It’s not long now before I swan off in the next few days to Germany for the largest of games expos, Gamescom. Though Sony aren’t there in full force this year, which will be quite strange from my point of view, it’s still going to be jam packed full of upcoming games that I can’t wait to check out. Don’t worry, I’ll be telling you all about them in due course!
But before we get there, and before we get on with the rest of the Chronicle, I’d like to remind you all about WeView. In an attempt to spice things up a little, as the number of response have flagged a little, we’re turning back the clock with a series of retro games. This week features Super Metroid, the classic SNES game, so if you’ve ever played the game, felt its legacy in the Metroidvania sub-genre, or simply want to express your belated surprise at Samus being a woman, please do remember to comment some time today.
Easily one of the biggest stories this week was a fairly interesting change to the way PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection games are picked. In the near future we’ll be able to vote on three games to include in the service, with the winner then taking up one of the six to be added in the next PS+ update. The two that don’t make it then go on sale alongside.
Of course, with the major complaints surrounding the lack of AAA titles, being able to pick between three smaller titles wasn’t high on many people’s lists. “Can’t see that this is going to change too much,” Forrest_01 said. “You’ll still get the situation where people already have the games being offered & this is in no way a guarantee that AAA titles will once again appear on the service.”
Double-o-dave wrote, “Apart from Resogun, First Light & maybe a couple of others, I usually play them for 10 mins or so, then delete them. Saying that, I’m not too fussed with paying £40 for a year. In fact, it’s probably worth it for the discounts and the little I do play of some the games – my Sky bill used to be more than that every month and I hardly ever watched anything.”
Andrewww felt that all of this was about the precedent Sony set with the initial service. “Sony really messed up with regard to expectation management,” he said. “They completely failed to communicate that they raised the price of the service. Back then, you payed for the games, so they had to be good. Now, at least of our the PS4,you primarily pay for the online service, but people keep complaining as they expect better games.”
Certainly, it’s a positive step from Sony, who are constantly bombarded with criticism about the games included in the service. They won’t manage to satisfy everyone all the time, but by letting people vote, it should help more people get something they’re interested in.
With the period of exclusivity cat out of the bag, Square Enix’ Phil Rogers tried to explain why the company had decided to sign such a deal in the first place, saying that he hopes the “fans know that it wasn’t an easy decision,” and that Microsoft have generally been amazing to work with.
Though Tuffcub tore some of the points he wanted to make to shreds, the general sentiment was never going to be too sympathetic. Lieutenant Fatman said, “Considering the previous game sold far better on PlayStation than on Xbox, this is a truly bizarre business move. Great example of how to alienate the majority of your fans, otherwise known as shooting yourself in the foot.”
JR., meanwhile, has absolutely no time for them, given how the whole story has unfolded:
I would have had more respect for them if they just came out with the truth, that they sold out the majority of their fanbase for a big fat cheque from MS.
It wasn’t just the deal, which would have been bad enough on it’s own, but the smug, deceptive way the announcement was handled. Admittedly that was all Microsoft. SE, however, refused to clarify the situation when disappointed fans reached out to them for answers. Ridiculously childish behaviour all round. Sure, MS had their hands tied but SE willingly held out their arms so MS could tie the rope.
The damage has been done. I will not support Square Enix in the future, not only for allowing this to happen but for stooping to Microsoft’s desperately immature level. I realise I’m only one person, but I hope others follow suit so we can teach these fools a lesson.
However, it’s not as if other parties are completely innocent of signing similar deals, and though the specifics are different, Starman rightly points to a similarly saccharine relationship, saying, “No different to Capcom gushing about how great Sony are and how amazing it is bringing SF5 to PS4 but not Xbox.”
Finally, it was great to see that Evolution Studios could announce that Driveclub had passed the two million sales mark, with the game having recovered from its disastrous launch last year.
Double-o-dave said, “Well deserved. Roll on another Season Pass. Value for money wise, that’s gotta be the best £20 I’ve ever spent!” And, while there were those who said they couldn’t get on with the car handling, plenty have been enjoying it, as TSBonyman added, “Well done Evolution, fantastic game!”
But, Eldave0 does raise a valid and important point by saying, “And another broken game goes on to get good sales. No wonder the industry is going down the crapper…”
I think it’s safe to say that the industry has had a catalogue of disappointingly buggy and difficult launches, but lessons have been learnt from those mistakes. It would surprise me to see Sony stumble with a heavily online game in future, while EA have improved their network code greatly for the Battlefield/Battlefront games and Ubisoft have publicly acknowledged that they need to do better in future. It’s been rough, but hopefully we’re coming out the other side.
TSBonyman has been a busy bee this past week, having re-completed Journey, The Last of Us Remastered (and Left Behind) and nearly having re-finished Wolfenstein: The New Order. All great games, but I’d agree with him that he could do with some new games…
Then there’s Youles, who has managed to platinum Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 after several weeks of plugging away at the game. He also grabbed the platinum for Rocket League and managed to get 100% of the trophies for Metal Slug 3 and the Never Alone: Foxtales DLC, as well as finding the time to embark on his own Journey a few times.
R1MJAW has maxed out his PGA Tour character, in a typically busy week of varied gaming, while a inferior race nabbed the platinum for Jak & Daxter on PS Vita and RudeAwakening stepped back to Uncharted: Drakes Fortune for that particular platinum trophy.
But my favourite reaction of the week came from Kevling, who simply wrote:
Just finished Life is Strange 4… :O
I couldn’t agree more!
A inferior race is back this week with the latest update to the 2015 trophy leaderboard. Head over to page 2 to see what it’s all about and how you can be counted.
Aside from that, I leave you on this page with the usual submission form.