The list of new PS5 and PS4 games for the week beginning July 8, 2024, is made up almost entirely of indie games although there is plenty of choice. The highlight of the week will be truck driving simulator Alaskan Road Truckers: Highway Edition, although there’s also a blast from the past in the form of Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III.

All PS5 and PS4 July 8 to 14, 2024 game release dates

Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently set to be released throughout the week of July 8 to 14, 2024.

PS5 Games

• Cazzarion: Mosquito Hunt (July 8)
• Let’s Journey (July 8)
• Racing Bros: Mafias Revenge (July 8)
• Lifeless Moon (July 9)
• Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master (July 9)
• Spin Rhythm XD (July 9)
• No Brakez (July 10)
• True Colours – A Date With Deception (July 10)
• Alaskan Road Truckers: Highway Edition (July 11)
• The Boys Escape (July 11)
• Disaster Band (July 11)
• Hamster Playground (July 11)
• Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III (July 11)
• Prune & Milo (July 11)
• TimeMelters (July 11)
• Astral Escape (July 12)
• Cola Riders (July 12)
• Deathchron (July 12)
• Infinite Inside (July 12)
• Platform Twister (July 12)
• Thief Simulator 2 (July 12)
• True Virus (July 12)
• Cubic Riders (July 13)

PS4 Games

• Rescue Team 911 Simulator – Ambulance, Police, Firefighter (July 9)
• Spin Rhythm XD (July 9)
• No Brakez (July 10)
• True Colours – A Date With Deception (July 10)
• The Boys Escape (July 11)
• Hamster Playground (July 11)
• Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III (July 11)
• Astral Escape (July 12)
• Cola Riders (July 12)
• Deathchron (July 12)
• Platform Twister (July 12)
• Thief Simulator 2 (July 12)
• True Virus (July 12)
• Cubic Riders (July 13)

A total of 23 games are coming to PS5 this week, while PS4 players get a slightly shorter list of 13 titles. Alaskan Road Truckers: Highway Edition does exactly what it says on the tin, challenging players with extreme weather, truck maintenance issues, and risky shortcuts as they try to make money as an Alaskan Trucker. Other simulators offer experiences such as a thief or, on the other end of the scale, members of the emergency services.

Bubble Bobble III makes its way to modern-day consoles more than 30 years after its initial release. With the aid of magical parasols, Bubby and Bobby must save their neighboring planets from an evil menace. Other notable games include the dungeon builder Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master and the visual novel True Colours – A Date With Deception.

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Team Asobi launched a new Astro’s Playroom update, with the second of four new Bots available now. Players who unlock these new bots can bring them into the upcoming Astro Bot, which releases on September 6.

What’s in the new Astro’s Playroom update?

Team Asobi’s studio head, Nicolas Doucet, reiterated in Monday’s PlayStation Blog post that the upcoming Astro Bot game sees players rescuing 300 bots scattered across multiple galaxies. Half of them are cameo Bots referencing other PlayStation games. These include Bloodborne and Returnal, from which Astro’s Playroom got the first two new Special Bots. Players have been able to unlock Lady Maria since last month, with the Bot version of Returnal protagonist Selene arriving in the second update.

As with the previous Astro’s Playroom update, the studio tasked the player with finding Selene somewhere in the game and then completing a puzzle to rescue her. According to Team Asobi’s Studio Head, Nicolas Doucet, players found and freed Lady Maria in under three hours. The next new Bot arrives in August, with the fourth coming in September. Based on the trophy names and teasers, they will be based on Gran Turismo and Ape Escape.

How to unlock Lady Maria and Selene

To unlock Lady Maria, Astro’s Playroom players need to head to the Render Forest area in the CPU jungle. Maria’s capsule will appear when players climb to the top of a large plant behind the Bloodborne Hunter Bot. They then need to search the trees above for a clock symbol matching the one on the pod. Standing near the clock and pressing the Options button brings up a screen where players must enter the date 24/11/2015, the release date for Bloodborne’s The Old Hunters DLC. Doing so unlocks Lady Maria and the Hunted Down trophy.

Meanwhile, the Selene Bot is in the Deep Dataspace of Astro’s Playroom’s SSD Speedway. To the left of the buried Ball Shooter chest is a swirling vortex. Players must jump toward the vortex to land on the hidden platform to reveal Selene’s pod. Then, they must proceed through the shooting section, stopping in the room with the low-hanging lights. They will find a small astronaut doll on the walkways above. This being a Returnal reference, players then need to die and respawn to free Selene.

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A PS5 vs Xbox Series X performance analysis conducted by tech experts over at Digital Foundry finally explains why games tend to run better on the PS5. Despite Xbox Series X being labeled the most “powerful” console in the market today, games on the console often suffer from relatively inferior performance, and as part of their research into the matter, Digital Foundry spoke to developers to get some insight.

PS5 vs Xbox Series X performance: why Sony’s console outperforms Microsoft’s

It all seems to come down to the way the PS5 is set up (thanks, Mark Cerny). Digital Foundry has heard from developers who have said that PS5’s GPU compiler is far more efficient than Xbox Series X’s, and that Sony utilizes its graphics tech better than Microsoft. Apparently, Xbox Series X’s split memory is also impacting performance.

Then comes the GPU. Developers have said that the PS5’s GPU simply runs faster, and as a result, works better with some game engines. “A more efficient GPU compiler, lower-level APIs and higher clock speeds allows PlayStation 5 to match or even exceed the outputs of Xbox Series X in some scenarios,” Digital Foundry concludes.

The full article is an interesting read, so make sure to check it out over on Eurogamer.

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We enter the second half of the year on a quieter note, although the list of new PS5 and PS4 games for the week beginning July 1, 2024, does have some notable titles. The highlight of the week is likely to be Zenless Zone Zero, the latest game from Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo. There’s also free-to-play shooter The First Descendant and the latest in the The Legend of Heroes: Trails series.

All PS5 and PS4 July 1 to 7, 2024 game release dates

Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently set to be released throughout the week of July 1 to 7, 2024.

PS5 Games

• The First Descendant (July 2)
• Hot Blood (July 2)
• Backrooms Brotherhood (July 3)
• Offroad Mechanic Simulator (July 3)
• Parkitect: Deluxe Edition (July 3)
• Elemental Cube (July 4)
• Fate Seeker II (July 4)
• Scholar’s Mate (July 4)
• Zenless Zone Zero (July 4)
• Bouncy Chicken (July 5)
• Creature Lab (July 5)
• Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero (July 5)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak (July 5)
• Overdrive Blaster (July 5)
• Platform Twister (July 5)
• The Street 10 VR (July 6)

PS4 Games

• Aquatic Life: Fish Simulator RPG (July 2)
• The First Descendant (July 2)
• Hot Blood (July 2)
• Backrooms Brotherhood (July 3)
• Parkitect: Deluxe Edition (July 3)
• Border Police: Contraband Simulator 2024 (July 4)
• Elemental Cube (July 4)
• Fate Seeker II (July 4)
• Scholar’s Mate (July 4)
• Bouncy Chicken (July 5)
• Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero (July 5)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak (July 5)
• Platform Twister (July 5)

A total of 16 games are coming to PS5 this week, while PS4 players get a slightly shorter list of 13 titles. Hoyoverse’s urban fantasy action RPG will be hoping to replicate the success of Genshin Impact. It’s off to a great start as the target of 40 million pre-registrations has been smashed and players can still grab the rewards by signing up before the game’s release date.

Elsewhere, third-person online co-op looter shooter The First Descendent will pit player-controlled Descendents against alien invaders taking over the planet of Ingris. There’s also The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak; the first game in the Trails Through Daybreak story arc finally makes its way west after a release in Japan two years ago.

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Astro Bot’s file size has been revealed, and it’s not a small game. While Astro’s playroom, which comes pre-loaded on PS5, is only around 11 GB, the sequel takes up more space than the base game of Elden Ring.

What is Astro Bot’s file size on PS5?

Team Asobi’s upcoming platformer weighs in at around 66 gigabytes, or about six times the size of its predecessor. As one Reddit user quickly pointed out, that’s more than Elden Ring, which is only about 60 GB before the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Astro Bot’s file size information comes from a photo of the back of the box shared on Twitter. While most of the text is in Japanese, the file size is clearly shown below the lower-left screenshot.

This file size doesn’t necessarily mean that Astro Bot is bigger than Elden Ring. Still, it’s a good indication of what fans are getting and how much space PS5 users will need to keep clear.

Releasing September 6, Astro Bot is the third game in the series, which started with Rescue Mission for the original PSVR. The second game, Astro’s Playroom, served as a tech demo for the PS5’s DualSense controller. However, while it only had 16 levels, the highly anticipated sequel is a full-length game. It has more than 80 levels split between 50 planets in 6 galaxies. Astro will also have new abilities, and the game features new mechanics like boss fights at the end of each galaxy.

Like Astro’s Playroom, Astro Bot also features unlockable “VIP bots” based on other PlayStation properties. Players can recruit over 150 of these crossover robots in the upcoming game.

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The list of new PS5 and PS4 games for the week beginning June 24, 2024, has been livened up by a late entry. The highlight of the week will be Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition, although those wanting a physical copy of the game will have to wait a bit longer.

All PS5 and PS4 June 24 to 30, 2024 game release dates

Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently set to be released throughout the week of June 24 to 30, 2024.

PS5 Games

• Bum Simulator (June 24)
• Cazzarion: Ship Hunting (June 24)
• Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition (June 25)
• Frogun Encore (June 25)
• Graven (June 25)
• Until Then (June 25)
• Go Go Jump!!! (June 26)
• Exo One (June 27)
• Fortress Challenge – Fort Boyard (June 27)
• Frogue (June 27)
• K-ONE (June 27)
• NeoSprint (June 27)
• Party Poppers (June 27)
• A Burger in Space (June 28)
• Bloodhound (June 28)
• Gigantosaurus: Dino Sports (June 28)
• How to Sing to Open Your Heart Remastered (June 28)
• Last Night of Winter (June 28)
• Local News with Cliff Rockslide (June 28)
• SpyxAnya: Operation Memories (June 28)

PS4 Games

• Bum Simulator (June 24)
• Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition (June 25)
• Frogun Encore (June 25)
• Pixel Coloring Paint (June 25)
• Go Go Jump!!! (June 26)
• Exo One (June 27)
• Fortress Challenge – Fort Boyard (June 27)
• Frogue (June 27)
• NeoSprint (June 27)
• A Burger in Space (June 28)
• Bloodhound (June 28)
• Gigantosaurus: Dino Sports (June 28)
• How to Sing to Open Your Heart Remastered (June 28)
• Kingdom’s Dungeon Rage (June 28)
• Last Night of Winter (June 28)
• Local News with Cliff Rockslide (June 28)
• SpyxAnya: Operation Memories (June 28)
• Ultimate Rock Climbing Challenge (June 28)

A total of 20 games are coming to PS5 this week, while PS4 players get a slightly shorter list of 18 titles. Beyond Good & Evil is being brought to the latest generation of consoles this week, and the 20th Anniversary Edition will include various new features like the Treasure Hunt mode that links the game to Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Elsewhere, notable indie games include dark fantasy first-person shooter Graven, a remastered version of visual novel How to Sing to Open Your Heart, and roguelike bullet hell platformer Frogue. Younger gamers will be entertained with Gigantosaurus: Dino Sports, while PSVR 2 players will have to make do with adventure game K-ONE.

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Microsoft brought its open-world multiplayer pirate game Sea of Thieves to PS5 in March, alongside three other previously exclusive games. The game has so far seen significant success on the platform, dominating PS5 sales last month. Xbox Game Studios President Matt Booty commented on the port’s success in a recent interview.

How are Sea of Thieves PS5 sales doing?

Booty recently sat down for an interview with Variety’s Strictly Business podcast. The conversation covered topics ranging from Microsoft’s studio closures to the recent Xbox showcase. Sea of Thieves came up a few times during the interview, with Booty describing the company’s satisfaction with its PS5 release. “We have been really pleased with what we’ve seen on Sea of Thieves,” said Booty. He went on to say, “We saw an uptick in engagement on Xbox and on PC. So again, there’s this thing where you’ve got more people coming into the franchise, which causes more excitement, which actually grows the franchise overall.”

The Microsoft exec also revealed the proportion of PS4 and PS5 users interacting with Xbox and PC players. “Another really interesting encouraging stat is that about half the people that we saw playing on PlayStation were playing with people on other platforms. So, this is about expanding that community.” He attributed this to the work developer Rare put into making Sea of Thieves “best-in-class in terms of cross-platform play.”

“The other thing,” said Booty, “is it brought new players into Sea of Thieves, right… It was really great to see that it was bringing in new players that had never played Sea of Thieves before. I think we consider that a success.”

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Sony Interactive Entertainment launched the PlayStation VR2 last year, bringing virtual reality capabilities to the PlayStation 5. However, the platform has been struggling for some time, and it appears that Sony is losing faith. A recent report indicates that the publisher is scaling back support for new PSVR 2 games.

Is Sony giving up on PSVR 2?

According to Android Central, their sources indicate that Sony was cutting funding for PSVR 2 games. There are reportedly only two first-party games in development for that platform, and there will be few opportunities for more going forward. Sony has yet to comment on that report, though it’s a concerning sign for the future of the PS5’s VR system.

This is by no means the first indication that the $550 peripheral might be in trouble. News broke in March that Sony had paused production of the PSVR 2 due to the high number of unsold headsets. While many praise the system’s features and technical performance, its high price was cited as the primary factor in its poor sales.

The lack of games also isn’t a new problem for PSVR 2. Sony has only released a handful of first-party games for the platform and none in 2024. The publisher also shut down two of its VR studios, shuttering Blood & Truth developer London Studio and Firewall developer First Contact Entertainment.

Sony is releasing a PSVR 2 PC adapter next month, which could help sales by opening it to a larger market. However, with Sony reportedly scaling back its investment in new VR games, some might wonder how much longer it will take before Sony stops supporting it.

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Sony announced the next update for the PlayStation Portal. Launching tomorrow, it introduces a handful of major quality-of-life features. Among them is the often-requested ability to use it with public Wi-Fi connections that require browser authentication.

What does the PS Portal update do?

As noted in the PlayStation Blog post, Sony still recommends players use the PS Portal with home Wi-Fi connections. However, the company knows that many players use it on the go. Unfortunately, the lack of a web browser has left users unable to log into public networks with a dedicated sign-in screen.

After the new update, if the PS Portal detects that the network requires additional verification, it will generate a QR code. Users can then scan the code with their phone and complete any additional steps in their phone’s browser. Note that the PS Portal still requires a Wi-Fi connection of 5Mbps or faster, with Sony recommending 15Mbps or faster for the best experience.

Wednesday’s PS Portal update also adds two other major quality-of-life features. The first is improved visual feedback on the handheld’s simulated PS5 touchpad. The update adds new visual effects, leaving a trail for where the player taps and swipes.

Additionally, users can now choose to display the PS Portal’s battery percentage as a percentage. To access the feature, users must open the Quick Menu, navigate to Settings > System > Battery, and select “Show Battery Percentage.”

Sony Interactive Entertainment also used the update announcement to talk about the device’s success. “Since the initial launch of PS Portal last November, we’ve been overwhelmed with the enthusiastic reactions and the variety of ways our community has been enjoying gaming on PS Portal…We’re excited to see that PS Portal has introduced many more gamers to the Remote Play feature on PS5, with over 60 percent of PS Portal owners using the feature for the first time.”

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The week of June 17, 2024, is quieter than usual as the list of new PS5 and PS4 games only includes indie games despite the recent excitement of Summer Game Fest. The highlight will be Still Wakes The Deep from The Chinese Room, developer of Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.

All PS5 and PS4 June 17 to 23, 2024 game release dates

Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently set to be released throughout the week of June 17 to 23, 2024.

PS5 Games

• Cazzarion: Flak Battle (June 17)
• Gallery of Things: Reveries (June 17)
• Horror Tales: The Beggar (June 17)
• I Love Finding Cats & Pups (June 17)
• So Much Stuff 3: Odds & Ends (June 17)
• Still Wakes The Deep (June 18)
• Tarzan VR (June 18)
• Glyphs of Gitzan (June 19)
• Poopy Time (June 19)
• Everafter Falls (June 20)
• Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Quest of Memories (June 20)
• Primal Survivors (June 20)
• Rusted Moss (June 20)
• Whacking Hell! (June 20)
• Windstorm: Start of a Great Friendship – Remastered (June 20)
• Frog Jumper (June 21)
• Glowface (June 21)
• The Ouroboros King (June 21)
• Stellar Interface (June 21)
• Times & Galaxy (June 21)
• The Boys Escape (June 22)

PS4 Games

• Horror Tales: The Beggar (June 17)
• #BLUD (June 18)
• Space Planet Invader – Cosmic Power (June 18)
• Beneath the earth – Backrooms (June 19)
• Glyphs of Gitzan (June 19)
• Poopy Time (June 19)
• Everafter Falls (June 20)
• Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Quest of Memories (June 20)
• Primal Survivors (June 20)
• Whacking Hell! (June 20)
• Windstorm: Start of a Great Friendship – Remastered (June 20)
• Glowface (June 21)
• The Ouroboros King (June 21)
• Stellar Interface (June 21)
• Supermarket Owner Simulator: Business (June 21)
• Urban Skater – Skateboard Delivery City Challenge (June 21)
• The Boys Escape (June 22)

A total of 21 games are coming to PS5 this week, while PS4 players get a slightly shorter list of 17 titles. Still Wakes the Deep is a horror game set on an oil rig in the North Sea where supernatural forces are terrorizing the crew.

The highlight for PS4 players will be #BLUD, a dungeon crawler that combines action RPGs and hyperkinetic 90s cartoons. Elsewhere, there is a new offering for PSVR 2 players but it’s a “take it or leave it” week; Tarzan VR puts players in the titular role as he swings, climbs, and battles his way to become Lord of the Jungle.

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