Category: PlayStation 5

April Resident Evil Showcase

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In case you missed it, Capcom held another Resident Evil Showcase a couple days ago on 4/15 to reveal more details on Resident Evil Village and a few other Resident Evil announcements. In case you missed it, here it is just before it kicks off.

The biggest draw for me was Resident Evil Village, the 8th installment of the main series and direct sequel to Resident Evil 7, reprising the role of Ethan Winters. No big surprise, they released a brand new trailer to tease out even more of the story, including what looks to be an even more direct role for Chris Redfield in the village. If you just want to see the new trailer, here it is in it’s 4k glory.

Not sure if there is anything more for them to say to get me hooked. I’ve already got the game pre-ordered on Steam and I’m taking day off. In case you aren’t aware yet, Resident Evil Village released on May 7th.

So why the big showcase? They had a few new announcements to make. Capcom confirmed that Mercenary mode will be returning. To be honest, I never really got into Mercenary mode in a RE game, but I have to admit that it looks fun. The added ability to buy and upgrade gear between rounds does look nice. If your current strategy isn’t working as planned, change it up, if you have the money.

Capcom also announced a new timed demo for Village. Interesting approach if you ask me, but I’m not going to complain about a new demo, especially on PC, finally. Starting May 1st at 8:00 PM EDT to May 2nd at 8:00 PM EDT, a 60 minute demo will be available to play where you can explore the castle and/or village in the new game. You can spend all your time in one area if you want, or split it between both. If you are PS4/PS5 player, you will get early access to additional timed demos, these ones being 30 minute demos of the castle and village on separate days. The village PS4/PS5 demo opens April 17th and the castle demo opens April 24th. Here is a link to Capcom’s official page with the details and when you can start downloading the demos, Gameplay Demo.

Capcom also announced that they will be releasing a VR version of Resident Evil 4 on the Oculus. If you have an Oculus and never got to play RE4 yet or are just a huge fan of RE4, this should be an interesting take on the game. They also released an official trailer for the Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness animated series releasing on Netflix this year. Looks good and I’m definitely planning on binging this when it releases.

All that is left for me now is to patiently wait for the timed demo and the release of Resident Evil Village.

My Verdict on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5

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Wanted to make sure I gave this some additional thought before making my own verdict on the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. To be completely honest, after seeing everything for the Xbox and PlayStation, I’m not interested in getting either just yet. Neither company has me really sold yet. Yes, both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are powerful consoles; but neither has anything worth dropping $500 on this year. Yes, PlayStation 5 is getting Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales this year, but so is the PlayStation 4. Sure, it will look much better and load way faster on the PlayStation 5, but that just doesn’t justify a new system for one exclusive title. Not even $400 for the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition. Same with Xbox Series X/S. Yes, I want to play Halo Infinite, but I have a gaming PC that I know can run it. I also have Xbox Game Pass for PC. There just isn’t enough to make me want to get one at launch.

As for which system I may eventually get, that is still up in the air for me. Since I have a good gaming PC, there isn’t much of an incentive for me to get an Xbox Series X or S. The only exception for me is the backwards compatibility. I still on occasion grab my Original Xbox and Xbox 360 to play some of the games I still own for them. Unfortunately, because they are all physical, that will limit me to the Xbox Series X just for the disk drive. Can’t find any options yet for the Xbox Series S, if there are any. If there is a way, I’d seriously consider getting an Xbox Series S just for that to retire my Original Xbox and Xbox 360. Then just play all the newer releases on my PC.

As for the PlayStation, they are providing me with less and less incentives at the moment. The two major titles I most wanted to play are Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West, yet I can get both for my PlayStation 4 and save myself at least $400. Everything else is cross platform. True, they did just officially announce the new God of War, but no release date yet, so not until 2021 at the earliest. Then don’t forget about the Sony Executive mentioning they are looking into releasing more PlayStation first party titles on PC. If that honestly happens and the new God of War also releases on PC, I really have no reason to get a PlayStation 5.

Final verdict, if I had to pick one, I’d honestly consider the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition. If money wasn’t a concern, I’d just go for the full PlayStation 5 to replace my PlayStation 4. I’d just hold off on the Xbox Series X until my Original Xbox and/or Xbox 360 die. Figure by then, I may be able to get an Xbox Series X at a lower price point. As for the games, my PC can hand what Microsoft is releasing.

Finally! PlayStation 5 News

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After what I feel was longer than necessary (felt the same with Microsoft), the PlayStation 5 showcase has finally come, and we have prices and dates! PlayStation 5 launches November 12th in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. The remaining countries can expect it on November 19th. As for price, the PlayStation 5 will be $499 and the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition will be $399. Here is a link to PlayStation Blog that covers this plus some.

While I don’t think Sony had much of a choice with the $499 price tag on the PlayStation 5 to compete with the Xbox Series X, that $399 price tag for the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition was a smart move. Just too clarify for those that might not know, the only difference between these two PlayStation 5’s is that the more expensive version has a disk drive for physical media, and the less expensive one doesn’t, digital only. Other than that, the exact same hardware is powering each one. You can’t even compare the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition with the Xbox Series S. This is going to be Sony’s biggest strength this next generation. To be honest, I really hope Sony put more effort into producing the Digital Edition as I expect that to be the hotter console. I’ve already moved to all digital, so that would be the one I’d go for to be honest (and sorely tempted).

Now, as for the Showcase, if you missed and want watch it, here is the YouTube recording skipped ahead to where it actually starts:

As for my thoughts, it was a decent showcase. While no huge surprises for me considering all the predictions I kept seeing, it was nice to see certain titles officially confirmed. The big games that caught my attention that were officially announced were Final Fantasy XVI and a new God of War. What I also appreciated was the fact all but one of the titles shown included gameplay running on a PlayStation 5. To be honest, they looked nice. Spent a lot of time during the Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales paying more attention to the details than watching what was happening. Had to watch it twice. I was also excited to finally see some gameplay for Hogwarts Legacy. There were some other nice titles highlighted, but the ones I linked were the ones I enjoyed the most. Was a little surprised not to see new Horizon Forbidden West gameplay though.

Sony also announced what is one of their takes on backwards compatibility with their new PlayStation Plus Collection announcement. With this service on the PlayStation 5, gamers will get digital access to some nice PlayStation 4 titles right off the bat. Based on the video, it isn’t streaming either, you can download them, which is nice. However, I’m expecting to hear more regarding backwards compatibility outside of this new service. Sony still has time; but this is where I do feel Sony is still lagging a bit on.

In all, I think Sony did a decent job covering some ground I felt they lost to Microsoft. While I don’t think they have completely caught up, that $399 price makes a significant impact. That alone makes me feel that Sony will have a strong launch. I still feel that the Xbox Series X will do fine as well though at this point. In both cases, neither really have any unique launch titles. Yes, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West are exclusive to PlayStation; but it was officially announced today in that PlayStation Blog I linked in the start of my blog that they will also launch on PlayStation 4. They will run much better on PlayStation 5; but they are still not PlayStation 5 exclusives. Doesn’t seem like we will see any true PlayStation 5 console exclusives until 2021. Not to mention some of those titles are also releasing on PC, like Final Fantasy XVI. This primarily impacts my decision as I have a PlayStation 4 and a decent gaming PC, so I feel less likely to jump on the PlayStation 5 launch party. Regardless, I still feel that Sony will have a strong PlayStation 5 launch.

PlayStation 5 vs Xbox Series X

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Sony vs Microsoft, PlayStation 5 vs Xbox Series X, hyperbolic fandom vs reality, and how PC’s are far superior. Honestly, who cares? Those who are avid PlayStation fans, are going to buy the PlayStation 5. Those who are avid Xbox fans, are going to buy the Xbox Series X. All while there will be the constant back and forth as to which is better. Hmm, now where have I heard this all before, hmmm (PlayStation 2 vs Xbox, PlayStation 3 vs Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 vs Xbox One). War, war never changes.

Okay, so I might be a little tired of the constant back and forth. Can’t say my Twitter feed is helping either. Sarcasm aside, this at least helps speak to the constant competition between Microsoft and Sony (purposefully leaving Nintendo out of this as I feel they have moved into their own niche), which is a good thing. Competition helps drive a company to bring their ‘A’ game. In the case of Microsoft and Sony, I think they have. Both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X look like solid systems, each with their own advantages.

While the tech geeks are geeking out about teraflops, I really don’t think that is going to a factor in what your average console game cares about regarding which system they buy. Ultimately, I really think it will just come down to what games the gamer cares about, which system it is releasing on, and systems they have previously owned.

In the case of the Xbox Series X, the biggest buy factor that I feel it is has is the fact it can play Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games out of the box. I decided too skip the Xbox One this last go around; but this backwards compatibility alone has me really considering getting an Xbox Series X. I still have plenty of Xbox and Xbox 360 games that I find myself pulling out my older systems from time to time to play; but being able to just play them all on one system, I’m sold. Outside of that, I don’t have any other reason to get one considering that Microsoft has been releasing a fair number of their big releases on PC recently and I have a gaming rig.

In the case of PlayStation 5, lets face it, they have the exclusives when comparing it’s library against Xbox; and those exclusives are very much AAA titles that very much deserve that classification. God of War, Spider-Man, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Ghost of Tsushima to name a few. They are just amazing games that I honestly feel a little bad for those that haven’t had a chance to play them. Especially if any of those games fall into a given gamer’s wheelhouse. For me, it is the games alone that will likely drive me to eventually getting a PlayStation 5. Granted, I’ll likely wait for PlayStation 5 Slim as the current design is a bit of a beast. That, and I’ll give the system some time to go through it’s growing pains and ideally get a more stable system.

Here is my prediction, both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are going to sell well. One will likely edge out over the other; but I predict both will do just fine. As the prices haven’t been released yet, I’m not sure which one might do better. Suspect which ever is the cheapest, will likely edge out the other. Considering there is a pure digital PlayStation 5, I’m thinking that will be the least expensive next gen system, so I’m leaning PlayStation; but time will tell once the prices are officially released. Either way, I’m looking forward to what this next generation has to offer.