Tag Archives: Op-Ed

During E3 2014 on the PlayStation showcase stage, Hello Games showed off No Man’s Sky in a presentation which has now become iconic. Once an infamous example of a game failing to live up to its initial expectations, the launch of No Man’s Sky in 2016 was just the beginning. More than a decade on from its initial reveal and over 8 years from the game’s 1.0 launch, Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky is the epitome of the redemption story.

Concord marked the latest attempt by Sony to capitalise off of the hype and perceived popularity surrounding live-service games. Released on the 23rd of August, the Destiny x Overwatch like Hero Shooter lasted less than two weeks before being fully shut down by Sony – refunding all of the roughly 25,000 copies which were estimated to have sold during that time. In the immediacy following this monumental failure, there have been a variety of opinions on just why this game flopped so spectacularly. While certainly not the only reason, I believe that the primary cause of its failings is simple: Hero Shooters are boring.

Microsoft sold its current-gen console on the idea of delivering "True 4K" and "frame rates we've never seen before". However, when it came time to back up those claims, Xbox has fallen woefully short, with promises being repeatedly broken...

Since its inception, console video games have typically operated under one of two performance targets: 30fps and 60fps. That said, with the release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, developers have been able to push both visuals and performance further than ever; as high as 120fps. Interestingly, this leap in GPU/CPU headroom has also allowed for the creation and implementation of a best-of-both-worlds scenario – making 30fps largely redundant in favour of the similar-yet-highly-superior 40 frames per second...

Ever since I got a hold of my PS5 on launch day back in late 2020 I have been enamoured with the DualSense controller. The addition of brand new precise haptics alongside Adaptive Triggers (in combination with all the prior innovations seen with older PlayStation controllers), makes for an in-hand feeling which can only be had on PlayStation…sort of. Those wanting to truly unlock the potential of the DualSense – even far beyond the capabilities of the PS5 itself – can do so on PC thanks to the Steam application DSX...

With the most recent COD safely in its mid-life cycle, the launch of xDefiant comes perhaps at the perfect time to try and steal as many eyes away from Call of Duty as possible. While in many ways, xDefiant is indeed competing in the same space as COD gameplay-wise, one might argue that Ubisoft’s efforts have resulted in a product which feels as though it was designed to compete with Modern Warfare 3 (2011), not Modern Warfare III (2023) – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing...

With Ghost of Tsushima recently landing on PC, I have been looking back at Sucker Punch’s 2020 PS4 swan song and analysing exactly why I think the game managed to stand out from the crowd of open world titles, with this analysis discussing the purposeful and creatively-dense sounds, sensations and subtleties of Ghost of Tsushima...

Sucker Punch Productions has always been one of PlayStation studios’ lesser-appreciated dev teams, with the Washington-based company releasing some of the most underrated games over the past many generations – including the excellent InFamous series. The team finally received their well-deserved flowers with the release of Ghost of Tsushima back in 2020 for the PlayStation 4. With the title finally set to come to PC, I wish to share with you just some of the MANY reasons as to why even in 2024, Ghost of Tsushima just hits DIFFERENT.

One of the biggest differences between most successful crowd funding campaigns and those that fail to reach their goals, is professionalism. It's a polish and the look and feel of a company that will deliver their product on time, and have it look and operate like they claim. Part of …

Oculus Rift headsets may be one of the most popular among gamers, but you wouldn't know it by the hardware's availability. Despite still requiring quite a hefty PC to run its many games and experiences, almost no gaming outlets in the UK stock the headsets – in what seems like …

When I reviewed the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive virtual reality headsets, I added a caveat to both pieces saying that I wouldn't make many direct comparisons with the other, since I wanted to review them on their own merits. As much as they are very similar, they also offer …

One of the biggest issues with attending a lot of the biggest game shows in the UK and elsewhere around the world, is that they involve a lot of queuing. We saw it at this year's big Multiplay Insomnia series festival and we saw it was last year's EGX in …

AAISP – the unfiltered network Most internet service providers are quite typical. They offer phone and broadband products and have lacklustre callcentre support systems that are so ubiquitous, they've been the punchline of every comedian's closing bit for a decade; but that's not the case with every ISP. Recently we sat …

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a socialist,” begins the poetic version of Pastor Martin Niemöller's famous statement about the cowardice of German intellectuals during the rise of the Nazi party. It's a speech that has many applications when the topic of free …