I've been seeing quite a few articles lately regarding September's PS+ lineup, and September's Games With Gold lineup. Many say GWG is better, some others beg to differ. Here's my whole take and opinion on this month's free games, and why everyone's complaining. (My post here is a bit long, I know, but bear with me).
In case you haven't been catching up with the news lately, the free games that'll be given to PS+ members and Xbox Live Gold members in September were revealed.
Xbox One users will get 2 indies:
Super Time Force and Crimson Dragon
Xbox 360 users will get 1 indie, 1 AAA:
Monaco and Halo Reach
PS4 users will get 2 indies:
Velocity 2X and Sportsfriends
PS3 users will get 1 indie, 1 AAA:
Hoard and Playstation All Stars Battle Royale
PS Vita users will get 3 indies, 1 AAA:
Velocity 2X, PS All Stars Battle Royale, TxK, and Joe Danger
A rather large amount of commenters here on N4G have been expressing their disappointment with this month's lineup, but there's absolutely nothing to be disappointed about, in my opinion. I've been playing Velocity 2X since I won an early code that Colin Moriartey (of IGN) was giving away, and I've been absolutely loving it. (I would imagine there's an embargo, so I can't say much), but it's utterly fantastic. It blows Velocity Ultra out of the park, and then some. It's incredibly fun and fast-paced, and will offer the same amount of replayability as Velocity Ultra, if not more. I'm honestly perplexed as to why people are complaining about this game, especially since the majority of them haven't even tried it out yet. But either way, let's move on. Next PS4 title is Sportsfriends, which I already have. It's heaps of fun. Only thing it requires are real-world friends (or family). People seem to be disappointed with this title too. It's fairly new, so I don't know why. All I can imagine is that tons of those people don't have anyone to play the game with, though SharePlay will quickly remedy that problem. Anyway, the first PS3 title is Hoard, which, I'll be honest, I don't know much about. My friends that've played it have told me it's great, so, again, I don't see a problem with it. Other PS3 game is PS All Stars Battle Royale. Right off the bat, it's easy to tell why people are disappointed by this. A recent PS sale had the game selling for $5, I believe. And even before then, it was only $10. A large amount of people already own this game. If not, they think it's just a Smash clone, and I have to disagree with that - that style of fighting games that involves four players duking it out should become a genre of its own, to be honest, and Smash shouldn't be the only game in that genre. Either way, I still understand why people are frustrated by this. So far, it's the only title that we can be disappointed about. Next, the two Vita titles are TxK, an arcade shooter which I've played before (it's pretty fun), and Joe Danger - just the thought of Joe Danger on the Vita gets me excited, as it's a great game that'd play perfectly on the system. As an added bonus, Vita users will get Velocity 2X and PS All Stars on Vita for free as well, since the titles are cross-buy.
Bottom line: there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of the PS+ titles, besides PS All Stars.
Now, Xbox: On Xbox One, users will get Super Time Force, which is incredibly fun and innovative. Everyone should try this game out. A lot of people have been raving about STF, saying that it's one of the main reasons this GWG lineup is amazing. A lot of people are also saying that this beats out Velocity. Once again, the vast majority of these people have never played Velocity 2X. Both games are equally amazing, neither one can be compared all that much, to be honest, as they're of different genres and offer entirely different experiences. Other game is Crimson Dragon, which was also last month's free title (which is one reason that gamers are a bit angry over this, though they need to realize that that's Xbox's way of giving free games out - one game stays free for two months). Overall, I heard mixed feedback from those that played Crimson Dragon. Perhaps not the best title, but perhaps better than others. Xbox 360 players can get Monaco: What's Yours is Mine for free. I haven't played this yet, nor have I heard one negative thing about it, so I would imagine that gamers should be happy about this (though most of them already are). Second game is Halo Reach. Lots of people are happy about this, saying that it's one of the best Halo titles, while others think otherwise. I, for one, disliked Reach and loved 4. I know, I'm odd, but there are some others like me, apparently, therefore making it tricky to determine Reach's true value. I would assume that it's a win for gamers, as it's a Halo title for god's sake, and, that too, one of the most recent ones.
Bottom line: No reason to fuss about the GWG lineup, (unless one is still disappointed over Crimsom Dragon), and I've seen very few people complaining about it. Still, that doesn't mean that the PS+ lineup is horrible in comparison to this. Allow me to elaborate, and compare the titles:
PS4 vs. Xbox One: Both platforms get two indies. Super Time Force and Velocity 2X are both fantastic and unique in their own ways. There's no comparing the two. The other indies are Crimson Dragon and Sportsfriends. Sportsfriends is insanely fun, while Crimson Dragon has reveived mixed feedback.
PS3 vs. 360: Both platforms get one AAA and one indie. PS3's indie is Hoard, 360's is Monaco. Both are fun from what I've heard. Their AAAs are Halo Reach and PS All stars. With Halo Reach, many people love it, many loath it, but tons of people already own it, given the fact that it came out in 2010. Nearly the same exact scenario with PS All Stars - quite a few people like the game, many dislike it (or didn't give it a chance because they think it's a "Smash clone", but tons of people already own it, especially since it came out in 2012, plus it's been heavily discounted before.
PS Vita vs. ??: Obviously, the Vita stands on its own, and it has no other platform to compete with besides the 3DS maybe, so no one's that flustered about the titles it receives, as there's no titles to compare. That too, given the Vita's low install base, many people simply don't care about what titles it receives. Despite that all, its titles this month are pretty damn great.
So, to recap/TL;DR, both PS4 and Xbox One have two indies. All four are great (maybe one of XB1's indies can be considered as mediocre, but it's still not the worst in the world). PS3 and 360 both get one AAA and one indie, both their indies are fun, and many people already own their AAAs, both of which can be argued as good and bad games. Seeing a similarity here? Good, and that's because both lineups are equal. They both offer a nearly equal amount of value, in exchange for money for a service which costs nearly the same on both platforms (PS+ is $50 per year, Gold is $60 per year). So, there's absolutely no good, justified reason to complain about either lineup.
So... Why are people complaining? Granted, there are some people that complain (and will forever continue to) because "THERE ARENT ANY AAAs INDIESTATION AND DUSTBOX SUCK". But the real reason why everyone's complaining about either lineup, specifically Playstation's lineup (for whatever reason) is because this is the way the Internet and (the majority of) this industry's community is. People need to find a way to compare the two main consoles, and then b**** about either one. When both consoles were announced, people complained about Xbox because of its high price and DRM policies. Before/after launch, people started to find a way to bicker through "Resolutiongate". And now, people have found another new, senseless way to compare the two consoles, and that's apparently through their lineups of free games. Bickering, fighting, trolling, and complaining - this is what the gaming community of the Internet has been like for what seems like forever, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Feedback is appreciated in the comments, unless it's utterly pessimistic.
Thanks for reading.
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Shaz from GL: "Where Sony is ramping down support for PSVR2, and Apple are reconsidering their future with the Vision Pro, Meta and the Quest 3 continue to shine."
I'll admit that Facebook is doing more for VR than others. But they also have blown over 50 billion dollars so far and growing in R&D, building the meta verse, buying up exclusives and underpricing their products below build price, to kill competition in the stand alone space. Sony and Valve aren't willing to go into the red at an unheard level to capture the market. We know Sony could build a stand alone device that beats Quest just by the features in PS VR 2 and the new stand alone headset they built. But the new Sony would rather build a device they can profit from day one.
But, Sony so far has profited on hardware and on software. They just don't seem willing to spend the money on marketing, selling under build price or spending millions on making in-house VR exclusives for PS VR 2. Which sucks big time. They're just letting 3rd parties and indies run the show.
Article also doesn't mention that Apple's headset is more a developers product than a mass market item. To say they are looking into making a cheaper one for the next iteration is speaking the obvious. Duh. That was always the case. Build something the public sees as quality not can't afford, then make another that the masses can afford. TVs, cars, cellphones etc all were once expensive. Now, they're cheap to buy with many options to choose from. And Apple isn't even selling VP as a VR headset. I'm well aware that Apple's true intentions is to build a device that pushes AR with VR as an option. Not build a VR device. Because they know eventually that they want to replace the cellphone with AR glasses or an AR headset. If they cared about games, they would have launched as a gaming device.
Lastly, Facebook launched Quest 3 last year. But has not mentioned how many they sold up to this point. Why is that? Besides Quest 2 selling more by being cheap, the market can't move forward until they start selling more Quest 3 headsets than 2. Maybe the new exclusive Batman and Hitman games will help. But we'll see.
Meta is also Billions and billions in the hole in regards to VR. If Sony were to do what Meta has done, they'd be bankrupt
Good article. I am really looking forward to Velocity 2X having played both Velocity and Velocity Ultra, and really enjoyed them. I will probably get Hoard and Battle Royale seeing as I still have my PS3, but not played either of them.
You are right when you say that both offerings for GWG & PS+ are roughly of the same quality this month. Tbh I think PS+ has a slight edge but thats just my opinion.
Unortunately, as you say, people will always find something to moan about and bash the other side as it were. At least GWG is better than it used to be.
But you know, as usual, haters gotta hate.
Velocity 2X makes this month for me. The first one was awesome! The only disappointment for me is PS All Stars since I already have it but at least there will be new people online.
Good Job its true they dont suck this is a great month
Pretty mediocre for me. Probably because I own All Star, which may have made this month decent otherwise.
Not that it matters, I already have a huge backlog and no gaming time.
Any games we get are a nice bonus. I am not paying for PS+ or Live because of them though, I pay for the services because I want to play online games and have nice online features.