it is Friday June 13th Let’s talk PlayStation Welcome back everyone to another Magic the Gathering episode of LTPS Uh yet again very busy week We are right in the middle of all this game news going on So we have Summer GameFest the Xbox Game Showcase the DS2 uh premiere event the Konami live stream We’ve also got more rumors heating up for this PlayStation 5esque portable which um is really starting to be quite plausible And uh we’ll get to all that stuff But first as always a very brief reminder for the PS+ Essential June lineup So if you have not just yet claimed those games and also we have the PS+ Extra and Premium June lineup announced as well going live this coming Tuesday on the 17th And for PS+ Extra yet again less than 10 games It seems fairly consistent the last year or so that PS+ Extra as far as quantity has been kind of low But we do have another day one launch So that is FBC Fire Break which is Remedy’s uh control universe uh style multiplayer game with objects of power and a whole thing going on there I will try that game out even though I’m generally not much of a multiplayer person but I do like that universe a great deal So uh you’ve got that You’ve got Battlefield 2042 which I believe was a monthly game at one point so you might have that in your library already Um you’ve got We Love Katamari Roll plus Royal Revery And you all know I am always just throwing that franchise down your throats I love that game dearly Every entry of Kadamari So if you’ve not played Kadamari then here is your chance That is the second one that showed up on PS2 back in the day has a modern PS4 port uh PS4 PS5 port Uh but still there’s that Uh Train Sim World 5 I know is a game with a ton of trophies So good luck with that one And then you’ve also got Endless Dungeon for extra as well Going into premium though only one title that is DSX which we learned from the State of Play I was really hoping we’d have more than just that Uh but unfortunately that too is something where we’re getting less games in that category which was only two to three games usually Now it’s like one one or two or in some cases they will uh just throw out three in one particular franchise like we saw for the time spplitter series for example But if we suspect that this would be similar to July and August for Twist of Metal 2 and or three and four and then RE 2 and three that means those are the only games we’re getting for those months as well which is uh pretty bogus But I will say DSX a very transformative experience uh a really important game for its time So if you’ve never had the chance to check it out and see what it’s all about it’s really awesome to have that game now playable on modern hardware Anyway moving on to our first news story Sony confirmed a new update for the Dual Sense controller is coming later this year that will finally finally finally let you pair it to multiple devices Now I think the way that this is being read is that you won’t have to reync it to a new device whenever you’re say moving your Dual Sense between two different PS5s or between your PC or something like that Um which I think would be fantastic given that well for me like I run run run into this issue a lot of whether it’s for videos or I’ve got a console downstairs I am almost always like moving controllers around and ever since the PS3 days that’s always a huge pain because it only remembers the last console it was manually synced to which is always via cable first then you can use it wirelessly So if you try to use a controller on a different system you have to reconnect via cable Just kind of a pain Um in theory the way this sounds is that a controller is now going to remember multiple different devices that you’ve synced to Maybe it’ll only have to like you can remotely boot up the last console that it was used on but otherwise you won’t have to use that cable if you want to use it on a different uh PC or a different PlayStation So that I think is excellent and uh great to know that’s coming at some point later this year I’m not sure why they chose to do that via a tweet too almost always you think that’s something they they announced on the PlayStation blog but just kind of goes into that growing notion of Sony just doing things that are hard to predict nowadays Moving on to some not so good news for Bend Studio Initially we heard this from Jason Trier writing for Bloomberg and then confirmed by the studio themselves but they did recently have a 30% reduction in staff about 40ome people were laid off and uh this is off the back of them cancelling their live service game earlier this year or rather Sony was doing that and then them also shipping Days Gone Remastered most recently but we do know as of right now they are spinning up a new project but they did see a reduction in staff which is unfortunate I will say this is not surprising even a little bit to me and that if you recall this was a genuine concern I had when their live service game was cancelled It kind of goes back to that conversation we tend to have about when these remaster projects are being announced Why are they touching this game why are they doing this remaster it doesn’t need it This that and the fourth You know whether it’s an onboarding process or it does give the studio something to do they do tend to serve a purpose They generate revenue for the studio It can be great for onboarding but it also does give them something for staff to do When you talk about a studio that has 120 to 30 40 plus people and they’re starting up a new project not everybody can work on that particular project Ben for the most part is kind of a one major game studio So you’ve still got a lot of staff that in the interim could have been working on this particular Days Gone Remastered project But if you remember my concern was okay they shipped that game this live service title is canceled You’ve got a lot of people sitting around doing nothing So I don’t want to say like oh this was inevitable but like that was my concern is you’ve got a lot of people that will have nothing to do I don’t know if like there was a path here where SI could have assigned a large portion of the staff to something else while they spin up a new project and then they can funnel those people back in because that’s the other thing too If Ben starts working on something they settle on a project after you know coming up with a vertical slice whatever the case is and they start um ramping up pre-production on this game and then going into full production they will need that staff hired back So that’s the unfortunate cyclical thing with with developing games It sucks Um and it’s it’s bad news but otherwise I I can’t say I’m surprised about this It’s just uh enlightening to know that okay Ben can be working on something new again It’s just the concern definitely does become man it sucks that it’s been so long since Bend has put out something new and original Um and it’s going to be a long time until we see something new from them cuz they’ve got the clock reset on them yet again And maybe they will feel more inclined to pitch something that is that is a little bit more safe and they know will probably hit all these milestones and eventually come out If that’s Days Gone Too I do not know Um arguably maybe that is the safe option nowadays I don’t know if that’s what Ben staff really want to do but it’s just something to consider Next up the massive gaming conglomerate 10centent has acquired 15% in Arrowhead Game Studios for about $80 million about 15.75% to be exact uh for $80 million So that brings Arrowhead’s valuation to about $532 million Uh but the Arrowhead co-founder uh Johan Pelstead did say this opens up opportunities for China as a market gaining access to the Chinese player base is what he calls quote the holy grail in the gaming industry So that’s where Arrowhead stands right now They did sell off a piece of the company to Tencent probably in the interest of their next project Um considering we we did just talk about Arrowhead in the context of they have enough money and they want to self-publish and and self-fund into their next game which is uh a luxury not many game studios have nowadays I would think that in this context of why they’re willing to sell a portion of the company to Tencent is very much for that They want to be able to ship something that has even larger mass market global appeal and certainly trying to capture that audience in China when we’re talking about a PC release which I think is very much on the cards for Arrowhead’s next game So there’s not really much else here to say outside of I would think this is very much their play going into their next title and it doesn’t really uh represent anything going on with Hell Divers 2 Okay let’s get into all these summer gaming live streams going on with the most recent one being the Konami press start live stream where there’s two big key takeaways here uh Blubber team which we already knew from their press releases they kind of telegraphed this that they’re still working with Konami for another IP and they’re remaking it And yes it is indeed Silent Hill 1 So that is confirmed The 1999 PS1 release they were given the keys to remake this game So there’s that And then also MGS Snake Eater uh or MGS Delta Snake Eater the Fox Hunt online mode got a formal announcement which they do clarify this is not MGO So that was the tease at the end of that trailer during the state of play but it’s not MGO It will be its own thing where you’re using a lot of camouflage and hideand-seek It looks kind of similar to I I guess Prop Hunt in a way cuz they really go out of their way to explain like oh the online environment nowadays and the sort of multiplayer gameplay loop is much different from when MGO came out uh all those years ago So they do kind of prop this up as a very different kind of experience which uh I I think for many was maybe a bit disappointing just in that it seemed really exciting for them to also remake MGO when this entire time for the MGS Snake Eater news cycle they had not said anything about the multiplayer mode we all assumed it was simply single player So it’s not MGO Um but it does still look interesting enough Um they’re also making it seem like maybe it won’t be ready in time for the August release so it might come down the road or something but they will give more info on that at some point But otherwise those are the two big things from the Konami live stream Um Silent Hill 1 would be uh really fascinating to see for sure It’s always kind of a uh slightly nerve-wracking thing even though they did well with Silent Hill 2 but it’s just always a little bit nerve-wracking when you go further and further back and you’re remaking something that was from the PS1 days So as far as quality of life and artistic interpretation of the environments and how the game looks how it feels when you’re going that far back there’s a lot of liberties and again interpretation for how it should look on modern hardware 20 plus years later right so again Blooper Team did well with Silent Hill 2 but uh Silent Hill 1 will definitely be something worth paying attention to uh more so too if they I don’t know if PlayStation’s interested in doing more timed exclusivity or something that was not mentioned at all but um that also wouldn’t really surprise me considering that worked out quite well with them for Silent Hill 2 Now another live stream we can mention and kind of go right past here is the Death Stranding 2 premiere event that took place Sunday evening which was about an hour long very much that panel style of Kojima talking a lot about DS2 um showing a lot of gameplay clips things like that I’ll admit I mean I kind of skimmed through it It’s one of those things where the game is coming out very soon So while it makes sense that they’re doing so much talking about the game very similar to what Kojima did with DS1 back in the day But uh I don’t know about you it’s one of those media blackout things The game is coming very soon So um there are a lot of things you can see in that event But otherwise I think if you are already if you are like already locked in on buying the game you don’t necessarily need to see this much more of it I would argue But there is a lot to digest if you are interested Uh we did see DS2 also show up at Summer GameFest which we’ll just segue to that as well because that was pretty early into the SGF live stream where we saw those two characters So they’re named Neil and Lucy And Kojima did explain that Neil is very analogous to Cliff from DS1 where they were played by uh Mad Mickelson which I think was kind of the safe expectation for this character when we first saw him in that like 8 10 minute plus trailer that we saw last time So he’s probably going to have this through line throughout the story where you run into them occasionally or see more of them and then it kind of intertwines or connects at a certain point But uh that’s what’s going on there That was really the only SI announcement at SGF So we did not see the God of War 2.5D Metroid Vania style game That doesn’t mean it’s not coming I would think that’s probably something later this year We know Sony does like talking uh during the TGAs are holding other state of plays which are shortly going to happen So um even though there was not much here for SIE presumably they will still show up later down the road But the rest of SGF was I don’t know It wasn’t bad for me I would say it was definitely on the lower end of the totem pole for stacking up the Xbox game showcase and also the state of play but um and we can’t talk about every single game announcement obviously but uh we will do some callouts here Mortal Shell 2 looked really interesting Sonic Racing Crossworlds with those uh well crossover characters Big surprise that Joker is showing up yet again in another thing So that was neat to see Uh mouse pi for hire This game always stands out when they show another trailer They have something to say in this context It’s a different character where you’ve got Troy Baker just getting more work in the business So not entirely surprising there But man this game with its grayscale cartoon style it just it sticks out like a sore thumb which is really hard to do I’d argue nowadays in the uh sort of saturation of the business Uh the Lies of P Overture Shadow Drop that’s always great having some shadow drop content coming out especially for a game that I think uh I don’t know if caught a lot of people off guard is the right way to put this but it seems as though a lot of folks did really enjoy Lies of P more than what we initially were expecting before that game came out Uh also Mina the Hollower That is a game that is right up my alley and I will admit obviously have to be a little bit biased here because Vach Club games and shout out to Celia but man it is still such a wonderful topown Zelda inspired game where the demo is available right now and we have a confirmed date October 31st So love to see that The Deadpool VR game was very silly to see You all know still love my VR It just sucks that unfortunately that was skipping PSVR 2 And it got an audible laugh out of me when they joked about how uh Insomniac got Spider-Man but he got this which was uh that it was goofy It leaned very much into the Deadpool universe and just that ridiculous fourth wall breaking humor You know I think my standout for the show honestly was not Resident Evil Reququum which may not be a surprise to all of you You know I’m not a huge Resident Evil fan but that was of course kind of insane to have this like slight tease a third into the show where they’re like “Oh we need more time for the game.” And then like 20 minutes later they just do the the formal reveal Everyone was expecting we would eventually see RE9 at like this weekend rather whether it’s the State of Play or SGF Everyone thought for sure this thing was going to show up So it was a very brief fake out but still really fun to see And it looks like they are taking the franchise in not a different direction but one where like you can do first and third person It seems like they’re pumping a lot of money into it And there’s just been a crazy amount of enthusiasm for Capcom nowadays because they’ve just been doing incredibly well Having said all that the thing that stuck out to me the most was Ill which was this you know incredibly violent looking game It’s been uh announced and in development for years but this was a really solid put together trailer where it shows that first person horror the crazy dismemberment the sort of body dysmorphia and gosh it just I’m still thinking about that trailer I genuinely hope it looks even remotely close to what we just saw there It looks insane So there’s that Uh and I guess like the Splitgate 2 reveal was also rough obviously in hindsight given that they’re you know going out of their way to say like “Oh we want to make something different and and make FPS great again.” Then it’s like “Oh we’ve got a a battle royale game.” So that was silly obviously but otherwise SGF was yeah it’s just it’s low on the totem pole for me but that’s not to say it was bad I will say very happy for those that are really enjoying what they saw for RE Reququum and having a date on that game too February 27th 2026 And knowing that it seems like they’re very confident they’re going to hit that date That’s got to feel good for for an RE fan Moving on to the Xbox game showcase where this was a very important live stream for a PS5 owner and that this is now the first Microsoft live stream where they have no problem showing PS5 logos at the end of their trailers So now there’s full transparency on what is and is not coming over And in this case the list of games that are not coming is smaller than the ones that are So that’s actually the easier way to approach this is that the two games that are not coming for the time being is Double Fine’s Keeper which is coming out October 17th uh which is a very quirky Double Fine looking game and then Inexiles Clockwork Revolution which uh that was was actually the game of the show for me It looks incredible as far as like how different that game is from what uh Inexile has done previously And I’m also just a sucker for the steampunk vibe the very clearly Bioshock inspired gameplay So it looks fantastic It was a very strong showing and those games are not coming Everything else is though Uh so PC Xbox PlayStation 5 um very few Switch 2 logos obviously which I think is simply more a byproduct of how Nintendo likes to do things So it’s not to say these games are not coming to Switch 2 uh or Switch One for that matter but they’ll probably talk about that more during their own direct whenever they end up doing that But um I will say for the other two games it’s not like those won’t come to PS5 eventually either I would think it’s very similar to like Machine Games with Indiana Jones and that it could simply be a consequence of you know the whole amending the deal and then going back on it and then working on the PS5 build Maybe there’s just not that many resources or it’s in the pipeline to comfortably work on every version of the game or you know how far along a PS5 build is I mean in context it would still make sense that they would prioritize PC and Xbox first and then do PS5 down the road So I would think they’re going to come eventually but uh in this case uh for the time being it’s PC Xbox only And then of course everything was like Xbox Play Anywhere and Game Pass and this that and the fourth So it was still nice though to to watch it and see most of the stuff is confirmed For example Persona 4 Revival did have a formal reveal as well We had all the voice actors pretty much spill the beans on that And this reveal wasn’t even that uh there wasn’t much substance you didn’t really see a whole lot But uh also in the context of Persona you know Microsoft did that very weird thing where where it was like a 72-hour embargo where Atlas could not confirm the other platforms So there’s no sense in doing that anymore nowadays Anyway so uh yeah confirmed for PS5 Uh the other thing we can point out is Gears of War Reloaded So a beta is going on this weekend Um if you’re on PlayStation 5 the way to get access is to pre-order the game So that’s also really cool cuz that’s now the first time where you can play Gears of War properly on PlayStation hardware Uh and there is a disc print confirmed for that game as well which it does appear as though the full game will be on the disc I certainly hope so And then throughout the rest of the the live stream I mean the the kind of silly thing was towards the end you had that one more moment uh announcement but it was Call of Duty Black Ops 7 So it’s like they have Activision now they have to announce that game every year So I’m I’m not sure that was really all that surprising or really exciting unless you’re really into Call of Duty But uh there is that What’s maybe more noteworthy here however is the slight tease that Phil Spencer included towards the end of the live stream which was uh next year celebrating 25 years of Xbox which now is also very applicable to a PS5 owner And so Phil was talking about how next year they will celebrate 25 years of Xbox with uh what appears to be the four big heavy hitter Xbox properties So he calls out Fable the next Forza Gears of War Eday and quote “The return of a classic that’s been with us since the beginning.” And that very much does lean into this ongoing rumor on the Halo Xbox side of things which is a Halo Combat Evolved remake in Unreal Engine 5 And I would think that is indeed going to be coming to PlayStation 5 either day and date or maybe a little bit after Um ironically we also have an adjacent rumor here of some kind of backend data mine that appeared from somebody where there’s now the suggestion that uh perhaps Halo will appear even sooner on PlayStation John thinks that is Halo Infinite which would also be uh maybe not super surprising but I would have thought that they might have just skipped Infinite but you know I don’t follow Halo news tooh too closely so perhaps that does make more sense than it uh than it would to me But um either way that we’re still in that period Games are coming over Not everything is going to happen immediately but otherwise it was a strong first showing You know it’s whether you like it or not they own a lot of studios now right they’re a big big publisher And so we now have to pay very close attention to Xbox Live streams knowing that a lot of these things will be making their way over to PlayStation 5 Now the other Xbox game showcase announcement we can talk about is The Outer Worlds 2 which uh they spent a lot of time showing off the game It does look good it it’s not bad at all but the conversation has understandably shifted to the confirmed MSRP of the game which is indeed our second game that is going to be priced at $79.99 USD And uh you know I think I speak for a lot of people when you look back at that Microsoft press release where they did very much give that transparency of this holiday season we will be pricing some games to uh $80 that it would be this game You know I think everybody was thinking oh okay so Call of Duty you know the the annual game which is a huge resource hog multiple studios takes a lot of money to pump out that game every year I don’t think anybody was expecting this game And that’s not a knock at the studio or what they showed Again it was a very strong showing for that game I think if you enjoyed the first one you’re going to get a lot more of that in the second one Um and the game’s not out either right so who’s to say it won’t you know command that price tag in a way that really shocks people and it’s big and there’s so much to explore and do and you know there’s just something really engaging that really is worth that price tag Um and I say that very carefully given that nobody’s happy with a game being priced upwards of $80 now having that new ceiling you know in light of Mario Kart World for example Um I myself bought that game like a lot of other people did cuz it’s sort of that launch title that you get for a Switch 2 if you’re going to buy a Switch 2 And the game is big and large and people are are genuinely enjoying it knowing that that game is going to be supported from Nintendo for the next 8 something years And maybe that’s the kind of title where arguably you go okay that’s you know I get it This it’s just it’s it’s a really tough thing to say I think a lot of people are expecting it was going to be $50 $60 you know 70 worst case scenario because to the the publishers credit We are seeing a lot of publishers explore that price spectrum of split fiction is 50 Clare Obscure is 50 some come out at 60 like Astrobot Um not everything is guaranteed to be 70 or in some cases now 80 But uh this I would say was definitely kind of kind of shocking and it sucks for the studio because they don’t set the price The publisher does So it’s like kind of that that rock in a hard place where even Randy Pitchford was of like well it’s really out of my hands and he’s just trying to you know save face by putting out statements that don’t really sit well with people but he’s still nonetheless trying to make that point of like we’re going to try and make the best game we can We don’t set the price though So it it sucks I will also add this rant too of the game is going to have a disc print but apparently the uh the placeholder box art already has that disclaimer of internet required The game’s not coming out till October What you’re telling me you’re already sort of submitting to the idea that you’re not going to print the full game on the desk it’s just so inf it’s so infuriating Are you kidding me print the Microsoft print the full games on the disc Give your studios the time to get a solid gold master and print it on the disc That seems to be the case for Gears of War I I hope But uh the game’s not coming out till October Why are we already putting that on the on the box art it’s just h drives me nuts Um so if anything that’s like another tough sell for this game at 80 like everyone’s kind of sitting here going “Oh cool I’ll play the game when I eventually can get it for much much cheaper.” Or in the case of what Microsoft is willing to propose which is get the game on Game Pass Now the other Xbox game showcase announcement that happened was the ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X I hate saying that It’s It is so wordy but uh the rumors and the images we saw prior we all knew this thing was real Uh so confirmed during the showcase Um it’s going to be in partnership with ASUS and this is going to run Windows Um but it’s going to boot into a full screen Xbox UI It’s principally still a ROG ally So it’s you know it’s not playing the entire Xbox One and series library but it is accessing PC Game Pass Xbox cloud and Xbox play anywhere titles So there is a vast range of Xbox oriented software that you can play on this and that’s the sales pitch Microsoft is making calling this Xbox hardware This is an Xbox which you know in their view they’re considering anything on Xbox if it can access the Xbox cloud excuse me and things like that Um and there’s a lot of like splitting hairs arguments going on right now as far as like is this genuine Xbox hardware or not I find that really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things I mean we did have that um recent report that Microsoft sort of sidelined or cancelled their own in-house Xbox hardware Arguably that is kind of what you would consider genuine Xbox hardware But again I digress because their whole shtick right now is these sort of well the more of the software focus making this hybrid Windows platform that is just going to include other manufacturers and it’s going to be a lot more like a PC and that it can load a storefront like Steam and thus launch any game you want in your Steam library And yes it was confirmed that the ROG Xbox Ally can launch PlayStation Studio software because why wouldn’t it it’s basically a ROG Ally So that’s the the news story Um which I don’t think there’s really much news here to go over It’s it’s similar to what we’ve said in the past as far as like could Sony block it do they want their games to be blocked uh what does this mean for the next mainline Xbox hardware if the the focus really is more on you know this this Windows software approach and uh it it is very PC- like and you can just launch Steam and that then by proxy means you’re going to have God of War and and Horizon and all these PlayStation epics that will be you know without Sony’s consent playable on nextg Xbox hardware Um but the point I made before is that I don’t think they can discriminate You know Steam is also a private company uh or Valve rather Um they’re not beholden to shareholders they’re not going to bend over or lean over to anybody as far as allowing a publisher to you know discriminate on hardware and what what what kind of hardware their games can launch on I don’t think there’s any sort of viable path here If there is I’d be very surprised as far as like how Sony could approach it I’m also not entirely sure if they’re concerned that much in the grand scheme of things I mean maybe they are Maybe they’re still um very aggressive in that approach of making sure that their software is is so boutique and it sticks to the PlayStation name They’ll obviously ship on PC no problem but they still don’t necessarily want it to be able to launch on what feels like competitor hardware Um but I I don’t think there’s really something they can do outside of just straight up not shipping PC games anymore Um but I digress because I I think that we’re all kind of saying things that there’s a good chance that it leans a certain direction but we just simply don’t know until we get there So having said that the ROG Xbox Ally is indeed a thing It’s basically a ROG ally and sure you can launch PlayStation games on it I don’t think Sony’s really that concerned with it right now Perhaps they would be by the time it’s another mainline home console from Microsoft but that remains to be seen Now in other handheld news we also have a very big update for the ongoing rumor of Sony working on a local playstation portable that would be pretty much around the same time as PlayStation 6 So it would essentially be a PS6 portable that would come out either the same time or shortly after and that would be around 2027 potentially 2028 But uh we did hear a lot about what Sony is potentially doing right now to prepare your current software library for this portable So over on their YouTube channel Moore’s Laws Dead they claimed developers right now are being briefed on a new low energy mode for the console So this would be a new performance flag where studios could make a game on PS5 and there could be a base PS5 setting PS5 Pro and now a low energy mode And this mode would limit the console to eight threads Reduces 3D audio processing to 75% It reduces the GPU core clocks by 10 to 20% It cuts GDDR6 memory bandwidth in half It limits the CU count to 36 Turns off PSSR turns off VR and all of this is meant to reduce the power consumption by 20 to 30% And this would still maintain about 90% of the conso’s capabilities Now shortly after this live stream from Moors Law Kepler_L2 responded to this on Twitter saying it’s 100% an emulated performance profile for the handheld since the biggest weakness of the APU is memory bandwidth Now we also had Coupler discussing the AMD product roadmap on NeoAP stating that as of right now the only AMD handheld with AI upscaling anytime soon is the PlayStation handheld And they also touched on other particulars about the device like the total cache and the type of micro architecture it would be which again it’s either RDNA5 or UDNA whatever AMD ends up calling it but uh for the most part it would seem as though this is Sony preparing the software library right now for a device that’s coming out in two three years whenever it does come out I mean I know a lot of people think like 2028 feels right Based on the tape out period that Kepler outlined a few months ago it actually does appear as though 27 is what would when it would happen But that’s not really important It’s just a matter of whenever PlayStation 6 does come it very likely is going to have this sort of I guess companion handheld but maybe not companion because if they mandate support for this handheld where if you’re a developer and you’re going to make a PS6 game it has to have the portable profile on there as well So you’d have base PS6 and then a portable setting Then eventually you’d have PS6 Pro and what forth right so you’ve got these performance flags If they mandate that though then basically the portable PS6 could be your PlayStation 6 you know because there’s no it wouldn’t have its own dev environment You’d still have all the software play just fine So there’s really no pressure for that to be an extension device It could just be the PlayStation 6 you choose to buy That’s the other thing too When we consider what Sony could build by the time this comes out it is not going to have the kind of headroom to do PS5 era stuff on its own I mean that’s why the the rumor is suggesting that they’re having this foresight of creating a low energy profile that in the here and now studios can start leaning into and make sure that their title is going to run without major hiccups on this new handheld And that’s that’s good Um and I would I would think this is sort of a retroactive thing as well for games that are not patched and they’re not going to have a native low energy mode So you know as the rumor suggested there’s still a 90% compatibility um for the software library in this low energy mode So Sony might already be validating the PS5 library right now to make sure that all this software is playable on this sort of high-end device by 2027 You know when we talk about what kind of APU they can put in it thermals memory you know all that stuff We I mean you can get PS5 era games on in a in a portable environment but you’re I mean I think it’s safe to say you’re not going to see Sony do an $800 to $900 bulky portable PC like we do have right now That’s why you know it’s it’s viable You’re seeing these games play on a Steam Deck or a ROG But uh by the time Sony does a portable it’s going to be very similar to a Switch 2 and that it’ll be nice sexy looking it’ll be sleek Uh it will be not nearly as expensive Although I think Sony will have no problem pricing this thing maybe upwards of the same price as PS6 or perhaps slightly below PlayStation 6 because again it doesn’t necessarily have to be a companion device It will basically be a standalone PlayStation 6 Therefore it can command a PlayStation 6 price tag if you perhaps want to play your games portably instead of uh on the home console And it’s the same thing as you know when you buy a crossby game today you just you get the game on both systems cuz it’s basically a PSX Um but it’s it’s interesting that that’s the approach I mean that and it’s cool I I like that foresight though to know that okay they’re sort of deploying this low energy mode right now Studios are being briefed on it It’s optional so they they don’t necessarily have to do it um whenever a mandate does come into play I think that will be more telling in that the commitment is there to release this thing and they want to make sure that the vast majority of software from PS4 and I think most of the PS4 stuff is already kind of a given but PS4 PS5 and then a hard mandate for PS6 stuff And so you have that full local play uh expensive but very premium feeling handheld which I’ll tell you now that we have the uh the Switch 2 I like that is my sort of immediate thought when I was playing the Switch 2 It’s a great experience I love it I think it’s uh an excellent piece of kit But I can’t help but sit there and and think of the possibility of a local play PlayStation 6 And uh I think Sony could make something that appears very attractive to a handheld buyer especially somebody that is deeply committed to the PlayStation Network and they have a lot of software on PSN So this was a very good rumor to hear about because it does suggest that Sony is trying to be on top of software compatibility Moving on to our next news story It’s pretty well known nowadays that the PlayStation store is notoriously difficult for getting a refund because if you so much as download a game you are already invalidated from getting a refund But in very rare cases Sony will make an exception The big high-profile one was Cyberpunk 2077 where the game came out in a very rough state and so Sony was willing to take refunds for that game And now we’re seeing that happen again for the recent release of Mind’s Eye where this game is kind of a performance nightmare A lot of crazy bugs and issues that people are reporting The frame rate is awful and uh it seems like folks are reporting success from PlayStation support where they’re offering refunds despite downloading and playing the game which is indeed a very rare case Um you know if it keeps happening to the point where we hear more success stories it might just be an internal um bulletin where the support staff just has the go-ahad to grant that refund without any sort of push back if they do get that one coming in Um the studio has already acknowledged the problems They’re going to try and get a patch out as quickly as possible but it also seems like a very sort of run-of-the-mill you know not very outstanding game mediocre would maybe be the way to put it But uh yeah this does not happen often I will say that And uh in a weird sadistic way after all this stuff came out about the game now I feel more inclined to play it So I I had zero interest in mind’s eye but now I keep hearing all this stuff and I’m like h maybe I should get a disc and and and see just how much of a dumpster fire this thing is and go for a platinum or something I don’t know But uh either way if you did run into this issue with Mind’s Eye if you did buy the game just know that you will be probably able to get a refund through PlayStation support if you do attempt it Um it doesn’t seem like a massive bulletin like it’s always granted right now but you can certainly try it and you might have some success Next up I did not think we would have this story again but sure enough we do which is Blackmith Wukong and did Sony pay for exclusivity on this game I’m shocked it got to this point but in fairness it was a coincidence that doesn’t look good which is the game is now confirmed for Xbox Series SX and it’s coming out August 20th Now the problem is that that actually is exactly 1 year after the game came out on PS5 and PC So that does directly align with typical exclusivity arrangements of you know 1 year 2 years but that also is highly dependent on if that studio can get the port ready in time We have seen plenty of issues where or rather just circumstances of Sony uh securing exclusivity They put a date on it so you know when it can go over but let’s say it just simply doesn’t for another 6 months to a year Because while the contract on paper says it can’t go anywhere else you know before that date they might not have that version ready to go In other cases they do and it ships immediately um sometimes without us even you know realizing that that was the date where it was lifted and it shows up on other platforms right so that does happen But this date in particular apparently is very special to Game Science because they’ve actually been using it for years when they announced the game in 2020 when they’ve done separate trailer drops It’s thematic to the game cuz I guess it represents the birthday of Sun Wukong And uh as a reminder we had that one thing pop up 5 months ago where the game director said very much openly that it was tough to optimize the series S version of the game They made that post on Waybo So I it’s kind of funny how this came up again cuz people are still like heavily convinced that Sony paid for exclusivity I mean it does kind of just feed into the console war nonsense and you all know I just I can’t stand that stuff Um but it was the kind of coincidence where it doesn’t you know it looks a certain way Having said that it’s the same thing that should always be said surrounding this game It just was not treated like an exclusive at all And Sony’s not shy to make those kind of arrangements where they sort of present it in a very transparent way and there’s usually a marketing tie-in as well I mean I think people are taking these massive leaps of logic here to go there’s different exclusivity arrangements and it sometimes doesn’t include marketing It’s like okay let’s just give it a rest Historically it’s not hard You look back an exclusive from PlayStation is very much outlined as so In this case the date did not really help and Microsoft PR saying on like two or three different occasions that it was an arrangement when it wasn’t also did not necessarily help the way that this game was presented But again very likely not an exclusive Moving on to some very good news for the video game actor strike which is after 11 months of negotiations a tenative agreement has been reached And so as of right now uh since June 11th the strike is declared over and so workers can get back to work Uh right now there is still a vote that has to be sent out for ratification by the union’s membership but otherwise everything should be good to go So that is great to see because the one major issue they were still stuck up on was AI protections That was the thing they could not meet eye to eye on with all the negotiating parties So considering they’ve now reached a deal means that they have the protections they need to continue serving this industry Next up we have another example of Shuhei Oshida yet again doing some talking and making a big reveal on a game that could have been but obviously did not transpire And this time around it is Jumping Flash So recently he was speaking with VGC for an interview that has not been published just yet but they did post this as a separate story where he did confirm that uh Jumping Flash was something they were looking at So he said and I quote here “Some developers wanted to license Jumping Flash to develop it into a part of their new VR game One of those that actually happened was the original creator of Fantision asked for the license and remade it into VR And that did happen Fanta Vision 2020X or something whatever it’s called Um that came out for PS5 PSVR2 that actually does predate the other licensing agreements they’re doing now where they’re letting these games go to Switch with you know Patapon and Freedom Wars and every everybody’s golf Um so there was Fanta Vision That one does stand out but it’s cool to know that like oh we almost got Jumping Flash which is also a very very old classic PS1 game one of the earliest sort of you know PlayStation exclusives that really sort of stands out and has that identity for itself and it has roots and what is a very early 3D technical demonstration on PlayStation hardware So it would have been really cool to have that in VR Although I will say jumping Flash in VR boy that would have been tough That for like motion sickness which I’m still like kind of tough with even though I’ve got my VR legs for the most part Oo Jumping Flash I think that would have been kind of kind of tough to sit through but um I’m sure that’s one of many other games that could have been And since Shuhi is just an open book I’m sure we’ll find out what they are at some point because my lord this man has been doing some talking Now with all that said it is time for Let’s Talk Plus the weekly Let’s Talk PlayStation giveaway where one of you can win a $10 PSN code I would like to congratulate this viewer right here I’ll be contacting you very soon via email or X And if you would like to win a $10 PSN code it is so simple Follow the link down below or scan the QR code Enter the Gleam giveaway And supporting this channel a number of ways can gain you an entry and I’ll announce the winner next week because I’m trying to help pay for your games Those are some of the stories from this past week that I wanted to talk about with you all And uh we had no Tuesday video so didn’t really have anything ready to go in time and you know again I was out of town so that was all well and good but um coming up we do actually have the SIE business segment briefing going live in a few hours actually So I did have to prepare the show a little bit earlier Um I think what we’re going to do is simply LTPS and then separately we will have a discussion on the business segment briefing as well So you might just have two videos today that’s probably how it’s going to work out Um so there’s that and then I’ll probably have something on Tuesday for you as well But otherwise that is pretty much it So that concludes this week’s episode of Let’s Talk PlayStation I’m Ryan Benecki Thank you all so much for talking with me and I will see you all next Friday