Nintendo Spends Big On Television Advertising In Month Of August To Fend Off Spider-Man

cause there ninty senses were tingling

Dunno if the plan worked well because :

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2018/09/uk_sales_charts_spider-man_ps4_is_the_fastest_selling_game_of_the_year

“Hearts and minds “ mind share and media spend..yawn .... I’m a ninty fanboy boy I would LOVE to play spider-man. Not buying a new system to do so....

@Cobalt To be fair, what has Nintendo released this year, let alone this month, that could compete with Sony's Spiderman?

There's a chance Smash or Pokemon could outpace it, but those are still months away.

On that note, despite owning a PS4 I'm not too interested in Spiderman.

From my first impressions with the E3 2017 trailer it looked like Uncharted: Spiderman edition. Which is perfectly fine, just not for me.

At least they're keeping up with the advertising

@Seacliff how do you make that connection at all?

If anything it's more like Sunset Overdrive considering it's Insomniac

There's a joke in there somewhere

Hah...!
I just only care about what's new from Nintendo Switch.
Don't care at all from Sony.

@Seacliff Really? It looks nothing like that to me. It reminds me of the Batman Arkham games.

@Seacliff it is nothing like Uncharted really. Outside of both being third person there really are very few similarities between them.

People still watch T.V?

I’m getting that Spider Man game for sure. Just not day one though.

The Spidey game is PlayStation customers' consolation prize for not having Super Mario Odyssey.

@Cobalt That's because there is nothing else to play on the ps4.

@Seacliff It actually reminded me of uncharted as well. After playing the game it’s basically a mix between Arkham Assylum, Uncharted, and Spider-Man. The graphics are pretty but I found it to be some what repetitive with just finding more guys and button mashing. Not saying it’s a bad game, just not really my thing.

@Seacliff Similarly, the only 2 reasons that I have a PS4 are DMC5 and FF7R.

nintendo keeps advertising the switch and the games switch will continue to sell well especially wen smash bros comes out in december thats going to sell like hotcakes.

@KingBowser86 Well at least you'll be getting one of those games in your lifetime.

If they really wanted to fend off Spider man they could have place a top quality game on the month. Or get a 3rd party to do so. Instead of more irrelevant Indie games and more advertising.

That said, not really playing SM (I'll get it on sale further down the line) I went with DQXI - and best turn based JRPG I have played in years.

@KingBowser86 I will surely be getting DMC5 on pc, no need for a ps4.

This spider man doesn't get my interest with those cinematic moves IMO.

Oh! Another article to fuel the flaming on here.

Been playing Spider Man on my PS4 this weekend, been loving it to death as well. Definitely a game to keep playing until October rolls around.

@Cobalt Yep, it crushed it. DQXI is also amazing at #2.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-09-09-uk-charts-spider-man-is-fastest-selling-game-of-the-year

One thing people do not take into account is that none of these games are released into a vacuum like on the Switch.

Spiderman is competing for sales against TR and DQXI for everyones $60 dollars in september

@Zeraki D-don't jinx it! I'm already nervous that the non-Pro PS4 performance of the game will be bad, if they even make that version...

I will flat out being completely truthful here. I do not have a PlayStation 4. All my reaction to Spider-Man is purely through someone else.

But that game, it has none of my interest. What actually causes me to stop in wonder, Dragon Quest 11 is quite possibly the best traditional RPG I have ever played. I would call it better than Final Fantasy 7. And I'm having a hard time deciding if it's better than Final Fantasy 9. And I have a hard time determining if it's better than Dragon Quest 7 and I know I very very heavily have nostalgia for 7. And I honestly am considering it my game of the year. But I doubt any major group is actually going to consider that game for Game of the Year. With Smash Brothers, Pokemon and Spider-Man I don't think it has a chance. And that actually upsets me a bit.

But in keeping with tradition, Square Enix has underperformed in ads for Dragon Quest 11 in my opinion. But it also pisses off my Sony friends when they find out I went out of my way to buy a gaming laptop just to play Dragon Quest 11. They are apparently still upset I do not have a PlayStation 4.

Huh? Isn't it a logical fallacy to assume Nintendo spent that much in advertising just because of Spider-Man? I'm not seeing the link in any way.
On topic, I'm pretty stoked for Spider-Man. It's pretty much guaranteed to be my holiday PS4 game, but I'm just worried Smash Bros. would take up so much of my time anyway. Not to mention I STILL have to finish Horizon Zero Dawn to clear up some of that backlog.

I am so glad the marketing department got such a shake up.

@Seacliff same. I got dragon quest xi myself though even there the day it hits the switch there might be another used ps4 on the market.

Plus judging how advertising budget at Sony focused on spider man, the Switch release of DQXI might well end up receiving more advertising from nintendo alone than both Sony and Square Enix gave it(though otoh it thankfully seem to be already doing decently and at least comparable to dragon quest viii here in the west... perhaps even more in rare numbers)

@jobvd Nothing to play ?

Just for September there are 4 big titles :

-Spiderman
-Dragon Quest XI
-Fifa 19
-Shadow of the Tomb Raider

I'd love to have nothing to play on my Switch the same way dude... ^^

Spiderman has an 87 average at Metacritic, which isn't bad but is surprisingly low for such a hyped up game.

@Agramonte

I'm playing Dragon Quest XI for 5 days now and gosh, what a blast !

@jobvd
Nothing to play on ps4? What’s your drug of choice? I’m curious

@Cobalt it is just amazing. This is what a modern turn based jRPG looks like.

I loved Ninokuni2. But there is just something about this game that makes me play nonstop. I do not get tired, lost, flustered... I just look up and it is 4AM and I make myself stop 🤣

Well I got Spider-man and I think its a great game. A lot of fun. Dragon Quest I’m holding off on getting until the Switch version is out. Much prefer to be able to take they game on the go.

I am glad Nintendo is doing with the Switch what they did not do with the Wii U. Wii U advertising was mostly nonexistent until Splatoon came out. Also, Spider-Man is a great game. Nintendo is also building steam for the upcoming holiday season. Switch has an interesting game catalog currently. A lot of good ports and console exclusives.

@Majora101
I did not realize about the subtle politics inserted into Spider-Man. That actually upsets me.

@Agramonte
I feel the same way as you do about Dragon Quest 11. Definitely one of the best Dragon Quest ever made. And it is exactly what I hope for, for a traditional RPG. I never fully understand why people want to push so hard on action adventure or action RPG but constantly harass people who enjoy traditional RPGs. I just hope this trend of powerful traditional RPGs continues.

I hope it's not all on TV ads though. I know a lot of people don't bother watching regular TV anymore. Especially teens and young adults. Many people watch their "TV" on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Twitch and other such internet based platforms.

@jobvd This seems like a subjective but wrong opinion

How'd you guys draw that kind of conclusion? They've been ramping up on marketing more and we already know from interviews as early as the first half of this year that so to suggest it's been done as a response to Spiderman all of a sudden is just incendiary and reeks of clickbait

@Cobalt
I don't think Nintendo's "plan" was to stop a heavily marketed game starring the world's most popular superhero from selling very well.

I honestly dont understand the crazy hype around this Spiderman game. I mean, it's just another Spiderman game right? When have those been anything more than mediocre? By the way, I'm not bring a hater. I just literally haven't heard what makes this one so special. Seems like the same old stuff to me.

What I is curious is it Nintendo is a everyone platform but the Sony is going for male testosterone is anything just plain wrong here. I think NIN is going for the long game that is what going to keep it afloat the more age, gender group plays the more you will survive. One hit wonders don't last forever. Players age and new players come along.

@invictus4000 This newer Spider Man game is developed by Insomniac Games, the devlopers behind the Ratchet & Clank series as well as Sunset Overdrive on Xbox One. They've been quite a talented studio for Sony in a long while and them developing an open world Spider Man game seems to make people really excited (including myself)

@Zuljaras hate to burst your bubble but Nintendo been out doing Sony 2017, 2018, and most likely 2019....Sony already lost 2018 trying to be a revisionst isn't working.

It takes more then one game if no support or 3rd parties coming to the platform that one sale is a drop in the bucket.

Assuming all of that ad money really was to curb attention for Spider-Man (I highly doubt it though), Nintendo instead could have probably spent that on a game releasing within that time frame... Ha, a paper Mario or something (although it'd have to be another 3rd party exclusives instead of a Nintendo game since they're mostly spent for now).

I wouldn't exactly say it was for the purpose of fending off Spider-Man. There's really no big Nintendo exclusive that comes to mind releasing this month. Imo, it doesn't pick up until Fighterz late September and then Dark Souls in October. Which are also not exclusives, but great regardless.

The next hitter from Nintendo is Mario Party and I don't think that's turning anyone away from Spider-Man, lmao.

@Majora101 I'm really curious about the left leaning politics in Microsoft games, you didn't give an example for one of their games. Makes it seem like you just stuck them into the comment for the sake of insulting them for something they don't partake in.

Wow lots of Nintendo nutters out today just at the mention of a great game appearing for a different console, with some very dubious statements.

It's good to see Nintendo consistently spending on advertising to help maintain momentum for the Switch until some big games come out. Whilst PS4 owners have just received another excellent exclusive ahead of a very busy 3rd party schedule.

A great time to be a gamer

@Majora101 Woah that's a whole load of anger right there. Now I must admit I have not read any Spider-Man comics in years, but being that this game is based on the comic world of Spider-Man, I am assuming that Trump Tower in the comics is also renamed with an evil corporation, which would be the reason it's named as such in the game.

Besides from that, I am not entirely sure what left leaning politics you are referring to in Sony and Microsoft games. But that is likely because I never went out my way to look for such things in the games I play. Best advice is to just ignore Sony and Microsoft games altogether if that is how you feel about them and stick with developers whom don't try to put politics into things. I will say that I do notice gaming websites looking to make politics out of games, I have seen enough of that in recent years, but not the games themselves.

@SwitchForce No 3rd party support coming to the platform? Quit making fun of the Switch. lol

Not to worry, Spiderman Solitaire is out this week for Switch. Don't you just love these card games?

@ErraticGamer I've always been a Nintendo and Playstation fanboy and while I absolutely wished Nintendo kept the hot streak going in 2018 like they did last year, I'm glad Sony has been doing great exclusives again

Luckily I refuse to buy Playstation games or hardware until Sony figures the crossplay functionality out.

With online and advertising, Nintendo are slowly getting with the program. Maybe they could use more Western first party studios. But, they are certainly moving in the right direction

Would you trade in your Switch for PS4 to play Spiderman. A lot of gamers will; after all it's the game that is important, not the console.

And for those with both machines, Sony will be getting the gamers cash right now.

Maybe there was going to be an announcement on the postponed Direct last week, telling us about a big AAA Nintendo release for this week.

Oh look a flying pig. 😀

I'm also playing Dragon Quest XI and Spiderman at the moment. Amazing games. I doubt Dragon Quest XI will make it without some serious downgrade to the Switch though. I'd still prefer a localised version of the 3DS Dragon Quest XI. It has a slightly different art style and feels like an other interpretation of the game instead of being a downgraded doppelganger.

Don't worry about Spiderman, according to NintendoLife plenty of 9/10 games have been released for the Switch last most. Games like into the breach, Planet Alpha, the Walking Dead and an old 3DS moster hunter port

With God of War in spring and Spiderman in autumn, Sony are having a year like Nintendo did last year in terms of using top-tier titles as bookends. I've enjoyed revisiting the enhanced Wii U ports on Switch this year like Bayonetta, Captain Toad and Donkey Kong, but this year has always been all about Smash as far as Switch is concerned. Yes, I'm aware of Mario Tennis, Kirby and Octopath (and the rest) but those games couldn't persuade me to part with £50 like Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, God of War, or Spidey could.

@Kevember I wish Spider-Man wasn't locked to PS4, so I could get it on better hardware (i.e. PC) and enjoy both it and Mario.

I usually just flail my arms around wildly to fend off spiders.

@Cobalt,

It is possible that both the PS4 and Switch can do well in the same month,and the Switch has done pretty well in the U.S so far.

Spiderman sells itself.
nintendo should figure out to get Marvel on board on the switch. Make a Wordwar / Planet hulk game and bam sold out day one if done right.

I have had a PS4 since it launched and I honestly couldn't care less about Spiderman. That said it is Spiderman and it looks really good so I can understand why it is selling well, but I still have absolutely no plans to buy it.

@ErraticGamer Yeah this console wars stuff is just pointless and I have no idea why anyone cares if one console has a game that sells well. Personally I am not a fan of most Sony exclusives, I was never into the whole cinematic gaming experience thing but that is just me.

@Kevember

Nah, that was GoW already which I consider to be better game than Odyssey after playing both

@Majora101 "all hate" ? You're not speaking for me.

@SmaggTheSmug I wish Mario wasn't tied to Nintendo devices so I could play it at more powerful hardware.

Spiderman is undoubtedly a good game, not quite Batman Arkham good, but definitely the best Spiderman game since Spiderman 2.

Nintendo's heavy hitters don't release until the holidays so Spiderman shouldn't effect them much.

@johnvboy

Sure, but to be honest, there is nothing to compete on Switch...this year :/

Now I have the japanese numbers and Spiderman is 1st there too. Yeah, even in Japan. I really hope that we're gonna get plenty of new games announcement during the next Direct.

Nintendo promised several NEW GAMES for this year still unannounced yet... They have to hurry because in only 3 months it's over... :/

@BigKing Don't expect to see another 3DS vs Vita situation where another face of the industry could do well even on the less selling system. When Sony dominate the market they crush the industry with an iron fist and do their best to kill the competitors. Nintendo is still stuck in that hippy Iwata's mindset where all game makers are part of a big family and all games are good whatever the system they're on. Lol no wonder why Nintendo is becoming more and more irrelevant.

@BladedKnight
Why do people combine PS4 and Xbox games to combat Nintendo ones? It's obvious that 2 consoles combined will likely have more games than 1.

Spiderman is our first and last PS4 game of the year. I'll be getting RDR2 for the Xbox and maybe A.C. Odyssey (although I've hated A.C. games so far). Aside from those I'm getting Starlink, Pokemon and Smash for the Switch. So there's no imbalance in games for me.

@Cobalt And who will release those new games on the switch? The japanese industry is a walking zombie at this point, Nintendo has no one relevant to support them.

That's a really weird feeling to be reminded that the Spider-Man game is coming out (wait, it actually came out already) by a website focused on Nintendo content via an article talking about budgets of TV adverts in August.

@BigKing You're probably sarcastic, but I wouldn't scoff at a PC version of Mario Odyssey or Zelda.
That said Spider-Man is not a character created by Sony for Sony and there have been a few multiplat Spider-Man games. While Mario only really appeals to Nintendo fans, Spider-Man is a non-gaming franchise that I would play a video game of because I liked the comics and cartoons.

Good on Spider-Man. Seems very deserving of the success.

@bitleman dunno dude, I just repeat what Nintendo said :

"There are several unannounced NEW GAMES coming to Nintendo Switch this year".

@Majora101 I like progressive themes in my games, for them to tell stories and include characters that are new. That makes me a snowflake how exactly?

Got to be strong to embrace change... friend.

@Cobalt It's just north korean propaganda style damage control. Reality is the japanese industry is dead and Nintendo's future is on mobiles. Their games budget are so low so couldn't even get a greenlight on PS4 and Xbox One.

So I'm guessing that's NA, even though you didn't bother to mention a location, as usual.

@BladedKnight
I own all 3 systems and they all have different strengths. There isn't a one to rule them all for me.

It sounded like a negative though when you stated that the best games were on other consoles and that there was only 2 notable games and some old ports on Switch. While 3rd party sucks for the most part, the Switch does have 3 high profile family friendly exclusives releasing over the holidays. So my point was there's a bit of something for everyone somewhere and there's no need to try and put another system down (or its owners) because it doesn't have whatever game it is that floats their boat.

The title of this article was purposely chosen to start an argument between Nintendo's loyalist and Sony's. I can't see other reason.

There is no way in the world that the advertisement money that Nintendo used in August was for the sole purpose of stopping Spider-Man from selling. How could Nintendo fight against Spider-Man with no games releasing in either August or September? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

I really dislike all the console wars and the "who won the year" stuff, but to be honest, 2017 was Nintendo's Year, 2018 isn't. Even Smash won't change that. Sony published better games than Nintendo this year. That's a fact and doesn't bother me in the least. Being a Nintendo fan doesn't mean that I need to be a Sony hater.

@Malcrash It can't be wrong if it's subjective.

@Mgene15 Maybe it's because I don't use drugs that I see the emptiness in the ps4 library.

@Cobalt Those aren't that great.

2018 is a great year for gamers

Where??? I saw Spiderman loads over the last 2 weeks and 1 ad for Ninty :/ ... It wouldn't of mattered anyway really lol

@Cobalt
They're all shovelware games >:v

Spider-mans decent enough but its the same hack n slash/beat em up formula they used with soo many games, good and fun to play, some polished controls and spider-man coating.

It's decent enough but i feel like I've played the game before, was called Batman before, or star wars force unleashed, or uncharted... Nice game but to be honest... Its not a game changer, its not something I'd remember in a years time... Or even in jan next year... It doesn't do anything to the formula that makes me think "oh wow". Nothing to jump up and down about.

But Red Dead Redemption is something Nintendo needs to be worried about. Spider man is a PS4 exclusive, 1st party too, it's not like only Nintendo are missing that one... Everyone else is too... Using the same hack and slash formula thata been used in so many games before.

RDR is a multiplatform game NOT coming to the Switch... That game will win Goty... There is no doubt about it. It will break records and its the big game of 2018...

Nintendo need to be worried about that and they need to get some sort of consolation as an alternative... A remastered RDR 1 exclusive to the Switch would fit that bill, it won't make up for it but it will be enough.

Nintendo needs to be worried about that game... Not Spider-Man 😂

@subpopz
Me too.
Not interested with Spiderman at all.

@jobvd Please tell me you're joking by saying there's nothing else to play on PS4.

I mean I get people are loyal to their favourite brands but being completely dismissive of countless amazing PS4 games like that is embarrassing as it's simply way off the mark.

If you were being serious maybe it's time to take the blinkers off and see what you're missing. You can like Sony and Nintendo at the same time you know? They are not mutually exclusive.

@datamonkey So many assumptions. I support sony and nintendo and own their systems. Ps4 is a major disapointment to me. Get over it, opinions differ you know.

Never seen a Nintendo commercial in my life, but then again, I barely ever watch any live TV.

Anyways, I doubt it will do them any good. Spider-Man is a great game after all. I'm currently playing it myself as well. It's nowhere near as good as God of War of course, as far as blockbuster PS exclusives are concerend, but then again, no AAA-game this gen can (sofar) hold a candle to GoW. Spider-Man is gorgeous, the movement and combat is super fluid and great fun, I also dig the story missions, some real solid action, emotional beats and very decent voice acting. Some open-world related quirkiness aside, I have to say the attention to detial, in terms of visuals and sounds, is just staggering. The world feels incredibly alive, more so than anything I've played yet (though I don't doubt that RDR2 will probably do Insomniac one better).

THe issue I have, and what brings the experience down a notch, is that it IS a cookie-cutter open-world design, with hundreds of activities that are not that unique or not that fun, but necessary to progress your gear, gadgets and skills (which in turn open up new gameplay avenues which are actually fun to use). These things are time consuming collectathon and challenge runs, as we've seen dozen and dozens of times before. I highly recommend spreading them out between story missions! Still, the mechanics that are used to faciliate these busy-bee-activities, namely the combat and movement are sublime, the world the happen in is supremely detailed and gorgeous (espically in HDR which really makes the world pop 10x mroe compared when to switching to SDR) and the tasks you get tend to be more varied and exciting that in other, comparable open-world games, esp. in terms of crimes that happen basically seemlessly within the larger open-world.

Further negatives are the basic stealth, which is not as fun as in Arkham, the presence of QTE events, something I hoped we were done with ^^ and the non-Spidey gameplay segments, where you get to play MJ (and other characters). These are neat ideas, perspective shifts, that could have been cool, but play kind boring and linear.

All in all, I say the game is a very strong release for Insomniac. A huge step up from Sunset Overdrive, their best game yet for sure and the most fun I had in an open-world game of this nature since GTAV story missions. It's also the first Spider-Man game to really nail movement, sense of speed, animation, fluid and punchy combat and extremely well realized version of the MCU New York (you can find locations from shows such as Dare Devil as well, or the Avengers Tower or ... plenty of other known spots, it's reall well done). All in all I'd say, if I had to give it score, it's a A- on state-of-the-art HDR TV and a B+ on anything else. The sensation of being Spider-Man swinging through a sunny day New York, fighting crime and stopping baddies just works really well overall, it just happens to be look and feel much better with the right equipment (just don't expect GoW level of HDR awesomeness as a particle system that made GoW, among other things, such a mindblowing visual experience, is not present in Spider-Man to the same degree).

I'd say it's highly recommended for fans of Arkham games, all kind of open-world games (not a fan personal, but Spidey does virutally all of them one better), obviously Spider-Man, as it's the best Spidey game to-date, as well as anyone looking for something to fest his eyes on or wanting to take a virtual trip to a fully realized, even though not 1:1 copied version of the MCU New York City.

@jobvd Obviously opinions differ, I'm well over it.

Dismissing a whole console's library like that just seems a bit insane. Are there literally no PS4 games you like as the variety available is enormous...?

@SmaggTheSmug It was developed by a first party Sony studio, so that's all you need to know.

BTW Breath of the Wild already runs better on the PC. 4K 60fps

I own a lot of consoles but I have never had a Sony. It was not an intentional plan but I was always busy with the others. The PS is, in fact, the only one I do not own. I started on Nintendo, went to Sega, then back to Nintendo and so forth. I am now firmly in the Nintendo family again. I really loved Spiderman comics growing up but I find most of the Superhero/Comic based games repetitive and lacking new mechanics for the game engine. The basic fundamentals have not changed from the early side scrollers that started to break the third wall before true 3D gaming took hold. I did look at the new Spiderman game but it truly does not inspire me and my desire to purchase PS system of any kind has not increased.

If you like these types of games it looks like a good one but I am waiting on some other Switch games to purchase. I need the depth of the story and game play over amazing graphics and extreme realism. Because for me, the more real it is, the less of a game it becomes.

@Seacliff Not really no, think more like Arkham-meets-GTAV-meets-SunsetOverdrive. There are a few non-Spidey gameplay segments that are reminiscent of comparable segments in Uncharted, and obviously, it has a similar look to it, plenty of big-action-moment-cutscenes and the likes, but that goes for many modern, AAA, cinematic'esque games. It's pretty far removed from Uncharted cover-based, 3D-person shooting galleries, it's virtually a polar opposite really

It's a really good game, but it does fall prey to many trappings of conventional open-world-designs. If you don't mind these TOO much, and if you care at all about Spiderman, the games I've mentioned above, really fantastic movement and super solid combat, or just an amazing version of a virtual New York, you should definitely check it out. I posted a more detail mini-review a few comments above.

After God of War and Hollow Knight, it's probably going to end up being number 3 on my personal list this year (sofar, also excited to check out RDR2), despite the problems with the tediousness and repetitivenss of the cookie-cutter open-world design (which generally, speaking I utterly abhorr, rendering me downright incapable of even anymore touch a game like AC Odyssey or such ... =/).

@BigKing BotW running better emulated than on its home platform is exactly my point about wanting Spider-Man (and any AAA game really) on PC.

@Mountain_Man Not really, as some time has passed since GTAV. Back then, reviews tended (in my view) to be pretty forgiving for repetitive open-world activities and an open-world that was largely really just a non-all-that-interactive backdrop for said activities. Sure, GTAV did it better than most and the story missions were actually really fun, taking at least partially advantage of the gorgeous open-world, but as for the rest ... I dunno, I just think after that ratings bonanza, people felt a stronger need to consider those negatives aspects as well. Aside form the fact, that this leaves GTAV - in my mind - quite a bit overrated (if need be for a score, I'd say it's a solid ~90/100 game, but not more), it also lead to comparable games being taking down at least one notch. Spider-Man is actually doing what is doing better than most games, and is certainly well poised to stand next to GTAV as the best take on the formula yet, but it cannot forgo quite a bit of repetitiveness and tediousness all the same. Plus, the is probably also always the issue of distance. Spider-Man ain't no God of War, it's significant step down from that. That has to be reflected in the score as well, so going to something between 87-90 is to be expected. After all, as fun as I find Spider-Man to play, it would be insane to suggest it can stand on the same ground as a bona fide masterpiece. It's still the best Marvel's game to date, one of the finest open-world games ever made and friggin joy-ride of a roalcoaster

@Ralek85 Dude RDR 2 is going to obliterate GoW... The main game of 2018 is and always was going to be RDR 2. Everything else is just fodder.

GoW and Spider-Man are good fodder... But fodder non the less.

@Majora101

Just because you're a conservative doesn't mean you have to be a dumb Trump supporter. Just saying.

@Ralek85 let me put it to you another way... GTA 5 is still in the top 5 and GOW isn't even in the top 10.

GTA 5 is over 5 years old. GoW isn't even 5 months old... The same company that made GTA 5 is making RDR 2...

RDR 2 will be like Ryujin Jaka from Bleach in the faming world (burn all of creation).

Spider-man has already sold twice as many copies at launch then God of War, and God of War is one of the fastest selling PlayStation games.

@Zuljaras

A QTE-filled Spider Man game does not compare to Pokemon and Smash, sorry.

For good reason, SPIDER-MAN is all I played this weekend and it's great. (Even if it does borrow a lot of mechanics from BEEKNOX's 2 ASM titles.)

@Zuljaras

I'm not comparing the games gameplay wise, I'm just saying that I wouldn't really call this Sony's year because of Spider Man. It's a decent game people aren't really going to think about in the next couple years, whereas Smash and Pokemon usually have longer lasting appeal. I was mostly talking about impact, Smash is like the most hyped game this year from what I've seen on various gaming forums.

What good does it do when Nintendo didn't have a game big enough to compete with Spiderman in the month of August. Wasteful spending if you ask me.

@Razer Your entire point leans on the fact that RDR2 is going to outsell God of War.

That’s not how GOTY works.

Having said that, I do expect it to be brilliant. Better than GOW? That’s a tough ask. 94 is the score to beat.

GOTY will be Tetris Effect

@Fight_Teza_Fight Well GoW won't really be hard to outsell, it's a PS4 exclusive. Most multiplatform AAA games will outsell it due to the higher install base. GoW is sitting on 5m sales.

But you're right when you say that won't determin GOTY... Let's wait and see how RDR 2 comes along but if it's anywhere near as good as it's hype suggests, it will steam roll over everything. Hype is nothing to go on though so lets wait and see.

@Cobalt yeah, actually lots of big stuff coming out on PS4. Wish switch had more big stuff, not the constant port/indie...

@Razer Well, I'm not gonna argue GTA's success. I mean, just GTA Online probably makes more money for Rockstar than GoW will ever make ... Still, commercial success is not the same as quality. If we lookg at the Box Office for instance, more often than not, these things can them like mutually exclusive characteristics ^^
Plenty of really uninspired and mediocre games sell really good, some of them even consistently on a year-on-year basis. Nobody is gonna argue that Fifa is masterpiece - well, I assume no one would argue that - but at the same time, there is no denying that it moves incredible numbers of units EACH YEAR anew for EA.

I'd absolutely prefer GoW over GTAV at this point, but that is just me. GoW is just alot tighter simply put. It's close to technical perfection, has enjoyable and just-complex-enough mechanics and an engaging well told story, with Mimir being a particularly effective narrative-device, also, it features virtually no fluff at all.

But anyways my point was and still is that an honest review of GTAV post-GTAV would have to take into account that its formula features tired and repetitive elements. The same goes for RDR btw. The game world was vast and mostly empty. Unlike BotW that emptiness had no real use though, other than an atmospheric western-like sense of scale, which again is exactly what it was, a glorified back drop. You also had remarkbly little ways of interacting with the world. There were no physics puzzles to speak for instance, no deep dialogue-system, nothing at all, you couldn't even rob the damn train

I felt GoW's approach was just that much more honest and effective for all it did, but also for all it DIDN'T do.

@Ralek85 to be fair i do wish GTA 5 had more single player content, but i still prefer it over GoW. I do think that GoW was a good game though. I just don't think it's goty material, i could be wrong but we'll see. There's also MHW to beat too though.

@Tyranexx If you don't watch television you may be suffering from Telepopodisafect Syndrome. A devastating disorder which affects millions of Americans from enjoying television like everybody else. Ask your doctor how CyanioPep can help!

@Majora101 Never said your opinion was invalid, I literally asked for just one example of it, and you end up getting so defensive. It's obvious that there are so many companies putting a lot of sjw garbage in their games, but I'm yet to catch it any MS game (Nintendo's as well). If it's there, it's definitely as obvious as something like The Last of Us 2 or Battlefield 5.

@Seacliff

It pretty much looks like Sunset Overdrive with a spidey skin to me. That is why I find it so funny that some of the very same people that are slobbering over spidey thought that Sunset Overdrive was sooooooo mediocre. Even though you can see so much of that game's DNA and what they learned from it in this spider-man game.

@Majora101 That's not an answer to my question and doesnt seem to make sense in the context of our conversation.

I was asking why you called me a snowflake.

@HollowGrapeJ @Coach_A

Yeah some of that too. Pretty much what the Arkham games & SSOD's offspring might look like with a spiderman skin

@Majora101 That's the way it is for just being right of center. That's why I avoid getting into politics on this site, Nintendo may not be sjw, but some of their fans/fanboys definitely are. I've seen people on this site call sjw's "nice people." IDK why people lie about it. lol

@haniwa

Yeah, pretty much. I don't use the term often as it is grossly overused, but that article (& headline especially) is straight up click bait! I don't think that they even care about spider-man"s presence & just doing their own thing as they usually do. Maybe they're just not used to Nintendo being this aggressive with their marketing. Which would be fair as for a good while now they've been lacking in that area honestly IMO.

@datamonkey

I hear ya, but why aren't people lectured as much when they do the exact same thing with Nintendo consoles? Lmao on this very board you can find folks that make similar statements about Nintendo that don't get questioned or called out. Hell I've seen people with the audacity to say that the PC has no games worth playing & get less lecturing & being called out for crying out loud. It's like GOD forbid if you say stuff like that about a ps4 or don't care for sony's systems/games though.

Maybe their games don't appeal to them & they have an Xbox or something? Maybe they can only afford or have time for one & they chose a platform that better suits them? Who knows for real, but it's funny that people can say similar things about Nintendo (or even MS systems) yet people get to clutching their pearls if you happen to say that about sony. And that's pretty laughable

@Zuljaras

Come on dude, how in the world could you forget about Red Dead Redemption 2? It is far from being a lock for either of those 2 games. I am not even interested in it, but can clearly see the anticipation for it. Where as gamers that I know personally are or were rarely even mentioning gow or spider man much if at all, quite a few of them were & are going on enthusiastically about RDR2.

That"s not to say that they have 0 interest in either of those games or wouldn't/haven't purchased or played those games, but they're more like also rans when RDR2 is mentioned in the equation. And if it lives up to the insane hype & gets that push that rock* usually gives their high profile titles, well let's just say you might want to re-evaluate that prediction & keep some eating utensils nearby for it.

@Majora101 Lol even if they did something like it wouldn't be enough, nothing is enough for the sjw's. They'll be asking for a gender slider for more inclusivity.

@Majora101

You're literally describing how Trump argues with people he disagrees with. I'm sorry, but after all that man has said and done over the course of his presidency (if you can call it that), anyone who still blindly supports the guy deserves to be insulted.

And again, you don't have to support Trump to be a conservative/Republican. Plenty of Republicans dislike him and think he's terrible at his job.

@Majora101 Gosh. That sounds very grown up and important. No wonder you dont have time to form opinions by yourself.

@Razer Totally, would have loved for GTAV to get some single-player DLC love comparable to previous GTA games, plus maybe some pseudo-spin-offs/prequel/sequel like GTAIII did with Vice City (which I enjoyed). And I am not saying that GTAV is a bad game far from, it just think it is a tad overrated. If you purely go by ratings, it is still by far the best rated game on PS3 as well as PS4, even though GoW got close.

GTAV never made me want to buy an artbook (even though I liked the promotional and concept art for it quite a bit). GTAV never made we want to buy a novelization of its story (kinda really dig the audiobook, narrated by the voice actor of Mimir, for GoW though, it is kinda an interesting insight into the minds of the stories creators). GTAV never made me want to try NewGame+ (something I do only superduper rarely anyways).

I think part of it is that GTAV, despite it's multi-PoV approach to its own story, felt too familiar to me. It was a gentle evolution of a well-known, tried and true formula. GoW at first glance may have appeared to try something similar, but to me, it was a much more radical break and true reinvention. It was not 100% completely different, no, it was still GoW4 in some respects, but the moment to moment gameplay was just a whole new game, not to mention that the emotional beats, a struggle of a single parent really, were completely opposed to Kratos normal state of blinding rage and disregard for about just everyone else.
There were just so many small touches, like the Axe-combat, which had some really subtle touches, like frame skipping, to make it feel impactful and powerful in a way few games do. So for instance, I thought the shooting in GTAIV was really horrible. It had no punch, no feedback, it was clunky, I simply did not enjoy it. I enjoyed the havock it wreaked, sure, but the act itself was unsatisfying. GTAV was much improved in that regard, but it was still not something I feel I would have stuck around for purely for the sensation. In GoW I enjoyed every axe hit I landed, every precision throw that connected, every move I managed to pull off. It just was just really well presented, I dare say, I neve really enjoyed smacking an enemy this much before! It was not just the visuals and the presentation (and showstopping HDR implementation), but also the sound design and vibration. It all made that axe feel like the most basic, most primal, but also most effective and no-nonsense killing device I ever laid hands on in a videogame. It was not the most elaborate or cool one (Bloodborne's trick-weapons it was not), but it had a clear purpose and the game used any all means at its deposal to clearly communicate its impact at all times.

I liked many things about GTAV, but none to the degree I liked the axe in GoW, or the Mimir, the narrator, which made me stop on the Lake of the Nine many times, just to listen to his R-rated stories (before he reminded himself, that a minor was present ^^). I also really dug the Kratos-Atreus-dynamics. I just kinda struck a chord with me, because parts of that dynamic I had experienced myself growing up. I loved how Atreus was desperate to get his father's approval, but how he was basically unable to admit as much to himself or others - to name just one facet.

That is just something I do not expect to get out of a videogame and certainly not out of a God of War game of all places. It just went above and beyond my expectations. That is kinda unfair of course, as expectation are super subjective, but still .. I mean, it also went above and beyond 98% of all games I ever played, so I do think it is kinda fair to bring it up. For a supposed cinematic AAA action game, in the veins of "Press A to Pay Respect", it went to meaningful places with its characters, while still offering a best in class super-gory experience in terms of cutting down some Draugrs and stuff

I had some weak parts, too, like the boss battles, which very thankfully no longer reliant on QTEs, but still felt pretty stiff and scripted, and not quite as spectacular as in previous games. Plus, there were less than a handful of them, so that was a bit disappointing as well.

BUt even in that regard, I do have to say, I absolutely loved Balder as a villian - who wasn't really so much a villain, as a man trying to break free from an overbearing mother, who herself was desperate to protect her only kid in a pretty messed up and cruel world. It might not have been exactly Shakespearean, but again, for a videogame, it got pretty darn close at times. It was good drama, sure, but it also had some emotionally (for me) resonant themes and as with its combat, it really just presented as well as anyone could have hoped.

So yeah, long story short, for me its a GotY contender for sure, it just has to be, and as far as my personal preferences go, I will withhold judgement until I played RDR2, but I am supremely confident, that even though it might be bigger, with a denser and more complex world, it will not grip me more than GoW. I liked RDR1, I did, I am huge western fan, and it's one of the games in my live I actually ever preordered, sure, and I loved every second of being John Marston (and his son) and I also completed the game 100%, which I also rarely do, but ultimately, most my enjoyment was purely due to the setting and the fact that I always love shooting stuff with a winchester rifle. The story and characters never really touched me, honestly, by the time I reached Mexico, I was really not that motivated anymore outside of enjoying shooting everyone in the face with the aforementioned winchester rifle. I liked GTA and its characters and story alot better in that regard. THey had more depth and felt easier to relate to (like I said, GoW did - surprising to me - a really good job in that regard, I mean, how can really relate to mass-murdering maniacal literal God of War? ^^). Point being, I have expectations for RDR2, high ones, but I can't quite bring myself to believe that it'll outdo GoW, not technically, not mechanically, not story-wise/emotionally. I'd love to be wrong though, because more games like GoW are welcome, they make this hobby worthwile after all, but still, I'm really sceptical here. I got that nagging sensation, that they were once again super focused on the world they were building, and not so much on the protagonists that would inhabit that world. Like I said though, I hope I am wrong.

@Majora101 If adding something like that to a game won't keep them from complaining about a lack of inclusivity, I honestly don't know what will. lol

@Spudworthy It's easy to ignore the fact that people who hate Trump have said and done much worse in their life than him, when you align with their viewpoints. Also people love to bring up all the bad he's done since last January, but are incapable of giving an example of it, I wonder why that is?

@Ralek85 that was a bit long but i can tell you love GoW... I think its a great game but i found GTA 5 to be a lot better for how it kept me interested. Both are top notch games to be sure.

GTA 5 never made me want to draw but it did make me want to delve deeper into the human psyche, as i found complex characters like Trevor and Michael very interesting, because these people exist. So i guess it galvanized a different interest for me.

I wouldn't say i liked GTA 5 as much as you like GoW... In terms of my favorite games, GTA 5 prob comes in 4th for me.

1 Skyrim
2 Botw
3 Oblivion
4 GTA 5
5 Red dead / Zelda OoT.

I guess im very much into my RPGS, open worlds and story development. But yeah the same way you feel about GoW is how i feel RDR 2 will shape up to me.

To me GoW just didn't do enough to convince me it will be on the same level as RDR 2.

@Razer I would gladly buy RDR on Switch if they made it. The new one looks awesome but I only have a Switch.. One can hope!

@Tyranexx Possible side effects include anal leakage, possible stroke, heart failure, homicidal tendencies, death, and a decrease in enjoyment of watching television. CyanioPep should not be taken while operating vehicles or machinery.

@Razer Hehe, sorry for the text-wall! There was actually more I wanted to say, but I figured I got my feelings across just fine as it was, hence I left at that ^^

Anyways, please, don't take this wrong way, seriously, but I loath TES games I don't want to get into the whole wRPG vs jRPG thing here, but suffice to say, that TES is - to me - like the snobbish, pure-bred version of wRPGs (horrible and misleading as those genre tags are no less).

I do understand better now, why you enjoy Rockstar games so much though. Still, Oblivion is probably the single most disappointing game I ever played. It was my first TES game, having skipped Morrowind, but at the time, I was really excited for it, basically hyped. Never before was my excitement this quickly and thoroughly dispelled though. The game was a mess upon release, with all kinds of issues, not half of which were a broken, partially inexistent translation, that fans addressed within days, long before Bethesda could get their move on ... I remember how my enthusiasm faded after the initial tutorial, making my escape of the city, and how it broke when I went into a random dungeon, getting stuck a random door and finding myself save-scumming with single picklock. It's kinda burned into my brain really. It was ... bad, to say the least.

I came back to it a long time after that, but it was obvious that me and TES would never become friends. The sense of hollowness that had engulfed playing those first 3-4 hours of Oblivion ... it's not something I would ever manage to overcome with any TES (or even Fallout >2) game.

I tried, I really have, but time and time again, I found myself not caring for anything happening on the screen. My roommate of many years was obsessed with Skyrim. He had dozens and dozens of gigs of mods, had played it for 300+ hours and tried to convince me of its merits for months on end. But these playground/sandbox games are just not for me. TES and Fallout just feel so soulless to me, so lifeless, so suffocating, so brown-grey and dull. I loath them with a passion almost - irrational as that is ^^ In fact, insofar as that comparison is even legit, the only one that ever did anything for me was ... BotW.

So yeah, I'm with you on BotW and OoT, even though I could not bring myself to rate these against one another. They are just so different and yet at the same time the occupy very similar places in my heart!

@Mamabear I'd keep my eyes open for a cheap PS4 (Pro, depending on your setup) in the next 1-2 years, once PS5 is announced. There are really a number of outstanding titles on the system, that - I think - appeal to a broad range of players, incl. properties that should speak direclty to Nintendo fans (like say Ratchet and Clank for instance), but also games that fill a void that Nintendo rarely to ever addressed. Plus, there are even MORE games forthcoming next year, with titles like Ghost Of Tsushima, Death Straning, The Last of Us 2 (not a big fan of part 1 though, at least gameplay wise), Days Gone and several others. I don't know whether you have an Xbox or PC, but if not, there are dozens of 3rd-party games, that you can add to that list.

I guess PS5 will be announced next year for a holidays release window, but even at that, the PS4 will still boast the best console library since the PS2. I already gushed about Spider-Man and God of War in the comments enough for a day, or really a lifetime ^^, but I'm totally cool with calling them system sellers. I would have totally bought a PS4 Pro for the priviledge of playing them both. I mean, I kinda have, as they were first and foremost on my midn when picking up my Pro to ugprade my base Ps4 and my LG OLED. Worth it ... is all I can say

I'm just straight out gonna say it: I prefer Superman over Spider-Man. There I said it!

@Ralek85 to be honest, in terms of hollowness, Tes is as far from hollow you can possibly get. The amount of content in the games is why they all glitches the way they do. I love Botw but it has about 1/10th the content in Skyrim. You'd really need to play past the 20 hour mark to get an understanding of the scale we're talking about here... You could easily pour 500+ hours and still find new things to do you've never done before.

But yeah different people enjoy different things, my brother loves Mario Odyssey but hates BoTW... I hate Odyssey and love BoTW.

We both like GoW though lol.

@Majora101

Your first comment to me (someone you do not know) is an insult. Your last comment is you crying that you were insulted by someone who doesn't know you. Is the irony lost on you?

Complaining that games are representing more people, insinuating that people who don't share your view find common ground with people from different backgrounds.... also, you don't see the contradiction here?

Making fun of peoples screen names. That's just desperate. Common, have some dignity.

You are a moron sir. Good day.

@Razer Yeah, that's the great thing about popular culture today, and games in particular, there is something for everyone (more for some than others, obviously, but still).

My point about hollowness was not really aimed at the amount of content. Like I said, I watched my roommate 'waste' more than 300 hours of Skyrim, and while I did not watch every minute of it, I did spend a fair bit of time looking over his shoulder. He kept raving about it for months on after all, so I kinda felt I needed to see what it was all about. It's a bit hard to explain what I mean by hollowness in regards to TES and Fallout as well. I don't want to write another essay-lengeth textwall about it either, so I'll try to be concise. I think the best way I could possibly describe it, is that none of the content, no quest, character or story being told, really feels 'essential' in these games (to me). They all feel kinda just 'there' and as such replaceable. I did eventually get deeper into Oblivion, and what struck me was, that even after a dozen hours or so, I had not at all (I think) progressed the main quest. I don't even remember what that path was - quite tellingly so. That could be a good sign, like the sidequests were so good, that I got sidetracked. But really, the sidequests felt just as forgetable and easily replaceable and in that way arbitrary as well. I had actually spend a large chunk of that time just aimlessly wandering about, entering random caves and ruins and such. No place really felt like a 'revelation', like a handcrafted piece of content that needed to be seen to be believed, something everyone who played the game should have come across. I never wanted to jump out, run over to my roomie and tell him to come over, because I just HAD to show him this particular room, boss, npc, cave, throne room or whatever really. I didn't get a sense that I had come across any particular moment of climax, a real high note.

Part of that is the design of these wRPGs, their focus on self-expression and non-linear gameplay. In jRPGs, you typically have very linear progression, a slow start (after some initial big event often times, but still), but then you have a very classical, drama structure you are make your way through, there are highs and lows, victories and defeats and betrayls. Carefully paced for maximum impact (in the good jRPGs that is, and with the aforementioned qualifiation of glacial starts).

So in that regard, I can hardly blame a game like the TES ones for having replaceable individual parts. They kinda have to be this way, because no designers no when, or indeed if ever, you will come across them. I don't know if the story beats in Oblivion fare any "better", so to speak, but I doubt it frankly. My friend showed me some dragon fights in Sykrim, supposedly one of such highlights, I just talked about, but I did not come away impressed. As I recall, it amounted to alot of quirky running around, arrow kiting and other stuff, I was used to from oldschool MMORPGs, but not something I wanted from an immersive single-player RPG experience.

Having said all that, my dislike for wRPGs is really one mainly focused on that particular type of wRPG in the cast of TES. Baldur's Gate 2 is probably still my favourite game of all times. Really I kinda love all the Infinity Engine games and even new takes on the formula like pillars of the eternity, which I even helped kickstart. You could also name Knights of the Old Republic of course, another life-long favourite of mine. So, I am not in fact opposed to non-jRPGs, just to the Bethesda ones, and those that try to emulate them (not a fan of Gothic either, even though my best friend - to this day- swears by them ^^). I also don't hate Fallout in general. As long as it was developed by Black Isle, I did like it, just as I liked Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment or even Dark Alliance, which was more Diablo then anything, but still a fun play.

So yeah, I hope that clears that up a bit. It's really not about the amount of content, but about the shape of that content, so to speak, and its not about western RPGs in general or particular settings, like Fallouts post-apo style, but rather Bethesda's particular style of crafting these worlds nowadays. I really kinda hate their stuff. It just feels cheap and without purpose and resonance. I dunno ... I hate hating on games, but I do kinda hate those

Worse though, I am kinda alone in this. Just the other day, a friend tried to persuade me to care about Fallout 76 ... I wish I could share in his passion for it, but I simply cannot. There is no way, I could ever really want to spend dozens or hundreds of hours in a Fallout game. It just a extremely dreary thought to me, there are mobile games I would prefer playing - no kidding =(

@Majora101 Is that really all you've got. A return to snowflake and a rainbow? I'll just ask again why? What makes me a snowflake? You're just proving you dont understand the points your failing to make.

@Majora101 Again. No argument. No answer. Just a big bag of hot air, regurgitating broken ideas from an empty brain thats never concieved an original thought.

@baller98 thank you.

@Ralek85 I think i probably hate Monster Hunter as much as you hate TES 😂.

@BumpkinRich

Don't mind Majora, he isn't the brightest star in the sky.

@SimplyCinnamon53 Yeah, this is exactly what I thought.

Uncharted - Peter Parker/Mary-Jane scenes and exposition echo Uncharted's gameplay + Nate and Elena's relationship

Ratchet & Clank - Insomniac's mastery of this series shows in its 'mini-games'. They don't feel annoying and actually further the games plot and Peter's character development.

Arkham Series - Combat system, gadgets, stealth, freedom to explore Arkham/New York. Grapple/Webzip feels very similar with counters being handled slightly differently (offensive in Batman, evasive in Spider-Man)

Spider-Man - Open world and side mission structure that was started in Spider-Man 2 is carried forward and improved upon. Side-missions all have a 'story' to them this time rather than pizza. Random crime can occur much like the older games. Web-slinging feels improved over previous games and I feel surpasses Spider-Man 2.

I'm sure Sunset Overdrive probably has a big influence too but it's the only Insomniac Games title I haven't played yet - something I'm going to rectify once I'm done with Spider-Man.

Overall, it feels like a good mashup of the 3 though I didn't like MJ's 'levels' for reasons I won't spoil. The rest of the game has been great so far though I have encountered 2 game-breaking glitches and 1 almost game-breaking glitch that randomly fixed itself a few story missions later.

@Razer I do kinda dislike MH as well btw. I think I don't quite hate it, simply for the fact, that I gave up on it pretty quickly and I don't have many friends who are invested in it in any major way either. I did hate the broken HDR in Monster Hunter World though. Kinda pi**ed me off to be quite honest. It was my second attempt of getting into the series after Monster Hunter Tri on the WiiU, after I had read, that World would be more accessible to new comers and certainly more visually appealing .. suffice to say that my first impression was that one important aspect of the games presentation was flat-out broken, which did not really help me at all in terms of getting in the groove, so to speak =(

The fact that they never bothered to fix this technical problem ... ah well, it's pretty darn weak of Capcom. I woud have expected a major release like MH, a worldwide commercial success after all, would get shown some more love by them =(