I wish they’d make the drive an optional add-on that you could buy later if you decide that digital only isn’t for you, instead of using it as product segmentation. But that would be pro-consumer, so not gonna happen.
That’s problematic because you can resell disks. I suppose they could sign disks independently and then only allow one digital owner, but then you’d need a formal process every time you resell, or worse, disallow reselling, and the cost for producing disks would go away up (not to mention returns would be a headache).
Another benefit of having an external disk drive is that you can replace it if yours goes bad. I’m not sure what’s going to “end in tears,” it would work just like any other USB device, you plug it in and the console could load games from it.
But yeah, an all digital console makes no sense to me, unless it’s an interesting form factor like a handheld or an arcade cabinet. So the only console I have is a Switch, and everything else is on PC.
I was all for physical copies for years. And I get why people still would be because they have massive collections. But honestly now I’ve got the disc drive ps5 version and it hasn’t been used at all. Granted I only play like 3 or 4 games at a time for a long time, but every game I’ve bought has been digital.
Plus, your point of being able to replace the drive is huge (to me atleast) because every console I’ve had the drive went first; they were also super out of warranty. So I get why people want built in drives but it’s just one less port that’s going to breaks that also less and less people are going to want or need.
Lastly cause im like weighting a thesis or something haha but I bought a 4tb external hard drive that’s plugged in the back of the ps5 that holds everything I could want if the internet went dark. And I can throw that in the microwave incase of a solar storm so
Will that drive still work on the PS6? Will it work in 20 years? Can you buy more games after a Sony has shutdown the digital store? Can you sell your digital purchases if you don’t want them anymore?
Those are the kinds of problems physical media solves.
I buy digital media on my PC and physical media on my consoles, because PC games aren’t hardware specific whereas console games are.
I fear more and more games will become like BG3, digitally exclusive. I asked for it for my birthday and was told the game didn’t exist for PS5. I was confused, as I most certainly have been reading reviews, then I found out it’s only digital and thats why no one saw a copy.
Yup. The reality, while shitty, Microsoft still publishes games on multiple platforms (2 at minimum - PC and xbox). On PC, the games are sold on multiple storefronts with varying discounts and sales. Oblivion remastered just launched with a 17% discount on another store on PC for example.
Nintendo has a complete monopoly on the platform they publish for and completely control the prices.
For me, all these price increases are doing is moving me more towards PC. And to a larger degree off AAA titles all together.
That’s fair… But the point I was more trying to make is that Breath of the Wild, an 8 year old game that has a sequel out, is currently full price. It went on sale earlier this year for 40% off.
40% off a $70, 8 year old game is very different than 40% off an 8 year old game that was selling at $40-$50 without a sale.
I already feel like a chump for getting the PS5. There’s hardly any games for it. Hell, there are some games I can’t play on it. I can’t imagine what’s changed so drastically in the last couple years to even be worth an upgrade.
Some of the transfered PS3 games (Katamari was one I remember). The Tomb Raider Puzzle game glitches (doesn’t on the PS4), and it seems any game that uses an app (tried to play a trivia game with the family and it didn’t work until we went to the PS4).
Not anything life or death, big named stuff works fine, but it’s just annoying to have to go back to the PS4 to have things play right.
This generation is already pretty weak, and it was hard to justify the original PS5 which, after a whopping four years, still has too few exclusive titles to justify the increased price point. Now they are asking for $700 (and they increased the controller’s price, too), but there’s still too few next gen titles, and it doesn’t even come with basic features like a disc tray and a vertical mount. Not even a better form factor, it’s the same old ugly case, but somehow bigger.
The only premium thing about this thing is the price tag. $700 dollars but €800, because apparently they are dominating the European market so much that they don’t even have to try to sell it at an honest price point. With all those money you can just buy a PC. I honestly don’t think that many people who are interested in the console market (which, historically, has always been a “low budget” entry into modern gaming) would be willing to spend so much money on one.
I guess we circled back to the PS3 era, when Sony got drunk with overconfidence. Only, this time they’ll get away with it because their main competitor is somehow even more incompetent than them. I wonder if the handheld PC market will pose a threat to their dominance in the future - at the moment, it’s a very small niche.
It’s just so sad. I remember back when the PS4 Pro came out and you could trade in your old PS4 for a little on top to get a Pro at GameStop. It was a night and day difference going from a base PS4 to a Pro - and merely for the price of the console, 3 random games off a list of curated games, two controllers, iirc, and 100€. It was straight gas for me.
Paying 300€ on top - realistically even more because you’re not gonna sell a used PS5 for 500€ nowadays - plus the money for a disc drive and a vertical stand would set you back like 900-1000€. Completely out of their minds
Not really on topic but wait just a gosh darn second.
This person is playing and reviewing (what might be called) the prettiest, most demanding game ever made, and they’re doing it on a Steam Deck, on Low?
But still, the visuals are the main thing they praise about it?
I’m a bit surprised? Confused? Anyway that’s a little weird.
I like the sound of this! The Starfield coffee article was funny. $7 a month miiiight be a little bit much for me - but I’ll keep an eye on this and if the journalism is decent and they put out a fair number of articles I’ll definitely consider it. I guess I used to spend around that amount on gaming magazines…
I am ride or die with Remap (added a year of Founders during the launch stream) and consider their podcast insanity to be worth the monthly fee alone.
But for 404 and Aftermath and whoever else, I am planning on buying a month or two here and there when there is a particularly good article I want to read/“support”. Probably comes out higher than grabbing an issue of EGM or OPM or PC Gamer back in the day, but also inflation so it might even be cheaper?
HZD actually has a fantastic story and a great setting. With some recent successful game movies, I can see this one actually being good. But does Sony have much of a track record here? Uncharted was bad.
The details are still up in the air, but 404media has chimed in with a legal expert on this deplorable situation. They mostly talk about what damage this could do, and how Nintendo has never lost a lawsuit, but I found this to be an interesting key point
Nintendo has, as I mentioned in my tweet, a legendary track record. I think they never lost a lawsuit that they initiated themselves, and under the Japanese legal system, seven years ago, they sued a company called Colopl, which is a mobile gaming powerhouse from Japan. They [Colopl] have, I think, almost 2,000 [employees], nobody but knows them outside Japan but they had a famous mobile game called White Cat Project, not copying Mario, not copying Pokémon, not copying Zelda, nothing at all. Nintendo brought forward six patents that they thought that this company was violating inside their very successful mobile game at one time. It was one of the most popular mobile games in Japan, and they built a huge case. One of the patents was for a confirmation screen after sleep mode. You know when devices are sleeping and you want to resume there’s a confirmation screen in a lot of games? “Are you sure you want to resume?” And then you tap yes or no. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses it. And then Nintendo said, you know, look, you’re using our patent and you cannot do that. You’re not paying us any licensing fees.
And they had five other ones, including one for isometric, pseudo, 3D games, when the character is hidden behind the tree, the game forms a shadow, so you have a kind of sense for where the character is, even though you don’t see the character clearly. Nintendo has a patent on that, and this game uses that technology. And Nintendo said, look, you cannot do this. And this goes on with four other patents, right?
So they had this legal battle. Colopl said, no way, but in 2021 they had a settlement where Nintendo got the equivalent of $20 Million US dollars and Colopl is now paying licensing fees to Nintendo for continuing to use the patents inside their mobile game. So it was a complete win for Nintendo, even though it was technically a settlement. I personally think you will see that after a few years, Nintendo will be in a very, very similar position. I don’t think that Nintendo will even think about filing a lawsuit like this without being as sure as they can that they’re going to win this.
If you are unaware, this was done because of the launch of Dragalia Lost, a game that has long been forgotten, and discontinued.
theverge.com
Ważne