General gaming discussion

I do think it's an awful decision from Sony. Let's face it, before the prices of the PS5 and SeriesX were announced there was discussion about whether or not the prices would be more than 500 simply due to the level of performance both consoles were aiming for. And prices of components have increased, so I don't dispute that the cost of production has probably gone up in the past 2 years.

But Sony are already trailing Xbox in terms of value especially due to Gamepass, and their re-jigging of PS+ has been lacklustre at best. Take the hit on the console, especially since demand for the consoles are still high, and just try keep people in the PS ecosystem.

Obviously more complicated than simply Sony = Yen & MS= Dollars when you've got international companies between multiple currencies and divisions with money being earned a spent locally.

But MS is making ~20% less straight away from Euro and Pounds sales when that ends up back home, Yen Pounds & Euro value has fallen to the dollar but not too much change relative to each other giving Sony similar revenue for Europe and a 20% boost for dollar less inflation in cost.

I honestly still don’t really see the point or value of moving to the PS5 for me.

I have a PS4 Pro, there is literally nothing on the PS5 that I want, that I can’t already play on the machine I have.

I had the funds months ago to buy one and ended up getting a Steam Deck with them and really haven’t regretted that since.

The way things are going I could see myself just waiting for another couple of years, because there’s really nothing on the Horizon that I can’t play on the Pro.

I think we are at the beginning of the end of the cross-gen period, this one has certainly gone on a long while. At least the quality of cross-gen games has been good this time, no Shadow of Mordor-style shitshows that I can recall.

Personally I don't think anyone would argue about the value for money these devices are over their lifetime. I think the main issue is that everywhere is in the middle of a cost of living crisis and then Sony wants more money for their console. I don't think there is any doubt that they are facing higher production costs but it's the fact that this multi billion dollar company won't take the €50 hit themselves after massive profits over the last few years is what is grating a lot of people and this is after they have already increased their games to €80 from previous generations.

It makes financial sense from the corporation point of view but it's seems a very consumer orientated tone deaf decision.

I am not saying that €80 is in any way justifiable, or that this new version is in any way necessary, but you know that's just not true right? The 'high PC settings' version of TLOU came out a year after the original release on PS4.

And I knew someone would call me a fanboy and claim I was defending it. I wasn't. I gave my opinion but didn't defend it at any point. I personally think it's good value even with the price increase, that's all.

I agree with the €80 though. That's too much, but I get new releases for around €30 with a trade in and Level 4 GameStop card. I rarely replay games so trading makes the most sense, and if I like it enough I'll trade it and get it cheaper digitally later on.

At the start of most console runs they are sold at a loss to gain market share. It's usually 2+ years down the line when the chips etc have gotten cheaper and they have gotten better at making them / make a revision that they start to become cost effective.

I'd also think that they had to launch at 500 to meet the series x. And are selling at a substantial loss already.

Now with chip prices not only not coming down but having gotten more expensive, along with everything else needed to manufacture and ship them, from the electricity to the diesel. With such price hikes across the board they just can't keep eating the loss on each console.

So while not good news for anyone looking to buy one. On the other hand anyone that really wanted one has one by now. They have been easy to get for the last 6 months.

The 80 for a game I can't get on board with.

My main dream, for this generation, is a Nintendo home console as powerful as Series X or PS5.

So, another dream, Nintendo release on XBox Series X.

Super Quiet, Super Cool, Super Mario Odyssey 2 in 4K, 60 FPS, HDR, Ray Tracing.

Connected to my Solar Panels. Haven't got these, they'd be Nintendo Solar Panels in the shape of goombas and mushrooms ...

Everything on the cartridge/disk. No downloads, dlcs, or patches. Perfect day 1. No network connectivity or surveillance at all. Offline, off the grid gaming.

That's the dream.

😊

Ah, a PC is too fiddly and underpowered at 500 quid or 550 quid. Plus none of those exclusives on there.

It's all going to go cloud streaming at this rate and Sony et al will be running their games on the cheapest platform possible in the data centre.

This is why I think you'll see more and more PC releases from Sony.. e.g. see latest Spiderman and Death Stranding ...

I do think Sony increasing the price is a bad move, or at the very least increasing the price immediately. Had they said they'd have increased supply now, but after Xmas the price will be going up, at least that'd help people who've had trouble getting one since launch to get one for this Xmas and then there's fair warning about the price increase too.

But given the value of Gamepass already and the advantage MS have there, Sony would surely be better to continue taking the hit on the console and try make money from keeping people in the PS ecosystem.

The cost of TLOU is also an awful move. I have no doubt they put an insane amount of work into it, but not the amount of work a full new game would require so it should not be full new game price. The backlash to this was always going to happen and it's insane and arrogant that they didn't see that.

Jesus I've been having a couple weeks of that. The amount of new games from ps plus and old games i own that i downloaded to play for 30 minutes and then uninstall has been crazy. Guacamelee 2 is the only one building my interest as I'm short 1 trophy for the platinum, beat hard mode, which is tough as nails. Other than that, everything is blah. I'm really looking forward to NBA 2K23 in a couple of weeks but as much stuff in that I will love, 2K is bound to **** all over it with the most anti-consumer shenanigans in most of gaming.