GTA Trilogy Remaster

There was news back in the summer about the PlayStation 2 Grand Theft Auto games getting a remaster. While III, Vice City, and San Andreas are still excellent games, some aspects could have been finely tuned to be better. The news is confirmed that they are getting a re-release this year. Downside is that the original versions are getting delisted on PS3, PS4, and Xbox 360. The same is going to happen for the HD San Andreas game on 360. At the time of this blog on a Monday night, they probably have be taken off the digital stores already. If not, this week. 

These are coming out on everything. Xbox One, Xbox Series, PS4, PS5, PC, iOS, Android, and the Switch. The fact that Nintendo is getting these is a huge surprise. Only their handhelds had GTA games with ports of the first two and two original releases. Rockstar has shown some support with Manhunt 2, Table Tennis and Bully on the Wii and L.A. Noire on Switch. Having GTA is a benchmark for the developer. From all assumptions, these will play roughly the same, but have better visuals. I have a feeling it will get cleaned up quite a bit to retain their looks but utilize the hardware of everything.

As far as delisting goes, I'm not sure if this is going to be permanent or not. I wouldn't think so, but weird things do happen in gaming. With the PC, you can find copies of them. You can also find copies for the PS2 and original Xbox. These were mega sellers. Millions upon millions, especially on PS2. Very common and going for 10 to 25 dollars. Maybe more if people are trying to popularize theme even more. There is that talk of game preservation, but the discs are not inaccessible. GTA is in a strange spot and I don't have an easy answer on how to solve the issue of digital stuff being taken away.

These should do decently and the price will hover around 40 to 60 dollars. You're getting 200 plus hours worth of content with these three games. I'll have to wait and see how it fares and see some gameplay to see if it's worth getting. For now, it's a decent way of celebrating 20 years since GTA III released and changed how games could be played.

No More PlayStation Movies

This is more of a take on why I think this happened. Yesterday was the last day you could buy movies, TV shows, and specials on PlayStation 4 and 5. With PS3 and Vita, I'm not sure. I can assume yes, but will have to look into it deeper. Sony announced the disbanding back in the spring. I'm not sure there is an honest answer you can find in why this occurred. Digital is a big thing now these days. This was in service for a long time. If there was a big guess, probably competition.

With PlayStation and Xbox, you have access to many services. Those services have gotten bigger and bigger within the last decade. Hulu is a great example. Small potatoes ten years ago and now are one of the biggest names for streaming with acquired content and new stuff coming in. Obviously Netflix is still one of the kings of it, though its lost some steam. The major prime time networks and conglomerates have their hand in the pie. Disney, NBC, Viacom. You're getting more meatier content and much more access compared to PlayStation.

I don't know how digital renting worked for it. If I had to assume, a couple days and that was it. I'm not sure many people liked that idea. Even with digital, you want to have a film or show and keep it and re-download whenever. And probably the selection was not a strong point despite having big name properties. Why buy Fast and Furious when I can see all of them on Peacock?  Probably back in the late 2000s, it was serviceable and there wasn't much to worry about. Now these days, Sony saw the writing on the wall.

Does that mean Sony has given up on the concept? Maybe. If nothing new materializes in a year, I would say yes. That's not to say they won't return to this, but they'd probably would choose the right time to do a video store again. The PS4, I can kind of understand, but not PS5. For now, Xbox kind of has a slight advantage despite having other streaming services on that console. This however will not dictate a console war that some people obsess about. 

The Last of Us Remake= Bad Idea

There is some fun with The Last of Us. But compared to most people, I do see it as a bit overrated. It took about five years for me to really warm up to it. Great game, but not one I'd put in the best games ever category. Same with the sequel. Word on the street now is that Sony is doing a remake of it and it's bothered a number of smaller developers that they own. It also came about as a new sequel to Days Gone got rejected.

Judging by places like IGN and TheVerge, something is brewing inside Sony. The way I look at it, this is a very bad idea. We're talking a game that turns eight in June. With The Last of Us, it was a reason to still stick with the PlayStation 3. It was a showpiece for a late release. Hardware pushing that could have been a very early PS4 game. Different approach to gameplay compared to Uncharted. Fantastic audio direction. The PS4 got a remaster a year after its debut. What else can you do with this game?

Honestly, there are a lot of PlayStation games from Sony that deserve a remake a lot more than The Last of Us. How about a Syphon Filter remake? Or something like Jet Moto, Legend of Dragoon? This is a problem across all companies to make games that could potentially be franchises. Sony downsized on several Japanese studios recently, so that might make things a bit more difficult. I see people complain about stuff Sony Japan Studio made and not continue on. Maybe if some of them bought more of Ape Escape and other titles, they wouldn't be in this situation. Same with many developers.

The only thing I could see improved with The Last of Us is the graphics and that's it. Supposedly, there might be one or two additional stuff that could be done with the game, but who knows. I don't know where this will go. It's one thing to re-release a game for a new generation (Switch Online, Doom, Resident Evil), but a full blown remake? This will do well, but at what cost? I've enjoyed Naughty Dog's output since 1996, but resources could have been put into a new IP or another developer.

PS5 Compatibility

Back in June, I believed the PlayStation 5 could do PS4 games and that was it. It was not a surprise to me that it was the only form of backwards compatibility for this upcoming generation for Sony. Not having PS1, PS2, and PS3 games work on it is not a shock. Quite frankly, it's something the hardcore gamers fail to grasp on. Even with taking a glance on what I said a few months back, here's my takes. Probably some repeat stuff in here.

First off, the difficulty in getting well over 8 thousand games combined, maybe more, from three systems is going to be very rough. If I had to guess, you have to figure out all the bugs and stuff in the code to ensure that the game would work. The problem is that it'd be hard to know because of lost source codes, licensing, copyright limbo. Multiple things. It's not as simple as gamers online think. 

Another thing is the technology advancing to where it may not be feasible to get older stuff to work. Even with an 11 year difference, PlayStation 3 struggled at points to run PS1 titles. For every Crash Bandicoot and Syphon Filter that worked, you had issues in games like Mission: Impossible and Medal of Honor. It ranged from audio issues to games not loading properly. Speaking of Medal of Honor, you can get it digitally for PSP, PS3, and Vita. I would be curious to see if it had issues compared to my disc version of it. Even a working game can crash like Tiger Woods 99. This goes into my issue with the PC.

Some like to claim PC is 100 percent backwards. I smell a lie for today. Maybe not back in the mid 90s, but it's in that situation long before PlayStation 3. Even with countermeasures to combat the removal of features of stuff like adding DOSBox, DOS is not always guaranteed to work on every game, even if you have a disc for it. Certain games can only work on a specific operating system. I hear about patches and updates to some games and Virtual Machines. The average person may not want to dabble in it. Same thing with people outside of the hardcore not wanting to hack a PS3 or a Wii just to play other systems. Computers are not always used for gaming. And I doubt most play the most demanding titles out there now these days.

All that being said, not a surprise for PS5. Gamers need to calm the fuck down with backwards compatibility. It's not a make it or break it deal. Nice to have, but taken way too seriously. At some point, I'll say my thoughts on Xbox Series X/S