Hey, this 2024 game doesn't look finished yet
Plus PSVR hubris, cheap Lego and great Sega Mega Drive games
Hello there! This week we’re looking at Sony’s latest take-it-or-leave-it hubris, the fallout from a massive Grand Theft Auto leak, Lego savings and the best old-school Sega games for your Nintendo Switch.
We’re definitely getting into the hairy part of the year now, as I look at my game release window and am frankly intimidated looking at weeks with upwards of six massive simultaneous releases. But I’m (Tim) surprised to find it’s actually God of War Ragnarok I’m looking forward to most and not the embarrasment of turn-based tactics riches or various Nintendo delights.
The so-called wide linear game, which is not open world but allows for plenty of sight-seeing, with quality third person combat and strong character development is more or less my favourite AAA genre at this point in my life. It’s been a while at this point, and last week’s trailer was so incredible, so I’m ready to jump in and get lost. What’s your most anticipated as we rocket towards the end of 2022? Feel free to let us know.
I’m starting to feel like Sony doesn’t like us
By Tim
There’s a long history of console manufacturers following up successful systems with conceited, boneheaded moves that ultimately end up humbling them. Think of Nintendo refusing to adopt CDs for its followup to the SNES. Or Sony pricing the PS3 far above expectations after the stratospheric rise of the PS2. Or Microsoft pivoting to TV functionality after the acclaimed Xbox 360.
Sony’s PS4 was the unassailed champion of the last generation, and thankfully the company hasn’t made any moves with the PS5 that are quite as disastrous as those listed above. But it has made a string of hubristic decisions that I think collectively put some its well-deserved goodwill at risk. This includes its unfriendly approach to upgrading PS4 games to PS5 versions, its decision to raise the price of the console in the midst of a global recession, its lack of interest in making PS3 games playable on PS5, and its cynical approach to its subscription service that punishes users for paying month-to-month even though it hasn’t committed to regular content drops.
This week Sony very quietly revealed that its upcoming PSVR 2 headset would not be compatible with games made for the original PSVR, which is just the latest example of a move that isn’t unforgivable or egregious, but comes off as stingy and arrogant. Sony knows that PSVR owners are mostly PlayStation diehards, and that they’ve been collecting games for six years. It’s even given several away via PS+. Now it wants adopters of its new headset to give up on ever playing those existing games, or keep two headsets around (one attached to a PS5 via a series of convoluted adapters and processor boxes) to have access to their purchases.
The lack of compatibility is understandable. Original PSVR games used an external camera and Move controllers for input, while the PSVR 2 has its own technology. But then the high price of the PS3 was understandable too, it was just poorly communicated and Sony should have done more to understand it would be a problem and mitigate it. I have to believe that with some investment, and potentially some compromise (like asking players to buy a new camera), Sony could have made PSVR games work on PSVR2. But it’s been top of the pile for a while. It doesn’t feel like it needs to accomodate.
What to play
Former PlayStation exclusive Deathloop is now available on Xbox, and included at no extra cost in Game Pass. It’s an excellent immersive sim in the vein of Dishonored, with guns and magical powers, wrapped up with a lot of style and a Bond-meets-grindhouse aesthetic. What really makes it special is the time loop premise, which lets you experiment and memorise layouts leading up to the perfect golden run, codifying the constant saving and reloading one tends to do in these kinds of games into a diegetic part of the experience. As of this week the game is also included in the Extra tier of PlayStation Plus, so grab it wherever!
Also new on PlayStation Plus Extra is Assassin’s Creed Origins, Watch Dogs 2, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Spiritfarer, Chicory, Rayman Legends and Scott Pilgrim, which is not a bad haul at all. Unfortunately it’s another anaemic drop of classic games in the expensive Deluxe tier, with excellent espionage adventure Syphon Filter 2, PSP’s Kingdom of Paradise, and for some reason Toy Story 3, also from PSP.
Switch Online Expansion Pack subscribers now have access to three more Sega Mega Drive games: action platformer Alisia Dragoon, Zelda-like Beyond Oasis and overrated gross-out adventure Earthworm Jim.
Up this week on Apple Arcade is Shovel Knight Dig, the newest adventure featuring everyone’s favourite indie royalty spade-swinger. This time Drill Knight and his dastardly digging crew are ruining Shovel Knight’s campsite, so he needs to embark on a roguelike platformer with retro 16-bit graphics in order to save the day and get cute outfits.
If you’ve been waiting to play Gran Turismo 7, it’s now discounted for PS4 on the PlayStation Store. At 29% off it’s down to $78.06. I (Alice) don’t normally love the GT games because they’re a bit too focussed on being a sim and don’t really care if you’re having a good time, but I found GT7 to be the most enjoyable yet.
Ghostwire Tokyo was an excellent and beautiful game, and it’s now on sale on the PlayStation store. The deluxe edition is 50% off, bringing it down to $64.97, making now as good a time as ever to give it a go.
Unfinished game looks unfinished
By Alice
This week saw the leak of early Grand Theft Auto VI footage, along with the GTAV source code. This is doubtless a huge problem for Rockstar and a big win for some arsehole who has just massively set back a game that’s been years in the making.
What’s interested me has been the response. So many people I saw talking about it online were upset that leaked footage from a game that’s years away from release looked unfinished. Other people were just impressed that there seemed to be a female character in the game for once.
Perhaps this surprise about how games look before they’re finished comes from people being so used to seeing in progress footage from traditional animation and movies, where the art looks more or less finished for each frame as it goes through the process.
But, games are more like cakes. You start with a bunch of different elements that look nothing like the finished product, and halfway through it just looks like weird unappetising goo as the details around it get baked in.
Of course, it is too much to ask for the Extremely Online And Always Angry out there to learn how stuff is made, but perhaps it’s time for more documentaries to be released about the making of games that show how they looked at all stages of the process.
Watching those kinds of behind the scenes things are what made me fall in love with television, and visiting major game studios are what gave me a much deeper appreciation for games. Maybe seeing the full process and the people who created it, outside of just highly rehearsed Content Opportunities, could humanise and demystify the creation process.
Bricks, Boards and Beginnings
by Alice
Lego seems to be trying a lot of new things with VIP Rewards since the program was revamped more than a year ago. It used to be that reward points were just for getting discounts on the Lego Store in $7.50 increments and discounted Legoland tickets. But in the revamp, there were suddenly a lot more rewards, like lunchboxes, tin signs, colouring in pages and hats.
However, this week, Lego is testing out a new, suspiciously cheap reward – big discounts on specific sets for just 100 points.
Normally, a $7.50 discount costs 675 points, but for one more day, you can trade in 100 points for $30 off 10302 Optimus Prime, $45 off 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle and $45 off 51515 Robot Inventor.
It’s hard to tell if this means the sets aren’t doing as well as AFOLs (adult fans of Lego) thought they were, they’re doing so well that they can afford to discount, or Lego is realising that putting up the prices of all their sets during a time of great financial strain and record profits wasn’t a good look.
Either way, it’s the best discount you’re going to get on the castle for a long time, assuming it ever comes to other retail partners like Myer and Kmart. The Robot Inventor is already available cheaper from Amazon, so that’s not as good a deal.
I jumped on the castle yesterday as soon as I saw this discount come up, because I’d been dilly dallying for a while, and nearly bought it on the weekend when the Lego City Sandwich Shop freebie was announced. I’m glad I waited. That, paired with my existing points gave me almost $100 off, and the sandwich shop, with free shipping.
While this is useful for these sets now, it’s going to be interesting to see if Lego gets the response they were looking for from this trial, and how the rewards program will further evolve in future.
Retro Esoterica
by Tim
With the latest additions, the Nintendo Switch Online Sega Mega Drive app now has more than 30 games, and this is pretty much the best way to play them outside of owning the cartridges and a system. So I thought I’d go through and highlight the top 10 to give you a place to start.
10. Alisia Dragoon (pictured) An often-overlooked platformer that puts you in command of magical powers and a handful of animal companions. Fans of arcade action may find this to be a lost gem.
9. Alien Soldier If you like fast shooters there aren’t many better on the Mega Drive. It’s unrelenting but filled with depth and variety.
8. Shining Force II A turn-based-strategy game in the style of Fire Emblem, this is a slow but superb RPG for fans of tactics.
7. Ristar A slower paced option from Sonic Team, there are hedgehog-like elements on display here but Ristar plays very differently thanks to his stretchy, grabbing limbs.
6. Gunstar Heroes Unlike the po-faced Contra, this is a co-operative run-and-gun with endless imagination and fun, plus it looks incredible.
5. Castlevania Bloodlines Coming just before the series went non-linear in Symphony of the Night, this is the pinnacle of the original Castlevania design, despite being very difficult.
4. Beyond Oasis More than just a Zelda clone, this game (originally called Story of Thor outside America) has some incredible animation, great music and interesting elemental gimmicks to go with its hommage.
3. Shinobi 3 Swords, shurikens and ninjitsu magic are a solid basis for an incredible game. But when you add in unexpected twists like the horseback level or those sentient brains you have to fight, it’s clear this is peak 90s ninja goodness.
2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Utterly iconic and remarkably modern for such an old game, this remains one of Sonic’s greatest and most colourful adventures.
1. Streets of Rage 2 Featuring some of the slickest side-scrolling beat-em-up action on the system, and arguably the single greatest soundtrack, this is unmissable stuff. The two-player mode is hectic but can also be very rewarding.