PS.. is it 5? I think we're on 5 now. PS5

I'm almost done with FW and never played the first one. It was a bit confusing at times in terms of story, but I never really regretted it. I think I read the wikipedia about the first one once just to understand some of the backstory

I loved the first one, and can't imagine skipping it. But I haven't played the second one yet because I only relatively recently played the first and am not ready for the second, which I assume is more of the same. So: game limbo.

HZD ends on a cliffhanger which HFW picks up, and though it kind of pains me to say, you might get more out of HFW than brute-forcing your way through HZD, as the first game has a number of rough edges that bothered me (floaty physics, serviceable dialogue at best, desultory art direction during cut scenes). That said, I also would recommend people play HFW on a PS5 or at least a PS4 Pro -- I played on a Slim and through ~11 patches, I still had issues with things like shimmering and asset pop-in.

yeah the cliffhanger aspect was definitely a little weird as a starting point, and there were a few moments where I wondered if I shouldn't have started it as a standalone. It's def more of a sequel than, say, Witcher 3 which I also played without playing the others.

But idk ultimately I like games like that for wandering around and doing whatever I want and tend not to get super invested in the story (and I found the writing/acting pretty variable tbh), so ymmv

It's taken a while for me to really enjoy the Dualsense controller. I was pretty underwhelmed with it at first. Playing the Astrobot showcase game, I felt like the vibrations were kind of scratchy and scrapey, and there wasn't quite the same satisfying rumble of the PS4 controller which had a lot of push and give.
I felt very aware I was holding a controller with lots of whirring parts, and strangely this took me out of the immersion.
Also couldn't work out if there wasn't a hint of latency when the robot walked on the ground - the feel of footsteps felt just a little off for some reason..

It did make me wonder if my controller is working properly, since reports from friends were that it was AMAZING.

I'm not fully convinced yet, but having played a bit more I am pretty impressed with some of the textures, rain, grass etc. I also love the triggers and how they rumble when you fire a gun or fly a rocket.

I find it a lot more responsive and sturdy, at least so far. maybe worse battery?

It feels nicer to hold, certainly. I'm just not sure about the vibration yet. I'm getting used to it

I’ve been playing PC games with a PS5 controller for… maybe over a year longer than I’ve had a PS5, and recently started using a xbox controller on the PC. Getting used to it, but I really prefer the PS5 one!

The variable tension triggers are iffy in a lot of games where it seems tacked on but Horizon: Forbidden West had some really twangy bows

Is there a decent karting game on Playstation these days?

I remember ModNation Racers on the PS3 was ace but not aware of anything since.

crash team racing is great

featuring everyone’s favourite bandicoot

Coco?

Speaking of being incredibly behind: shovel knight is great!

I filled the PS5 hard drive a lot faster than I expected, so ordered another TB for the expansion drive. Looks like the hardest thing about the installation is taking off the cover.

very easy once you figure out the right angle to apply pressure to that cover

How noisy is your PS5 peeps? Mine makes a low hum almost all the time it's on - not too loud, but audible, and a fairly loud whir when it's accessing the game disc

So far not that noisy, afaict. Do you have yours vertical or horizontal? Mine is horizontal, and the shelf it is on allows for a lot of circulation on all sides, including beneath.

Horizontal, in the space in the cabinet under the TV, which allows a bout 2-3 inches either side which isn't ideal, but what am I supposed to do. I do wonder if mine is particularly noisy or if it's just being amplified by being in a cubby on a wooden surface

very easy once you figure out the right angle to apply pressure to that cover

No kidding, that was super-easy. Why didn't the PS5 just come with the option for more storage?

I mean, they could have just charged more for more memory. As opposed to just putting a slot in there and making you buy it from a third party.

i think that's actually the one thing the PS5 hardware has over the XSX, the option of expanding the internal ssd with any suitable drive purchased separately

the internal ssd is custom and soldered to the mb so i assume it wouldn't make sense to offer yet another sku with just a larger drive

apropos of ssds, can't wait till these new consoles need to be sent for repairs due to the internal ssd failing, that'll be a fun time

I mean, storage doesn’t get cheaper as quickly as it used to, but it’s still becoming more affordable. Giving the PS5 a M.2 slot is both a way to open up the option of jumping on that diminishing price curve and make it standard

looks like prices have come down a little in the past year
and it's additive to your local storage, right? unlike the PS3/PS4 where you swapped out the original

yes, it's additive for both ps5 and series, the internal SSDs are not user serviceable

thus my expectation of a joycon drift-like scenario a few years in the future where large numbers of people are forced to get a new console because their internal drives are worn out, mostly because these things are continuously recording gameplay video on the background

Having recently bought an external drive for my PS4, seems a bit shit I'll only be able to run PS4 games off it on the PS5

It's been great being able to d/l loads of games without having to faff around working out how much storage I'd need to free up first

It's easy to delete your unwanted video recordings and tbh with cloud storage I'm managing comfortably with the existing space at the moment

A theory about the extra memory slot (but no extra memory) is that with the new system ramping up production back-when, maybe they just didn't have the time or hardware inventory to stuff every machine with another TB. Or maybe they were worried that with the price pretty high already, they didn't want to stack another $100 or so on top of the retail price and risk having those then-premium priced 2TB machines sitting around.

What's weird is that the extra slots weren't always supported, right? So why include the extra slot but (at least initially) prevent people from taking advantage of them?

I think the only reason I functionally filled the internal drive is that I compulsively upgraded all the eligible PS4 titles I had to PS5, moving the PS4 titles exclusively to the external drive I already had and keeping the PS5-ified titles on the console.

It'll be different for different users, there was a time when I thought it wasn't enough memory but I'm a very serial player and 10-12 games on the system is fine for me

Had the same thought about the economic reality at the time tho

OK, so having spent a few months with the PS5 and played a few games, I've more or less concluded that, at least so far, as a next generation showcase it's something of a bust, but as a *system* it shows some impressive improvements. That is, I wouldn't break out the PS5 to show off something that's never been seen before, but it does boast lots of QOL boosts, like fast load times and better/more consistent FPS. I like the way PS4 games play better on it than they do on the PS4, and I like how even then lots of PS4 games get free or (somewhat) discounted upgrades to take advantage of PS5 specs. Basically it's serving as the PS4 Even More Pro.

Curious to see what it's like if/when we start getting some true PS5 exclusives that aren't (re)built off of previous games (ie Spider-man Remastered, Demon's Souls, Last of Us). I know Insomniac teased that the advances of the (presumably) PS5 exclusive Spider-man 2 were significant and noticeable. People really seem to like the Ratchet and Clank, too, which is in my "wait for sale" pile.

I've got Returnal and it's really something in terms of graphics and sound (especially on 3D headphones) but it's a really tough game

Pretty good sales went live today, but because PS5 games are priced so high the sales make them seem a bit more "normal," which ironically makes me want to ... wait for them to go on sale, lol. But I have considered "Returnal" and "Ratchet and Clank" for $30. Maybe even "Stray" for $20 or whatever, though ha at Last of Us Part 1 getting "reduced" to $50. Will I buy it? Yes, eventually. Will I buy it for that much? Nope. $30 or less sounds about right for that one, too. I'm patient, and I have a ton of games to go through before I add to the pile.

i would instead get the ps+ sub that gets you those games as part of the price?

Returnal, Stray and Horizon West, yes; Ratchet and Clank, Last of Us Part I no.
I'd still rather buy these games for than rent them, but I'm the fool with years of backlogged games from many Black Fridays past

yeah, I should consider PS plus. typically I go through games so slowly though it would have to make sense, on a month to month basis.

Those tiers are kind of confusing. I'll probably not bother, I got a PS5 with a disk drive specifically so that I can buy used games. As long as I keep the budget below a certain level I think it makes more sense for me to just buy games rather than pay for an annual subscription for games that will vanish the second I stop paying.

Premium is $120, roughly the cost of two games. Seems a good trade off to me

it's 25% off subs for BF atm. the classics selection has been kinda garbo so far tho, the middle tier is probably a better deal

My dualsense has become faulty and making a buzzy rattling noise. Only had it a couple of months, which isn't a good sign. At least I can return it

I've been buying used games from CEX and I'd say it's generally good value

I can totally see how Playstation Plus could be appealing. I suppose the way I look at it, though, is that while $120 a year is about the price of two new games, it's also about the price of six like-new games, and whereas the two new games will disappear if you do not renew, I've got my six games forever, to play when I want, to replay, to sell, to regift, to use as coasters, etc.

the thing is that Playstation plus at $120 gives you access to like 400 games, so it's more like buying a ticket to an all-you-can-eat buffet. doing that for the next 6 or 7 years to the next generation seems like a reasonable gaming budget to me.

Yeah, like I said, I understand its appeal for some people. But I don't want to and wouldn't play most of those 400 games, so it would be a waste, like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet and just getting a PBJ to go or something. Anyway, it would have probably made the most financial sense had I been a subscriber from the beginning, maybe, because at this point I have pretty much all the old games I want/need. Most of which I got for $20 or (much) less, so it's doubtful it would have hit the cost threshold of several years of subscribing.

Fair enough!

Ratchet & Clank currently half price (£29.99) in the Black Friday sales

Just beat Rift Apart. It's like playing a Pixar film. Insane graphics and fun gameplay, but protip - switch to performance mode to get that 60fps

That one's intriguing, because it's one of a handful of PS5 exclusives. I've read a couple of think pieces positing that the popularity and power (both staying and tech) of the PS4 is holding back games that fully take advantage of the PS5, since designers are constantly looking over their shoulder at the previous system and planning how to get their games to run well on both. That could explain why differences between games optimized for the PS5 and their PS4 predecessors have so far been (imo) pretty subtle, often just faster loading times and some ray tracing effects, or, like, number of leaves or blades of grass. I've been playing the PS5 optimized "Uncharted 4," and it looks great, but I've heard the PS4 version looks great, too. "Spider-man" as well looked great on the PS4, so great that it didn't look much better in PS5 form. As I understand it Last of Us 2 looks and plays great on the PS4, and I imagine so does the new God of War. I've heard that Ratchet & Clank (and Returnal) really take advantage of the PS5's speed to do some cool stuff that probably couldn't run well on the PS4. Looking forward to more of that.

cousin is visiting the uk from nz and was talking about buying a ps5. will that even work? I'm imagining different voltages, different TV standards, region locking problems before even thinking about the logistics of a) buying one and b) getting it back

I found this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/playstation/wiki/guides/psn-regions/#wiki_consoles

I *think* the tl;dr is that you might have to buy a cord for the correct outlet shape, but other than that, all good? I'd worry more about it getting lost, stolen or damaged on the way home. It's a big box, and that's an incredibly long flight.

that's surprisingly ok but then i guess they are just PCs under the hood. i still think he's crazy, mind.

(the eventual present was some kind of vr headset, probably the meta one)