Next-Gen Round-Up: Playstation Has A Fancy New Collection, Xbox Leans Into a Meme, and Nintendo Is Just Kinda Here

Y’all, this continues to be one of the strangest console launches I’ve lived through. Typically there are multiple events throughout the year, each giving you more information about the new console, before culminating in some star-studded, over-the-top launch event. For obvious, virus-related reasons, that hasn’t happened this year.

We’re two weeks away from the next generation of consoles launching and there’s none of the fanfare, fervor, heated arguments over shit none of us have even gotten our hands on, that I’ve grown accustomed to.

Information has come out in fits and spurts, and the discourse has mainly boiled down to “Mannnnnn, look at these big-ass consoles!” It’s not necessarily bad, just weird.

Anyway, as we lead into the launch of the consoles, Playstation has revealed the list of games included in the Playstation Collection, Xbox has leaned into the meme in a very big way, and Nintendo is just, you know, there.

So, let’s break it down.

Playstation

During the PS5 price reveal in September, Sony announced that the Playstation Plus Collection would be launching alongside the console in November. It was unclear whether the collection would be an added benefit to Playstation Plus subscribers or if it incur a separate charge.

Playstation revealed in a blog post today that the Playstation Plus collection will be free for new and existing PS Plus subscribers, on both PS4 and PS5. Those who subscribe on PS5, will have access to upgraded, better performing versions of the titles. The post also provided a list of the games that will be available when the program launches on Nov. 12.

First-Party:

• Bloodborne
• Days Gone
• Detroit: Become Human
• God of War
• Infamous Second Son
• Ratchet and Clank
• The Last Guardian
• The Last of Us Remastered
• Until Dawn
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Third Party Games:

• Batman: Arkham Knight
• Battlefield 1
• Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Zombies Chronicles Edition
• Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
• Fallout 4
• Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition
• Monster Hunter: World
• Mortal Kombat X
• Persona 5
• Resident Evil 7 biohazard

It’s a solid list of games, I can’t even front. This is clearly being established as a competitor to Xbox’s Game Pass service, which provides subscribers access to over 100 games, with Sony seemingly aiming for quality over quantity. While Game Pass has over 100 games, the quality greatly varies from title to title.

The Playstation Plus Collection, meanwhile, only has 20 games, but they range in quality from “good” to “whole-ass masterpiece.”

The blog post also revealed that Playstation Plus subscribers will receive a free game in Bugsnax when the PS5 launches. This game has been in every PS5 promotional event and now I know why.

The game looks…fine. I mean, Kero Kero Bonito did the theme, the art style is cute, and it’ll probably play nice at the price of free 99.

Xbox

After the look of the Xbox Series X was revealed earlier this year, people instantly began saying it’s built like a fridge because, well, the shit looks like a fridge. In one of the most grandiose instances of leaning into the meme, Microsoft has made the Xbox Series X fridge.

If this ain’t good-ass marketing, I don’t what is.

Videos have begun going up today showing influencers unboxing their fridge and honestly, I’m here for it should unboxing videos of household appliances become a thing. Snoop Dogg received a Series X fridge because, of course Snoop Dogg received a Series X fridge.

It’s this kind of cheeky fun that I miss from console launches. If you find yourself desperately needing an Xbox Series X fridge, Xbox is currently running a giveaway for one. 

Nintendo:

Man, Nintendo kind of lost their momentum this year. It was looking all good back in March when Animal Crossing dropped but in the time since, they haven’t really released or announced anything super jaw dropping.

There hasn’t been much in the way of updates for the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4, no word on the long rumored Switch Pro, and what, retrospectively, is looking like their biggest fall launch in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection had an incredibly consumer unfriendly launch (it’s three old-ass games, with no modern upgrades, priced at $60 and available for a limited time.)

To say I wasn’t expecting much from the final third-party Nintendo Direct for the year is an understatement. Still, there were some fun surprises to be had.

The Direct opened with a new look at Bravely Default II, the long-awaited sequel to the Nintendo 3DS original. The game looks to maintain the art style of the first game, just with higher graphical fidelity. The look ended with the reveal that the game would miss its projected 2020 release date and instead drop on Feb. 26.

The Direct ended with the reveal that the Wii games No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle are now on the Switch, to promote the upcoming No More Heroes III. These games were my entire fucking jam in high school and I cannot wait to revist them again. I’d be like “yo check them out!” but I haven’t played these games since I was 17 so I can’t, safely, tell you if they hold up.

Give me a week though, I’ll get back to you.

That about does it for gaming news today. As I said earlier, we are only weeks away from the new consoles dropping and I, for one, am incredibly curious what the early days of the next-generation are going to look like.