Sony is sticking to its guns, and won’t be releasing its first party games day one on its PlayStation Plus subscription service.
Speaking with GameFile, vice president of global services at PlayStation Nick Maguire said the company was “not looking to put games in day and date” on PS Plus, and will instead stick with its current way of doing things.
“Our strategy of finding four or five independent day-and-date titles – and using that to complement our strategy of bringing games in when they’re 12, 18 months old or older – that balance for us is working really well across the platform,” Maguire continued, before adding:
“If there were six or seven great opportunities, then we would go for them as well.”
When asked if the company had considered the benefit of putting its own first party live-service titles on PS Plus, with Concord – the debut game from Sony’s FireWalk Studios, which was taken offline just two weeks after its PS5 and PC debut – being used as an example, Maguire declined to give a specific comment. The Sony exec did say, however, that PS Plus has “proven itself to be a great way to introduce new players to franchises” when they arrive on the service.
“There’s always going to be a moment for any game where there’s the right time for it to go into Plus, when it’s ready to reach a wider audience or… to find new fans or new parts of our platform that it hasn’t already reached,” Maguire said.
For many people, the beach is the epidemy of rest and relaxation. The sun, sand, and ocean waves can wash away the stress of our everyday life. I’m not in that group of people. Sand and myself are mortal enemies that have been in a battle since my teenage years. Thankfully, games like Beach Day from CakePie Games exist so I don’t have to actually be on a beach to enjoy this atmosphere.
Beach Day is a tile placement game for 1 to 5 players that’s illustrated by Ammon Anderson (Gnome Hollow) and designed by Brennan Smith and Josh Bowman. This small box game brings all the joy of the beach as you chase victory points and stay away from pesky sand.
Fun in the Sun
Each player is adding cards to their own beach tableau on their turn, chasing five global goals and their own unique goal. You’ll receive two crab cards at the start of the game, discarding one and keeping the other. This is a personal scoring goal that is unique to just you.
Everyone starts with a single tile 2×2 card that is marked with a sea turtle in one of the corners. This sea turtle is important and can never be covered by another card.
On your turn, you can take two cards from the top of the draw pile, placing one and discarding the other to one of the two discard piles. OR, you can take and place one of the top cards on either of the discard piles. In adding a new card to your beach, you can place it adjacent to another card or overlap another previously placed card. Overlapping is generous in this game since you can cover one or more of the four squares on a card. You can never place a card diagonally adjacent or tuck a card under another previously placed card.
Beach Activities
On the cards in Beach Day, you’ll find beachballs, sand castles, pools of water, shells, sand dollars, and even trash. Each item on the beach has a different method of scoring based on the goal cards that were chosen at the start of the game. Beachball halves need to be paired with another half in order to be scored. Sea shells score the most when grouped in contiguous paths.
Don’t forget about your crab card! That secret scoring criteria can be helpful in outscoring your opponent. Players will watch how each beach is being built at the table. In many of our games, the score has been tight and competitive which is exactly how we like our games.
Since the goal cards in the game are double-sided, players can pick their favorite scoring cards each and every game. Once you get a couple games under your belt, you’ll start to enjoy some goals more than others. The game gives you the agency to just pick your favorites and run with it.
After the draw pile is empty, players score based on the goal cards and crab card that each player has. The highest score wins.
Final Thoughts
Like a day at the beach, Beach Day is a relaxing and breezy time at the game table. The small box makes this a great game to throw into a bag or to play over a meal. It’s easy to understand how everything is scored and the placement rules are straight-forward.
Beach Day is a filler game that is going to check a lot of boxes for anyone looking for a quick game that you can take on the go. The gameplay and theme absolutely go hand-in-hand with this release.
Beach Day is being funded through Kickstarter starting in June from CakePie Games. Check out the campaign today.
A prototype of the game was provided for this coverage. Components and rules covered in this preview are not finalized. Read more about our preview policies at One Board Family.
Boy, that escalated quickly. Elden Ring Nightreign, as I write this, has been out less than a day. So, of course someone’s already put out a video demonstrating a duos mod for it.
To be fair, I guess Nightreign’s devs had arguably thrown down the gauntlet to the FromSoft modding community when the game’s director admitted that duos play hadn’t been a big focus in development and would only potentially get some TLC further down the line.
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Anyway, modder Yui – that’s the same person responsible for Elden Ring‘s Seamless Co-op mod and its various siblings for other FromSoft games – is unsurprisingly the person who’s managed to whip this out in uber-quick fashion.
In the video below spotted by IGN, they demonstrate a mod that’d allow you to hop into a Nightreign session with just two players instead of the usual three or one plucky solo Soulser that’ll have a much easier time once the next patch drops.
“As the modification runs without connecting to the matchmaking server, it is possible to use additional mods during gameplay,” Yui explained in the vid’s description, adding that they “Made it for fun.”
As of right now, they’ve not released this mod to the public meaning you can’t play it. I’d imagine if they do intend to put it out that it’s currently a work-in-progress that’ll need a lot of extra graft to fine-tune the likes of balancing – that being the main thing FromSoft’s had to work on in order to make sure the game works just as well for solo players as it does trios.
After all, more stabby blokes, more stabs inflicted on bosses, therefore bosses need to be able to take more stabs to not die too easily, and vice versa.
If you’re going HAM on Nightreign this weekend, make sure to check out our bunch of handy guides to help you get to grips with it, and our ranking of every Nightlord, The latter’s based on key factors like difficulty, spectacle, and how often they brush their teeth.
Get ready for an action-packed, cinematic zombie horror experience—straight out of the 1980s!
Step into a gritty, analog film-style world where three survivors must battle their way through a planet overrun by the undead. From the dark alleys of a crumbling city to eerie forests, an abandoned military outpost, and a blood-soaked shopping mall, every step is a fight for survival.
Man has fallen. As the day sets, the dead shall rise!
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Features:
Use a wide range of firearms, melee weapons, and explosives to stay alive
Dive into a lengthy and challenging campaign—fully immersive and loaded with cinematic moments
Face off against varied zombie types and terrifying bosses
Randomized weapons and enemy counts keep each playthrough fresh and unpredictable
Optimized to run on low-end PCs
Partial gamepad support (Xbox controllers)
Customize your visuals: go full analog film, modern digital cinema, or strip away effects for a raw experience
The Nintendo Switch 2’s dedicated Direct has come and gone. Games were revealed, a release date was set, and there was no pricing information (though this hit the internet, and everything is quite expensive). But how do the games PLAY? Thankfully, yours truly was part of a select few who got to play the Switch 2 at a special New York event. I tried out a good mix of first-party titles and came away impressed by most of what I experienced.
Mario Kart World
Of the titles I played, Mario Kart World was the one I spent the most time with. For the first section, I played two two-player exhibition races on the television screen and two single-player matches on the handheld, meaning I got a feel for the Switch 2 Pro Controller and the Joy-Con 2. Playing on the television racing against an attendee next to me and the various CPUs was thrilling. Every track was new to the series. There were various character options, including the amazing Moo Moo cow. Many outfits were selectable, too.
The Switch 2 Pro Controller was a joy to hold and control. It and the Joy-Con 2 felt more comfortable for people with big hands, which was great for me. Races start a little differently now: instead of waiting at the starting line, you drift into the race with everyone else, though Lakitu still shows up to count you down and you can still boost if you hold the gas at the right time. Lunch bags are a new pickup you can grab; doing so will cause your character to eat a snack and change their outfit during a race. I noticed some new powerups: a Gold Shell that launches forward and drops many Gold Coins (these boost your speed) and a wand-like item that calls in the sorcerer Kamek to do some damage.
The best part of Mario Kart World was Knockout Tour. 24 racers, back-to-back courses flowing together seamlessly, and if you don’t place high enough by the time you reach each of the five checkpoints, you’re eliminated. It’s the most frantic I’ve ever seen Mario Kart; people were downright bloodthirsty. The race allowed you to go anywhere, meaning falling off a track or going off the beaten path wouldn’t necessarily spell your doom. Getting to each checkpoint felt exhilarating. I placed fifth overall!
Donkey Kong Bananza
We haven’t had a new 3D Donkey Kong title since Donkey Kong 64 so Donkey Kong Bananza is a pleasant surprise. It’s reminiscent of Super Mario Odyssey, except you’re collecting and eating Gold Bananas instead of nabbing Power Moons. Donkey Kong is a simian with one philosophy: punch everything in his path. He can punch forward, punch downward, and even slam the ground from the air. The amount of destruction he can wreak is unparalleled; you’ll be leaving craters in the ground and smashing through terrain. Donkey Kong can even grab a rock slab and ride it like a surfboard. He can also pick up explosive purple crystals and lob them at enemies or rock formations. Donkey felt great to control, especially while climbing the scenery (no Stamina Wheel, thank goodness). My only gripe was that the A button was jump and the B button was ground pound. It was hard to get to grips with but you can remap the buttons.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
As a big fan of the Metroid series, I had to make a beeline to the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond play area. The game did not disappoint. It’s gorgeous, running at a full 60 FPS in 4K Quality Mode and an astounding 120 FPS in 1080p Performance Mode. If you’re a Metroid Prime expert, everything will click into place: you have a dedicated button for Morph Ball mode, a button to switch to the Scan Visor, a jump button, a missile button, and a button for shooting and charging your beam. Prime 4 looks to follow Prime 3 in the way it presents its plot: there are other characters you can interact with and a bevy of cutscenes. It’s a different feel from the original Metroid Prime, which evoked a feeling of isolation, so whether you like this approach or not depends on your preference. The best part of the gameplay was realizing you can switch from standard controls to gyro aiming by just flicking your wrist and aiming at the screen, no menu changes required. It certainly helped with the demo’s boss fight, which required shooting different points on its body.
Drag x Drive
Nintendo wanted to show off its mouse functionality with the Switch 2, so it’s no shock to see a game run hog wild with that gimmick. Drag x Drive is that game. There was an extensive tutorial for this title, and for good reason. It takes time to get acclimated to the controls, especially turning left and right, since you use the opposite Joy-Con 2 to turn in that direction. You can’t expect to go fast in short bursts, either, as you need to do long strides with the controller to build up speed. Once you get used to the layout, it’s fairly intuitive. The 3 v 3 match I was thrown into after the tutorial seemed to last for less than five minutes, but it was fun to pass the ball and use the Joy-Con 2 to angle shots at the basket. It was entertaining, but I had a huge flat surface to glide my Joy-Con 2 across. I wonder if the game will feel as good in tighter spaces or on different surfaces.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World
This is the only enhanced Switch 2 Edition game I played, but it’s great. The demo throws you right into the Star-Crossed World expansion, and the game runs at a smooth 60 FPS now, improving the gameplay, especially with setting up your dodge rolls. The new spring powerup feels great, bringing to mind Rattly the Rattlesnake from Donkey Kong Country 2 (though using the timing from that title will cause you to miss your jumps and plummet to your death). For all you completionists out there, this add-on has you covered, with many hidden paths and collectibles to uncover. No word yet on how long this expansion will be, but hopefully it’s hefty.
Gameplay-wise, I was impressed with the Nintendo Switch 2. All the peripherals felt solid, and many of Nintendo’s first-party games are stellar. However, the price of the console, accessories, and games is frankly unaffordable, so I believe the Switch 2 will not reach the heights of its predecessor. Hopefully, prices will go down in the future.
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Published: Apr 3, 2025 09:04 am