crispy4000

We don’t know how well Crash 4 did comparatively, but the Trilogy remake sold over 10 million. Likewise, CTR and Tony Hawk 1+2 both broke franchise sales records in the first month. People certainly do give a shit in 2023. The ball is in Microsoft’s court.

Those games helped pushed PlayStation consoles in the past with (timed) exclusivity. That includes N Sane Trilogy, which was announced by Sony at E3 and published by them in Japan. Games like Crash 1 and Tony Hawk 2 were also a huge part of the PS1’s cultural identity.

Just saw this got its own thread. I don’t expect CoD on any other subscription library service unless it was negotiated prior. That was always the play. We’ll have to wait and see. I could see select games making it over, but the norm will be exclusive. Sony is going to eat so much crow if Crash or Tony Hawk doesn’t reach them.

Sony just signed Microsoft’s 10 year deal for regular releases of CoD. Firm as sign of any as they’re admitting they lost.

I wonder if we start seeing older ActiBlizzard games given out for free on Epic/Amazon like with Bethesda. Side note, still waiting on that CTR PC port…

You’re right. That’s so dumb considering next-gen Minecraft was one of the first things they demonstrated behind closed doors running in the hardware. Minecraft Dungeons is the one that doesn’t have a next gen version on PS5 only. Legends however does. Leave it to the FTC to not get their argument straight. Legends does imply they have dev kits.

I get the feeling it’s more that Microsoft wants Xbox to be considered the lead platform/ecosystem for the franchise. Not doing a PS5 SKU furthers that goal. If the PS5 Pro is real and Microsoft won’t challenge it directly, we’ll probably see more shenanigans of the sort. Perhaps no genuine PS5 Pro enhanced version of CoD until the next Xbox launches.

I listened to Phil being questioned about this in regard to Minecraft. They didn’t receive them at the time of other publishers, before launch. But he couldn’t give a straight answer for why there was no native PS5 SKU today as the Series consoles have.

Trade secrets are a thing. You gotta wonder if even Nintendo would give them dev kits in time with other favored publishers (ie: Ubisoft, Sega, etc).

1. The stink of Activision's workplace culture issues is a managerial problem that goes all the way up to Kottick. I don't think Microsoft is willing to take the retributive steps to totally clean house, or go much further than Activision already has internally. 2. They've argued they're the underdogs on a downward trajectory, and purchasing Activision will help them find competitive footing. They're not spending $69 billion for Activision employees to ease up. 3. Most of Activision's dead and burried IP is even less valuable than Rare's. If they do bring things back, they'll likely be kept from Sony/Nintendo regardless. 4. Taking resources away from CoD would need to result in another type of leverage worth the money and risk. Like, say, a 3rd person Call of Duty offshoot that isn't ported to PlayStation. 5. We're likely seeing Sony invest so much more in live services games as a result of this. That's not the worst timeline ... buying up other major publishers as Microsoft is. But I think a lot of people are frustrated that Sony isn't sticking to their guns. It's going to be a lot of Destruction All-Stars until they land a hit.

DQXI and DQIX are the two I beat. Maybe I’ll get to 8 and 5 someday, but I think I’ve mostly had my fill as well.

I went for it. Had a $20 gift card from another Target promotion, so I used that and paid ~$1.50. I dropped a cool $650 on prime day on baby proofing and other infant supplies. Feels about right for my priorities right now. Bezos wins though.

Apparently this is in Microsoft's response to the FTC:

Is New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe worth $20? Target's got a promo running this week. I have the Wii U version of Mario U (not Luigi), but the resolution bump and QoL improvements for young kids has me intrigued.

Then 3D platformers really aren't the perfect kind of filler. At least not the ones with any kind of camera control and large environments. There's a reason why indies have struggled to make decently good ones with limited budgets.

Apparently not cheap enough to make good ones often. Also, Banjo Kazooie 1 is on the level as Mario Odyssey for me. It really sucks to see a franchise that hit those highs go dormant.

Absolutely. The remakes trilogy is fantastic and already feels quite modern. At the time, it really felt like Insomniac was coding for different hardware than everyone else.

Poll says all.

He’ll live so that Banjo can stay dead.

Don’t forget that Force Unleashed is redeemable today on Prime gaming.

I'm sure it's a bit dated feeling now. But that's the one that really makes you value each Pikmin life. If you play it, let us know when you reach that enemy ... you'll know.

The first game is the one that feels the most time constricted, with you having a limited number of days to finish it. So some still prefer it in a Majora's Mask kind of way. It's feels very prototype compared to the next entries regardless, although the last area has some decent puzzles. The second game does the rogue-like thing in caves you enter in each world, only they did it before it was cool and hip. Also time stops underground, so you get a bit of a breather. There's some very memorable stuff in those caves in spite of them relying on some degree of random generation. Plus it has the best bosses in the series IMO. Pikmin 3 has the most interesting Pikmin types, and some cool bosses as well. In each game they give you one more control group than the previous game. In 2 that worked out well. But I found the 3 groups in Pikmin 3 to be a bit too much to juggle, especially by the end of the game, where the bosses really push the issue. Pikmin 2 > Pikmin 3 > Pikmin 1

I’d say the same for people missing certain indies or Nintendo games in favor of keeping up with AAA. Too many great games to miss! The big budget PS4/XBO games I’ve beaten so far were the ones that interested me most. Spider-Man, FF7R, Jedi Fallen Order, Psychonauts 2, Hellblade, Dragon Quest XI, Days Gone (for hordes), etc. God of War would be there if it didn’t drop it for some reason I can’t recall. I’ve also played some remasters/remakes like the Uncharted Trilogy, Shadow of the Colossus, Crash/Spyro 1, etc.

I beat maybe a dozen games a year. Some years have been lighter due to life circumstances (ie: doctorate thesis and comprehensive exams), which set me behind a little, but being late to the party means I save quite a bit. Or maybe not, since I’m needing to double down on retirement after entering the workforce so late… I can pull a list out later, I’ve kept track of everything I’ve ever seen to completion. I’ll say about my habits that it’s rare that I play multiple games from a single franchise back to back (which means more franchises get added to the backlog). I’m not the biggest fan of open world, FPS or horror games generally. 360/PS3 era was probably my least favorite gen for AAA releases. I like games with novel movement mechanics, puzzles, tight controls, a linear well-crafted story, Metroidvanias, etc.

@TwinIon Black Mesa would more be my jumping point for the Half Life series in general. Its cool to hear that you think Rise and Shadow are worthwhile. I've seen mixed things, but I really, really enjoyed the reboot. Closest game to RE4 for me in many respects. @CastlevaniaNut18 I'd love to get to Arkham Knight someday. But I've only beaten the first game, which I've heard is the most Metroidvania in its structure (which is one of the best things about it, there's so few examples in 3D) . If I'm playing an open world comic game, I'd move to Miles Morales next before looking back to City. @SoberChef The AC games are really daunting to me. Especially where to jump in, or if want to commit to it instead of beating so many other games in that time. I've dipped my toes in Origins, which was okay at the start. Odyssey felt a bit too aimless for me, it expects you to know the loop from the start. I think I need a better CPU for these games either way. Mass Effect Trilogy is on my radar, but I don't have experience with Bioware games. Good starting point, or would KOTOR be better?