There are plenty of great features about Microsoft's xbox live service that have brought online gaming to a new level. There is however one thing that remains absent, that I have yet to see in any 360 game and that's the beautiful party system from Halo 2.
This was a phenomenal system that made going online and playing with friends so easy, I could create a party, invite my friends, chat for minute while everyone arrived, then head off to kick some ass. Now I understand that I can join any unranked game, then head to my friends list and fire off invite to people from there, but to be quite frank it is not the same.
Some developers have reported that the reason it is not in their games is because Microsoft's "trueskill" system does not allow it. This kind of makes sense, as many abused the party system in Halo 2 to level up friends in ranked games. So is the solution to get rid of it? not allow it? no, even simpler, don't allow it in ranked games. problem solved.
There are also reports that the upcoming cross platform Shadowrun will support it, as well as Halo 3. So if that's the case, is it only games that microsoft want's to have the party system are allowed it?
Xbox.com and other gaming forums are all complaining about the lack of this fantastic feature, especially in the great gears of war. Nothing is more annoying than starting a match, inviting your friends, playing a few rounds against some others, then having to do it all over again when starting a new match.
Get with it Microsoft, when a feature is that successful and enjoyable it should be MANDATORY for every game, not excluded.
/end rant.
Does Pokémon Champions successfully open up a previously difficult-to-access side of the franchise? Or is it less than super effective?
Skewed and Reviewed have posted a positive review of the new WWE game. They liked the graphics and action but said the current scenes distract from the action.
Tech4Gamers writes: "A PlayStation Support assistant has confirmed that the 30-day timer implemented by the new DRM policy is part of an update and isn’t a bug. While responding to a fan’s query, PS support revealed that all games purchased digitally after March 2026 will be affected by this time limit.
If your PS4 or PS5 does not connect to the internet within 30 days, the game’s license will expire, and it won’t launch on the console unless the connection is restored. Hence, every digital game you purchase from now on will require an online check-in, or else you will lose ownership."
That is wild lol. Steam already does this for some games depending on the developer...but man...all digital games on ps5...
FYI, it hasn't actually been confirmed. This is just a lot of assumptions. If this is the case i would expect Sony to come out and say so. Chat bot response doesn't count as official confirmation.
People are also saying this is also an inadvertent mistake. If this is the case Sony and its customers would be best served by coming out and saying so.
If this isn't a mistake I think they need to confirm it and Playstation gamers should complain.
This has to be a mistake.
“Received word from an anonymous insider. The Sony DRM issue is unintentional. From what we gathered, Sony accidentally broke something while fixing an exploit. They've known about the confusing UI for a while, but didn't see it as urgent. Hoping for a clarifying statement now.”
I find their communication to be very poor. If this is an error on their part why let people get worried about it? I understand they don't respond to rumor but sometimes they make it worse by not responding and this is an unforced error on top of and apparent unforced error.
The screenshot from the article is from an AI chat bot, there are plenty of screenshots floating around from actual human chat reps stating the opposite.
It this is real then I will never buy digital again and if the PS6 is digital only then it will be the first Playstation Console I wont buy
"Games will vanish" is click baity as hell...all you have to do is log in and the license is restored.
I've only used it on R:FoM but it is an awesome feature. Surely they'll put it back in Halo 3 at the least, eh?