Every week of late I seem to pop up here with another new arcade racer to talk about, and well, I wouldn’t want to break the streak. This week’s new hotness is Parking Garage Rally Circuit, which is about powersliding around multi-storey car parks and is designed to look like a lost Sega Saturn game. It now has a release date: September 20th.
It feels like every few months or so, we’re writing about another price hike. Often, we’re talking about subscription services such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, PlayStation Plus, or Xbox Game Pass. But we’ve also written about multiple price increases on gaming hardware in recent years. The PS5 pricing jumped everywhere except the United States in 2022, and the Xbox Series X followed suit one year later. Now, we’re watching hardware prices rise yet again – this time on the PS5 in Japan.
Common as it has become to see costs tick up and up this console generation, Sony’s Japanese price hike comes at a surprising time. Rumors have been swirling for months that the company is on the cusp of announcing and releasing an even more expensive console in a PS5 Pro. Assuming those rumors are founded (and they do seem to be), what’s Sony thinking jacking up console prices before releasing something even more expensive? Will ever-increasing sticker prices impact sales of either box?
Once again, I asked professional analysts to explain the situation. Here’s what I learned.
The answer here is a fairly simple one: economics. I spoke to Kantan Games’ Dr. Serkan Toto, Michael Wagner from Newzoo, and Daniel Ahmad from Niko Partners, and all three agreed that the PS5 price increase in Japan isn’t some sort of harbinger of global price increases to come. “Japan is coming out of literally decades of deflation, prices are generally going up for consumer goods over here, and Sony is simply jumping on that bandwagon.“ Toto explained.
Ahmad offered more detail in a lengthy post on X/Twitter. He noted that since launch, the cost of a PS5 with a disc drive has increased by 60% and the cost of the all-digital edition has increased by 82.5% in Japan.
After its launch in 2020, the cost of a PS5 (Disc) has increased by a total of 60% and the PS5 (Digital) has increased by a total of 82.5% in Japan.
Sony cites a challenging external environment, including fluctuations in the global economy, for the reason behind the three… pic.twitter.com/uDT32SjkIp
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) August 28, 2024
“Sony cites a challenging external environment, including fluctuations in the global economy, for the reason behind the three price increases,” he continued. “Japan is on the extreme end, but other markets have seen 1 or 2 price increases too, which is unique for console hardware.
“The weakened yen against the dollar is certainly one reason. In 2020, the PS5 launched for what was the equivalent of $480. Today, that would be equal to $345, hence price increases to what is essentially $550.”
Ahmad added that crackdowns on exports of Japanese consoles to other markets, especially China, was another likely factor.
As for what this means for everyone else, Toto and Ahmad confirmed that the price increases were likely limited to the Japanese market for the foreseeable future. And while no one was willing to speculate as to whether we’d see a comparable Xbox console price increase in Japan anytime soon (Xbox raised the price on the Xbox in Japan already in early 2023), Toto and Ahmad both acknowledged that both companies were under economic pressure, and would adjust strategy accordingly.
Though there’s been no official announcement yet, there are a lot of good reasons to believe a PS5 Pro upgrade of some sort is imminent. The analysts I spoke to are confident, too. Toto in particular said he has “no doubt” a PS5 Pro is coming. And everyone agreed that a PS5 Pro would obviously be priced higher than the current PS5. As Ahmad said:
“One, production and shipping costs are not declining in-line with previous generations, especially for components such as SSDs. This was especially notable during the early COVID-19 period which severely impacted supply chains and led to shortages for chips, paired with an increase in demand for at-home entertainment, which led to increasing costs. Two, console platform holders are struggling to maintain gross profit margins across the board. This has led to price maintenance (or even price increases in some markets) to ensure hardware remains profitable. Three, the Xbox Series S and PS5 Digital Edition were already sold at a significant loss on day 1. The increased focus on profitability for disc models is to try and offset losses, maintain margins, and weather external factors that may impact spending on games such as cost of living increases.”
But the other two analysts differed slightly on how Sony might make the higher PS5 Pro price palatable. Toto doesn’t believe there will be a price cut on the PS5 base model. “We can expect the PS5 Pro to cost $600 to $650 in the US,” he said. “Now, I am curious what Sony will do in the Japanese market where the current model costs 79,980 yen. For that price, you can get two Switches and almost an additional Switch Lite here. Will they dare to offer the PS5 Pro for 100,000 yen or even more?”
Wagner has a different take: “While we do not collect revenue on hardware, when the PS4 Pro version came to market, we saw a decrease in the cost of the base model. If a PS5 Pro is on the horizon, we have no reason to believe Sony will change their pricing strategy for this generation.”
Toto and Wagner also differed in their perspectives on how effective a PS5 Pro release would be for Sony. Both analysts pointed out that its projected timing ahead of the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 would certainly help bolster sales. Toto recalled that by the end of the life cycle, the PS4 Pro accounted for 10-15% of overall PS4 hardware sales. He believes a PS5 Pro can reach the same percentage.
But Wagner believes that the PS5 Pro “may not move the needle for this generation in the same way that a price decrease in the base model may,” and while GTA 6 might be a hardware sales driver, it might not be as significant as some would expect.
“We have also shown that many players are playing more mature titles that do not require hardware upgrades (Fortnite, Minecraft, etc.). Due to this, it will be interesting to see how Sony positions a Pro version to drive console sales for players who are not already interested in the base model.”
Ahmad didn’t explicitly take either position, but he did have an interesting addendum on a different console entirely.
“It’s also worth noting that [a PS5 Pro release] will likely impact the successor to the Nintendo Switch’s price in Japan too. As it’s unlikely Nintendo will be able to price it as low as the original Switch was at launch.”
The recent PS5 price increase in Japan may almost certainly be nothing more complex than a reaction to larger economic factors, especially given its limitation to one region and Xbox’s corresponding increase last year. But we’re coming off of a generation of price increase after increase on subscriptions, games, and hardware amid widespread inflation. And with a PS5 Pro seemingly imminent, a Switch successor almost certain to follow, and whatever Xbox is doing, the question of what companies can reasonably ask of consumers for a new game box is becoming an increasingly spicy one.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Icon-ic.
We’re not sure about you, but we’ve always loved tinkering with online avatars or profile icons.
Whether it be a basic JPEG on an online forum, or a fully customised image on the Switch, PlayStation, or Xbox, profile icons are a wonderful way of expressing who you are and what kind of games you love to play.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The second season of animated show Arcane is due to arrive on Netflix this November. After an initial teaser trailer back in June, Netflix have now released a more substantial two-minute trailer that you can watch below.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is a rare case of a game increasing in reputation over time – the 2011 third-person shooter arrived amid a swathe of similar games, but its dogged approach to representing the ultra-violent world of Games Workshop’s tabletop universe has seen it steadily become a cult classic. That could quite easily have been all we ever got – Space Marine’s original planned sequels were shelved, and little was heard about a return in the decade-plus since release.
That was until Saber Interactive unexpectedly announced a sequel. The arrival of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – which takes place a full century after the events of the original, and still follows original hero Captain Titus – is a cause of celebration for fans. A true, old-school shooter with some very modern ideas, it’s a marriage of what people loved about the original, with new ideas on how to keep this series not just alive, but thriving.
But Saber faced a practically unique challenge; how do you approach creating a true sequel to a 13 year-old game – especially when you didn’t work on the original? I caught up with Creative Director Oliver Hollis to find out about the deft work needed to revitalize the world of Space Marine.
“The first step was to look at what everybody’s memories of that first game were,” Hollis explains. “Because as we all know, we play things in our youth and then have slightly rosy memories of them. So, we tried to look at what everybody loved about Space Marine. The key things were embodying the unstoppable force of a Space Marine, the absence of any cover system, or the ability to recover health by doing massive amounts of damage.
“We then went back and looked at the actual game and, of course, it didn’t quite marry up. All those elements were there, but games have moved on a lot in that time. So then we thought, OK, well, how can we take everybody’s memories of what that game was and honor them, while taking them to the next level of current day gaming?”
The answers are myriad. Space Marine 2 feels gratifyingly similar to the original when it comes to ranged combat – Bolters fire with a satisfying thud, your Marines move with real weight, and enemies arrive thick and fast (and die just as quickly). But Saber has injected action game mechanics into the mix – improved melee, parries, finisher moves, and more. Tweaks have also been made to make the game challenging while still offering the sense of playing as a superhuman soldier:
“We always try to place the Space Marines in a context that makes them seem powerful. We begin the game with manageable enemies – we set the stage with, ‘Wow, this guy’s tough. He can take on 20 enemies at a time and succeed.’ Once we’ve set that tone, we increase the pressure, so it goes from 20 enemies to 50, or 60, or 100. Then we add 2 extra Space Marines – you’re always fighting with two brothers – so then that allows us to increase the pressure even further. Now, you’ve got three guys fighting 200 enemies.”
Saber’s bringing its own experience to bear with those huge numbers – where the first game saw sizeable Ork hordes, the switch to a Tyranid invasion allowed the team to go so, so much further.
“The team that made Space Marine 2 also made World War Z, which was a huge success for us, and introduced the Swarm Engine, our own proprietary engine. When we first pitched this to Games Workshop, we showed them scenes from World War Z and said ‘Imagine that, but with Tyranids.’ And they jumped straight in.”
The result is a game that can have hundreds of enemies onscreen at any one time, wave after wave meeting the business end of your chainsword, Multi-Melta, or good old-fashioned gauntlets. Saber has bridged the gap between playing as a single character, while still feeling like you’re part of a full-scale war worthy of the tabletop game.
As you might expect, Warhammer creator Games Workshop has been heavily involved in helping Saber find that path – and Hollis and his team have had some conversations that’ll be the envy of Warhammer fans.
“Games Workshop were incredibly helpful to us. At the very beginning, they opened up some of their personnel to us, gave us access in a way that they just don’t normally do. So I got to meet Jes Goodwin, the creator of the Space Marine, and he explained how all the armour works, or what each of the little ports does in the armour for injecting combat stims – he was incredible.”
Games Workshop stayed in touch throughout development, explaining things like how Space Marine weapons should be balanced, and even informed the team on deep lore around more obscure elements, like how computers need to be turned on in the world of 40K (“a lot of rites and rituals, incense burnings, offerings, and sacred ointments”). And they also gave Saber the key to telling a new story with the original game’s hero: “We were told from the very beginning that this was a Primaris game.”
Primaris Marines are a new, enhanced breed of Space Marine – introduced to the 8th Edition of the tabletop game in 2017, meaning they hadn’t even been dreamt up when the original Space Marine arrived. In many ways, Titus’ (very violent) ascent to become a Primaris is a metaphor for the game as a whole. Space Marine 2 offers a bigger, stronger, more modern version of the original.
And the benefit of being a modern game is that Space Marine 2 is built to last. Beyond its campaign, there’s a PvP mode, and even what amounts to an entire second campaign designed for 3-player co-op, called Operations. There’s room to expand both.
Saber has already announced a roadmap of updates for the game, and it’s clear that the team is thinking well beyond launch, even in such a generous game. For PvP, new customization options will pop up over time – including, it seems, for the Chaos Marines that act as one of the two teams:
“People love to be bad. We created Chaos Marines not just as a as a tool to make PvP work, but because people love to play them. We’ve built so many systems now that that’s just begging for expansion.”
Similarly, Hollis has plans for PvE to go further than it already does: “Operations is definitely an area that we can continue to explore. If you think about World War 2 movies, there’s always a new one coming out about some crazy operation that was going on under the radar that nobody knew about. That’s the thing about a war – there are so many untold stories.”
But the burning question for fans is, with all this work put in, does Saber see this as not just a return to a long-awaited game, but the rebirth of a series?
“I really believe in this game,” Hollis enthuses. “This is a really, really solid offering – we’ve built so much tech and so many systems to support future stories, that we’re in a really good place to move straight onto another game, if that’s how things work out.”
I’m very hopeful that it won’t take another 13 years for a Space Marine sequel – and in the meantime, Space Marine 2 seems destined to evolve in itself. The Emperor himself would be proud.
Space Marine 2 launches today on Xbox Series X|S for those who pre-order the Gold, Ultra, or Collector’s Editions of the game. The game will see general release on September 9.
Focus Entertainment
The Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Ultra Edition includes the base game, the Ultramarines Champion Pack and the Season Pass.
Your Craft is Death.
Embody the superhuman skill and brutality of a Space Marine, the greatest of the Emperor’s warriors. Hold at bay the horrors of the galaxy in epic battles on far-flung planets with your deadly abilities and devastating weaponry. Uncover dark secrets to drive back the everlasting night and prove your ultimate loyalty to humanity.
Crush the Tyranid swarms. Defend humanity.
● Purge the relentless Tyranid swarms as legendary Space Marine Titus in a spectacular new campaign. Play solo or with up to 2 friends in 3 player co-op.
● Enjoy intense, gory and fast-paced third-person action with hundreds of enemies on screen, from the creators of blockbuster co-op shooter World War Z.
● Defend the Imperium as your own Space Marine in an endlessly brutal and replayable PvE missions up to 3 players featuring 6 classes, unlocking new skills and cosmetics.
● Wage eternal war on your enemies in ferocious 6v6 PvP matches and bring glory to your faction!
Focus Entertainment
The Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Gold Edition includes the base game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and the Season Pass.
Your Craft is Death.
Embody the superhuman skill and brutality of a Space Marine, the greatest of the Emperor’s warriors. Hold at bay the horrors of the galaxy in epic battles on far-flung planets with your deadly abilities and devastating weaponry. Uncover dark secrets to drive back the everlasting night and prove your ultimate loyalty to humanity.
Crush the Tyranid swarms. Defend humanity.
● Purge the relentless Tyranid swarms as legendary Space Marine Titus in a spectacular new campaign. Play solo or with up to 2 friends in 3 player co-op.
● Enjoy intense, gory and fast-paced third-person action with hundreds of enemies on screen, from the creators of blockbuster co-op shooter World War Z.
● Defend the Imperium as your own Space Marine in an endlessly brutal and replayable PvE missions up to 3 players featuring 6 classes, unlocking new skills and cosmetics.
● Wage eternal war on your enemies in ferocious 6v6 PvP matches and bring glory to your faction!
Focus Entertainment
Embody the superhuman skill and brutality of a Space Marine, the greatest of the Emperor’s warriors. Hold at bay the horrors of the galaxy in epic battles on far-flung planets with your deadly abilities and devastating weaponry. Uncover dark secrets to drive back the everlasting night and prove your ultimate loyalty to humanity.
Crush the Tyranid swarms. Defend humanity.
● Purge the relentless Tyranid swarms as legendary Space Marine Titus in a spectacular new campaign. Play solo or with up to 2 friends in 3 player co-op.
● Enjoy intense, gory and fast-paced third-person action with hundreds of enemies on screen, from the creators of blockbuster co-op shooter World War Z.
● Defend the Imperium as your own Space Marine in an endlessly brutal and replayable PvE missions up to 3 players featuring 6 classes, unlocking new skills and cosmetics.
● Wage eternal war on your enemies in ferocious 6v6 PvP matches and bring glory to your faction!
The post Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Making a Sequel to a 13-Year Old Game (and How It Could Lead to More) appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Hello PlayStation fans! As we celebrate this Friday’s upcoming release of Astro Bot, Team Asobi’s tribute to 30 years of iconic PlayStation characters, stories, and magical moments, we want to thank you for the love and passion you’ve shown for PlayStation. Your enduring support has made these past three decades possible. While PlayStation’s 30th anniversary is still a few months away, today we’re delighted to share some of the ways we’ll be commemorating this milestone with all of you.
Explore a nostalgic homage to the original Gran Turismo, enjoy digital soundtracks from classic PlayStation games, and create fun moments with our new “Shapes of Play” collection – these are just a few of the ways we’re inviting you to join our community celebration, which starts this month.
And for everyone excited to jump into Astro Bot, we’re pleased to share a first look at a 30th anniversary photo opportunity located in the game’s central hub where Bots you’ve saved throughout your spacefaring adventures will hang out, ready to dance along with your stylish moves.
You can also vibe to our specially curated PlayStation 30th Anniversary playlist on Spotify, available to stream today. We’ll have more to share on the upcoming digital soundtrack releases, which will be added to this playlist over time, so stay tuned!
Shapes of Play will launch in December 2024, exclusively through direct.playstation.com in the US, UK, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Benelux. Preorders start later today exclusively through direct.playstation.com.
During the same weekend, we’ll host a series of PS5 esports tournaments, featuring titles like NBA 2K24, NBA 2K25, Madden NFL 24, MLB The Show 24, EA UFC 5, Tekken 8, and Guilty Gear Strive. If you own any of these games and qualify, you can compete on Sept 21 and 22 to win a special 30th anniversary-themed avatar and other game-specific prizes. Players on PS5 can sign up via the Game Hub or the in-game PlayStation Tournaments button. Keep an eye on compete.playstation.com for all the upcoming tournament details.
Image of the PlayStation avatars players will receive for participating in any of the Sept. 21 – 22 esports tournaments.
As we celebrate 30 years of play, these upcoming activities and releases are just a taste of what’s to come. Be on the lookout for more announcements in the near future!
*Available for PS5 and PS4 games with online mode. Internet connection and account for PlayStation Network required.
NBA 2K25 players are encountering a somewhat hilarious but very frustrating bug that sees their own MyPlayer character cloned and competing against or alongside them.
The annualized basketball game is already available to most under the “Early Tip-Off” banner, a somewhat bizarre faux early access period available to anyone who buys the game digitally or physically at “participating retailers”, with only some retailers and Nintendo Switch players unable to play until September 6, 2024.
Players are therefore encountering unusual bugs like the character clones and sharing them online. And while facing off against another version of the heroic protagonist is somewhat of a video game cliche, it’s definitely not intentional in NBA 2K25.
“Playing my first MyCareer game. Anyone get this glitch?” asked New-Tutor-8702 on Reddit, who posted a photo of his Chicago Bulls player and his identical twin. “My MP has duplicated and is playing on court at the same time as me,” said Honest_Database_1550, who encountered the same issue on the Los Angeles Clippers.
A representative of NBA 2K25 did respond to this post, however, saying the team was “looking into this,” though no specifics regarding a fix were shared. It’s also unclear if whatever fix that comes will address all variations of the clone bug.
Putting the others to shame, SinStealer posted a photo of his Philadelphia 76ers MyPlayer cloned not just once but twice, meaning three out of the five players on the floor were mirror images of himself.
Other fans are having fun with it, of course, with one posting a monologue as if from a basketball documentary akin to The Last Dance. “He was crazy. It’s like he was all over the court. He was in front of me, I passed the ball and he was in front of that guy too,” they said.
Some clones are even stealing stats, with players reporting their own numbers being divided between them all. If a player had two clones and scored 12 points, for example, they’d only be credited for four at the end of the game.
But the opposite is happening too: Some players are being awarded for all two or three players combined. “Whichever one is in your position will get your stats but at the end of the game they all count for you,” said NOsaints16. “Combined between my three duplicates I got the GOAT achievement for tying Kobe’s 81 point game.”
And finally, some players aren’t just competing with an annoying bug but literally having to compete with themselves, as some clones are spawning on the opposite team. “I’m in the Jazz and on my second game I was going against myself on the other team for some reason,” said ShadowzOn144hz. “My points per game were divided by half to 47 and it gives feedback for both myself and the clone on the top right.”
This specific version of the bug appears to have a more explicit caus. NBA 2K25 opens with players competing for the 2025 NBA Championship. It’s overtime of Game 7 eand they must win the game for their chosen team.
It turns out to be a “manifestation,” of course, and players come out of a meditative state to begin their MyCareer proper, before the season has even begun. NBA 2K25 then asks the player to choose their actual team, but players are encountering the clone glitch if they choose a different one to their “manifestation” team.
If, for example, a player choose the Miami Heat as their “manifestation” team, and goes through the sequence of pretending to win the 2025 NBA Championship, and they then choose the Orlando Magic as their actual starting MyCareer team, they’ll come up against the clone version of themselves in the Orlando versus Miami games.
The bug will hopefully be addressed by 2K soon, though players will just have to put up with themselves in the meantime.
NBA 2K25 puts Boston Celtics star and 2024 NBA champion Jayson Tatum on the cover alongside WNBA champion A’ja Wilson. The developer announced the top 10 players just ahead of launch, revealing that three Europeans are now considered the three best basketball players by 2K.
Image Credit: SinStealer on Reddit
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Did you forget about Baldur’s Gate 3? Because Baldur’s Gate 3 did not forget about you. Specifically, it did not forget about the incorrigible evil-doers amongst you who’ve been gunning for some additional plot catharsis. Larian’s very bestest RPG has been biding its time in the shadows while you’ve been busy with other games. It has lingered silently while you occupy yourself heisting on Tatooine or messing up Golden-Eyed Beasts, waiting and waiting for the perfect moment – and now, it has finally struck with an unholy new patch, which adds 13 new Evil Endings, revamped splitscreen and an official modding toolkit. Foolish summer child! It is too late to flee.
Amazon has announced the September 2024 Prime Gaming lineup (Prime Gaming is a benefit of Amazon Prime membership).
Highlights include Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, Greedfall: Gold Edition, Whispered Secrets: Everburning Candle Collector’s Edition, Minabo – A Walk through Life, and Eternights.
To coincide with the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 on Prime Video, Prime members also get several free games from The Lord of the Rings universe, including Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition, LEGO The Lord of the Rings, and LEGO The Hobbit via GOG code, and can play Middle-earth: Shadow of War on Amazon Luna.
And hot on the heels of the disastrous Borderlands movie and the official reveal of Borderlands 4, Prime members can also claim Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Tales from the Borderlands for free this month via the Epic Games Store.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
“Do not forget to turn the system off before touching anything,” says my astronaut colleague over the radio. I grab the faulty power transformer without listening, and am immediately electrocuted. Worse still, I have to hammer a quick-time button to recover. This is what it is like to be Jerry, the janitor of a cheap and poorly maintained space station. Jerry is being tasked with repair work beyond his job description, learning the ins and outs of an escape pod’s machinery from his co-worker via radio. This may come in handy, as the station is about to explode. Tin Can is not a new game (it came out in 2022) but it is on sale as part of Steam’s space exploration fest. And I enjoy a space game that makes me panic while alarms go off everywhere.
