PlayStation’s initiative to break in to the PC gaming market has seen some heavy hitting Triple A titles ported from console.

A couple of years back we had a redo of God of War which played extremely well on PC gaming rigs, gaming laptops and even PC handheld.

Now PlayStation has released God of War Ragnarök.

Kratos and his son, Atreus, continue their adventures across the nine realms of Norse mythology.

Originally a Greek spartan warrior, Kratos was tricked into killing his family, becoming the god of war. Having carried out his revenge on the Greek gods, Kratos settled in Scandinavia, his second wife, Faye, bearing a son.

2018’s God of War swapped Greek mythology for that of the Norse. The game sent father and son on a quest to scatter Faye’s ashes from the highest peak of the nine realms. Upon killing Balder, to protect the Norse god’s mother, Kratos unleashed the Fimbulwinter, heralding the Norse cataclysm of Ragnarök.

God of War Ragnarök has us rejoin the pair some years later. Shortly before a visit from the thunder God Thor, himself. This time, the quest is less defined with Atreus keen to find out more about his legacy and the pair seeking a way to defeat Odin.

The story is epic, drawing on Norse mythology in such a way as to seamlessly create a believable legend of its own. Again the player must navigate between realms, revisiting familiar locations, now ravaged by the Fimbulwinter, as well as some new ones.

The dynamic between Kratos and Atreus has shifted. Whilst Kratos is not as overbearing towards his son, Atreus is more independent now that he is a teen. The game continues the theme of its predecessor in examining family relationships.

Gameplay doesn’t deviate much from that of the last game, which is understandable for the most part, as Santa Monica Studios, who has been at the helm of all God of War titles since the PlayStation 2, has created a rather perfect game.

God of War Ragnarök is very much a “Part 2” (similar to another PlayStation exclusive), rather than the reinvention that God of War was. For such an otherwise violent game full of dismemberment and gore, the story is rather sensitive and meaningful. This is possibly why the combat sometimes feels at odds with the refinement of the game’s puzzle elements and the general polish of the game.

Combat is a big part of the game, not as much as the old-school God of War games. Attacks are visceral and hugely satisfying. Planting a huge hit after mixing up some combos makes for some rewarding gameplay.

The game gives you Kratos’s Blades of Chaos from the start which are great for keeping enemies at arm’s length. You still have the Leviathan Axe for some nice elemental chopping and that satisfying throw and return.

Enemies can be relentless, which means that you need to adjust your attacks dynamically.

The game has a huge mix of enemies, and he game also challenges you with the odd mini-boss as well as some epic boss battles.

When you’re not battling it out there’s some exploring and puzzle solving to be had. Some of this can be in large areas that involve diverting water, releasing platforms, and clearing paths to proceed.

Loot fans will appreciate the drops and chests sprinkled around the game. Some of the chests require a bit of thought to open, which is fun. These optional puzzles often require players to revisit areas later in the game with the required ability or item to solve them.

Having an RPG flavour, there is abilities, upgrades, and crafting options (courtesy of the dwarven Huldra Brothers, Brok and Sindri), and as well as this, an very indepth character customisation.

God of War Ragnarök is absolute eye candy. The environments are massive, perfectly lit, and detailed to the extreme. The game’s playability has some excellent character animation, including for NPCs.

The sombre tone of Kratos and his difficult relationship with his son is offset by subtle and sarcastic humour, some of which is ever so subtle.

God of War Ragnarök is still a relatively ‘new’ PlayStation 5 first party game, releasing in 2022. But given this couple of years since release Santa Monica Studios has had the time to make an otherwise stellar game even better. So what about the PC port then?

On a mid to high spec gaming laptop it runs real well, no stutters or glitches in actual gameplay. There are however, from time to time some moments within the FMV cut-scenes where if you’re on a mid range PC, you’ll get glitch-outs in both video and audio.

God of War Ragnarök also plays smooth-ish on PC handhelds. But depending on which handheld you have, be prepared to tone down the shading and graphics a notch.

My only complaint with this port is the sheer data size. The game is big, like really big, so you’ll need to have some decent storage space.

In all, God of War Ragnarök still holds the magic and engrosing narrative fused with gameplay as it originally did, and this release is now an opportunity for PC gamers to emmerse themselves within Norse lore and become the God of War.

The post God of War Ragnarök (PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

NOW CLOSED – Amidst a global cost of living crisis when price points are otherwise more expensive, new pricing research conducted by PriceSpy suggests gamers may be in luck this Black Friday.

According to PriceSpy’s Price Index data, the shopping category of games and consoles appeared to deliver the biggest overall Price Index drop on Black Friday last year – at -10.04%.

What’s more, 34 per cent of PlayStation 4 games were found to have dropped in price by 10% or more on Black Friday last year, and the average price change offered to shoppers was an impressive -34%.

Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett, New Zealand country manager for PriceSpy, says:  “Based on our research, we’re expecting lots of discounts this Black Friday, which is great news for anyone looking to save some money.”

Overall, PriceSpy’s research revealed on Black Friday last year (2021):

• Almost two-fifths (38 per cent) of all products listed on PriceSpy dropped in price – and of these items, a fifth (19%) received a discount of 10% or more.
• And across the products that dropped in price by 10% or more, the average price change on Black Friday was -21%.

But popular doesn’t always deliver the biggest discount.

“It’s really important that shoppers do not fall into the trap of thinking popular equals big discounts, as even though our research found that ‘mobile phones’ generated the biggest level of consumer purchase interest on PriceSpy last Black Friday, the Price Index change was much lower compared to games & consoles.” says Liisa.

According to PriceSpy’s price index data, on Black Friday last year, the indexed price change across the most-popular mobile phones was -4.32%.

In comparison to games & consoles, it was more significant, at -10.04%.

“With so many discounts happening over the next few weeks, for anyone looking to make a purchase, whether it be a new console, a new game or an older one, the key to finding the best deal is to plan ahead and conduct essential price research – look at price points from different stores and be sure to check a product’s price history,” says Liisa.

To help shoppers find the best deals over Black Friday, PriceSpy is sharing its top tips to help people win at sale shopping.

PriceSpy’s top three shopping tips on how to win at sale shopping

Preparation is key

The best chance of finding a good bargain comes from preparation. If shoppers know in advance what they are interested in, they’re less likely to get carried away by the hustle and bustle of a sale. And don’t forget to set up a price alert on PriceSpy – as this feature automatically updates shoppers if a price suddenly drops.

Check out the competition

Before you buy, take time to check if an offer is as good as it sounds by sussing out the competition. Is the same TV set available at an even better price elsewhere?

Price points can vary massively depending on where you buy – by checking out prices from shop to shop, you can potentially save thousands!

Check the price history

As well as looking for the best price from competitor shops, be sure to look at a product’s price history.

This vital piece of research is key in helping shoppers make informed purchase decisions, as they can see if the price being offered is genuine.

To celebrate Black Friday, PriceSpy has teamed up with us here at STG to offer the two top games of November 2022; God of War Ragnarok (PS5) and Pokemon Scarlet or Violet – Nintendo Switch.

To be in with the chance to win November’s two top games, you will need to answer this question correctly:

Researching Black Friday deals is super important. What may seem like a deal, could be an even better deal elsewhere. What was the BEST deal you ever got on a Black Friday special?

There’s no wrong or right answer, just tell us your greatest Black Friday deal experience and you’re in the competition.

You can give us your answer by placing a comment below, hitting us up on Facebook, Tweet to us, or Email Us.

Important stuff: Winner(s) will be randomly selected from those that Comment below / Facebook Comment / Email in accordance to the above Question. Winner(s) will receive a physical copy of God of War Ragnarok on PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Pokemon Scarlet or Violet for Nintendo Switch. God of War Ragnarok has an age rating of R13, Pokemon Scarlet or Violet is rated G. For age restricted games you may be required to provide proof of age. Competition ends on the 8th of December 2022. Only New Zealand entries are accepted for this promotion.

Download the PriceSpy app here.

www.pricespy.co.nz

The post PriceSpy’s Black Friday Giveaway! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Kratos and his son, Atreus, continue their adventures across the nine realms of Norse mythology in God of War Ragnarök, the highly anticipated follow-up to the long-running series’ 2018 soft reboot.

Originally a Greek spartan warrior, Kratos was tricked into killing his family, becoming the god of war. Having carried out his revenge on the Greek gods, Kratos settled in Scandinavia, his second wife, Faye, bearing a son.

2018’s God of War swapped Greek mythology for that of the Norse. The game sent father and son on a quest to scatter Faye’s ashes from the highest peak of the nine realms. Upon killing Balder, to protect the Norse god’s mother, Kratos unleashed the Fimbulwinter, heralding the Norse cataclysm of Ragnarök.

God of War Ragnarök has us rejoin the pair some years later. Shortly before a visit from the thunder God Thor, himself. This time, the quest is less defined with Atreus keen to find out more about his legacy and the pair seeking a way to defeat Odin.

The story is epic, drawing on Norse mythology in such a way as to seamlessly create a believable legend of its own. Again the player must navigate between realms, revisiting familiar locations, now ravaged by the Fimbulwinter, as well as some new ones.

The dynamic between Kratos and Atreus has shifted. Whilst Kratos is not as overbearing towards his son, Atreus is more independent now that he is a teen. The game continues the theme of its predecessor in examining family relationships.

It would seem that Santa Monica Studios felt that they already had a winning formula and as such, the gameplay doesn’t deviate much from that of the last game. And that’s understandable for the most part, as they created a rather perfect game. But it does mean that the little niggles I had with 2018’s God of War are present in this game. Places that look accessible are not and no care has been taken to ward players off attempting futile traversals. The combat can still be a bit scrappy at times. The early game assumes that you are already familiar with the combat and have the muscle memory to get straight back into it.

This is very much a “Part 2” (similar to another PlayStation exclusive), rather than the reinvention that God of War was. For such an otherwise violent game full of dismemberment and gore, the story is rather sensitive and meaningful. This is possibly why the combat sometimes feels at odds with the refinement of the game’s puzzle elements and the general polish of the game.

Ragnarök is still the thinking person’s hack-and-slash game. Combat is a big part of the game, not as much as the old-school God of War games. Attacks are visceral and hugely satisfying. Planting a huge hit after mixing up some combos makes for some rewarding gameplay. As you get to grips with the nuances of the combat, timing blocks and strikes encounters become less of a frenzied mash of buttons and more deliberate.

The game gives you Kratos’s Blades of Chaos from the start which are great for keeping enemies at arm’s length. My favourite is still the Leviathan Axe for some nice chopping and that satisfying throw and return. Both have the elemental attack attributed to hot and cold, respectively.

Enemies attack relentlessly, which is good as having them queue up, as they sometimes do in other games, is a bit weird. As realistic as this is, it means that you need to adjust your attacks dynamically.

The game has a huge range of enemies, most of which I found a lot of fun to fight. The game also challenges you with the odd mini-boss as well as the sometimes-torturous boss battles. I’m not a fan of boss battles and I’m still not a fan. I know some people like them, and they’ll probably like these as well.

When not fighting, the game has players exploring and solving sometimes fiendish puzzles. Some of this can be in large areas that involve diverting water, releasing platforms, and clearing paths to proceed. They may have you scratching your head, but they are never unfairly difficult to solve.

Loot fans will appreciate the drops and chests sprinkled around the game. Some of the chests require a bit of thought to open, which is fun. These optional puzzles often require players to revisit areas later in the game with the required ability / tool to solve them.

The game’s character menus are a bit of a mess. There are countless abilities, upgrades, and crafting options (courtesy of the dwarven Huldra Brothers, Brok and Sindri) all jumbled together. You get used to it, but it’s not an optimised design at all. The character customisation options do, however, offer up a huge amount of depth to the game as you can tune both Kratos and Atreus to your play style.

God of War Ragnarök looks absolutely stunning. The environments are huge, beautifully lit, and packed with detail. The game’s art design is complemented by some excellent character animation giving the whole game a cinematic feel.

The cast does an amazing job of bringing the characters to life with superb voice acting. This is aided by some great dialogue. The incidental conversations between the characters are a joy to listen to. And yes, Kratos, Atreus, and the disembodied head of Mimir get deep into discussion during their boat trips, as in the last game.

The sombre tone of Kratos and his difficult relationship with his son is offset by humour, some of which is ever so subtle. I still chuckle recalling the hypochondriac dwarfen smith, Sindri’s off-the-cuff exclamation,” What’s that smell? Oh, hello Atreus”.

The game is as much a feat of technical prowess as it is creatively. Players have a choice between selecting performance over resolution for the visual quality. On my 42” 4K TV I couldn’t see a discernible difference in image quality between the two settings. I opted for performance, for a better frame rate over the resolution setting, which seems to drop the frame rate to around 30 frames per second.

Even on the mighty PlayStation 5, running in performance mode, the machine does on occasion struggle during some of the in-engine cutscenes. During combat, however, no matter what setting the action is buttery smooth.

I played the game on PlayStation 5, but I did check out the first hour or so with a PlayStation 4 Pro on a 1080p TV. As with the PS5, there’s a choice between performance and resolution. Using the performance mode the game ran really well, and still looked great. I could see some compromises with textures and hair quality, but you’d have to be looking hard to notice them.

God of War Ragnarök is a game that has it all. It doesn’t take too many chances, being pretty similar to the last game, but I’m OK with that.

The game has a fantastic story, great characters, beautiful environments, deep upgrade and crafting mechanics, and challenging, but rewarding, combat. It’s a good contender for game of the year.

The post God of War Ragnarök (PlayStation 5) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

God of War Ragnarök is almost upon us. I’ve been playing a preview of the new PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game and what follows are some of my early impressions of the first few hours of the game.

To the uninitiated, God of War Ragnarök is the latest game in a franchise that goes all the way back to the PlayStation 2. There were known for their button-mashing combat and, later in the series, their huge set pieces. The games follow Kratos, a former Spartan soldier tricked by Ares into killing his family. The original games up to the fourth main game in the series, 2013’s God of War Ascension, had Kratos seeking revenge on the Greek gods of Mount Olympus.

For 2018’s PlayStation 4 reboot (of sorts), simply entitled God of War, Sony’s Santa Monica Studio set out to reinvigorate the series switching things from Greek mythology to that of the Norse. Utilising the power of Sony’s new console, the game was injected with richer characterisation and a more cinematic narrative, all the while retaining the visceral combat of the earlier games. The fixed camera was also swapped for a more modern, free-look, over-the-shoulder view.

The 2018 God of War is set some years after Kratos defeated the Olympian gods. The game starts with Kratos and his young son, Atreus, cremating his second wife, Faye. As per his wife’s wishes, the pair set off to spread her ashes from the highest point in the Norse nine realms.

Whilst I’d still recommend you check it out (as it is awesome) you don’t need to have played the previous game to enjoy the new one. God of War Ragnarök has an optional short, animated recap that gets players up to speed.

With the events of 2018’s God of War bringing on the cold of the Fimbulwinter, the end of the world, Ragnarök, draws near as we re-join Kratos and his son, Atreus. It’s clear that some time has passed, evident from Atreus now being a teenager.

There’s really not a lot of detail that I can share with you at this point. But the story draws very much on the events of the last game. Kratos and Atreus have not made much in the way of friends amongst the Aesir, having dispatched a few of the Norse gods during their last outing.

God of War Ragnarök starts with father and son aboard a sled being pulled by dogs. Freya, their former ally is in pursuit, still out for vengeance, following the death of her son, Baldur at the hand of Kratos. You are immediately pulled into the game.

The incidental conversations between Kratos and Atreus provide an insight into how the relationship between father and son has developed as Atreus has got older. He is a little bit more independent in his thoughts than before. It’ll be interesting to see how this continues to develop as the game progresses.

The early hours of the game featured a few boss fights that highlighted just how out of practice I was with God of War’s combat. On normal, they were not hard, but I could have done with a bit more in the way of pointers. A battle with a huge bear serves as a prelude to an epic fight with the god of thunder, Thor, himself. As with its predecessors, it would seem that the boss battles will be more than just complex fights and more along the line of breathtaking set pieces. The Thor battle had me dodging lightning and avoiding the thunder god’s bloody great hammer.

Santa Monica Studios are not pulling any punches. In my few hours with the game, I met some iconic characters, engaged in epic battles, and enjoyed some beautifully crafted environments.

As in the last game, Kratos and Atreus are joined by the disembodied Mimir, the smartest man alive, offering critique and pearls of wisdom. The dwarfen brothers, Brok and Sindri, are reintroduced early on reprising their role in equipping and upgrading the father and son’s weapons and armour.

The visuals look like they’ve had a bit of a tweak for the PlayStation 5. There’s the option of selection of selecting performance over quality, as seems to be the norm with Sony’s first-party games. I settled with the higher frame rate there being little noticeable difference in fidelity on my 42” 4K TV.  There are also many accessibility options, which is good to see.

My favourite new PlayStation 5 feature is the often-overlooked adaptive triggers of the Dualsense controller. The trigger resistance really gives some weight to Kratos’s weapons during combat.

Playing this early part of the game, God of War Ragnarök looks and feels very much the same as its successor. Which isn’t a bad thing at all. It was a welcome return to a series that I’ve been enjoying for years.

It’ll be interesting to see how the fans react when God of War Ragnarök releases next month.

The post God of War Ragnarök – Early Impressions appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

God of War on PC was, until now, the realm of emulation and fantasy.

But with Sony’s renewed push to put first party games on Windows computers, Sony Santa Monica’s 2018 masterpiece is now available to more than those who own a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 console.

Coming after the launch of Day’s Gone and Horizon: Zero Dawn, God of War comes in the middle of a release schedule that sees the two most recent Uncharted games also making an early 2022 appearance.

Additionally, Sony has allowed other titles such as Quantic Dream’s catalogue and Kojima’s Death Stranding onto Steam and other PC marketplaces.

This relatively packed release program points to the dramatic change in approach Sony has recently taken with giving access to it’s closely-held first party catalogue, and the new market they spy in finally providing PC players their games on their preferred platform.

But this strategy relies on the somewhat finicky nature of PC ports. We have sometimes seen relatively poor efforts (Final Fantasy VII Remake, to start with) that doesn’t align to PC player’s expectations of flexibility and access to fiddling with the game’s presentation. Horizon: Zero Dawn itself was released in a relatively rough state before a few patches ironed out issues with it.

Fortunately, God of War is an example of how to do a PC port right. Without being completely revolutionary, the port is a solid conversion that should leave fans happy, and is sure to sell millions.

This is down to a number of factors: for example, God of War comes bundled with both NVIDIA’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR temporal and spatial respectively upscaling techniques, allowing PC gamers to increase performance at the cost of some image quality.

The DLSS implementation in particular is excellent, with minimal trade off for a significant boost to frame rates. Unlike some other titles, DLSS here is extremely clean without some of the blurriness or particle trails exhibited in some previous titles.

Compared to the native TAA implementation, it is almost impossible to tell at the higher DLSS settings that it’s even active at all.

Textures too are high quality, and while there aren’t many options that scale significantly above the PS4’s settings, there are enough that the title comes into focus much clearer than on Sony’s now vintage hardware.

One new effort is the inclusion of a new form of global illumination, which provides more realistic lighting and shadowing across scenes. Combined with higher resolution shadow cascades and improved reflection quality, this now feels like the best way to play the game.

One unfortunate setting is motion blur. Now I’m not a motion blur hater like many in the PC space, but in God of War by default Motion blur is set extremely high.

Unfortunately, this is very strong camera motion blur too, which can impede clarity when looking for enemies around the environment. From it’s default 10, I suggest turning it down to at least 3 if now lower. I would have liked to see a good per-object motion blur, but it seems it was beyond the scope of this particular porting project.

Overall the game has held up well, though it no longer stuns in the same way as it did on PS4 back in 2018. The art direction, in particular, pulls you in, and the higher resolutions that are now possible show off each art asset at it’s maximum potential.

But how does it perform? On my system with an i9-9900k, RTX 3070 and 32GB of RAM (more on that in a minute), performance was about what I expected for a modern AAA game.

With DLSS set to ‘quality’, I was able to maintain a stable 80FPS at 3440x1440p in most areas with the exception of some cutscenes, where performance dropped as additional post-processing effects were turned on.

And while I was GPU-bound in most scenarios, this doesn’t mean the game isn’t also heavy on the CPU, and you’ll need a strong CPU to get above 60FPS. Another thing I noticed was that the game does demonstrate a decent level of multi-threading, yet one core consistently took a significant load, indicating an amount of single-threading that I wouldn’t expect in a modern title, especially one developed on the CPU-starved PlayStation 4 consoles.

One thing to be aware of was significant RAM usage up to 20GB when playing at 4K. The developers have released a couple of patches to attempt to fix some memory leak issues, but this has not yet fixed the issues that I have been having. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Another small niggle was that God of War doesn’t support fullscreen at all, only windowed and borderless window. This may cause issues with certain programs, though I couldn’t see any issues attributable to it in my time with the game.

On the other hand I was pleased to see native Dualsense support, with PlayStation button prompts and a picture of the Dualsense in the controls menu, but I was only able to get it to work via USB, and of course as a PS4 game, without the excellent haptics or adaptive trigger support a PS5 title enjoys.

Overall, God of War on PC is an excellent translation of the 2018 PlayStation 4 classic. It is now the best way to play the game, with upgraded visuals and more options for controls. Additionally, it is good to see this released on a variety of PC storefronts, not just Epic Games Store, where some ex-PlayStation exclusives have landed.

The God of War release  bodes well for the upcoming Uncharted games, titles which haven’t received even the FPS boost that many PS4 first party exclusives have enjoyed.

That said, if you’ve played this on PlayStation, especially the PlayStation 4 Pro or PS4, there’s not a huge amount to see for people. Certainly I loved playing above 60FPS but the original PlayStation versions still hold up today. For owners of the game on PS5 there are only minor upgrades but going forward I think the PC port will become the definitive version.

It is exciting to see Sony’s new commitment to expanding access to its excellent first-party library to the PC market, including the purchase of PC porting house Nixxes. Of course, I would love to see this day and date with future new releases as per Microsoft’s approach, but I understand that’s not likely.

Still, there’s a rich back-catalogue of games to choose from, and I can only hope Bloodborne is the next cab off the rank.

The post God of War (PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Staying at home is something alot of us have now become accustomed too. Play at home.

Todays PlayStation announcements are a mixed bag of titles for us players.

But, incase you missed it, below is the full recap of announcements.

Gran Turismo 7 arrives on PS5 and PS4 – March 4, 2022

GT7 is both the culmination of the series which answers the expectations of GT fans throughout the years, and at the same time it is a title that marks a beginning of a difficult mission to contain the full breadth of car culture from the past into a single video game.  Even more exciting is the firm release date, coming March 4, 2022!

First look at God of War Ragnarök

The team at Santa Monica Studios has unveiled the first look at the highly anticipated sequel that picks up a few years after the events of God of War (2018).

The freezing winds of Fimbulwinter have come to Midgard, making survival for Kratos, Atreus, and Mimir in the Norse wilds even more challenging than before.

While the last game built an enormous amount of trust and understanding between father and son, there is still a great deal of complexity in their interactions – especially after the revelation of Atreus’ Giant heritage and the hidden prophecy only Kratos saw.

Together, Kratos and Atreus will have to make a choice about which path they will take. Whatever they choose will define the fate of all those living in the Nine Realms as Ragnarök approaches.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Marvel’s Wolverine revealed

 Veteran developer Insomniac Games has created two new exciting titles for PlayStation 5 consoles. Firstly, players will continue the journey of both Peter Parker and Miles Morales in their most epic single-player adventure yet with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, coming exclusively to PlayStation 5 consoles in 2023.

Today’s game footage trailer is merely just a glimpse at what’s in store in terms of the new abilities our heroes will acquire, suits they will wear (more on that some other time), and the villains that will try to hunt them down. Speaking of villains, make sure to check out the trailer to see who’s coming to Spidey 2!

Another announcement we certainly didn’t expect was the first glimpse of Marvel’s Wolverine.

Marvel’s Wolverine is a standalone game being directed by Brian Horton (creative director) and Cameron Christian (game director), who recently led the creative efforts on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a game we’re extremely proud of at Insomniac. In the vein of our Spider-Man games, our goal here is to not only respect the DNA of what makes the character so popular, but also look for opportunities to make it feel fresh and truly reflect the Insomniac spirit.

PlayStation Showcase: All the announcements

• The City Where Play Has No Limits
• Gran Turismo 7 arrives on PS5 and PS4 March 4
• First look at God of War Ragnarök
• Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection coming to PS5 and PC
• Tchia: Creating a game inspired by New Caledonia
• Down the rabbit hole in Deathloop’s story trailer
• Bloodhunt comes to PlayStation 5 in 2021
• Breaking down the story trailer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Face the unknown in new Ghostwire: Tokyo trailer
• GTAV and GTA Online now coming to PS5 March 2022
• Rewriting history – Alan Wake Remastered brings the writer’s story to PS4 and PS5
• Welcome to the world of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction
• Journey with Frey to Forspoken’s fantastical world next spring
• Breaking down the Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands gameplay trailer
• A new look at the stylish action of Project Eve
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake is the legendary tale remade on PlayStation 5

The post PlayStation Showcase 2021 Wrap Up appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

NOW CLOSED – According to new data insights from PriceSpy, the fully impartial price and product comparison site, it appears gamers are shopping smartly, waiting for prices to drop for the most popular games of last year, as all top five games are now priced under the $70 mark.

PriceSpy’s five most popular games in May 2019.

Liisa says: “Based on historical clicks received, despite launching over a year ago, God of War (PS4)has claimed the top spot as most popular game in May, ahead of a brand new release, CTR Crash Team Racing – Nitro Fuled Edition (PS4), which is due to launch later this month.

“Our insights indicate gamers appear to be shopping smartly, holding out to purchase last year’s most popular games once the initial launch hype has died down and the price has dropped.  This is great to see, as shopping like this can help gamers save hundreds of dollars in the long run.”

God of War (PS4) originally launched with an RRP of $120. According to pricing insights from PriceSpy, it can now be purchased for just $48, 60 percent less than 15 months ago.

Liisa concludes:  “The price drop has certainly resulted in consumer demand picking up in the game again, as previously the last time God of War (PS4) was the most popular game, was back in August 2018.

PriceSpy has teamed up with STG to give away the top two games for the month of May 2019.

To Enter our Giveaway you will need to correctly answer what is the name of Kratos’ Son?

A: John

B: Michael

C: Atreus

You can give us your Answer by placing a Comment below, hitting us up on Facebook, Tweet to us, or Email Us.

Download the PriceSpy app here.

* Winner(s) will be randomly selected from those that Comment below / Facebook Comment / Email in accordance to the above Question.Winner(s) will receive a new retail boxed copy of God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2. God of War is rated R16 and Red Dead Redemption 2  is rated R16. You MUST be over the age of 16 years in order to Enter this competition (STG may request for Age Verification). Competition ends on the  18th of July 2019.

The post Enter to Win May’s Top Games w. Pricespy! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Like me I’m sure all of you PlayStation gamers out there have already written a few letters to Santa with your requests.

If you haven’t there’s still time as Xmas approaches quicker than a reindeer driven sleigh.

This Xmas sees a wealth of PS exclusives on the wishlists, such as Insomniac’s Spider-Man, Detroit Become Human and the always epic God of War.

However PlayStation has soooo much more.

With their recently released PlayStation Classic you can embrace the small but mighty console that set the stage for the PS games we play today. This limited-edition console is a replica of the 1994 original model and will bring back all your best memories from the 90’s. The console comes pre-loaded with 20 old school games including Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy VII, Tekken 3 and many more, and comes equipped with two wired controllers, an HDMI cable to connect to your TV, plus a virtual memory card to save your adventures as you switch between titles. All this retro goodness will set you back at only $RRP 169.99 NZD.

The newest controller from PlayStation, the DualShock4 Wireless Controller, is the perfect gift for any gamer this Christmas. Keep it cool with midnight blue or embrace the unique with green camouflage or gold – the DualShock4 comes in 14 fresh new colours, you are spoilt for choice. The revolutionised technology offers a new precise and evolved controller.

Looking to show a gamer in your life some love this Christmas? PlayStation Plus is a subscription that will enhance their free and existing Sony Entertainment Network account and help them to get the most out of their PS4 system. Those with a subscription can enjoy online multiplayer, monthly plus games, auto game patch download from rest mode, 10GB of online storage for game saves, exclusive content and discounts in PlayStation store as well as exclusive early access to new full game trials, demos and public beta trial.

If you’re looking to be part central this festive and New Years season – PlayStation has you covered there aswell, with their Playlink range.

PlayStation’s PlayLink is all about social gaming that everyone can enjoy! Instead of the standard controller, the games are playable on your smartphone or tablet and designed for 2-6 players. PlayLink games could be considered modern day board games, offering a refreshing experience that encourages interaction and quality time. PlayLink title Chimparty is the perfect family friendly game, check out Knowledge is Power: Decades for a super fun games night, or enjoy the large range of other games available.

So gather around with family, friends or frenemies and grip your smartphones, your PS4 controllers and celebrate Xmas 2018 the PlayStation way.

The post Make it a PlayStation Season appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

With some of the biggest games of the year due to be released over the coming months, PriceSpy the fully impartial price and product comparison service, can exclusively reveal, both Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4) and FIFA 19 (PS4) have ranked within the website’s top five games for the month of August, 2018.

Despite neither of games being physically available to play, with Marvel’s Spider-Man due for general release on 7th September 2018 and FIFA 19 later this month (28th of September), based on historical clicks on PriceSpy, both are already proving extremely popular.

Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett, New Zealand country manager for PriceSpy, says: “Avid Kiwi gamers appear to be waiting in eager anticipation for both of these two big releases.

“According to our historical data, even though both are not yet available to play, shoppers have still been busily searching out the best deals – a whole month ahead of launch.”

“Offering a high level of animation and being set in a present-day New York City, it’s no wonder Marvel’s Spider-Man is receiving such a lot of interest from both excited gamers and movie fans, as players will soon be able to web-swing from Manhattan’s skyscrapers and feel like a real superhero!”

Further insights from PriceSpy uncover just how much Marvel’s Spider-Man and FIFA 19 have increased in popularity this last month:

Liisa continues: “Our website currently offers consumers access to over 107,000 products, so the popularity ranking figures show just how popular both games appear to be.”

As well as Marvel’s Spider-Man and FIFA 19, PriceSpy also predicts Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty Black Ops 4 to be very much in demand, as both already rank within the 10 top games for August, despite not being available for general release until mid to late October 2018.

Liisa concludes: “For those looking to buy a new game, we recommend consumers download the PriceSpy app. This way they can ensure they are buying them at the best possible price. If they are also prepared to wait until some of the hype dies down, they could even pick themselves up a bit of a bargain!”

The post PriceSpy reveals the game that are pulling in the clicks appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

NOW CLOSED – According to data insights from PriceSpy, the fully impartial price and product comparison service, Sony PlayStation is dominating the New Zealand gaming world.

Based on historical clicks, the most popular game right now is still God of War, claiming the top spot for four consecutive months. Following closely behind is Detroit: Become Human. Since its release in May 2018, it has quickly become the second most-popular game of the moment. (For those that haven’t yet had the chance to buy either of games, PriceSpy can also reveal both have dropped significantly in price, now offering a combined average saving of 17 per cent).

PriceSpy Top Games for July 2018:

1. God of War (PS4)
2. Detroit: Become Human (PS4)
3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
4. Octopath Traveler (Switch)
5. Gran Turismo: Sport (VR) (PS4)

To celebrate, PriceSpy has teamed up with STG to offer one lucky viewer the chance to win the two top games for the month of July: God of War and Detroit: Become Human.

To Enter to be in the draw to Win the two Top Games from July; God of War and Detroit: Become Human you will need to answer this Question Correctly:

What were the Top Video Games from April 2018 as announced from Pricespy? (You will likely find a clue HERE)

Were they:

A: God of War & Far Cry 5

B: God of War & Wipeout Collection

C: Detroit: Become Human & Gran Turismo: Sport VR

You can give us your Answer by placing a Comment below, hitting us up on Facebook, Tweet to us, or Email Us.

* Winner(s) will be randomly selected from those that Comment below / Facebook Comment / Email in accordance to the above Question.Winner(s) will receive a New retail boxed copy of God of War & Detroit: Become human for PlayStation 4. God of War is rated M, Far Cry 5 is rated M. You MUST be over the age of 15 years in order to Enter this promotion (STG may request for Age Verification). Competition ends on the 9th of September 2018. New Zealand only entries will be accepted.

The post Win July’s Top Selling Games w. Pricespy appeared first on Shane the Gamer.