The Friday letters page rejects the idea of a price comparison between PS5 Pro and a gaming PC, as one reader worries about Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom’s length.
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What a State
So it looks like there’s definitely going to be a State of Play next week and yet all the leakers are saying that it’s not going to have any first party games? Well, first of all, that’s ridiculous. What is Sony playing at? Don’t they realise how bad this looks? Why wasn’t the first thought after the disaster of Concord to show what else they’re working on, to prove that won’t happen again?
Two years we’ve been putting up with this nonsense and there’s still no end in sight. And now the big reveal for next week is going to be a remaster of a game either people don’t care about or which doesn’t need it.
Sony will have to talk about something but what will it be? I’ve seen some rumours of Resident Evil 9 but I’m not sure I can see that. Surely that’d be better for The Game Awards, where millions of people are watching? Judging by the last few, people are getting increasingly fed up with boring State of Plays. Or, worse, State of Plays that manage to make games look worse than you thought.
Rather than a new Resident Evil I imagine it will just be Assassin’s Creed or Call Of Duty or something else we don’t need to know anything more about. At this point I’m not sure I’ll even be bothered to watch it.
Grant
Trials and Tribulations
I wouldn’t normally say this sort of thing, but I’d be perfectly happy for Palworld to be taken to the cleaners by Nintendo. Some of that stuff the director has been saying, about not liking coming up with new ideas, is borderline creepy. Also, he so blatantly got AI to copy Pokémon I don’t know how he can pretend otherwise with a straight face.
However, I can’t remember any case like this where the publishers won. The thing the other day with the mobile phone game copying Pokémon was just them stealing artwork, as far as I can see. But this is different, it’s a whole game that has a lot of differences from Pokémon (even if that just means stealing from different games).
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a company get into trouble for blatantly stealing an idea or design, which I assume means it’s impossible to prove legally. Which is weird because companies are constantly registering patents, but they don’t seem to prevent anything.
Zeiss
Paint it black
Those grey PlayStation 5 consoles are kind of cool but why is there no PS5 Slim? Is this another sign that Sony is trying to push towards a digital-only future? We all know publishers prefer it because they get more profits that way, but you would’ve thought Sony would’ve released that so much of their success with the PlayStation 4 was due to Xbox trying to push what they’re now apparently all in favour of.
I doubt anyone’s particularly surprised that that’s how things have worked out, but it’s a disappointment anyway. Also, am I the only one that feels Sony isn’t really embracing its 30th anniversary with much enthusiasm? I know they don’t seem to do anything enthusiastically nowadays but that’s a big milestone and all we’ve got to celebrate it is some novelty magnets and ordinary consoles painted grey.
Hollis
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Risky saving
I’ve just pre-ordered the new Zelda game, that’s out next week, and originally wasn’t going to. With its comparisons to Link’s Awakening on the Switch, and using its same engine, it just has me a little worried about game length.
I thought Link’s Awakening was rather short, but I do realise that underneath it’s shiny new coating it was originally a Game Boy game, so that’s understandable. It was still quality.
The problem for me stems from the fact that this one may also be short lived, plus we still don’t know which development team has made the game for Nintendo do we? Grezzo possibly?
I’m putting my trust in Nintendo not to fail me with this one. I wanted to wait for your review GC but there’s 25% off the pre-order at Currys which made me take a gamble.
Nick The Greek
GC: We’re not allowed to say anything about the game until the review, but Grezzo does seem to be the developer. Not because Nintendo announced it or anything, but according to copyright information on the eShop.
Bulk buy
I’m assuming they aren’t selling it as a lost per unit, as the initial PlayStation 5 release was. They would normally recoup the money through sales and games.
While now the product is past its peak sales period it gives them the opportunity to sell something slightly better at most probably manufacturing price and the money they make is from the bulk components bought at discount to build the Pro.
Michael
Wait and see
RE: Simundo. ‘That you could build a PS5 Pro-beating PC for £911 (that’s how much the one I built on PC Part Picker cost) is of no concern to console gamers. Not least because to get that I price I have to build the thing and set it up. That price also doesn’t include Windows, a controller, mouse or keyboard.’
It’s very true, but you can also look at the cost of online gaming (nothing on PC), cost of games (considerably cheaper than on PlayStation Store and you can save hundreds over a year depending on the amount of games you purchase) and adding £100 for a disc drive for the Pro unless you plan to buy all digital (again, costly).
No doubt as an upfront cost the PC will be more expensive, but over several years it will be cheaper. And secondly, it’s modular, so you can replace that outdated CPU in four years if necessary, whereas your PS5 Pro will be landfill effectively, as RAM, CPU , GPU requirements will have all moved on.
I’m not willing to go back to PC gaming just yet, as I play in my living room, and a PC there isn’t ideal, but next generation I really might consider it.
I was weighing up a PS5 Pro, but when I think how a PlayStation 6 might drop in the next few years as well, then I’m slightly less inclined to spend £7-800 for a few years only, and then probably spend same again on a PlayStation 6.
Kiran
Shop smart
Sony knows early adopters will pay a premium price so charge them £700 and then when they have a Christmas price reduction to £600 everyone will say ‘Wow, what a bargain, £100 off!’ and it doesn’t look such a big difference to the base PlayStation 5.
If they released it at £600 people would still complain.
Plus, even at £700, if you are consumer savvy you, will know about cashback sites, discount codes, etc. where you can easily save 10% of that cost from a lot of big retailers. In this day and age there’s no reason to pay full price for any big tech purchase.
Mark Matthews
No comparison
We can all agree the PS5 Pro price is taking the you-know-what, especially in the UK. What I’m not going to do is list PC parts to somehow justify the price. Console and PC gaming is entirely different. The whole point of a console is a cost effective solution which has a mass market appeal. Games are specifically optimised for those platforms, whilst on PC you can brute force performance.
I used to be a PC gamer and felt like some tech wizard when I started upgrading parts. The flexibility of PC gaming is certainly appealing. But not many gamers are hooking up their PCs to a TV in the living/dining room space.
I just feel it’s pointless to make comparisons if you are going to ignore the key differences. Maybe if PlayStation 6 costs £699, gamers will regret trying to justify the price. You get more bang for your buck on console. PS5 Pro puts that theory in danger.
Si (not OG Si, doppelgänger or stalker)
PS: I completely agree with Sidmundo. I don’t think there is a cross-over between console and PC players. Different strokes for different folks.
Inbox also-rans
A remaster that’s even more boring that Horizon Zero Dawn? It’s got to be Days Gone. Then we can have a new round of people demanding a sequel, despite it being a deeply mediocre game.
Aspen
I might give eFootball another go since it’s free but I just resent being reminded about the name Pro Evolution Soccer. I know sales were falling but have they really got any better since eFootball started instead? Also, it’s a really bad name.
Gackula
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The small print
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