Tag: PS4

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PlayStation 5 is Making Some Tweaks to It’s Menu

It’s been announced recently that Sony has made some changes to their PlayStation Store as well as a big overhaul of their UX. Today, Senior Vice President of Platform Planning & Management, Hideaki Nishino announced some of those changes in a video posed to YouTube.

Things are looking good with the new PS5.

For those of us who have never been fans of the cross-media bar, it seems we will have to continue to live with it for the time being. I do like that they have split the games and media into two different realms. I always thought the apps area on the PS4 wasn’t very well planned out and slow.

Cards are the new hottness

The biggest feature that they talked about were the cards. The cards look really helpful. I love the idea of including time to completion on different activities in game. These companies are compiling infinite amounts of data on how we as players play, I am happy that they are now turning that data into something that is useful to us.

The potential of including guides from developers is huge. I’m not sure if this is something developers will need to put together themselves or if they could just use the information from the community. I’m sure that would take the pressure off of the developers and allow the community to make their own guides. People could up-vote the most helpful guides and those would be the featured guides. I’m sure there is potential for penises which may be the reason for making this a walled garden. I worry that if it’s just left up to the developers to implement these guides that the feature will be a wasteland before too long.

The sharing functionality hasn’t changed that much at first glance. I’m sure that I will use it about as much as I use it now.

I am glad that they are including voice support in the UX with a microphone in the controller. I use voice support on my phone and it has become invaluable so I can see how it could increase my use of the message system in the PlayStation community.

PlayStation will include the ability to pin media to corners of the players screen so they can watch their friends streams. The Xbox One included the One Guide which allowed players to view Netflix or other apps in a small window on one end of the screen.

White is not the new black

Sony has revealed the last piece of the puzzle and I think convinced a lot of people to make a PlayStation purchase. The new UX has plenty of other secrets for us but we’ll probably have to wait for November 12th when the PlayStation 5 debuts.

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Phil Spencer and Xbox One: Put Up or Shut Up

Xbox head Phil SpencerXbox head Phil Spencer has spent a lot of time trying to silence Xbox’s detractors but with Xbox One’s third month on top of Sony in NPD console sales it looks like Spencer’s approach is panning out for Redmond.

When Spencer entered the doors at Xbox’s headquarters in Redmond, WA he was putting out a lot of fires and he needed to change consumer perceptions about Microsoft’s Xbox One platform which didn’t debut well compared to the Playstation 4. He has done a lot for consumers since he started at Microsoft, but what he has done to internal Xbox team perceptions might prove to be his biggest coup. From the outside, at least, it looks like Spencer’s reign at Xbox has done wonders since the turbulent launch of the system.

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Nintendo’s Design Fu is Strong

mercedes car pack

Wii U hardwareI have been using my Wii U a lot recently. It has pushed me into finally finishing a few games that I have been meaning to beat for a while; Golden Sun, Earthbound, and Super Mario Galaxy. The Wii U also has me playing new games. I never play “new” games! I usually wait until the games are at least 20% off and even then I don’t actually play the games until 5 or 6 years later. But, one game got me back into dat new shit.

Mario Kart 8 got me to buy a full priced, sixty dollar game – my eternal resting place is experiencing a cold front, I believe. I have been having a lot of fun with MK8. Today, after getting home from work, I downloaded the Mercedes DLC pack and have been having fun with those new additions to the game – some new tires and 3 Mercedes cars. Even though I haven’t been that excited for this free content, it’s a good decision to have this kind of alliance for NIntendo. I would like to see more collaborations like this for Nintendo.

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Claptrap! Bang, Zoom, I’m Gonna Knock You Straight to the Moon!

 

Claptrap gonna get some DV
One of these days Claptrap!

Last week Gearbox announced that there will be an addition to the Borderlands franchise that will release before the year’s end. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will be released for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

The biggest reveal though was that the player will be able to control Claptrap, the bouncy helper-bot from the first two games, as well as controlling other new playable characters. (The last game’s decision to add all new playable characters was a point of contention for many fans.)

I was not aware of much Claptrap hate before I read the Joystiq article. Matt Armstrong, Borderlands franchise director at Gearbox, said this to Joystiq concerning players love/hate relationship with the franchise mascot:

The four playable characters in Borderlands the Pre-sequel
3 characters PLUS Claptrap…huh?!

Some people will love Claptrap. Some people will hate Claptrap, as it’s always been. We would not be surprised to see – not to get too deep into what Claptrap is or how he works – but we fully expect to see servers that are called ‘No Claptraps Allowed,’ where if you join as a Claptrap, you get kicked. We’re okay with that.

I am one of the fans who does like Claptrap. I could see how the character could become annoying after hours of play, but shouldn’t the team take that as a challenge? Shouldn’t players who hate Claptrap expect dialog and action that will change their feelings towards the mascot?

The newest addition to the series will not be developed by the Plano, Texas based Gearbox studio, but instead 2K Australia will take the reins on this project. Gearbox is working on the next generation sequel to it’s popular Brothers in Arms franchise and most likely in development on the next Borderlands game.

words on a black backgroundBut, why isn’t Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel coming to Xbox One and Playstation 4?

Armstong threw some PR spin on his response to Joystiq’s question concerning why the game is not running on “current” generation platforms (i.e. Xbox One and PS4). Armstrong and Gearbox believe the Borderlands audience is still using their Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. “The install base [on Xbox One and PS4] isn’t quite there yet,” he says. “They’re doing fantastically well, and it’s going to be great in the next couple years, but I think we’re going to go where our fans are.”

What does this say about Borderlands audience?

What does this say about the Xbox One and Playstation 4 audience?

cat meme about marketingThis kind of thing happens every generation, so there is no need to worry about your favorite franchise or your Xbox One or Playstation 4. Smaller developers tend to make a play for keeping “last” generation consoles relevant.

Even though Armstrong doesn’t want us to believe that the development of the next game in the series wasn’t driven by marketing, we all know that was – and that’s fine. They want to keep Borderlands on people’s minds until Borderlands 3 and the best way to do that is to use the current engine and hardware to put out an offshoot.

That’s okay. Actually, that’s great. But…it’s still driven by marketing.