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Weekend Gamer: Sony

Read More Sony Last month, Sony announced a pair of new cameras: Sony a7c II (33MP) and Sony a7cR (62MP). These two cameras are an evolution of the original Sony a7c, which was the best (and cheapest) way for people to get into full frame photography. …

Sony a9 III
sony.com

Sony did it again… they’ve introduced the world’s first full-frame global shutter camera with their upcoming Alpha 9 III camera. As you know the a9 cameras are geared towards sports photography. Of course, being a professional gear, Sony wants to charge $6,000 for this new a9 camera.

It’s a little too much money, for my needs, but, of course, I want the latest and greatest… so I am somewhat putting some money away to buy this camera. I am hoping that Sony will bring their global shutter to their prosumer buyers, perhaps put it in the upcoming Sony a7s IV, which desperately needs an update.

Light banding

Let’s back up a little, maybe you know about light banding. Let me explain, current digital cameras read light line by line. If you are shooting at a very fast shutter speed, the camera can pick up lines of light from flickering lights from bad LED or fluorescent lights. These lines are called “banding” and can ruin photos.

Some higher end cameras do have an option to combat this by a feature called Anti-Flickering, which needs to be turned on. Once the camera detects flickering, it would try to match the flickering speed by adjusting the shutter speed. It works for the most part, but it’s not perfect.

With global shutter, the camera reads the entire image instantly, instead of reading the information line by line. This changes everything, it means that the camera can capture and processes images much faster. We are talking about 120 frames per seconds, in their burst mode. That’s insane! To put it in perspective, my current Sony a7 IV camera can only achieve 10 frames per seconds.

So, yes, of course, I want the Sony a9 III for this new technology.

Read More PlayStation For the lowest priced, PS+ Essential, you only get three or four “free” monthly games… and the ability to play online games, just like the original PlayStation Plus. For $3 more, you can get PS+ Extra, which includes the monthly “free” games …

PlayStation 5 Slim
playstation.com

For years and years, you could not get a PlayStation 5. Now, three years later, you can finally get a PS5 at Target or Walmart. At $500, it’s a massive device. For Holiday 2023 (which is available now in November), Sony released a “Slim” version.

The new Slim version isn’t that much smaller, it’s still rather massive (and ugly). You can buy a disc-less version, and upgrade with a $80 bluray player. A vertical stand will set you back another $40. Plus, with $70 games, buying into the PlayStation 5 echosystem is very, very expensive. No one said being a weekend gamer was easy. If you want to save money, don’t go down the PlayStation path.

I would recommend just buying a ROG Ally or Steam Deck and keeping all your PC games. Some PlayStation games, such as The Last of Us Part 1 is available now on the PC. The problem with the PS echosystem is that when the PS6 comes out, your PS5 may not work on the new system. With a PC, that game you bought on the ROG Ally will work on your desktop or will work on a future Steam Deck 10 or something.

I guess I’m just mad that my PS3 games won’t play on PS5.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer Update: Labor Day

Weekend Gamer Update:

Read More Games Can you believe it? Baldur’s Gate 3 is out now on the PC. I paid full price ($60) for this game in Oct 2020, and have played a demo or early access of the game. I maxed out my character, and have patiently waited for the full …

Baldur’s Gate 3

After over 60 hours, I finally made it to Act II. There are three acts in the game, and each Act, I felt could have been sold as three different games.

Act I set up the story and throws you in the outskirts Baldur’s Gate. All signs points to Baldur’s Gate, so the goal is to travel there… but getting there is harder than it looks. Act I basically is a giant tutorial on how to play the game. You have to solve the goblin crisis, the grove, and help inhabitants along the way. I tried to complete everything in the first part: killing the hag, killing the giant spider, saving Halsin … and murdering every goblin!

Act II, you are given several choices to get to Baldur’s Gate 3. You can travel through the underdark, you can try to go through Githyanki, and finally through the cursed land. Your companions’ stories also unfolds, with Lae’zel’s story the most compelling to me. Her entire belief turned upside-down… and even her god, the undying queen, is out to kill her.

Shadowheart’s story is no slack either… you have to make some hard decisions to keep her in your party, because fighting her will result in her leaving your party. You’re given an impossible decision to save both Shadowheart and the Nightsong… and, there is a way to save both of them! My first play, Shadowheart kills Nightsong. After reloading the previous save, I confronted Shadowheart and she got angry and left! I’m sorry, we can’t have that, because she’s my only cleric and a useful one at that! Finally, after various choices, I was able to reason with Shadowheart and as a result, save both of them! It’s the best scenario… however, I know most players will just “go with the flow” and continue the game.

Anyway, currently, I’m about 100 hours into the game… and I finally got to Act III! It’s been a long journey, and I have a feeling that it’ll end up being 150 hours when I finally finish the game. And when I see the credits roll… the first thing I want to do is start another game, with a different character build!

For those who are interested in checking out the game, I wholly recommend it.

Read More PlayStation For the lowest priced, PS+ Essential, you only get three or four “free” monthly games… and the ability to play online games, just like the original PlayStation Plus. For $3 more, you can get PS+ Extra, which includes the monthly “free” games …

PlayStation

With the extra-long Labor Day weekend, that means more weekend gaming for me. Originally, my plans were to see Soul Asylum at the Minnesota State Fair, but having walked about 10 miles on the Second Day of the Fair and seeing that this weekend is going to be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit… I think it’s probably in my best interest to stay indoors and keep cool.

With the Labor Day weekend here, there’s actually a lot of sales going on right now. GOG is having an Autumn 2023 Sale, which includes the original Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, Cyberpunk, The Witcher, etc. A good sale, unfortunately, I own all those great games, so there’s not much for me… but if you are interested in those games, get it on sale and try them out.

Steam has a PlayStation sale… including, for the first time, a sale on The Last of Us Part 1. The game launched poorly on PC, and I wasn’t really didn’t love the television show… so I haven’t exactly been excited to re-play the game again. I bought the game when it was on the PS3, and re-bought the game for PS4. Do I really want to get it again for the PC? I probably will get it… but who knows.

Speaking of Sony, they recently announced a huge price hike in their PlayStation Plus subscription, with their premium plan going from $120 to $160. What do you get for the extra $40? Absolutely nothing.

On top of that, with the recent useless $200 PlayStation Portal (a tiny screen to stream games locally from your PlayStation 5), I’m not a PlayStation fan at the moment. I’m glad I never bought a PlayStation 5, instead going with Xbox for this (and next) generation.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

ROG Ally

ROG Ally Read More Steam There’s no more waiting… You can now buy Steam Deck, right now, without reservation. According to steampowered, it’s been more than a year since it was first announced, but due to numerous supply chain issues and …

You guys know that I love my Steam Deck. I don’t always have time to play video games, so having a portable handheld PC, I can play games whenever I get the chance (in fact, I played a little Fallout 4 on my lunch break today).

I do have one major complaint about the Steam Deck: it does not run Windows by default. You can install Windows, but I don’t want to buy a Windows license and it seems complicated to install (I’m sure it’s easy). So for a time, I did entertain the thought of buying an OneXPlayer or Aya Neo, but pricing and long wait time and expensive shipping fees have steered me away.

Now enter the ROG Ally from Asus.

The ROG Ally will address all the things that I wanted in my Steam Deck: Windows, faster chip, better screen, higher resolution, pleasing looks, and the ability to dock in their enhance graphics with the XG Mobile dock, 120hz refresh, lighter, thinner… just everything better! Best of all, you can walk into a Best Buy and buy it (if they have it in stock), starting on May 11, 2023!

You can’t underestimate how amazing it would be to run Windows 11 natively on the ROG Ally. This opens up a whole new avenue of games, from GOG to Battle Net to Epic Games to Xbox Game Pass…. And you can also run Steam! I’m very interested in running Diablo 4 on the ROG Ally, which is something I couldn’t do currently on my Steam Deck.

Now for the bad news. The retail prices haven’t been announced yet for the ROG Ally. They said they are going to be competitive, but I’m going to guess that it’ll cost about $800 to $1,200. It won’t be cheap… but I’m definitely going to try to buy one.

The other thing is that there will be two version of the ROG Ally, like a good version and a “lite” version. I’ll have to wait to see how the cheaper version perform… or the price differences. Again, there’s a lot of unknowns, we’ll have to wait and see.

Once I get a hold of the ROG Ally, it might just replace the Steam Deck... Just like how the Steam Deck replaced my Nintendo Switch (that thing is so slow!)

Ryzen Z1 Extreme vs Ryzen Z1 via techgoing

UPDATE: “Leaked” prices suggests that the highest spec ROG Ally will sell for $699.99. That is a really good price. I wonder if the cheaper version will sell for $500 or so? Looking at the chart for the two chips in the upcoming ROG Ally, the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme is over twice as much teraflops than the regular Ryzen Z1 chip. Which ever chip that people will get - it is still a massive improvement over the Nintendo Switch... which, by now, is a bit of a joke, when it comes to running modern triple A games.

While I did sign up on Best Buy to notify me when the ROG Ally is in stock, I feel that with so much demand for this product that I may not actually get one until later this year or next year. The May 11 I mentioned earlier, I think that may be the pre-order date and not actual ship date. May 11th is just around the corner, so I guess I will find out if it is available or not.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

The Last of Us

Read More The Last of Us As for The Last of Us, I'm in the middle of the game right now. It's hard. The clickers are impossible to kill, basically one attack will kill you right away. Having said that, the play style is a lot more fun than Beyond: Two Souls ....

The Last of Us
hbo.com

I love the video game The Last of Us, probably my personal Game of the Year in 2018 for the PS3. The game was so good, that I re-purchased it for the PS4. I probably would’ve have bought the PS5 version if it wasn’t so hard to find the Sony console. I kid, I saw one at a retail store, but am waiting for a “slim” or new version. I absolutely hate the look and massive size of the current PS5 console (I think it’s ugly).

I love the game, I know the story well, so I’m very interested in this HBO Max’s television show based on the game.

I just saw the pilot, and there are some sequences that are straight out of the video game. Of course, the show made some changes to the story, like adding more store to Joel’s daughter. It’s weird, but the show cast a girl that doesn’t look (or mix race?) anything like Joel. As for Ellie, they also cast the girl from Game of Thrones… and she doesn’t look anything like the girl in the game. Personally speaking, I would have preferred they casted someone who looked like Ellen Page. I get it, they cast people who can act, but it’s just my personal preference to have them look exactly like the characters in the game.

I think whenever they lifted the scenes from the game, I’m very happy. It’s when the show decides to change things or add stories and characters that has nothing to do with the game, that’s when I’m not interested. There’s enough from the game that I think the pilot does a good job in setting up the story.

As for the story, if you’ve never played the game, it’s about how this fungus destroyed the human race. It’s somewhat based on real life fungus that would take over ants and control them, like puppets. Anyway, this random girl, Ellie, may hold the key to saving humanity, and it’s up to Joel to transport her across the country. It’s a simple story, I don’t know if they can stretch it out to more than one or two seasons.

Here is my fear: I haven’t played the sequel to The Last of Us, but I’ve heard fans absolutely hated the game. According to these gamers, they made Joel into a bad guy and everybody revolted against it. So my fear is that fans will absolutely hate Season 2 or something. I don’t know, I haven’t played the second game, so I’m reserving judgement.

I am excited enough that I may re-buy The Last of Us for the PC when it is available on Steam (which I previously mentioned will be available Mar 3, 2023).

Update: Now that I’ve seen up to Episode 3 of The Last of Us, I thought I would share my opinion on what I’ve seen so far.

Of the three episodes, I think Episode 2 is by far the best. That’s because it’s so close to the game, that I’m really happy how it turned out.

I hated Episode 3, because it had nothing to do with Joel & Ellie. For whatever reasons, the show creators devoted a whole 70 minutes to two random characters Bill and Frank. Look, it’s a beautiful love story… but it didn’t really fit into the grand story! I wish HBO Max would have made this episode a “special”, I wouldn’t have an issue with it. Instead, I’m spending so much time with Bill & Frank, and it’s all for nothing! Maybe they could have cut the time in half and devote half the episode to Tess?

In the video game, you do meet one of these characters, but it’s a totally different story. In the game, the two hated each other.

Of course my opinion on Episode 3 is in the minority… as the whole world seemed to love this episode.

I’m hoping Episode 4 goes back on track and we can see those deadly fungus creatures and more action.

The show is doing so well that they’ve already announced a Season 2!

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Steam Winter Sale 2022

Read More Steam There’s no more waiting… You can now buy Steam Deck, right now, without reservation. According to steampowered, it’s been more than a year since it was first announced, but due to numerous supply chain issues and …

Here are three reasons why you would want to invest in buying games on Steam:

1. You can play your games on any PC or Linux… this includes my PC, laptop, and Steam Deck. If you buy your games on Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch, you’ve locked your games on their system.

2. All “Exclusive” games on the PlayStation and Xbox will eventually be available on Steam. This means the PC is the only place you can play both Halo and God of War. Note that Sony only decided to make their games available on Steam starting last year… which is the smartest decision they’ve ever made. Even exclusive games on the Switch can be played on your PC through emulation. It’s not legal, but it’s the only way you can play Nintendo games on your computer.

3. Games are dirt cheap, as evident in the Steam Winter Sale that kicked off today (December 22). You can get hundred of games for less than $3. On top of that, you can also get packages, like from Humble Bundle which will save you even more!

Anyway, this year, I’ve barely keep it under $100, but here are some games I would recommend:

The Witcher® 3: Wild Hunt - $7.99 (80% off)

DOOM Eternal - $9.99 (75% off)

Halo: The Master Chief Collection - $15.99 (60% off)

Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition - $16.49 (67% off)

God of War - $29.99 (40% off)

Elden Ring - $41.99 (30% off)

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

Read more Weekend Gamer.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Game of the Year: Elden Ring

Read More Elden Ring Yes, I’m finally playing Elden Ring, the game that literally everybody was playing in February 2022. The game went on sale on disc, so picked it up. I popped in the disc, expecting to play the game. Guess what? You can’t just put in a disc and play the game. ....

Ever since I started playing Elden Ring in September 2022, I knew this game was special. At first, you might get discouraged, but as you build up your character, you feel accomplished when you finally take down that boss!

Of all the games that came out in 2022, I really felt that Elden Ring was my personal game of the year.

As it turned out, the Game Awards also agreed with me, and gave Elden Ring the “Game of the Year” award as well. The game also won three other awards: “Best Game Direction”, “Best Art Direction”, and “Best Role Playing”. Its biggest competitor, God of War Ragnarök, the sequel to my game of the year 2018 God of War, won “Best Narrative”, “Best Score and Music (Bear McCreary)”, “Best Audio Design”, “Best Performance (Christopher Judge)”, “Best Action/Adventure”, and “Innovation in Accessibility”.

I personally haven’t played God of War Ragnarök as the game is on PS5 (which I don’t have) and it was only released in November 9, 2022. I’m sure the game is deserving of those awards, but it just seemed really unfair to release the game only weeks before the Game Awards… so it’s so fresh on everyone’s mind.

With the Game Awards over and done with, I’m excited to see how everyone loved Elden Ring … that it’s almost guaranteed to get a sequel. Of all the Souls-like games, I felt that Elden Ring is the best among them, thanks to the open world nature of the game.

If you follow what I have said in the past, I have disagreed with Sony and their greed. In additional to raising the PlayStation 5 prices, they’re releasing their new games at $69. New games on Xbox are $59 (or in some cases, free via Game Pass), and games on PC are $59 new. Sony wants $69 to be the normal price for “next gen” games. Let me speak for everyone, no one wants to pay $70 for a new game. Since I refused to get a PS5 (and being locked in that $70 per game pricing), I’m glad to see that Sony decided to release their PlayStation exclusive games on Steam, starting in Jan 2022 with their PS4 game God of War. I think the trend is good for Sony, as they’re seeing even more profit from having their games on the PC.

Since these PlayStation games are now available on Steam, I have purchased God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, UNCHARTED™: Legacy of Thieves Collection, and Days Gone. Besides from GoW, I wouldn’t have bought or played these other games, if those games remain exclusively on their PlayStation … so, yeah, I’m glad Sony is moving their games outside of their PSN.

Even though I own The Last of Us on my PS4, I’ll probably re-buy it on Steam, as the game is now available for pre-order for Mar 3, 2023.

Returnal also has a listing, but no release date is set. I’m probably less interested in this game, but will likely pick it up if it’s on sale.

In other gaming news, Ubisoft has come back to Steam, with its game Assassin's Creed Valhalla on Dec 6, 2022. Ubisoft wanted to make money by force PC players to buy games directly from them, using their U-Play launcher. Unfortunately, PC gamers refused to buy it on U-Play, so Ubisoft has decided to bring their game back on Steam.

Enjoy,

- Weekend Gamer

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Steam Deck Update

Technical Specs Processor AMD APU CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz Storage 64 GB eMMC (PCIe Gen 2 x1) 256 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4 or x2) 512 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4 or x2) Display 7" - 1280 x 800px (16:10 aspect ratio) Optically bonded IPS LCD Expansion UHS-I supports SD, SDXC and SDHC USB-C with DisplayPort 1.4 Alt-mode support; up to 8K or 4K Read More Steam I’ve put down my $5 to preorder my Steam Deck. I decided to get the $400 entry model. I think that is a fantastic price, considering that I looked at similar handheld PCs, such as the Aya Neo and OneXPlayer, and they are usually $1,000 or more …

When I placed my $5 deposit to buy the Steam Deck in Aug 2022, I was convinced that I wouldn’t get it until 2023. I was so wrong.

I recently got the alert that I have three days to purchase the Steam Deck. So it took a little over a month to finally fulfill my order. It could be that someone else turned down their Steam Deck, due to disinterests, or the email went to a spam filter, or lack of funds, and I may have gotten their Steam Deck… or it could be that Steam really was ramping production to meet demand. Either way, I’m so excited to finally get my hands on this thing.

I bought the cheapest one, because all three version are basically the same device (same chip, same speed), with the only exception of storage. The cheap version comes with 64GB, but I can always expand it with an SD card.

Again, I have been shopping around at various hand-held devices, such as the OneXPlayer and Aya Neo, and they are all very expensive (about $1,000). The only advantage is that those devices runs the full Windows operating system by default, so you can play GOG or Epic games.

With the Steam Deck, you have to go through a lot of trouble to install Windows on the device. Since the hardware is so new, and Windows doesn’t really support it, getting Windows to run on the Steam Deck is difficult.

Now that I’m waiting for the Steam Deck to ship to me, I am shopping for some new Steam Games. I’m excited to see that Sony is making some of their PlayStation games available on Steam, including God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, and Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition. All of which are Steam Deck verified (meaning they will run on the Steam Deck without issues). Since I probably will never buy a PS5, these PS games are the only way that I’ll get to experience them.

Also, it’s laughable, but none of the PS games will install on my Steam Deck because they’re all over 64GB in size. I probably need to invest in a 1TB SD card ($140) or 512GB card ($70).

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer Update (August 2022)

Read More Steam Weekend gamer here. This weekend, we will look at Steam’s Steam Deck (not to be confused with Elgato’s Stream Deck). For some months, I’ve been eyeing on the handheld AYA Neo as a … Nintendo Switch I’ve wanted the Nintendo Switch since I first heard about it last October 2016. The system launched in March 2017, but it immediately sold out everywhere. … Xbox So, I joined Game Pass. There are two price points, the $10 per month pricing is strictly for Xbox games, and the $15, called Game Pass Ultimate includes PC, EA and Xbox Gold (you need this to play online … Sony Still, you know I’m still somewhat interested in seeing the next generation of gaming consoles… and today, Sony showed up what the upcoming PS5 will look like. And holy crap, it is so ugly. …

It’s the weekend, and here’s your Weekend Gamer update.

I’ve put down my $5 to preorder my Steam Deck.

I decided to get the $400 entry model. I think that is a fantastic price, considering that I looked at similar handheld PCs, such as the Aya Neo and OneXPlayer, and they are usually $1,000 or more. Even though Steam said they are ramping up production, and it’s listed as delivery date of “October-December 2022”, but I doubt that I will get my Steam Deck until 2023. The company already announced they are working on a Steam Deck 2. I think the smart move is to just wait for the second version, as it will fix all the problems in the first version...

I think my main reason for wanting a portable PC game console is that increasingly I’m very unhappy with the performance of my Nintendo Switch. I recently launched Diablo II on the Switch and it was just unplayable. Whenever there are hundreds of enemies on screen, the Switch just crawls to a snail’s pace. The Switch desperately needs a refresh. Come on, it’s been five years already!

Also, after six months, I finally cancelled my Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The main reason is that I honestly did not have the time to fully take advantage of Game Pass. I love the fact that I could I try out the full games that I normally wouldn’t pay money for... And for titles that would normally cost $60! It was a huge savings, but at the end of the day, I would just rather buy (and own) the games that I like. What I am trying say is that I end up just playing the games that I already paid for.

I had a problem with Game Pass removing some games when they end their license agreement with Xbox. It’s very frustrating to play a game one month and then come back a few months later only to find out that game is no longer accessible, because it left Game Pass.

The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when Microsoft announced that they will no longer be offering free downloads to Xbox 360 games in their subscription services (they simply ran out of games to give away). The one saving grace of Game Pass was that you were allowed to keep one Xbox 360 game for free (yours to keep forever!)… and it was going away as of October 1st.

Having said all those negative things, I still believe Game Pass is worth that $10 (or $15), because if you just play one game, you’ve literally made up the price of admission. It is excellent value for the money... but I didn’t have the time for it. When I find myself with more free time, I will definitely reactivate my Game Pass.

The opposite of not good value is PlayStation 5, which is still impossible to find in retail stores. I’ve seen a lot of Xbox Series X in stores recently. I’ve yet to see one PS5 in stores. In a move that I think is a mistake, Sony announced that they are raising prices for the PS5. While the USA is not one of the region that is getting a price hike, the announcement does not bode well.

Everything I’ve researched about PlayStation 5, from ripping people off on digital games to extra $10 charge for PS5 games to Sony blocking games from Game Pass... it tells me that PlayStation is very anti-consumer and they are only interested in profits.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer: Game Pass is still amazing

Read More Xbox So, I joined Game Pass. There are two price points, the $10 per month pricing is strictly for Xbox games, and the $15, called Game Pass Ultimate includes PC, EA and Xbox Gold (you need this to play online Xbox games) …

One and a half month into Xbox Game Pass, I’m happy to report that it is an insane deal. It doesn’t even make any sense how MicroSoft is even making money off Game Pass… the value is just that good! Sure, some games do rotate out, but there’s still enough there to keep me in the service.

I’m not at all worried about Sony’s PS Plus service (coming in June 2022), which is basically their answer to Game Pass. As I previously pointed out in last month, they’re not going to include downloadable PS3 games. This is because the architecture is so different, that the PS5 or PS4 cannot run PS3 games. Sony’s solution is to let you stream those PS3 games - which is not an option for me. My internet is not great, and I think it’s a poor solution to Sony’s PS3 problem.

Anyway, back to Game Pass. I have so many games (it’s about 400 games available on Game Pass Ultimate), that I finally got around to trying Game Pass on the PC recently. While the experience wasn’t amazing: the Xbox App on the PC that I was under the age of 18 and put restrictions on what games I could download. That was an easy fix (but why was this a problem before?)

Then the Xbox App would not sign me in, no matter what I did. After rebooting my computer, it seemed to sign in fine now. Again, why was this a problem? I see that others experienced similar problem, especially after the App updated.

So… when you get the Xbox App to actually work, it’s pretty amazing! There are certain games that are available on the PC only, such as the latest Age of Empires IV, that I need the PC App to run. Again, I’m impressed that I’m playing these $60 games, for basically free… so long as I pay for that service.

I knew that MicroSoft said that my Xbox games will be available on the PC for free, if I purchased them, but I never looked into this as I didn’t really care that much. So imagine my surprise when I see that my Xbox games that I bought showed up on the Xbox App for the PC… meaning I now I have access to the PC version of some of these games. Now, that’s cool.

Going forward, I think I’ll only buy Xbox games, as it’s somewhat of a “two-for-one” deal for me (since the games will be available for me in two places).

One final thing about Game Pass that I didn’t know, until after I joined… it’s that you actually get to keep one or two games forever. Whatever the Xbox 360 games Game Pass/Games with Gold offers for the month, after you click on get for free, it’s yourself permanently. Seriously, I didn’t know that.

Sure the 360 games aren’t amazing (or are available for cheap), but I feel it’s such an added bonus, that I am more than happy to remain on the service for the time being.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

PlayStation Game Pass

Read More Xbox So, I joined Game Pass. There are two price points, the $10 per month pricing is strictly for Xbox games, and the $15, called Game Pass Ultimate includes PC, EA and Xbox Gold (you need this to play online Xbox games) …

Sony’s answer to Game Pass is finally here… at least in a pricing leak. According to Venture Beat, the new PlayStation Plus will include elements of PlayStation Now elements, with the three different tiers: Essential ($10), Extra ($13), and Premium ($16).

For the lowest priced, PS+ Essential, you only get three or four “free” monthly games… and the ability to play online games, just like the original PlayStation Plus.

For $3 more, you can get PS+ Extra, which includes the monthly “free” games and a game catalogue of “hundreds of older, downloadable games.”

For PS+ Premium, you get everything in Essential and Extra, plus the ability to stream PS Now games and access to “game trials” and “classic games”. To me, I read the game trial as simply a timed demo, so, to me, it’s a useless “feature”. I don’t know what the classic games will get you… maybe PlayStation One games?

The service hasn’t launched yet, but I’m curious to see how many games you will get compared to Game Pass. Currently my $15 Ultimate Game Pass gives me access to about 400 games. I don’t believe PlayStation will offer as much, but we’ll see. We do know, based on previous interviews and attitude, that new games won’t get day-one release on the PlayStation Plus service…. And that’s a real bummer. That just means that you only have access to old games.

With Game Pass, I have previously mentioned that there are only a few old games that I’m interested in checking out, the main draw for Game Pass are the new games, like Halo Infinite. I’ll be brutally honest, if Game Pass took away the new games, I know I wouldn’t bother with the service, that’s how important it is for them to include new games. If PlayStation Now Premium won’t include any new games, then I think it failed out of the gate.

There are so much we still don’t know about the new service - like will gamers have access to their PS3 games ? I still own some PS3 digital and disc games, and from what I know, I cannot play them on the PS4 and PS5 currently. With the upcoming service, I wonder if Sony will finally allow us access to our games? I hate to say it, but seeing as they up-charge $10 for PS4 to PS5 games, I wouldn’t put it pass greedy Sony to charge you $10 extra so you can play PS3 games you previously paid for.

That is the biggest difference that I’ve seen in this console generation… while Xbox won’t charge you for access to all your games (going back to the original Xbox). In fact, if you pop in an Xbox 360 disc, the new Xbox Series X will automatically download a playable version of that game (using Smart Delivery) and won’t charge you any money to play your game.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Sony do better. I do still own a PS4 and PS3, which are both currently de-powered as I haven’t used them for over a year. The way I see it, if I get a PS5, I don’t want to pay $10 for each PS4 games I own… and my PS3 games, that’s up in the air (as it’s currently not compatible with PS5).

I don’t even know why I’m so interested in the new PlayStation service, I guess what I’m more interested in is competition to Xbox Game Pass. It’ll be good to see what PS will bring to the table… and how Xbox can improve their service by seeing what PS has to offer.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

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