Quick Look: The Cooling Springs of Astro's Playroom

so that what you've been up to

it begins

So, it's mario sunshine? :)

This is Mario Sunshine.

I'm excited for the next few months' worth of content =D

Great to see the guys are enjoying the controller.

It feels really weird to keep hearing "no load times" when this game has very clear slow-walk segments between levels. It's smart use of progressive loading using a fast disk, but having multiple "fog gates" and tubes really highlights how it really is just marketing and it'll be up to devs to make use of the SSD.

Cooling Springs eternal.

Heartwarming describes it right.

The controller sounds rad but the triggers sound like an accessibility nightmare. I’m excited to try it but they need to make deactivating trigger resistance a system level option for folks with motor issues.

@mvhvtmv: Yeah the quick reload on death is something PS4 Astrobot had. I’m no expert but the game is loading into the same world so it’s not like it’s pulling new data.

Excited that the crew is excited for this. Their enthusiasm is infectious.

I can't help but feel like Astro Bot could be so much more if they gave it an identity that wasn't just "PlayStation tech demo", in the way that Mario is an iconic character tied to Nintendo, but you don't see fat Nintendo logos on all the coins.

But then again, if they did that we wouldn't get a simultaneous reference to both the PlayStation Eye and the PlayStation EyeToy.

Neat looking! Really jealous to hear the controller is awesome. I appreciate MS' consumer-friendly forwards compatible controller choices, but it also makes it feel like a continuation of an existing gen rather than an advancement.

Happy for the PS5 owners though. Sounds like it'll be an awesome console to own. Nice to see both consoles getting favorable previews/reviews. Should be a fun and competitive generation this go-around. :D

The PS2 did have a duck demo, but with a cartoon character duck (not a rubber duck) in a sink with reflections and water transformations. PS3 was rubber ducks all day every day.

@stalefishies: To be fair, Mario had the benefit of being released during a time in which it was possible to create iconic mascots. Now? Not so much.

why am i excited for a controller now? sounds so damn cool. triggers locking up and the haptics sounds really amazing for FPS.

My lasting hope through all the ambiguous tech and clock speed BS talk that didnt really differentiate the consoles was that the haptics and the HRTF audio stuff would make for a level of immersion that would make the PS5 unique, and it seems here we are!

I think you just made my console decision for me...

Good to hear the enthusiasm on the new hardware. I'm curious about the '3D audio' side of things. How impressive is that on the PS5? It's something they've been raving about at Sony..

The COOLING SPRINGS part of this game looks pretty neat.

NO! That is not Solid Snake!

@onlineatron: I would be shocked if there wasnt a system level flag to say turn off resistance, for that very reason. I seem to remember being able to turn off rumble at system level on other systems, not that Ive checked, so why not this.

I can imagine a few specific lock pick mini game style situations where they would ask you to use it for gameplay purposes but this feels like less of a design barrier than 'colour blind mode.'

Whoa the power of Cell processing

Huh, don't quite get the level of enthusiasm for this game when it looks like a fairly generic platformer. In fact it looks a lot like Mario Sunshine, which Jeff hated (although I loved it.) Still, cool to hear that the controller is apparently so amazing. The haptic feedback is not something I even knew about until now and I'm curious to see what devs can do with it. I've been very skeptical that this generation will be able to bring anything new to the table aside from prettier graphics, so it's good to hear that PS5 seems to get glowing impressions. Maybe I'll get one after all... eventually.

@wollywoo: It's adorable, it's astrobot, it plays well, and it's free. Also it sounds like the later levels do more cool things to demo the controller features. I think it looks great.

@sirdaemos: I mean, I think it looks pretty okay. I love 3D platformers so it's my kind of game. I'm just surprised to see it get such a good reception. It doesn't seem as creative as any of the 3D Marios, and they seemed pretty uninterested in those in the 3D all-stars quick look. I guess it's more a matter of the impressive tech here vs. the unpolished decade-old ports Nintendo put out.

It's very occasionally dropping frames? Really hoped these new consoles would've been able to provide a constant locked 60fps at 1080p at least.

Looks fun! Good quick look! Ps4 was the first console I bought day one, and I won't be repeating that mistake. Love my PS4 now, but at launch, I discovered Knack was a horrible garbage tech demo masquerading as a game. Shooters and sports didn't appeal to me, so it felt like about 2-3 years until I had enough games that I was able to feel like I hadn't been burned for a product I used mostly for netflix.

I won't be buying either at launch, but I'm excited for the quality of life improvements, and to see what developers do. In 2 years, (If my* ps4 lives that long) I'll probably scooop one up.

oh dang now I want a PS5

like I wanted it to some degree anyway, it was inevitable I would get one sometime, but this video put me in actual next gen excitement mode

@kaname: Yeah, that was very weird. I thought maybe that was a recording hiccup of some kind? The crew didn't seem to point it out. It would certainly be a bad look for a tech demo.

This is the most excited they've seen for a new product in a while, I'm stoked.

@mvhvtmv: watch the whole video. They show off a “fast travel” feature that loads between the sections in like 2 seconds.

And ladies and Gentlemen, we are officially into the next console generation.

God, that trigger stuff sounds like it could finally make controller racing games extremely viable, especially in the context of something like F1, where you are usually using throttle control and gearing to do your breaking instead of actually using the breaks.

The controller stuff sounds great, really happy to hear that it actually works well. We'll see if third-party devs who are making cross platform games actually take advantage of it, but even if just the PS5-exclusive stuff does that'll still be neat to have.

I'm also happy to see that, even if it isn't a huge thing, this is still more of an actual Astro Bot game than I was initially expecting (I was half thinking it might just be a small handful of tech demos rather than actual levels). As a free pack-in it sounds like a great way to show off the new system to friends & family.

Hearing Jeff say that there are a lot of items related to PS3 has me hoping for a level with creepy baby dolls.

Pretty excited to check out the cooling springs on the PS5 controller, probably feels pretty nice.

missed opportunity to say "I bet it feels pretty cool" xd

Can't wait to buy the controller for my PC.

Glad to hear Jeff say it has a steady framerate, because the video looks a little bit garbage.

Wow had no idea I would get this hyped over just one level of the pack-in game. Almost two weeks!!!

Remember the dinosaur tech demo? Tech demos have come a really long way. Rad.

Can't wait to play the level c o o l i n g s p r i n g s.

I can't recall when I've seen Jeff this excited / happy about... anything! That's the biggest endorsement I can think of.

I'm even more excited to get my PS5.

@octaslash: Other videos show 4k/60 so this has to be a capture problem, but if you really want to know.. wait for DF's video I guess. Maybe it even has 120hz support for 1080p :P