The Tuesday letters page hopes the PS5 Pro will make 60fps a permanent standard, as one reader worries about the future of PlatinumGames.
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Power behind the throne
So, Sony acting weird even extends to their hiring process now? I don’t know how long we’re going to have this non-gaming bean counter as the PlayStation boss but I’m sure it’ll be too long, whatever it is.
I do wonder how much difference these figureheads really make though. There’s been a lot of understandable complaints about Phil Spencer lately, but it seems to me that it’s the Microsoft boss, Satya Nadella, who’s pulling the strings. It’s him that first started going on about not liking exclusives and he would’ve had to be the one that okayed the Activision Blizzard buyout.
I don’t know who the top dog is at Sony, but I think there’s a very good chance that Jim Ryan was pushed out, rather than jumped. The timing around everything that’s going on right now is just too weird. The only question for me is whether he was kicked out for pushing for live service games or just for not getting them made fast enough. Somehow, I get the feeling it’ll be a while till we find out.
Gossman
Hiring now
I’m sure the interview process for being the boss of PlayStation must be pretty long but could they really not find anyone to takeover before Jim Ryan left? It’s been six months since he said he’s going and I’m sure he told Sony before we found out publicly.
It just adds to the impression that Microsoft and Sony are a shambles at the moment and don’t know what they’re doing, which is not a good look for anyone thinking of spending money on their hardware. Maybe they couldn’t find anyone that was willing to take on a poison chalice like this.
I hope someone reliable and convincing can be found soon though, because having some soulless suit in charge, who keeps going on about growth and being multiformat, is not doing anything to convince me PlayStation is on the right track.
Lobo
Minimum standard
The requirements for being labelled as using ‘Enchanced’ mode for PS5 Pro seem pretty vague but in theory I’m for them. It has taken far too long for 60fps to become a standard and while 30fps can be okay in some circumstances you really should be having 60 as the minimum for any action game.
It makes such a difference and yet we’ve spent the last two generations obsessing over resolution, which makes far less impact. Better late than never and all that but I hope this isn’t just a passing fad but something that stays as a basic requirement from now on.
Ishi
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Shadow launch
The one thing that surprises me most about these Xbox multiformat releases is how little they’re being advertised. I’ve seen almost no new reviews, no marketing from Microsoft, and even the Nintendo Direct that had the first two barely mentioned Pentiment.
I know none of them are massive games, not even Sea Of Thieves, but if these are experiments they’re not really… experimenting very much with them.
If they do end up releasing Starfield and Indiana Jones on the PlayStation 5 then it’s probably going to be important that they let people know about it because, now I think of it, I can’t remember the last time I saw an Xbox ad in general, either online or on the TV.
Focus
Peaking early
Considering its size, it is kind of weird that Russia has had so few famous video games or developers. It had Tetris right out of the gate and then pretty much nothing. As far as I know they like the same basic games as everyone else, and one part of the country is right next to Japan, but they’ve been massive underachievers.
There’re bigger complaints to level against them now, obviously, but it’s also weird how this is the second time Putin has talked about a big new plan for video games. Maybe he’s a secret gamer. That would actually make sense if you consider how toxic and unpleasant many online players are.
Lothra
Remaking remakes
I really do think a new Resident Evil 1 remake is the most likely one to come next. 5 and 6 don’t make any sense on many levels, but the most obvious is simply that they’re not very good and not many people like them.
I do get the argument of waiting for the next gen, and that is a strong possibility, but who knows when that will actually be and will the graphics really be that much better? The law of diminishing returns is in full effect at this point and I doubt there’d be any major leap forward until a good few years after launch, by which point you’re looking at 2028 or later.
By that point the momentum Capcom has got going at the moment is going to have sagged, especially if they waste their time with lesser games in the meantime.
The big question is how to do it though. Surely, they wouldn’t go with fixed camera angles but if they didn’t how would they distinguish it from the other games? Especially as the whole game world was much smaller and more narrow than the sequels. It’s a difficult set of decisions and I’m very interested to see what they’ll do.
Kada
Drifting apart
Regarding Benjamin’s problem with the Xbox controller. A new update in the Device section allows you to recalibrate the controller to fix and compensate for the drift.
Sadly all big companies seem to have gotten rid of actually talking to someone, to save money but also making it difficult to sort any problem… all the best.
TWO MACKS
Disappointment as standard
I will not get personal in response to the Reader’s Feature regarding the launch of Dragon’s Dogma 2. In general though, this does seem to be an ever increasing issue with the level of entitlement and impatience of some more vocal gamers.
To be clear, I have now played Dragon’s Dogma 2 for over 50 hours and my experience breakdown as follows:
70% Smooth, fun and challenging.
20% Design decisions I have not seen before and that I have had to learn. (I didn’t play the first one.)
10% Some non-game breaking bugs and performance issues.
0% Use of microtransactions. I am sure they are there, but I have not seen them or needed to use them.
The reader states they skipped the entire opening and character to rush to see what the performance was like. How do they know that skipping large parts of the opening and character build didn’t somehow affect performance? I am sure it didn’t, but stranger things have happened.
Let’s remember that games like Dragon’s Dogma 2 have a million different moving parts and systems that will be almost impossible to test properly until released. And let’s also remember all products, gaming and otherwise, release with faults. I for one have bought new cars that have had to be returned with engine faults, new build houses have snagging lists, and only this week a catering friend of mine was telling me a popular brand of ice cream has had an urgent recall due to ‘metal parts in the mix’!
To rectify the above though is considerably more complicated and time consuming than a game fixing patch. Heck, they even come to you and fix it! If the reader had been a little less keen to be offended and a touch more patient, then he would have now received that patch that fixed almost all the issues he spoke of. To me that’s pretty good customer service. It took me six months to get my car fixed!
We also need to spare a thought for the developers and designers who are currently going to almost a daily job cull. Spamming negative reviews based upon impatience and unrealistic expectations helps no one in the long run.
Now whilst the reader sits and looks at his refund the rest of us are enjoying the game he wanted to love so much.
James
GC: It’s not impossible to test properly until release. Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom is an even more complex game and has close to zero bugs, because Nintendo put aside a whole year for testing and polishing.
Inbox also-rans
I have nothing important to add to the discussion but I would just like to say that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is great. I love how goofy it is and the amount of content is amazing. Well done Square Enix.
Oscar
I’m getting worried that it is a very long time since we’ve heard from PlatinumGames. They didn’t even post a lame April Fool like usual. Which I guess confirms that Hideki Kamiya was behind all that.
Trepsils
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The small print
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