Category: Video Games

New Limited Edition PS5 Plate Replacement Look Even Better Than Sony’s Official Spider-Man Plates

If you’re a fan of Spider-Man and are extremely bummed that you were unable to secure one of those limited-edition PS5 faceplates, fear not. For Dbrand has a (third-party) solution for you: its new Arachnoplates.

As a quick refresher, at San Diego Comic-Con this past July, PlayStation unveiled a new PS5 with a DualSense controller and faceplates themed after the iconic web-slinger, as shown in the image below. Unfortunately, the console, along with the standalone SKUs for the controller and especially the faceplates, sold out rather quickly.

As the name implies, Dbrand’s latest PS5 faceplates are spider-themed. The Arachanoplates are black with a red design that also takes up a good chunk of the design. If you really want to go all out, Dbrand even made a middle skin to put on the front center of the PS5, along with red light strips. Those two things will cost you extra, though, retailing for $11.95 each.

As shown in the gallery below, the Arachnoplates have a lot more going on design-wise, with almost a comic-book-esque feel to them. A closer examination shows spider webs contrasting with a black goo that is more than likely based on the alien species, the symbiote.

Subjectively, I like these face plates a lot more than the ones PlayStation created. Whereas the officially-licensed face plates feel a bit bland and generic, the Arachanoplates do a good job conveying the conflict that will surely be posed in Insomniac’s upcoming game Spider-Man 2.

This is not the first time Dbrand has made themed skins off officially licensed and limited edition products. The company has previously made skins for the Nintendo Switch, more specifically skins based on Animal Crossing: New Horizons and, more recently, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, both of which received limited-edition-themed Nintendo Switch consoles.

Dbrand is also the same company that decided to make its own faceplates to add some more customization to your PS5. Legal threat aside, Dbrand went on to make its own faceplates by removing the “popped collar” look that is the signature with the official PS5 faceplates. Eventually, PlayStation would go on to make its own officially licensed faceplates, but you have plenty of options on this end.

Dbrand’s Arachnoplates are available now on its official website for $64.98 with options available for both digital and disc editions of the PS5.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Official PlayStation Podcast Episode 467: Lucky in Love

Email us at PSPodcast@sony.com!

Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google or RSS, or download here

Hey y’all! This week the team sits down with Founder of Studio Sai and Eternights Developer Jae Hyun Yoo to chat about the upcoming dating action RPG. Also the team talks Goodbye Volcano High and growing game backlogs.

Stuff We Talked About

  • NBA 2K24 – PS5, PS4
  • Nour: Play With Your Food – PS5, PS4
  • Eternights Boss Battle Blog
  • Baldur’s Gate 3 PS5 Features Blog
  • Tennis On-Court Blog – PS VR2
  • Interview w/ Jae Hyun Yoo (begins at 09:20)
  • Goodbye Volcano High
  • Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon

The Cast

Sid Shuman – Senior Director of Content Communications, SIE

Tim Turi – Senior Content Communications Specialist, SIE

Brett Elston – Manager, Content Communications, SIE

Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.

[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]

Baldur’s Gate 3 on PS5 Has Major Split-Screen Issues of Its Own

Baldur’s Gate 3 recently launched on PS5. Like the PC version, it includes support for split-screen, allowing PS5 owners to play with their friends who are playing Larian Studios’ critically acclaimed RPG on PC. But while split-screen mostly works fine, IGN has nevertheless encountered some issues.

We discuss these issues in our new performance review of Baldur’s Gate 3, where we compare the PS5 and PC versions of the game. Reviewer Michael Thompson says that the game’s performance tanks when two characters explore different parts of a city, with the frames per second fluctuating while conducting the test in Act 3.

He notes that the CPU is being taxed while doing this work and not the GPU. Thompson reports an average of 27.3 frames per second while testing split-screen mode in Act 3. The PS5 version with split-screen enabled runs the game in Quality mode — 1440p at 30fps.

Thompson says that the game’s performance tanks when two characters explore different parts of a city, with the frames per second fluctuating while conducting the test in Act 3. He notes that the CPU is being taxed while doing this work and not the GPU. Thompson reports an average of 27.3 frames per second while testing split-screen mode in Act 3.

The third act in Baldur’s Gate 3 is known for being particularly taxing, regardless of platform, due to the large area of the location combined with the high number of NPCs populating the in-game location.

Despite performance dropping to varying degrees in Act 3, our reviewer points out that Baldur’s Gate 3 on PS5 does “a decent job of staying at or around the 30fps target” when outside of that location.

Baldur’s Gate 3 split-screen has been an issue on every platform

Split-screen has proven to be a pain point for every version of Baldur’s Gate 3, particularly on Xbox, where it was initially delayed due to performance issues. Larian compromised by removing split-screen from Xbox Series S version, though it may get the feature at a later date.

Larian Studios is also working on cross-play support that will allow PS5 owners to hop on their PC and pick up where they left off and vice versa.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s co-op is quite ambitious overall, supporting multiple players across both online and split-screen. Overall, though, Larian Studios has done an admiral job of making it all work.

In our review of Baldur’s Gate 3, which we gave a 10, we said, “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Roblox Is Coming to PlayStation Next Month

Roblox Corporation announced today that its popular game platform will be coming to PlayStation consoles next month.

At the 2023 Roblox Developers Conference (RDC), the company confirmed that both PS4 and PS5 versions of Roblox will be available starting in October. Roblox is already available on Xbox, in addition to PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, with a Meta Quest version receiving a broader launch sometime this month.

The press release from Roblox Corporation notes that PS4 and PS5 owners can anticipate access to “the full catalog of Roblox experiences,” implying that users playing Roblox on another platform can log into their account and pick up where they left off.

Roblox was originally released in 2006 and has become a juggernaut in recent years. Most notably, the platform saw a drastic increase in users in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – so much so that the company told me in 2020 that over half of U.S. kids and teens under 16 play Roblox. A post on the official Roblox account also says more than 65 million people are playing Roblox daily.

With Xbox and soon PlayStation getting console versions of Roblox, there has yet to be any plans for a Nintendo Switch release. Roblox Corporation spokesperson Roman Skuratovskiy told The Verge’s Jat Peters that the company wants “Roblox to be on all devices, anywhere worldwide,” but they “currently have no imminent plans to have Roblox available on the Nintendo Switch.”

CEO Davee Baszuki, however, is not ruling it out entirely, as he mentioned during an earnings call last month that a Switch version may arrive at some point in the future.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Get a top-spec 15-in Acer Helios laptop with RTX 3070 Ti for $919 via a refurb discount on Ebay

Acer’s Predator laptops are nice options that often deliver a lot of performance for reasonable money, but today you can get even more per dollar than usual, as an RTX 3070 Ti gaming laptop in manufacturer-refurbished condition has dropped to $919 at Ebay – thanks to an extra 8% discount on refurbished items applied in the cart.

For context, this laptop has a list price of $2099 and still seems to be selling new for $1679 on Amazon – so this price is very reasonable indeed.

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Mortal Kombat 1’s Latest Trailer Shows Off Jean Claude Van Damme

After sharing a sneak peek during a recent episode of Hot Ones featuring Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon, Netherrealm Studios has released a new trailer today spotlighting the Jean-Claude Van Damme skin in Mortal Kombat 1.

The new trailer shows off Van Damme fighting a few characters, including Johnny Cage, the former being an alternative skin for the Mortal Kombat veteran that can only be unlocked if you purchase Premium/Kollector’s editions of the game. The costume the Van Damme skin wears even resembles the outfit worn in the 1988 film Bloodsport.

Van Damme becoming a playable character in the next installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise comes full circle as the character, dating back to the original Mortal Kombat game, when then developer Midway Games attempted to secure the license to use Van Damme’s likeness in their game but did not pan out at the time. The character Johnny Cage is inspired by the actor, with one of Cage’s special moves being the split-legged groin punch that Van Damme performs in the film Bloodsport.

“We tried a number of times going back and forth with [Van Damme],” Boon said during a recent episode of Hot Ones. “This time, we hit the lottery, and we got him. And we actually have his voice, and he’s going to be the Johnny Cage character.”

Mortal Kombat 1 is out on September 19. For more information, check out the recent reveal that series veteran Nitara is joining the roster (and is voiced by actress Megan Fox) and our interview with Boon at gamescom last month. Or the live-action trailer featuring Dave Bautista that also pays homage to the iconic Mortal Monday TV commercial.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.