The HotSpot - Episode 366

PS5 tall and slim

XSX thicc

EDIT: I'm with Alex when it comes to Digital vs Physical.

Also, physical games better discount. xenoblade definitive edition got $10 off on Amazon pre-order. A Nintendo game and discount

The only thing I still want, but am pretty sure we are not getting is for them to tell me the PS5 with the disk tray is gonna be "Put any game from any generation of the playstation in and play it!" I think they could charge upwards of 1k for that and I'd pay for it.

As it is, the only way to get a great deal of backwards comparability with is to have multiple systems plugged in at once, Have a specific model of the specifically launch PS3 + a PS4 (and/or PS5 going forward) or emulate everything.

That last one being the easiest, by far, I've got to think its just an absolute lack of understanding, or care/concern for what certain consumers might be interested in features wise. Microsoft seems to be doing the "As much Backwards compatibility as we can give you!" perfectly fine. Sony on the other hand has seemed utterly blind and deaf to the demand for it. Either stupidly or on purpose, either-or.

For a company with the/one of the single greatest selling console of all time in the PS2, it shocks me how little they realize that thousands of people have back catalogs of those games. Talk about adding potential value too a console and forget the "Mini old system that you can stick roms onto!" A First party supported platform that you can just insert old disks into (or mod and play roms whatever) seems like a no-brainer cash cow.

Especially given the easy nature of it. The PS3s unique (i.e. stupidly choosen) architecture aside, (though I'd bet we are well past the era where that can't just be brute-forced by better hardware), You had the damn Vita emulating PS2 software just fine for the most part, and that's an old ass now out of date system.

I know, I know, I can just get a mister or whatever mini-computer, put PS1, 2 and etc emulators on it and play all the games I own on disk that way via their various roms (hell maybe there is a 3rd party disk-reading solution). But as someone who views consoles as a secondary device (I am mainly a PC gamer) but whom appreciates them for the simple "put in a disk and play/download a set file and play") a closed system like a console can bring, that Sony is making it damn hard to enjoy my back collection of games easily sucks.

To me, it feels like money left on the table. Violating the old idea/proved concept of "If you just make paying for something easy enough, people will do so over stealing/pirating it.". Granted, emulation of hardware and software I own is either a legal grey area of "perfectly legal" IANAL, but either-or, its a bad look for the company when something I wish they would make and let me pay for is only best found instead via such means.

@bladededge: yeah man, I'm right there with you. If Playstation really leaned into their history and legacy, I'd be in line day one to buy one of these. But they seem to be going out of their way to say they don't care about my priorities or desire to build a lasting collection of my favorite games of all time.

I mean, they have a bunch of shiny new games and that's great but there's nothing pulling me into their ecosystem. I'll just end up doing what I did the last few generations: begrudgingly buy Sony's box once it's cheaper and use it for exclusives when I have no other choice of where to play :/

Are you me? That is the -exact- same scenario that I used for the PS4 (and would have for the PS3 except I did original have one of those "plays PS1 2 and 3 games!" models until it burned itself out) and will likely be using with this one.

There just is no reason my current base (not even Pro) PS4 isn't gonna be doing just fine for me for years to come. Especially given I'm a JRPG/Western RPG guy first and foremost and those categories of games always end up either A-on PC and better usually due to mod support or B-the last genre's to fully switch to just being the new console only.

Like, I am gonna buy a PS5, but only when Persona 6 is a PS5 exclusive or FF7 "Part2 the Reawakening!" or whatever is an exclusive or..etc. Like, I've got a set budget to update my very old PC. If Sony were gonna sell me a All in one PS5, I might just use it to buy that instead. As it is? New computer first, PS5 can wait until this model is sub 400$ bundled with stuff I want to play.

And, honestly, I'm not even sure then. I am only saying I am sure I'll buy a ps5 because A-right now my finances allow me to assume I can afford to spend that kinda cash and B-I assume, eventually, they will have exclusives I want. If we find out tomorrow the rumors about Persona 4 Golden being on PC are true, and that leads too the only hold-out I can think of off the top of my head from porting stuff to the switch/PC? Sans any exclusives I care about, I'm not even sure what would make me buy a PS5.

@bladededge: Right, that's the thing. My PC's starting to show it's age too so between upgrading that or getting a PS5, my money's going into the PC because that's where most of my collection is at this point. Also hope those Persona 4 Golden rumors are true, that would be awesome!

@drachmalius: P4G is one of my favorite games of all time. Its dungeons have faded in quality compared to P5s custom made ones, but, the changes they made to P4G in terms of the way you gain cards and personas in 4 made that endlessly addictive to me.

There was just something insanely satisfying and fun about the very very simple puzzle elements of chaining together combos of getting all the cards that came up, figuring out the exact order to flip them over/activate them (I forget the exact mechanics obviously) to lead into getting a higher and high combo going. I honestly had more fun in that mini-game then any of the combat of P4G, and its the only reason I ever grinded/went back to previous dungeons for the extra loot at the end.

here's hoping not only is the rumor true but they keep that system, since I was very sad to see it replaced with negotiations in P5/P5R

the PS5 looks at least as thick as an Xbox One from the thumbnail. And those are already thick to begin with

Jeff during his computer startup.

The Hotspot needs to continue as its own podcast. It reminds me of the days when all of GB was working out of SF.

That Midnight Brown intro is HOT!

On the topic of digital vs physical for consoles, I'm all digital at this point. I 100% fit the demographic that Jeff described as folks who are indifferent or don't care. I'm at a point in my life now where I don't care if I lose the rights to play a game, especially if I've already completed it. 5-6 years ago, I would have definitely been physical though because I definitely played more games than I do now. I be curious to see the demographics data on digital vs physical for consoles. I am willing to bet that as you get older, you skew towards digital. I'm late 20s and went towards digital when I was 23-24.

Regarding digital vs physical - definitely with Alex on this for many, many reasons.

Even ignoring the whole ownership thing, Im still mostly physical mainly just because of cost. Don’t know about America but here in the UK I can easily save £10-15+ on a new release by buying a physical copy from a online store. Then I’ve also got the option to sell on when I’m done with it.
Jeff rightly points out that eventually discs for these Games as Service games are worthless, but not within the first few months. Take Anthem, bought at launch for £43 with a £12 saving compared to digital. Played till had my fill and realised it wasn’t very good, sold on a month later for £35. If I’d bought that digitally I’d have been stuck with it. Same with any game you spend more than a couple of hours on. + say if I Anthem does get turned around, I can buy it for £5 now. So I’m still way ahead even if I rebuy it. I made the mistake of buying NFS Heat digitally, don’t like it (gave it a few hours to make sure as some games get better) but stuck with it now and can’t get any of my money back by selling back on. Games are expensive so being able to recoup some cost or sell on a game if you don’t like it is huge for me. & 9/10 that money is used to help buy another game I might not be able to otherwise.

I understand the convenience of digital and have even re-purchased some of my games when they’ve been heavily discounted digitally. But even having some disposable income I could never go just digital on consoles, I can’t justify wasting that much money. Don’t digital purchases still only account for about 50% of sales. Sure that’s a lot more than it used to be but still a huge number of people buy physically.

I also found Jeff‘s discussion regarding most games are service online games (for the better as he out) interesting. I’ve personally found that to be one of the worst things to happen to gaming recently. As he says, Sony seem to be one of the only companies still pushing AAA budget single player games. But I think this is one of the biggest reasons they are killing it this gen and more people seem to be excited about them next gen so far IMO.

Look at Nintendo too. Their console is shit for online games, yet look at the sales of their console. and Nintendos biggest games are usually single player.

I think the digital sale and online service game stuff is overblown for the most part to try and make it seem more like the norm so companies like EA can make more money.

As a side note, dont care about Minecraft but I fully care about this mystery surrounding whats gone on! Going to have to check those videos out :)

abby its all gone

@kingyo said:

fuck. FUCK!

Also, here's a bombcast where Vinny talks about putting a note into that steelbook case.

In that 2013 bombcast, 05:43 is when Vinny brings up Watchdogs, note is mentioned at 06:23.

In this hotspot video, Vinny mentions steelcases at 01:14:13, 01:15:10 he reaches for the Watchdogz steelcase and reveals a note at 01:15:30.

I've always been a game collector. Ever since I was very young, my collection ebbed and flowed, but I was always as meticulous as I could be and greatly enjoyed gobbling up cheap games from used stores. That hasn't changed into my adulthood, but I grant that it might. Anything's possible. But as someone who is passionate about games and likes writing about them/doing research, I inevitably find myself wishing I had this game or that game and the ability to play it right then. A lot of the time those games are older, obscure, and only on disc.

It's also worth talking about something GB has brought up here and there before - certain games just will not come back to the digital market. Or if they do, it won't be in the original format all the time. Will Capcom continue making the original version of Resident Evil available to people who want it? Or will they just lean on the HD version of the Remake from here on out? Or, Tony Hawk might be getting remastered, but for people who are specific fans of THSP3, that game is still untouched.

Plenty of JRPGs haven't been re-released either. I was a huge Xenosaga fan as a teenager and if I want to replay those, which I most likely will, I'll need a PS2 for those discs. Namco's already apparently shot down an HD re-release for the time being so that's the reality for that series for the time being. There's also stuff like Panzer Dragoon Saga, which is almost lost to time as it is.

I've definitely started buying more digital games. There are good reasons to do so. However, at this point in time, I still see a lot of benefit for buying physically. It's something I always enjoyed - and as my ballooning PS3 collection shows, I don't think it'll end soon.

As well as being able to sell games that you are done with, sharing games is easier when they’re on disc. Uncharted Lost Legacy came with a code for Jak & Daxter, and I redeemed that on my wife’s PS4 cause she said she wanted to play it. But she never did, and then when I wanted to play it, I had to use her PS4 to do so and not my PS4 Pro.

@curufinwe: Why didn’t you just have her sign in to your PS4 Pro and download it? It’s pretty easy to share digital games between two people in the same household.

I could listen to Brad explain how he hits the company backend with his python CLI all day :)

The steady progress towards "always-online" of consoles with constant patching of both OS and games as well as enormous downloads to HDDs of disproportionate size has muddied the lines between PC and consoles so much that it has almost killed the appeal of consoles to me. Consoles are now almost practically a walled garden gaming PC (perhaps a little cheaper up front) with diminishing reliability in return while also requiring a subscription for multiplayer (that I very rarely play) as well.

The top end Nvidia graphics cards might be super expensive but AMD isn't that terrible in comparison in the mid-range as far as I can follow. Plus it seems like there might be actual competition in the x86 CPU market again so building a console-level gaming PC at similar price point is probably more achievable than ever.

I agree. I started listening to video game podcasts with The Hotspot back in 2006. My only misgiving is because it's a premium podcast, I can't just use iTunes to stream it during my commute.

Totally with Jeff on Minecraft creative mode. I need to be limited by survival mode for the game to be fun. Like 75% of the game for me is gathering the materials. The problem is that I'm not creative enough, so when you remove the survival restraints and give me access to everything, I have absolutely no idea what to build, and I get bored.

Putting the tinfoil hat on for a moment - perhaps Sony purposefully made the disc PS5 uglier (with the disc portion sticking out and not looking like an intentional part of the design). As a ploy to maybe convince the on-the-fence people to get the slightly more aesthetically pleasing console, and therefore be locked into Sony's digital ecosystem.

This is some amazing sleuthing!

@penguindust said:

You can use iTunes for the premium podcast feed - add the RSS link from this page into your iTunes podcasts subscriptions. (File > Subscribe to Podcast... while in iTunes.) https://www.giantbomb.com/feeds/

You will have to enter your Giant Bomb login info when iTunes tries to update the podcast.

After hearing about The Duke on the podcast for a decade, I thought I should educate myself. Here's what I found when I searched for The Duke controller in the wiki:

https://www.giantbomb.com/nuke-the-duke-johnson/3005-11155/

https://www.giantbomb.com/fat-controller/3005-41268/

https://www.giantbomb.com/articles/343-industries-looking-to-resurrect-the-original-x/1100-3383/

Comments, what am I missing?

There has been competition in the CPU market for several years, Ryzen CPUs kick ass for the price. And with Ryzen 3, they actually have parity in the high-end market. Now the big question is if AMD's Navi GPUs can do the same for the GPU market. Also of note, both next-gen consoles use Navi GPUs.

@reversegamelan: The Duke controller was relatively big compared to most controllers. I found someone's reddit post comparing the re-released Duke with the Xbox One Elite controller. And basically the running joke in the general gaming community is just that it's really big lol. I think Vinny's hands are big so that's what the joke on this specific podcast was about. Now that I look at it again, it's not as big as I remember but if people are like me, they played with this controller when they were way younger. So imagine a kid's hands on that thing. It makes it seem even more ridiculous in my memory! I wonder if that's why a lot of people remember it too?

Series X is WALL-E and PS5 is EVE.

There is a currently open and quite popular community server for Demon's Souls. Basically it's as if you were playing it when the official servers were online. Only difference is there is a much wider level gap.

One of the main reasons I'm fixing my PS3 haha.

Grimacing throughout the whole all digital conversation as I still buy physical games at deeply discounted rates and sell them either locally or on ebay for a decent price. It’s practically the only way I can afford to play most things.

Also rental services might be all but dead in the US but here the UK there are some companies going strong, like Boomerang Rentals. Far from ideal as you often don’t get what you really want but still good if you’re looking to keep up and save some money.

This was very fun. Didn't know about the Redbox thing.i hope y'alls Minecraft server survived. I wanna see you guys play that Transformers game

@alwaysbeclothing: Wow, what a pull that was! I have no idea how you managed to connect those dots across 7 years, but good job!

I was going to skip ahead in the podcast to the timestamp you gave, but then the old music hit and I let it play and then Vinny and Jeff immediately start doing one of their classic bits and it was like taking a walk down Bombcast memory lane :D

@alwaysbeclothing: god level work

I do wonder if Sony is holding on to the concept of 'wider' backwards compatibility as a bargaining chip only to be 'placed in the game' if need? There was a rumor two years ago that Sony as working on a just such a system - playing games directly form old discs. Was that hearsay? Was that wild ass hope? Who knows. But here's the thing, if groups of hacker can make a emulator, then why couldn't Sony?

Either way, full BC or just very limited sprinkle of games, Sony could use it a bargaining chip. Sony's back catalog could be something Sony uses to sweeten the pot. The possibility is very low, purhape a pipe dream, but who knows.

@nameredacted: This is what I'm wondering. I would not be mad at this.

@jasperkazai: Thanks. I had to do a little bit of extra research to see how to add it on an iPhone, but your instructions pointed me in the right direction. Now I have three, sometimes four (the aftershow is spotty) GB podcasts to listen to each week.