Because it all routes through one digital storefront without the possibility of competition, so digital pricing on console storefronts is artificially high.

Plus, they’ve already shut down stores on older consoles and people have lost games. That’s less likely as console companies learn how to make competent digital storefronts and account systems, many have felt the burn of losing all your digital purchases on console and won’t let it happen twice.

If you need the feature set of Bluesky and can’t use Mastodon, please also follow https://fed.brid.gy/ if you can. This will allow Mastodon users to follow you from the Fediverse.

If they don’t, please also follow https://fed.brid.gy/ so your BlueSky account is federated to Mastodon. If you move to Threads, please turn on Fediverse integration.

It’s so frustrating, between Mastodon, Bluesky and Threads almost every person I used to follow on Twitter exists somewhere else. But only about half of them are accessible in any one platform.

I’ll begin with the disclaimer that if you’re already of the view that Mario Party is good and fun and not at all a worse-than-Monopoly-at-Christmas affair, Jamboree is exactly that and more of it.

The reviewer hates Mario Party as a concept, so it’s hard to take too seriously.

Fortnite is a money printing machine. Skins that cost pennies to make go in, and billions of dollars come out. How in the hell was it ever not “financially sound” other than pissing away money on badly executed lawsuits, timed exclusives on a formerly open platform and other assorted dick measuring contests?

This guy is the worst. You’re not an underdog or a friend, you’re the worst kind of capitalist. The one who just stumbled upon a huge pile of cash and has no idea what to do with it, but is certain that he deserves it.

Every police officer ever.

What advantages does this motorcar have over, say, a train? Which I could also afford.

The current Slim PS5 also doesn’t have a disc drive, you can just buy it in a bundle and attach the optional one.

Honestly for manufacturing this makes way more sense, to ship one SKU and then make them all upgradable to disc. It’s also kind of nice that if you buy a digital one and want disc in the future you can just buy the drive.

You’ll get an email shortly kicking you off that plan, they’re just working through the list. Had it for 4 years, signed up quite a few others as well. Everyone has been booted over the last 2-3 months.

Why any game in 2024 is targeting one specific frame rate is beyond me. Just do like any other competent release, and offer a “Quality/Performance” option where one targets 30fps with max visuals and one targets 60fps and cuts what it needs to get there.

I think people are well aware that the current console generations are just midrange PCs frozen in time at this point. Nobody is expecting miracles, just give them both options and be done with it.

Yeah now that I think about it, that has been my experience with my Series X, I just don’t use it that often. My PS5 however is much more seamless, so maybe it was just Sony who tried to improve this.

I think a network connection is inevitable during initial game setup, but as PC gaming has been like this since 2008 it’s not really bothersome to me. Bigger issue was mandatory updates, slow launches, etc. which I think have mostly been solved on the PS5 side.

Yeah these discussions are hilarious, like watching people arguing about anti-aliasing back in the day. Rerendering the whole scene again? Just to remove some jagged edges? What a waste.

Raytracing is future technology, I’m glad it’s in every game now even if it’s not always well optimized or worth using, because it will make those games age that much better when I want to go back and play them in 10+ years.

It’s clear you haven’t used this generation of consoles. They took this feedback to heart and now after install which is entirely determined by your internet connection/disc speed, you can hop into game insanely quick.

For a game I’m already playing I think from PS5 on to actually moving around in game we’re talking like… 10-15 seconds. It’s essentially just making save states. I’ve never seen a mandatory update stop me from launching a game, and it does most install in the background while it’s on standby. It takes longer to get in game on my Gaming PC than the PS5.

This was brutal in the PS3 & 360 era, better in the PS4/XBONE era, and is essentially solved as it can ever be in the current era.

lol it gets shorter every time this story is told. It was 18 months, and it started with a fully complete game engine with tons of finished assets.

For a similar comparison, GTA Vice City was released in October 2002 and GTA San Andreas was released in October 2004 with a 2 year dev cycle. Starting with a complete engine and doing what amounts to a total conversion does significantly shorten dev time.

Also, it’s not like they moved mountains to achieve this. FNV shipped with countless game breaking bugs and would CTD every 10 minutes on my system at launch. It only became playable after the first few patches. GTA SA shipped on disc, with the version that most people played being the initial PS2 version, and that version works quite well. So basically they achieved the 6 month reduction by lopping off the QA cycle.

Was it a short dev cycle even with that all being said? Yes, especially for an HD era game on an engine the team wasn’t as familiar with as the GTA SA team would have been. But let’s not rewrite history.

Ahh that helps explain it, I don’t follow closely so I assumed it was just a standard annual release like NHL/Madden/FIFA etc, not a “once in a while” like some of the smaller leagues.

Although because this worked on this release, they’ll definitely try it on a major league one next. My bet is NHL because that will ruffle less feathers, then if that goes well it will make it to Madden & EA FC, the cash cows.

Interesting that this works on regular people. I always thought of it as the streamer tax, didn’t think they would try it on a sports game. I mean, most of the time those are just roster updates anyways, I’m surprised anyone would pay to get early access.

You don’t have to theorize this, you can play Minecraft in VR and experience it.

It’s fucking terrifying. A creeper blew me up and I almost had a heart attack.

chefs can have a little toxic glue, as a treat

Most people get their oil changed at a shop, and drive through a car wash. I wouldn’t really consider those additional skills.

This is so dramatic and condescending. God forbid they just make something that people like. A lot of the areas that Nintendo makes top sellers in, other companies don’t even bother to compete.

Outside of indies, there aren’t many games like Animal Crossing, Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Mario Sports titles, etc.

If you don’t believe me, watch the Summer gaming launch streams. It’s just 3rd person action, FPS, indie. 3rd person action, FPS, indie. With half of those games being GaaS to boot. Repeat for 1hr and end show. Platformers, kart racers, horror games, Metroidvanias, top down adventure, party games, these genres have just been abandoned to indies.

People like Nintendo because they make accessible, fun games that other major publishers don’t. They make games that you pay once for, even if that price is high. They make games that you can play together. They make games END, which is a shocking concept for an industry that wants to drip feed you and make your life about just their game, forever until you die.