Resurrecting this thread because that industry watcher stooge is yelling that GTA6 launching at $100 will “save” the entire video game from ruination.

R* and T2 can charge whatever they want for their frivolous luxury toy, that is their right. No one will die if they don’t buy GTA6. But I’m curious how an escalation on the base price will affect sales numbers. It will likely still be the biggest entertainment launch in history even at $100 per unit.

So Sony could have bundled in Astro Bot or Ratchet and Clank or Crash Team Racing or another family friendly game.

But instead out of their abundant generosity, they packed in a free to play game with useless skins and worthless in game currency. Furthermore, the game in question is chock full of predatory DLC and loot boxes that Epic Games would love to get kids addicted to. Sony is like that two bit corner pusher in the hood giving away free hits near an elementary school.

Oh and prior to anyone accusing me of Sony hate: Microsoft is a despicable corporation that should be broken up and operated as several spun off smaller pieces that compete against each other. Nintendo has gotten stale and hasn't released a game with new ideas in a decade. The entire video game industry needs to crash.

Two additional pointless thoughts:

Sony must have seen the scalping of PS5 consoles in 2020-2022 and the dumb lemmings buying them and it is difficult to believe that didn't factor into their pricing of the Pro. Rumor is that Sony regrets launching the PS5 for "only" $500 and now they're tryin to make it up on the backend.

And the BD drive is selling out everywhere and it is already being scalped online. Sheep and lemmings.... they ruin everything.

*Sony can charge whatever they like, that is their right*

Why is the console $700? As always, follow the money. By the way, the Pro is actually $800 for anyone who has a physical disk library.

Sony's stock has not hit $100 YTD. and it is languishing in the low $90s right now. The shares took a hit when Sony revised down their hardware sell through forecast during the last earnings call and the price is their appeasement to shareholders who have not yet forgiven them for that.

The other factor is that Sony contemptuously believes that their customers will buy their stuff no matter what like the cheating wife who knows her husband will never leave because he's a weak beta. That’s also why they’re selling the drive and stand a la carte, nickel and diming customers is a blaring red flag of disrespect.

While Sony gets to price their products, customers get to choose to buy or not. I would humbly suggest that gamers vote with their wallets and punish Sony just like they did with the PS3 and PSVR2, their stock takes another big hit, shareholders get pissed off again, and all that will commence real actual change.

Two end notes. Rumor is Sony priced at the higher end because they presumed Microsoft has no intention of releasing a midcycle refresh (which shows yet again why competition is vital). Another rumor is that PS5 Slim owners cannot transfer the BD drive to the Pro because the drive is locked to the Slim due to the online check in, so they may have to buy another BD drive.

EDIT: it's been revealed that "PS5 Pro Enhanced" does not guarantee higher framerates or even a 60 frames baseline. So there more than likely still be 30 frames games on the Pro starting with GTA6.

I have been vindicated. I posted that $800 wouldn't be shocking and this console is practically $800.

The box plus the drive easily hits $800 with tax, If you need the stand, it's another $30 getting it close to $850.

People can spend their money however they want but rewarding greed by buying this overpriced box is dumb.

@girlusocrazy: as I posted, I chose not to go into bidness with him. A henpecked weak man who allows his woman to disrespect him and treat him like a simp is not the type of man who should be trusted with any authority or who can be a viable contributing partner.

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/least-attractive-hobbies-for-men-according-to-women

I am fully aware that this was released as a joke devised by some online floozy attempting to click farm for attention but like the bard wrote "truth is told in jest." And I have found that what people really think is usually proceeded with "I'm just kidding."

Here's the thang. There is nothing wrong with gaming... in small controlled doses, as long as it's not the center of your life, and you had better have other aspects of your life in check. If you are a well adjusted educated gainfully employed man who talks/dresses/acts like an adult, is physically fit, has a full social life, diverse interests, knows how to get girls, and generally is a winner. A guy like that playing a few rounds of Call of Duty or Zelda has earned his leisure time.

However if you are a guy who has built nor achieved nothing, whose life revolves around pushing plastic buttons to make ones and zeros move around on a screen, who has over 50K posts on the forums, and generally knows he is not where he needs to be (you all know who you are), I would humbly suggest that you put down the controller and gain XP to level up in life instead of Elder Scrolls.

Ultimately men are the captains of their lives so please ignore all this and choose to live the way you want. Lastly, women have a host of irritating habits that are commensurate with men who play too much video games but I will leave that alone because I don't want to be cancelled.

A not all inclusive list of everything that has gone wrong in gaming since 2020:

• Curtailed hardware supply with rampant years long scalping (consoles were not readily available in stores until 2022)
• The advent of live service/GaaS concerned only with recurring revenue and addictive player engagement
• Loot boxes/DLC/MTX becoming multibillion dollar revenue streams inside of regular sales revenue
• High profile high budget game flops (Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad, Skull and Bones, Callisto Protocol, etc.)
• Widespread layoffs with no end in sight
• Studio closures with companies giving up on talent after one disappointing game
• Industry consolidation with more mergers on the horizon
• Longer development cycles where showcases promise games in 1-3 years instead of the next few months or occasionally announcing a game years prior with no definitive release date
• Tidal wave of rereleases/remakes/rehashes with few brand new games with new ideas developed with new technology
• Price hikes including a higher base price, more deluxe and collectors editions (an obvious tell that the industry really wants to charge even more than $70), and higher subscription prices
• Less games sold at retail, almost half are now digitally sold so video game retail is dying
• More ugliness and first world entitlement from gamers including death and rape threats

Other than a very few standout games, I really cannot think of one single positive thing that the video game industry has done since 2020.

UPDATE: normally fools and their money are parted but not for my low intelligence alleged relative due to the money back guarantee.

So we took his money, put it back in the mattress, visited the local big box, then shoplifted a DSE via putting it down my pants. Here's a mini review.

The DSE is noticeably heavier with significantly better build quality than the regular DS. The customization features via the built in app in the 5 are tremendous. The battery life is worse. I don't like the color scheme, it looks like women's saddle shoes from the 1950s. The non-changeable D-pad is disappointing. Hair triggers = no trigger haptics. Two paddles on the back are not enough when compared to the four on the Elite 2. As good as this controller is, it is nowhere near being worth $200 so that's why we shoplifted the milk for free without buying the cow.

Brother found a too good to be true deal on a Dualsense Edge on the 'bay. I told him he should avoid because he will get what he pays for. But he has a room temperature IQ, a face our mother never loved, and I am thoroughly convinced he is adopted so I've sent his toothbrush for DNA testing. He bought the controller anyway so here's what his foolishness has yielded:

• Upon receipt of the controller, the case is discolored and has stress cracks
• The controller has marks like it was dropped a few times plus the underside rubber grips are yellowed (dirty sweaty gamer hands)
• The replaceable stick tops are not OEM, they're likely Chinese knock offs
• We removed the thumbstick modules and there are food crumbs in the module bays
• The seller refuses to refund claiming that he fully disclosed the condition of the controller (he didn't)

Moral of the story: consider the price of a new controller as cheap insurance against the abject neglect of the average gamer. Also gamers are not known for cleanliness or regular personal hygiene, whatever they touch has the hygienic equivalence of that New York street pizza slice dragged along by that rat.