Psychonauts 2 Wins 'Xbox Game Of The Year' At The Golden Joystick Awards 2021

Ultimate game of all time: Dark Souls. What an absolute piss take.

Well done to the team.

@WILLBACRIMP do they choose the ultimate game of all time every year? 😆

I know it came out probably too close to these award’s, but echoes of the eye should have been the best expansion

Best Gaming Hardware - PS5

Now, this one really irritated me when I saw the nominations in the Joy Sticks (and I voted for the Series X) because the options included the PS5, the Series X AND the Series S (there were probably others, but I cannot remember right now). This meant that whilst the PS5 and the PS5 Digital were considered one platform and so the vote would be harmonised, the Series X and the Series S were considered two platforms, and this would undoubtedly see the voted split. I get that there are hardware differences between the X and S, and they are more fundamental than those between the PS5 and its Digital version, but it still felt to me as if it placed the Xbox at a huge disadvantage when it came to the overall vote.

Truthfully, the PS5 (with greater sales than the Series, and possibly a more engaged community (if PushSquare is anything to go by) was likely to win anyway, but it really irked me the way they handled the nominations...

@Fiendish-Beaver Well the PS5 and the Digital version are the same console its just one is lacking a disc drive while the Series X and S are two different consoles. I get your point though, they should have just settled on Series X and included S as part of it.

Xbox Game of the Year - Psychonauts 2
PlayStation Game of the Year - Resident Evil Village
Ultimate Game of the Year - Resident Evil Village

This is another very odd set of awards! I played and really enjoyed RE8, and have not as yet played Psychonauts 2 so cannot pass judgement. Regardless of which game was best though, as both games released on both platforms, surely the winner should be the same on both platforms too? It just seems odd, and makes the awards seem irrelevant. I have no issue with Psychonauts 2 being regarded as a better game than RE8, but surely it would follow that it is better on the PS5 too, yes?

@Fiendish-Beaver I thin kit shows more that the 'peoples' votes are just odd not the awards themselves as I believe its all voted by the public.
My take on that result is generally xbox players preferred Psychonauts 2, PS gamers preferred REVillage and as there are much more PS players than Xbox there will be more gamers preferring REVillage. Basically an awards based on the console popularity which will probably always go to PS game of the year?

@StonyKL Absolutely. Awards like these are just popularity contests and bear little relation to the actual quality of a title. I'm just surprised Fortnite didn't make a clean sweep.

This is just a popularity contest, I remember fortnite winning over God of War.

Great job on the award. I want to play that game, but would like to finish Psyconauts 1 first, but I can't get past one of the last levels

@Fiendish-Beaver And honestly, the Series X/S are better pieces of hardware overall anyway. The PS5 has had so many little irritating issues from the way upgrades are handled to missing promised features like VRR. I also still find the OS to be clunky.

On Xbox, everything worked out of the box. VRR, Smart Delivery, Quick Resume, etc. And they continue to add features like Dolby Vision. I have a PS5 but outside the DualSense controller, I love my Series X at the hardware level much more.

Weird, best Xbox game Psychonauts 2.
Best PS game Resident Evil Village.
Both these games multiplat and available on both machines. Bit confusing at first sight but goes to show the mindset of the player base.

Maybe PS fans still angry the game is owned by XBox or the game being PS4 only.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, @awp69. I too own both consoles. My Series X is my primary console, and is played daily. My PS5 is for those bog console exclusives. My Series X is without doubt my favourite console, and probably my favourite electronic device of all time!

I have bought Returnal but am yet to play it, and thus far Demon Souls is the only game I have actually played on my PS5 (a console that I have owned since launch day, and was bought in anticipation of play Horizon Forbidden West). At present, it is collecting dust under my TV unit (where fortunately I can barely see it, as I'm not a fan of its visual design). I'm hoping that next year will see my PS5 used a little more to play at least HFW and hopefully God of War Ragnarok at the very least...

Having the series X and the ps5 it's no competition which is the better hardware....the series X...I bought my ps5 about 2 or 3 months ago and after a brief spell of my Xbox being used alot less....I'm back on the series X more often than not ..and my ps5 barely gets turned on

@Fiendish-Beaver Spider-Man Miles Morales and R&C are both excellent PS exclusives you should give a try.

Thank you, @FatalBubbles. I was hoping to see some significant discounting on both those games in the current sales, but that wasn't the case. Truthfully, I have a huge backlog of games anyway. I'm currently battling through Disciples: Liberation (great game by the way!), and am hoping to get at least a week of Forza Horizon 5 in before the release of the Halo Infinite Campaign (which is a drop everything else in my life moment!). I have so many games to get through it is absolutely ridiculous, but I do want to play both those games, particularly Miles as I have already played Spider-man on the PS4...

Xbox is more powerful than PS5. That's the only way to compare hardware. It says hardware so we don't care about games in this category. The fastest, most powerful hardware is xbox. And PS5 won. Thats all I need to not care about these awards

Very strange that both playstation and xbox's game of the year were also on the other systems.
Also on the best hardware they don't just base it off which is most powerful, it is done by vote on its popularity, I would of voted for the switch OLED if it was included.

@Tharsman was psychonauts 2 a nominee in the PlayStation category though

@TutaKachun Its a popularity contest, but to be devils advocate: the Dual Sense is part of the package and some might consider it enough of a differentiator, and an edge, to make them fairly consider it "better".

I'm not in that camp, but quite a lot of people seem impressed by the tech behind the controller. I personally dont like a controller's triggers fighting my fingers.

"Ultimate Hardware of All Time - PC"
Lol! What an absolutely stupid category to come up with? SMDH

Ultimate Hardware of all time should be Atari 1040STE or Commodore Amiga 500

Any idea why the PS5 won the hardware category?

As someone who has owned and enjoyed a variety of Xboxes and Playstations, and is a huge fan of the PS1/PS2, this generation was a no brainer.

Series X wins hands down.

The Series X is faster, quieter, smaller, has unmatched back compatibility, the brilliant quick resume, and of course GamePass.

I think the Series X is a significantly better piece of hardware.

@Fiendish-Beaver Miles is $29.83 on Amazon which is a solid price but if you’ve got a big backlog I can’t blame you for waiting on a lower price. Sony using $70 for exclusives is off putting to me. I paid that for R&C and it was a great game but it definitely leaves a bad taste.

Doesn’t interest me this game. It’s like a Wish version of Ratchet an Clank Rift Apart!!

@Raffles it isn’t faster or quieter at all. I have them both side by side an both are pretty silent. The PS5 actually loads a lot of games faster but only like a few seconds, nothing to gloat about. As for backwards compatibility the PS5 has over 4000 PS4 games that work on PS5. Series X has about 3200 old Xbox games that are compatible. It’s a little smaller i’ll give you that. Altho i do actually like how the PS5 looks when it’s stood vericle with the black panels.

@sjbsixpack That number doesn’t include all the Xbox One games that work on Series X. So the number on Xbox Series X is closer to 7000.

Well done devs. What a deserving game. Bloody gorgeous and such high production value. /3cheers

@sjbsixpack by faster I mean more powerful. The Series X does have more horsepower than the PS5, around 20% more.

It doesn't sound much, but it's nothing to scoff at. In the GPU world, that's like a new generation ahead, ie GTX 2060 to 3060.

@awp69 it does, it includes every backwards compatible game. There are about 2800 Xbox One games, and bout 630 Xbox 360 games.

@themightyant interesting what you say about quick resume. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's worked on every single game I've tried it on, from my recollection. It's possible one or two didn't get added and I didn't notice, but it really is almost every single one, including Xbox One and 360 games.

For some balance, I actually prefer the look of the PS5 aesthetically, I kind of love how huge and over the top it is.

Plus I think the Series X controller is overrated. Its battery life is terrible compared to the 360 pad, it's d-pad is ultra clacky and loud, and the sticks are not as firm as the 360's. I still think the 360 pad is the best overall pad ever, if only it had 6 face buttons.

Despite that I feel like the Series X is a clear winner for the reasons I stated. Especially the more-than-perfect back compatibility spanning 3 generations, FPS boost, combined with quick resume, means the PS5 doesn't really come close. The extra horsepower is the icing on the cake.

Objectively it's just a better console, and this is coming from someone who has always been a Playstation fan.

@Raffles @Raffles i have both and both are identical in game. Both have their plusses. Sony offers developers less compute units at a variable an higher clock rate to extract better performances from the machine. Valhalla for instance suffers screen tearing an dips in fps on Series X, not so on PS5. The PS5’s SSD is better. PS5 handles frame rates much better than Series X too. Then there’s the exclusive games which PS is way in front with! I have both an both are fantastic but the PS5 is the better console.

@sjbsixpack

What do you mean by PS5 handles frame rates better?

Obviously exclusives are subjective, as R&C is the only PS5 exclusive I like, I would rather play Forza Horizon 4 and 5 than any PS exclusive.

By the way, I know the hardware differs, and the PS5 GPU is clocked higher, that doesn't compensate for the massive difference in cores and TMUs. The result is still 10 TFLOPS for the PS5, and 12 for the Series X, so exactly 20% faster. In time I think we'll see slightly higher resolutions/framerates on the Series X, like the 360 over PS3, or PS4 over Xbox One.

I have no idea how PS5 has won 'Best Hardware'.
And this is from someone who has owned a Series X and PS5 from day one launch...LOL

@blinx01
Same. I sold my PS5 a month ago, but I'd say XSX is way better from a hardware point of view. Like, no contest. It's silent, bulky but not in an ugly way (which PS5 is) and memory expansion is child's play. It's just a popularity contest I guess.

@Tharsman
Honestly, the DualSense is a great bit of tech. BUT: few games use its features to the level of Astro's Playroom (which I consider the perfect implementation) and the battery life is horrible. I had to charge my DS gamepads every two days (compared with 4 for Xbox gamepads).
@themightyant
I know Ant. I'm not hating on the PS5. It has its advantages and a great game library. However, it's my subjective view that this gen Xbox is the better console. Guess a whole bunch of guys think otherwise 😉

@Raffles mate, there’s about 1.5 TF more on Series X. That’s not even noticeable. For instance look at the Series S, that’s about 4.5TF an the difference between the S and X is very small.

@sjbsixpack
"... the difference between the S and X is very small"
This statement shows, that you actually do not have a clue. There are massive differences in performance, resolution and (sometimes) graphical options. At least take a look at tables digital outlets publish, as well as comparison videos (e.g. on Digital Foundry). If you do not perceive clear differences, you ... can only be envied ...

@themightyant
That is not entirely correct. The last months showed XSX versions ahead of PS5 (on Digital Foundry, where comparable). The reason is pretty simple. If you create a game with PS4 or Xbox One generation in mind, it is much easier to make it perform better with hardware that delivers more MHz. Why? Because you do not have to rewrite the engine in important areas. In that regard Cerny was right. However, what he did not tell fans was, that as soon as developers create games with the new hardware in mind, more cores always beat more frequency (optimization given), and the XSX simply has more cores on the GPU.

@Fiendish-Beaver It is pretty stupid that two multiplatform games win best game awards in different systems. But then psychonauts didn't have a native ps5 port...so that's probably why - although tbh I wouldn't be surprised if even if it did there'd still be two different games - usually how these things go.

Hopefully next year xboxs best game can be an Xbox game and playstations best a Sony one. Starfield and God of war 2 I hope live up to expectations anyway.

@Fiendish-Beaver "Truthfully, the PS5 (with greater sales than the Series, and possibly a more engaged community (if PushSquare is anything to go by) was likely to win anyway".

People prefer either Xbox or PS games and that's totally subjective but, objectively, the Series X is the best console and, interestingly, the PS game of the year is a third-party game. Of course, PS5 is considered the "best" hardware because it's more popular and its community is more warring, even though it has fewer features and it's the same price, warmer, bigger and less powerful than Series X.

@WILLBACRIMP "Ultimate game of all time: Dark Souls. What an absolute piss take".

Just like God of War is the best game of all time on Ign 😂.

@lokozar Right. Not at launch when games seem to perform the same or have random advantages on either Series X or PS5 but the recent Digital Foundry videos show that every new release seem to have a bigger advantage on Series X. We'll see even better performance on Series X in the next years.

@themightyant
Depending on the person you could always use the argument, that you need a side by side comparison, even when talking about the Nintendo Switch. It all comes down to whether you notice details, or give a damn about them in the first place. I can discern a 1620p and a 2160p resolution, without having both devices running side by side, or zooming in, or slowing down. Same goes for 40 vs 60 FPS. Others cannot, and that's really the whole crux of the matter. For someone like sjbsixpack, who seems to cannot tell a difference between XSX and XSS, it simply does not matter at all. For someone like me, it does very much - especially in the long run, when games become more demanding and available resources will matter more and more.

In any case, when I'm looking for a console to spend my money on, I will always decide for the better technology and design philosophy (longevity). When I saw the specs and tear-downs of the PS5 and XSX, I knew exactly where my money has to go. Unfortunately, at the latest, since the PS4 Sony decided to go for a very cost efficient and ultimately handicraft approach. Just look at the entire cooling solution they came up with on the PS5 e.g. That is so brute force, it isn't even funny any more. I am unwilling to back something like that.

PS:
Yes, I don't much care about exclusives. So, that is no reason to buy for me. But that's just me, I guess. I do care however about the best visual result and other perks like a good controller and great deals like the Game Pass.

Best Gaming Hardware - PS5
LOL

Inferior in almost every tech spec, but even more so feature wise:

No Dolby Vision
No Dolby Atmos
No DTSX
No 1440p support
No VRR support
No way you update the storage until an update offered it!
It looks like a massive ugly router. XD

But sure, well done on that award, no bias there at all.
OK, Ponies will be Ponies I guess, and there are lot of them in the gaming media.

(I will be picking up a PS5 when they have had a price drop, for now my PS4 Pro is quite sufficient for my Sony exclusive needs).

@themightyant
It was just an example, really. The point is, that a) 60 FPS will always be the targeted sweet spot (linchpin) and b) PS5 already struggles in some newer titles to hold that with the same resolution the XSX can provide. See Tales.

The rest is, as we have already worked out, subjective. Can you or can you not make out differences in detail? I can, you cannot. You're blessed, I'm screwed. It literally sometimes distracts me and drives me nuts!

PS:
And while you're right in regards to the PC - and I do have a good PC - we're talking about consoles. Whenever possible, I separate those two. If you want the best bang for your buck, you go for a console. PC is king, but a massively expensive one - IF you're being serious about it, at least.

@lokozar i’m speaking about through my own eyes. Not some technical genius eyes who zoom in an highlight small things. I remember a few months back, digital foundry did s vid highlighting how the PS5 performs better than the XSX in numerous games. I couldn’t see a difference until they froze the screen, zoomed in an highlighted wat they were taking about. The difference during gameplay was minute, not really noticeable.

@lokozar "And while you're right in regards to the PC - and I do have a good PC - we're talking about consoles. Whenever possible, I separate those two. If you want the best bang for your buck, you go for a console. PC is king, but a massively expensive one - IF you're being serious about it, at least".

100% correct. Why people keep comparing them as equivalents is beyond my understanding. PC gaming is at another level of investment, it's not just the crazy money you pay for getting a high-end GPU but everything else and the investment in light research and time it requires.

Also about the quality of the picture and the frame rate, some people say that they Switch ports are completely fine so nothing surprises me after that 😂. Of course, the gap between PS5 and Series X is much smaller but I find very interesting how recent games have an advantage on Series X as shown in the Digital Foundry videos. It's obvious that the first games were built for the last generation and were boosted or the developer added a few things for the current generation, e.g., Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition. The next Assassin's Creed and Resident Evil games are going to be much more relevant and meaningful examples.

@lokozar Here's someone who knows what's up

Incidentally I have a gaming PC too, and I prefer my Series X. It's so convenient, fast, and quick resume is a game changer for me - being able quickly switch between say 6 games in mere seconds, to the exact point you were in. It's superb.

Also as I'm still rocking a 1080p plasma and haven't jumped on the OLED bandwagon yet, 4k games supersampled to 1080p look surprisingly excellent - smooth, and packed full of a detail. That's something my PC doesn't do, unless a game offers supersampling in the menu.

Even though it's expensive for a console, the SX seems tremendous value to me. It's actually more powerful than a 2080 Super which was around 700 not so long ago. For significantly less money, you get a complete package, including an excellent CPU, controller and a brilliantly engineered, silent case.

@themightyant I think some of you misunderstood what I meant by that.

By more than perfect, I mean it retroactively enhances titles, which for me is better than 1:1 hardware emulation. Even if admittedly, I'd love it if more titles were supported.

FPS boost and resolution boost is great. Especially FPS. I find it quite hard to play 30fps games these days, being used to PC gaming especially.

So FPS Boost is like a dream come true to me, as having a solid selection of 360 games running at 4k60 on the Series X, is like having a really good emulator, with all the polish and accessibility of a console.

Anyway I'm surprised anyone even argued with me about the Series X being objectively better hardware, as unless you place a HUGE amount of importance on the Dual Sense controller, the Series X has just about every other hardware advantage.

And I didn't even remember the stuff on @JetmanUK 's list, which is significant stuff like Dolby and VRR.

I'm absolutely with you on this, @BlueOcean. I have a very good gaming PC, the PS5 and the Series X, and without a shadow of doubt, my Series X is my favourite device. I have my PS5 hidden from view; it's under my TV in a cabinet, but positioned in such a way that I cannot see it! I've had my PS5 since launch, and thus far the only game I have played on it has been Demon Souls. I bought it to play Horizon Forbidden West, but obviously that went south!

I am not particularly competent when it comes to PC's (I have a mate that talks me through stuff when things go wrong) and found on numerous occasions that I had problems just getting games to run properly. They would often start at such a low resolution that you couldn't see the settings, for example. That's why I much prefer my Series X; stuff just works...

@BlueOcean
Not to mention, that on PC you have to upgrade the GPU from time to time, because you have to compensate for the lack of optimization with raw power.

On the other note, there are still games in the pipeline that already were well in the development cycle when the new consoles were announced. Elden Ring for example. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some more games coming out in the near future that still don’t do so well on the XSX. The architecture of this device has to be considered when forming the code basis from the ground up. Otherwise, it’s like fixing a road in the middle of the rush hour. Possible, but complicated and costly. The question is, whether these costs are considered worth it by the devs.

@themightyant That's fair enough. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the PS5 at all, still a solid, high tech machine, and obviously closer to the Series X than the Xbox One to PS4 for example.

I was just surprised it won the hardware category, before I realised it was just a popularity contest voted by fans.

At least we agree on FPS boost

It really is one of the best things about the Series X. It was the main thing I preferred about PC gaming, so it definitely pushes the Series X way up in my esteem.

@Fiendish-Beaver Absolutely. I fully respect PC gaming but for me there's absolutely no reason to be playing outside Series X for the reasons that @Raffles and @lokozar summarised so well. Series X is efficient, great value, powerful and fully optimised as a gaming platform. It's not just infinitely easier to set up than a PC and relatively cheap but enhanced backwards compatibility and FPS Boost are improvements we have never seen outside PC, and they are free. Xbox is a business like any other but all these things plus features like VRR, HDR, Auto HDR, Xbox Velocity, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision are just spoiling us as players. Series X combines the best of both worlds and adds extras on top of that. What's not to love?

@lokozar Right and you need a more powerful PC to match a Series X and not only that but the PC will use more electricity and get warmer to achieve the same results. I've watched most Digital Foundry videos even when the games didn't draw my attention because they are instructive and, sorry for repeating examples but Devil May Cry 5, Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Resident Evil VIII were all built for last generation and then added improvements for the current generation. It's going to be a while until we see developers going further but I think that the next Assassin's Creed and Resident Evil games are going to show us something else and, obviously, 2022 (or 2023?) AAA exclusives on Xbox and PS5 should really be current-gen but those will be impossible to compare for obvious reasons. Sony will go for the linear cinematic in-your-face interactive "experiences" like on PS4 and Xbox will bring a variety of genres with bigger worlds.

@sjbsixpack Still here embarrassing yourself pretending you have a series X..haha daft fanboy

@StylesT what???? 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️😂😂😂