The PlayStation 4 and Xbox are nearly 11 years old, but they are still surprisingly popular and used daily by a lot of people. That probably explains why Goat Simulator 3, released back in 2022 as a current-gen-only game, is now getting ported to the older consoles later this month. And this isn’t the first time that’s happened this year.
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Released on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in November 2022, Goat Simulator 3is the sequel to the original Goat Simulator. (No, there isn’t a Goat Simulator 2.) The sequel expanded on the original 2014 game’s open-world antics and was well-received by fans of the first game. But perhaps you have yet to buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S and still want to play this wacky goat-filled sequel? Well, good news: Goat Simulator 3 will be available on PS4 and Xbox One on October 24.
On October 8, Coffee Stain announced that Goat Simulator 3 was making the leap backward to PS4 and Xbox One. (In August of this year Goat Sim 3 was ported to Switch.) This upcoming version of the game will include all the free content updates that Goat Sim 3 has received since 2022. Goat Sim 3‘s Multiverse of Nonsense DLC will also be available to buy separately on last gen.
If you already own the game on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, you’ll be able to play it on the old consoles without having to buy it again thanks to cross-buy support. And the Xbox ports will support cross-saves across generations, too. It’s a nice gesture, though I’m not sure how many people who own Goat Sim 3 on PS5 will be loading it up on PS4 anytime soon.
This situation reminds me of what we saw with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. That game launched on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC and skipped last-gen machines. But then in August 2023, EA confirmed it was porting the blockbuster game from Respawn to PS4 and Xbox One. Those ports arrived in September of this year and look pretty good. But it does feel like the last generation of consoles are lingering around more than usual.
Everyone saw this coming but it was still disappointing to see. Fans were salivating over the 30th Anniversary PlayStation 5 collection, a one-two punch of nostalgia and neat aesthetics, when it was revealed earlier this month. Today many of them stared blankly at PlayStation Direct pre-order screens as they watched them sellout while they waited in confusing online queues and battled glitched website buttons.
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The 30th Anniversary collection went up for pre-order earlier today and it turns out the limited edition PS5 Pro bundle, only 12,300 of which were manufactured, wasn’t the only thing that felt impossible to get. Pre-orders for the PS1-style PS5 slim bundle, PS Portal, and DualSense controller also disappeared almost immediately, begging the eternal question of why Sony doesn’t just manufacture as many of these items as people want.
Panic began overnight when anecdotes began pouring in from Australia and the UK that pre-orders, which became available at 10:00 a.m. local time in each region, began to immediately disappear followed by reseller listings popping up on eBay for anywhere from five to 10 times the suggested retail price. As the 30th Anniversary pre-order hour approached in the U.S., people tried to load the PlayStation Direct page early only to be thrown into a queue with estimated wait times of over an hour.
The initial confusion was compounded by the fact that Sony never really gave fans a clear idea of what to expect from the pre-order process. After unveiling the 30th Anniversary PS5 collection it just said they would be available to buy starting September 26 with no advance notice of an official start time or even the prices. Essentially how it worked is that people who tried to order from PlayStation Direct were put in a waiting room to get a random spot in line at which point they could order whatever was still left, which for most people, including myself, seemed to be nothing.
Was that because I didn’t get into the waiting room sooner? Or did I just get a bad place in the queue? Was there a better way to go about this whole thing? There were anecdotal reports of people getting to the store only to be tossed back into the waiting room. Once they were in the store, it was still confusing trying to buy stuff. Even items that didn’t show as sold out, like the PS1 DualSense controller, couldn’t be purchased when clicking “add to cart.”
It seems like people who just wanted the $80 controller actually had more luck going through retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop, whose pre-orders for the PS5 controllers when up at the same time as PlayStation Direct. Those sold out fairly quickly as well, however. It’s possible that additional stock will be released in waves, as Sony did when demand blew supply out of the water with the original launch of the PS5. But I’m also not sure why Sony doesn’t just try to sell as many of the PS1-style controllers as possible, at least for those who order in the next couple of months.
It’s the cheapest option for fans wanting to be a part of the anniversary hype, or just really love the idea of channeling all those nights they spent in front of their original PS1 in the modern era. Maybe Sony was just testing the initial demand and will come back later with a bottomless Santa Claus bag of 30th Anniversary PS5 stuff come the holiday. If not, 30th Anniversary PS5 DualSense controllers are already going for up to $200 on eBay.
The icons from the banner (left) and the rumored PS5 Pro design.Image: Sony / Kotaku
Sony is beginning to ramp up celebrations for the upcoming 30th anniversary of the PlayStation brand. And new images posted by the company seem to include an icon of a console that looks a lot like the alleged leaked PS5 Pro design. Hmmm…
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The original PlayStation console launched in Japan in December 1994, so technically the 30th anniversary isn’t for a few more months. But Sony isn’t waiting until December to start celebrating its big 3-O birthday. On September 5, the company posted some announcements and plans to kick off the anniversary celebration. But the most interesting bit of news wasn’t located in the blog post. Instead, eagle-eyed fans spotted what appears to be a new PlayStation console in the 30th anniversary banner.
Check it out below. The left image is from the blog post the right image is from Instagram.
Image: Sony / Kotaku
Both of these images include a PS5 console with three lines across it. This perfectly matches a report last month about the still-unconfirmed PS5 Pro, which claimed that the console would feature three black lines across its front and that Sony was planning to officially announce the powerful new product “in the coming weeks.”
The Verge reports that all PS5 games released after September 16 need to support the PS5 Pro, which seems to suggest it’s going to be announced soon.
So is this banner image Sony playfully teasing its most hardcore fans with the first confirmed acknowledgment of a PS5 Pro? That’s what it seems like on Instagram, with Sony posting the banner containing the Easter egg and adding “Your first look 👀” as a caption. It’s also possible this is a really big mistake, though considering how many people had to look at and approve these images and the fact that they have remained up for hours, I’m leaning toward this being a teaser and not a screw-up.
Now we just have to wait for Sony to actually, officially, for real, announce the PS5 Pro, which is rumored to be launching later this year.
Baldur’s Gate 3just celebrated its first trip around the sun this past weekend. Have you, by chance, neglected to play the rightful Game of the Year 2023 (I’m not bitter) thus far? Well, if you have a PlayStation 5 and you’ve been waiting for the right time to jump into it, Larian Studios’ masterclass in RPG design is on sale.
This Cool New Retro Console Is A Great Gift For Atari Fans
I tend to buy a lot of games right as they’re coming out so I don’t partake in PlayStation’s Summer Sale that often. But Sony’s cooking with gas this year and there’s still time for you to grab some of the best games on the PS5 for cheap. I’m just trying to scroll through the list right now and keep getting caught up on things I would buy if I didn’t already have them. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the entirety of Hades developer Supergiant Games’ catalog, and plenty of other gems are on sale until August 14. But right at the top of the page is Baldur’s Gate 3, which has dropped from its usual price of $70 to a slightly less intimidating $55.99.
Larian’s Dungeons & Dragons RPG captured the hearts and minds of many an adventurer last year, and if you waited an entire trip around the sun to play it, now’s a great chance to do so on PlayStation 5. It’s got a few rough edges compared to its PC counterpart, but it’s still pretty damn incredible. Play it as your own custom character and live out your fantasy dream, smooch a bunch of complex heroes who are just trying to survive literal brainworms, and engage in some of the most complex tactical combat you’ll find on a PS5. If you haven’t jumped on it yet and you’ve got a PlayStation, now’s the time to see what all the fuss is about.
The 4th of July is a day for jingoistic mythmaking and summer merriment. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate it than by grilling food, watching things explode, and ordering a bunch of cool stuff online that you totally don’t need but will still be really awesome to have.
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Commerce was a key driver of dissatisfaction with the crown when a bunch of American colonies originally told England to fuck off, so it makes sense that shopping remains a core ritual at the heart of celebrating the nation’s founding. Independence Day is a great time to buy a car or a refrigerator, but you’re not here for any of that. Instead, I’ve rounded up an eclectic mix of 4th of July gaming deals and culturally adjacent curios that happen to be discounted right now. Check them out. It’s what George Washington would have wanted.
Best Nintendo Switch Game Sales
The eShop is currently running a few sales through July 14, including the Recollection Collection Sale and Devolver Digital Summer Sale. Capcom also has a publisher sale running through July 7. There’s a wide-array of great games for cheap. Here are some of the highlights:
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy: $16 (60 percent off)
BioShock: The Collection: $10 (80 percent off)
Terra Nil: $15 (40 percent off)
Pepper Grinder: $10 (33 percent off)
Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection: $30 (50 percent off)
Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers: $20 (50 percent off)
Capcom Fighting Collection: $16 (60 percent off)
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection: $10 (66 percent off)
The Messenger: $5 (75 percent off)
Best PS5 Game Sales
It’s been back-to-back-to-back sales on the PlayStation Store for a while now between Play Days and the Mid-Year sale. Now there’s another with the Essential Picks sale running through July 17. Many of the above Switch game deals are also available for the PlayStation versions, as well as these additional ones:
Dragon’s Dogma 2: $56 (20 percent off)
Persona 3 Reload: $49 (30 percent off)
System Shock: $28 (30 percent off)
Batman Arkham Collection: $6 (90 percent off)
Nier: Automata: $16 (60 percent off)
Castle Crashers Remastered: $3 (80 percent off)
Octopath Traveler II: $36 (40 percent off)
Like a Dragon: Ishin!: $24 (60 percent off)
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Deluxe: $45 (50 percent off)
Dead Space Deluxe: $28 (65 percent off)
Far Cry 6 Deluxe: $20 (75 percent off)
Diablo II: Resurrected: $13 (67 percent off)
Best Xbox Sales
Not to be left out, a bunch of Xbox games are currently discounted, too. Many of the Switch and PS5 game deals also apply to the Xbox versions, as well as these other cheap games worth a shout-out:
Hades: $12.50 (50 percent off)
Dead Rising 2: $5 (75 percent off)
Monster Hunter Rise: $25.50 (65 percent off)
Resident Evil Village: $20 (60 percent off)
Aragami 2: $10 (75 percent off)
Axiom Verge 1 & 2: $10.50 (70 percent off)
Flinthook: $7.50 (50 percent off)
Metro: Last Light Redux: $3 (85 percent off)
Wasteland 3: $8 (80 percent off)
Best PC Game Sales
If you haven’t already looked through our Steam Summer Sale overview you should do that, as there’s a lot of surprisingly steep discounts. So instead, I’ll take this opportunity to highlight a bunch of really good Steam Deck compatible game sales. The PC gaming handhelds themselves are 15 percent off right now. Here’s what you can play on them:
Elden Ring: $42 (30 percent off)
Cyberpunk 2077: $30 (50 percent off)
Stardew Valley: $9 (40 percent off)
Slay the Spire: $8.50 (66 percent off)
Dead Cells: $12.50 (50 percent off)
Hollow Knight: $7.50 (50 percent off)
Halo: The Master Chief Collection: $10 (75 percent off)
Marvel’s Midnight Suns: $15 (75 percent off)
Risk of Rain 2: $8.25 (67 percent off)
Vampire Survivors: $3.50 (25 percent off)
Balatro: $13.50 (10 percent off)
Best TV Sales
There are hundreds of cheap TVs to pick from, but I have two for you that should get the job done at either end of your price range. If you’re content to game and stream shows on a budget TV like I am, then Best Buy is currently selling 55-inch TCL Q5 series 4K displays for just $300 (33 percent off). If you want something more fancy, you’re also in luck. While you could spend thousands on a truly top-of the line TV with blacks as dark as an event horizon, you could also splurge on a 48-inch LG OLED. Best Buy is also selling those for just $800 (almost 50 percent off the sticker price).
Best Used Game Sales
GameStop is currently running a buy 2, get 1 free on all used games, including its (very limited) retro collection. It’s great way to catch up on bargain bin stuff you might have never gotten to (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Watch Dogs 2, GTA V) as well as more recent stuff that hasn’t dropped in value yet. For example, you could play some of 2024’s biggest games so far like Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Tekken 8 and save roughly $50 in the process. Have fun mixing and matching. Just make sure they actually have used copies of the games in stock.
The Best Of The Rest
Here’s where we have fun with a rapid-fire round of some other neat deals:
On May 30, 2024, Sony treated PlayStation fans to a brief-yet-packed showing of some games it has around the corner. Some of these titles are expected to arrive this year on PS5 (as well as PC), while a few others are likely to arrive next year.
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So let’s dive into everything Sony showed off today.
Concord
PlayStation
Concord, the upcoming online first-person hero shooter, got its debut showing today with a highlight on its unique characters as well as in-engine gameplay. It’s definitely giving some witty banter, sci-fi, Marvel-esque vibes to my ears and eyes. Concord comes out on August 23, 2024.
God of War Ragnarok comes to PC on September 19, 2024
PlayStation
God of War Ragnarok is coming to PC! I’m sure you already suspected that, but we got a look at daddy Kratos smashing up baddies with some previews of its PC features, such as ultrawide support and all the major super sampling tech, and it comes with the game’s great Valhalla DLC too! Kratos’ latest adventure arrives on PC on September 19, 2024.
Dynasty Warriors Origins
DYNASTY WARRIORS: Origins – Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games
With epic melee weapon skirmishes against massive amounts of foes, Dynasty Warriors Origins looks like it’s going all in on totally unrealistic yet fully badass combat.
Infinity Nikki
Infinity Nikki – Gameplay Trailer | PS5 Games
Are you ready to walk the path of a stylist? That’s what Infinity Nikki promises, with cute outfits, fantasy vistas, platforming, and the ability to shoot little cats out of cannons!
Ballad of Antara
Ballad of Antara – Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games
With moody color themes, epic dark fantasy vibes, and some very satisfying melee weapon sound effects, Ballad of Antara is definitely worth keeping an eye on if you’re into brawls against mythic creatures in a magical realm. Ballad of Antara is expected to arrive in 2025.
Skydance’s Behemoth
Skydance’s BEHEMOTH – First Gameplay | PS VR 2 Games
Hey, remember the PS VR2? Sorry, but hey, it’s nice to see some new games coming out for Sony’s somewhat struggling headset. With both first-person sword battles and some neat mechanics with a rope weapon you can use to pull enemies and weapons around, this could prove to be a very satisfying VR experience.
Alien Rogue Incursion
Alien Rogue Incursion – First Gameplay | PS VR 2 Games
Alien Rogue Incursion aims to bring its HR Giger-inspired horror vibes to a PlayStation VR headset near you…you know, if you feel you won’t die of absolute fraking terror.
Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals – PlayStation Closed Beta Announce Trailer | PS5 Games
It’s like third-person Overwatch but you know, with a Marvel license or something! Joking aside, Rivals may set itself apart with its third-person action and good use of its source material.
Where Winds Meet
Where Winds Meet – Announce Trailer | PS5 Games
With a trailer focusing on some tense and speedy-lookin’ one-on-one showdowns, Where Winds Meet is currently in development for PS5.
Until Dawn
Until Dawn – Gameplay Trailer | PS5 Games
Supermassive’s 2015 interactive teen horror movie is being rebuilt and upgraded for current hardware. Until Dawn’s PS5 and PC trailer at this month’s State of Play wasn’t short on gruesome contraptions and hellish ways to see its characters murdered.
Path of Exile 2
Path of Exile 2 – Console Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games
Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile 2 is set to arrive on PS5 in 2024. Cast into a dark fantasy world tortured by monsters and disease, players will have to take on the role of fearless warriors seeking victory and, of course, better and better loot. Keep this one on your radar if Diablo 4 hasn’t been doing it for you. Path of Exile2 arrives on PS5 via Early Access in late 2024.
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2 – Release Date Trailer | PS5 Games
Today we got a closer look at the upcoming remake of horror classic Silent Hill 2. Complete with a very Resident Evil 4-inspired camera set up and gruesome beasts, time will tell if this remake lives up to the hype when it launches on October 8, 2024.
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds – 1st Trailer | PS5 Games
We finally got a real look at the next entry in the beloved Monster Hunter franchise. Yes, there are cute Palicos as well as menacing beasts. Tonight’s trailer showed off some of the game’s world too, which sports sandstorms and plenty of open space to engage in battle with creatures while riding aboard your bird mount. The game is expected to arrive in 2025.
Astro Bot
ASTRO BOT – Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games
Hope you weren’t tired of our pal Astro! Looking far more ambitious and elaborate than the delightful PS5 pack-in game Astro’sPlayroom and absolutely packed with cameos from throughout PlayStation history to trigger your brand nostalgia, this definitely looks like it’ll rise above the status of novelty to be something rather interesting. Astro Bot arrives on September 6.
And that wraps everything we saw at tonight’s State of Play. It was a short but sweet showing of some neat-looking games coming to the PS5.
The Thaumaturge, an upcoming narrative-focused, turn-based RPG, was planned to launch in just a few days on February 20. However, the game has now been delayed until March as the developers and publishers hope to avoid a “busy” February and give the game more “breathing room.”
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As we warned late last year, the first few months of 2024 have been stacked with popular video game releases. This is bad news for folks hoping they could catch up on their 2023 backlog in what is usually a quiet time for the game industry, as the first weeks of 2024 have already delivered hits likePalworld, Helldivers 2, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. And the rest of February isn’t empty, with games like Pacific Drive, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Star Wars Dark Forces remastered, and Skull and Bonesall launching before March 1. As a result of this packed start to the year, The Thaumaturge is going to wait for the dust to settle a bit.
On February 12, developer Fool’s Theory and publisher 11 Bit Studios announced on Twitter and explained in a press release that even though The Thaumaturge is already in the hands of some critics, it was going to be delayed until March 4 in order to avoid all this chaos.
“Taking February’s busy launch period into account and the opening for a better release window,” the two companies said in a statement, “we’ve decided to take this opportunity to give more breathing room so it receives the attention we believe it deserves. We want you to have enough time to enjoy the game in full, and we feel that the current release window is not the perfect moment for it.”
While folks who have been waiting to play the game are probably a bit sad that they have to wait about two weeks longer, it’s a smart move to get away from so many big and small hit games and try to find a bit of a gap in the release schedule to give your game a better chance to find an audience, as well as the attention of over-worked critics and content creators. We’ll have to wait and see if the move pays off.
The Thaumaturge, an isometric RPG set in 1905 in an alternate-universe Poland filled with magical powers and tough choices, will now arrive on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on March 4.
I’m a fairly recent convert to PC gaming. In 2016, I spontaneously picked up a Steam Machine, Valve’s early attempt to fuse Steam with a more console-like experience. It was my first real introduction to the breadth of the Steam library and performance that outpaced my PS4. I was hooked, so I got my hands on a Dell PC, then soon after built my own computer. I sold off my Xbox One and a majority of my PS4 collection, holding on to my PS4 itself for the eventual release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, but otherwise shifted all of my gaming over to PC. Games ran better on PC, and there were more of them. Why would I spend time gaming on anything less? Why should I sacrifice any amount of performance when I should be striving for the absolute best that tech can offer?
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As I head into 2024, however, I’m thinking that it’s time to game less on my Windows machines and more on my PS5, Switch, gaming-first devices like Steam Deck, and other consoles.
The inspiration for this change has little to do with exclusive titles on various platforms or the added comfort of gaming on a couch (I actually don’t have a couch and use the same monitor for my PS5 as I do my PC). The spark for this decision can be attributed to the Moog Grandmother synthesizer.
Console-gaming more in 2024
As a musician, I embraced computers and digital audio workstations for their near infinitude of musical outcomes. The ability to use software like Reason or VCV Rack meant that I could have tons of virtual instruments, many of which sound nearly indistinguishable to their physical counterparts. But what I lost in that process was the experience of spending focused time with a musical instrument. I instead adopted the role of a producer and tweaker, and was perpetually distracted by the ease of firing up a web browser and disappearing into the hole of the internet.
Maybe there’s a reason I can’t afford a car…or even a couch…Photo: Claire Jackson / Kotaku
But since pivoting to musical instruments instead of using a computer, I’ve come to develop a more direct and intimate, distraction-free experience with music. It’s led me to wonder where else I can achieve that closeness. The first thing that came to mind was gaming. In some ways switching from a PC to a console to game is merely trading one screen for another, but the more time I’ve spent with my PS5 the more I’m reminded of the benefits of a more isolated, focused gaming experience, like the kind I enjoyed for most of my life—even if I’m playing a game that could technically run better on my PC.
In gaming we’re so often bombarded with the need for “bigger, better, faster now.” Our framerates must now be 120hz, resolutions at least 1440p, and marketing materials tell us that we ought to be streaming, sharing, and creating content constantly. Overlays want us to constantly be chatting on Discord and other services. Consoles have been infected by this mandate too, but the PC is the king of making you feel like shit for not having a reliably stable framerate on the most graphically demanding games at absolutely all times. How can you even have fun if ray-tracing isn’t involved and set to the max?
My PS5, until now, has been like owning a car: I need one for work (or so I imagine. Like a couch, I don’t have one of those either). But after spontaneously buying Alan Wake II on PS5 after beating it on PC , I realized the benefits of closing myself off from the distraction of a web browser. I can’t Alt+Tab away to have the internet tell me whether or not I should be using performance or quality mode or to randomly chat in Discord. As I’m once again following the dark tale of Mr. Wake, I’m doing so in an environment exclusively made for gaming. And yes, I’m playing it at 30-frames-per-second, but the focused experience of shutting off the work machine and turning to the game machine I believe is resulting in a closer experience with this game, and I’m hoping it will in other areas.
In trading the keyboard for the controller, I’m finding a more focused gaming experience.Photo: Claire Jackson / Kotaku
Does this mean I’m done with PC gaming? No, absolutely not. I don’t personally own an Xbox, so I’lli use my Windows 11 machine to enjoy Microsoft’s offerings, and I’ve developed a love for emulation in the last couple of years. And given my job, I do need to stay connected to the world of PC gaming.
But in 2024, I’m going to try and go to my PlayStation first for gaming experiences, letting myself be immersed not because I’m chasing endless horsepower on the “ultimate” “FTW” platform of gaming, but because I’m making the choice to use a separate, unrelated machine from the one I use for all the clinical and boring parts of my life. Like my synthesizers, I want to recenter gaming as a focused, direct experience, and I think dedicated hardware is the key.
You’d expect a new Bethesda game would be the biggest RPG of the year, but nope. Instead, it was Baldur’s Gate 3, which officially launched earlier this year to rave reviews. We’ve written a lot about the game already on the site and you should check out those posts, too.
What I wanted to talk about here is how incredible it was to see a turn-based, PC-focused, Dungeons & Dragons game developed by an independent studio and released via early access explode like the latest Call of Duty or GTA.
Everyone I knew was playing it. Everyone online was sharing screenshots. Everyone was talking about all the people they were digitally fucking in the game.
It was wild to watch and a reminder successful games don’t always need flashy years-long marketing campaigns featuring big stars and Super Bowl ads. Instead, sometimes, you can just make a really good game that people want and you’ll sell millions of copies. And maybe end up inspiring a lot of erotic fan fiction.
Any big 2023 video game surprises we missed? What unexpected developments got you all excited this year?
Slow news day? You betcha. But look, it’s Thanksgiving, and there’s a good chance people are cooking and eating just about anything they can find right now. Please, if we can save just one person from trying to cook their Steam Deck, then it will have been worth it.
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As reported by Dexerto, one Redditor discovered that leaving Valve’s fantastic handheld PC on a hot stovetop has the unexpected result of making it get hot. Still with me? And being made of plastic, hot isn’t its favorite thing to be.
There’s something about that picture that gloriously tells the entire story. But if extra details were needed, MisterColeman wrote on the r/SteamDeck subreddit, “Don’t let your steam deck come into contact with a stove top.”
Looking closely, it doesn’t look like the insides have received too much of a baking, with the real damage—obviously aside from the case—being to those two rear-right bumpers. Although who knows which tiny wires (I no teknollegee) might have melted in the process.
Even better is that MisterColeman, unabashed, went to Steam Deck Support to ask if they could help. In an update he wrote, “Steam Deck Support said no help from them and that repair would cost more then buying a new Steam Deck. I think it’s just a new battery and backplate. Maybe not even a new battery. We’ll see.”
Come on Valve! What are you thinking, not recognising this as a design fault? How can this possibly invalidate the warrantee? While I’m sure there’s some small print about not overheating the device somewhere, I bet it doesn’t specifically say, “Do not broil.”
For the avoidance of doubt, here are some other things you shouldn’t do with your Steam Deck:
You shouldn’t steam your Steam Deck, no matter how much it might seem like it wants that.
You shouldn’t use your Steam Deck as decking, even though it seems heavily implied.
You shouldn’t compare your Steam Deck to a Nintendo Switch.
Update 11/17/2023 7:55 p.m. ET: Naughty Dog’s officially confirmed the existence of The Last of Us Part II Remastered, releasing a barrage of information about the upcoming re-release of its 2020 PlayStation 4 game in a post on its website, complete with an announcement trailer.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the remaster will be the new roguelike “No Return” mode, which sounds very involved. You choose a character and then try to survive in “randomized encounters”—it’s not clear if actual maps are randomized—and surviving lets you win meta-progression to enhance your character’s abilities, unlock cosmetics, and compete on global daily challenge leaderboards.
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“Remastered” implies improved A/V aspects. The new release will indeed take advantage of the PlayStation 5’s enhanced capabilities, giving you the usual choice of a 4K “Fidelity” mode or a 1440p-upscaled-to-4K “Performance” mode that runs at 60fps. Whichever mode you choose, the game will look better in general thanks to variable refresh rate support, improved LoD settings, sharper textures, smoother animation rates, and so on. DualSense controller features like adaptive triggers will be leveraged, too.
As is its tendency, Naughty Dog is also going big on behind-the-scenes features, with a wild-sounding amount of commentary from various creatives, including voice actors, and several new “lost levels” that will let you play through areas that were cut from the original Part II release.
You can also expect an array of smaller additions, including a speedrun challenge mode, improved photo-taking functionality, bonus skins for various characters, and expanded guitar playing that will expand the sound possibilities and let you stage impromptu little concerts in different venues.
Image: Naughty Dog
Pre-orders open December 5. If you’d like to spend more money, a pricier The Last of Us Part II Remastered W.L.F. Edition will come in a SteelBook case and include four enamel pins, a clothing patch, and physical versions of 47 trading cards from inside the game. And in nice news for existing PS4 Part II owners, you can upgrade to the digital version of Remastered for $10.
On November 17, a reputed listing for the yet-to-be-confirmed remaster was leaked online. The new remastered The Last of Us sequel will seemingly feature “native PS5 enhancements,” including a “a host of graphical improvements” and faster loading times.
The store listing also mentions “No Return” which is described as a “roguelike survival mode experience.” Here’s the full description of that apparent new mode:
Survive as long as you can in each run, as you choose your path through a series of randomized encounters. Play as a host of different unlockable characters, some never-before playable in The Last of Us franchise, each with unique gameplay traits. The variety of challenges feature different foes and memorable locations from throughout Part II, all culminating in tense boss battles.
This remastered edition of The Last of Us Part II will also feature “Lost Levels” that will let players explore “early-development versions” of levels not seen in the main game. Some other interesting tidbits from the store listing include:
Hours of new developer commentary.
A new mode that lets you play the famous guitar minigame freely.
A speedrun-focused mode
New unlockable weapon and character skins for Abby and Ellie.
This new remaster will seemingly be exclusive to PS5 and launches on January 19, 2024. The leaked trailer and store listing didn’t make mention of a PC port.
This leak seemingly confirms rumors and reports from earlier this year about a The Last of Us Part II remaster or PS5 upgrade. Back in July 2023, Last of Us composer Gustavo Santaolalla suggested during an interview that an upgraded port of some kind was in the works.
Sony’s forthcoming smaller PlayStation 5 will make the disc drive swappable, allowing owners to remove or connect it as they wish. However, a new leak of the upcoming slim redesign points to an internet connection being required for the Blu-Ray player’s initial setup, igniting fears it will one day become an obsolete solution for playing old PS5 discs.
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The surprise requirement was discovered through a new leak of the PS5 slim’s box as retailers begin stocking the console for its November launch. Shared with Call of Duty news account CharlieIntel, the images show a disclaimer on the box that reads, “Internet connection required to pair Disc Drive and PS5 console upon setup.”
As the requirement began circulating online, it struck some as unusual and pernicious. “Uhhhh…if this is the case, that is highly concerning and very strange,” tweeted Digital Foundry’s John Linneman. “Hardware connectivity shouldn’t be determined by a server that may not always be available.”
It’s not immediately clear if the internet connection requirement will truly be a one-time thing needed only the first time the console and disc drive are paired, or if it might be necessary every time the drive is taken off and reattached. One concern is that the requirement could make new PS5s unable to read discs at some point far in the future, if the servers utilized by Sony for the pairing are eventually taken offline. If so, it would be another big blow to video game preservation as the medium goes all-digital.
It’s possible that the requirement is just the company complying with an archaic bit of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act intended to prevent piracy. As pointed out byLost in Cult CEO Jon Doyle and others, Section 1201 of the law makes it illegal to “circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work.”
That includes optical drive firmware, and it’s long been a thorn in the side of right to repair advocates. As Wired reported back in 2020, the language has led a lot of older consoles to end up in landfills rather than get resold or re-gifted. Section 1201 was re-examined by the U.S. Copyright office in 2021. While some protections for repair were expanded, it stopped short of adding a full exemption.
Update 11/10/2023 4:31: PS5 slims are now out in the wild, including its detachable disc drive. So how exactly does the DRM work? Well in addition to needing to sync it to the console online first before it can be used, it apparently has to be reconnected to the internet everytime the PS5’s database is rebuilt, something players do from time to time to keep the system working well or because an update or reset demands it.
As the preservation account “Does it play” wrote, “In this scenario, once the service you need to connect to is gone, you can no longer use the disc drive.”
Image: Dimitrios Kambouris / Sony / Kotaku (Getty Images)
PlayStation 5 is ditching its integration with Twitter, the social media platform recently rebranded as “X” after Elon Musk bought it for $44 billion and then promptly crashed it into a brick wall like a dad coming home from a mid-life crisis bender in his brand-new Ferrari. Nintendo Switch will soon be the only gaming console you can still tweet from.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
Sony announced the change in a new notification to PS5 users today. “As of November 13, 2023, interaction with X (formerly known as Twitter) will no longer function on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles,” the company wrote. “This includes the ability to view any content published on X on PS5/PS4, and the ability to post and view content, trophies, and other gameplay related activities on X directly from PS5/PS4 (or line an X account to do so).”
Twitter was one of three main social media platforms alongside Facebook and YouTube that the PS4 directly connected to when its new sharing feature first debuted back in 2013. There was an entirely new button on the DualShock 4 dedicated just to capturing images and quickly flinging them across the internet. The ease with which secrets, spoilers, exploits, glitches, and all kinds of other gameplay discoveries could be instantly shared completely changed how people played games and talked about them.
It won’t be impossible to keep sharing game moments to social media when Twitter integration ends later this month, but it’s another reminder that the current internet is dying. YouTube is a pain and Facebook is, well, Facebook. Neither facilitate the constantly updating wire service-like feed Twitter once embodied. The best way to get images of your PS5 and PS4 now is to have them automatically sync with Sony’s dedicated PlayStation app. From there you can repost them to one of Twitter’s many new clones, make a video on TikTok, or send them to your favorite Discord server.
Microsoft bailed on Twitter back in April, shortly after Musk announced he would start charging companies to have access to the platform’s API, the tool needed to make two programs work together. The tech billionaire accused the trillion dollar tech company of stealing Twitter’s idea to train its AI products. In the months since, celebrities, brands, and average users have all continued to abandon the dying platform. It lost roughly 13 percent of its users from a year ago, half its ad revenue, and is now apparently worth over $20 billion less than what Musk originally paid for it.
Earlier this week, Sony officially revealed the smaller and sleeker PlayStation 5 “slim.” Sure, the console looks a hell of a lot thinner than its gargantuan predecessor, but the PS5 slim’s white void-ass production shot doesn’t do gamers any favors in guesstimating exactly how much space they’d save by purchasing the new console when it launches in November. Luckily, a helpful Reddit user made a mock side-by-side comparison of the PS5 and the PS5 slim to better illustrate just how small it is.
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Prior to NatureCertain’s very helpful post, all prospective PS5 slim owners had to go off of on regarding the new console’s size was, Sony’s announcement blog post, which, toward its butt-end, divulged that the digital-only and disc drive versions are respectively 358 × 96 × 216mm and 358 × 80 × 216mm. But gamers are visual learners, Sony. Would it have been so hard to provide some sort of visual aid comparing the PS5 slim to the OG for scale?
One shortcoming of NatureCertain’s 3D mock-up is that it omitted a side-by-side comparison of the PS5 slim with its disc-less predecessor, as well as an image of the upcoming console with its vertical stand attached for scale. That reminds me: If you were wanting to prop your PS5 slim up in the cool and correct upright position, it’ll cost you another $30 because Sony is selling the vertical stand separately. Sheesh.
Sony’s cloud gaming efforts are starting to ramp up. PS Plus subscribers will be able to start streaming big-name games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the Resident Evil 4 remake directly to their PlayStation 5s in the coming weeks. The company also hints that PS5 cloud gaming might be coming to other devices, like smartphones, at some point in the future.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
“Starting this month, we will begin launching cloud streaming access for supported PS5 digital titles within the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Game Trials, as well as supported titles in the PS5 game library that PlayStation Plus Premium members own,” the company wrote over on the PlayStation Blog today. This new feature goes live in North America around October 30, and will be exclusive to the Premium tier of PlayStation Plus, which is now $18 a month or $160 a year (Sony raised the price last month).
Though remote play, which allows PS5 owners to stream games from their console to smartphones and PCs, has been around for a while, this new cloud gaming feature will let paying subscribers stream games to their PS5s from Sony’s servers and play them without downloading. Here are some of the games Sony said will support cloud gaming at launch, with more being added later on:
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Horizon Forbidden West
Ghost of Tsushima
Mortal Kombat 11
Saints Row IV
Resident Evil 4
Dead Island 2
Genshin Impact
Fall Guys
Fortnite
Game trials will also be available to stream, including Hogwarts Legacy, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and The Callisto Protocol. Streamed games will support resolutions ranging from 720p up to 4K, as well as 60fps and HDR output where applicable. Players can also take screenshots and record video clips up to three minutes long.
While the quality of game streaming still varies a lot, especially based on the speed of your home internet, it can be a major convenience when it comes to trying games out before starting a lengthy install process or quickly dipping into a live-service game like Destiny 2 to finish a daily or weekly challenge. As blockbuster game file sizes have ballooned to over 100GB, juggling installs has become an annoying minigame in and of itself. Cloud streaming is one way to alleviate some of the frustration.
Cloud gaming of most of the Game Pass library has been widely available on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One for years now, and competing services like Nvidia’s GeForce Now provide the same functionality on PC. It’s nice to see Sony finally catching up in that regard. As The Verge reported earlier this year, the company’s job listings point to a major new push to invest in and grow its cloud gaming capabilities. PS5 owners appear to finally be seeing some of the benefit of that.
Larger install sizes and the diminishing role of physical media in modern games means that you can almost never have too much storage. Fortunately, adding another terabyte (or two) to your console’s capacity is way more affordable than it once was.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
Whether you’re looking for a new drive for your PC, PS5, or Xbox, or just a new SD card for your Switch, these are the best deals running during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days on October 10 and 11, 2023.
PC Storage Upgrades
Samsung 970 EVO 2TB – $79.99 (October 10 & 11) – Buy here
The first thought that came to mind when starting Red Dead Redemption on PlayStation 5 is how well the 13-year old game holds up visually. The second one was that there was still no way in hell I could recommend it to anyone for a “next-gen” price tag of $50. The graphics are clean and crisp, but otherwise it’s the same game that’s been available for years on Xbox One without the Undead Nightmare DLC for almost half that price.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
The cinematic scenes and character interactions still draw you in, and the performances remind you why Rockstar Games’ open-world Western was a worthy GOTY contender (Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Mass Effect 2 also came out in 2010). It still feels like an old game, especially with the original interface, occasionally clunky action, and less-than-snappy controls. Look out across sprawling prairies or cactus-filled desserts and you’ll immediately remember this is a PS3/Xbox 360-era world. Then the sun starts to go down behind the clouds and you remember how special it was at the time and immediately feel pulled back into its drama.
Red Dead Redemption 2 – 5 Minutes of PS5 Gameplay
Red Dead Redemption 2 – 5 Minutes of PS5 Gameplay
I spent a couple of hours with the game on PS5, a clip of which you can see above, and didn’t run into any real issues. It’s locked to a disappointing 30fps, but keeps a consistent performance outside of some occasional stuttering during cutscenes. According to Digital Foundry’s analysis, the PS4 port resolves to “full 4K resolution” and even looks slightly better on PS5 than the backwards compatible version on Xbox Series X/S, especially when it comes to shadows. But the differences are mostly limited to minutiae that few people are likely to notice. “It’s the kind of game that doesn’t really need a major overhaul to work well on modern systems—but even so this is a very barebones effort,” wrote Oliver Mackenzie.
The port would be a home run if not for the $50 head scratcher. It’s not the sort of thing I usually like to harp on, and if you have the money to spare, and never played Red Dead Redemption before, and only have a PS4 or PS5, go for it! But for anyone who just wants to revisit the game or is overwhelmed by the surprising bounty of great new games this year, it’s likely an instant deal breaker, and nothing during my time playing it convinced me otherwise. Maybe the game will come to PS Plus in a few months, or go on sale during the holiday. For now it’s just a pricey trip down memory lane with nothing new to offer.
A new online video appears to show what looks like a PlayStation 5 Slim, the heavily rumored but not-yet-announced smaller version of Sony’s current-gen console.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
Rumors of a sleeker, slimmer PS5 have been floating around online for about a year now, but things really heated up in July. That’s when court docs from the Microsoft v. FCC hearing seemed to confirm its existence, suggesting the device would cost $400 and that it would be released later this year. Now, a new video seems to give us our first look at this slimmer PS5, while also confirming that it might have a detachable disc drive.
On August 10, as spotted by The Verge, an image of the alleged PS5 Slim leaked out via a Chinese forum. That image got shared all over X, formerly Twitter, attracting a lot of attention. But now, the recently surfaced video gives us an even better look at the (still not officially announced) console variant.
The video, posted by Better Way Electronics on Twitter, seems to confirm that not only is the PS5 slim…well, slimmer, but that it will also feature some kind of detachable disk drive. This had first been reported back in September 2022 by Insider Gaming. The new smaller PS5 also sports two USB-C ports on the front of the console, unlike the current version which only has one as well as a USB-A port.
Kotaku has contacted Sony about the leaked console.
Last year, Insider Gaming also reported that Sony was planning to release this new PS5 Slim with a detachable drive in September 2023, which lines up with what Microsoft believed in the previously mentioned court docs. Rumors suggest the PS5 Slim will be sold two ways, one console without the disc drive attached and one in a bundle that comes with it. It’s also believed that Sony will sell the drive itself separately.
At the moment, Sony is selling two versions of the PS5: The $399 PS5 Digital Edition and the $499 PS5 with a disc drive. It’s possible that this new Slim could become the only PS5 in the future, with Sony letting people buy a disc drive if they want or skipping it if they don’t care. The rumored $400 price for the Slim seems to back up that possibility.
We’ve covered the special Starfield-branded Xbox controllers before. They were one of the worst-kept secrets of 2023, alongside the Starfield-branded Xbox headset that is already joining them on store shelves. What I did not know until today was how damn cool the controller’s triggers are.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
I mean, I like the controller design itself. I’m not exactly hyped for Starfield, I can take it or leave it, but the beauty of this pad in particular is that it doesn’t really look like a branded controller at all. It just looks like an Xbox controller with a really cool late-70s/early-80s sci-fi theme, like it was something out of The Last Starfighter, and so even if you had no idea what Starfield was, or did and did not care for it, you could still be into this controller.
Anyway! That aesthetic discourse off my chest, I want to talk about the triggers. From leaked product shots we already knew the triggers had a transparent housing, but it was one thing seeing them just sitting around. It’s another seeing them moving, because as long as we have had vibrating controllers—and it’s been decades now—I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the mechanics of them actually vibrating before while you’ve got the finished product in your hand:
That’s neat! Not surprising, we all knew roughly how they worked, but it’s still cool seeing it in action like that. Cool and worrying, because seeing how fast and hard those little guys have to work to keep rumbling I have no idea how controllers last as long as they do. Provided, uh, they actually last as long we want them to.
The Xbox Series X/S controller is $80 while the gaming headset is $125.
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