The Thursday letters page believes there should be a more potent version of the PS5 Pro, as a reader admires Stardew Valley’s success. PS5 To participate in the discussions yourself, email
It’s quite remarkable that the PS5 Slim is already priced at less than £400
in sales, and even that’s only £20 less than the standard at the moment. This further confirms that the PS5 is coming this year, but also signals the point in the generation when companies realize they’ve reached all the core gamers and attempt to make the hardware as affordable as possible to appeal to everyone else. I just can’t believe we’ve reached this point already. It seems like only yesterday that the PlayStation 5 was released and was out of stock for nearly two years, and now here we are cutting its price. in the Amazon This generation should’ve lasted longer than usual but it’s clearly not going to. Rumors suggest that Xbox is going to kick things off in 2026! This is happening because sales have started to slow down, which is the typical sign for companies to begin the next generation. I believe Sony and Microsoft should sell their consoles at a loss, even a substantial one, in order to expand the audience. PS5 Pro If you’re upset about the limited growth of console audiences, why not simply give them away? We all know that they make their money from games, not hardware. And I don’t think you really need too many Ultimate Team packs from EA Sports FC before you start to recoup that money and more.
They won’t do that, I’m sure, but they should definitely make the PS5 more affordable. It’s at £400 now but how low will it go? Just imagine how many units you'd sell at £300 or £200. Seems like a much better strategy than completely abandoning single-player games in favor of live service.
From one extreme to the other
I have to say, I will be partially surprised if Bungie is still in operation by the end of this year, let alone when Marathon is released next year. Everything seems to be working against them, with Sony’s attitude towards them and the decline of Destiny 2. I can’t see The Final Shape changing things much either. Maybe it’ll give the game a temporary boost and then that will carry them to Marathon, which could be a surprise hit. That's the best-case scenario.
The worst-case scenario is that The Final Shape has no effect and Sony simply takes over the company, shuts down Destiny 2, and disperses the developers to their other studios to assist with live service games. It sounds dire, but I really believe there’s a serious possibility of it happening.
Lantern
Rainbow Six
Wow, Katamari Damacy is 20! That’s alarming. I still have a physical copy in the loft.
Anyway, for anyone interested in a Katamari Damacy fix, the remaster Katamari Damacy REROLL is currently on sale in the Steam spring sale for the modest sum of £3.99.
Kelso
In terms of system specs, it doesn’t require a lot of power, although it probably won’t run on even modern integrated graphics, so it does need at least a basic dedicated GPU.
Might pick it up myself… haven’t played it for years!
Enjoy playing games everyone!
The Dude Abides
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Off the shelf
I’m not worried about the existence of the PS5 Pro. I had a PS4 Pro but I’m not in a hurry to get a PS5 Pro.
However, the era of consoles being uniquely designed pieces of custom technology has ended. Now we have consoles that are budget PCs in special cases, with a custom operating system. So, as long as all games run well on the basic hardware, what's the problem with a better version for those with extra money, who want a higher frame rate and more ray-tracing?
Maybe there could even be a super-powered PlayStation 5 available at the same time as a third option, for £1,000, that performs even better for the wealthy and obsessed.
in other words, like the PCs that they are.
We believe most people feel that Sony has more important priorities at the moment, rather than another expensive new piece of hardware.
Regarding the PS5 Pro. I have to admit that I am not impressed by this announcement. It took so long to actually get a PlayStation 5 that I am still trying to catch up with the current games. To be honest, I don't care about a potential 8K option to supposedly make the deal better. I can't afford an 8K TV, and how many games will actually genuinely support this option anyway?
With all of that considered, this just seems like another attempt to try to take advantage of the loyal consumers who, for some reason, still keep supporting these companies – and don't even get me started on the digital content deletions!
Anon
GC: Mini rant over!
Not again
David Wright
There is no disagreement over the leaked details, but it has not been officially announced yet.
Digital assistance
Regarding issues with digital libraries. Thank you for addressing this matter.
GC: Since the start of February, I have been experiencing this issue with PSN. All my digital games purchased before February, through PS Plus or with my own money, are locked. I have had a PS Plus subscription since 2018 but I lost all the games. Additionally, I do not have access to cloud storage and cannot play online games.
PlayStation support is not taking action, despite my emails to them. I have PS Plus Premium until December but it keeps telling me that I don’t. Also, I bought Elden Ring in December of 2023, played 92 hours, but now the game is locked. Strangely, when I try to purchase the game again, I receive a message that I already own it.
This is a well-known issue; I am in Croatia.
Dragan Juric
That’s terrible. We are still trying to get a response from Sony about the situation, but they claim to still be investigating it. We will follow up with them about it again today.
Capcom has been so strange about Dragon’s Dogma right from the beginning. I remember it was the best-selling new IP of the generation, or something like that, when it first arrived and then we got Dark Arisen and absolutely nothing until now, over a decade later. And yet all that wait just gives us something that seems more like a remake than a sequel.
It was clear from the beginning that they weren’t changing much, and I don’t really understand why. I’ll get it anyway, because I love the original, but I can’t pretend it doesn’t seem a bit disappointing that it seems to have so few new ideas, only refinements of old ones.
GC: Even if they make another sequel more quickly it will still take four or five years which is unfortunate. I hope we get some DLC first that can shake things up and hint at what a more evolutionary sequel could be.
Long wait
Extra Ultimate
I like the idea of there being a
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe
Ishi
for the Switch 2. I really don’t see how Ultimate could ever be surpassed, but you could give it a remaster and maybe add a few more modes and characters – not that it needs them but just to have some new content.
Improve the graphics a bit, especially in some of the backdrops, and you've got another game that will sell 30+ million and make a lot of people happy. You don't have to start everything from scratch with this game, just add a few extras and keep playing. AI assistance Marvel 1943 game
looks incredible… and exactly the sort of thing that I can’t see them ever making their money back on. Basically, every Marvel game except Spider-Man has been an embarrassing flop and I really don’t see Captain America and Black Panther changing that, no matter how good the graphics are.
Scoob
I’d love to be proven wrong. I’d love it if games that looked that good, with not the most popular characters, could make a profit but I don’t see it. Big budget games won’t go away completely but I think in the future only the 100% guaranteed, firmly established games will get that sort of treatment.
That I hate to say it, but I wonder if the way to avoid this is if we use AI. I don’t want to do anyone out of a job but if you can make games that look like this on a smaller budget, and with the same number of people, while using AI, wouldn't that be a good thing? It’s predictable that that first thing companies try to do with AI is get rid of staff but if you add it on top of what you’ve already got surely that would be better? If Spider-Man 2 cost $315 million I can only assume Marvel 1943 must be very similar and that’s crazy.
I’d love if games like this were commonplace and if AI can do it without causing even more layoffs then I say it’s worth trying.
Inbox also-rans
I had no idea Stardew Valley was so successful. 30 million sales is insane for a little indie game, even if it is very good. I bet the makers of Harvest Moon are disappointed they don’t come anywhere close to that.
I didn’t realize Vampire Survivors won Best Game over Elden Ring at the Baftas. Then I found out the developers were British. That explains that, those awards are a joke.
Cyndar
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