Look At These White-Hot PS5 And PS4 Sales Happening Right Now

As the summer sun once again sets Earth on fire, that means only one thing: sales! And so Sony launched its annual summer sale with a not unreasonable 3,081 games at cheaper prices. Rather crucially, that number includes some bigger names, such as Elden Ring down by a third, and many Sony first-party titles down to $40. To save you some scrolling, we’ve picked out a few highlights.

Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger

As mentioned, Elden Ring is the headline game here, down from $60 to a much more friendly $42. That’s the vanilla version and the one you’ll want to pick up. The so-called “Deluxe Edition” comes with the original soundtrack, a digital art book, and nothing else, and is down from $80 to $56.

For a far heftier saving, if you’ve held off on FIFA 23, the Ultimate Edition is down from an eye-watering $100 to a much more amenable $40. Due to the peculiarity of EA’s decisions, that means you can now get the full game and 4,600 FIFA Points (worth about $40 if bought in-game) for $20 less than buying it without the free fake money.

If you’re looking for something more recent, April’s excellent Dead Island 2 is down 25 percent already. However, given that it launched at an astonishing $70 (sure, Sony’s first-party titles are trying this gouging number, but it was one heck of a push for Deep Silver), that’s now $52.49.

Those looking for a more punishing time might want to note that the never-that-good NBA 2K23 is now an astonishing 90 percent off, down to just $7! Which seems about right. (Although that’s $7 for the right to be nickel-and-dimed every moment you’re playing.)

First-party Sony games got all cheap

Let’s be more positive! Red Dead Redemption II is just $20 for the sale! Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition, which comes with the original remastered Marvel’s Spider-Man, is almost half-price at $40! Last year’s The Last of Us Part I is down to $50, while the un-remade The Last of Us Part II is only $20! Horizon Forbidden West is $30! (That last one is confusing. The PlayStation 5 version is only discounted to $40, but the PS4 version comes with a free digital upgrade to the PS5 version for $10 less. Sony!)

Speaking of Sony first-party titles, the wonderful Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is down almost two-thirds to $30, and it is indeed worth picking up.

A mighty discount has also been slapped on Marvel’s Midnight Suns, bringing the standard version down from $60 to just $24. Meanwhile, the Legendary Edition that’s usually a painful $100 is now down to $40.

What else can I offer you? How about this year’s Like A Dragon: Ishin! remake dropped to $39? You can bump that up to the Deluxe version with a discounted Upgrade Bundle for $9, saving you $22. Or maybe you fancy 2019’s Mortal Kombat 11 for just $5 instead of $50?

Oh, go on then, one more. And a proper crazy bargain to finish on: You can pick up the amazing Super Meat Boy Forever for just two of your American dollars.

You can see the full list of all 3,000+ games right here.

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by pbnbigesdi Posted on

Survivor Is Coming To PS4, Xbox One

Respawn and Electronic Arts’ popular single-player Star Wars sequel, Jedi: Survivor, is making the leap from current-gen to the older PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.

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Launched in April, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the follow-up to 2019’s Jedi: Fallen Order. In this most recent Star Wars adventure from Titanfall devs Respawn, players again take on the role of Cal Kestis, a Jedi who survived the purge during the end of the Clone Wars as a young boy and who now hangs out with his ragtag found family of misfits as they try to free the galaxy from the Empire’s clutches. This very good follow-up originally skipped last-gen consoles in order to, in the words of the game’s director, offer up a “true new-gen experience.” But now, Cal Kestis is coming to a PS4 near you.

During Electronic Arts’ August 1 earnings briefing, the publisher revealed that Respawn was “in the early stages of development” on PS4 and Xbox One ports of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

EA didn’t specify when these last-gen ports would be released and declined to offer any extra details to Kotaku.

The publisher clarified that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s current versions weren’t going to be left behind, and confirmed that “additional performance improvements” for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC still remained a “top priority” for Respawn. It also promised to share more about these improvements “as soon as the next update is ready.” This is good news, as the game still suffers from performance issues after previous updates helped, but didn’t quite fix, framerate drops and in-game stuttering.

A surprise, to be sure...

For many, the news that EA is bringing Jedi: Survivor to PS4 and Xbox One will be surprising. While it makes sense from a financial standpoint—those older machines still have millions of dedicated players in 2023—it seems at odds with what Respawn said before the game’s launch.

Specifically, the game’s director Stig Asmussen explained the reason for skipping PS4 and Xbox One was so the team could deliver a “true new-gen experience in the Star Wars universe.” It seems Respawn is also willing to lower the resolution and framerate limits to accommodate the older hardware.

It’s also interesting that the game is coming to older, less powerful machines since Jedi: Survivor seemed to push the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S harder than most games. I’m curious how well the game will run on much older hardware, in particular the base Xbox One, which is rather long in the tooth. These consoles are almost a decade old, now.

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Red Dead Redemption Comes To Switch And PS4, Remaster Is MIA

After years of waiting and months of reignited rumors of a remaster, Rockstar Games has finally revealed a port for the first Red Dead Redemption. Over a decade after its release, the critically-acclaimed third-person shooter is making the jump to PlayStation 4 and Switch on August 17, but a “next-gen” upgrade for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC is seemingly not happening.

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The PS4 and Switch versions will be $50, with a physical release shipping on October 13. While the ports won’t include any changes to the underlying game, they will come with Undead Nightmare, a zombie story campaign that was added to the Game of the Year edition of Red Dead Redemption over a decade ago. If you were hoping for a 4K update or 60fps mode, however, you’re out of luck. The PS4 and Switch ports won’t support multiplayer either.

The original Red Dead Redemption takes place four years after the events of Red Dead Redemption 2 and follows rancher and former outlaw John Marston as he’s tasked with capturing his former gang members. While still sprawling, it’s a more focused tale than the prequel that proceeded it, but it also suffered from a decent number of bugs and limitations, like the fact that Marston can’t swim.

Red Dead Redemption – Coming August 17th! (Nintendo Switch)

The frenzy around the potential return of the original Red Dead Redemption kicked off in June when it appeared on the South Korea game rating body’s list of submissions. The game was never ported to PC and, among relatively current consoles, could only be played on Xbox One and Series X/S via Microsoft’s backwards compatibility program. It had briefly been available to stream through PlayStation Now, but became inaccessible on PS5 after that program merged with PlayStation Plus.

Kotaku previously reported that a fullblown remaster of Red Dead Redemption had been shelved after the debacle around the 2021 Grand Theft Auto remaster trilogy, which included tons of issues, including a subpar HD transformation of the original games’ look and style. Despite a bevy of post-launch updates to address many of the bugs and performance problems, some diehard fans still remain unhappy with the overall state of the remasters.

Rockstar Games is currenlty working Grand Theft Auto VI, some of which leaked last year in an unprecedented hack that led tons of prototype footage to appear online. It co-stars a woman and will set in Miami, and while it doesn’t have an official release date yet, publisher Take-Two has strongly hinted that it expects the game to arrive sometime before April 2025, meaning it could launch as soon as next year.

Update 8/7/23 10:22 a.m. ET: Added more information about the price from Rockstar’s website.

Update 8/7/23 11:03 a.m. ET: Added info about multiplayer support. 

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by pbnbigesdi Posted on

$50 For Red Dead Redemption Switch, PS4 Is ‘Great Value’

Today, during a Take-Two earnings call, the publisher’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, responded to the $50 price tag attached to the upcoming PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch ports of beloved cowboy adventure Red Dead Redemption. According to him, that’s the right price. And he had no additional news for PC players hoping to play the classic game on their preferred platform.

Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger

On August 7, following endless rumors online, Rockstar announced new PS4 and Switch conversions of the original Red Dead Redemption. The PS4 version will also be playable on PS5 and, alongside the Switch port, will launch on August 17. Fans weren’t happy though, as the ports appear to be just that, rather than a more ambitious remake or remaster. Sure, it’s nice that a beloved game like RDR will now be available on more platforms, but the $50 price tag, along with news that these new versions wouldn’t include multiplayer or any enhanced visual options, led to plenty of people online being (rightfully) disappointed. And now, the day after announcing the news, Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive held an earnings call in which its CEO seemed impassive to the fan disappointment and backlash.

As reported by IGN, after the earnings call, Zelnick was asked why the publisher had picked such a high price point for the relatively barebones ports, especially as the 2010 Xbox 360 version is cheaper and has been out for years via backward compatibility.

“That’s just what we believe is the commercially accurate price for it,” Zelnick said.

Rockstar Games / Nintendo

Take-Two’s EVP of finance, Hannah Sage, mentioned that the newly revealed releases aren’t just the original Red Dead Redemption, but also include the DLC expansion, Undead Nightmare. When Zelnick was asked if the expansion being included was the reason for the $50 price tag, he didn’t give a straight answer.

“[Red Dead Redemption] was a great standalone game in its own right when it was originally released, so we feel like it’s a great bundle for the first time, and certainly a great value for consumers,” the CEO replied.

The original Xbox 360 Red Dead Redemption is currently $30 on the Xbox store and Undead Nightmare is $10. That adds up to $40, less than the $50 price tag of the upcoming, plain-jane ports. (And keep in mind that many players already bought the Xbox 360 version back in the day, so won’t have to rebuy the game to enjoy it via Xbox Series X/S backward compatibility.)

Take-Two dodges questions about Red Dead Redemption coming to PC

When Kotaku asked for a follow-up statement via email, a Take-Two representative declined to comment further on the game or Zelnick’s answer. Take-Two also ignored questions about the existing backward-compatible Xbox 360 version.

Continuing the trend of ignoring or dodging questions, during the post-call meeting, Zelnick was asked by IGN about a possible PC port of RDR, and answered vaguely, telling the outlet he leaves those announcements for studios to make.

“It depends on the vision that the creative teams have for a title,” said Zelncik. “And in the absence of having a powerful vision—for something that we would do with a title—we might bring it [back out] in its original form. We’ve done that. And in certain instances we might remaster or remake, so it really depends on the title and how the label feels about it, the platform, and what we think the opportunity is for consumers.”

I didn’t spot an answer in that mess of vague words and sentences. Perhaps, after Red Dead Redemption re-releases on PS4 and Switch on August 17, we can get a PC version, or at least a better answer as to why there might never be one.

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by pbnbigesdi Posted on

Activision Says Switch 2’s Power Is On Par With PS4, Xbox One

A Nintendo Switch sits atop a wooden surface with its detached wireless Joy-Con controllers next to it.

Image: SOPA Images (Getty Images)

As reports that a Nintendo Switch successor is inbound become more commonplace, we’re learning more about what we can likely expect from the company’s next console. Maybe this was to be expected, but new details suggest that the performance of the Nintendo Switch 2—or whatever it ends up being called—may be roughly on par with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. That would represent a nice step up from the current Switch, though obviously not enough of one to match Sony and Microsoft’s latest consoles.

Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger

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According to The Verge, Activision Blizzard executives—including CEO Bobby Kotick—met with Nintendo in December 2022 to chat about the Switch 2. As uncovered in a heavily redacted summary document labeled “NG Switch Draft.pdf” (a stand-in for “next-generation Switch”) that was made public due to the FTC v. Microsoft hearings, Activision’s head of platform strategy and partner relations, Chris Schnakenberg, suggested in internal emails that the Mario creator’s Switch successor might be more akin to the PS4 and Xbox One than to the latest hardware on the market.

“Given the closer alignment to Gen8 platforms in terms of performance and our previous offerings on PS4 / Xbox One, it is reasonable to assume we could make something compelling for the NG Switch as well,” Activision Blizzard said in the documentation reviewed by The Verge. “It would be helpful to secure early access to development hardware prototypes and prove that out nice and early.”

It’s been many generations now since Nintendo was competing directly with Microsoft and Sony in the technical power department, so it’s hardly surprising that the next Switch may not be able to push as many polygons as a PlayStation 5. What it will likely do is allow the company to offer a nice increase in power while still preserving the Switch’s hybrid nature, which should make games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom look even better.

Kotaku reached out to Nintendo for comment. When reached for a comment, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson declined to discuss the nature of the news.

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Although we’ve potentially now got an idea of the Nintendo Switch 2’s power, it still remains to be seen exactly how the company’s next-generation console will actually perform. At the very least, hopefully we can expect Nintendo to address the drift in its wireless controllers. Come on, Nintendo, I’m begging you here.

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