Jay Peters
Astro Bot is the 2024 Game of the Year.
Very well deserved — the game is fantastic.
Here’s the acceptance speech from Nicolas Doucet, studio director of Astro Bot developer Team Asobi.
PlayStation
For more than 25 years, Sony’s PlayStation has been synonymous with gaming. It’s given players experiences like God of War, The Last of Us, and Final Fantasy VII alongside technological innovations from CD-ROMs all the way up to 4K, VR, and cloud gaming. There have even been attempts at portable gaming with the PSP and Vita. Across multiple generations the company has been a pioneer, starting with the original PlayStation and continuing with the PS5.
Ash Parrish
Take me home, country Kongs.
Nintendo has rescued another Wii title from the dustbin of shuttered digital storefronts, bringing Donkey Kong Country Returns to the Switch in glorious HD on January 16th.
Seemingly out of respect for players who are either Too Old / Busy or Too Young to struggle with the game’s apparent difficulty spike, Nintendo has added a “Modern Mode” that will increase your health and carrying capacity.
Ash Parrish
On the first day of Christmas, Team Asobi gave to me.
Santa’s elves work hard, but Astro Bot’s developers work harder. Out Thursday, December 12th, the Winter Wonder update adds a new Christmas-themed level accessible once you’ve completed the game.
Team Asobi didn’t share details in hopes of preserving the surprises, but they did note, “...it is a celebration enjoyable for children and adults alike. So, no hair-pulling challenge this time.”
Ash Parrish
Not even Wario64 has time to game anymore.
PlayStation has rolled out its Wrap Up for 2024 treating players to a personal overview of their gaming habits over the year. Since the site appears to have loading issues right now, I can’t show you how long I’ve spent in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. (A lot.) However, Wario64 was kind enough to share theirs, averaging seven hours over just six games.
Andrew Webster
Training wheels.
Sony is launching a fancy free demo for Gran Turismo 7 with the clever name My First Gran Turismo. It’ll be available on December 6th on both PS4 and PS5, and is aimed at newcomers to the franchise, and racing sims in general. And if you get hooked? You can transfer over your progress to the full game.
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Sean Hollister
A black PlayStation Portal is reportedly on the way.
Bilibil-kun, the Dealabs leaker who correctly revealed the design of the PlayStation 5 Pro, now says the currently white PS Portal will soon be available in black for the same $200 price.
While the PS Portal can only stream games, it recently got updated to stream some of them from the cloud. Meanwhile, Sony’s also reportedly working on a true Nintendo Switch / Steam Deck rival.
Le PlayStation Portal sortira également avec un nouveau coloris bientôt
[Dealabs Magazine]
Andrew Webster
A big milestone.
Sony launched a site outlining the history of PlayStation, and it includes a fun tidbit: the PS2 has officially sold 160 million units. That strengthens its position as the best-selling console of all time. Nintendo is nipping at its heels with the Switch, though its momentum is slowing for obvious reasons.
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Richard Lawler
Shuhei Yoshida is retiring from PlayStation after 31 years.
The former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios and current head of indie initiatives has been a part of PlayStation since it started in 1993, but now he’s leaving in January.
Shuhei Yoshida (aka @yosp) explains on the official podcast and in another in-depth interview that he felt it was time and that PlayStation is in good hands.
Jay Peters
Some of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary PS5 hardware is coming back.
Sony is giving you another shot to try and buy the retro-gray PS5 slim, DualSense, and DualSense Edge tomorrow at 12PM ET from PlayStation Direct, as spotted by Wario64. Good luck!
Image: Sony
Andrew Webster
Lorelei and the PlayStation Eyes.
Simogo’s mind-melting puzzle noir is getting a PlayStation version on December 3rd, following its initial launch on PC and Switch. No matter what platform you’re playing on, though, make sure to keep a notebook handy.
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
The spiritual successor to Patapon is murdering me with its cuteness.
Ratatan doesn’t just look and sound like Patapon, it even has Hiroyuki Kotani, the designer of the PSP original, working on it.
Oh, and it’s a four-player co-op roguelike? Okay, that’s it — I’m dead. Someone please res me when this launches in 2025.
Jay Peters
Here’s iFixit’s teardown of the PS5 Pro.
Based on the video, the inside of Sony’s most advanced PS5 looks pretty similar to the inside of the slim PS5. It’s still pretty cool to see, though — and the PS5 Pro at least has an easier way to access the CMOS battery.
Check out our PS5 Pro review if you want to learn more about the console.
Sean Hollister
Today I’m toying with the PS5 Pro.
I’ve got a whole series of these hands-on gadget videos — find more on my Threads — but with the PS5 Pro, it’s only now I’ve been able to make one! At Sony’s preview event, journalists couldn’t touch the final hardware so I focused on what it’s like to play; at review time, my video tried to show off the graphics.
Speaking of...
David Pierce
Sean Hollister
Does the PS5 Pro make games look better? Here’s an attempt to show you.
The just-released PS5 Pro (here’s my review!) has a bunch of ways to amp visuals. But since Sony says most people prefer 60fps, we’re comparing the 2020 PS5’s 60fps “Performance” modes, and the new “Performance Pro” modes that give you higher detail at the same 60fps target. Plus Bloodborne for PS4.
Hopefully Meta doesn’t compress the video too much!
Chris Welch
Digital Foundry’s PS5 Pro video review is an hour and 19 minutes long.
Need I say more? If you’re determined to hear every little morsel about Sony’s upgraded console and a thorough breakdown of which games benefit most from the added GPU horsepower and PSSR upscaling, here you go. No one does it quite like the folks at Digital Foundry.
8
Verge Score
Andrew Liszewski
Ash Parrish
The Horizon Curse is real.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is out today on PC and PS5, but like previous games in the series, its release has been overshadowed the launch of another, more anticipated game. Horizon’s original release in 2017 got obliterated by Breath of the Wild. Then, Horizon Forbidden West launched the same week as Elden Ring. This time, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, also launching today, is the specter looming on Horizon’s shoulder.
Emma Roth
Death Note meets Among Us.
PlayStation has revealed the trailer for Death Note Killer Within... and it’s basically an Among Us-style social deduction game. Instead of hunting for the “imposter,” L’s team must try to find Kira.
Jay Peters
Pro, Pro, Pro.
Insomniac has released patches adding PS5 Pro support to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and both updates add new “performance pro” and “fidelity pro” graphics modes and toggles for ray tracing. The studio didn’t share screenshots or video alongside the updates, so we’ll have to wait and see if the improved graphics are worth the cost.
Version 1.004.000 Release Notes
[Insomniac Games Support]
Jay Peters
Nice reflections.
Alan Wake 2 developer Remedy Entertainment shared details of the game’s enhancements for the PS5 Pro. As shown in a video, reflections in Quality Mode look seriously impressive.
The game will also be getting an “Anniversary Update” on October 22nd, the same day as the launch of The Lake House DLC, that adds quality-of-life features and some great accessibility settings.
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
