350°

Sony Played it Safe Tonight with the PS4, and Hit a Homerun

While many clamored for tonight’s unveiling of the PlayStation 4 console and seeing what the future of gaming would bring, some will be left a bit confused about the conference held by Sony tonight in NYC. Sony didn’t decide to show off the PlayStation 4 as a console itself, instead they decided to talk about the future of the gaming market and what the console could do. It seems as though that most of the information that went into tonight’s live event may have already been leaked in some capacity or another, Sony confirmed the news that was known across the web but kept a few curveballs up their sleeve. See the issue with an event such as this, to unveil your newest console, is that you are ultimately the first to strike, and sometimes that can involve a major swing a miss. There are pro’s and con’s, as I said in another article, about going first with what is to come next because you never know what the other team has in store and how it compares to you. You may have the superior...

Read Full Story >>
cinekatz.com
aceitman4097d ago

they will hit e3 out of the park too.

Skips4097d ago

With studios like Sony Santa Monica, Naughty Dog, and Polyphony Digital having yet to announce anything. Agreed.

SilentNegotiator4097d ago

They just took what everyone loves about gaming and made it more...well, alright I'll say it...elegant. More simple, but more complex.

That's the way to do it.

Ps2 didn't revolutionize anything; just made things better. And it sold like hotcakes.

ABizzel14097d ago

To me the best part of the show was seeing the games, but equally as important and impressive was the specs release and the networking features of the PS4. I was highly impressed by the overall show, but a lot of unanswered questions (which was expected), and some games still MIA.

Price, FIRM Launch date, confirmed launch titles, Where was EA since they have the best 3rd relationship with Sony (Battlefield 4?), Square Enix could have stayed home with that awful spot, PS Eye HD details, PS+ new pricing structure, and missing games like The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy 13 versus, Final Fantasy 14, Agent, 8 Days revived, The Getaway revived, and if GTA5 is coming to PS4.

But I know all that's for E3 and Beyond.

showtimefolks4097d ago

You know after watching the conference again one thing I noticed is we didn't see a lot of new IP's. I am guessing they are saving all that for E3.

I thought having activision,blizzard and Bungie at the conference was a huge deal.

What I am surprised by is that a lot of us didn't expect the specs to be as good as they are, ps4 at launch will be able to compete with a medium pc. Like ps3 I can't wait to see what studios figure out in next 3-5 years to really show the strength of ps4

Sony made a huge statement in my point of view by showing games for core market

PR_FROM_OHIO4097d ago

E3 Will be a grand slam for SONY!! PS4 FTW

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4097d ago
AngelicIceDiamond4097d ago

Thankfully Sony didn't promise anything because things do change from now to launch. I just hope they delivered on what they showed us.

Btw

Diablo 3 on PS3 and 4 Hell yeah.

kenshiro1004097d ago

I swear, if Sony announces Uncharted 4 at E3, I will faint. I have all three Uncharted games on my PS3.

the4114097d ago

I have all three as well. And I have Golden Abyss on my Vita. Looking forward to whatever they bring next :)

mochachino4097d ago

Smart revealing first (sorry Nintendo), gamers have been starving for a glimpse of the next-gen and Sony served up a very healthy portion.

StrongMan4097d ago

Sony hit a grand slam. The competition can only hit an in field fly compared to this.

-Falaut-4097d ago

And you know this how? Lets keep it classy on this side of the pond.

shutUpAndTakeMyMoney4097d ago (Edited 4097d ago )

"And you know this how?"

Because it's MS and they focus on casuals?? And also let their biggest and most important devs(bungie) go multi plat?

I think they will have better tv apps than sony.

Of MS doesn't have gaikai like tech then how can they compete? Unless they build their own cloud tech.

jmc88884097d ago (Edited 4097d ago )

Neither console has really been shown.

We've seen a PC running multiplatform games that are coming to a PS4, with a couple of exclusives, like Kill Zone that looked the poorest, and Capcom's Deep Down that was probably CGI.

Thus what have we really seen?

Are we being Aliens:Colonial Marine'd?

Are we being Randy Pitchford'ed?

badz1494097d ago

you are trolling at full swing today! Killzone looking the poorest? get the hell out of here troll!

HappyWithOneBubble4097d ago

Sony hit a grand slam
Nintendo strike 3 they out
Microsoft on injured reserve

jmc88884097d ago

The game was called because performance enhancing drugs were used, tainting the results.

The offender? A PC was used to showcase the supposedly PS4 demos.

Nintendo has been confirmed to only be 1/3rd roughly as powerful as a PS4, and only 1/2 that of a 720. If anything Nintendo breathed a big sigh of relief.

M$? Who knows. They're too busy calling the police to raid people's houses that released their specs.

BlmThug4097d ago

Now now, lets not judge MS just yet considering we haven't seen anything from them yet. We can however judge the Wii U and it just got shattered :L Wii U is clearly this gen compared to the PS4

omi25p4097d ago (Edited 4097d ago )

What lottery numbers should i buy next week?

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4097d ago
Kevlar0094097d ago

Sony's gameplan:
1.)Show it's powerful
2.)Demonstrate 3D party commitment
3.)Integrate Gaikai as an intergal feature

Simple, but this is what gamers have been wanting pretty much

jmc88884097d ago

No they showed us what a PC can do.

No they said those are the devs committed to supporting the PS4 (what they didn't say was...by what timeframe).

Gaikai (thankfully) wasn't as big as it was rumored. Game streaming service like OnLive would have been a huge mistake. Instead, at least for now, they're playing it right and utilizing Gaikai as a pro and not unleashing the beast that is simply all cons.

So simple, other than the ram number, stuff we already knew, and what we saw, wasn't a PS4 so nothing visually was real. Thus for people wanting to see something REAL, we didn't see much.

Still a day one purchase for me, but c'mon guys, we didn't learn much of anything except 8 instead of 4 GB's, Diablo III coming to PS4, playing games while the download completes, and the ram was GDDR5 instead of DDR3. Basically everything else was just confirming rumors we already suspected because it was leaked.

R_aVe_N4097d ago

You are a broken record with your replies mate.

Kevlar0094097d ago

People got what they wanted. They got confirmation the PS4 is cutting edge in current tech, they've sealed extensive third party commitment, and they have stuff to look forward to Day 1.

For me I'm just glad the PS4 is out there, tired of speculation and whatnot. Now it's time to see what MS has to show and if Nintendo has anything up their sleeves. Imo they did what they needed to in a just a few short hours.

kenshiro1004097d ago

...Were you watching the same conference or did you fall asleep?

da_2pacalypse4097d ago

They certainly set the bar very high for Microsoft. As a primary xbox player, I'll be purchasing a PS4 this holiday season. The things I saw today were absolutely amazing.

SolDojo4097d ago

To throw N4G for a complete loop, as a primary PS player and long time fan, I feel that Sony set the bar so high that I'm extremely excited to see if Microsoft can follow suit and blow our minds again.

Healthy competition benefits us all as gamers, and I'm so happy to see innovation again at the forefront of design.

T24097d ago

I agree but im hoping to only buy one console this gen!! Lol

Show all comments (57)
120°

Activision Blizzard Faces $23.4M Fine for Patent Infringement

Activision Blizzard ordered to pay $23.4M for patent infringement involving popular games.

Read Full Story >>
infinitestart.com
Skuletor1d 8h ago

Another L for Xbox, when are they going to have good news?

MrDead1d 7h ago

I would read the article but the giant pop-ups from the top and bottom of the screen made me close it.

Without reading $23.4 million isn't a deterrent for a company that size.

peppeaccardo1d 6h ago

Boss: Let's fire a few people to recoup on that loss.
Slave: Cortana has decided to get rid of Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks.
Boss: Let's get those Firing Letters "Copilot Approved" and send them through the power of the cloud.
Slave: Long Live Phil !!!
ALL in the room: LONG LIVE PHIL !!!!

rlow11d ago

Well another troll company with a patent trying to extort money out of companies. Seems like they’re going to try and sue everyone.

PRIMORDUS21h ago

Not enough drain them for more, fuck Blizzard POS company.

370°

Square Enix Declares $140m Loss Amid Game Pipeline Shakeup

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth publisher Square Enix has declared a $140m loss based on a shakeup of its internal development pipeline.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
Furesis11d ago

What are they doing over there? Sounds like they canceled something big. I read a rumor a while back about ff9 remake . Here "Final Fantasy IX has gone through a very challenging development, the game is still in progress but may undergo changes drastic enough that we won't hear about it for a couple of years."
This could be one of the reasons if the rumor is true. That was Silknight i don't know how credible he is but it's something and it would make sense.

-Foxtrot11d ago

I hope IX is still on the cards

Just a straight up remake which they expand a little bit nothing over ambitious

If IX dosent happen then VI and VIII will never be thought of.

Kakashi Hatake10d ago

6 and 8 were way more p popular games despite today's cult following of 9.

blackbeld10d ago

I want my FF8 remake! Can't believe they cancelled it.

TiredGamer11d ago

What are they doing? Sales are falling and the costs are out of control. Big releases need to be absolute sales home runs now, and Final Fantasy sales have stagnated.

Now we know why Square didn’t fall over themselves to remake the original FF7 all these years ago. It certainly wasn’t a license to print money, at least not with what the expectations were. Each of these full on remakes drains an enormous amount of company resources for a razor thin profit margin.

TwoPicklesGood11d ago

Breaking the game up into multiple parts was a mistake IMO.

blackblades11d ago

The loses came from cancelling games nothing else.

Tapani10d ago

They lost the magic in the remakes. And the story is incomplete. The original FF7 is still way better. The Remake / Rebirth are just fan service. Like an Anime/Manga with "optional" filler content. FF7 had pretty much zero filler, it was paced extremely well, and still today flows much better than the grindy story and spongey enemy battles in the remakes.

babadivad10d ago

If they released it at once on all platforms, they would have made all of their money back. Could have been on to an FF8 or 9 remake. Ready to cash in again on nostalgia like Capcom. This is their fault for trying to milk the title.

Once I head they were breaking it up into parts, I lost all interest.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 10d ago
neutralgamer199210d ago

I hope people understand usually when a loss is declared it means a game which had been in development got cancelled. For example Sony Santa Monica before GOW-PS4 had cancelled a project which Sony had spent 7 figures on

As far as square is concerned they release a bad game once a year. Forspoken anyone?

For those making comments on remake not selling well, I hope y’all realize that Sony is the only reason this remake is happening. If Sony didn’t fund it the remake wouldn’t be happening. Just like Konami didn’t want to remake SH2 because development costs of 100 plus million

shadowT11d ago

Do not miss Final Fantasy 16. Great game!

raWfodog11d ago

I'm waiting for them to release the complete edition bundle, but it's definitely on my list.

PhillyDonJawn11d ago

Wth is going on with the gaming industry?

mandf11d ago

Corporate investors taking everything

TiredGamer11d ago

Not rocket science. Compare sales numbers, development cycles, and budgets to the previous gens. We are all collectively burning up the industry from the inside out. Expectations are ludicrously high now for every release and sales are dropping for even the most prestigious of series.

We used to be satisfied paying $50-60 for a game that took 1/100th the budget and staff to make. Now gamers feel cheated if they have to pay the same for a game that took 100x the budget. We may be reaching the end of the line for this model of gaming.

wiz719110d ago

@tiredgamer I think your point is one that ppl don’t understand and you hit it on the nose .. some gamers don’t want to take accountability but it’s some of the gamers fault the industry is where it’s at .. we as gamers set the standards for the industry not the shareholders , ppl forget that the shareholders and the industry want and need OUR Money. Both the Xbox and PlayStation are seeing a drop in hardware , the industry is very stagnant right now.

Tacoboto10d ago

Speaking to Square:

Turns out their mismanagement wasn't related to the western studios they dumped to Embracer, but their own fault.

With regards to Xbox - a good way to kill your brand is to pull support on high quality titles and only dump B and C-tier titles to it

With regards to PC - Epic Games Story exclusivity for any duration and piss-poor optimization will hurt you.

With regards to FF Pixel Remasters - y'all messed up by barely releasing them on physical, like wtf that was free money!

And lastly, you don't help a franchise by releasing a mainline title that undermines every title that came before it. FFXVI was a DMC-like with bottom-of-the-barrel side quests and I can't imagine that helping Rebirth at all considering its marketing is directly tied to how big that game is.

Tacoboto10d ago

Sony is getting their best titles and with the most polish, so what about it? Nintendo gets their top properties too, for titles that can run on Switch hardware.

It's the other fanbases that get the second- and third-class treatment from Square. If that's due to agreements with Sony, that's not a Sony issue but a Square one for accepting those terms. Sony is doing its best to look out for Sony.

wesnytsfs10d ago

sales and stupid practices like exclusives.

TiredGamer11d ago

The industry implosion is continuing. Sky high budgets, prolonged development windows, stagnant sales numbers, and falling currency values (inflation) are wreaking havoc on the legacy industry. AAA games will slowly become the rarity.

CS711d ago

Sad. Rebirth was one of my favorite games in a long time. Should have sold more.

CrimsonWing6911d ago

Oh I’m with you. What’s worse is they can say, “Well we tried to make this amazing game and spend all this money on, but not enough people showed an interest. So no more of these since we can’t take a hit like that.”

The industry is going to take a dramatic shift. Mark my words on this.

rpvenom11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

I think there is quite a large portion of individuals like myself who held out on buying it on PS5 because I can get it on PC eventually. To be able to mod the game and also have custom graphical settings to my liking

gold_drake10d ago

same

but im not sure if it matters at all. im sure they made sony pay a hefty sum for the 3parter to come on ps5 exclusively. so watever they made in sales, might have come bk in profits for square, but i dont know
and we dont know what "underperformed" even means for square.

Show all comments (43)
130°

Square & Bandai Namco Being Honest About Quality Is A Step In The Right Direction

Saad from eXputer: "After suffering from massive financial hits, Square Enix & Bandai Namco appear to be turning over a new leaf but I'm still unconvinced."

Nerdmaster11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

I was talking about games with some Japanese guys here in Japan, and it seems like around here Bandai Namco has a fame of making low-quality games, with the occasional gem.

About Square Enix, I believe they lack the capacity to improve. They should learn with Capcom (although even Capcom still makes some bad mistakes), but I don't think they ever will. They keep chasing whatever is new at the time (blockchain, AI...) to say "we innovate", without considering the public perception and if these things actually improve the games or not. Them releasing too many small games with no advertising also shows a lack of trust in its own products. Even with their biggest games, like turning FF into an action game with XVI and the very divisive plot changes regarding whispers and timelines in VII Remake, shows them trying to attract a new generation of gamers without understanding what made the series so big in the first place.

shinoff218311d ago

I want a true ff7 remake. With thatcsaid I'm way happier with 7 remake then I was with ff16. I'd still prefer turn based but square keep chasing these Lil kids

Snookies1211d ago

Man, it is perfectly fine to prefer turn based. Turn based is amazing. But there's zero reason to call anyone who likes action games "lil kids". Liking one gameplay system over another does not make you more mature in any way.

VersusDMC11d ago

People love the new FF's overall...the problem is the abundance of 7's they release that lose money or make very little like diofield, star ocean divine force, Valkyrie asylum, harvestella, foam stars, etc. Advertising wouldn't have saved those games. Apparently Forespoken had a big Advertising budget but we saw how that went.

shinoff218311d ago (Edited 11d ago )

Star ocean divine force actually sold well from what I've read not ff type numbers but well enough. Was a dope game to.

FinalFantasyFanatic11d ago

Bandai Namco is going to Bandai Namco, I do believe that Square Enix can't change without changing the entire management, they've had these issues for more than a decade and haven't learnt, I have very little faith they can course correct. I'll still buy their better remasters/remakes like Star Ocean 2 though (not FF7R).

Asterphoenix11d ago

Namco is just milking the same Sword Art Online with lack of budget as well as anime IPs that don't go to decent developers like Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia. Namco deserves their losses and no future Dot Hack or Xenosaga remaster :(.

Square allocated lot of their budget on Forspoken was a mistake. Square always had management issues. Star Ocean 2 was a great remake and I found their recent entries of FF(16 and Rebirth) better than 13 and 15.
I think they were better than 360/PS3 generation where Square went really downhill.

CrimsonWing6911d ago

I don’t know why NOW they decide on this, but I guess later is better than never.