“We just have to ask for everyone to give us time”.
Konami has reiterated its plans for a second volume of the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection but admits it doesn’t want to rush development after “all the issues” it had with the first collection.
This update was shared during the ‘Q&A’ segment of the latest ‘Metal Gear Production Hotline’ broadcast, featuring the series’ production producer Noriaki Okamura.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
One is the Mario Wonder OLED bundle.
Last week, a rumour about Nintendo launching a new Switch OLED bundle with a copy of Mario Wonder surfaced online.
This was shared by reputable leaker billbil-kun of Deal Labs, and now the same source has expanded on this – with claims multiple new Switch bundles (including the Mario Wonder one) are on the way to Europe very soon. In total, there are five deals listed. Here’s a translation via ResetEra:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Konami has confirmed that Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 is in the works, but getting it on store shelves will be easier said than done.
Metal Gear series promotions director Jiro Oishi and production producer Noriaki Okamura touched on plans for its tactical espionage action franchise in a recent Production Hotline episode posted by Konami. During a Q&A segment, Okamura acknowledged the fans eagerly waiting to learn which games will be included in Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2. However, bringing some of the newer titles to modern audiences comes with a unique set of issues, including a desire to dodge the problems Vol. 1 faced at launch.
While Okamura assures that an additional entry in the Master Collection is in the works, the team doesn’t want to run into the same issues that plagued Vol. 1 buyers at launch. PC players, for example, were quick to criticize the Metal Gear Solid collection’s lack of display settings and locked 720p resolution. These issues as well as others saw its Steam reviews brought down to “mixed,” though it did eventually bounce back, with many titles from the collection now boasting a “very positive” banner.
“We’re also worried about how Vol. 1 had a pretty rough launch, with all of the issues,” Okamura added, “so we’re going to do everything we can not to repeat that, but we just have to ask for everyone to give us time.”
There’s more than one reason Konami wants Vol. 2 to stay in the oven for a while longer, though. Games from last year’s collection, such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, are based on pre-existing HD ports. It helped streamline the process for Konami, but it won’t have that leg up when it comes to the remastered versions of more recent Metal Gear titles.
“We had HD ports of MGS1, 2, and 3. Or, sorry, not really for 1, but the other two,” Okamura said. “But most of the titles released after those don’t have a pre-existing HD port we could use. Some are in HD, but those would all be really big titles, and that comes with its own set of issues.”
It’s because of these hurdles that Konami says it will “be a little while” before it commits to a lineup or release date for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2. So, while Okamura isn’t ready to confirm whether fans will finally get the long-awaited Metal Gear Solid 4 port they’ve always dreamed of, he at least notes that they’ll reveal more information when the team is ready.
Konami isn’t ready to announce a Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 release date, but that won’t stop fans from guessing which titles will make the cut. Players were able to uncover evidence that games like Metal Gear Solid 4, 5, and Peace Walker will join the collection late last year. Konami itself has teased more to come in Vol. 2 since last October, going as far as to tell fans to “stay tuned” just last month. IGN was also able to confirm the list of suspected titles for Vol. 2 last year.
Meanwhile, a remake titled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, is expected to arrive sometime this year. You can check out our first hands-on preview here.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
At long last, Sony has peeled back the curtain on the PlayStation 5 Pro. This new console will be significantly more powerful than the standard PS5, delivering new upscaling tech, better framerates, and significantly improved ray tracing capabilities. But that increased power also comes at an increased cost.
While we wait for the November 7 release of the PS5 Pro, let’s break down the biggest questions surrounding this new console right now. Is the higher price tag justified? How many games will actually take advantage of this raw horsepower? And why the heck are we still being charged extra for a stand? These are our PS5 Pro burning questions.
The PlayStation 5 Pro was easily one of the worst-kept secrets in the gaming world, so the announcement didn’t exactly come as a surprise to most gamers. What did shock many, however, was the price tag. Sony is charging $699 for the Pro, which is quite a jump over the $449 MSRP of the disc drive-less standard PS5. A lot of gamers feel that the PS5 Pro is simply too expensive.
But is that a fair assessment? Yes, the price difference is quite a bit more than what we saw with the PS4 and PS4 Pro. But Sony is specifically touting the majorly upgraded GPU. When you consider that, on the PC gaming front, a decent midrange card like a Radeon RX 6800 costs in the neighborhood of $500 on its own, is $699 for a full-fledged, high-end gaming machine really such a bad deal?
Consider also that the PlayStation 3 originally launched at $600 back in 2006. This isn’t the first time Sony has put out new hardware at a significant premium over competitors. The PS3 may have been twice the price of the Nintendo Wii at the time, but it was also immensely more powerful. And let’s not forget that the newly announced iPhone 16, which is designed to play AAA games with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, starts at an MSRP of $999.
On the other hand, the PS3 comparison doesn’t quite hold water when you consider that that console represented a generational leap forward in graphical fidelity. The PS5 Pro is merely a mid-generation overhaul of an existing console.
And as for the iPhone, it may be quite a bit more expensive than a PS5 Pro, but it’s also a far more versatile multimedia device (and, of course, a phone!). A Steam Deck may be a better point of comparison, and even the highest-end model is still cheaper than the PS5 Pro.
At the end of the day, the PS5 Pro probably isn’t overpriced for what it offers. Yes, you can build a modest gaming PC for $699, but that PC is not going to be capable of competing on the same graphical playing field. Even with a price tag this high, we wouldn’t be surprised if Sony is selling this console at a loss.
The real question is whether the PS5 Pro offers enough benefits to justify the 64% increase in price over the base model. We’ll have to wait until we see real-world benchmarks and get an idea of how games actually look and perform on the new console.
The main selling point of the PS5 Pro is obvious – it’s meant to offer superior game performance compared to the standard PS5. The goal with this system is to eliminate the need for separate performance and fidelity modes. No longer do gamers need to choose between a high, stable framerate and the best possible resolution. The Pro does both at the same time.
It remains to be seen when and even if we’ll see games developed from the ground up with the PS5 Pro in mind. But we do know that many existing PS5 games will be “PS5 Pro Enhanced,” meaning they’ll receive updates to take full advantage of the more powerful hardware. That list includes Alan Wake 2, Gran Turismo 7, Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, among many others.
The question is just how many games will be PS5 Pro Enhanced. Will this become a standard feature going forward? Will Sony make it mandatory for new games to support the PS5 Pro? Will we continue to see older first-party titles added to the PS5 Pro Enhanced lineup, such as the God of War games or the earlier Spider-Man games?
And what about the PS4 catalog? We know that Sony is looking to enhance last-gen games as well through features like PS5 Pro Game Boost and Enhanced Image Quality. Just how much of the PS4 back catalog is supported, and will we see new games added to that lineup over time?
How devoted is Sony to ensuring that new and existing games take advantage of this more powerful hardware? And more to the point, what happens if the PS5 Pro doesn’t sell well out of the gate? Sony made a big push with VR gaming when the PSVR2 hit in February 2023, but that’s since tapered off as it’s become clear the headset is a niche product. If gamers aren’t sold on the PS5 Pro’s higher price tag, how aggressive will Sony be in marketing the PS5 Pro Enhanced catalog 6-12 months down the line?
We imagine Sony wants as many games as possible to be included in the PS5 Pro Enhanced catalog, and that every major game in development right now probably includes PS5 Pro support in one form or another. But will we see some developers charge for the ability to take advantage of the new hardware? Will “PS5 Pro Enhanced” become a paid upgrade in some cases?
For the most part, we’d guess not. Sony gave no indication in their presentation that these would be paid upgrades, and it might be a tough sell to expect gamers to fork over the money for the new hardware and pay even more on top of that to actually enjoy the full benefits of gaming on the PS5 Pro.
In the case of games that are also available on the PC, we imagine that most of the work has been done already when it comes to making enhanced game modes available for better hardware. In short, we doubt “PS5 Pro Enhanced” will be a paid upgrade in most cases, except when significantly more work is being done to update the base game for the new hardware. Charging more simply for a better framerate and resolution isn’t going to cut it.
At this point, the PS5 Pro’s success may be inextricably tied to Grand Theft Auto 6. GTA 6 is quickly shaping up to be one of the most important games ever released, and it’s going to be a huge system seller. Will it wind up being the biggest argument in favor of buying a PS5 Pro?
The trailer for GTA 6 is nothing if not visually stunning, leaving us to wonder if the actual game can truly live up to that early tease. The incredibly detailed character models and environments and advanced lighting techniques promise to push the current-gen consoles to their limits. The standard PS5 and the Xbox Series X will probably be lucky to run at a stable 30 fps. Just how much better will the experience be on the PS5 Pro?
Based on our technical analysis of the GTA 6 trailer, the game seems to be running at 30 fps at an internal base resolution of 1440p. Can the PS5 Pro beat that? Will this be the only way to play GTA 6 at 60fps and/or 4K resolution? Is this where we’ll see what Sony’s new PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution tech is capable of?
With GTA 6 not hitting the PC immediately, it’s probably safe to assume that the PS5 Pro version of the game will be the best-looking and best-playing version of the game out of the gate. But just how stark a difference will there be? Will the game simply run more smoothly, or will it truly feel like a mid-generational leap in quality? If it’s the latter, we could see a whole lot more gamers suddenly making the switch to the PS5 Pro a year from now.
As we’ve already explored, the PS5 Pro probably isn’t overpriced given the sheer, raw processing power Sony is working with here. But that doesn’t mean $699 isn’t a hard pill for most gamers to swallow. And Sony has made it that much more difficult to stomach by omitting two basic pieces of hardware – the disc drive and the stand.
The absence of the disc drive isn’t necessarily surprising, given how both Sony and Microsoft have begun to downplay discs in recent years. And it’s not as if the option isn’t still there. It just requires gamers to fork over $80 for the disc drive attachment.
Still, the absence of a disc drive stings. Sony really couldn’t have thrown us a bone and included a disc drive with their most expensive version of the PS5? With ridiculously high resolution being the big selling point here, don’t you want to encourage owners to take full advantage of the system and watch 4K Blu-rays rather than stream all their video content? And what about the people who are upgrading from a standard PS5 with disc drive to the Pro? Why force them to choose between paying an extra $80 and paying to “upgrade” to digital versions of their games?
As for the stand, that’s just rubbing salt in the wound. Is it really necessary to charge $30 for a vertical stand? Sony really couldn’t have just thrown in the darned thing to the people forking over the better part of a month’s rent on their new console?
The real problem here is that these extra purchases quickly add up. If you want to be able to display your PS5 Pro standing up and use your collection of physical games and Blu-rays, suddenly the cost of a PS5 Pro is approaching $800. In this economy? Sony might be asking too much of gamers by nickel and dining them with these extra add-ons.
But what do you think? Is the high price tag justified? Will the PS5 Pro be the ultimate way to play GTA 6? What are your biggest questions surrounding the new hardware? Let us know in the comments below.
Slam dump.
There was a time when the yearly NBA 2K Switch entry was something to look forward to. Each year was a step back from the next-gen counterpart, of course, but the Nintendo port offered a near-full-fat experience with the added bonus of portability. Those were the days, eh?
Anyone who picked up NBA 2K24 will have realised this is no longer the case and, unfortunately, the same can be said this time around. NBA 2K25 is the same game we saw 12 months ago, but, somehow, with even fewer features than its predecessor. The gap between the Switch port and next-gen has become a gaping chasm and, with a £50 price tag attached, 2K25 might be the most egregious example of a Switch ‘Legacy Edition’ to date.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Starting today, we are launching a new plan for Xbox Game Pass – Game Pass Standard. This plan brings together features that players love about Game Pass for Console and Game Pass Core, while providing an additional option when you are deciding which plan is right for you. If you’re still wondering which Game Pass plan might fit your needs, we have the guide for you.
As players, we all have different approaches to gaming. Maybe you’re a PC player, or perhaps enjoy playing online with friends. Maybe you’re gaming on a budget, or you want to play the latest titles day one like the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in October. Providing options to you is important, which is why Game Pass has several options to choose from.
Choose the Plan that’s Right for You
PC Game Pass – Want to play high-quality games on your PC? PC Game Pass offers a multitude of benefits, including hundreds of great games and access to new titles on day one. That includes Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, access to an EA Play membership, Riot Games benefits in Valorant, League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and more. Members also enjoy discounts of up to 20% on many games. If you’re a PC-only player, then PC Game Pass is designed for you.
Game Pass Core – Is your main interest jumping on your Xbox console and challenging your friends online or teaming up to take down a final boss? Game Pass Core is your main avenue for online console multiplayer. For a low monthly price, play with others online, get member deals of up to 50% off select titles, and enjoy a select catalog of over 25 high-quality games in the Game Pass library, including Grounded, Among Us, Halo, Gears 5, and more.
Game Pass Standard – Are you looking to level up your Xbox console gaming experience at a great value? Then Game Pass Standard may be right for you. In addition to all of the benefits you receive with Game Pass Core, including online console multiplayer and member discounts, you get access to hundreds of high-quality console games in the Game Pass library. Legendary series like Halo or Age of Empires, and massively popular games such as Minecraft, Forza Horizon 5, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege are ready for you to play. Dive in and discover your next favorite game today.
Game Pass Ultimate – Are you a player who wants the total gaming experience? Then Game Pass Ultimate has what you need. Including all the benefits in the other Game Pass plans, enjoy hundreds of high-quality games such as Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and Diablo IV, including new games on day one like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on your console, PC, and cloud. Get beloved series like EA Sports F1, Battlefield, and Star Wars with EA Play. Join friends and play together with online console multiplayer. Experience premium member benefits with deals and discounts on games and add-ons, free Perks, and more. Stream a game with cloud gaming before you download it on your console – no installs required. Get a head start in Valorant, League of Legends, and more of the biggest PC and mobile games from Riot Games. With Game Pass Ultimate, there’s always something new to play.
We continue to be focused on delivering the best gaming experience at a range of price points so players can choose the plan with the features that best fits their gaming needs and budget. If you are interested in learning more about Xbox Game Pass and pricing for each plan, please visit our main page. You can also find additional information about the new Game Pass Standard plan on Xbox Support.
The post Xbox Game Pass Standard Is Here – How to Choose the Right Plan for You appeared first on Xbox Wire.
For a limited time, Walmart (via the HP Store) is offering an HP Victus gaming PC equipped with the GeForce RTX 4060 GPU for only $749.99 shipped after a $450 instant discount. This is a solid 1080p gaming PC at an incredible price; in fact, I don’t think we’ve ever seen another gaming PC equipped with an RTX 4060 GPU for cheaper.
This Victus is HP’s budget line of gaming PCs. It might be as flashy as the OMEN series, but it’s a good looking compact chassis with adequate cooling and – depending on how it is specc’ed – equally as competent. This particular model features an Intel Core i5-14400F CPU, GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The Intel Core i5-14400F processor is Intel’s newest generation CPU and features a Max Turbo frequency of 4.7GHz with 10 cores, 16 threads, and 20MB of total cache. This is a good gaming chip that won’t bottleneck your RTX 4060 GPU.
The RTX 4060 is considerably more powerful than the RTX 3060 and almost nearly matches the RTX 3060 Ti. I would recommend this card for comfortable 1080p gaming. You could also run games at 1440p with relaxed graphic settings, but at that point I’d recommend upgrading to an RTX 4060 Ti or higher. Because it’s a current generation card, the RTX 4060 supports DLSS 3.0. It gives you a very nice framerate boost without sacrificing too much visual quality. It’s basically like selecting Peformance mode instead of Quality mode on your PS5 gaming console.
For those of you on a budget, the RTX 4060 is going to be your best NVIDIA GPU that you’re going to find for under $1000, and this HP Victus is well under that threshold. What’s more, this is a pre-built HP config with a manufacturer’s warranty, so you’ll avoid the hassle of building DIY and dealing with component warranties. Check out our best budget gaming PCs of 2024 to see what other alternatives we recommend.
The PlayStation 5 Pro was just announced with a launch MSRP of $700. Although the price of the PS5 Pro and this PC are pretty similar and they can both play games well, it’s certainly not an apples to apples comparison. We actually wrote a lengthy article on the tradeoffs between console gaming and PC gaming in general, but here’s a quick list of bullet points comparing these two models specifically.
(1) Full access to the hundreds of games in the PS5 library
(2) Plug and play right out of the box
(3) Better performance; able to play games at legit 4K
(4) More storage capacity (2TB standard)
(5) VR capable with a PSVR2
(1) The PlayStation 5 Slim exists and costs $250 less
(2) Most games are expensive and it adds up fast
(3) No disc drive (costs extra), so you can’t play 4K Blu-ray movies
(4) One trick pony; doesn’t do much else besides being a gaming and multimedia device
(5) No future upgradeability
(6) Wonky keyboard/mouse support
(1) Full access to tens of thousands of games on the PC
(2) General utility (more than just a gaming box)
(3) Plenty of affordable games that are just as good as the AAA titles
(4) Future upgradeability
(5) Prebuilt so mostly plug and play
(6) VR capable with a Meta Quest, Valve Index, HTC Vive, etc
(7) Universal keyboard/mouse and controller support
(1) An RTX 4060 on a Windows OS can realistically run games at 1080p-1440p, not 4K
(2) Much less plug and play friendly than a gaming console
(3) Doesn’t include a disc drive either
Looking for more alternatives? Check out the best budget gaming PCs of 2024.
Here comes the boom.
Lena Raine has so much to say, and she’s figured out a lot of different ways to say it all.
Of course, avid game players have been listening to her musical scores for over a decade now, which includes music for Minecraft, as well as the soundtracks for Chicory: A Colorful Tale and the BAFTA-nominated Celeste score. She’s currently scoring the respective follow-ups to those games: Wishes Unlimited’s Beastieball and Extremely OK Games’ Earthblade.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The post Forza Horizon 5 Welcomes Hide & Seek, Its Newest Multiplayer Experience appeared first on Xbox Wire.
It’s time to see which PS5, PS4, PS VR2, PS VR, and free-to-play games topped the download charts last month. New release Black Myth: Wukong journeyed to the top of the download charts on August’s PS5 list, with Swordsman VR and Beat Saber taking top spots in the US and EU regions.
Check out the full listings below. What titles are you playing this month?
| US/Canada | EU |
|---|---|
| Black Myth: Wukong | Black Myth: Wukong |
| EA SPORTS Madden NFL 25 | Grand Theft Auto V |
| EA SPORTS College Football 25 | Star Wars Outlaws |
| Grand Theft Auto V | Hogwarts Legacy |
| Star Wars Outlaws | Baldur’s Gate 3 |
| Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 |
| Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | Gran Turismo 7 |
| Hogwarts Legacy | Among Us |
| WWE 2K24 | Sea of Thieves |
| HELLDIVERS 2 | Assassin’s Creed Mirage |
| Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR’S CUT | Cyberpunk 2077 |
| Sea of Thieves | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt |
| ELDEN RING | It Takes Two |
| Gran Turismo 7 | ELDEN RING |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Thank Goodness You’re Here! |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR’S CUT |
| Among Us | WWE 2K24 |
| MLB The Show 24 | Cat Quest III |
| Mortal Kombat 1 | Vampire Survivors |
*Naming of products may differ between regions
*Upgrades not included
| US/Canada | EU |
|---|---|
| Minecraft | Minecraft |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops III | A Way Out |
| Batman: Arkham Knight | The Forest |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | Grand Theft Auto V |
| Grand Theft Auto V | Gang Beasts |
| Castle Crashers Remastered | Firewatch |
| Gang Beasts | Kingdom Come: Deliverance |
| The Forest | Red Dead Redemption 2 |
| Firewatch | Need for Speed Payback |
| Need for Speed Payback | Batman: Arkham Knight |
| Dying Light | Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 – The Official Video Game |
| A Way Out | Dying Light |
| theHunter: Call of the Wild | LEGO Marvel Super Heroes |
| EA SPORTS Madden NFL 25 | Mortal Kombat X |
| LEGO Marvel Super Heroes | Outlast |
| Mortal Kombat X | Unravel Two |
| Need for Speed Heat | Need for Speed Heat |
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance | Call of Duty: Black Ops III |
| Alien: Isolation | Hogwarts Legacy |
| Watch Dogs 2 | theHunter: Call of the Wild |
*Naming of products may differ between regions
| US/Canada | EU |
|---|---|
| Beat Saber | Swordsman VR |
| Swordsman VR | Beat Saber |
| Among Us VR | Pavlov |
| Pavlov | Among Us VR |
| Arizona Sunshine 2 | Arizona Sunshine 2 |
| Arcade Paradise VR | Job Simulator |
| COMPOUND | Arcade Paradise VR |
| Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition | Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition |
| Synapse | Survivorman VR The Descent |
| Job Simulator | The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR |
*PS Store purchases only. Game upgrades or games bundled with hardware not included
| US/Canada | EU |
|---|---|
| ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission | SUPERHOT VR |
| SUPERHOT VR | Sniper Elite VR |
| The Walking Dead Onslaught | Job Simulator |
| Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul | The Walking Dead Onslaught |
| Job Simulator | Goalkeeper VR Challenge |
| Arizona Sunshine | Batman: Arkham VR |
| Borderlands 2 VR | Beat Saber |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR | ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission |
| Creed Rise to Glory | Creed: Rise to Glory |
| Sniper Elite VR | Arizona Sunshine |
| US/Canada | EU |
|---|---|
| VALORANT | VALORANT |
| Fortnite | Asphalt Legends Unite |
| Roblox | Fortnite |
| Asphalt Legends Unite | Roblox |
| The First Descendant | Fall Guys |
| Fall Guys | Stumble Guys |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | Rocket League |
| Rocket League | Call of Duty: Warzone |
| Apex Legends | eFootball 2024 |
| The Sims 4 | The First Descendant |
