The Sony news and discussion thread

[Angry_Kurt]

I came away very impressed from last nights showing. A good variety of games and everything look good if not brilliant.
It would have been nice if Sony had unveiled a new IP from one of the major studios like Insomniac or Guerilla but you can't have everything and I suppose they want to play it safe with sure fire hits in the launch year to help sell the console.

[Stanshall]

I'll get it for Demon's, GT7 and HZD2. Some of the expensive single player games will no doubt turn out great. It looks very much like they're building on existing successes rather than being especially bold. I appreciate why.

I've never been enamoured with Sony's attempts at 'charming' so I can't say I was disappointed with Ratchet and Clank, Sack Boy, Astro Bot, etc. All that sub-Nintendo 'cReaTiVe' stuff is of zero interest to me. Makes me feel like I'm in Guantanamo with Nick Jr. pumped into my cell, or paired with someone wacky for a role play exercise at a training seminar. Please allow me to live and die in peace.

[Suits]

Sooooo apparently Spider Man 2 isn't what was shown. It's just a remaster of the first game with expanded Miles Morales stuff. Dick move from Sony there, nothing indicated this wasn't a full sequel in the trailer!

See, I clocked that straight away - that it wasn't a sequel.

I mentioned it to the lads I was watching it with at the time when the title came up.

But yeah, I can fully see why people would think it's a sequel.

[Scrustle]

I thought it was a pretty good show. There were a few things that didn't show up that I would have liked to see, but there was enough there that I liked the look of that I came away overall pretty positive on it.

Kena looks really good. Very impressive aesthetically and looks like it has some cool gameplay ideas going on. Interestingly I discovered this is by the people who made that really high quality Majora's Mask fan film from a while back. They are actually an animation studio, not a game dev. This is the first game they've made. It'll be cool to see how that turns out.

Ghostwire looked very cool. I wasn't expecting that to be first-person, and the combat doesn't look quite like anything I've seen before. Very interesting visual style to it as well. I hope it hasn't suffered from Ikumi leaving the studio.

Deathloop has potential, but I'm not sold on it yet. So far I haven't got on with Arkane's games at all, and this looks like it's lifting a lot from Dishonored. But it seems more fast paced and action focused, and the general aesthetic is really appealing. Might be the one I can finally get on board with.

Project Athia could be great, but I need to see more. Something with the style and production quality of FF, but focusing on being an action game sounds really cool. It reminded me a lot of that Agni's Philosophy tech demo. I wonder if this grew out of that somehow.

Glad to see Gran Turismo 7 coming back as a fully fledged entry as well. I guess taking a step back to start fresh with Sport was a good idea in giving them something new to build on, but I'm definitely more interested in a game with a decent single player mode. I liked GT4 for being a kind of digital car museum, like an interactive archive of the history of cars and motorsport. I hope 7 can tap in to that again.

I was really happy to see Solar Ash as well. Even though that trailer didn't show much, I've been looking forward to it so much that any new material is like ambrosia. The visual style, the soundtrack, the world, I just need it in my hands!!!

As for other stuff, Stray looked very cute and seems fun to explore, Pragmata and Jett had really good trailers but I don't understand what they are, and Horizon 2 looked really pretty but I'm yet to play the first.

I like the look of the console too. I don't really get the negative reception. It's just got a slightly curvy looking shell, which is cool. It actually has some design put in to it, instead of just being another blank rectangle. Maybe white isn't the best colour, but overall it looks nice, and not even particularly out-there. And I'm glad we didn't end up getting something like those hideous dev kits too. Are people really so close-minded about tech design that something which has such minor design flair really beyond what they are willing to accept?

[ratsoalbion]

No, but aesthetics are always divisive, beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that. I’m not that keen on it, I think it does look like an old home hub. But ultimately I don’t care that much what the box looks like - especially if it is quiet!

[Jon Cheetham]

I agree, not too bothered how the box looks. It'll be tucked next to some books largely out of sight like the PS4.

I'm really into the direction they're taking with Resi VIII Village, even less bio warfare stuff and more of the folklore. Some of the imagery in that trailer dialled straight into my imagination. Also, I have never seen my wife be more excited about a video game trailer - she doesn't play them much, but wants a copy of this one in the house so she can see it being played!

[Flabyo]

Resi 8 is listed as 2021 (tentative).

So 2022 then.

I’ve heard talk that they’ve had at least one restart on this one, and the corona everyone working from home is probably dragging it a little as well.

[stvnorman]

Always been a day one Playstation buyer, but I’m still undecided after last night. I thought nearly all of the games looked fantastic, but apart from Resident Evil Village, which will be on Xbox too, probably wouldn’t buy any of them. I don’t really care how it looks because it will be mostly hidden away. I like the controller design a lot. But I also want decent backwards compatibility if possible. And I really think I’m missing out not having Game Pass right now and Sony still aren’t convincing me otherwise. Staying on the fence for a bit longer!

[JadePhoenix]

Aside from a couple of games I’m genuinely interested in everything shown tonight. It was a games showcase with something for everyone. Splendid.

I don't actually agree, I pretty much own a PS4 to play RPGs on, and while there were a lot of games that looked cool, there was really nothing that actually excited me. My first thought on seeing the console itself was "Where the hell am I supposed to put that?"

[Alex79]

Sooooo apparently Spider Man 2 isn't what was shown. It's just a remaster of the first game with expanded Miles Morales stuff. Dick move from Sony there, nothing indicated this wasn't a full sequel in the trailer!

See, I clocked that straight away - that it wasn't a sequel.

I mentioned it to the lads I was watching it with at the time when the title came up.

But yeah, I can fully see why people would think it's a sequel.

And in a frankly embarrassing total lack of communication, it's now been revealed its more of a Lost Legacy type stand alone side story, rather than a remaster of the first game!

Jesus, Sony. Sort out your marketing department!

[Alex79]

Are people really so close-minded about tech design that something which has such minor design flair really beyond what they are willing to accept?

Well, no. It's not going to put off anyone buying it, but I think it's fair enough for people to say whether or not they like the look of it. I think it's fairly typical for most console reveals for the nay-sayers to be a lot louder than the 'ayes'.

***

I must admit, I'm surprised we didn't see anything Kratos related. I'd much rather a GoW 2 than a Horizon 2, if we had to choose. Which ultimately we won't, but I'd consider GoW more of a PlayStation seller.

I'm still genuinely undecided which way I'm going to go next gen. Sony really need to pull something out of the bag regarding PS Now and backwards compatibility to convince me to stay PS. Or Uncharted 5

[mike_le_watt]

A forum newcomer here, thought I would pitch in with my thoughts.

I enjoyed the show last night. I got the sense that all the parts between the game trailers were building up to a console reveal at the end and wasn't disappointed that we actually got to see the console.

For me I will be picking up a PS5 probably at launch. I'm still on my 2013 1080 PS4. When the TLOU2 was originally supposed to be released in February I justified to myself that there was enough time between then and Christmas 2020 to warrant buying a PS4 Pro for that game before the PS5 dropped. When TLOU2 got delayed to June I decided to hold off on the Pro. So for me purchasing a PS5 is a significant visual upgrade even if there wasn't any games available on launch. Sony have said that it will be backward compatible with PS4, so I'd like to see what a lot of the titles I've played on my PS4 look like in 4K.

I thought a lot of the games looked great last night. Especially Little Devil Inside. I recently finished playing RE7 and HZD, so I still have the itch for those franchises, and last night fueled that even more. But for me the PS5 or XBSX ultimately comes down to the exclusives.

If you look at the exclusives that Sony had this generation (HZD, Spider-Man, TLOU2, Days Gone, and GoW), for me, this is enough for me to have faith in Sony's next gen.

Design-wise, I really love the design of the XBSX, but I'm someone who likes simple designs. The PS5 isn't what I would have picked but the more I look at it the more it grows on me. I'm not surprised by the design given how the PS2 and PS3 looked. Ultimately I don't really care what it looks like. The IP sells it for me.

[Electric Crocosaurus]

Considering the current challenge posed by Covid-19 I think Sony did a grand job with their unveiling. I wasn't expecting them to release the price considering that both Sony and Microsoft will be keeping this close to their chests for as long as possible, and I expect details on how the digital-only console's ecosystem will work work are still being hashed out (as I'd imagine brick and mortar shops are even pricklier about publishers bypassing them than they were before the lockdown).

I'm not a day one buyer of new consoles anyway, as they are always a better prospect once they've had time to bed in and revise the original hardware. Plus the major development opportunities seem to be arriving with the SSD, which will take time to be fully utilised during the usual cross-gen phase; with that in mind Ratchett & Clank was most impressive demo due to the dimension-hopping mechanism. Ray-tracing is impressive but it's the sort of feature that I'll stop noticing once I'm actually playing a game.

[JadePhoenix]

Yeah, I foresee a lot of Gamestops being perpetually "out of stock" on the digital-only versions unless Sony is taking a big loss on them.

[Angry_Kurt]

It will be interesting to see what the price difference will be between the standard and digital versions. At first I thought it would be between £50 - £100 but now I think it could be more after listening to a podcast over the weekend, where they made the point that by having a digital only console, Sony will be cutting out the retailers margin for any games they sell, which over the course of a consoles lifespan could add up to quite a lot. So pricing the digital version significantly cheaper might be a strategy they want to adopt to get people in the digital ecosystem for the long run.

[Alex79]

I wonder when they'll reveal the price. Personally, I'd be surprised if its £100 cheaper. I'm going to guess around £50-60.

[Suits]

I'll be surprised if it's more than £50 off the disc drive version.

Mind, I could see it being the same price with a bundle of games, PSN for 12 month and all that kind stuff.

It would have to be a mighty incentive for me to not go with the disc drive version.

[Angry_Kurt]

Whether it's true or not I don't know, but on Twitter hardware people are suggesting that the disc drive would only cost $10-20 at bulk level. If the difference was only $50 I reckon most people would pay the extra $50, especially later down the line once price cuts happen. So that's another reason why I think it would be larger.

[Suits]

I can fully believe that Sony could get a Blu-Ray drive at a very competitive price.

I wonder how the all digital Xbox has sold.

[Stanshall]

I'll be going all digital this time. I haven't bought a physical game on the PS4 since...I genuinely don't know if I've bought one. I'm all digital on everything. Ring Fit Adventure is a great game but I can't be arsed taking launch BotW out of the Switch to play it. Given how low the barrier to entry is, and how lazy I am, maybe an exercise game wasn't a sensible purchase.