Ranking All Forza Games from Worst to Best
Forza has been one of Microsoft's biggest, most prestigious franchises for pretty much as long as it's been around, and it's easy to see why. Ever since its inception over a decade and a half ago, the series has consistently put out great games in whatever form it's taken, to the extent that, for the most part, even at its lowest point, it's been far, far from bad. With Forza Horizon 5 coming out soon and looking extremely promising, here, we're going to take a look back at all the Forza games to have ever come out, and rank them from worst to best.
#12. FORZA STREET
An easy pick for the lowest spot in this list. Forza Motorsport has consistently offered excellent simulation mechanics, while Horizon is an incredible arcade series, but Forza Street is really neither here nor there. It doesn't help that it's a mobile-only title, which means that it's lacking in the sort of mechanical perfection, polish, and visual fidelity the series has traditionally been known for. It's an extremely simplified experience that doesn't do much of anything you'd expect a Forza game to do. Thankfully, it's not technically a mainline entry, so it's rather easy to completely overlook.
#11. FORZA MOTORSPORT 5
As the first Forza game to release for the Xbox One, Forza Motorsport 5 was well-positioned to really leverage the new console to deliver an excellent experience, but the game turned out to be a bit of a letdown, especially coming off of the excellent Forza Motorsport 4. It looked great, the audio design was typically excellent, new features like Drivatars and Forzavista were introduced, and the cars felt really good to drive, but the game was crippled by a shockingly small roster of vehicles and a disappointing lack of track variety at launch.
#10. FORZA MOTORSPORT
The one that started it all. The first Forza Motorsport's legacy is impossible to oversell, and for fans of racing sims, this was a landmark release. At a time when Gran Turismo ruled the roost, Forza Motorsport came along and defied all expectations by not only delivering an excellent racing sim, but one that was genuinely great enough to be able to go up against Gran Turismo and provide some meaningful competition. Being 16 years old and having been improved upon by numerous sequels, it's a little hard to go back to now, but the game deserves massive props for setting down solid foundations for the franchise.
#9. FORZA MOTORSPORT 6
After the backlash that Forza Motorsport 5 received at launch for its issues, Turn 10 Studios knew they needed to come back strong with a proper statement- Forza Motorsport 6 wasn't exactly a strong statement that could make people sit up and take notice, but it was an improvement. The selection of vehicles and tracks was much better, the visuals were beautiful, and the career mode and online were a blast. Mechanically, Forza Motorsport 6 wasn't as polished in terms of its sim aspects as some other games in the series, which made it a bit of an inconsistent experience, but by and large, this was a really good game.
#8. FORZA HORIZON
Forza Horizon was an interesting and risky experiment for Microsoft's racing series. After having made a name for itself with four excellent racing sims, with Forza Horizon, the series decided to do something different, delivering a more arcade style of racing in an open world environment. It's fair to say that the experiment worked out, thanks to excellent driving mechanics and a world that was an absolute joy to simply drive around in. The first Forza Horizon has been improved upon by all of its successors, so by default it feels a little aged, but even so, it's still a blast to play even today.
#7. FORZA MOTORSPORT 2
Forza Motorsport 2 had a lot of expectations to live up to, not only because it had to build on the success of its groundbreaking predecessor, but also because it was the series' debut on the Xbox 360, and it succeeded very nearly in everything that it set out to do. It looked and sounded gorgeous, its tracks and cars were brimming with details, the roster of vehicles was vast and varied, and the mechanical polish and sheer range of customization options in the game were staggering, especially for its time.
#6. FORZA HORIZON 2
Forza Horizon 2 didn't have the novelty factor of the first Horizon game, which meant it didn't make nearly as big of a splash as its predecessor did, but it was more than a worthy successor, and an excellent evolution of the series' open world arcade racing branch. The freedom and arcade-style racing that Horizon 1 established were taken to even greater heights in the sequel, while the open world featured here was also absolutely gorgeous and just a pleasure to drive around in. Sadly, the Xbox 360 version of the game as a bit of a mess, to the extent that it almost felt like a completely different game.
#5. FORZA MOTORSPORT 3
As great as the first two Forza games were, it was with Forza Motorsport 3 that the series really came into its own. Turn 10 established the formula that the series would continue to be built on for years to come, and it was with Forza Motorsport 3 that the franchise really solidified its identity and emerged as a true and proper contender to the racing sim throne. Excellent cars, tracks, driving mechanics, career mode, and more came together to deliver what was and still remains one of the best racing sims of its time.
#4. FORZA MOTORSPORT 7
Forza Motorsport hit a relative slump in its Xbox One era, but at least it ended strong. Forza Motorsport 7 wasn't perfect, no – the microtransactions at launch, for instance, were a bit of nuisance – but in most ways that matter, this might just be one of the best renditions of the Forza formula. Visually spectacular, absolutely overflowing with a ridiculously large selection of vehicles, packed full of content that could keep you busy for dozens upon dozens of hours, Forza Motorsport 7 was a great return to form for the series. Driving mechanics were more polished and refined than ever before, the career mode was excellent, the progression system was genuinely engaging, and the introduction of dynamic weather was an exciting new addition.
#3. FORZA HORIZON 3
Like Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon really hit its stride with its third instalment. The first two Horizon games are spectacular open world racers though, so that should tell you something about how good the third one was. Australia was an excellent open world setting, not just in terms of size, but also in terms of variety, while the driving mechanics were also better and smoother than ever. It was with Forza Horizon 3 that many started wondering whether the spinoff Forza series had surpassed the mainline games, and it's easy to see why- this is easily one of the best racing games ever made.
#2. FORZA MOTORSPORT 4
The absolute pinnacle of the Forza Motorsport line of games. Turn 10 kept on consistently improving on the formula with each progressive game in the series' earlier years, and with Forza Motorsport 4, ended up crafting a veritable masterpiece. Excellent variety in tracks and cars, a ridiculous level of detail that exhibited a true love for the craft, the most polished driving mechanics the series had ever had up until that point- for all of these reasons and more, Forza Motorsport 4 is not only the best Motorsport game, it might even arguably be the best racing sim ever made. It's that good.
#1. FORZA HORIZON 4
When Forza Horizon spun off from the mainline series, no one could have expected that it would go on to surpass the Motorsport line of games. By the time Horizon 3 came out, the subseries did start hinting at that level of quality- and with Horizon 4, it just blew everyone out of the water. Open world Britain is beautiful, massive, full of varied sights and sounds, and densely packed with a vast variety of consistently enjoyable activities, from excellent racing events to buying houses to competing against Drivatars to just aimlessly driving around the open world. Add to that the ingenious seasons mechanic, which completely changes the world in fundamental ways, and you also get an insane amount of dynamism in the experience. Forza Horizon 4 is easily one of the best racing games ever made, if not the best, and we'd be lucky to see Horizon 5 coming anywhere close to that level.
10 Objective Types Games Need To Stop Using
Most developers in the industry will attest to the fact that it's very hard to "find the fun" in gameplay while creating games- and while most of that obviously comes from the mechanics, almost equally as important is how those mechanics are used. Oftentimes, games stumble in this area, and end up presenting players with objectives that just aren't enjoyable in the slightest, for one reason or the other. Here, we're going to talk about a few such objective types.
FETCH QUESTS
Makes sense to start with the obvious stuff, right? Fetch quests are the very definition of cookie cutter- they're the lowest of the low, the most inane and meaningless, and as such, the most unengaging kind of quest we can find in a game. And yet, they're so ubiquitous. MMOs live and die by their fetch quests, of course, but even in single player games, we see more than a few examples of these. And sure, it's not impossible to make a good fetch quest- with the right contextualization, it's certainly possible. The Witcher 3 has a couple of good fetch quests, for instance. But those are, sadly, rare examples- exceptions to the rule, so to speak, the rule being that fetch quests categorically suck.
15 PS5 Games With The Best DualSense Controller Implementation
Alongside its SSD and its 3D audio engine, the DualSense was one of the PS5's most heavily marketed features in the lead-up to the console's launch, with its adaptive triggers and haptic feedback promising greater immersion in games than ever before. Now, the PS5 is still extremely young – it's not even a year old at this point – so it's still too soon to say whether or not the DualSense has lived up to all that hype- but already, there's been more than a few games that have made use of the controller's unique features in some pretty interesting ways. Here, we're going to talk about a few such games.
CONTROL: ULTIMATE EDITION
Control's PS5 and Xbox Series X/S launch benefited the game in several ways – the game buckled often and hard on older hardware when it came out a couple years ago – and specifically on the PS5, its use of the DualSense features was a nice feather in its cap. More specifically, the adaptive triggers were were used to great effect, lending a lot of heft and punchiness to the firing of weapons, while the haptic feedback, though much more subtle, also contributed to the much more tactile feel of the experience.
Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle Interview – Enemies, Horror, Improvements, and More
Invader Studios' love for Resident Evil is well known among horror fans. Their 2019 survival horror title Daymare: 1998 started life as a Resident Evil 2 fan remake, before evolving into its own game inspired by Capcom's beloved classic. Though far from perfect, Daymare showed hints of something interesting with quite a bit of potential, and the developer is hoping to fulfil that initial promise with its upcoming sequel, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle. Designed as a prequel, the game is promising to expand its horizons and bring something new and unique of its own on top of its RE-inspired formula. We've been curious to learn more about it, and recently sent across some of our questions to its developers at Invader Studios. You can read our conversation with the studio co-founder Michele Giannone below.
"From the very beginning, Daymare's was always imagined as a trilogy."
What are the biggest changes you've implemented in Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle as direct result of feedback for the first game?
The first step was to collect all the feedback, coming both from the press and from the players, and start again from the most appreciated strong points of the first game to then go on to improve all the weak points that emerged, and that in reality we already knew well. due in large part to technical and budget limits that a young team and a small production have to face when deciding to develop a product of such ambition. With the intention of extending the experience in general, however, and also reworking some mechanics in order to satisfy a greater slice of the audience, in Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle we have focused a lot on pre-production, so as to be able to work with due attention. and calm about all aspects of development.
Speaking of improvements, or in any case changes more generally, we will soon show something more, but from what we have brought out among the announcement trailers, screens and general information on the features, we are working hard to smooth the hardest corners and give a breath of freshness to fans of the Daymare series. Starting from the female protagonist, and moving from a completely new setting, great attention has been paid to what will be the new game weapon, called "Frost Grip", and which will allow you to face different situations in a completely unique way, thanks to the possibility of being able to freeze enemies and props. Speaking precisely of the enemies, in this case we are not dealing with classic zombies, but aggressive and lethal creatures that, as it is easy to guess, make electricity their strength. On the technical side, we are focusing on improving the performance of the cut scenes (between lip sync and facial animations), the animations of the characters in general and on offering greater precision in the shooting phases. For everything else, we can't wait to be able to show some gameplay and let the images speak for themselves.
Why did you decide to develop a prequel to Daymare 1998 rather than a sequel?
Because, from the very beginning, Daymare's was always imagined as a trilogy. While we were still working on the first title, without even being sure it could come out, we were still creating a universe that didn't stop at the first title, but that revealed a lot more. Precisely for this reason, throughout Daymare: 1998, it is possible to come across references, between files and communications, to a mysterious mission faced four years earlier. Also following a push from the most passionate players, curious to know more about the past of the characters they loved in Daymare: 1998, we decided to dive into a prequel that would reveal their past.
Can you talk to us about the revamped interface in the game? What are the biggest ways it improves upon the first game?
We realized that, although immersive and appreciated by users, greater attention and care had to be spent in developing the primary game interface, called D.I.D. The device, which in Daymare: 1998 served as an inventory, health check, map and file archive collected, has been completely reworked in Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle to be much more streamlined and intuitive than in the past. The visual connection to the previous D.I.D. is present, but the interaction has been significantly improved and we are sure that players will appreciate the path we have taken.
What kind of an impact does the new scanner have in terms of gameplay, especially in terms of exploration and puzzle solving?
Exploration has always been a fundamental point for the series, and this time we decided to give the player an extra weapon that allows him to scan the surrounding environment and discover details or information impossible to notice with the naked eye, by going to find new puzzles to solve, secret files and hidden objects.
We would like to talk more about this as soon as we have something juicy to show, but what is certain is that it is part of the new features that we have decided to insert to expand the experience offered by the first game.
"Exploration has always been a fundamental point for the series, and this time we decided to give the player an extra weapon that allows him to scan the surrounding environment and discover details or information impossible to notice with the naked eye, by going to find new puzzles to solve, secret files and hidden objects."
Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle is promising enemies that are tough, aggressive, and resilient. Can you elaborate on that a little bit, and how it will play into the action and horror elements of the experience?
No place is safe. This is the new game rule. The enemies, in addition to being lethal and aggressive, will give the player no respite. Animated by a mysterious electrical energy that makes them one of a kind, the creatures of Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle will chase you far and wide, so you do well to watch your back and be ready even when you think you are in a safe place. We want to convey to the player a feeling of constant tension and fear to get rid of in the various firefights, capable of returning to the player the satisfaction of having killed a pack of unstoppable hunters.
Daymare 1998 obviously owes a lot to Resident Evil 2 in particular. Can you tell us whether that's something that's carried forward in Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle as well, or are you looking to do things a little differently this time, now that there's a foundation to build on?
Without doubt the second. Many have described Daymare: 1998 as a love letter to past titles and the Resident Evil saga in general, and it's clearly true. Mood, atmosphere and feelings more generally owe a lot to those games, even if we tried so hard to insert those original elements, including game mechanics, OST and history, which made it something unique, something of our own. With Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle, on the other hand, we can tap into our own universe, expanding it. It is true, the titles that inspired us, including Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Dead Space and The Evil Within are within us, and partly influence our choices, but it's the beauty of having a background from which we can draw and to be completely reworked and overturned, producing something totally new. We like to insert tributes and wink at the titles that have indelibly marked us and thanks to which we do this job, but the fact of being able to refer above all to something of our own is a unique and new sensation, which does nothing but stimulate us again. more in creating and extending a universe already made up of characters and stories that for some fans are already iconic.
Balancing action and horror is always tricky for any survival horror game. What's your approach been in this game in that regard?
True, it is one of the most complex aspects. With Daymare: 1998 we learned a lot both about the importance of managing the entry curve of a title of this type, and about what the public expects, whether it is purely survival horror or action more generally.
Exactly as done with Daymare: 1998, and moreover as do most of the horror productions of all sizes, it is important to be able to stratify the gaming experience and offer more opportunities to the player, so as to be able to allow everyone to enjoy a product that comes close to their characteristics. This is where our game designers come into play, capable of balancing the experience in the best possible way and making it difficult but never too frustrating both for hardcore gamers and for those who want to live a linear and not too difficult experience.
Roughly how long will an average playthrough of Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle be?
We cannot go into details yet, but we want to at least replicate, if not extend, the experience of Daymare: 1998.
Do you have any plans for a Switch version?
We are discussing the possibility, but not at the moment. The platforms confirmed at the release of Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle in 2022 are PlayStation 5, Xbox X / S Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC Steam.
"With Daymare: 1998 we learned a lot both about the importance of managing the entry curve of a title of this type, and about what the public expects, whether it is purely survival horror or action more generally."
Since the reveal of the PS5 and Xbox Series X's specs, a lot of comparisons have been made between the GPU speeds of the two consoles, with the PS5 at 10.28 TFLOPS and the Xbox Series X at 12 TFLOPS- but how much of an impact on development do you think that difference will have?
Certainly from this point of view Microsoft has the advantage. More power also means having more creative freedom, but we don't think it's such a huge difference as to bring significant differences in terms of development, especially when considering cross-platform titles. As far as we are concerned, the development cycle will be the same on both platforms, the most marked differences will be noticed in the optimization phase.
The PS5 features an incredibly fast SSD with 5.5GB/s raw bandwidth. This is faster than anything that is available out there. How can developers take advantage of this, and how does this compare to Series X's 2.4GB/s raw bandwidth?
The first and most logical of the answers is obviously linked to the speed of the uploads. Having the ability to access data so quickly allows us to have almost instant uploads, so as to avoid long waits between one map and another. If we analyze everything more deeply, however, we can understand how much this speed of access to giga of files can also have an impact at the level of game design or go to redefine some pipelines now consolidated in the gaming industry. Just think of what Insomniac Games' latest Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart did. The current bottleneck, however, appears to be the almost always cross-gen nature of the products in the pipeline and the concept of multi-platform itself, so we will see only the exclusive titles for a single platform to fully enjoy these new technologies, while for all others will have to "be content" with being able to pass from the start menu to the actual game in a matter of seconds. As for the differences between PlayStation and Xbox, we believe that Sony has a distinct advantage from this point of view.
There is a difference in Zen 2 CPUs of both consoles. The Xbox Series X features 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz whereas the PS5 features 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz. Your thoughts on this difference?
We believe that as far as indie games like ours are concerned, this difference is easily circumvented, certainly more power is always welcome but we cannot complain about what Sony has made available. At the moment we believe that the Microsoft console is the one that can most easily reach a native 4K resolution, while we expect to see many titles in dynamic resolution on PlayStation.
The Xbox Series S features lesser hardware compared to Xbox Series and Microsoft is pushing it as a 1440p/60fps console. Do you think it will be able to hold up for the graphically intensive next-gen games?
It's very likely that when only titles truly designed and developed around next-gen consoles start coming out we'll see those titles run closer to 1080p / 30fps than 1440p / 60fps on Series S.
"It will be very difficult to see next-gen games running in native 4K on new platforms as the actual 4K is still too expensive even for the new hardware put on the market by Sony and Microsoft, especially when combined with ray tracing."
Super Resolution is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. How do you think this will help game developers?
It will be very difficult to see next-gen games running in native 4K on new platforms as the actual 4K is still too expensive even for the new hardware put on the market by Sony and Microsoft, especially when combined with ray tracing. Having the ability to render frames at lower resolutions and then recompose them and make them look virtually identical to 4K frames will be crucial for developers.
We've already covered all of the different upgrades that can be obtained in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, whether it's for weapons and shields or potions and equipment. But how do you go about collecting some of these Treasures? What are the most ideal places?
First, let's look at Ancient Flowers. These can be found mostly in Lanayru Desert by hitting Timeshift Stones. You can find one by going to the Bird Statue in the South and traveling further south until you find the stone. Hit it and climb the vines to reach the Ancient Flower. You can also head to the caves in the southern region and use bombs in the quicksand passage. This will activate a Timeshift Zone and allows for reaching the Ancient Flower in the quicksand pool in the South (and which can be farmed).
Finally, when outside of the Temple of Time, look for a TimeShift Stone on a spire – hit it and two Ancient Flowers will appear, which can be obtained with the Beetle.
Next are Monster Claws. Along with earning them from mini-games and treasure chests, they also drop from Keese (and sometimes from Gossip Stones when interacting with them). Keese can be found in a number of locations including Skyview Temple, Eldin Volcano, Lanayru Desert, Earth Temple and Faron Woods. For an easy farming route, head to Skyview Temple and venture through the halls, eliminating any Keese along the way en route to the Bird Statue. Once you reach it, teleport outside and repeat the process.
Tumbleweeds are another Treasure used for upgrading items but they don't drop from enemies, chests, stones, etc. Instead, you need to head to the Southern part of Lanayru Desert. Look for three small circles on the map – Tumbleweeds tend to drift back and forth in this section. Take out the Bug Net to collect them but be quick. Hitting walls makes them disappear.
Bird Feathers can be found by capturing Chirris in Faron Woods. You'll need the Bug Net to capture them so pick that up beforehand. You can also obtain Blue Bird Feathers from Blue Chirris in Faron Woods, though these are somewhat rarer. Other places they can be found include Treasure Chests, from the Moonlight Merchant, the Pumpkin Pull mini-game in Skyloft, and the Clean Cut mini-game on Bamboo Island.
Evil Crystals are perhaps the rarest Treasure in terms of drop rate – they can be obtained from Cursed Bokoblins, Dark Keese and Dark Lizalfos. You can also sometimes obtain them from Gossip Stones when using the Goddess Harp and from Treasure Chests. The Clean Cut mini-game on Bamboo Island also provides it as a prize if you have over 20 slices.
Halo Infinite Campaign Files Have Leaked
The first technical preview for Halo Infinite recently went live, and Halo fans have finally been getting the chance to dip their toes in the water and see how the shooter's multiplayer component are shaping up. Early impressions are certainly encouraging in several ways, but it seems the beta's release has also gone hand-in-hand with a bit of a blunder from 343 Industries.
Creative director Joseph Staten recently took to Twitter and confirmed that the developer "unintentionally included a small number of Halo Infinite campaign files" in the recently released beta, and that these files contain spoilers for the story. That, of course, means that dataminers have been digging around in the beta's files and have discovered several spoilers for the game's campaign.
"Keep your eyes peeled for spoilers," Staten writes, "and don't spread them if you see them." We, of course, won't be covering any spoilers here on GamingBolt, but be careful around the internet in the coming weeks and months.
Interestingly enough, there's more campaign-related news where Halo Infinite is concerned. As spotted by @_XboxNews over on Twitter, the Halo Waypoint mobile app seems to indicate that the game is going to have multiple campaigns.
Of course, we know that there's only one campaign is going to be in the game at launch, but it seems quite likely that 343 Industries might release more single player campaigns in the future, especially seeing as they plan on continuing to support Halo Infinite with persistent support for at least the next decade.
Halo Infinite launches this Holiday for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. More betas will be going live before then, and are going to be larger in scale than the current one.
Leaks like this are painful for the dev team and can ruin the campaign experience for everyone. So please, keep you eyes peeled for spoilers and don't spread them if you see them.❤️ 2/2
— Joseph Staten (@joestaten) July 30, 2021
There will be multiple campaigns for Halo Infinite, according to recent a screenshot.#HaloInfinite pic.twitter.com/ShgdTNSSKI
— Xbox News (@_XboxNews) July 30, 2021
Halo Infinite Beta Runs at Roughly Around 100 FPS on Xbox Series X
The first technical preview for Halo Infinite's multiplayer component has gone live, giving players a taste for what to expect when the shooter launches this Fall, and reception for it so far has been quite positive. Even on a visuals and performance front, things are looking quite impressive already. YouTube channel ElAnalistaDeBits recently uploaded an analysis of the game's technical preview (which you can view below), and numbers for its frame rate and resolution on multiple consoles have emerged.
On the Xbox Series X, the Halo Infinite beta runs at 4K resolution, and though it targets 120 FPS, the performance generally hovers in the 100-110 FPS range, while sometimes dropping into the 90s as well. Meanwhile, on an Xbox Series S, the resolution drops down to 1080p, which means it's able to stick to 120 FPS much better, with hardly any drops in performance to speak of.
On a base Xbox One, the frame rate is consistently maintained at 30 FPS at 1080p, while on an Xbox One X, the resolution is cranked up to 4K, with the frame rate still being maintained at 30 FPS, with very few drops here and there. Other than the base Xbox One, all consoles are supposed to receive more modes favouring performance in the future, which should be interesting to analyze.
Meanwhile, the Xbox Series X/S have better load times, while shadows, textures, and ambient occlusion are also improved on the two and on Xbox One X as compared to the Xbox One. Clearly, results are already impressive, and this is just the very first technical preview (with more elaborate betas yet to come in the future), which means things may very well improve further in the future.
Halo Infinite launches for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC this Holiday, possibly in November.
Steam Deck is Future Proof, but Might Receive Future Iterations, Valve Says
The Steam Deck is, of course, not going to be as powerful as the most powerful PCs on the market right now, but for a handheld gaming PC, it's got some pretty impressive specs. The thing with the PC space, however, is that there's always new and better technologies popping up, which means it doesn't take long for even the most powerful hardware to become outdate. So how's the Steam Deck going to deal with that?
Speaking to IGN, Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais reiterated that the Steam Deck is going to consistently meet its performance and resolution targets (Griffais has previously also said that the device can handle almost any game that might be thrown at it).
"Everything that's been coming out this year [that we've tried] has been running without issues," Griffais said. "I think this is largely a factor of industry trends. If people are still valuing high frame rates and high resolutions on different platforms, I think that content will scale down to our 800p, 30Hz target really well. If people start heavily favoring image quality, then we might be in a position where we might have trade offs, but we haven't really seen that yet."
Hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat added that in terms of future proofing, things are looking pretty good for it, partly thanks to its LPDDR5 memory. He said: "We're using the LPDDR5, which is brand new to the industry. I think we might actually be one of the first products to showcase this new memory technology. So in that sense, that gives a lot of future proofing."
Steam Deck designer Greg Coomer went on to say that is the device should prove to be successful (which Valve seems confident about), the company might even release future iterations of it. "We look at this as just a new category of device in the PC space," Coomer said. "And assuming that customers agree with us that this is a good idea, we expect not only to follow up in the future with more iterations ourselves, but also for other manufacturers to want to participate in the space."
Meanwhile, designer Lawrence Yang says that owing to the SteamOS3 being available for free, any and all manufacturers are going to be able to develop similar devices should they wish to. "We want to make sure people know that the SteamOS 3 is available free, for any manufacturer that wants to make a similar product," Yang said.
The Steam Deck is going to launch in limited regions of the world in December this year, with more shipments to follow throughout 2022.
PS5 Architect Mark Cerny's External SSD of Choice is the WD_BLACK SN850
When the PS5's next firmware update goes live, it will finally allow beta PS5 users to extend their SSDs with external third party options. With requirements for supported SSDs have been revealed, manufacturers have started confirmed compatible options for the console, with both Seagate and Western Digital recently having confirmed compatible models for the PS5.
Of those two, it seems the latter is the preferred choice for Mark Cerny, lead systems architect on the PS5, who recently took to Twitter to confirm that he personally has put down his money to purchase Western Digital's WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD.
The SSD in question is not cheap, as you would have expected, and comes in three variants. The 500 GB model will set you back $149.99, the 1 TB model costs $229.99, and the 2 TB model costs $529.99. That said, given that Cerny is more or less endorsing the SSD, it seems that PS5 owners who're looking to expand their console's SSD can't really go wrong with this one.
Our solution to our very active two gamer PS5 household? His-and-hers SSDs 🙂
Couple of awesome options for 7000MB/s, ended up putting my $$ down on this one. Going to be SWEEET!!! pic.twitter.com/6TuqPwK49x
— Mark Cerny (@cerny) August 1, 2021
Tales of Arise and Final Fantasy 16 Top Famitsu Most Wanted Charts Yet Again
Bandai Namco and Square Enix's upcoming action RPGs, Tales of Arise and Final Fantasy 16 respectively, have ben topping the Famitsu charts for the most highly anticipated upcoming games (as decided by reader votes) for a number of weeks running, and the status quo is maintained this week as well, with Tales of Arise retaining the top spot and Final Fantasy 16 following in second place.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's sequel, which came in at No. 5 last week, has jumped up to the third spot, even though it fewer votes this week. This means fellow upcoming Switch exclusives Bayonetta 3 and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have been pushed down to No. 4 and No. 6 respectively. Meanwhile, Shin Megami Tensei 5 is sandwiched between the two at No. 5.
The rest of the top 10 is split evenly between Switch and PS5 games, with Splatoon 3 and Ushiro at No. 7 and No. 8 respectively, and Gran Turismo 7 and Pragmata rounding out the top 10.
You can check out the full top 10 below. All votes were cast by Famitsu readers between July 8 and July 13.
1. [PS4] Tales of Arise – 525 votes
2. [PS5] Final Fantasy 16 – 491 votes
3. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 – 484 votes
4. [NSW] Bayonetta 3 – 408 votes
5. [NSW] Shin Megami Tensei 5 – 406 votes
6. [NSW] Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl – 339 votes
7. [NSW] Splatoon 3 – 267 votes
8. [NSW] Ushiro – 228 votes
9. [PS5] Gran Turismo 7 – 199 votes
10. [PS5] Pragmata – 196 votes
[Via Nintendo Everything]