one day). In the late 1980s, the company was keen to gain a foothold in an increasingly lucrative business after the failure of its MSX gaming computers. So when the opportunity arose to build a CD-ROM drive for the soon-to-be-released supercomputer, Nintendo (SNES) console, Sony jumped at it. But behind the scenes, Sony’s engineering genius Ken Kutaragi was also designing a standalone system. playstationit can play not only SNES games, but also the new CD format controlled by Sony itself.
Nintendo felt a threat to its supremacy. As a result, when Sony announced the PlayStation at the big Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago in 1991, Nintendo actually canceled the deal and instead partnered with Philips to create a SNES-based CD add-on. It was immediately announced that it would be produced. Sonny was shocked and humiliated. Jilt Bride in the Cathedral of the Tech Industry. Various theories have been proposed about Nintendo’s motives, but the most obvious was that it was a highly protective company wresting control back from an ambitious consumer electronics rival. Whatever actually happened, the PlayStation was over. Or was it?
No, no. It wasn’t. Instead, an enraged Sony scrapped the Nintendo-based technology, and Kutaragi began work on a new console codenamed PS-X. This game console is designed around a powerful 32-bit Risc processor and includes a co-processor named Geometry Transformation Engine. Fast and detailed real-time 3D visual mathematics. At this stage in the early 1990s, the company made two important decisions. One was a development deal with arcade legend Namco to create new PS-X exclusive titles. The other was to send engineers on a worldwide developer tour to recruit developers. Support your console with exciting 3D graphics demos. Sony successfully capitalized on widespread dissatisfaction with Sega and Nintendo, which had bound publishers to restrictive and complex licensing agreements for years, while also captivating programmers and artists with its thrilling technology. By early 1994, 250 companies had signed up to create games for the machine, beating out the meager support gained by rival multimedia consoles such as the Philips CDi and 3DO. I could feel the momentum building.
When the PlayStation launched in Japan in December 1994, it launched Sega’s long-awaited 32-bit CD-ROM machine, ostensibly a similar 32-bit CD-ROM machine that supported the company’s biggest arcade titles, Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter. I played against Saturn. At first, Sony seemed to balk, and the launch of this machine didn’t draw the same chaotic lines that greeted the Saturn a few weeks earlier. But as the US and European release dates approached, both the hype and the software library grew. Titles like 3D fighting game Toh Shin Den, platformer Jumping Flash!, and racer Motor Toon GP exploit the visual potential of machines with rich, detailed 3D environments and smooth vehicle and character animation. I showed off. By the end of that year, Wipeout and Tekken had joined that list. These beautiful and thrilling games pack attitude and perfectly embody Sony’s philosophy that if it’s not real-time, it’s not a game.
Starting in 1996, Sony began seriously promoting the PlayStation as a lifestyle accessory rather than just a children’s toy. Geoff Glendening, head of marketing at Sony London, famously introduced the console to nightclubs and music festivals. Advertising giant TBWA was hired to develop a fresh image of the machine as cool and desirable, culminating in an award-winning production in 1999. double life commercial. But more importantly, the console’s friendly development environment and Sony’s excellent support for third-party studios ushered in an era of enthusiastic experimentation.
Now, when we look back at titles like Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and Driver, we see open, explorable worlds, genre-defying design, and cinematic storytelling. Discover the origins of modern 3D game design. We’ve seen Namco ease its role as a semi-first-party creator and push the Ridge Racer and Tekken franchises to new heights both technically and design-wise. We’ve seen Japanese publishers break away from restrictive relationships with Nintendo and Sega and bring out gorgeous blockbusters like Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid.
But importantly, PlayStation also brought with it an undercurrent of whimsy and playfulness. From PaRappa the Rapper to BibliBong to LSD: Dream Emulator, music and imagery were explored, sometimes to disconcerting effect. And while people in their 20s loved Tony Hawk and Tekken, kids weren’t left behind. This era was also the era of beloved comic book platformers like Jumping Flash, Spyro, Croc, and Crash Bandicoot. When Nintendo finally released the N64 in 1996, it found that PlayStation had already captured the majority of its potential users. Another layer of Sony’s long revenge.
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Something for kids… Crash Bandicoot. Photo: Universal Interactive
The original PlayStation went on to sell 100 million units over its 10-year lifespan. This broke the monopoly enjoyed by Sega and Nintendo and cemented a series of huge game franchises that still thrive today. At launch, there was uncertainty about the CD-ROM format, which provides slower access to data than cartridges, but Sony leveraged its music and film technology expertise to overcome obstacles and establish the format as the future. I did. Its industrial design was stunning, a sleek gray machine that fit next to my TV and video recorder in my living room. An innovative joypad. Those cute little memory cards. Start-up animation with music swells. The TV advert made me want it, and the launch price (£299 compared to the Saturn’s £399) made it more accessible.
However, looking back at the feature in Edge magazine that was published a few months before the game’s release in Japan, and which has since been followed by many similar reviews in the gaming press, it feels like something important is already happening. I did. Quotes, specs, and screenshots of demos seem to pop off the page. Even if PlayStation’s success wasn’t inevitable at that point, in the notoriously unpredictable video game business, it was as close as it gets.
Source: www.theguardian.com
Is the PlayStation 5 Pro upgrade worth the £700 price tag from Sony? | Games
The PlayStation 5 Pro was announced in September, and people immediately reacted in disbelief at the £699/$699 price tag without a disc drive. Accounting for inflation, it’s the second most expensive console ever released, surpassed only by the PlayStation 3, which quickly dropped in price once it turned out no one wanted it. do a side job can afford one. This is an addition, not a replacement, to the original PS5 model. All games released so far will work on the Pro, and all future PS5 games will work on both models.
For your money, you get an upgraded GPU (graphics processing unit) that’s 45% more powerful overall than the original PS5. AI upscaling makes images more detailed. Advanced ray tracing improves lighting. Simply put, all PS5 games should look better and be faster.
My partner and I bought an extra disk drive last week to top up the 2TB of storage (additional cost is £100, but it’s currently out of stock). Context: I primarily play games on a Steam deck or Nintendo Switch, and I only see the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS. I appreciate gorgeous games – I was impressed with God of War and Ratchet and Clank on PS5 – but graphical performance isn’t that important to me. My partner, on the other hand, is a lifelong early adopter and PC gamer. very invested in his technology. This is our verdict.
The idea behind this console upgrade is to eliminate any compromises. The original PS5’s graphics options let you choose fidelity and performance: how good everything looks and how fast everything moves. Fidelity provides better lighting and detail for each scene, but at a lower frame rate. Choosing Performance will give you a higher frame rate and feel smoother while playing, but it will turn off some of the flashy lighting effects and detail. PS5 Pro removes the compromises and allows you to get more detail at higher frame rates.
Whether you can actually see this difference depends a lot on your TV. For example, if you don’t have a 4K TV, this console makes no sense at all. The difference may not be as big as you might expect, as most high-end TVs now have a number of built-in effects and features that smooth out frame rates and improve the look and performance of what you’re playing. yeah. Personally, as someone who hasn’t invested in any high-end technology, I can see and feel small but noticeable differences when comparing the same games on PS5 and Pro on a 4K TV. My partner finds the contrast more obvious because his eye for these things is better trained.
This lack of compromise is what tech-minded gamers expected from this generation of consoles in the first place, so it’s nice to finally see it. Indeed, I think the ideal customer for the PS5 Pro is someone who held off on purchasing a PS5 because they felt it was a poor upgrade from their PS4. Most people aren’t likely to play PS5 exclusive games like Spider-Man 2 or Horizon Forbidden West again just because they look a little better on the upgraded console. However, even if you’ve never played these games in the first place, you can now enjoy them at their best.
Sony’s attractive hardware design continues with PlayStation 5 Pro Photo provided by: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Speaking of gaming at its best, the console has a feature called PS5 Pro Game Boost that also boosts all 8,500+ backwards-compatible PlayStation 4 games. Some of PS4’s best games have already been remastered specifically for PS5, such as The Last of Us Parts I and II and Horizon Zero Dawn, but many games have yet to be remastered., has benefited greatly from this upgrade. The difference here is obvious to everyone.
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Sony typically releases these upgraded consoles right after the midpoint of the PlayStation’s lifespan, so you can assume that you’ll get three to four years of use out of the PS5 Pro before the PlayStation 6 arrives. As for whether it’s worth the money? If you already have a really good TV, like to use the latest technology, and haven’t played all the PS5 games worth playing yet, like my partner, You will be satisfied. It’s more of a convenience than a necessity. If you, like me, are hesitant about paying this much for a gaming console, rest assured you’re not missing out on much.
Source: www.theguardian.com
Sony reveals new PlayStation 5 Pro console priced at £700
Sony has officially announced the PlayStation 5 Pro console after months of speculation. This updated version of the current generation console boasts improved tech specs, a 2TB solid-state drive, and a price of £699/$699. The release date is set for November 7th, with pre-orders starting on September 26th.
Compared to the Digital Edition PlayStation 5 priced at £390, the PlayStation 5 Pro comes at a higher cost of £699. It’s a digital-only console, so if you want to utilize Blu-ray discs, you’ll need to purchase a separate Blu-ray player for an additional £100.
The PlayStation 5 Pro features an upgraded GPU with 67% more compute units, 28% more system memory, and enhanced graphics rendering for games. Sony claims these improvements result in a 45% boost in performance for games that support the updated machine, along with support for advanced ray tracing and 8K modes.
Games optimized for the upgraded hardware will be labeled “PS5 Pro Enhanced”, including first-party titles like Horizon Forbidden West and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Third-party games such as Alan Wake 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Shadows will also offer Pro enhancements.
The PS5 Pro also promises AI-driven game upscaling for back catalog games and a feature called PS5 Pro Game Boost, enhancing visual performance for over 8,500 backward-compatible PS4 games.
Analysts are split on the PS5 Pro’s potential success, with some expressing concerns about its high price and the lack of new games or technology to accompany its release. It remains to be seen how Sony’s latest console update will perform in the market.
Industry watchers are awaiting Microsoft’s response to the PS5 Pro and rumors of a portable Xbox console to compete in the handheld PC gaming market. With prices for these devices reaching £800, consumers may face tough decisions in the console market.
Source: www.theguardian.com
Gaming: PlayStation 5 shooter Concord goes offline only two weeks post release
Sony has made an announcement regarding its new PlayStation 5 shooter game “Concord,” which was released on August 23. The game will be taken offline just two weeks later, and refunds will be offered to all players who purchased it.
Concord, a team-based hero shooter similar to Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch, puts teams of five against each other in intense combat arenas. However, it turned out to be one of the year’s most high-profile launch failures with only a few hundred players on Steam and fewer than 25,000 copies sold, as reported by GameDiscoverCo Analyst.
In a statement on the PlayStation blog, Sony expressed gratitude towards Concorde fans and acknowledged the mixed feedback received. As a result, the decision was made to explore options, including taking the game offline from September 6, 2024, and halting sales while providing full refunds to players who bought the game on PS5 or PC.
Warner Bros. also faced a similar situation with their game Suicide Squad: Defeat the Justice League, which failed to meet player expectations. On the other hand, the squad shooter Helldivers II has been a huge success for Sony since its release, boasting over 12 million copies sold in the first three months.
It’s uncommon for a struggling multiplayer game like Concord to be pulled off shelves so quickly, as failed games like Evolve, Lawbreakers, and Paragon typically lasted around a year. The future of Concord remains uncertain, with no indication in the statement of whether the game will be permanently canceled or potentially resurrected at a later date.
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Concord is a game that has been in development for around 8 years. Sony acquired the developer Firewalk Studios in 2023, along with other live service game developers, as part of their strategy to focus on long-tail multiplayer games for the PlayStation 5 platform.
Source: www.theguardian.com
The Significance of Happiness: Exploring the Evolution of Astro Bot, the Ultimate PlayStation 5 Game
IEven though it’s the next big game for the PlayStation 5 and it’s in Sony’s DNA, there’s still something Nintendo about Astro Bot. That’s because it’s perfectly designed for the controller it’s played on, taking advantage of all the features of the DualSense controller. The spacey aesthetic, with different planets representing different colorful worlds to jump into, is reminiscent of Super Mario Galaxy, and it’s just pure joy to play. On a console where the most well-known hits are pretty serious (like God of War and The Last of Us), Astro Bot prioritizes fun.
“I think Sony’s product design is about cool, but it also embraces playfulness,” says Nicolas Doucet, studio director at Team Asobi, the Japanese studio behind Astro Bot. “The two are not mutually exclusive or antagonistic… [PlayStation] The hardware team loved it and no one cared less about it. These are highly crafted products, so you can imagine that designers wouldn’t want them tampered with. But we were looking at PSVR and turning it into a mothership.”
The first Astro Bot game, Rescue Mission, was the best thing ever made for PlayStation’s VR headset, a clever platformer brimming with original ideas. Astro’s Playroom was a treat that came packaged with the PS5 when it launched in 2020, designed to show off the capabilities of Sony’s new console and its controller. It did so brilliantly, with levels themed around the PS5’s super-fast SSD hard drive and a singing GPU soundtrack, taking full advantage of every little gimmick in the PS5 controller, from the microphone to the haptic triggers. But Astro’s Playroom was also, unexpectedly, an interactive museum of Sony’s gaming hardware. As I played, I collected consoles, peripherals, and other knickknacks, gradually filling the lab with PlayStation history. It was fun.
During the development of Astro’s Playroom, Team Asobi worked very closely with the people making the PS5 and the controller. They were even running around the building with prototypes in paper bags, Doucet said. “They gave us prototype controllers that were twice the size of a normal controller, or they put two controllers together because they needed more power. You can see how much work went into miniaturizing all that and making a controller that looks and feels good. They came up with features like adaptive triggers and haptics because they Feeling Our job is to generate as many ideas as possible about how it might be used, and then validate and sometimes deny those intuitions. After all, we’re not selling technology, we’re selling an experience, a magical experience. come “From technology.”
Now, Team Asobi was given the freedom to create a bigger, longer game (12 hours or so) as an extended tech demo, without being tied to a single piece of PlayStation hardware. That said, it’s still a clear tribute to all things Sony. It incorporates many ideas that didn’t make it into the 2020 game. Astro Bot now flies between levels in a controller-shaped spaceship whose exhaust gases are made up of PlayStation button symbols. Running around several levels as this adorable robot, I slid down a waterslide with a bunch of beach balls, jumped off a high board into a pool, took down an angry giant octopus by slingshotting myself in the face with a retractable frog-face boxing glove, used a magnet to gather pieces of metal into a ball big enough to smash things, and blew up Astro like a balloon before sending him flying with the gas that erupted.
It’s super cute, funny and full of playful details. We discovered that the flames spewing from Astro’s jetpack can cut through wooden logs, but only because it’s fun; Astro struck a confident surfing pose when he hopped onto a turtle to see if he could ride on its back; and when we tickled a sad-looking anemone to discover a secret room, we were greeted with a chorus of “Secret!” These details are inconsequential, but as Doucet points out, “They’re important, because all these little things become memories.”
The levels are like a solar system that slowly expands outwards as the challenge increases. There’s the safest one towards the middle, where a 5-year-old can have fun kicking a football, jumping through water, and punching the occasional bad guy. And then there are the hardest levels towards the edge. There are over 150 little tributes to PlayStation games, from PaRappa the Rapper to Journey, in the form of cosplay robots that you can rescue. The challenge levels will test your 90s childhood 3D platforming skills, including precision jumps across platforms suspended in time and a miniature ice rink floating in space. This is the simplest fun I’ve had playing a game in a long time.
Team Asobi is relatively small, with about 65 people, and relatively international. According to Doucet, three-quarters of the team is Japanese, and the rest are from 16 countries. Some of them have worked on past PlayStation projects, such as Shadow of the Colossus and Gravity Daze, but some are newcomers. They are all focused on making Astro Bot a true mascot for PlayStation, Doucet says. “We want to develop Astro into a really strong franchise. We want to develop this little character even more,” he says. “There are a lot of expectations to meet at PlayStation, but we never forget that we are the underdogs. That’s part of the mindset of a successful person, you always want to be in pursuit of something. If you become too satisfied, the game starts to lose its soul.”
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Astro Bot certainly has a soul. It’s clear that the development team is having a lot of fun. “We’re geeky people, and I’m a PlayStation collector myself,” says Doucet. “It might sound a little corny, but it’s important that we’re happy so that our players are happy.”
Astro Bot will be available on PlayStation 5 on September 6th
Source: www.theguardian.com
PlayStation Users, Rare’s Sea of Thieves Pirate Adventure Sets Sail for a New Platform
○One evening many months ago, Mike Chapman, the creative director of the cooperative pirate adventure game Sea of Thieves, sat down to play the game with producer Joe Neato. This wasn’t just a standard playtest. The players participating online were players who had never played together before. It was a team from Sony Interactive Entertainment. Plans to make Xbox exclusive to the PS5 had just been launched. Now it was time to dive into the details. “We educated them about the game and had thorough discussions about what made the game special,” Neet says. “It was a surreal experience,” Chapman says of the encounter. “Trying to find treasure on the island with another group of platform holders…”
The PS5 launch is set for April 30th, and pre-orders are now open, but this is just the latest step in the evolution of this captivating game. Launched on March 20, 2018, it was the most ambitious project in the long history of the veteran British studio Rare. Marketed as a cooperative pirate adventure, Sea of Thieves provides players with access to a vast multiplayer world of ocean exploration, buried treasure, ship-to-ship battles, and more. The game’s design philosophy was simple but risky: it was a tool, not a rule. Players are equipped with everything they need to embark on their own pirate adventures, including musical instruments and virtual grog, but there is no elaborate story, skill tree, or complex character growth system. The story comes from the players themselves as they form a crew and compete with other pirates for fame and fortune.
“We’ve done our best to stay true to it”…Sea of Thieves. Photo: Microsoft
After a shaky start plagued by technical issues, Sea of Thieves found its audience and grew. Since that day in 2018, there have been approximately 100 updates and expansions, including adventures based on Pirates of the Caribbean and Monkey Island. New mechanics like commodities and captaincy add depth to the experience, but Chapman believes the key to the game’s longevity lies in ensuring player agency and supporting roleplay. “We provide players with simple tools and allow them to unleash their creativity,” he says. “We’ve done our best to stay true to that.”
Supporting diverse communities is also crucial. “I think it’s part of the hidden work of creating a shared world,” he says. “When adding a mechanic to a game, the mechanic itself may be simple, but you have to consider how it fits into the shared world, what motivates players, and how players with different styles (PvP or PvE) will use it. Whenever we design a mechanic, we think about how it integrates into the world and how it can potentially create a new meta that will thrive for months and years. Our design team is increasingly focused on this.”
So what was it like facing the prospect of publishing a game to a whole new community? “At a leadership level, when I first heard this as a possibility, I was initially excited. Then I thought, ‘Okay. How do we do this?'” says NEET. “The fact that we had already migrated to another platform, Steam, helped us tackle the technical challenges and engage with different communities in different locations.”
“We’ve really expanded the boundaries of the Sea of Thieves experience”…Sea of Thieves. Photo: Microsoft
“This is the first time in Rare’s 40-year history that we’ve developed on a Sony platform, which is incredible. It was very surreal for us to be presented with a series of slides. But honestly, for our technical team, it was like, ‘Let’s deploy the kit and start experimenting and figuring it out.’ That kind of feeling. I kept it in a secret spot in my studio with a fogged-up window so no one could see. It was more about excitement.”
Nate said Rare was collaborating with co-developers with PlayStation experience, and Sony itself was very supportive, holding regular catch-up calls even when the project was still top secret. The company was ready to dispatch its technical staff whenever needed. “If we had to visit their studio, you guessed it, we had to wear their Sea of Thieves T-shirt,” Neet says.
One of the great benefits of preparing to welcome a new community is that it gives your team a chance to rethink the structure of your game. Season 11 of the game, launched in January, was developed with the knowledge that PS5 players would soon join, so the onboarding system was revamped. Content is now unlocked at a more manageable pace, and a quest board that shows where to find new items that were previously hidden in artifacts and maps offers a more engaging pirate journey. Additionally, Rare is planning to introduce an offline solo mode in its March update. “You don’t need Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus,” says Neate. “If you just want to play solo, you can experience all the content and company advancements in Tall Tales. It’s another way to get hooked on the game before you decide to start.”
However, Rare indicates that while recent efforts have been focused on creating a more user-friendly experience with an eye on the upcoming PS5 community, there are more ambitious plans in the works. “We’ve been expanding the boundaries of the Sea of Thieves experience throughout the last year,” Chapman says. “You can have your own ship. You can join the Pirate Guild. There’s a quest table. A revised tutorial allows you to play Safer Seas and explore all the story content. We’re expanding the game’s boundaries and building on this new foundation. We’ve gained a lot of experience, and it’s crucial to capitalize on it. Enhance your captaincy, strengthen your guild. The upcoming year is all about the sandbox for us.”
Since its launch six years ago, it’s been a long journey, but Chapman and Neet, who have been there from the start, seem as dedicated as ever. “Working on this on a new platform is incredibly exciting,” Chapman affirms. “I believe we’ve positioned ourselves for many more years of game evolution.”
Source: www.theguardian.com
Pressing Buttons: Layoffs Hit PlayStation, Revealing Troubling Trend in Gaming Industry
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Last week, we discussed the long-standing rivalry between Xbox and PlayStation, and how Microsoft’s strategy of releasing games on all platforms, including rival consoles, could signal the end of gaming as we know it. I touched on the potential beginning of this shift. Now, recent news has emerged: Sony is laying off 900 employees across its global studios. Why would a company behind the highly successful PlayStation 5, which outperformed its competitors 3 to 1, take such drastic measures? The end of the console wars may be inevitable, rather than a choice. The landscape of the gaming industry has drastically changed from how it operated in the past.
The announcement of PlayStation’s decision to lay off 8% of its workforce came in a company-wide email from outgoing CEO Jim Ryan less than a week ago. Celebrations at London’s studio were overshadowed by the departure of many employees. Studios like Firesprite are being closed permanently, with other UK branches facing functional reductions. Major studios like Guerrilla Games, Naughty Dog, and Insomniac have also been affected. US-based Sony employees are awaiting further details on how they will be impacted. The email concluded with an ironic appeal for kindness amongst employees.
PlayStation Studios Head Hermen Hulst provided context for this decision in a blog post, citing the evolving landscape of the industry as a driving force behind the layoffs. The demand for high-quality, socially connected gaming experiences necessitates a reevaluation of operational strategies. While growth is essential, it must be purposeful. Some projects have been deemed unfeasible to pursue given the current industry climate.
Analysis points to widespread overinvestment during the 2020-2021 boom, fueled by pandemic-induced demand and surplus capital. The subsequent decline in investment left many studios vulnerable. Despite the profitability of the industry, anticipated layoffs and cost-cutting measures across various gaming sectors are expected in the upcoming years. The closure of Danish studio Die Gute Fabrik serves as a recent example of this trend.
The inability of even industry leaders like Sony to sustain large-scale game development poses significant concerns. Escalating production costs and a focus on continual revenue streams through “live service” games have heightened anxieties about job security within the industry. The success of individual titles like Marvel Spider-Man 2 and PlayStation 5 console sales have not shielded developers from workforce reductions. The sustainability of the console business remains a pressing issue.
The trend towards blockbuster titles with escalating budgets reflects a stark departure from the medium-sized game landscape of the past. Studios once relied on major releases to support smaller projects, fostering a diverse gaming ecosystem. However, the modern industry climate demands unparalleled success, leaving little room for niche or medium-sized games to thrive.
Die Gute Fabrik, the indie studio behind Saltsea Chronicles, has halted production.
Photo: Di Gute Fabric
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Source: www.theguardian.com
Putting an end to the toxic rivalry between Xbox and PlayStation: The button to push
MLast week's big Xbox announcement from Microsoft turned out to be somewhat anticlimactic. Just four games, none particularly shocking, will be coming to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch in the near future. (Annoyingly, Microsoft executives declined to be named, but it was later reported by Famitsu and The Verge that the games in question were Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Pentiment, and Hi-Fi Rush.) (This matches the game I have in mind; I've heard it from other sources.)
Microsoft has no intention of exiting the console market or making all its games multi-platform, as the Whiplash rumormongers have hotly speculated. And the (very valuable) Xbox Game Pass subscription service remains exclusive to Xbox and PC.
This is not essentially news. Microsoft is already one of the biggest publishers of PlayStation, especially now that it owns both Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard. So everything from Skyrim to Call of Duty to Minecraft is technically a Microsoft game. If Microsoft's head of games, Phil Spencer, announced last year that Starfield would be developed for the PlayStation 5, or if Xbox head Sarah Bond announced that Microsoft would develop an Xbox-only game, for example. If they had said they were abandoning the idea completely, well, that would have been the case. This is a big change worth reporting home (or, in my case, writing to you). Rather, it's a small extension of a strategy Microsoft has pursued for years. Every time I've talked to Microsoft executives over the years, they've always offered some variation of the line, “Play the games you want, with the people you want, wherever you want.” Last week's Xbox broadcast.
Instead, the announcement highlighted how harmful and outdated the idea of console wars is.Adults are still overly invested in the idea of a console identity, and some of the products Microsoft has spent billions of dollars developing or acquiring on other, far more popular gaming consoles. The very prospect of releasing it was enough to cause excitement. tantrums and emotional outbursts;. The Xbox community has been in an uproar over the issue for weeks, with X people posting wartime memes and YouTubers posting videos with titles like: “Xbox…it's over!”.
No doubt some of this anger is designed to get more clicks, but most of it is misplaced passion. Fans care a lot about Xbox and the games that Xbox Studios has brought us over the years, but fundamentally they care about which machine the video game is played on, Steam deck or Switch, Xbox or PlayStation. . Microsoft's own management has been saying this for years, and anyone who hasn't heard it hasn't.
The console wars were never anything more than a marketing strategy. Like when Sega vs. Nintendo created one of the great business rivalries of the 1990s (remember the catchphrase “What does Sega do that Nintendo doesn't do?”) and when Microsoft , there were times over the years when it was still very entertaining. ™'s continued fumbling with his Xbox One announcement in 2013 gave Sony ample opportunity. playful piss.
But that's no longer fun, now that the culture wars have turned every aspect of modern life, from politics to parkruns, into a hostile nightmare. It's ridiculous to see people arguing over video game consoles as if it were a matter of life and death.
But even if what we're discussing doesn't matter, how we discuss it does. Toxic fandom is a problem everywhere from football to video games to Star Wars, and its loud, illogical, and mean-spirited nature reflects trends in public discourse since 2016. doing. Bad actors have tried to use video game fandom as a weapon to direct their anger. If you set goals that align with their purpose, they will try again.
Getting back to Xbox, to me, the problem with Microsoft's presence in the gaming world is that it's a huge company focused on continued growth. Unlike Sony or Nintendo, the company has nearly limitless resources, as recent acquisition activity shows. We're still working on changing our history of acquiring great studios. crush them Through corporate intervention. I wonder if some companies have the power to buy out competitors in creative industries where competition is key to the diversity, innovation, and creative value of work. Microsoft has started bringing Xbox games to rival consoles, which actually suggests do not have It's desperate to dominate this space and allow more players to benefit from the fruits of its many studio efforts. This is safe.
This isn't the end of Xbox consoles, but let's take this opportunity to call for an end to the manufactured console wars. They really make us all look bad.
what to play
I understand that pacific drive It's inspired by Jeff VanderMeer's bizarre novel, and playing it is like driving a beat-up car into the exclusion zone of Annihilation. There, strange and frightening things await you under eerie hues and thunderous skies. And your poor vehicle is the only thing standing between you and them. You ride into the zone over and over again, never knowing what you're going to see. Repair the car in the garage with what you found and try to further investigate what is going on.
Everything is very peaceful until it suddenly isn't so peaceful and you fumble to manually turn the lights and wipers on and off while running away from the storm.
Available on: PC, PS5
Estimated play time: Still do not know…
what to read
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If you've ever absentmindedly looked at the PlayStation Store, you may have seen it. pet the animal Game – A basic, eyebrow-raising game where you press a button and pet an animal (i.e. a JPEG of an animal) for a few minutes to earn a simple trophy. When Ellie Gibson looked into the contents of these games, he discovered an unexpected story.
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Peripheral device manufacturers PDP It is coming out as new guitar controller Used in the festival music game component of Fornite (and Rock Band 4 for those still playing). Fun fact: Fortnite Festival was developed by Harmonix, the developer of the original Guitar Hero and Rock Band games.
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If you can get to Asda, you might be able to buy a copy of last year's ill-fated Wizard FPS Immortals of Aveum On PS5 for 1 pound. It's not a bad game, but it was released in one of the busiest gaming years on record and sadly sank without a trace.
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Embracer grouphas gone on a wild acquisition spree funded by Saudi speculative funds that suddenly disappeared last year, laying off 1,400 people, canceling 29 games and shuttering several of the studios it acquired. Therefore, the company's CEO Definitely a popular statement Layoffs are “something everyone has to overcome.”
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question block
This week's question from reader Paul:
“What game would you like to go back and re-score (if you could)? Were you too harsh or too lenient on the game back then?”
So, Paul, it's clear that I was right from beginning to end. Except when I'm not. Most of my early critical gaffes are thankfully hidden in the pages of his 10-20 year old magazines, but some remain in the public domain. Dear reader, may I humbly declare that I was wrong about Assassin's Creed 3? should have been more strict towards.
Source: www.theguardian.com
Microsoft makes strategic shift, offers Xbox games to PlayStation and Nintendo | Games industry
Microsoft has announced that four previously exclusive Xbox games are being made available on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. Additionally, the company plans to reveal details about the next version of its Xbox console by the end of 2024.
In a video podcast with other Xbox executives, Phil Spencer, Microsoft gaming CEO, did not reveal the names of the four games but mentioned that each is over a year old. Two of them are live service games and the other two are smaller titles. Spencer shared that his favorite games from the selection are the multiplayer pirate adventure Sea of Thieves and the musical action game Hi-Fi Rush. It has also been confirmed that the space epic Starfield from last year and the upcoming Indiana Jones game will remain exclusive to Xbox.
This move signifies a significant shift in strategy for Microsoft, focusing on increasing sales of first-party games rather than emphasizing hardware sales for Xbox. The company has faced tough competition from PlayStation ever since the original launch of Xbox in 2001.
To strengthen its gaming business, Microsoft has been actively acquiring various studios and gaming companies, such as Minecraft developer Mojang, Elder Scrolls and Fallout studio Bethesda, and Candy Crush publisher Activision Blizzard King. The acquisition process for Activision Blizzard involved extensive legal and regulatory procedures, but Microsoft is committed to making its popular games, including Call of Duty, available on other consoles.
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Sara Bond, Xbox president, reiterated that Microsoft is not planning to exit the console business. She also mentioned that the company has exciting hardware products set to be shared later this holiday season.
Source: www.theguardian.com
