Watch Dogs: Legion Save Issue Fix Planned for Early December

Watch Dogs Legion

Despite good reviews and strong sales, Ubisoft's Watch Dogs: Legion continues to face issues, particularly when it comes to saves. PC players were facing issues with corrupted saves earlier this month, which the developer had planned to fix in a patch. However, save issues continue, at least for Xbox Series X players.

The worst part is that it will take more time for a fix to be released. As per the game's official Twitter, "The team is aware of this issue and are working on a fix for it, which we're aiming to have in a patch in early December." This will presumably coincide with the launch of Watch Dogs Online, the online component of the open world title. We'll have to wait and see.

Watch Dogs: Legion is currently available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Google Stadia and PC. You can read our official review here. Along with online content, there will be new missions and new types of Recruits added for free. Season Pass players will also receive access to a new expansion, Watch Dogs: Legion – Bloodline featuring the return of Aiden Pearce and Wrench. Stay tuned for more details on its release in the coming months.

PS5 – Variable Refresh Rate Support Coming in Future Software Update

ps5

The PS5 has been received pretty well since launching on November 12th in North America and November 19th across the world. However, it does have its share of limitations compared to the Xbox Series X. Lack of variable refresh rate is one but it shouldn't be for long.

In an update to its ultimate FAQ for the PS5, Sony has confirmed that the PS5 hardware does support variable refresh rate via HDMI 2.1. "After a future system software update, PS5 owners will be able to use the VRR feature of compatible TVs when playing games that support VRR." HDMI 2.1-compatible 4K TVs aren't super-prominent in the market yet but those who own one will no doubt appreciate the support.

Of course, there are other features that Sony needs to incorporate like SSD storage expansion support. The company has already confirmed that this is being reserved for a "future" update. But like with variable refresh rate, it's unclear when exactly it will be added.

In the meantime, check out our review of the PlayStation 5 here and stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

Titanfall Deluxe Edition is Now Available on Steam

Steam

More than six years after its initial release, Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall is now available for Steam. The Deluxe Edition can be purchased for 60 percent off and includes the base game with the Season Pass, which adds nine more maps. Of course, the launch hasn't been without its issues.

Many user reviews are reporting issues with servers and the audio installer. It remains to be seen when they'll be fixed but it's interesting that Electronic Arts would choose to release Titanfall on Steam when Titanfall 2 is already available. Then there's Apex Legends, Respawn's free to play battle royale shooter which is seeing more frequent updates and content.

Titanfall also doesn't have a proper single-player campaign unlike its successor so the ship may have sailed on experiencing its multiplayer. Nonetheless, you can check out our review here to learn more. The game is also available for Xbox One and Xbox 360 along with PC via Origin and Steam.

PS5 – 11 Things Players Dislike About It

The PS5 is now officially out globally, and though supply constraints and stock shortages around the world mean that there are many who haven't been able to get their hands on the console, there are quite a few who've been lucky enough to get orders or pre-orders in. And while the PS5 has gotten off to a great start with its impressive hardware, next-gen features, and a solid launch lineup, like all new console launches, it has had some issues to contend with as well. In this feature, we're going to be talking about a few such issues, from big to small, that we're hoping will eventually be addressed by Sony in the coming weeks and months.

SAVE BACKUPS

ps5

The PS5 has a few rather basic features and functionalities missing at launch, and though logic would dictate that it's only a matter of time before they're added in, during the console's launch period, these issues have been problematic for some. More specifically, the PS5 is fairly limited in how it lets you backup your save data- in that right now, you can only do it via cloud storage, which, in turn, you can only do if you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber. Unlike the PS4, there's no option to backup save data to external USB drives right now, which seems like a rather glaring omission.

STORAGE SPACE

For the more casual crowd that plays only a handful of games per year, this might not end up making much of a difference, but scores of enthusiasts have pointed out that the PS5 is faced with some pretty serious storage constraints. Of course, it's far, far better than, say, the Xbox Series S' 364 GB of internal storage, but the PS5's 664 GB of usable internal storage is still a pretty small pool- especially given how 9th gen games seem to be intent on releasing with ridiculous file sizes. What makes things even worse is that external SSD expansions aren't supported right now. Sony does, of course, plan on bringing support for that soon enough, so hopefully it won't be too long before that happens.

NO 1440P SUPPORT

This one is a bit of a bummer, especially for what I imagine is a pretty sizable crowd of players who play games on 1440p monitors. The PS5 at launch only supports 1080p and 4K output- there's no middle ground support for 1440p. Sony has said that that is something they could consider adding in if there's enough demand for it down the road, so let's hope that Sony deems the demand right now to be enough- because this seems like a pretty basic feature that a new console releasing in 2020 should obviously have, especially one as technically impressive as the PS5.

HOW BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY FUNCTIONS

It's great that the PS5 has backward compatibility for PS4 games, and that it even boost certain games with enhancements in various ways- but the way the console handles backward compatibility is also a bit limiting, as it turns out. There have been a few high profile cases of developers who've been able to apply enhancements to their games' Xbox versions, but haven't been able to do the same with their PlayStation counterparts, simply because having to do so would require them to natively port the entire game to the PS5 rather than simply applying a patch to the PS4 version. The like of Rocket League, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Star Wars: Squadrons have all suffered as a result on PS5, and though all three of these games support 120 FPS on Xbox Series X and Series S, they do not on the PS5.

LACK OF SMART DELIVERY-STYLE SYSTEM-WIDE FEATURE

ps5 dualsense

The PS5 does, of course, support cross-gen free upgrades, same as the new Xbox consoles- depending on whether or not publishers are offering that, of course. What we're talking about here is a system-wide feature specifically tailor-made for that purpose. On the Xbox Series X/S, Smart Delivery is an excellent system-level feature that makes it so that all you have to do to access the best version of a game is just… boot up that game. On the PS5, the lack of a similar system-wide feature can lead to some confusion. In fact, it already has. We've seen recent reports of various players accidentally playing the PS4 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on the PS5, since the PS5 version has to be manually selected in certain cases, and the game otherwise defaults to the inferior version. A feature like Smart Delivery that takes care of that stuff on a system level would have avoided any such silliness.

THE SIZE

Mileage may vary on this front in particular, but honestly, the PS5's size is something we've been hearing complaints about since the moment Sony first revealed it. Those complaints have gotten louder in the lead-up to the PS5's launch, and following the console's release, they've become nearly deafening. And you know what? They're not without merit. The PS5 is a massive console, regardless of whether you're placing it vertically or horizontally, to the extent that many might even struggle to find a place for it in their entertainment units. Now, the aesthetics of a console are generally pretty superficial, both as pros and as cons, but in the case of the PS5, they do seem to be a bit more problematic than you'd expect.

THE BASE

Something else that the console makes a little more complicated than it needs to is its base. If you place it horizontally, it's actually rather simple- it just functions as a clip-on. But placed vertically, it involves having to screw it on, removing its cap, securing that cap in the base itself- and sure, it's not exactly rocket science. Really, one look at the manual or an instructional video should be enough to tell you everything you need to know about the process. But it's still a bit more complicated than it needed to be. Not the end of the world by any means, though, so it's more minor issue than some of the others we've talked about here.

COIL WHINE

ps5 dualsense

The PS5 is a very silent console- surprisingly so. And coming off the back of the rocket-propelled engines that were known as the PS4 and PS4 Pro, that silence is much, much appreciated. It's not completely silent though. For instance, the disc drive occasionally makes noise, as disc drives always do. More notably, some users have been reporting hearing humming noises from the console, which are most likely coil whine. This, too, isn't particularly loud, and should be more or less completely ignorable if they do even happen in your console- but it's an issue that some have reported, so hopefully Sony is already thinking of solutions for the same.

REST MODE ERROR

Of all the issues that we've spoke about in this feature, this one is probably the most dire. It's not too widespread, thankfully, but enough users have reported it that it's something of a concern. Essentially, putting your console in Rest Mode can trigger a major issue that crashed your console's entire database, basically bricking it, at which point no one but Sony can help you with next steps. There's no specific reason that we've been able to decipher for why this happens or when it happens- but given the fact that this is such a major issue, we're willing to bet that Sony are already at work on a firmware update that fixes it. We hope they are, at any rate.

PSVR

The PS5 does support PSVR, which is a great thing, because there's a lot of potential in PSVR and we're hoping to see Sony continue to make investments on that front. But much like backward compatibility, VR support on PS5 seems to be limited. Basically, no native PS5 game supports VR, and PSVR can only be played on the PS5 through backward compatibility. So if you want to play No Man's Sky or Hitman 3 in VR, you're going to be paying the PS4 versions of the game, which is a real shame. We're hoping Sony is saving native PS5 support for a new generation PSVR headset, but it's hard to be sure about that just yet.

DOWNLOAD QUEUES

ps5

This one is a bit of a bummer. Being able to download multiple things at the same time was a rather nifty feature in PS4- but it's also a pretty basic thing, and it feels weird to be praising something so fundamental. We're praising it, of course, because the Xbox One lacks that feature, and so, too, do the Xbox Series X and Series S. Unfortunately, the PS5 has joined that list as well. You can only download one game at a time now, and everything else joins a queue. Simultaneous downloads have become a thing of the past, which seems like an odd regression for this otherwise extremely impressive next-gen console.

Sony Undecided As Of Yet On Expanding PlayStation Plus Collection

PlayStation Plus Collection

The PS5 is here, and well, there may not be a lot of next gen only games to play on it (like…3 maybe?), there's still a lot to play if you're willing to go back. For those who have PlayStation Plus, for instance, there's a select amount of titles you can get as part of the service, some of the biggest and best from the PS4 era, which even got a little extra right before the system launched. Will there be even more? Well, it seems Sony isn't sure just yet.

Doing his interview rounds, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan spoke with GQ and when asked about expanding the collection, he was upfront in saying he wasn't sure exactly where they were going with the collection. The main aim of it was for early adapters of the PS5 to be able and go back and miss the big titles they didn't get to. They'll have to see just how much use comes before dedicating more to it.

"Well, we're going to wait and see how the world receives the Plus Collection. You know, which games are played how much they're played before we make any decisions about that. We think it's potentially going to be a great user acquisition tool. Arguably if you never had a PS4 and you choose to buy a PS5 you basically get a PS4, right?"

The list of titles available in the Collection is already pretty solid, but more would be welcome. Ryan seemed to also hint some kind of answer to Xbox's Game Pass could be in the works, so it's not hard to see them attempting to grow this into something much more. We'll just have to wait and see how it develops.

PS5's Download Queue Bug Now Has A Fix, Per Sony

ps5

As of yesterday, Sony has now launched their new console, the PS5, on a worldwide basis. It's an exciting time with new tech, new games and all kinds of new things to discovery. Unfortunately, just like the launch of most new tech, it hasn't been without issues. Both Sony and Microsoft have seen reported issues for their new systems. One of the nastier ones for Sony was a bug that would cancel out your download queue, essentially making it impossible to download updates for games. In some cases, you couldn't even upgrade a PS4 version of a title to its PS5 one for games that supported that. Well, it seems Sony has a fix now.

On the official support PlayStation Twitter, they posted steps to take if you've fallen victim to this bug. It's pretty simple, just make sure you download the latest firmware update and start your PS5 in safe mode then rebuild your database. That should do it. It's hard to gauge if this solution is working on a widespread basis, but IGN (who was one of the first to report on the bug) says that it's fixed the issue for those that had it on their staff.

If you're still suffering from this bug, try this out. Hopefully, it's a fix for everyone.

PS5's HDMI 2.1 Bandwidth Reportedly Limited to 32 GB/

ps5 dualsense

Amid the various shortcomings that the PS5 faces, like the lack of variable refresh rate support, it seems that its HDMI 2.1 may also have some issues. HDTVTest's Vincent Teoh noted on YouTube that when testing the Xbox Series X with an LG CX 48 inch TV, it managed to output a bandwidth of up to 40 GB/s. However, the PS5 is limited to just 32 GB/s.

This means that when playing certain titles at 120 Hz, there will be a switch to 4:2:2 chroma subsampling as opposed to a constant 4:4:4 on Xbox Series X. Interestingly, the PS5 is ahead of the curve when it comes to its signaling method, which is Fixed Rate Link, while the Xbox Series X defaults to Transition Minimized Differential Signaling. Playing games at 4K/60 FPS is still possible on the latter though.

Again, this is for titles that run at 120 FPS and the selection is currently limited. It's also early days yet for widespread HDMI 2.1 adoption but this is worth keeping in mind when pursuing 4K gaming in the future, even if the difference in bandwidth isn't a huge issue. In the meantime, check out our reviews for the Xbox Series X and PS5 to learn more.

Cyberpunk 2077 With Ray-Tracing, DLSS Highlighted in New Video

Cyberpunk 2077_11

CD Projekt RED has been showcasing quite a bit of Cyberpunk 2077 with ray-tracing enabled, revealing just how much more immersive Night City looks with realistic reflections. A new behind the scenes video has been released which discusses the benefits of ray-tracing and DLSS for PC players. Check it out below.

The gameplay here has been captured on the GeForce RTX 30 series. Yesterday, the developer confirmed PC requirements for playing with ray-tracing on. Though one can get by with an RTX 2060 at 1080p resolution and Medium settings, Ultra settings with ray-tracing enabled necessitate an RTX 3070 and 3080 for playing at 1440p and 2160p respectively.

Cyberpunk 2077 is out on December 10th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia with support for the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 at launch. Check out how the game runs on Xbox One X and Xbox Series X here. Gameplay running on the PS4 and PS5 will also be revealed in the coming weeks so stay tuned.

PS5 And Xbox Series S Make TIME's Best Inventions Of 2020 List

ps5

2020 hasn't been a good year, that much is for sure. It's hard to say what 2021 will hold, whether it will be just 2020, part 2, or if it'll end up being better. Keep your fingers crossed for that vaccine, ya'll. Regardless, though, despite the struggles of a global pandemic, both Sony and Microsoft managed to launch brand new systems earlier this month, and TIME has a nod to both.

TIME magazine released their list for best 100 inventions of 2020. Sony's PS5 made the list with its biggest pluses being its use of the custom SSD as well as the unique tech in the DualSense such as the adaptive trigger and haptic feedback.

"At more than a foot tall and weighing in at just under 10 lb., the PlayStation 5 is among the largest video-game consoles ever made—Sony needed the room to support visually spectacular titles like Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Games load almost instantaneously, thanks to a solid-state hard drive. The graphics processor is almost 10 times faster than that of the PS 4, which allows for beautiful visuals, and a new controller is full of haptic feedback sensors that add a new dimension to play. When a character walks on sand, players feel the grit in the controller; when Spider-Man grips a subway car, players feel the train's rumble."

Microsoft wasn't left out, as the Xbox Series S also got a spot. It's near silent running, improved processing power from the Xbox One and affordable price point were its key listing points. Xbox Game Pass also got a shoutout.

"The Series S's secret weapon is Game Pass: a subscription service where new hits like Halo Infinite will appear the same day as their traditional release. And those games will look even sharper—the Series S ($299) can run high-resolution games at 120 frames per second, a 100% increase over its predecessor, the Xbox One. What's more, because there is no disc drive, the Series S operates almost silently, making it all the easier to concentrate on the action."

What's interesting here is that the Xbox Series X did not get a spot at all. There isn't even mention of the system in the Series S listing. That's rather odd considering they are essentially sister consoles, but most likely they didn't want Microsoft to burn two spots, and hey, it's their list after all.

The PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and even the Series X are now available on a worldwide basis.

Cross-Gen 1st Party Exclusives Between PS4 – PS5: Is That a Good Thing?

Despite Sony's many hints of drawing a stark line between the PS4 and PS5 libraries leading up to its launch, it appears that line isn't going to be quite as clear or significant as many thought, at least at first. As a result, many who bought the PlayStation 5 thinking that they would have Horizon Forbidden West and Sackboy all to themselves are now realizing that's not exactly the case, and many who decided to wait on getting a PS5 are now feeling emboldened by that decision, opting to wait even longer, perhaps even long enough for a price drop or special edition bundle, as they can now expect to get PS4 versions of many of the PS5's most anticipated games. While PS5 owners can of course expect to get superior versions of those games, it goes without saying that their lack of exclusivity to that particular console has been underwhelming to see for some, and even inspiring some buyer's remorse here and there. Are those feelings justified though? Is the cross-generation nature of many of Sony's upcoming exclusives a problem to worry about, an advantage to celebrate, or something in between?

As with most issues like this, particularly in the gaming space, there are valid points to be made on both sides as well as overblown ones. Let's start with what's reasonable. On one hand, If you task a developer with making two versions of a game, one of which is limited by the constraints of a previous generation's seven year old console, It's fair to suspect that the more modern version might suffer certain setbacks due to time and resources being spent on making sure the inferior version works as well as it can on the aging hardware it's being developed for.

Will Horizon Forbidden West look as good as it would have on the PS5 had Guerilla taken all of that extra time and effort that they are spending on a PS4 version and instead put it all into that one PS5 version? Will it take advantage of all the bells and whistles that the PS5 offers? Will it run just as well and be tested as thoroughly as it would have had they opted to not spend time on a PS4 version? It's worth asking. After all, we have seen some evidence of this working against the game's favor in the past with other developers of other games that were caught between generations and often ended up having four or five different versions made. Watch Dogs and The Evil Within immediately come to mind as games that, while certainly not terrible-looking games, felt somewhat held back on the PS4, PC, and Xbox One versions, whereas their sequels, which did not have last-gen versions, didn't feel that way nearly as much.

Of course I would never expect a developer to come out and say that their game was held back by having to make too many versions, as that would be a PR nightmare, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that to be the case in at least some situations, especially the ones with so many versions. However, we also have evidence of the opposite. Resogun eventually launched on all three of Sony's main platforms and all three versions turned out great, despite the PS4 version's particle effects initially seeming like something the PS3 or Vita wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of handling. The difference? The Evil Within and Watch Dogs were third party games and had a lot more versions to make. So the fact that multiple versions are being made is certainly not the only factor worth considering.

That said, if we're talking about cross-gen first party games that are just being developed for two consoles that basically share the same architecture, it's also reasonable to assume that the amount of time and resources needed to competently develop those two versions is not nearly as herculean a task as making 4 or 5, with more variation of platform types between them. 2 is a lot less than 5 when you're talking game versions, especially when those two versions are in the same ecosystem and one if just scaled back. Even still, it's worth asking which system is the target for the game, i.e., is Horizon Forbidden West being made primarily for the PS5 and a scaled-back version for the PS4, or is it being made primarily for the PS4 and having some bells and whistles thrown in for the PS5? Does that even matter to a great enough extent for us to notice it on the final product? These are questions that Guerrilla has yet to be asked, much less have a chance to answer, but it's definitely a project to keep an eye on to see how well this transition is going to work out for cross-gen multiplatform games.

We do have some examples we can already look at though, like Sackboy: A Big Adventure and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Both games were developed for PS4 and PS5 and both games launched on those platforms simultaneously. Where does that bring us? Well, so far, it seems to be working out fine. Spider-Man Remastered and Miles Morales on the PS5 both have some very fancy ray-tracing and 60-frame modes that feel right at home on new gaming consoles. While I think we will be expecting a little more from natively PS5-focused software in the future, so far, it's looking like Sony is handling the transition with the TLC that each and every game requires. Only time will tell what third-party developers do with their games as they decide whether or not to go with multiple versions or fewer versions with more polish, but at least on Sony's end it looks like it's going well and we probably don't have a whole lot to worry about on that front.

Horizon Forbidden West (4)

Just like with last-gen and frankly most generations before, the vast majority of games that are developed for current and past hardware do a pretty decent job of taking advantage of both. That's not to say you won't notice a difference between a game that was only developed for the PS5 and the game that was developed for the PS5 and PS4, but for most, there doesn't seem to be very much reason to suspect the difference will be big enough to make you regret getting either version. That's not to say that save file transfers and upgrading from PS4 to PS5 versions of certain games won't be confusing though, as different games have different ways of handling these situations and there is no blanket solution, but that is perhaps a different conversation for a different time.

Moving on to the slightly less reasonable argument against cross-gen first-party exclusives, is the sense of buyer's remorse that certain people are having after buying PS5 and realizing that many of the launch titles are also getting last-gen versions. This is something I struggle to be sympathetic to. It should go without saying that you shouldn't buy a new console just so you can celebrate having games that other people don't. You should buy a console because you want that console, and you want the games for that console. If other people are getting to enjoy some of the same games on a previous generation console, that shouldn't really affect you one way or another, other than perhaps being happy for them being able to play those games. Especially considering that you know your newer version of that game is going to be nicer and that your version of that game is likely not going to be impacted much at all as we discussed earlier. Console generations do not exist to exclude people out of games, but rather, they exist to open the door to new things that were not possible before.

It's true that after  a couple of years go by we will see last-gen versions of games dropping off as Sony focuses solely on current-gen, and some folks will be left out in the cold until they buy a PS5, but that is just an unfortunate side-effect of new generations existing. It's not the intended feature. The line has to be drawn somewhere at the end of the day. But the most important thing to take away is that not all multi-generational games are held back in problematic ways, especially when we're talking about 1st party titles. How many platforms it's being made for, who is making them, and what sort of approach they are taking to development are all things that impact how it's ultimately handled, not just whether or not it's cross-generational. And so far, at least in Sony's corner, it's being handled reasonably well.

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.