Videogame News

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

If I was Sony marketing, I would not have pre-publicised this on mainstream Playstation media channels.

Unless there's a massive shift in tone coming up, the vast majority of people will not be digging this!

EDIT: Well it's finished. That was dry.

Some specs have been revealed, but not the full blowout we've had from Microsoft. At first glance they show PS5 to be less powerful than the Xbox Series X, with the exception of a faster (but smaller) SSD, and some very advanced-sounding 3D audio tech (I know Series X has 3D audio too, but implication from Cerny seemed to be that PS5's is bespoke, next level stuff). I can't imagine many people getting overly excited by what they seen today. The wait for a proper PS5 reveal continues...
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Videogame News

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Very disappointing to hear about the lack of proper backwards compatibility, but I suppose that's the way it goes nowadays. :|

I assume the cold reality is that it's a feature that a lot of folks like to clamor for but don't actually end up using all that much once they have it, which probably makes it a non-essential investment on the part of the manufacturer. Easy to rationalize getting rid of it to cram another graphic card in there or shave a few extra bucks from the launch MRRP.

Well, It'll give me and others who genuinely care about this sort of thing another reason to hold onto my PS4, then (and PS2 and PS3, etc...).
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Alex79
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Alex79 »

What did they say about backwards compatibility?

EDIT: Just read it. That's a joke. I'm genuinely annoyed about that. Why can't they be bothered to do it properly when Xbox can manage it? I was really hoping for PS3, and nothing. Unless a new Uncharted is announced at some point, I really think I'm going to move away from Sony next gen, they may have the games, but literally for everything else they're being pissed on.
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chase210
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Re: Videogame News

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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

PS5 not being backwards compatible with all PS4 games out of the box is a bit mind boggling.

Whether many people use it or not (and I’m sure Microsoft have shared stats that say in fact a lot of Xbox players do), there is a huge perceived value in the eyes of the consumer to backwards compatibility.

It will be a massive stick for Xbox to beat them with. At launch, one console has full back compat with the previous gen, plus substantially with the one before that, and even with some of the best titles from the one before that. Plus it automatically improves performance and resolution on all of the above.

The other console hopes to have most of the top 100 games (based on most played) from the previous gen playable at launch. That’s over 2,000 games not playable from PS4, and as far as we know nothing from previous gens, although can we assume that PS Now streaming of some PS3 games will still be a thing?

They must have done their research when leaving this out surely, but the optics of it are terrible!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Videogame News

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Sinclair Gregstrum wrote: March 18th, 2020, 7:22 pm The other console hopes to have most of the top 100 games (based on most played) from the previous gen playable at launch. That’s over 2,000 games not playable from PS4
Well to be fair, they only tested the most popular 100 games. But it doesn't mean that the backwards compatibility feature is intended to be limited to those, they in fact mentioned that they're continuing the testing process. I fully expect that feature to encompass most of the PS4's library in the end. For all we know the basic coding and hardware requirements might already have been implemented, while the hands-on quality control was only able to confirm the aforementioned 100 games at this point.

https://blog.eu.playstation.com/2020/03 ... cal-specs/
We recently took a look at the top 100 PS4 titles as ranked by play time, and we’re expecting almost all of them to be playable at launch on PS5. With more than 4000 games published on PS4, we will continue the testing process and expand backwards compatibility coverage over time.

Still, like you said, the optics of this are indeed terrible. And even if the PS5 ended up being fully backwards compatible with the PS4, it would be basic customer service to expand that feature to cover all PS1, PS2 and PS3 games as well in my opinion. All regions, physical and digital. No ifs, no buts.
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

You see I read that as there will be somewhere under that 100 mark playable at launch, and they’ll “expand backwards compatibility coverage over time” as Cerny puts it.

It’s not very clear is it! I also worry that they even mentioned testing, and the fact they’ve only tested 100 games. There are obviously bugs and issues with their back compat solution, and by their own admission they haven’t got even the top 100 games working properly. We’ll see how it shakes out I guess, but the signs aren’t great!
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

My interpretation that PS5 backwards compatibility will be really limited based on what was said yesterday seems to be the view that spreading at the moment:

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-pla ... ?r=US&IR=T

If that's not right, Sony will surely come out and correct this quickly, unless of course there's nothing to correct and it's as half-arsed as it sounds :roll:

I need to get playing some more PS4 games before the year is out!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Videogame News

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Yeah, upon further reflection, you're probably right. :|
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Stanshall
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Stanshall »

If there's no BC on the PS5 besides the usual AAA stuff I've already played, I'm going full XBSX in the first instance. I would be really pissed off if my Ketsui and Battle Garegga purchases didn't carry over and I refuse to own a PS4 and PS5 in 2020. I'd be far more interested in keeping my M2 STG Cave games than playing The Last Of Us 2.
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stvnorman
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Re: Videogame News

Post by stvnorman »

Assassins Creed Odyssey has a free trial weekend on PS4 (and other platforms I guess).
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countstex
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Re: Videogame News

Post by countstex »

stvnorman wrote: March 21st, 2020, 9:14 am Assassins Creed Odyssey has a free trial weekend on PS4 (and other platforms I guess).
Yup, same on XBOX, plus you can buy it at a pretty good discount too if it gets your hooks into you.
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countstex
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Re: Videogame News

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Stanshall wrote: March 19th, 2020, 8:10 pm If there's no BC on the PS5 besides the usual AAA stuff I've already played, I'm going full XBSX in the first instance. I would be really pissed off if my Ketsui and Battle Garegga purchases didn't carry over and I refuse to own a PS4 and PS5 in 2020. I'd be far more interested in keeping my M2 STG Cave games than playing The Last Of Us 2.
MS are definitely leading the charge on BC, they've been heavily into it for so long now that everything is in place already. By virtualising their systems on the XBOX platform they've paved the way for their future endeavours. It's a no brainer for me to pick up a Series X, pass my One X onto my wife who's still on a Launch XBOX and we can carry on buying one digital copy of a game and both playing it solo and co-op. The PS5 might end up being the first Playstation I've never bought. (Actually I never owned a PSP but I'm not counting portables as I can't play them due to hand cramps)

I'm not saying this to diss on PlayStation* but I think I'm at a time in my life where, when I look at how much time I'm actually gaming on a console, buying into more than one eco-system just doesn't make sense for me any more. So I'll take the one where I can buy a game once and play in on mine or my wifes console (you can do that on Playstation too of course) but I also get to play a deal of them on PC too thanks to GamePass Ultimate.

*Actually I'm truly hopeful that cross-platform play will expand next generation so we can all chose our preferred platforms but still play the same games together, outside of the handful of platform exclusives.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Videogame News

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https://blog.us.playstation.com/2020/03 ... cal-specs/
A quick update on backward compatibility – With all of the amazing games in PS4’s catalog, we’ve devoted significant efforts to enable our fans to play their favorites on PS5. We believe that the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 titles will be playable on PS5.
We "believe"...?

The plot thickens!
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Alex79
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Re: Videogame News

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Nintendo planning to release new and remastered Mario games to celebrate 35th anniversary.

https://kotaku.com/report-nintendo-plan ... u_Facebook

YES PLEASE THANK YOU.
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chase210
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Re: Videogame News

Post by chase210 »

Lot of places reporting the Mario stuff, assume its at least partially true, very exciting.
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Alex79
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Alex79 »

Yeah, it seems like Galaxy 1 and 2, 3D World and Sunshine may be coming along with a new Paper Mario. I know its too much to hope for but I'm really hoping it's true! And soon!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Videogame News

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Those are all great if true, although I have my doubt about Galaxy's intended experience being replicated without the Wii's specific input technology (and yes, I know about the chinese version). One other game I really hope they remaster in some form would be Paper Mario: TTYD. One thing that kinda bugs me about Nintendo's treatment of their back catalogue is how certain classics apparently receive a new port or official emulation every few years (TLoZ: OoT, Super Metroid, Super Mario World), while others remain stuck in seemingly eternal limbo, like a lot of GC-era masterpieces.
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Videogame News

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

KSubzero1000 wrote: March 30th, 2020, 5:52 pmOne thing that kinda bugs me about Nintendo's treatment of their back catalogue is how certain classics apparently receive a new port or official emulation every few years (TLoZ: OoT, Super Metroid, Super Mario World), while others remain stuck in seemingly eternal limbo, like a lot of GC-era masterpieces.
Nintendo have definitely had an approach of taking the easy money when it comes to their back catalogue for years. Quick, simple 2D ports, that they know sell without fail, give them a guaranteed strong return on investment for minimal effort and cost. Plus they also know that a lot of those games hold up just fine from a quality standpoint, so little chance of damaging their legacy.

Doing high-quality, worthwhile ports of their 3D titles involves more time, more money, with probably lower sales (or certainly a worse ROI). There's also more chance of them actually damaging the legacy of the those games as they almost certainly don't hold up as well as the 2D titles. Anyone who's played an old 3D platformer recently for example knows those games come with a certain unavoidable technical debt simply due to where the state of the medium was at the time.

That's my hypothesis anyway... :roll:
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Videogame News

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Sinclair Gregstrum wrote: March 31st, 2020, 11:06 am There's also more chance of them actually damaging the legacy of the those games as they almost certainly don't hold up as well as the 2D titles. Anyone who's played an old 3D platformer recently for example knows those games come with a certain unavoidable technical debt simply due to where the state of the medium was at the time.
Metroid Prime, F-Zero GX, Fire Emblem PoR or Pikmin all have a bit of a steeper learning curve than most of their 2D or modern counterparts, but I don't think that translates to them being poorly designed and potentially damaging their own brand / legacy. The idea that they "almost certainly don't hold up" is a bit much imo. If OoT and MM can be re-released to roaring applause, I don't see why they couldn't.

I take your point about a lot of early 3D platformers being a bit clunky (and even then, I would point to stuff like Super Monkey Ball as counter-examples of that), but when it comes to Nintendo games in particular? I disagree. Not to mention all the abandoned quality third-party games from that era stuck in the same limbo that would benefit from a port as well, of course.
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