90°

Could Astro be PlayStation’s Kirby?

While Playing Kirby and The Forgotten Land, Hitbox Detective couldn't help but think about Astro. Could he be PlayStation's Kirby?

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lordsofgaming.net
isarai1119d ago

I don't think the design is as good, but it's still great games

Orchard1119d ago

More like Mario than Kirby, no?

I think they should make this into a proper platformer series though.

The bundle in sample game was good but short. A full out game would compete with the likes of Crash and Mario, and with Crash soon belonging to Xbox and Mario belonging to Nintendo, PS needs a platformer icon & game.

Let’s hope they do this instead of the rumored Knack 3 😋

generic-user-name1118d ago

They already did a full game on PSVR, it was excellent.

DarkZane1118d ago

A full on non-vr platformer would be a lot better. I am not saying the game on PSVR was bad, far from it, it was excellent, but a full game not on VR would not only be better, it would also reach a lot more people.

Orchard1118d ago

Yep but VR isn’t mainstream. If you want a system platformer mascot/game like Mario or Crash (assuming Xbox fund new games), it has to be a normal game that more than 3-4% of the install base can experience.

generic-user-name1118d ago

@DarkZane

"I am not saying the game on PSVR was bad, far from it, it was excellent, but a full game not on VR would not only be better..."

You're saying a hypothetical game that doesn't exist would be better than an already highly rated game (90 on metacritic) as if it's a fact.

generic-user-name1118d ago

"If you want a system platformer mascot/game like Mario or Crash"

Yeah I'm not sure mascots have mattered much since PS1/2 days. Mario being the exception kinda seeing as Nintendo rely so heavily on him, but it didn't matter much when the PS4 didn't have a 'mascot', they still created memorable characters that stuck with people that weren't cartoonish platformer protagonists. Unless you count those characters as mascots too (I'm not sure of the exact definition), in which case Sony already have a few mascots.

CBaoth1117d ago

Orchard - look at it this way. If new Astro content accompanies PSVR2, then he already is the best Sony mascot in ages. With every appearance, he heralds in a new hardware/peripheral era. Maybe a full-blown, flat screen platformer at PS6's launch?!

talocaca1118d ago

It doesn't have to be. Astro in VR is one of THE best experiences I've had in years (the bosses in particular were really innovative and fun).

Playroom was a good sampler and the Dualsense integration was really good.

Kirby's latest games have also been hit or miss....the new game is great, the previous one was beyond basic.

ZycoFox1118d ago

Kirby games are mostly (or all?) easy AFAIK as well. Shame, Mario is also now mostly the same way because of babies who need their hands held and can't handle a challenge.

FallenAngel19841118d ago

He’ll be PlayStation’s Astro

darklaw1118d ago

Do we really need a mascot for our favorite platforms? This is all fine and dandy when the games are good, Anything Mario is usually pretty consistent, And for a while Sega was pretty consisitent with Sonic the Hedgehog, but if you recall, PlayStation used to tout Crash Bandicoot as its mascot, which was fine until the quality of the games started to decline and instead of getting consistently better it got consistently worse. You don't want a game that does poorly, representing your products. The system itself sells without needing a mascot that's console specific to help push your sales.

Just my opinion

380°

Former Santa Monica Studio Writer Shares Insight On The Game Industry: “It’s Not Great”

Former Santa Monica Studio writer Alanah Pearce has shared some insight on the game industry, and it's not great.

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twistedvoxel.com
Goodguy011d 12h ago

AAA has gone downhill as they focus on huge profits. Indie and other smaller games however have been amazing not chasing trends and the next big thing.

Redemption-647h ago

In all honesty, a significant majority of indies and smaller games fail. At best a you might hear about 10-20 indies that get attention or do well, but 100s more fail. AAA games can still be the bread and butter of the industry, but greedy executives would kill a good game if it doesn't make them a lot of money

Ethereal10h ago

Nail on the head. AAA has lost the magic and focused on profits and "player engagement". Gaming is an art form, and like always the CEO fat cats roll in to capitalize at the cost of innovation, passion, wild experimentation. We need a major realignment in the industry and it starts with gamers voting with their wallets.

Killer2020UK8h ago(Edited 7h ago)

I think that's already happening, we're seeing commercial successes in studios like Larion and whoever made Kingdom Come for example. Double Fine is another good example. Studios who are filled with and run by people who give a fuck that aren't hamstrung by money men. That's the answer and consumers are favouring it more than the soulless AAAs that have been put out. I don't doubt there is talent at Ubisoft for example but when they're told exactly what the end product needs to be by people who don't know what consumers actually want, it's always going to result in the same rehashed but slightly shinier slop.

Ethereal7h ago

Exactly. I do believe we are starting to see a shift in consumer habits. The market is saturated with GaaS and battlepasses, seasons, etc. We can't all play the same four games until the end of time. Fatigue is setting in and the industry needs to get back to making new experiences rather than chasing the latest "money maker".

Killer2020UK7h ago

I was wondering whether this is perception or actually happening but it feels to me, as a semi old gamer, there is more choice than ever and as such people are now much choosier about how they spend their time and money gaming. Certainly noticing this when it comes to GaaS as you mentioned, the question always has to be why would I play this instead of what I'm already playing. Anthem is going to have a real hard time prying away people, especially with a premium price tag that screams money men as a decision.

Palitera2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

Nah. Devs need to pay the bills. Uninspired games fail, but artsy games usually fail even harder.

anast10h ago

She didn't even call out Stanfield's PNG file planets when she flew through one. She just 'yelled' something stupid like 'flat earth'. She wasn't even taken aback in the slightest. I am not sure she isn't a part of the problem.

Aloymetal9h ago

She's always been a narcissist bimbo, I'm even more surprised she's not in only fans yet.

8h ago
7h ago
anast7h ago

@Aloy ha!

@Lanx I'm sure you see where you are not making any sense.

Cellblock1110h ago

"Former", wow she didn't last at SM Studios very long at all.

isarai9h ago

4yrs is pretty good not sure what ur talking about

Cellblock116h ago

I wasn't sure of the actual number of years just seemed like it wasn't that long ago when I heard that she got a job as a writer there, guess time flies. 4 years being "pretty good" or not is subjective depending on ones perspective. The question might be, was four years long enough to make a discernible writing contribution to a video game based on how long development cycles are these days?

QuantumMechanic8h ago

She left SMS because she needed to go back to Australia to support a parent with cancer.

Petebloodyonion2h ago

She quit SM studio to focus on her own stuff, There was a video where she explained all of it.

SpacedDuck4m ago

Okay, explain like the other 50 jobs she's had and hasn't held......

I think she likes to bend the truth a ton on how involved she is and when her lies catch up with her she moves on to start a new batch.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4m ago
Rainbowcookie9h ago

Greed , lack of innovation and agendas

Why do we rave about a good indie game but we avoid a AAA game.

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70°

"Seeing Nintendo do this is a little disheartening" - Switch 2 & the state of game preservation

The worry is that at some point down the line, Nintendo's Switch 2 eShop will close – just as the Wii U and 3DS eShops did – and these Game-Key Cards will be dependent on Nintendo's servers supporting downloads of existing titles long into the future.

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gamesindustry.biz
Neonridr1d 13h ago

"Seeing Nintendo do this is a little disheartening".

Let's ignore the fact that this is 3rd party devs who are opting to do this to save on manufacturing costs. Is Nintendo supposed to just tell them No?

hombreacabado10h ago

nintendo will also publish games that are on key cards. nintendo should tell them no because what is the point of purchasing a physical game and having it be a digital download. that entire debacle should be outlawed and banned.

ZycoFox12h ago

The key cards are kinda garbage. The only plus is that you can resell them.

I think anyone buying a Switch 2 should only buy the full game cards and ignore the key cards. If you have a PC or PS5/Xbox you'd probably buy the third party titles for one of those anyway since they will look and run better, except for the ones lighter on the hardware of course.

40°

Baldur’s Gate 3 dev Larian Studios is working on “two games”, “can craft multiple RPGs side-by-side”

Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios is officially working on two games at the same time to become a more efficient company.

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videogamer.com