All of the embargos have been lifted now, and I'm very excited. Stupid impossible to preorder PS5.
Series X sounds like an absolute beast, and the fast-switching between games is definitely something I'll miss on PS5. And the backwards compatibility sounds like a thing of beauty.
On the PS5 side, Astro's Playroom got a Eurogamer essential(!), and backwards compatibility appears to be excellent (albeit less professional than Xbox's).
I really hope it won't be too long before they get more stock out. A shiny new PS5 would do wonders for lockdown dreariness.
I reckon I'll be able to hold off on a PS5 until they bring out the inevitable hardware revision in a couple years, but the wall to wall coverage of Sony's box today is (as no doubt intended) making me feel a little bit like I'm gonna be missing out.
Series X sounds like an absolute beast, and the fast-switching between games is definitely something I'll miss on PS5. And the backwards compatibility sounds like a thing of beauty.
I'm genuinely hyped for the backwards compatibility. They did an amazing job of it on Xbox One and it sounds like they've gone even further with it this time. PS5 looks like it'll run old games just fine, but the Series X should improve them enormously in a lot of cases.
No tracking number on the email though, so I assume it's not actually started moving just yet. Tomorrow will see a lot of inbox F5ing, at least until I get a reference and can switch to compulsively refreshing the courier's site.
I'm using today as a barometer for how crazy the PS5 launch is going to be. Looks like everywhere sold out of Xboxs in about 3 minutes, so not a great sign…
Do John Lewis etc put their stock live at bang-on midnight? Or at a random time in the morning?
Waiting for the missus to message about success/failure. If not, apparently my friend at work got one this morning from Media Markt so I'll cadge the link off him.
I know this has been compared to a PC upgrade but there is still something very odd about turning on a brand new console for the first time and it using the exact same OS as the last gen one you unplugged ten minutes previously. It even picked up all my settings and I’m using the same controller so it’s like nothing’s changed!
Currently waiting for my next gen games to install; my cunning plan to download them in advance on an external drive has completely failed because of course it’s just now downloading the Series X versions and removing the old ones.
The downside of Game Pass: I've been downloading stuff all day and still have loads of things in the queue, which is making me feel like the box isn't yet at its full launch day power.
I've played a little bit of Banjo Kazooie – something small to keep me occupied while larger titles came down – and a few hours of Yakuza 7 (which is excellent so far, although we're still heavy in the plot setup so there's not been much of the series' trademark weirdness yet).
I think I'm starting to err on a 3 series card upgrade for the PC and a PS5, simply because it will feel at least vaguely different (and the pad reviews do sound pretty good). And the One X is still fine. I think I'll wait for either a new form factor or a black version though.
Xbox One games seem to load much faster even off external storage. And downloads in general too are much faster, this thing maxes out my internet connection which the One X never did.
The promised performance improvements for older games are definitely real - Supraland is so much smoother it’s not even funny, and Cities Skylines is like playing on a top end PC.
The one thing I don’t like at all so far is Auto HDR, it just makes random things like HUD elements eye-searingly bright. Turned that one off for now. I’m sure they’ll continue working on the algorithm.
The Xbox servers are taking a kicking today. Destiny 2 has been offline all day, and none of the EA games are downloading despite being added to Game Pass this morning.
Considering how big file sizes are getting, there must be a serious number of GB being downloaded onto new consoles.
Played a bit of Assassin's Creed Valhalla and so far it's very Ass Creed. Nice landscapes but the stiffly-animated potato people take some getting used to, I remember Odyssey looking a little better than this. Then again I am coming straight off the extremely slick FFVII remaster so perhaps it's a bit unfair to compare an open-world title with something as tightly stage-managed as that game. It's a very smooth 60fps on the Series X though which is very nice.
The amount of stuff that landed on GamePass yesterday thanks to the EA thing is frankly a bit overwhelming. I mean I've been a primarily Xbox-based player for a while now and I can't even begin to keep up with this service. I can't imagine what aniki is making of it having skipped the platform for a whole generation.
The storage thing isn't going to be as much of a problem as I thought it might be, I don't think. Xbox One games load pretty fast off an external drive (certainly much faster than they did on an actual Xbox One) so it's only really Series X games and really hefty One games that need to go on that 1TB internal. I'm sure I can cope with swapping things on and off as necessary.
I can't imagine what aniki is making of it having skipped the platform for a whole generation.
I haven't added stuff to my download queue since about an hour after I got the machine up and running; it's still downloading since stuff. The amount of games here is bordering in offensive.
I'm trying to focus on Yakuza, though. I've hopped out to look at other bits and pieces as they've finished – notably Destiny and Sea of Thieves – but I'm quite into Ichiban's story right now and want to capitalise on that focus.
The fan on mine is reasonably audible. It makes a noise that sounds a bit like something writing to an old mechanical hard drive - not loud, but audible in a quiet room, and not a consistent whirr if that makes sense, more of a varying sound. I'm pretty sure it's the fan because it starts up once the thing's been on for a bit and continues for a while after it's turned off.
It's not annoying or anything (and it's a million miles from the demented roar of my PS4 Pro) but it IS noisier than my old One X, and given that everyone seems to be going "WOAH IT'S SO SILENT" I thought I'd better check… it's currently on its side in a TV cabinet so it's reasonably toasty, it's got decent clearance so I thought it'd be OK but it could be moved if necessary.
But yeah I'd be surprised if it made any noise, based on the previews. So many articles called it effectively silent.
Yup. Rearranged my setup so the thing is free-standing and vertical, and it’s dead silent now. It does kick out a lot of heat and needs a lot of space around it, it seems.
What the hell does the enhanced version of Jedi Uncharted look like on the Series X?! On a One X it's jaw droppingly attractive. Do you get the performance mode and 4k mode at the same time?
What the hell does the enhanced version of Jedi Uncharted look like on the Series X?! On a One X it's jaw droppingly attractive. Do you get the performance mode and 4k mode at the same time?
Probably not. The problem is that as things stand the 4K mode is locked to 30 fps, while the performance mode has an unlocked frame rate (so would benefit from the exta power) but is locked to 1080p. Without a patch you're not going to get 4K/60.
The extra horsepower of the Series X will definitely help both of those modes hit their targets though, so you should get locked 30 or 60 at least. Janky Order didn't really hit either of those originally so that alone should make a big difference.
I'm hopeful it gets a patch, it's only a few months since it stopped getting updates and as you say it's one of the One's best-looking titles. There are a few games in this exact same position, The Witcher 3 is probably the highest-profile case and that's been promised an update in the new year. Forza Horizon 4 has already received its 4K/60 update and it's pretty stunning-looking.
One slightly odd bit of news accompanying these new consoles is that load times on OLD consoles are getting better.
A lot of Sony first party games have just received huge boosts - Last of Us went from a 2-minute load screen to 14 seconds. And Destiny 2's new update has shaved a good 75 percent off the loading times. They used to take an age, now they're relatively speedy.
Maybe the old HDDs were getting insecure or something.
What the hell does the enhanced version of Jedi Uncharted look like on the Series X?! On a One X it's jaw droppingly attractive. Do you get the performance mode and 4k mode at the same time?
Probably not. The problem is that as things stand the 4K mode is locked to 30 fps, while the performance mode has an unlocked frame rate (so would benefit from the exta power) but is locked to 1080p. Without a patch you're not going to get 4K/60.
The extra horsepower of the Series X will definitely help both of those modes hit their targets though, so you should get locked 30 or 60 at least. Janky Order didn't really hit either of those originally so that alone should make a big difference.
I'm hopeful it gets a patch, it's only a few months since it stopped getting updates and as you say it's one of the One's best-looking titles. There are a few games in this exact same position, The Witcher 3 is probably the highest-profile case and that's been promised an update in the new year. Forza Horizon 4 has already received its 4K/60 update and it's pretty stunning-looking.
Interesting. I read your review in the thread and I have perhaps reached the first area that might be termed "variable" but by and large I thought the first level in the breakers yard in particular was astoundingly good looking in fidelity mode. As was the train segment. That at a locked 4k 60fps as a next gen proposition would be an intriguing thought.
Sadly the opening area is by far the prettiest area in the game, but it’s a decent title all round and I’m glad I played it. A full next-gen upgrade might tempt me back for a run through hard mode or some of the optional challenges.
The thing that struck me about that opening area was how throwaway it was. The scale and fidelity was amazing, yet, like a lot of Uncharted games it sort of flows past you and is gone in about 20 minutes. I can't imagine the amount of work that must have to go into such a small segment. I'd be interested to see what a Series X/PS 5 version of it could look like. I think fidelity is 1440p (?) so a full 4k treatment at 60fps would be glorious.
Not entirely sure about the game yet - it is wearing its influences so overtly on its sleeve it's almost farcical at times. But at least its pulled from the best in class.
It's an odd game, isn't it? The first level - the train bit from Uncharted 2 - is incredibly exciting, and had me hoping for something wonderful.
But I've just got to the second area and it's turned into ReCore. Did anyone play that? It was by the guy who did Metroid Prime, or something, and was a slightly crap Metroidvania with huge levels of jank.
Also I just got killed by some frog thing, and it stole all my XP. So it's clearly learned something from the Mean Games club.
I've downloaded and installed Jedi Uncharted, but haven't had a chance to actually boot it up yet. Not sure whether I'm looking forward to it or not, based on this conversation…
It gets better as it goes on. Combat is really frustrating initially but once you unlock all your various options it’s actually pretty fun. It’s just a shame that happens so late in the game. The later planets are better than the first one and the whole ending sequence is great. And having watched The Clone Wars over the course of the last couple of months I’m quite impressed by how well this all ties into existing Star Wars lore.
I mean, it’s not the best game ever. But I’m really glad I stuck with it, maybe you will be too.
Also, the fact that you're all referring to it as Jedi Uncharted is part of the problem. It's only that opening sequence that's really anything like Uncharted. The rest of it is a Metroidvania with Dark Souls influences. If that's not what you want, bail now.
The first sequence is almost beat for beat Uncharted and the traversal is identical. I too have reached Re:Core world and it seems to have suddenly become something else. I'm not sure if it's a bad thing yet. I think I sort of liked Re:Core. Maybe? I don't know.
Also, the fact that you're all referring to it as Jedi Uncharted is part of the problem. It's only that opening sequence that's really anything like Uncharted. The rest of it is a Metroidvania with Dark Souls influences. If that's not what you want, bail now.
The muddle is part of its problem, I think. You can justifiably argue whether it's more soulsborne or metroidvania in structure, but it's also probably Uncharted that it apes most mechanically, and therefore "feels" most like (when it comes to traversal, at the very least). That's part of why I suspect it confounds so many people's expectations.
I enjoyed it, as it's a very decent ripoff of three genres I really enjoy, but even I found some of the choices to be fairly stupid, and it's certainly not without jank.
(The soulsborne elements are what annoyed me most in JFO, for the record - I found it infinitely more intuitive finding my way (back) around Yharnham and its surrounding areas (for example) than I did any of the planets in this, and enemies respawning when you use a "Bonfire" is often much more jarring here too.)
It's an Assassin's Creed game. I've played about 15 of these now, it's all very familiar.
You can be a male or female character again, or there's the option to "let the Animus decide" which switches between them both for plot reasons. I went with that option and so far I've just been female Eivor. She's… fine, but she's no Kassandra.
It feels a bit more old-school than Odyssey. There's more emphasis on stealth (although hitting things with an axe is always an option) and "social stealth" (blending in crowds) is back for the first time in ages. Some of the RPG bloat from the last game has been stripped back out. You can approach things in multiple ways.
Icon clutter has been reduced, and side quests ("world events") tend to involve more actual story from what I'm seeing rather than simple fetch quests. To be fair every game in the series since Unity seems to take a couple more steps in this direction.
There's a whole base-building segment with side missions which I haven't really got to grips with yet, but I like it, it kind of reminds me of AC3's homestead.
This is probably going to be massive. It took me five hours before I even got to the opening titles, and I could have spent three times as long on the prologue before that point. It's worth skipping through though as the game opens up immensely once you get to the main part.
It's a little shonky at the moment. Cut-scenes drop frames, there's screen tearing, some of the sound mixing is a bit strange. It'll probably get a flurry of patches, so may be worth holding off a few weeks if you're tempted. It does look nice though and runs at 60fps on the Series X.
I like it so far. It feels more Origins than Odyssey, but it's basically the same game you've played before but with hairy Vikings, so if that appeals, then there's a lot of fun to be had.
Maybe it's my complete lack of social media except one sports fan account thing I run, but I have seen very little in the way of new console excitement from people, they have sold out but I haven't been feeling that rush of "man I wished I'd got one" that I usually do.
I wonder if the One X (and to a lesser extent the PS Pro) have, to an extent taken a bit of the excitement of "same games but better!" out of the mix. I can see with the PS5 you might want a Pro without the sound of a hoover, but the One X is a bit of an elephant in the room at the moment.
The One X has definitely taken the edge off the POWER! side of the new consoles. I've been playing console games in 4K and at 60fps for a couple of years thanks to the One X (albeit not usually at the same time).
The One X has spoiled my PS4. I've struggled to go back to the Sony machine, with its creaky-ass body, whiny fan and dodgy framerates.
But I really do think those SSDs are worth upgrading for, even if you discount the extra CPU oomph.
A lot of the next-gen excitement seems to actually be GamePass related - people who skipped the Xbox One are suddenly finding that their new console gives them access to an entire generation's worth of games, day one, right out of the box. I mean that's a great thing and it's good to see people's excitement but yep that's exactly what my One X gave me so I'm not really in on that. I am greatly enjoying the fact that everything I boot up runs better than it ever has before, though, and the fast loading is a transformative difference. Even coming from a One X it feels like a substantial upgrade.
I'll be interested to see when/if Microsoft drop Xbox One support though. I can see the logic behind selling Smart Delivery "Xbox" games - whatever machine you put the disc in, you'll get the best version that machine supports - which for the foreseeable future will probably mean 60fps+shinies on the Series X, and 30fps on last gen. But there will come a point when someone wants to do something with all that extra CPU power that the old consoles simply can't support. I wonder what happens then. Some sort of streaming solution, or just a wholesale move to next-gen only games?
