The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are both launching this November, and both boast a pretty strong selection of multiplatform third party launch titles, including the likes of Watch Dogs: Legion, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, DiRT 5, and Yakuza; Like a Dragon (though that doesn't launch on the PS5 until March). But which of the two consoles will enjoy the stronger Holiday sales for third party games this year?
We recently posed the question to industry analyst Michael Pachter. After first remarking that they're going to sell well on both on PlayStation and Xbox regardless, he added that that will ultimately boil down to supply. According to Pachter, it's simply going to be a question of which of the two consoles have sold more.
"Well, it doesn't really matter, they're going to sell well on both consoles," he said. "But this, again, comes down to supply from Sony and Microsoft. If you tell me Sony has made 8 million PS5s and Microsoft has made 5 million Xboxes, I will say the games will sell more on PS5. If you tell me Microsoft made 8 million and Sony made 5 million, I will say the games will sell more on Xbox Series X. It comes down to supply again."
The PS5 and Xbox Series X have both enjoyed successful post-launch periods (in terms of sales, if not planning), so right out the gate, at least, third party sales will likely be higher. Reports have also said that Sony plan on producing 10 million PS5 units by as early as December, so it definitely seems like they're expecting plenty of demand.
Our full interview with Michael Pachter will be live soon, so stay tuned for that.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales – New Details Revealed on Stealth, Combat, Open World, and More
New details were recently revealed on the combat, stealth, open world, and more in Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales thanks to an extensive preview published in the latest issue of Game Informer, and went over several of the changes and improvements Insomniac are making over the 2018 game.
One of the most interesting new tidbits describes Miles' Venom, which can be used in combat by holding down L1 and pressing one of the face buttons. Venom moves are described as as turning Miles into "an entirely different Spider-Man". One move causes Mile to leapfrog several feet into the other, another unleashes a charged punch, while another still stuns enemies and makes them more vulnerable to subsequent attacks. Similar to Peter's Focus in Marvel's Spider-Man, Miles' Venom also has to be charged up.
Improvements have also been made to stealth. The biggest of these is that even after you've alerted enemies, you can re-enter stealth by using Miles' camouflage ability – which essentially renders him temporary invisible – at which point enemies begin firing wildly and using grenades as they try to find you (though interestingly enough, some enemies can see you even when you're camouflaged). Additionally, stealth takedowns can now also be done while sticking to ceilings and walls.
Outside of combat, Miles has a phone that you'll be able to pull up whenever you want by swiping up on the DualSense, and this is where you'll find the new Friendly Neighbourhood Spider App, where you can look for crimes and other activities, basically replacing the police scanner from the previous game. Speaking of crimes, though there will be a few returning ones, there will be several new additions as well.
There will also be more collectibles to hunt down, some of which will be related to Miles' music-related hobbies. Insomniac have also confirmed that the lab puzzle minigames won't be returning. All in all, the developers want side activities to offer more meaningful rewards, such as new suits (of which there will be quite a few).
Some improvements have also been made to the web-swinging. Haptic feedback has been incorporated, as well as the adaptive triggers. Miles' movements while swinging are described as less fluid than Peter's- which makes sense, since he's much less experienced at it. That said, Miles does have more tricks he can perform while swinging around New York.
Plenty more details on Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales have also emerged since yesterday. New suits, various characters, and more were shown off in stunning new screenshots. New story details have also been revealed, along with a glimpse at the game's first boss fight. Meanwhile, Insomniac have also talked about the Performance and Fidelity modes.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales recently went gold, and will launch for PS5 and PS4 on November 12.
PS5 is so Big Because of its Large Cooling Fan, Says Sony's Otori Yasuhiro
The PS5 has a rather unique design, and one thing that's been noted about it most often is just how large nd bulky it is. Recently, when Sony released a teardown video for the PS5 and showed the console's innards, it became clear the its cooling system was largely responsible for its size. Recently, while speaking with Nikkei's Xtech, Otori Yasuhiro, the head of PS5's mechanical and thermal design team confirmed that notion.
Yasuhiro explained that the PS5's large cooling fan is the reason for the console's large size. Sony could potentially have made the console smaller if they had chosen to go with two smaller fans, but for several reasons, that would have raised manufacturing costs.
"It was possible to develop the PlayStation 5 to be smaller," Yasuhiro said (via VGC). "For example, by implementing two cooling fans, one for side A and side B, the PlayStation 5 size would have been reduced.
"However, there is naturally an additional cost associated with having two fans. Additionally, controlling the functionality of two fans is more difficult than just one. With these additional obstacles in mind, we decided to cool both sides of the main board with one, large fan."
Reports have previously suggested that Sony have invested in an "unusually expensive" cooling system for the PS5, and recent details have certainly fallen in line with that. It would make sense, in light of that, that Sony would try to spend less where they possibly could.
Recent hands-on impressions have highlighted the quietness and effectiveness of the PS5's cooling.
BioShock Creator's Next Title Is In "Later Stages Of Production," Per New Job Listing
The BioShock series was, for many, something of a watershed moment. It combined the immersive sim elements that had largely been PC-only to a console audience with an interesting story that was lined with philosophy and literature that was unfamiliar with many in the video game audience. While we know a new entry in that series is coming, the franchise Creator is doing something else, and it may be getting close.
Ken Levine left Irrational Games to form Ghost Story Games to make what was described as smaller scale projects. While Levine has spoke about his future project in spots, we knew next to nothing about it. A new job listing from 2K seems to indicate it's in the "later stages of production." It is also described as an immersive sim and sci-fi game with RPG elements.
"We are a self-publishing game development studio owned by Take-Two Interactive located in the greater-Boston area. We're dedicated to making immersive story driven games for gamers that like a challenge. The studio was founded by a group of former Irrational Games developers that involved the development and release of many games, including but not limited to System Shock 2, BioShock and BioShock Infinite.
"We're working on a new immersive sci-fi game with RPG elements. We haven't announced any details yet because we are still in later stages of production."
To give you an idea of how long festering this project has been, within the listing is reference to a video of Levine speaking on the project in 2014. It is a very small team, however, of only about 35 people so it makes sense as to why it's been awhile. While it's unclear what "later stages" means here, hopefully we'll see what they've been cooking up soon enough.
Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition Trailer Provides Gameplay Overview
Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition releases tomorrow for PC and sees the classic RTS getting the remastered treatment. Tantalus Media and Forgotten Empires have released a new overview trailer in the meantime, which outlines the different gameplay systems and features. Check it out below.
Matches start out with Explorers who venture across the map and collect treasures. Doing so will provide experience, units and resources for your civilization. When enough experience has been accrued, shipments (in the form of cards) can be requisitioned for different benefits. Players can customize their own deck from over 100 cards to formulate different strategies.
There's a lot more to go over so check out the accompanying post here. Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition offers more than just remastered 4K visuals and all of the DLC – it also includes two new civilizations and new modes with Historical Battles and The Art of War Challenge Missions. It's out tomorrow for PC via Steam, the Microsoft Store and Xbox Game Pass.
This year's Tokyo Game Show came to a close after a new digital format, one that seemed to be pretty successful, and as usual it was filled with lots of titles from lots of publishers. We're also close to a new generation of consoles launching, so there's so much to pay attention to. After the show, Japanese players were polled as to what their most wanted games were after TGS ended and, while most were what you expect, a few surprises slipped in.
The polling was done via major Japanese gaming media Famitsu, Dengeki, 4Gamer, and V Jump. It was to determine what games that had released on September 24th or later the public was most excited for. While it's no surprise that Capcom's Monster Hunter Rise was at the top of the list, it is a bit of a shock that it was not number 1. That spot ended up going to Genshin Impact, the recently released free to play action title. Capcom, however, really was the MVP on the 15 game list having three other titles beside Rise on there: Resident Evil Village, Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition and Monster Hunter Stories 2.
The rest of the list was somewhat predictable, including Final Fantasy 16, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, NeiR Replicant and Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires. Cyberpunk 2077 also managed to just make the list at 13, the sole western title. Mobile had a pretty strong presence, too, as a few slots were taken by mobile-only titles such as Sakura Revolution and Project Sekai Colorful Stage! both from Sega.
Thanks to Siliconera for translating and compiling the list. You can see it, as well as the platforms for each title, in full below.
- Genshin Impact (PC, PS4, iOS, Android; also coming later to Switch and PS5)
- Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)
- Project Sekai Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku (iOS, Android)
- Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition (PS5, Xbox Series X/S)
- Resident Evil Village (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC; PS4 & Xbox One being considered)
- Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (Switch)
- Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)
- Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster (PS4, Switch)
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Switch)
- Sakura Revolution (iOS, Android)
- R-Type Final 2 (PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)
- Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa Heisei Reiwa mo Teiban! (Switch)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia)
- NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
- Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC)
Spelunky 2 Creator Looking Into Tweaking First Area's Difficulty
If you've played the original Spelunky, it should come as no surprise that Spelunky 2 is tough. However, the first game was praised for easing players in, ramping the difficulty up in a way that felt right. With Mossmouth's sequel, it feels like the first area, Dwelling, is much tougher than it should be.
Creator Derek Yu acknowledged this and in a new post on Steam, he talked about changes that are being tested. These affect the "spawn rates of enemies and traps, particularly in 1-1 and 1-2." World 1-4 is also seeing some changes to make it "more interesting" and players can expect these changes in an upcoming patch. Yu also noted that instead of trying to kill everything in Dwelling, it's better for players to either avoid them, "let them kill each other or trigger traps for you."
Yu also addressed a complaint that some had for a section in Volcana. While the developer will look into it, he couldn't confirm if it would actually be addressed. "In general, we have to be somewhat careful about how we go about changing the game based on player feedback. Ultimately, Spelunky is a game that is designed to have some sharp edges in it, and there's always the risk of removing fun along with the frustration."
Spelunky 2 is currently available for PS4 and PC. You can read more about it in our review here.
The Initiative Adds Former Naughty Dog Melee Animation Lead
While much has been said and written about the amount of studios that Microsoft has acquired over the years, it can be easy to forget they actually created The Initiative. The studio has been hard at work on something these last few years and has been adding an impressive array of talent to their ranks over the last couple of years. Now another big name is apparently part of the team.
As spotted by Twitter user Klobrille, the LinkIn page for one Lee Davis has been updated to indicate he's joined the company. If you're not familiar with that name, you almost assuredly are with his work. He was the Former Head of Animation for Naughty Dog and worked on several of their acclaimed titles such as Uncharted 2, Uncharted 4 and both The Last of Us titles.
It's not known as of now what the The Initiative is working on, though current rumors peg it as something relating to Rare's Perfect Dark IP. Whatever it is, Microsoft is amassing quite the pool of talent for it.
Former Head of Melee Animation at Naughty Dog Lee Davis joins The Initiative as the Lead Gameplay Animator. He worked on The Last of Us I & II, Uncharted 4 & Uncharted 2.
As with previous hires, the studio seems to aim for a highly-skilled animation team. https://t.co/TWISUoeoo3 pic.twitter.com/wLkGbLudhk
— Klobrille (@klobrille) October 13, 2020
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales – Stunning New Screenshots Show Suits, Villains, and More
With Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales launching less than a month from now, we've been learning plenty of new things about the game of late. And though this might not be a full numbered sequel, the excitement for it still continues ramp up.
Much of the new details coming out on the game in the next few days will be coming through Game Informer's cover story- which has kicked off with a bunch of new screenshots. On top of showcasing the game's much crisper visuals with its ray-tracing in full effect, the screenshots also show off new suits, focus on baddies like Rhino and the Tinkerer, show Miles in the subway and walking through the city, and various other scenes of combat, web-swinging, and more. Check them out in the gallery below.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales recently went gold. It will be releasing for PS5 and PS4 on November 12.
Recently, we got to saw bits and pieces of gameplay footage from the first boss fight of the game- check it out through here. Insomniac Games have also confirmed what frame rates and resolutions the game will be targeting on PS5 in its Performance and Fidelity modes.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon's Full Yokohama Map Looks Significantly Larger Than Kamurocho
The upcoming Yakuza: Like a Dragon is going to bring about a massive shift for the franchise. Having wrapped up Kazuma Kiryu's story in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, the series is now moving forward with a new protagonist in Ichiban Kasuga, a new story, new characters, and even turning into a turn-based RPG.
Another change that it'll be making is shifting base from Kamurocho – which has been a mainstay as one of the series' main settings over the years – to the new district of Yokohoma. Kamurocho will still be in the game, of course, but Yokohoma, it seems, is going to be the main attraction.
In fact, developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio recently took to Twitter and compared the sizes of both regions by pitting images of their full maps side-by-side, illustrating just how significantly bigger Yokohama is. In a subsequent tweet, they also confirmed that both images are "pretty much" to scale, and that Yokohama really is that much bigger than Kamurocho.
Here's hoping that the larger world will still be densely populated with compelling characters and side activities- which, of course, is something Yakuza has always been known to do.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon launches on November 10 for the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, and PC. It will release for PS5 on March 2, 2021.
On Xbox Series X, Yakuza: Like a Dragon will run at either 4K/30 FPS or 1400p/60 FPS, while on Xbox Series S, it will run at either 1440p/30 FPS or 900p/60 FPS.
Enjoy exploring the back alleys of Kamurocho? Wait 'til you see how much more there is to see and do in Yokohama! pic.twitter.com/4wvv8D5ek0
— RGG Studio (@RGGStudio) October 13, 2020
By the way, the maps are pretty much to scale, Yokohama is really that much bigger!
— RGG Studio (@RGGStudio) October 13, 2020