ShreddieMercury

No they aren't. What this signals to me is that MS is having to completely restructure around their slim list of existing major IP, since that's likely the only way to get even marginal ROI. The market for mid-budget games - in my opinion where the most interesting things come from - is basically toast. Hellblade 2 might be the last of that kind of game from MS in quite some time.

The margins are just not there for AAA games. It's clear why these companies are putting their foot on the gaas, even if that's also very short-sighted pretty clearly not going to work out. Sony plunged $10 billion after its PS5 sales cut. But a bigger issue is its near decade low games margin WWW.CNBC.COM Around $10 billion of value was wiped off Sony's stock this week after it cut its sales forecast for its flagship PlayStation 5 console for the fiscal year.

Looks like the digital edition is $450 now from what I can tell.

The line is not going up enough for anyone. This is only partly a leadership issue, and has much more to do with how the entertainment industry, not just gaming, functions economically now. We can expect lots more of this to come across the industry from all players. AAA gaming is completely unsustainable.

A $350 gaas machine sounds better than a $500-$600 gaas machine. Alas.

Insane news. These are some of the only interesting studios under the Bethesda umbrella. The industry is essentially full-on imploding at this point. Really hope everyone enjoyed 2023!

I've really wanted to get a PS5 for the past couple of years, but it's tough to justify at $500+ for me right now. In previous generations, the introduction of different console models usually meant a good deal on the original/base consoles. I'm curious if that will be the case or if it'll just be that the Pro model is a few hundred dollars more, and then the base console stays where it is price-wise. For some reason, I feel like it'll unfortunately be the latter. What's your take on this? Will I be able to secure a more reasonably priced base model PS5 in the coming months? Or be stuck as I always am replaying Dreamcast and Xbox games?

@Biggie Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it. Was planning to get the NSO expansion as long as I could get the controller too. Waiting for payday but I'll hop on this next week. Thanks again!

I see that you can sign in and add it to your cart, but I'm wondering if it's gonna be "out of stock" once I sign up for NSO and actually am granted the ability to purchase. Weird that it won't at least indicate that it's available, subscription or not.

I want to sign up for NSO so I can play the N64 games on offer, but ideally I'd want the N64 controller as well. But it doesn't appear to let you buy it from Nintendo without already being a member of that service. So I also can't see if it's in stock or not. Incredibly annoying Nintendo thing to do here. I recall these being really tough to get, but maybe they've manufactured enough to meet demand at this point? Does anybody know, or have NSO so that they can take a look?

I think I would only trust the Coen Brothers with an adaptation given how effectively they understand and are able to transmit what is transcendent about McCarthy's writing. No Country For Old Men is the best adaption of his work, and one of the century's best movies. That said, while Blood Meridian is my all time favorite book, I've said before here that I cannot see how this is adaptable in any way that retains the power of the novel. It is biblical and cosmic in a way that is impossible to translate to film. I've read the Steve Tesich script from 1995, which is interesting, but it convinced me that this is simply not possible, unless liberties are taken and it's essentially a completely different approach to the story. But I also think that would likely lead to disappointment.

All I need to hear is that there is a good single player career mode, and that the MTX are unobtrusive. If so I'm gonna get this. Love tennis and miss sports games so much.

I'm going 3.

Can you guys let me know which indie games have the type of vision, polish, music, and emergent game design of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom?? Will rush to buy immediately. Already played Outer Wilds btw.

This is accurate. If people want interesting games, play what Nintendo puts out. Tears of the Kingdom is more radical from a design perspective than anything from the last two generations of AAA gaming, and it's on a console that gamers yell constantly about being underpowered.

@best3444 the graphics are out of control, and I know you enjoy that. It's up there with the best I've ever seen in games.

Yeah I think the story stays pretty consistent. It's very interesting, but it's also less impactful than the first because it gets so twisted up in its own mythology that eventually the rules don't make sense and as a result the stakes get lowered. This is the problem with all multiverse stories in my opinion.

Haven't you waffled back and forth on this game like two or three times already? I'd say just give it up at this point. If you weren't enjoying it after 10 hours, then the next 10 aren't going to change your mind.

This is how I feel about the majority of modern AAA games. It's hard not to be blinded by the production values and visuals of some of these titles, and initially I have a great time. But it's not long before I start to see the cracks and realize that the production values are coming at the expense of interesting and fun game design. Lots of Sony stuff falls into this category for me. Alan Wake II is a more recent example - I do still think it's a great experience, but the way it's designed makes me unlikely to ever revisit it like I do Remedy's other games.

GTA 6 Production Reportedly Falling Behind, Rockstar Urges Staff To Return To Office To Avoid Delay KOTAKU.COM The open-world sequel is set to launch next year, but leadership is worried it could get delayed until 2026 What kind of horse-testicle-physics are they hiding up their sleeves this time? Gotta get everything right, this game isn't coming until 2026.

If the controls were your main issue, I would encourage you to try the remake, because they've updated it to play like modern games but it still retains the same kind of encounter design and mechanics that made the original so beloved. If RE is not your thing then go ahead and skip it, but the controls shouldn't give you any issues at this point. I would also absolutely put it in the top 10 games ever made. Everything is subjective, but I think you can easily make the argument that it's up there given the game's widespread influence in the industry.

I'm sure there are, but it's an opinion that only seems popular in retrospect now that control schemes are almost completely homogeneous. And that opinion doesn't seem to have affected the game's reputation. The controls of RE4 are the game, because the core mechanics are all balanced around them. More restricted movement increases the importance of positioning and the tension involved in the encounters. I think the remake did an exceptional job of still retaining the risk/reward aspect of the first game's limited movement by making you wait for critical hits (brought over from RE2 Remake), while also changing the enemy behavior to account for your increased mobility and the knife parry. It's fine to not like it, but I think people forget that tons of games used to have unique control schemes, and these differences allowed for unique approaches to game design. If you don't like the controls of the original, the remake updates them to be in line with what all games use now, so you can enjoy it either way if you're inclined.

I agree and I think that's the point of all ranking/scoring systems, I just find it bizarre that RE's ranking is based almost single-handedly on speed, when I don't think that being fast is the most fun way to play the games. Rewarding the player by tracking accuracy, hits taken, healing items used, etc. I would think makes more sense, because that's what playing "well" feels like. I don't understand the structure they have in place that rewards the player for actively ignoring the core gameplay.

You played a game you don't like twice through to completion? Taste and enjoyment being completely subjective, RE4 is widely recognized as one of the best and most influential games of all time, and I would say the remake is nearly as good as the original. Totally respect your opinion, but it's one of my favorite games in the last 5-10 years. I find it to be mechanically nearly perfect. The game design is still shockingly sophisticated today, which is crazy to say for a remake of a nearly 20 year old game.

I can definitely understand with the early games that trying to optimize and speed through could extend the life of the game given that they were short and more about the puzzles than the moment to moment gameplay. But playing the more recent games, I just enjoy the atmosphere, gameplay and exploration so much that I haven't been compelled to try and speed through them, even when replaying them several times over.