historically, the @AskPlayStation account was a pretty good way to get support with various platform issues, with a representative usually responding promptly when queried for help. Beginning from 1st August, however, this service will be abandoned, with the company directing you towards its support website instead. It also has various self-help resources and tutorial videos.

“Starting 1st August, one-to-one PlayStation Support via Twitter will no longer be available,” a statement said. No reason has been given for the change, although it’s probably safe to assume this was a pretty resource intensive practice – especially given the scale of PlayStation’s audience and the sheer number of potential problems that can arise.

Of course, a reduction in contact options is never a good thing, and we just hope that Sony will reinvest the costs it’s saving into its various other customer service options. Have you ever used @AskPlayStation and will you miss its availability? Drop a question in the comments section below.

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<p>The post Sony to Abandon One-to-One PlayStation Support on Twitter first appeared on harchi90.</p>

Sucker Punch’s samurai smash hit Ghost of Tsushima has surpassed 9.73 million copies sold in the two years since it launched, making it one of Sony’s strongest selling first-party releases. The impressive sales number – accurate as of 3rd July, 2022 – means that the title will almost certainly cross 10 million units when all is said and done. We imagine a PC port will bump the numbers significantly at some point in the near future, too.

In order to celebrate the game’s anniversary, the Seattle studio released a number of stats, confirming that 75.18 million foxes have been petted and almost one billion standoffs have been performed. Cumulatively, fans have spent 6,437 years on horseback, which is a staggeringly specific snippet. Sucker Punch, of course, is widely believed to be working on some kind of sequel – and with these kind of numbers, it’s no real surprise.

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<p>The post Ghost of Tsushima Surpasses 9.73 Million Copies Sold on PS5, PS4 first appeared on harchi90.</p>

Sony announced PS Stars today, a long overdue worldwide loyalty scheme that will reward you for engaging with your PS5 and PS4 over a prolonged period of time. It’s a necessary and important reveal from the platform holder, as PlayStation finds itself in a highly competitive market where the benefits of playing on any single system are slowly eroding due to the emergence of crossplay.

The program will be totally free to join, and while specific details are limited, you’ll earn points by completing campaigns. These will range from simple tasks like playing any game once in a month through to more complicated ones like being the first in your time zone to earn a Platinum Trophy. The latter could potentially prove problematic, but we’ll need to wait to see how it’s implemented.

Presumably there’ll be dozens of different ways to earn points. We already know that PS Plus subscribers will earn points on every transaction they make through the PS Storeand we’re sure there’ll be other opportunities, like watching State of Play broadcasts, fulfilling game-specific challenges – like defeating a certain enemy – and more.

It begs the question, then: what are you willing to do to earn points and what would you want to spend them on? Is it PS Store credit that you crave, or perhaps you want physical trinkets and goods like Nintendo offers? Would you be willing to complete certain actions in exchange for additional PS Plus time – or even exclusive betas and demos?

PS Stars will release worldwide later this year, so we imagine Sony already has some pretty firm plans in place. But while we await more information on the initiative, it’ll be interesting to know what you expect from it: what actions are you willing to complete and what do you want in return? Take our poll, and then let us know your expectations and limits in the comments section below.

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<p>The post Poll: What PS Stars Rewards Do You Want? first appeared on harchi90.</p>

throughout the 1990s Totally Games had one of the most accomplished track records in all of video games. The studio, releasing games for Lucasfilm and then Lucasarts, specialized in all things flight, and won acclaim for releases set both in the sky and way beyond.

they made their name front classic WW2 sims like Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and Their Finest Hourbefore really hitting the big time on a series of Star Wars titles like X-Wing, Tie Fighter and X-Wing Alliancewhich weren’t just three of the best space shooters ever released, they were three of the best PC games of all time, period.

By the 2000s, though, it had all started going a bit wrong. While 2002’s Star Trek: Bridge Commander was OK, their return to the Second World War in 2003 with Secret Weapons Over Normandy flopped, and after 2007’s disastrous Alien Syndrome that studio shifted to releasing cheap licensed tuff before quietly fading away.

That’s the story as we know it, anyway, but today we got to add to it when axios published a report on Knights of Decaya game that Totally pitched first to Sony as a PS2 releaseand later were working on for Microsoft for the original Xbox.

While still primarily a flight game—it was the studio’s bread and butter, after all—knights traded X-Wings and Spitfires for a fantasy realm where players “controlled a knight on a flying seahorse and engaged in ranged combat against other knights and monsters, lance-based slow-motion jousting and diving underwater to fight sea creatures.”

Here’s a look at the game in action; note that this wasn’t anywhere near a finished product when this footage was captured, hence the framerate and other glaring shortfalls (and the fact it was called archipelago at the time):

So what happened to the game? it was being developed on a really tight timeframe, in a situation where the Totally Games team didn’t trust the Microsoft people they were reporting to; as an example, Holland remembers that one Xbox boss “had previously managed the Excel spreadsheet program”.

On Microsoft’s side of things, there’s an interesting anecdote surrounding the game’s fate: when current Xbox boss Phil Spencer first moved to the console operation in 2001,“the first assignment he had when he joined the Xbox gaming team was to ‘cancel Larry Holland’s game’”.

the cancellation wasn’t terminal at the time; Totally would go on to release a few more games before making the shift away from traditional games development in 2008. Holland says he found the game’s demise to be “demoralizing”, but also something where “I learned a lot about what to attempt and what not to in terms of sort of risk-taking and at least balancing the risk-taking with the schedule.”

You can read the full report over on Axioswhich you should, because it’s got loads of other little bits of trivia about both this game and Totally Games itself.

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<p>The post The X-Wing Developers Were Working On A Cancelled Xbox Game first appeared on harchi90.</p>

A new PlayStation State of Play event could be happening somewhat soon if a new tease from a reputable insider is to be believed. For the most part, Sony has been very quiet throughout 2022 when it comes to revealing what the future has in store for PlayStation. And while some fans have been eager for a large-scale event that better shows off what will be coming to PlayStation 5 down the road, it looks like that showcase could finally be coming.

According to Millie Amand, who has had multiple accurate scoops in the past when it comes to PlayStation, Sony is in the process of looking to “talk” more about what it has lined up for the coming months. Amand notes that Sony has a “substantial” number of PS5 units that it’s looking to sell in the back quarter of the year. With so many consoles now available to sell, those at PlayStation have now started to reach out to certain third-party companies to receive assets that could be shown at a future State of Play. While Amand doesn’t give any specific windows for when this new presentation could take place, the implication is that we could start to hear something official in the coming weeks.

Foxconn PS5 manufacturing allocation for Oct, Nov, Dec is substantial.

Select 3rd party devs have been asked about assets.
(usually happens in preparation for a State of Play or showcase)

When Sony wants to talk, it’s usually when they have hardware available to sell. pic.twitter.com/sXc8yhOth4

— Millie A (@millieamand) July 11, 2022

In 2021, PlayStation opted to remain relatively quiet throughout the year until it announced a “PlayStation Showcase” presentation that took place in September 2021. At this time, we learned more about games like God of War Ragnarok, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Marvel’s Wolverine, and many other games. Assuming that Sony is sticking with this same strategy again in 2022, it seems like September could be a feasible window in which a new State of Play or a similar event of this type could happen. If we learn anything new on this front directly from Sony, we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop here on ComicBook.com.

Do you think that we’re due to get a major PlayStation event of some sort relatively soon? And what games are you hoping to see shown off during this presentation? Let me know for yourself either down in the comments or message me on Twitter at @MooreMan12.

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<p>The post New PlayStation State of Play Teased by Insider first appeared on harchi90.</p>

Think about your favorite athletes across a number of sports. Whether it’s Giannis Antetokounmpo in the NBA, Cristiano Ronaldo in the Premier League, Emma Raducanu in the WTA, Tiger Woods in the PGA Tour, or long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge, they all have one thing in common: they wear Nike gear. This is a marketing tactic as old as time: endorse the professionals to wear your products and the masses will want to imitate them.

That’s the goal of Sony with its new INZONE brand, which currently spans a trio of headsets and a couple of high-end monitors. The company will insert the gear into its EVO event later in the year, and is partnering with Riot Games on its Valorant Champions Tour. Why? Well if you ever look at any professional gamer’s YouTube or Twitch channel, you’ll see dozens upon dozens of people asking about their setup. It’s the exact same play as Nike.

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“We’re going to start at the top and learn what top eSports gamers want,” executive deputy president Kazuo Kii told Nikkei. “The vision we have in mind is that of Mizuno and Nike providing shoes for athletes. You can win prize money in eSports. If a monitor’s response time lags even slightly, you lose. Sony products aren’t going to let people engaged in these gruelling battles down.”

The products, of course, will have to deliver – but Sony believes that, when it comes to its new monitors, its history with televisions will help. “Sony is unique in that we come from a background in TV manufacturing. We take pride in our picture technology. We look forward to showing customers our immersive experience and realism.”

INZONE’s first wave of products have been attracting decent reviews, with its $899.99 proving particularly popular among tech enthusiasts. Of course, this is just its first line of products, but it’s clear that the company sees a huge opportunity in the sector – and could prove a real rival to the likes Acer, Alienware, LG, Samsung, et al.

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<p>The post Sony’s Goal Is to Become the Nike of Gaming Gear first appeared on harchi90.</p>

Sony has collaborated with Western Digital to offer an officially licensed PS5 SSD that sports PlayStation branding. The SN850 NVMe SSD will wear the logo on its outer packaging, stating it is an “official licensed product” for PS5 consoles after undergoing hundreds of hours of testing.

The SN850 NVMe SSD from Western Digital has always been a popular pick in our Best PS5 SSD 2022 guide, but now regular punters can spot the PlayStation logo and be safe in the knowledge the product will work with their box. Sony and Western Digital came to the agreement after “spending hundreds of hours playing the most graphic-rich titles to ensure with games stored on the driver, gameplay is fast, smooth and visually immersive”.

The SSD is available to buy from the company’s online store, with more retailers offering it next month. £179.99 will get you the 1TB option, while 2TB sets you back £289.99:

Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

In a press release, vice president of Consumer Solutions Product Management Susan Park shared how excited the company is to be working with Sony on a licensed product. “Western Digital’s WD_BLACK brand was created to bring high-performance products to gamers everywhere. Combined with this innovative partnership, we aim to deepen our current commitment to developing storage solutions that enhance the gaming experience for all gamers.”

Once you’ve got the Western Digital SN850 SSD ready to install — or any other competing storage solution — check out our How to Install a Compatible M.2 NVMe SSD guide for a step-by-step walkthrough to getting it set up.

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<p>The post Sony Officially Licenses PS5 SSD from Western Digital first appeared on harchi90.</p>

An all-time favorite game of mine is Burnout 3: Takedown. The launch title I bought alongside my PS3 was MotorStorm. The outside chance of a new Ridge Racer is what gets me out of bed in the morning. Well, I mean, that last one’s an exaggeration, but Bamco, it’s time. come on.

The point is, I love arcade racing games, and I probably always will. Often free of stuffy manufacturer licenses and untethered by reality, series like Burnout can really let loose. Flying around at ludicrous speeds, chaining together physics-defying drifts, and boosting your way to victory — these colourful, high-energy games are always fun, super satisfying thrill rides that never get old for me.

Having said that, I do dip my toes into more serious racers. I’ve enjoyed more sober driving titles like Race Driver: GRID, the F1 series, and DIRT Rally 2.0, to name a few. Though they’re much more grounded, many games like this, which tread the line between arcade and simulation, still offer that excitement I’m after. There comes a point on the racing game spectrum, however, when sims become too Realistic, and I start to lose interest. For the longest time, I thought this included Gran Turismo.

On PS2, I played Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec and Gran Turismo 4. To be honest, I’m not sure what possessed me to get the latter, as I found the former to be dull as dishwater. I would’ve been quite young at the time; when GT4 rolled around, I’d have been 15 or 16 (and, let’s remember, obsessed with Burnout). I thought the series was too clinical, straight-faced, and boring. It felt slow and rigid, with a sort of holier-than-thou sensibility that got up my nose. In my early noughties bedroom with my little portable TV, I convinced myself it just wasn’t for me, almost resenting the fact it was somehow popular.

I’ve sat on that mindset for what is scarily close to 20 years. Many times Polyphony Digital has put out another gorgeous driving simulator, and many times I’ve ignored them. While I’ve continued to enjoy arcade racers through the years, my stance on sim racers and Gran Turismo has gradually softened, but I’ve always just assumed I’d bounce right off any new entries. I suppose I never put the time in to consider a) my tastes and mindset maturing, b) the games incrementally improving, or c) that I might one day work for a PlayStation-centric website.

During the PS5 reveal, Gran Turismo 7 was announced, and my colleagues were getting amped up about it. I couldn’t care less, but I was obviously happy they were happy. cool. The game released earlier this year, and those same colleagues talked it up, saying it’s the best one in a long time, a return to form. great. Have at it. Where’s my new WipEout?

Just a couple of weeks ago, I received a Thrustmaster T248 racing wheel for review purposes. I’d always wanted to give these things a proper try, so I was looking forward to diving in. Sammy pointed out that, if I was going to review a wheel, I should have the PS5’s flagship racer with which to test it. So, this was it, then. After about 17 years of apathy, I’d be playing Gran Turismo after all, and I had to, because it’s my job.

You can read much more about my thoughts on the wheel itself in my review, but my experience during this little project has been quite eye-opening. Not only do I have a far greater appreciation for wheel-and-pedal setups and what they do for racing games, I’ve almost completely U-turned on GT. And I think it’s because of the bloody wheel.

When I began playing a handful of racing games with the T248, I wasn’t having a great time. Ultimately, I think I was impatient, expecting a wheel and pedals to transport me, unearth my digital driving potential. To start with I was extremely clumsy, far too heavy-handed, and the result wasn’t pretty. I was entering corners much too fast, and then would be surprised when I ended up spun out on the grass. This sucks.

Then I booted up Gran Turismo 7. I knew little about how the game operates, so I was surprised when the very first thing you do is a Music Rally stage. I did know about these, and enjoyed the laid back drive to a classical medley, but it’s an odd way to introduce the game. Then it plays a preposterous eight-minute sequence, detailing humanity’s history with the automobile before kicking into high gear with some impressive gameplay shots. I couldn’t help but crack a smile at what I was watching.

Obviously, though, the on-track experience is what began to change my mind. Those initial races in my wholly unremarkable Toyota Aqua, along with the first set of license tests, were bafflingly enjoyable. I think what clinched it for me was the fact I was trying to learn how to properly use this racing wheel at the same time. Starting fresh with GT7 — a game that opens up rather slowly — I was almost forced to rewire my brain. Having you begin with a run-of-the-mill production car, especially with certain assists activated like the braking zone, was actually ideal. I could absorb this, learn how to drive the wheel and pedals in a not dissimilar way to learning how to drive for real: with patience, practice, and respect.

I guess I felt this most during the B-licence tests, which taught me about more nuanced use of the brake and accelerator, as well as giving me time to get used to steering with the wheel. GT7 was setting me up for success in other games as well as itself. I’m not saying I suddenly turned into racing game god, but I think this was the turning point where I finally started to “get” the T248. It was quite satisfying.

I also started to understand Gran Turismo, however. The racing wheel aspect certainly contributed, but I think some credit should go to the game too. Its purposely protracted start is kind of genius, because if I was thrown in at the deep end, I’m not sure I’d be writing this. It’s quite a complicated game when everything is unlocked, but through the Café, it’s all delivered to you in a relaxed, friendly manner that’s super easy to digest.

Once I had the hang of how it operates, I started to realize I was genuinely loving GT7, regardless of the wheel. I’m not sure I know how to describe it, but there’s a very particular quality this game has that I’ve not really appreciated before. It’s so disarmingly nerdy about cars that you get caught up in it. Why am I watching this replay of my race in a Renault Clio? Why do I care what Luca has to say about rear wheel drive Japanese sports cars? What exactly am I getting out of washing my Mazda RX-7? Well, GT7’s replays look spectacular, Luca’s enthused summaries are endearing, and I want my nice cars to look their best, obviously.

This isn’t necessarily a game for car lovers — it’s a game that loves cars. I honestly feel I’ve gotten more from my short time with it than I have from any other racing game in recent memory. it work a bit pretentious, but it’s also a rich, addictive racing game with far more enjoyable action than I anticipated. I’ll still always love arcade racers, and I sincerely hope they make a big comeback, but the Thrustmaster T248 somehow upended years of indifference towards Gran Turismo in just a few days. If nothing else, I’m grateful for that.

Have you ever held one opinion of a game that totally changed once you actually played it? Do you also pop on Scapes Movies for a few minutes just to admire it? Go for gold in the comments section below.

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<p>The post A Racing Wheel Taught This Arcade Die-Hard the Joy of Gran Turismo 7 first appeared on harchi90.</p>

There’s been plenty of discussion about whether The Last of Us: Part I, the upcoming remake of Naughty Dog’s seminal survival horror, is necessary. This discussion perhaps hasn’t been helped by side-by-side comparisons of the PS3 original’s pre-rendered cut-scenes against the PS5 version’s realtime cinematics. We’re yet to see gameplay, of course, which is where the true differences will emerge.

But cinematic animator Robert Morrison – who contributed to the project and has since moved to Sony Bend – has redeemed claims that the game is just a “cash grab”. he said: “Actually it’s the most meticulously built and crafted project that I have ever seen or been a part of in my entire career. The highest level of care and attention to detail possible.” Morrison has worked on games like God of War, Injustice 2, and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, so that’s high praise.

Naughty Dog will need to pull back the curtain a little more on this project over the coming weeks, as the game’s due out on 2nd September and we still need to see how the gameplay will compare. We expect Sony’s marketing machine to enter overdrive in the coming weeks – it should be an exciting couple of months for The Last of Us fans.

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<p>The post The Last of Us PS5 Remake Is Meticulously Built and Crafted, Not a Cash Grab first appeared on harchi90.</p>

every Friday, AV Club staffers kick off our weekly open thread for the discussion of gaming plans and recent gaming glories, but of course, the real action is down in the comments, where we invite you to answer our eternal question: What Are You Playing This Weekend?

We’re a couple of weeks into the bold new era of the revamped release of Sony’s PlayStation Plus service, the gaming company’s high-profile attempt to a) get people to shell out more money than they should for multiplayer access in their games, and b) try to compete with Microsoft’s GamePass, the premiere way to get brand new Peppa Pig games in 2022.

But we kid GamePass, which over the past few weeks has gone from looking like simply the best of the Big 3 console subscription services to being a minor miracle. Or to put it another way: That PlayStation Plus Premium lineup is pretty rough, huh? Woof!

Critics have been poking holes in Sony’s new Plus since the moment it was announcedwith a plan to lure consumers to its “Premium” and “Extra” tiers by offering a free catalog of older games for the former plan, and much older games (curated from the company’s PS1, PS2, and PS3 vaults) for the latter. Leaving aside the whole issue with PS3 games only being available through cloud streaming (and the fairly anemic roster of classics on display), it’s very hard to figure out what Sony thought was going to get PlayStation users excited about this.

The key appeal of Microsoft’s GamePass, after all, is that many of the games you get through it are new, with the company leveraging its powerful relationships with various studios in order to offer first-run free games to subscribers. It’s always been hard to overstate the psychological advantage that confers on the Xbox program—especially now that Sony has resolutely refused to follow suit, instead offering an expanded flow of the trickle of the older titles it’s always used to bribe Plus subscribers into ponying up some cash.

Because here’s the rub, as the Bard used to say (while talking about digital distribution models for large-scale video game companies): There are only two kinds of titles available in a collection that’s been curated from a catalog of older games in the way that PlayStation Plus Premium has been—crap you already own, and crap you didn’t want to buy in the first place.

That’s not to say there aren’t great games on Plus Premium—there are phenomenal games, which you already know, because you bought them seven years ago when they first came out, or four years ago when they went on sale, etc., etc. The value proposition of the whole service, then, becomes how many games it has that weren’t worth your buck at full price (or even at a discount), but which are worth tossing a couple bucks a month at for a subscription. It is, almost by definition, a buffet of leftovers; possibly tasty, but undeniably warmed over.

GamePass gets around this by never asking you to evaluate lower-tier games in the first place; they come out, they’re available, and you never really have to ask yourself “Is this worth it?” The difference is part psychological, part practical, but it leaves PlayStation Plus Premium a great way to catch up on, say, old Dynasty Warriors games, and a pretty lousy way to fill out a collection of high-quality titles. The decision to toss $10 at it in order to get Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age or Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon or any of a handful of other games you’d never buy, but might play, becomes less an act of excitement, and more of a resigned “Fuck it.” Not exactly the vote of confidence Sony was probably hoping to receive.

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<p>The post The shiny new PlayStation Plus is an aging buffet of leftovers first appeared on harchi90.</p>