5 Improvements The PS5's UI Needs
While the PS3's UI was a huge improvement over the PS2's and so was the PS4's over the PS3's (in most ways… more on that later), so too should we expect the PS5's UI to be an improvement over Sony's current flagship gaming console, the PlayStation 4.
No reasonable person would say the PS4's UI is fundamentally bad, but certainly there is some room for improvement here. Odds are Sony has a handle on this, but just to be sure, we here at Gamingbolt do want to throw in our two cents on the matter of UI improvements for the PS5.
Pinned Apps:
The method of organizing all of your applications into one, single, horizontal bar has been a mainstay characteristic for PlayStation UI's for quite a long time. The Vita being the one exception with it's rather bizarre bubble system. But even the Vita's UI, with all of its weirdness and unintuitiveness, knew that people like to organize their applications how they see fit.
Having everything in one horizontal bar is nice and clean, and I don't want to necessarily want to see that go away, but the downside of that is that any game or application gets pushed back everytime I use something else, forcing me to go hunt for it later, regardless of how much I like it. In a world where nobody goes back to something once moving on to something else, this would make sense, but that is not the world we live in. If you happen to buy 4 or 5 games at once and try them all out, then the game you were playing before gets pushed back despite you not really wanting that to necessarily happen.
While Sony did eventually give us folders to put multiple applications in, and that is very nice, it doesn't really resolve this problem because that folder is subject to the same system the applications are and it'll just get pushed back every time you use something else. This is something the PS3 didn't have an issue with as everything of a different category would automatically be awarded its own folder and spot in the UI, so organization was baked in.
The best way for Sony to keep their massive horizontal line (which we like) and not lose all the organization of their past UI's would be a simple option to pin an application or game to the front of the line on the PS5. In fact, this is something Sony could still do for the PS4. Just stick it in the options menu that can be accessed while hovering over something. Easy Peasy.
Better Social Integration:
This is something that I feel like Sony already has the right idea on, but perhaps just needs to rethink their execution. The What's New pane on the PS4 can show you lots of things like progress on games that your friends are making, when your friends play a new game for the first time, and also when they earn trophies or post screen shots. This is all good and well, but unfortunately the idea is held back by the large clunky layout of every status update only allowing one or two on screen at any moment, and Sony clogging it up with ads for sales and new games, which are simply not necessary here.
Sony can advertise itself on it's own platform in many ways, but getting between me and seeing my friends updates' shouldn't be one of them. If they can make these statuses smaller, cleaner, while also giving the pane a bigger portion of the screen to work with, that would make this particular feature much more fun to use. Again, this is something I'm a little baffled that Sony hasn't already done for the PS4, but regardless, the PS5 is a great opportunity to turn this thing around.
Another point I would make about this is that, if they aren't going to clean it up, then they should at least give us the option to hide it and free up more space for our games and applications. If they don't want to do that either, then at the very least Sony could take it off the main media bar and stick it in the friends menu, which would probably make more sense anyway as the updates are about my friends in the first place.
More Options With Content Creation:
It's definitely true that Sony has made great strides with the share functionality over the years. Pictures, videos, and streaming all have a decent amount of options, but for the PS5 there are a few things that would make plenty of sense to include to modernize the system. For instance, saving video clips at 60 frames per second would be nice, as that is an ever-emerging standard for Youtube videos as well as just a more accurate way to show footage of a game that runs at 60. On top of that, 4k video would also be nice to see as that resolution becomes more and more standardized.
Perhaps right now these things don't sound particularly necessary, but I'd bet my dollar that will change within the next year or so. We are on the verge of 4k video being standard pretty much everywhere and 60 frames are asked for in games more than ever. Why wouldn't we want those parameters for our custom clips on PS5? Sony needs to be proactive about this instead of reactive. Let people record high quality videos of their gameplay and that will result in more people sharing content of their games. It's a true win-win.
Clean up the Notifications:
Out of all of the things that irritate one's OCD on the PS4, the notification menu is the most egregious offender. Out of all of the things you can see on your notification area, you can check up on your downloads, installations, your trophies, community posts, friend requests and messages. And you know what? I don't have a problem with that at all. All of these things, as unrelated as they seem, are all things that you may very well want to be notified of, so their inclusion in the menu makes sense on that level. However, there is basically zero organization.
All of these types of notifications (and more) are just crammed into the same list with the order in which they happened being the sole factor deciding the order you see them in. There has to be more of an attempt made to organize all this on the PS5. If players want to see all their friend requests and messages, they should be able to select that. If they just want to see their downloads, they should be able to access that particular list. If I want to see all the recent activity in the handful of communities I'm in, I shouldn't have to hunt through installation updates and trophy notifications to find them. Again, I feel this could be solved on the PS4 as well but here we are.
Settings or Options. Pick one:
I'm personally quite a fan of the options button. It gives you what amounts to a mobile settings menu for any one item you happen to be hovering over that only shows up if you want it to. Thus eliminating the need to go to a settings item on the menu and dig through it to find the one or two things I want. The problem with the PS4 is that it has both the forward-thinking options menu as well as the more archaic, labyrinthian settings menu that includes everything under the sun.
This can lead to some confusion as most things you can access on the options menu are in the settings, but some things aren't, so if you want to do any one thing you basically have a 50% chance of finding it on your first try of either method. For instance, if you want to delete a game, simply go to it, hit options, and delete it. Easy.
But if you want to upload your saves to online storage or download old ones from online storage, you need to go to your settings, find the saved data management option, find the game you want to manage from there, and do it from there. Why not just put online data management in the options menu for every game? Why do I need to go through all these steps to manage the saved data for one game when something as nifty as the options menu already exists? This is a prime example of one of the many things that should just be accessible in the options menu. In fact, every option that has anything to do with anything should be in the options menu for that item. Shouldn't it?
If they did this, and then just kept big-picture stuff like parental controls and account management in the general settings menu, that would not only make the options button far more useful but also clean up the general settings menu quite a bit as it would no longer need any of those redundant items. Most importantly though, it would make my ability as an end user to do the things I want far more effortless, which is the entire mission statement of any User Interface in the first place, isn't it?
All that said, if Sony's legacy of neat and tidy UIs are any indication, we are probably in for a nice improvement with the next console. Lets just hope Sony doesn't stray too far from what the PS4 got right to correct what it didn't.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
Fast and Furious Crossroads Review – Familia Matters
Fast and Furious Crossroads is a bad game. It's a bad game in terms of its overall presentation, story-telling and gameplay. It's a bad game with a number of questionable design decisions and performance problems. It's a cash-grab, for sure, but also one that doesn't cater to either spectrum of the franchise that it's attempting to leverage. The real question isn't whether anyone expected this to be good in the first place but rather how much it epitomizes the phrase "death by a thousand cuts."
"Oddly enough, for a game that's marketed so much on the appeal of Vin Diesel, there's not a lot of him on-screen."
The "story" begins with Dominic Toretto and Letty Ortiz tracking down a lead that could provide clues to a potential terrorist attack. This leads to the discovery of the Tadakhul, an ancient band of highway robbers whose name apparently translates to "Crossroads." Before you can say "That's the name of the game!", you're whisked off to Barcelona and placed in control of Vienna, a racer with a shady past whose boyfriend Sebastian is involved with the Tadakhul. Obviously, Vienna and her friend Cameron eventually team with Dom and Letty on their journey to take down Kai, the Tadakhul's leader/figurehead.
The number of logic jumps the plot makes, both in terms of character motivation and contrivance, is fairly extensive (and that's saying something, considering the films it's based on). Oddly enough, for a game that's marketed so much on the appeal of Vin Diesel, there's not a lot of him on-screen. Instead, you'll alternate between the other cast members, mostly Vienna and Cameron, and while the voice actors try their best, the jarring dialogue and inane plot "twists" do them no favors. Do yourself a favor and don't quit the game after a cutscene – you'll just have to watch it all over again before playing a mission. And no skipping allowed.
Fast and Furious Crossroads plays like an arcade racer but even that feels disingenuous. It's too busy jamming mechanics that are at odds with its fast-paced racing. Using a grappling hook to pull gas tanks off of a flamethrower-touting armored vehicle in the opening mission should be fun. However, it's just a throwaway mechanic with some boring button mashing and chaotic fumbling.
"Slightly Mad Studios' racing chops shine when it comes to that sensation of speed, especially when hitting the NOS or drifting past corners."
There are a lot of these throwaway mechanics in the game, from "hacking" other vehicles by using – get this – a WiFi router attached to the roof of your car to sideswiping foes and scoring Burnout-style takedowns. All of the gameplay happens from the driver's seat while the story plays out in extensive cutscenes that drone on and on.
Due to this approach and the general haphazard story-telling, any sense of narrative transition is eventually tossed aside. One moment you'll meet with Letty who mentions stealing some unmarked cars and the next, you've already stolen the cars and need to escape from some corrupt cops at night. One mission has you speeding down a highway, conducting a "heist" that makes Need for Speed Payback look like Ocean's Eleven. When that's done, suddenly you're in Morocco and sign up with Interpol to go undercover, shooting the breeze about which cars to take before being saddled with a dinky old van. This is after an important character dies during the previous heist, by the way. Who could possibly care about anything that happens in this story?
Coming back to the gameplay, it feels responsive enough during actual races, even if the track design is far from ideal. Slightly Mad Studios' racing chops shine when it comes to that sensation of speed, especially when hitting the NOS or drifting past corners. Handling also feels decent at times though this is diminished by the ridiculous physics. Instead of realistic damage, there's a health bar and as long as you're in the green, you can ram through as many cars on the road as you want. Said cars go flying with the slightest nudge though and only marginally hinder your vehicle. Unless the game explicitly says so, there's no consequence to driving recklessly. It's less exciting than it sounds, much like everything else in this game, and so narratively dissonant that it hurts.
"Textures and character models look last generation, until you remember racing titles like Gran Turismo 6 that looked and played way better."
Mission variety further kills your enthusiasm in that regard. Many times you're tasked with driving to a point and watching a cutscene play out. Or maybe three points, followed by three cutscenes. During another, you're tasked with slowly pursuing another vehicle without alerting them. Or driving sanely so that your passenger doesn't get paranoid. Because when I play a Fast and Furious game, the first thing that comes to mind is following the rules. Then again, breaking the rules doesn't matter outside of failing whatever the current objective is (or the mission design just being poor in general). You just can't win, no matter what the scenario has to offer.
Tracks also feel overtly restrictive – you can go off-road, sure, but most times the game wants you to follow a set path with very few alternate routes in the process. It also doesn't help that most of the levels look and feel like the same boring roads again and again. At one point, Vienna even sarcastically comments on driving through the same roads in Barcelona during different missions. And you thought Bungie's Destiny was super-obvious when it came to recycling content.
In terms of visuals, Crossroads doesn't look very good by today's racing game standards. I don't usually care that much about graphics but it has no business looking like this while outputting such shabby performance. Textures and character models look last generation, until you remember racing titles like Gran Turismo 6 that looked and played way better. Facial animation in cutscenes is fairly wooden, causing a stoic Toretto in the movies to look plain stiff here. The lack of options for customizing the graphics is also disappointing but expected. Outside of stuttering in cutscenes and an infinite loading bug that necessitated a restart, I didn't encounter too many bugs. The music and sound effects are fine – nothing exceptional and certainly not worth going out of your way for.
"If this had been a Need for Speed Underground-style clone with a semi-open world structure, focused more on racing and building rivalries, then one could at least stick with the racing."
I wish I could tell you how the multiplayer was but it's dead on arrival with no matches to be found. Good thing that a lot of the extra content isn't locked behind ranking up in multiplayer. Oh wait.
Time is a flat circle – Fast and Furious Crossroads is still a bad game, one that's both painfully long and insultingly short. It's a game that fails to fulfill the action adventure premise of current films with much success thanks to boring objectives and lackluster mission design. The very brief sequences that it embraces the street racing of the first few films can be fun but even those are let down by poor track design and performance. If this had been a Need for Speed Underground-style clone with a semi-open world structure, focused more on racing and building rivalries, then one could at least stick with the racing. Alas, Fast and Furious Crossroads strives for loftier heights and falls that much harder as a result.
This game was reviewed on PC.
Goosebumps Dead of Night Interview – Updates, Graphics Options, Possible VR Plans, and More
Chances are, Goosebumps is a property you're familiar with, either tangentially or through plenty of personal memories of your own. The series of tween horror books is a household name across the world, so the chance to play a game based on it is something that can potentially be a nostalgie-fueled trip. Lately, many have taken that chance with Cosmic Forces' first person game, Goosebumps Dead of Night, and we recently caught up with the developers for a post-launch talk about the game, what they have planned for its future, and more. You can read our interview with Cosmic Forcres' founder and CEO Ziad Seirafi below.
"It feels amazing that Slappy and the Goosebumps Monsters that R.L. Stine dreamed up and Scholastic published have been brought to life in Goosebumps Dead of Night for everyone to play."
For starters, congratulations on the game's launch! How does it feel to have the game out there and in the hands of players?
Thanks! I thank God every day and hope that by being guided to make this game I have brought joy to many people around the world!
It feels amazing that Slappy and the Goosebumps Monsters that R.L. Stine dreamed up and Scholastic published have been brought to life in Goosebumps Dead of Night for everyone to play on the latest consoles and PCs. We also appreciate the huge contribution Sony has made in rebooting the franchise for movie audiences and the upcoming TV series that was recently announced.
Have you been working on any updates or fixes to address any feedback from players?
We really appreciate feedback from players and reviewers in the media. Sure, sometimes it's brutal but most of that is said with some kind of humor and players give really valuable insight. I see it as part of the game design process because games can be updated unlike TV or movies which are done when they are released with no opportunity to fix rough spots. We feel that player feedback is really important. We put analytics into our games that gives us data on where players are "dying", getting stuck etc. and we look for player feedback to corroborate our takeaways from the gameplay data. We are already under way on an update to rebalance some areas of the game and we expect to release that in the next few weeks.
What surprised us most is that older and more expert gamers came to play Goosebumps Dead of Night, which is great! We designed and play tested the game for older kids and tweens. We intentionally dialed the difficulty down to fit the Goosebumps demographic. Since we're connecting with a broader audience, we think there is an appetite for a "Hard Mode". So this fall we plan to release a free update where we will dial up with the AI to make the game more challenging if players choose to play in "Hard Mode".
"What surprised us most is that older and more expert gamers came to play Goosebumps Dead of Night, which is great! We designed and play tested the game for older kids and tweens. We intentionally dialed the difficulty down to fit the Goosebumps demographic."
Goosebumps is a big property that has millions of fans around the world, especially in younger age groups. Obviously, this isn't your first Goosebumps game, but does adapting a property like that for a video game come with a certain amount of pressure?
Goosebumps has an amazing number of fans out there. Working with a property under pressure doesn't produce good results. I feel that creators need to connect with a property as a fan so that working with it comes as an honor. If you can't connect with a property you should move on and leave it to someone else who can otherwise you can't do right by the fans. Fans and players are super quick to feel that.
Something that some PC players have brought up is the lack of options for graphics customization in the game- is that something you're looking to address?
Although graphics are an important part of the game, we wanted to make sure that other aspects like gameplay, story, characters and brand were given attention as well. We had to make hard choices to balance all that with the time and resources we had. I hope that as our company grows, we gain resources to up our game even more on future titles. We've seen many examples where graphics look great, but the experience falls flat. In those cases, it seems that the creators did not challenge themselves to develop the game while keeping all aspects in balance. It's very common for a team to spend too much time focused on one particular aspect, like graphics, and then run out of time at the end to address gameplay, story, etc making the whole game fall short of players expectations. You'll see lots of comments from players affirming that all too often game companies are spending too much time on high-end graphics and forgetting the big picture. I think it's easier that way. We spent a lot of time iterating on play testing gameplay, story points which takes time away from working on graphics. With high-end graphics you have to set all other aspects in stone early on so you can spend lots of time optimizing the game for each platform, so it runs at high frame rates. I am in awe seeing what some companies pull in graphics and other aspects of games. It's an inspiration to see what experienced teams with lots of resources can create. That's what is so exciting about being in games. As game technology advances we expect games to get even better. But we need to advance the creative process as well otherwise we will be bored with amazing high-end graphics.
Do you have any plans to add VR to the game on PC and PS4, especially given the fact that Night of Scares on mobile was VR-enabled?
We love VR too! We were one of the first companies to develop a VR game and released it in 2015.We were so early on that the only control was pointing with head movement and clicking on the headset. We were also one of the first to determine that first-person view games are a great fit for VR. So, we would love to bring Goosebumps Dead of Night to VR. The only challenge is who will cover the development cost? While the VR market is still growing, we need support from the first party platforms. When the first party platforms like HTC Vive, PlayStation VR or Oculus support development cost it's good for the whole market. Their investment builds the whole ecosystem. Bringing more games to the market attracts players to buy the VR consoles and that revenue drives further innovation and development of the VR technology. So if any first party platforms want to help us with the development costs of bringing Goosebumps Dead of Night to VR we're happy to hear from them and ready to go.
"Goosebumps has an amazing number of fans out there. Working with a property under pressure doesn't produce good results. I feel that creators need to connect with a property as a fan so that working with it comes as an honor."
Given that next-gen consoles are right around the corner, have you given any thought to next-gen ports for the game?
Yes, we're already looking into the next generation PS5 and Xbox Series X. I share your desire to learn more about the next gen consoles. We have requested devkits but with the crush to develop on the next gen consoles we will have to wait until they become available. The first devkits are going to developers owned by the first party platforms with exclusive deals which makes sense from the business perspective. We're just as excited as everyone else about the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. We're seeing how strong the game market is with the sales of Nintendo Switch. Games have gone mainstream. There are genres of games that fit every kind of player. We're so excited to be making games in this dynamic time in the market. We hope to get our hands on the next gen consoles to design and develop on them soon. Once our company has worked with them, we will reconnect with you and our gameplay engineers to talk tech.
Resident Evil 3's Sales "Have Not Especially Deviated" From Internal Expectations – Capcom
Capcom recently confirmed that since its launch in March up until June 30, the Resident Evil 3 remake had shipped 2.7 million copies worldwide. And while that is by no means a number to scoff at, it's significantly lower than the 4.2 million worldwide shipments last year's Resident Evil 2 remake pulled off in a similar two month window after launch.
With Resident Evil 3 having been met with much less praise than its predecessor and its sales being lower as well, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Capcom are disappointed in how the game's performed, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Speaking in their recent quarterly Q&A with investors, they said that the remake's sales have been pretty much in line with their internal expectations, especially in context of how the original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis sold. Capcom additionally also plans to drive sales with pricing strategies for the remake this Holiday season.
"With reference to sales trends for the original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis as well, results have not especially deviated from our internal sales plan," Capcom said. "Looking ahead, we will consider pricing strategies targeting the holiday season, starting in autumn and running to the end of the year."
Recently, Capcom said that Resident Evil 3's "solid sales" had driven profits for them in the preceding financial quarter.
During the aforementioned Q&A session, they also talked about possible price hikes for their games on PS5 and Xbox Series X, saying that they're currently undecided on the matter. Read more on that through here.
Capcom is Undecided on Next-Gen Games' Price Hikes for Now
It's become clear that prices of next-gen games may very well become costlier across the board starting this Holiday season. 2K's upcoming NBA 2K21 has been confirmed as the first game to be priced at $70 (as opposed to the current industry standard $60) for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, while parent company Take-Two Interactive has said that prices for other next-gen games will be decided on a title-to-title basis. Analysts, meanwhile, have suggested that other third party publishers are also considering price hikes.
Things on that front are yet to become clearer, but Capcom did recently address the matter. In their recent quarterly Q&A with investors, when asked about the issue, Capcom said that they were yet undecided on the matter, and that they would be closely monitoring the situation and making a decision based on industry trends.
"We do not have a set policy at this time," Capcom said. " We will consider our approach having analyzed both our strengths and weaknesses while closely monitoring industry trends."
Recently, Ubisoft confirmed that their games releasing for PS5 and Xbox Series X in 2020 – Watch Dogs: Legion and Assassin's Creed Valhalla – will be sold at the standard $60 price, but did not comment on games releasing beyond that point.
Capcom, meanwhile, have Resident Evil Village in the pipeline for PS5 and Xbox Series X in 2021, while Pragmata is also confirmed for next-gen consoles.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a "Much, Much Deeper Roleplaying Experience" Than The Witcher 3 – CD Projekt RED
With the latest episode of Night City Wire, CD Projekt RED delved more into the different choices that players can make in Cyberpunk 2077. Whether it's what Life Path to choose and how that influences one's journey or the different weapons and how to obtain them, there's a number of distinct ways to play the game. In fact, senior level designer Miles Tost considers it a "much, much deeper roleplaying experience" next to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Speaking to Netrunner 2077 in a new interview, Tost said, "I don't know, there's a lot, there's a ton of weapons. How I would summarize this is… I think people tend to forget that Cyberpunk 2077 is an RPG first and foremost. Right? So customization and equipment choices, making choices in the skills you have, the talents, how your character looks, how you choose dialogue, it's the center stage of this experience.
"I think some people look at this game and think 'Oh man, it's first-person and has guns! It's a shooter!' and that's a very surface-level assessment. I think in many ways, it's a much, much deeper roleplaying experience than The Witcher 3."
Tost also talked about blocked doors in Night City, noting that "Not everywhere is like that. We can't put a bouncer in front of every door in the world. But in areas we feel it's super obvious, like if there's an area in the main quest with a door you can't enter, in that context, we'll try to put something extra there."
"But the amount of doors we have in Cyberpunk 2077 will completely dwarf the amount of doors we have in The Witcher 3. At one point in The Witcher 3's development, I counted the amount of doors we have. We have around 2,500 doors for that game. Naturally in a game like this, compared to The Witcher 3, there are far more doors in the world of Cyberpunk." If nothing else, this indicates the number of potential places that can be explored.
Cyberpunk 2077 is out on November 19th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC with day one support for Xbox Series X and PS5. Though the game looked more polished, the developer admits that it's not "100 percent happy" with melee combat and is still working to improve it. It also spoke about how it's handling bullet-sponge enemies – you can read more about that here. Another episode of Night City Wire will debut in the coming days so stay tuned for even more information.
Control Won't Support Free Next-Gen Upgrades on PS5 and Xbox Series X
Free next-gen ugrades for games that will be available on the PS4 and Xbox One as well as their upcoming successors is something that we've been seeing a lot of. There have, however, definitely been some outliers that are not offering that option, and another major game has now joined that list.
Remedy Entertainment announced last month that Control would be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X. Just recently, they also announced an Ultimate Edition for the game, coming to Steam later this month and then to PS4, Xbox One, and Epic Games Store two weeks after that. Alongside that, however, they've also confirmed that Control won't offer free upgrades to its PS5 and Xbox Series X versions for those who have (or get) the game on PS4 or Xbox One.
To be more specific, if you purchase Control: Ultimate Edition, you will get free access to the game's PS5 / Xbox Series X version (depending on what current-gen platform you buy the game on, of course)- but for anyone who already has the game or doesn't buy the Ultimate Edition, free next-gen upgrades won't be available.
Control's second expansion, AWE, will be releasing on August 27, featuring a crossover with Remedy's 2010 horror game, Alan Wake. The first fifteen minutes of the expansion will be streamed tomorrow.
Remedy Entertainment recently also confirmed that they have started working on their next game, which will also be set in the larger connected universe of Control and Alan Wake.
PS5's DualSense Reportedly Has Over 50% More Battery Capacity Than DualShock 4
Sony have revealed plenty of things about the PS5's new controller, the DualSense, but just like the console itself, there's a lot that we don't know about it yet. Also just like the console, some of the details that Sony haven't yet revealed are among the most important ones- like the controller's battery life, for instance. That in particular, however, may have come to light from an unofficial source.
Over on Twitter, @Galaxyrain666 – who claims to work for a company that manufactures controllers and accessories for both Sony and Microsoft – recently posted images of the DualSense, saying that they got hands on time with the controller, before stating that the controller's battery capacity is 1560mA. That isn't information that Sony have publicly divulged yet, but it is something that people manufacturing the controller would of course know about.
When the DualShock 4 launched, it had a battery capacity of 800mA, while later models of the controller were bumped up to 1000mA. It's worth mentioning, however, that the gap between the DualShock 4 and DualSense's battery capacities won't be perfectly representative of their battery lives, since the DualSense will probably demand more consumption thanks to its haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
Of course, this is all still unverified information, and until Sony officially talks about this time, it's hard to be sure about this one way or another. Earlier this year, they did say that the DualSense would "maintain a strong battery life", but that's really all they've said on the matter so far.
Recently, unverified images of a black DualSense controller leaked online, leading to speculation that additional colour options for the controller and the PS5 itself could be announced soon. Sony have previously said that that's something they will talk about at a later date.
hands on #PS5 controller #Dualsense5 , just got a short test on it. The battery capacity is 1560mA, much more than the PS4 one. pic.twitter.com/bS0wako69J
— Galaxy666 (@Galaxyrain666) August 12, 2020
sorry , no video. we design and provide accessories for console manufactures such as SONY and Microsoft, they are both our customers, now we are doing some compatibility testing for #Dualsense5 controller
— Galaxy666 (@Galaxyrain666) August 12, 2020
Control Ultimate Edition Announced, Launches August 27th on Steam
Remedy Entertainment has announced an Ultimate Edition for Control, its critically acclaimed third person action adventure game. It's coming to Steam first on August 27th, while Xbox One, PS4, and Epic Games Store get it on September 10th. Check out the announcement trailer below.
As the name implies, Control Ultimate Edition will include the base game, The Foundation expansion and the upcoming AWE expansion. All content updates released till now, from Expeditions to Photo Mode, will also be included. Pricing hasn't been revealed but that will be clarified by launch.
Control first released in August 2019 on Xbox One, PS4, and PC to fairly strong critical acclaim. It was an exclusive to the Epic Games Store so the Ultimate Edition will be the first time that Steam users can play the game. Check out our reviews for the base version here and The Foundation expansion here, and stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.
Bloodborne PC/PS5 Rumor Resurfaces With Details Of Alleged Playtest
It's a time of many different rumors flying about with new consoles coming. One of those was one that many fans where delighted to hear about, the rumor that a remaster of the beloved action RPG Bloodborne was coming to PC and PS5. If you aren't aware, basically around the time of the PS5 reveal in June, rumors popped up in several places to expect a reveal of the remaster there. Obviously, that didn't happen, but some are insisting the game still exists, and a new rumor claims to shed light on what's going on.
YouTuber PC Gaming Inquisition was one of the initial rumor starters, having a video about the alleged remaster, which you can see through here. He recently returned to this video, pinning a comment about the game. He said that he still believes the game exists, and claims he has information that the PC version went through a recent playtest. Part of the reason the game wasn't revealed is there were issues found there, plus complications with COVID.
" 1. There was another big playtest round of PC port in July to address issues that were found during previous QA tests.
2. All found critical bugs were fixed, online functionality is fully operational, the work on the port is almost finished.
3. Don't expect miracles with the framerate, anything above 60 FPS still causing a lot of issues and game will probably be capped at 60 FPS even on PC (though I'm sure modders will figure out how to remove it).
4. Sony wants to push Bloodborne remaster in PS5 launch window line-up, but stuff can still be moved to a later date. Regardless, I personally doubt it won't release in 2020 and it shouldn't take too long for the official reveal since the work on the remaster is more or less done."
Sony has been more open to allow their first party titles to come to PC, such as Death Stranding and the recent release of Horizon Zero Dawn, so it's not far fetched that Bloodborne could make the jump to PC, and a PS5 re-release or remaster alongside it makes sense. But, as often is the case here, take these rumors with a big grain of salt, especially since we've been burned once before. We can only hope the hunt will continue on.