I am not a big fan of VR since I only tried the first one for 1 time then stopped using it, but lets see if this a game changer. There are rumors that they might have Metal Gear Solid, so lets see if that is true. If it is then I will buy it. Playstation VR2 will offer a much better experience than the first one, especially that it uses better controllers and less cables attached to the device. Now I will be tracking the Playstation VR2 stock in Kuwait.
I am monitoring all sites for restocking so follow me on Twitter and turn on post notification because I will tweet the moment they come back in stock.
The first thing that came my mind is how expensive this pro controller is. It cost 64.9 KD in Kuwait and I consider it a very high price for a pro controller. I just bought one for a family member who wanted one so bad, because he is a pro COD player. For me, I am very happy with the regular controller, and it is more than enough for my basic use. The DualSense Edge controller sold out everywhere in Kuwait, and I can’t find it in stock anywhere. So far I just saw it at two places and monitoring the rest of the sites. Lets see if the demand is real, and I will know for sure during the release in January 2023.
Playstation 5 (PS5) DualSense Edge Controller in Kuwait:-
I have always been a fan of portable consoles and it all started with Nintendo Game Boy. Back then my favorite games were Tetris, Super Mario, and Pokemon Blue. When Sony released their first PSP, I was blown away and couldn’t believe that a console can look that good. Even though I played Sega Game Gear, PSP was so different. I really enjoyed having a PSP and I played lots of games. When Sony released PS Vita, I believed that things were taken to the next level. The console had an OLED screen, and it was extremely well built. My main issues were the price of memory cards and the amount of games. Both of the issues can be solved with the upcoming PSP if there is one. When Sony decided not to support the device, I was really disappointed, because I have seen how Nintendo supported the 3DS back then even though most people thought that it would fail.
Seeing my friends and family who bought Nintendo Switch just because they wanted a portable console whenever they travel. What Nintendo did was really a genius move. The consolidated the console and portable market in one ecosystem. Now they no longer worry about developing a game for the home console and the portable one. After the release of Steam Deck, I see my friends and family wanting one, and they think of it as a replacement of the PSP. I believe that Sony still has room in the market, but can be done in a total different way than the PS Vita.
This is what I think Sony should do
Make the new PSP with the same specs as the PS4 and uses the same operating system as the consoles. This way the development will be consolidated and Sony platform will have a larger user base. If that happens, I will be able to play all the PS4 games and all the upcoming indie games that doesn’t require PS5 power such as Sifu, Stray, Hades, and Ninja Turtles Shredder’s Revenge.
Make storage expansion very simple similar to the PS5, where they can use something generic not proprietary like Xbox Series X or PS Vita that can be easily bought online like an SD Card or so.
If that happens, Sony will get back the people who played PS Vita and especially the ones who played Japanese games. The user base will be much larger for Sony, and Sony will be able to leverage their PS Plus much better because they are investing in bringing back PS1, PS2, and PS3 games on PS Plus. That should bring more sales to PS Plus and it will make more sense for Sony to invest in having PS3 games downloaded on their consoles. Not only that, with portable consoles, I see each family member having his/her own Nintendo Switch where it isn’t the case for a home console like PS5. It equals to more sales eventually and a larger user base.
I have read many articles and tweets about how the PS5 and Xbox Series X | S will be used in this generation. The argument was very interesting where Xbox with Game Pass will be the everyday console just like Netflix where great games will be released day 1 on Game Pass including all Bethesda, Microsoft, EA Games, and more. Playstation will be like the movie theatre where every now and then there will be a great exclusive that are a must play. I believed that would eventually be the case so I subscribed to Game Pass for 3 years, and the value keeps increasing because Microsoft is acquiring big studios and release all their games day 1. Last week I wanted to buy the new Ninja Turtle game on PS5, but then I decided to check my Game Pass and found the game. I played the game without paying $25 on Playstation. I believe Microsoft need another 2-3 years to be really competitive with Sony, because as of today Sony own lots of established studios with strong IP’s such as Uncharted, The Last of Us, Horizon, God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider Man, and more. Even the small studios which released console exclusive games such as Sifu and Kena are only on Playstation. I mainly play such games so 99% of the times, I am playing on my Playstation and rarely play on Xbox even though I thought with Game Pass, Xbox will be my everyday console. That wasn’t the case, and my everyday console is Playstation 5. My favorite games are the single player with a really good story, so Xbox games aren’t relevant to me. I don’t know if many people are like me, because most people I know play online games such as Fortnite and COD, and I don’t play any online games. In my opinion Playstation is wining so far, because they are releasing amazing exclusives one after the other. 2022 is really packed with amazing games such as Horizon Forbidden West, The Last of Us Part I, God of War Ragnarok, GT7, and more. The pipeline keeps getting games that are very exciting.
Why do I think Microsoft needs another 2-3 years to fully compete, because they have games in the pipeline and they are acquiring big studios that Sony can never buy, so eventually they will catch up and they will offer much better value to Game Pass and Microsoft can afford it even if they lose billions in the short term.
The remaining studios that can be acquired in the market are the following.
Take-Two
EA Games
Ubisoft
Konami
Capcom
Sega
I think Konami is the most relevant for Sony to acquire, the rest can be acquired by Microsoft. I personally don’t know if such deals will go through since there are laws that protect industries from monopolies. Whatever is happening right now in terms of competition between Microsoft and Sony is better for customers and we keep getting better offerings because of the competition. In this generation of console wars, I think Sony is winning so far, but let’s see if things change the next few years. I believe it will be very competitive and eventually they will compete neck to neck.
It seems Sony is getting much more serious about PC gaming the past 1-2 years. They first released their games on PC, which I never thought that they will ever take that approach. Now they released an entire new gaming brand for PC gaming accessories called INZONE. The first two items they released were headsets and monitors.
The company I work for assigned a task for me to find a 100X stock, which means a stock that goes up 100 times in the next 10 years. It might seem impossible, but it isn’t. The reason I was assigned this task is because my friends and readers are mostly gamers, and some of the gamers are investors as well. Some of my friends were very successful in finding the 100X stock in the past and now we want to find the next one. The trick is to understand what will happen in the future and to bet on new industries. There are ways to make the bet very safe, if there is a backup in case the future doesn’t go as planned.
Back in 2014, a friend of mine who is a gamer and investor told me to get into bitcoin as it is the future of money. I honestly didn’t understand anything about bitcoin, so I told him since I don’t understand it, then I won’t invest in it. He asked me if I believe in the gaming industry and I told him for sure I do. He told me that there is a very safe bet that goes in parallel with both the gaming industry and crypto currencies. The stock is mainly for gaming and will continue to increase just because of the video gaming industry growth. In parallel, if crypto currencies increase a lot, this stock will go up to the moon. I asked about that stock which sounds too good to be true.
He recommended Nvidia Stock, because graphic cards are being used heavily by PC gamers and designers, and in parallel it is used for mining crypto currencies. If the crypto currencies disappear, then Nvidia is already growing because of the growth in the gaming industry, but if crypto currencies boom then the stock will go to the moon.
That was one of the best advices I got and he literally understood what will happen in the future and knew how to make the bet with very high potential to be very safe. Now we have to bet on the upcoming 10 years, and we aren’t sure yet what to choose. This is where I really need my readers opinion to take a decision. We have the following options
Unity : We think this might be close to Nvidia opportunity because Unity is already being heavily used for video game development, and in parallel a lot of the Metaverse will be developed using Unity. If the Metaverse doesn’t happen, then Unity will continue to be used for video game development
Sony : Playstation keep getting more popular and with the recent acquisition of Bungie to develop more video game live service and currently there are 10 live service games in development which will make the company much more profitable. Sony will also participate in the Metaverse with their VR2, and we believe the have the potential to lead due to their fanbase.
Microsoft : Microsoft is already a huge company, but now it is betting on the video game industry much more than ever. The bet is on Game Pass where it might be the next Netflix but for gaming. Microsoft can afford to buy the most popular gaming studios and add them to Game Pass, which make it much more appealing than the other companies. Microsoft will also participate in the Metaverse in various ways such as Microsoft Mesh.
Roblox : Roblox has an edge when it comes to the Metaverse which is their platform is already focused on collaboration and games built by other users.
There are other non video gaming companies that have high potential as well such as Meta, which is previously known as Facebook. They are the pioneers when it comes to the Metaverse and they changed the company name because of that. They have an edge because they have an abnormal amount of data from Whatsapp, Facebook, and Instagram. They also have Oculus VR for gaming, so everything fits together. Other companies such as Intel, AMD, and Nvidia will be critical because of the importance of their hardware for the Metaverse.
I didn’t include Nintendo on the list even though I am a really big fan of the company. We did bet on Nintendo during the Wii U era when the stock price was really low, and I personally believed that they are a creative team that will figure something out. They also have the greatest IP’s of all time. At this stage I don’t see Nintendo doing something very different that is aligned with the future even though they are using their IP’s much more than ever such as creating a theme park and movies.
Now I really need all my readers opinion, and I believe that we can build on each other’s ideas and come up with something.
This is the only console that I am reluctant to buy because I have a regular switch model. The reason I am reluctant is because I play mostly on TV, so the screen resolution won’t matter. It would have mattered a lot back when I was a kid when I didn’t have my own TV. I still believe that Nintendo Switch is one of the best consoles of all time.
To order through one of the local stores in Kuwait. It will be available at the following stores in Kuwait:-
I will update the links to actual listings as soon as they are live, so stay posted.
I am monitoring all sites for restocking so follow me on Twitter and turn on post notification because I will tweet the moment they come back in stock.
My friends and I had a discussion about pre-ordering a game or waiting for a year after release. I personally pre order games all the time. I order both physical when it comes to collector’s edition and digital through Playstation Store. The reason I pre order physical games is because getting the collector’s edition at official price will be impossible later on, especially for Playstation popular exclusives. For the digital pre-orders, I like to get the pre-order bonuses, such as a weapon or so. I also like to play the game right away instead of waiting for sometime. Some of my friends wait for a year or two after release, and in my opinion it has pros and cons. The pros is that they get the game at a much lower price where they save 50-75% from the original price and it might include all DLCs. The game will also be almost bug free, because by that time there aren’t any more patches to fix any bugs. The cons will be, they miss out on all the discussions about the game, because when we meet we talk about the game. For me I feel waiting a year or two is the better option, but I personally can’t do it and I always like to play the game right away.
I can’t believe that I am playing on Xbox more than Playstation these days. The only reason I play Xbox is because PSO2 / PSO2 New Genesis. I am enjoying the game a lot even though it is so laggy. The game is much smoother than the previous one in terms of gameplay. PSO2 game is the type of game where I don’t have to think at all, I lay on the sofa and press the controller buttons without thinking. This is more of a game I play when I am really bored. I did pre-order Ratchet & Clank on PS5 but I still didn’t play it. I never played the previous ones, but I decided to give this one a shot. I really enjoy playing Playstation Exclusives, and until now Game Pass didn’t resonate with me. I enjoy playing the AAA games made by Playstation Studios.
My games wish list is the following
God of War Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West
Ghost of Tsushima 2
Spider Man 2
Red Dead Redemption 3
This is a very interesting generation and I can’t wait for the AAA releases this year.
Now we all know the official prices of PS5 and Xbox. Xbox Series X is priced at $499.99 and Xbox Series S is priced at $299.99. Playstation 5 is priced at $499.99 matching Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 Digital edition is priced at $399.99. A lot of my friends said that Microsoft won the console war already and the reason is Xbox Series S price and Xbox Game Pass. Xbox Series S is surprisingly inexpensive and a lot of people can afford it. Some people will see that it is $100 cheaper than Playstation 5 Digital edition, so it is easier for them to make a decision. Xbox Game Pass is becoming really impressive, something that Sony Playstation Now wasn’t successful with. I am a subscriber of Playstation Now and I can’t play games via streaming. I have to download the game in order to play, and most games I can’t even download. The library isn’t that great as well, it is very limited. Playstation should consolidate Playstation Plus and Playstation Now and make them one platform. If Xbox Game Pass get more subscribers, they will be the Netflix of gaming, which is the thing that no one was able to achieve so far.
