Sony Consoles and Updates

[mfnick]

FINALLY!!!

[Nag]

Yeah, hoping this year sees some Series exclusives too.

[OCH]

4 minutes ago, mfnick said:

FINALLY!!!

 

Exactly what I thought. Still two years away though? They should really fast track it a bit, it has nearly been three years since the PS5 release. Granted they haven't been the most conventional three years...

[Nag]

2 minutes ago, OCH said:

it has nearly been three years since the PS5 release

 

I didn't realise Christmas was so close.🥳

[OCH]

14 minutes ago, Nag said:

I didn't realise Christmas was so close.🥳

Well, it is only 11 months...😉

 

Alternatively, November is 10 months away😜

[Nag]

Might put the decorations up later.😉

[OCH]

Some people I've seen on delivery still haven't removed them..🤷‍♂️

[Sly Reflex]

PS4 gave us GTAV?

 

I guess America won WWII singlehandedly as well.  

[HandsomeDead]

While I'm sure the pandemic took a hit too game development I do still think if it hadn't happened there still would have been a struggling transition to this generation.  It's wild that nearly three years after a new generation it's news worthy to say they're going full time with it now speaks volumes.  

 

The most popular games, most interesting games, most creative games aren't pushing tech on consoles.  The most interesting games that do push tech are on the PC, which consoles will never catch up with.

 

I'm just saying it's sad they're trying to spin this as progress.  Generations don't matter like they used to but I guess they want you to buy the new system somehow.  FOMO and that

[Sly Reflex]

I think I'd be hard pressed to think of a game I've played that really won me over just on graphical stuff alone. We're talking maybe decades there.

 

For the masses though, that's all that matters. It's why people end up with shit frame rates and terrible performance because it needs to look good rather than feeling good to play.

[DisturbedSwan]

I'm pleased this year will finally transition into current-gen only games as I think that'll help move the Industry forward as a whole. I do like a good graphical showpiece, the gameplay has to match of course but more often than not it does for me nowadays. .

 

The PS5 slim out late this year should help sales a helluva lot too. I'm sure Series X|S titles will also benefit once they can finally drop the XBOne although I suspect that might be a little hamstrung by the S but there are conflicting thoughts and opinions on that. The proof will be in the pudding I guess.

[one-armed dwarf]

I think the nvme drives have been a bit disappointing in how much of a big deal they made about what new game design paradigms they would usher in, but nothing has really leveraged them in interesting ways. Ratchet had set pieces built around it, but even in that it didn't seem impactful to gameplay.

 

DF think that it will be a big deal with UE5 tho, I think they said that anyway. I think if games get to that level we saw in the matrix demo it would be really cool and exciting. But still mostly on the surface level in how shiny and realistic it makes things look. Which doesn't do much to change how the game is played or the amount of options it presents players, there's a reason why something like Deus Ex (2000) is still held up as one of the standard setters in its genre, even 23 years later. It's fucking hard to build games with that kind of scope at this level of detail, impossible maybe.

[HandsomeDead]

The last few generations I've had an on going feeling that it's a lack of imagination, or at least a courage to see ideas through, that holds back games more than the technology.  I just think of the wild shit during the PS1 era.  Lots of experimentation was happening and while not everything worked there was cool stuff that never became a precedence for future games.

 

The kind of idea that throwing more tech at this problem and the games will get good again is pure cope.

[Sly Reflex]

Difference is it cost a lot less than it did to throw shit at the wall and see what stuck. Companies can't really afford to do that now with big AAA because it needs to sell the most and appeal to the most to get maximum back.

 

It's why Ubi have painted themselves into a corner, they have all these franchises and they just bled into one. Functionally they all might play a bit different, but they've changed their design into a paint by numbers and although it can be fun, people have tired of it.

[DisturbedSwan]

PSVR2 sounding better and better by the day

 

 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Pre-orders not so good, however 

 

 

 

I don't actually think the price point of the PSVR2 is unjustified, the hardware is clearly good enough for the price they are asking for. But software lineup, lack of BC* and critically, imo, the lack of PC support is what kills the value here. Because high end VR has mostly been a PC space, so it's valid to consider this as well when considering the different options in the market

 

There's a huge market out there for something with this 'mid tier' pricing for PCVR as well (yea, 600 euro is 'mid tier' in VR land). It could have worked out well. Also, OLED. HL Alyx with inky blacks so you're not watching headcrabs sit around in a grey ocean of murky noise.

 

*tbf, this is at least somewhat understandable based on how different the tracking is. Every game would need to be rebuilt. Still, it's a thing that sticks out. 

[DisturbedSwan]

Can't read the article due to paywall, that's the guy who usually writes scaremongering/doom mongering articles about Sony though. If those numbers are just coming from a random analyst especially, but difficult to discern without reading the article.

 

The demand for VR has never been especially high anyway, if Sony ever thought it would sell gangbusters then they have deluded themselves, I don't think they have ever believed it would even sell tens of millions of units. I think PSVR1 only sold, what, 5 million units or something in 5-6 years? 

 

VR is a niche product in general, I personally don't agree they should put it on PC, it would just be another competitor there in an already crowded space. The software working in synergy with the hardware is what should give PSVR2 its USP in my view, but we'll only know that over time. 

 

I actually think the software line-up is pretty good now, the likes of NMS, GT7 and Village all being there Day 1 along with what some are calling HL Alyx-esque Horizon: CotM, the number of titles is about 48 I think I read yesterday on Era, whereas the OG line-up was 20. 

 

I think what ultimately kills VR every time from entering the mainstream conscious is the price. PSVR sold as well as it did (which wasn't that well) because it was cheap and a good on-point to VR as a lot of folks already had PS4's at that point. The sell this time around is harder because the price is greater (although not by much as the OG didn't include controllers and a camera I guess but regular joes won't see that) and a lot of folks, the majority of folks don't have PS5s yet. That may change by the end of this year though which is maybe what Sony is hoping, but then it'll still be a hard sell for folks to fork out another £500 odd on a VR headset they don't really need. PCVR has its own challenges in needing a £800+ rig and then a £800+ headset (roughly) to play stuff.

 

PSVR2 was never going to sell gangbusters or even break through into the mainstream due to the price point and needing a PS5 to begin with. I think they'll be lucky to sell the 5 million or so PSVR sold in 5 years with this really. I think they're positioning it as a high level premium product but I'm not sure how successful that will be.

 

Ultimately, it won't sell gangbusters anytime soon and likely never will. What I think is bollocks from the small amount I can read of that article is that Sony isn't serious about VR, I'd argue that's laughable. The proof is in the pudding and PSVR2 is a pretty fantastic pudding by the sounds of it, why invest all that R&D into a product you don't care about or will abandon? Sounds nonsense to me. But, again, I can't read the article so it could contextualise it better in the piece itself.

[one-armed dwarf]

The thing is, with VR you are selling to a sort of niche audience. I think at this point, personally speaking, there are not very many people left to 'convert' to VR. Most people have made their minds up on what they think of the format, and there are strong reasons for never wanting to get into VR (accessibility, locking oneself off from small children, moving furniture around, these will all still be problems)

 

Point being I wouldn't see PC compatibility as being something that would put PS VR into competition with a different market, rather than it is already only appealing to a small section of a pre-existing market by not having it to begin with. At least, that's my hypothesis. Could be wrong. As for doom-mongering/scare-mongering, I kinda hate that term at this point. Way overused and always just feels like a way to pointlessly dismiss things that people don't like to hear imo

 

edit you know what would be a big hardware seller? If Capcom come out and say all of RE4RE is playable on it, like GTVII is. That's the word of mouth generator right there

[shinymcshine]

Some problem is that 1st Gen PSVR could have sold bucket loads (and if so might have become more mainstream) but they couldn't match supply with demand, either for base units or move controllers, and by the time they were back in wider circulation the market had already moved on.

 

I was quite enthused after attending one of the launch demo sessions, but simply couldn't buy one.

[DisturbedSwan]

58 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

edit you know what would be a big hardware seller? If Capcom come out and say all of RE4RE is playable on it, like GTVII is. That's the word of mouth generator right there

 

I think they've already said, or hinted that there will be some kind of PSVR2 support, but whether that's the whole game playable or just like some extra mode etc. We don't know yet. 

 

Road to VR article

Quote

Resident Evil 4 is getting a remake for PS5, and although Capcom isn’t ringing the church bells in excitement of full PSVR 2 support, the developer says we should at least expect “PSVR 2 content”.

 

I think it's safe to say the move controllers (don't think it needed any base units aside from a PS4 Camera?) were an afterthought in general that plagued most of the OG PSVR generation really. I only went in on a bundle about a year after release and got 2 move controllers, a camera and the headset itself at a reasonable price, I can imagine supplies, particularly around launch weren't great though @shinymcshine