PlayStation 5 Cost Clue?

The Cost of Next Gen

Bloomberg reports PlayStation 5 cost

The price of manufacturing PlayStation 5 consoles has risen to $450 per unit according to a Bloomberg report citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”

The PlayStation 4 was launched in November of 2013 at $399, and was estimated to cost $381 to manufacture. If Sony is looking to maintain a similar profit margin (or rather cost parity), then the PlayStation 5 could be priced around $470 at launch.

Memory woes: According to the report, the problem is securing a reliable supply of DRAM and NAND flash memory, since both are in high demand. Other parts, including the “unusually expensive” cooling system are not subject to the vagaries of supply and demand and are not at issue.

Price wars: If Sony can’t control manufacturing price, the PlayStation 5 is likely to be sold at a loss in order to remain competitive with the Xbox Series X, the report claims. In a sense, Microsoft will be determining the price of the PlayStation 5 when they announce the Xbox Series X price, as Sony executives are waiting to see whether they need to respond.

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

What was the serial killer who kidnaps Ethan’s son in Heavy Rain called?

• The Origami Killer
• The Swan Killer
• The Raincoat Killer
• Stabby McStabberson

The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today’s issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.

Daily Fact

Diddy Kong Racing DS switched out Conker and Banjo for Tiny and Dixie

The 2007 Nintendo DS remake of Diddy Kong Racing for Nintendo 64 was actually developed by Rare.

That may not sound so strange since they made the original game, but Microsoft bought Rare in 2002 so the game couldn’t include characters like Conker or Banjo since Microsoft now owned those IPs.

Conker and Banjo were replaced by Dixie Kong and Tiny Kong, apparently requiring some serious nipping and tucking to fit Tiny Kong into the Banjo-shaped hole in the game. In the end, she ends up looking both taller and older than her big sister Dixie.

Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.

Pokemon GO's Legal Blues

Niantic in Safari Zone ticket trouble

Pokémon Go’s Safari Zone promotion in Liverpool has gotten in trouble with the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency as the advertised prices don’t quite match (https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-02-14-pokemon-go-fans-contact-asa-over-liverpool-ticket-prices) what players are actually being charged for the event.

Niantic’s marketing material claims that “general admission tickets will be £12, and early access tickets will be £18”, but fail to mention that additional tax and fees are added at checkout, adding £3/£4.20 and an additional £3 to the final price.

Letter of the law: It is illegal to advertise a product or service without including mandatory taxes and fees in the advertised price: “Rule 3.18 of the CAP Code states that ‘quoted prices must include non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that apply to all or most buyers’,” reads the guidance from the ASA.

ASA takes action: “We can confirm that we’ve so far received over 180 complaints about the advertising of tickets for this event,” said an ASA spokesperson. “We consider the omission of taxes and service charges in the ad is a clear problem under our rules.”

The Safari Zone events are also being held in St. Louis, Missouri and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States.

Dreaming Of Success

Media Molecule’s going to support Dreams on PlayStation 4 for now

Media Molecule’s latest title Dreams sits somewhere between a game and a content creation package, and the studio remains focused on the PlayStation 4 according to co-founder Mark Healey.

“…I would actually hope that it extends the life of the PS4 to be honest with you,” said Healey. “…but if it’s as successful as we hope it is then it’s an obvious progression,” he added, referring to Sony’s next console. There are strong indications that the PlayStation 5 will be backwards compatible.

Dreaming of PC? “That’s not something that’s happening right now,” said Healey. “I mean I think Sony have become more open recently to publishing stuff on the PC in general anyway, haven’t they?” Apparently so, as there are rumours Guerrilla Games’ Horizon: Zero Dawn is being ported for a PC release.

Out now: Dreams is released exclusively for PlayStation 4 today, and it builds on Media Molecule’s experience making LittleBigPlanet. This time, it’s a complete single and multiplayer game development kit.

What Else Happened Today?

Half-Life: Alyx out in March, grab a Nintendo PlayStation for $350,000

• Valve has finally decided on Half-Life: Alyx’s release date, and it is now scheduled to launch on March 23rd. Half-Life: Alyx may be a VR exclusive and miss that magical number 3 in its title, but as far as Valve is concerned, it is the next major installment in the Half-Life series. If you already own a Valve Index, then you’ll get Half-Life: Alyx for free when it launches.
• A wild Nintendo PlayStation SNES appeared! An extremely rare prototype from the aborted Sony and Nintendo Super Nintendo CD-ROM collaboration has hit the auction block and is currently sitting at a bid price of $350,000 on the Heritage Auctions website. There are apparently only 200 units in existence, and the console is reportedly in working condition as the auctioneers played Mortal Kombat on it.
• Quantic Dream is now 23 years old! The French studio behind Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human has high hopes for the future thanks to Detroid’s huge success. Few studios can claim to have worked with the late David Bowie, but Quantic Dream did for its debut game The Nomad Soul, all the way back in 1999.
• Two months is a long time to wait, so we won’t blame you if you have a peek at Final Fantasy VII Remake’s 5 minute and 21 second opening movie. Not that it will be any easier to wait afterwards, but that’s just life. Final Fantasy VII Remake will be launching in multiple parts and the first one is coming to PlayStation 4 on April 10th. It’s a timed exclusive, and will eventually appear on PC – and maybe other consoles?

Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

What was the serial killer who kidnaps Ethan’s son in Heavy Rain called?

Answer: The Origami Killer!

It’s almost ten years since Quantic Dream’s interactive drama ii was released.

The game defied expectations with its dark crime story and focus on choices and consequences. The story orients around the Origami Killer, who kidnaps children and drowns them during rain storms. While Heavy Rain was praised for its tense and often sad story, it was also criticized for some of the later twists and turns.

What really makes Heavy Rain stand out, even ten years later, is the way it tackles failure. There are four player characters, and the game doesn’t end even if one of them dies, leading to a very varied and replayable game. Originally a PlayStation exclusive, Heavy Rain launched on the Epic Game Store last year along with Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human. If you didn’t play it back in 2010, now’s the time!

Message From DailyBits Team

Your favourite Pokemon Crossovers

Quite a few of our excellent readers sent in their favourite Pokemon Crossovers ideas, and today we wanted to share a few with all of you. Oh, and happpy Valentines Day!

• PokeMoon (Pokémon and Harvest Moon from Cheyanne) – You would be a rancher starting your own farm on a wonderful island region. There would be some overarch story you get to play, usually it is a “saving the region” quest. While your saving the island from disaster, you’re partnered with a pokémon, preferably a dog type (growlithe, houndour, lillipup, etc.), but later can add other pokémon to your family.
  There would be other farms which specialize in the basics: animals & plants; they basically would teach the mechanics and also would be rivals in festivals. There would be businesses which owners have pokémon of their own: the mine (rock, ground, & fighting types), a restaurant (fairy, fire, water, grass types), a post office (flying & normal types), a fishing hut (lots of water types), a clinic (normal, fairy, and grass types), the church (normal & fairy types), and that’s just to name a few. Plus, farming games always have love interests. There would be a lot of people to choose from, and I mean, who wouldn’t want a chance to date a professor!.
• Breath of the Pokemon (Breath of the Wild from James) – Where trainers roam the post-apocalyptic world after the Great Pokemon World War hinted at in the anime, featuring all the known regions in the mainline games, and those of the popular spin-offs.

It was awesome to hear all your ideas, but do feel free to keep sending them in via Email or on Twitter.

Today’s issue was written by Simon Priest, Erlend Grefsrud, Jamie Davey, and Gavin Herman.