The Front Row

Quite the contrary actually. According to some rumours the XBOX team could be working on AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution, or FSR 4, as it’s known, for short, to be integrated at some point in its continued lifespan.

That means that your old machines are going to get a graphical upgrade and will likely have just as good of results as PS5’s PSSR. Isn’t technology truly wonderful? I think so. It wouldn’t surprise me if this showed up during their summer event either. Only time will tell, but with all the improvements going on of late. It would be a big win for team green.

Ultimately, this State of Play that’s around the corner has probably been in the pipeline for a while. All platforms are going to have a great summer I believe this year. It tends to get pretty serious when you have a XBOX 25th year anniversary and a Nintendo console that’s just come into its second year and will want to bring some thunder of its own.

What can we anticipate from this State of Play? There were rumours of a GTA reveal this month, that’s now gone completely off the radar. However, I still believe that with Sony having marketing rights, themselves and Rockstar will want to set the internet alight when it’s the right time.

Sometimes a rumour may not be right, but it can be half right in what it entails, and as we all know plans change or they just pivot to a time when it’s one of the biggest months in gaming for new content from across the board. If there was anything that could take some of Xbox’s thunder away. It probably would be the Rockstar marketing partnership with Sony.

This event is promising big news from some major partners. That’s the interesting thing, and it comes two weeks, which is more of a heads up than anybody needs for a State of Play. So this has to be something major, and with it also being shown in select theatres, something that hasn’t been done since 2018. You’d expect Sony could finally be back.

Of course, I will be watching, as I do all the major events over the summer. I am a gaming fan primarily, and I enjoy seeing what each platform has to make everyone’s summer of gaming an event that can be talked about. So yeah, I really do think that something incredibly interesting is going to come out of this.

Especially when most of the previous State of Play’s have been decent but haven’t reached some of the lofty expectations of fans that always want to see their favourite games show up. That’s the thing also, gaming is subjective, we all have different titles we like, we’re very platform specific, and that’s completely okay. I think this summer is going to have great events over the three platforms.

Hopefully, that competition that’s been needed for Sony is finally coming to the table, and PlayStation is there with the answers to all your questions. They need this, but so do the fans.

Now, there has been much talk of Sony raising the price of PlayStation Plus. They’re taking a step towards making their investors more happy, while also making up the losses on the subscriber front. I think Xbox becoming more community-centric is such an important move for them.

It could win over some fans. And if not to Xbox, very much so on PC. Game Pass is only going to get better in the future. Whereas PlayStation Plus is getting more expensive but you’re not really getting bang for your buck. It’s a service that’s stagnating and effectively the price of a service that doesn’t improve is something that the vast majority of Sony fans are just not going to have.

Especially when in the future, you’re going to see things happening with Game Pass which makes you sit up and take notice in terms of the value proposition.

It’s now established and confirmed that Sony will be going full exclusive again. I expect Xbox to take the middle ground by starting putting their fan base first again where it makes sense. There is no worse thing than being part of a platform and not feeling valued as a consumer that invests in the platform and the game creators who are trying to reach new fans through that platform. This community-centric approach puts the voice of the consumer right back into the heart of what could become policy features of the future. Everyone that plays Xbox can now have their say and have their voice heard. That is huge and a step forward for Xbox.

Now, people might say, all these things that are happening cannot have just been done in a matter of months. I get that, but at least this is a more proactive Xbox that is trying to put the wrongs of the past right. I certainly feel that right now. Xbox is doing a lot better at writing the wrongs than Sony, in that regard. I also think personally, we need this as Xbox fans.

However, so do Sony fans. Because PlayStation needs to get back to the kind of output that it had with single player games that it was putting out in the PS4 era. There can be no excuses. Sony, as much as they’re revelling in the successes of the PS5 right now financially, they’re very much living on past glory and there’s no real evidence that backs up that they’re listening or that that the current suits actually know what their fan base wants going on past studio closures along with everything else.

Especially when they’re coming out with the fact that ‘they owe it to the industry to keep in line with third-party’. Sure, as the market leader in some regards you owe it to your fans to invest there. But at the same time, it’s about time Sony read their own community’s space and took their feedback on board where it actually matters.

Blumhouse right now are the ones to watch. They’ve done some great horror movies since their ascension into providing us with some great entertainment. It doesn’t end there though because they’ve also acquired the rights to the Saw franchise. That means all future movies, TV shows and everything associated with the brand will be under their creative control.

I personally think with what Blumhouse are doing in this space. They’re going to bring Saw back in a big way in the future. With them bringing out new movies like Obsession, while also tackling the big IP’s like Saw that have really hit home with a lot of fans over the years.

I am in no doubt that Blumhouse are the right people to get the Saw franchise back, and ultimately, it’s trailers like ‘Obsession’ that showcase their ability to create original horror with a sort of nostalgia for the kind of horror of yesteryear.

Ultimately, and when Fergie knew this we used to go for the competitions that made sense at the time of where the squad was at. I believe Carrick might follow the same sort of philosophy with this. Because if you’re competing with your Arsenal’s and Manchester City’s for the Premier League. That is a step up from where you were nowhere near it before. I mean, look how far we’ve come from the early part of this season under Amorim.

The situation is well established. I just think we need to build the team up, focus on getting the right players in, and shipping a lot of the ones that have been here for too long that maybe cannot give as much as they used to. Going all in would be a quite bold statement of intent by Carrick giving the current circumstances with the squad. However, we will know a lot more by the end of the summer transfer window in terms of exactly what route we’re going to take and which competitions are our true focus.

And with Carrick smiling not long ago about an English manager winning the Premier League, and since the fact we haven’t won it since 2013. I think the emphasis will be building on what we’ve done this season by trying to go one better and hopefully it works out in the way we want for the competition we do focus on for the upcoming season.

It’s a dream, but ultimately now, it’s Carrick’s task to make Manchester United fans believers. The club needs to back him as do the fans.

With just a few squad members. Our ability to create was limited. We missed Casemiro. And ultimately, we’re dealing with a situation where we have got to go into the summer transfer market. Not only to add to the team but to build the balance of the team back as well. Especially if we’re going to want to compete in the Premier League and do well in the Champions League collectively.

It’s okay saying, these players are able to deal with more games. That simply cannot be an excuse if we want to take Manchester United into a position where we can challenge the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City next season. You can never rest on your laurels.

And sure, we have some incredibly talented youth players coming through the academy. But how do you make those players better? You get the best senior players around them. I mean, Mainoo this season with Casemiro being there has been absolutely mint.

You have to have a plan to not only replace, but also to build on the positions in your team in every area. If that means getting the credit card out to build on the Champions League position we are in. Sir Jim said it himself, sometimes needs must. And I personally believe, if we’re going to reach our next step. You have to compete for all the signings that your rivals are going in for. You have to be in the conversation and you have to be willing to spend the money to make yourself better.

As great as 3rd place is, and I am not knocking it, it’s the Champions League, and it’s a step forward. As Manchester United fans though, we have to be pushing the people at the top to do more when we’re in that position to take advantage. Only then, can we say as a football club. That we supported Carrick or whoever the manager may be ‘in full’ and with the kind of willingness that other managers had been left without.

Only then, will I be ‘hopeful’ of where we are going. Because it’s okay getting to your destination and having a look around. Liking the surroundings, and enjoying the view, but as fans, we want to make our stay as permanent as it can be and compete to the levels that we demand as a fanbase.

We’re already at a point in the industry where growth is stagnant and game productions are through the roof. The only games that are able to get away with it are your most popular franchises. So if you’re a studio or platform holder even thinking you can take on that GTA pricing no matter what it ends up being this November.

Think again, because most gamers will not have it. There are actually few that can. And when pricing for games becomes the centre-piece of the story. You do find that this negatively impacts the majority of the response towards your platform. As the Nintendo Switch 2 found. You have a basic idea of what can happen when games are put on a pedestal.

It’s the fans that decide themselves when a game may not warrant the increase. A lot of gamers look at the production levels and the franchises themselves and how engaging they are. That’s ultimately what gets them deciding if they want to put money down on a game.

It has to make sense. That’s why in my opinion Game Pass and PlayStation Plus could take an even bigger role in the future to fill the gaps where games are not making back what was put into them. It’s really the only way. Because when you get gamers playing. No matter how they play, they’re playing and that’s a ‘win’.

If you can make back just a bit through people playing that game. It’s just another way that platforms are going to have to differentiate themselves to meet the demands of modern gamers. To get them engaged again, while learning from your Korean and Chinese developers that have been on top form of late.

Anything else is just burying your head in the sand and hoping the problems will go away. Spoiler. They won’t.

However, the music still hits all the right notes with their new single in quite a long time called ‘Who Will You Follow’. They’ve been hard at work doing a lot of ‘creating’ as they put it, and it’s been a three years in the making project. They’ll also be touring the UK later this year as well. So it’s going to be a very significant time and their first in five years now.

The new album launches in November.