PlayStation

Billy Basso, creator of the sublime and inspiring one-person indie game Animal Well, was on the My Perfect Console podcast this week.

I won't totally spoil his 5 classic game picks for a desert-island console, but he did put obscure PlayStation 1 classic Vib-Ribbon on his list. The episode will be released to non-Patreon subscribers later today:

A rhythm-game pioneer, Vib-Ribbon could run entirely from the PlayStation 1's 2MB of RAM. You could remove the games disc from your console and replace it with any audio CD. The game would then dynamically create custom levels that would sync up with any audio CD, meaning you could pop in a Limp Bizkit CD and play along.

Or just play along with the included soundtrack, which I still play on Spotify from time to time.

Back when Sony genuinely cared about legacy, the company re-released Vib-Ribbon on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2014. At the time it promised to look into releasing the game for PlayStation 4, though that never eventuated, likely due to the lack of CD support on modern PlayStation consoles. This didn't stop the game coming to the PlayStation Vita though, or my Steam Deck.

(I promise I own multiple copies of Vib-Ribbon, physically and digitally.)

The best bet going forward is JB Hi-Fi, which are offering a ballot approach to pre-orders.

PlayStation 30th Anniversary Collection Pre-Order Ballot

JB Hi-Fi is Australia’s largest home entertainment retailer with top products, great quality + value. Learn more about our product range online.

JB Hi-Fi

Otherwise Ebay has scalpers re-selling preorders with huge markups already.

Celebrating 30 years of PlayStation with a nostalgic look

Limited Edition console design takes PS5 back to the early days of PlayStation.

PlayStation.BlogHideaki Nishino

An important update on Concord

Concord fans -- we’ve been listening closely to your feedback since the launch of Concord on PlayStation 5 and PC and want to thank everyone who has joined the journey aboard the Northstar. Your support and the passionate community that has grown around the game has meant the world to us. However, while many qualities [...]

PlayStation.BlogRyan Ellis

Concord is being removed from sale and Sony is refunding customers on PC and PS5. The interesting part of this post though is this:

However, while many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended. Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024, and explore options, including those that will better reach our players.

I really wonder if they'll be bothered to rework it as a free-to-play / PlayStation Plus title? It feels like that would have been the obvious option after the lacklustre free beta player counts.

Meanwhile at Nintendo some great timing: