imhungry

You haven't really made any points about what the new consoles are offering though. A remake of Demon's Souls, as much as I personally might be excited about that, is hardly anything to set the world on fire. I think the site's been pretty fair in pointing out that if you already own a current gen console, there really isn't much right now that's enticing about these new consoles.

To your point, I'd argue that especially in these Covid times where many people are managing finances, the case for a launch console is more underwhelming than ever.

As is always the case with these things, I'll pay attention a few years after release when it actually becomes available in my region. It always strikes me as funny that the US with its oppressive data caps serves as the primary test bed while Asian countries with the good internet are left out in the cold. Obviously it's a matter of server infrastructure for the streaming companies but it feels like the questions of data caps and uneven internet infrastructure in the US always loom large over these announcements.

Pleasantly surprised that they really went ahead and did a full overhaul of the combat. As much as I love that first game, going back to that combat was going to be rough. Would've been a little funny to see the reactions of people who only played Automata but this is definitely for the best. Also really excited that the VAs are re-recording their lines!

What a great panel in general, great name and vibe throughout.

@haz: In addition to what @navster15 rightly noted, that specific Netflix comparison doesn't really hold because when you talk about Netflix cancelling a show, you're talking about that happening between seasons which isn't as much of a concept for games. The closest comparison would be episodic games, which the industry as a whole is once again trending away from (RIP D4) and games-as-a-service style games which already have those metrics available (and already do get cancelled) regardless of Game Pass. A game might get cancelled mid-development but user engagement is only going to be a factor if it's a game that has an Early Access style rollout on Game Pass, like Grounded, which at least for now certainly doesn't seem like it's going to be the norm.

Games get phased on and off Game Pass regularly, but that just means you have to seek out the game elsewhere, it's still a finished product unlike a Netflix show that gets cancelled after season 2. In addition, MS has been good about letting people know pretty far in advance what's moving off Game Pass to give ample time to play it if you want to. And this pretty much only applies to 3rd party games, which again are generally widely available elsewhere.

Performance on Game Pass might, of course, influence the green lighting of sequels but personally I fail to see how that's really any different from the current state of how these decisions get made. If anything, it'll let people be more readily exposed to niche games that they may not ever have spent $60 to try previously and as others have already mentioned that appears to be what's happening with Game Pass so far at least.

I mean it's really tough to beat NieR Automata in my mind, to the point that it feels a little unfair just because of how end credits are in that game.

Other strong contenders that came to mind were Transistor, Chrono Cross, Persona 3 and Okami (the original song was unfortunately absent for the HD version).

@fitch5000: Just went and checked and nobody had actually added releases for CK3 in the wiki so I've rectified that, should show up in new releases once the edit pushes through.

@temg99: This news feels extra wild when thinking about that stuff given how much talk there's been in the past month about budgeting their new gear for working from home.

It's genuinely great that you're having fun with the game but pretty much everything you wrote about the multiplayer portion of the game was an active turn-off for me. For me, the game utterly fails as the sort of crossover you're suggesting and in fact was probably actively harmed by the forceful addition of the game-as-service component in so many ways.

I would love to see the market research that goes into a decision like this. The trailer didn't look as bad as I thought it would based on the thumbnail but I can't get over how odd the Prince's face looks.

Give us the Prince of Persia 2008 sequel you cowards!

@bisonhero: Those are some wild numbers, had no idea that BotW did so well.

I'm pretty onboard with this decision. I play and enjoy a musou game every now and then when the mod strikes and having a stronger core narrative would go a long way in keeping the game interesting and engaging. Also pretty interested to play it just because I'm always curious how writers handle stories with endings that are more or less defined and known at the outset.