supermegapodcast

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Episode 8 - Pre E3 Specal

It's that time of year again!

Tom and Charlie talk about what they expect to see at E3, as well as what they would like to see, what they wouldn't like to see and what it takes to "win" E3 2016.

Settle in for a look at EA, Bethesda, Microsoft, PC Gaming Show, Ubisoft, Sony and Nintendo in the run up to their E3 conferences.

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Charlie and Tom return, discussing the beginning of "all out warfare" in the Battlefield 1 announcement trailer, the YouTube dislike campaign for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, finding some other kid in Fallout 4s Far Harbor expansion and the announcement of a new Star Wars game from Titanfall developers Respawn. 

  We also chat about what we've been playing of late, and our discussion topic of the month is the PlayStation 4 Neo: are half steps a step backward?

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Hitman In Episodes

Hitman fans are being left bemused by Square Enix’s inability to decide on a direction for the forthcoming Hitman title. It began with plans to release the game as an introductory pack including all base game content: 6 story missions and 3 sandbox areas located in Paris, Sapienza and Marrakesh, 40 “signature kills”, a contract mode including 800 assassination targets and regular community events held by the developer then new missions set in the new locations of Thailand, Japan and the United States of America would follow at a later date, followed by a full priced version of the game including all content. This game would see no microtransactions and no paid DLC packs would feature, with all content being released free to the community over time. However, this month it was announced that the game will now follow an episodic format. The introductory pack would consist of the prologue and Paris location only, with Sapienza following in April and Marrakesh in May before a gap with the remaining 3 locations following towards the latter part of the year. Additional weekly community events and further “planned content” will plug gaps between the releases. Players can purchase the full season and get the content as it is released, or get the introductory pack and each content pack as it is released. A full disc based release will follow in late 2016.

The game has had a turbulent development process. Originally it was planned that development would be handled by the new Square Enix Montreal studio, but other projects franchise veterans IO Interactive were involved with never came to fruition due to cutbacks and layoffs, so the decision was made to shift development over to them.

I've always really liked the Hitman series, and when I played Absolution I said I felt that the best parts of it were the best it's ever been, but I just can't see any reason to cut this forthcoming instalment up into "episodes", beyond the studio feeling they didn't have time to meet the development schedule. IO Interactive have been vocal in announcing planned changes, such as more open world areas, less linearity and no more checkpoints. I’m still excitedly looking forward to this release, but all this turmoil has made me alot more guarded towards it, frankly I may well play it safe and wait for the disc release in late 2016 when I’ll be in a better position to gauge whether or not it’s worth the asking price.

- Charlie

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Mortal Kombat Kombat Pack 2 and XL Not Coming to PC

It was announced last week that the Mortal Kombat Kombat Pack 2 DLC featuring the characters Leatherface from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", the Xenomorph Alien from the Alien film series, as well as returning character Rai Cho and series favourite robots Sektor, Cyrax and Robot Smoke merged to form Tri-Borg, will not be coming to PC and neither will recently announced Mortal Kombat XL, which comprises the game and all DLC. Effectively, PC support has ceased for the game.

It's fair to say that Mortal Kombat X had a rocky release on the PC port handled by experienced developers High Voltage Software, who previously handled Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition and Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition, when large portions of content were missing at launch due to the title experimenting with a new way of handling game data by downloading an initial 3GB file, including single player battles and the practise arena, while streaming the rest of the content. The system was inspired by the way PlayStation 4 and Xbox One titles allow a small playable portion of gameplay while downloading the rest of the game in the background. The problem was it didn't work and it left PC fighters with a sour taste in their mouths. So this announcement has only served to further alienate PC players.

"I guess it's time for PC guys to get a console. I hope it gets on PC eventually" - Professional fighter PND I2 Gaug3.

Between this and Batman: Arkham Knight's disastrous PC launch, fans of WB Games PC ports have had a bad year and have been vocal in their disappointment. With Mortal Kombat X is currently sitting on a metacritic rating of 76 on PC, while it's console versions are rated 86 for Xbox One and 83 for PlayStation 4, it seems critics are agreeing with them.

- Charlie

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Gratuitous Space Battles 2 - Must See Games at EGX REZZED

For a shade over 3 years we've tried to champion Indie games. We've seen the Indie scene flourish with some absolute gems like Ether One from White Paper Games, which is currently being ported to PlayStation 4 using the Unreal 4 engine, FIST OF AWESOME! from one man studio I Fight Bears, mind bending multi-dimensional metroidvania puzzle platformer Gateways from Smudged Cat games and the forthcoming arena based battle-a-thon Timmy Bibble's Friendship Club, a collaborative effort from Force of Habit and Clockwork Cuckoo. We're passionate about the Indie scene and we've often talked about how enjoyable it has been to experience Indie games at expos like GEEK in Margate, and the ever expanding EGX REZZED.

It's been amazing to see the REZZED section at EGX expand year on year, and even more amazing to see the growth of REZZED into its own fully fledged expo last year.

With that in mind, this is the first in a series of articles, in which I'll talk about games you can see at this years REZZED, which I am looking forward to playing.

Gratuitous Space Battles 2

If you love strategy and sci-fi as much as me, you'll love Gratuitous Space Battles.

The first game was a great game to pick up and put down, a great example of a game that is amazing to play is small doses and allowed great creativity as it allows players to design their own ships, then fight against enemy armadas in one-time skirmishes on a vast scale, it certainly lives up to its name.

It also had the unusual characteristic of lacking any sort of real time control, instead playing like a "Space Fleet Manager" sim. There's comprehensive settings and preferences for orders. You can set out how you want different ships to behave, whether they should defend other ships in your fleet, or actively engage the enemy. You can set attacking preferences if you don't think your fighters should be attacking enormous battleships until all enemy fighters are destroyed. It's a comprehensive strategy experience, made all the more tense by not being able to actively control units in battle.

Each battle will also include some unique environmental situations that will change up how each battle needs to be fought, for example, an electrical storm may disrupt shields, allowing heavier ships to pack an even bigger punch, or smaller ships to swarm their targets, without worrying about shields negating their attacks.

It's a really fun strategy and management game, but I did feel it suffers by its lack of an actual campaign mode. If you like lore, if you want a sci-fi opera that'll take you on a journey, this isn't for you. Gratuitous Space Battles, it does what it says on the tin.

So i was excited when I spotted the booth at EGX for this welcome sequel. It was popular in the REZZED section, with a pretty much constant crowd.

So what's new? Well, whilst the game is built around designing your own ships in the original, the design aspect was limited. you could choose modules to fill your ship, but the base layout was always the same. Well that's changed.

"SB2 has a complete fully featured visual ship-editor built in, allowing you to design ships however you like, AND share them online..." "Complete control of how your ships look, position every fin and widget!" - http://www.gratuitousspacebattles2.com/

They've also added the idea that fighters use fuel and must refuel at their carrier.

Developers Positech games are keen to encourage modding with easy to edit text files and with a hardcore, dedicated community carried over from the original, I think the modding scene will be ablaze with ideas.

Gratuitous Space Battles 2 is currently in Beta. You can gain Beta access by buying the game here. The game will be playable at EGX REZZED, so get your tickets here, we'll see you there. We'll be talking about more must see games being exhibited at EGX REZZED ahead of the expo next month, so keep it right here.

- Charlie

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Mortal Kombat Kollector's Edition Contents Announced

We're all suckers for a good collector's edition at SMP and WB Games today unveiled the different editions for its forthcoming entry into the king of the fighting game series: Mortal Kombat X.

Mortal Kombat X: Kollector's Edition by Coarse - £99.99

Coarse are, of course, renown amongst collectors for their dedicated, highly detailed design and artistic approach. Their figures are more akin to dioramas, telling vivid stories through each sculpture. Above you can see the Scorpion figurine that's included and you'll also get a certificate of authenticity.

Not only that but you'll also receive 2 in game skins: the Gold Scorpion Skin, and the Exclusive Scorpion Skin. The latter is inspired by the cold war, and is a collaboration between developers NetherRealm Studios and an artist from MKKollective.com which is a crowd sourced collective, where Mortal Kombat fans can upload and share their own Mortal Kombat art, cosplay, music, imagery and videos. 

Mortal Kombat X: Kollector's Edition - £89.99

As you can see above, this collector's edition includes an exclusive, hand painted Scorpion figurine standing at 28cm high. You'll also get a serialized steel card and a unique steel pack for the game disc.

The 2 in game Scorpion skins included in the Coarse Kollector's Edition are also included here, however you'll also receive the first volume of Mortal Kombat: Blood Ties, the highly anticipated comic book series based on the hit franchise, all for £89.99.

Mortal Kombat X Premium Edition - £79.98

Available via digital download only, this edition includes the Kombat pack for £79.98 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, £64.98 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and for £59.98 for Steam.

Mortal Kombat Special Edition - £54.99

Sold through GAME, exclusively in the UK, this edition includes the Unique Steel Pack for your game disc, as well as featuring legendary series character Goro as a pre-order incentive. After an 8 year absence as a playable character, the feral, four-armed Shokan warrior will be available on the day of launch. This edition will retail at £54.99 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at £54.99, and for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 at 39.99

So there you have it. it took every ounce of willpower to not change ever C to a K here. What edition most interests you? Let us know.

- Charlie

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Battlefield: Hardline Open Beta Begins 3rd February

The cat was let out of the bag last week, but over the weekend it came out that the Beta will occupy a whopping 11GB of hard drive space for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, so make sure to free up some space before tomorrow.

Battlefield: Hardline of course is not being developed by series veterans DICE, who have some involvement, but who are mostly preoccupied, busy working on the new Star Wars Battlefront game, while Dead Space developers Visceral games have taken the helm to breathe some fresh ideas into the series. I got hands on at EGX and thankfully got to spend a decent amount of time finding out what's new for my favourite FPS franchise.

There's a different dynamic with the cops 'n' robbers theme, which I enjoy. The robbers are well armed, but more rough and ready, whereas the cops, logically, have better equipment. I've always loved the vehicles in the Battlefield series and Hardline provides arguably the biggest mixing up in the franchise history, adding less militaristic vehicles. Family cars, bikes and vans are all drivable.

The biggest question is why are EA holding a Beta now, so close to the launch of the game? Well as I've mentioned plenty of times in the past, the term "Beta" has come to take on a new meaning in this day and age, with companies using Betas close to launch to stress test servers and provide an important demo to prospective customers, I expect this Beta to be more of this.

II'll be playing alot of the Beta while it's up, check us out on Twitch and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up to date.

What are your thoughts on Battlefield: Hardline? Does the new cops 'n' robbers theme interest you? Would you prefer a Bad Company 3? Let us know.

- Charlie

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My Experience With Evolve So Far

It's 3 weeks until the release for Evolve, one that we're all looking forward to in eager anticipation at SMP. So far Evolve has impressed me. I really like the idea of asymmetrical gameplay, and I've spoken endlessly about how much I enjoy a tight team based experience, but these 2 core concepts are the heart of Evolve. 4 hunters, who each have their own role to play, face off against a monster who can feed on local fauna in order to replenish health and store energy in order to evolve up to a maximum level of 3. At this point, if the match lasts this long, the hunters have to defend a power generator from the monster. Hunters can respawn, as long as at least one of them is still alive in the match, but only 3 times. If all the hunters are killed before any can respawn, or if all the hunters are killed 3 times, or if the power generator is destroyed, the monster wins, however, all the hunters have to do is kill the monster. It all sounds so simple on paper.

I've sunk a fair few hours into Evolve now, through playing it at MCM in May and October, at EGX, to playing it at home during the Big Alpha, on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4. After the PS4 firmware update caused mayhem with the Alpha, I didn't get as long on the PS4 as I had hoped, so I spent way longer on the Xbox One version, but for the recent Open Beta for Xbox One and the Technical Test for PlayStation 4 I experienced alot of frustration trying to download the Open Beta for my Xbox One. My plan was, again, to put in a similar amount of time with both consoles so I could draw fair comparisons, and the Xbox One Open Beta promised exclusive features and game modes over the PS4s Technical Test, and similarly, any Xbox One progress accumulated carries over to the full game when it releases, but the PlayStation 4 does not. I easily found the Open Beta on the Store page under Demos, but I had no option to download it, instead only a greyed out Bundle Only option, or the option to pre-order the full game. I searched online and various people claimed they had fixed this issue, by various means such as using SmartGlass, or by Bing searching, or repeatedly quitting the store, or by repeatedly restarting the console, the latter of which was frequently recommended to many users experiencing this problem from the Evolve Twitter feed. No matter what I tried, right up to the Beta shutting down, I was completely unable to download it.

I was however, thankfully, able to access the PlayStation 4 Technical Test after receiving an invite. It was a closed Beta, with a smaller scope, starting 2 days after the Open Beta and lacking some features on the Xbox One, but as I had registered when I played the Big Alpha on PlayStation 4 I got an invite, and so I spent the weekend only on the PlayStation 4, so unfortunately I didn't get to experience Evacuation mode, nor will my progress carry over the the final game.

Turtle Rock have been up front in wanting players to stress servers, and to get as many people online at the same time as possible, and that part of the game seemed stable enough. It's needed for a game like this, a game that thrives on its online play.

So that's the technical junk out the way, onto actually playing the game.

The Technical Test and Open Beta featured all 12 maps that support the games core Hunt mode, a whopping 8 more than the Big Alpha in October. I've often expressed frustration when playing Betas and only getting to experience 1 map. I realise that a Beta is supposed to be a test to gather vital information and eliminate any issues before release, but these days, what most companies pedal as Betas, are so polished that they aren't really Betas at all, and they often merely serve to stress servers ahead of launch, and also serve as a bit of a demo, allowing people to try the game ahead of its launch and maybe peak the interest of a few people for whom otherwise it may well have passed by. Turtle Rock told us before the Open Beta and Technical test that we could expect to see faster matchmaking and improved balance, amongst other improvements, and were up front that the purpose of these tests were to stress test the servers. I really like how open Turtle Rock have been throughout the development process. They put themselves out there, they communicated with players, replied to messages from those suffering issues and wanted people to record and share their experiences with the game.

The full game will support an offline mode, although this was not supported, as the purpose of the Open Beta and Technical Test was to stress servers. But unlike the Big Alpha which simply showed a video quickly explaining a few key features the first time you select any of the classes before thrusting players into online immediately, a tutorial mission explains key aspects of gameplay to Monster players, before moving onto a tutorial for the Assault class. Oddly, there is no tutorial for any other classes, instead, retaining the short tutorial video from the Big Alpha. Perhaps Turtle Rock were acting on feedback that these roles were most in need of an active tutorial, but it was a welcome introduction, especially for the Monster.

I felt that playing Evolve at Expos and through the Big Alpha, that it was harder to be a good Monster player, than to be a good hunter, but after this tutorial, I immediately felt more comfortable playing as the Monster. I've read comments from people who've disagreed, but I feel that if everyone on the Hunter team does their job right, the Hunters would win. I feel that helping people understand how to play as the Monster through this tutorial evened the field.

Before getting into a match, you can select a preference to what role you want to play. Matchmaking will then take this into account when selecting games to join, although you can select no preference. My preference was:

1. Assault. 2. Trapper. 3. Support. 4. Medic. 5. Monster.

I'd played probably the least with the support class so I wanted to sink some time into that role, and I felt I was a pretty poor Trapper, so I wanted to play more of those roles. Not to say I didn't switch it up, and I even got a Monster role in my second match even though it was my 5th choice preference.

Quite literally everything on the map wants to kill you. It makes it tense. What if I'm ambushed by the Monster while I'm fighting one of these weird tentacle-faced-horse-things? What if my team need me and I get trapped in a carnivorous plant? What if I waste a life by getting killed by a giant crab-spider-thing, or a sloth? Or leap into the water to escape the Monster while on low health only to get attacked by a big water-beast-creature? One wrong move will cost you the game, and you'll obsess over it. Moving through the environment is the tensest experience of my life. You need to be quick enough to catch up to a Monster if you've found tracks, or if the Monster has given its location away by scaring birds, but you need to be careful enough that you don't die before you get there, and so you don't get ambushed. You can afford to be a little more brazen as the Hunters, but time is the ally of the Monster, and levelling up to a maximum level 3 evolution means they're now effectively a tank. It's not impossible to beat a level 3 Monster but it's certainly not easy.

Evolve, really, is a game built around epic moments made by players. In the same way that players make the epic moments in an open world game. It's immensely strategic and entire games can hinge on one move. Setting a mobile arena with precision timing, preventing the Monster from escaping, or wasting it and allowing the Monster to escape to feed and level up. A perfectly timed strike from a bombardment, or one that misses, baiting a Monster onto mines and other traps, or being outsmarted and being ambushed yourself. The cooldown on abilities means that using them is victory or certain death depending on whether it lands. It's far and away the most tense game I've played in ages and I've loved every minute of it. I love tactical, team based games. I love asymmetrical gameplay. It's just a shame that I can't offer any comments on the different consoles, and I hope that there's no such problems with the full launch. I did notice that the Technical Test did seem more balanced to me, and did seem to have better matchmaking that the Big Alpha. Bring on launch day.

What were your impressions on Evolve so far? Get in touch with us on Twitter @supermegapod

Evolve is released on the 10th February for Xbox one and PlayStation 4.

- Charlie

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Dying Light Physical Release Hit By Delay

You’ll know by know how unbelievably excited I am to play Dying Light. Playable demos at EGX both this year and last have really impressed me, taking all the best parts of their experience from developing the Dead Island series of zombie games, but giving it a fresh twist by adding a vast freedom of choice, Mirrors Edge style first person parkour, a large array of craftable, upgradable weapons and by adding the day and night dynamic, with bigger, more aggressive and more ferocious beasts rearing their ugly heads after dusk, although, lamentably, this part wasn’t playable during the 7 minute preview, much to my disappointment, as I think while it isn’t a completely original and unique mechanic, it’s an idea that nonetheless has an incredible appeal as players hunt by day, and are hunted by night, while the dead aren't the only threat...

Dead Island, you’ll remember, came out in 2011, to mixed reviews after a hellishly long development cycle. It was first announced way back in 2007 but development drew on and frankly the final game was a bit rough around the edges. Some excellent ideas, and let’s not forget what I still think is the greatest piece of entertainment advertising in history, even if it didn’t really match the tone of the final game entirely, were presented by developer Techland, until then most known for Call of Jaurez. It was a risk. It was a good first step. Riptide followed, although I never really felt it was a true sequel. Both were published by Deep Silver, who have passed off development of the next Dead Island game, while WB Games snapped up the rights to publish Dying Light, a fresh IP.

In fact when I spoke to developers as they showed me through a fresh demo back in September at EGX, I was told with absolute confidence that the choice offered in the game to players was so vast that they were sure that no two playthroughs from different players would ever be the same. At 7 minutes, I felt it was a short demo, but one that packed quite a lot in. No night mode though… Still, it whetted my appetite for more.

Today Techland announced that there has been a slight delay in shipping physical copies beyond America and as a result, the release of physical copies of the game has been pushed back slightly. Although no word has yet come as to when we can expect shelves to be brimming with copies, the digital release remains on schedule for the games official release next Tuesday 27th January.

What do you guys think of the slight delay? Did you see it coming from a developer who delayed Dead Island? Are you disappointed that you won’t be able to get your hands in a physical copy of the game as early as you had thought? Let us know by getting in touch here, over on Twitter @SuperMegaPod or email us team@supermegapodcast.com

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GEEK 2015 is Coming!

The time is drawing ever nearer when we pile into my Kia Soul and make our now yearly trip to Margate for our favourite retro games convention: Game Expo East Kent, lovingly abbreviated to GEEK.

This’ll be our 3rd consecutive GEEK trip, an expo that makes sure there’s never enough time in the day to do absolutely everything, nevertheless we give it a bloody good try.

The expo prides itself on showcasing the very best of our gaming heritage, but also more recent titles, including, much to our delight, a growing focus on indie developers for both forthcoming and current games. Then there’s classic tournaments, guest speakers from right across the spectrum and the ever popular market stalls. Frankly, the Margate Winter Gardens walls bulge in an attempt to contain it all. But it doesn’t, because there’s a ton of fringe events, right across town.

It’s not just us celebrating our 3rd GEEK though, as cosplay day returns, we’ve seen some amazing costumes over the years, and I’m sure the standard will remain as high as ever.

We’ll be chatting to indie devs, as usual, so look out for some in depth interviews and exclusive looks at the indie games on display, and we’ll kick back and indulge in nostalgia, maybe even try some old classics that we never had the chance to play before.

However, when it’s tournament time, our serious game faces are on.

I’ll close by sharing just some of our favourite GEEK memories:

- Talking to some of the kids experiencing classics for the first time, like a young boy who loves the new Mario Kart games, but never played Mario Kart 64. Not only did he LOVE it, he completely destroyed his dad.

- Talking to Anthony and Nicola Caulfield who battled to bring their incredible feature length look at the history of the British games industry. Talking to them about some of my personal idols, in what was originally supposed to be a quick 3 question interview, quickly deteriorated into a full on 30 minute discussion about everything from their fruitless attempts to convince broadcasters that it was an idea for a series that people wanted to see, to their successful IndieGoGo and Kickstarter funding drives, to them making a documentary for the Hitman: Absolution Collectors Edition (which I’d seen a week prior) so that they could interview current developers about their thoughts on what made the British industry so special, to the future of the British industry and new talent being produced. It was an absolute pleasure to speak to them, and all the more satisfying when the film was released on 3rd October 2014.

- On that topic, meeting some incredible Indie developers like Nicol Hunt, who’s bare-fisted-bear-brawler FIST OF AWESOME had us battling to save the world from bearmageddon, (also of note that me playing this on OUYA on New Year’s Day got me a $5 prize code on a Facebook competition for the OUYA store, so cheers Nicol!). Or when we raced at Bopscotch, an ambitious, colourful, tough obstacle run that boasts cross compatibility between PC and mobile devices from Leda Entertainment. There was only ever going to be one outcome… Sorry Tom. Or when we chatted to Timmy Bibble’s Friendship Club developers Force of Habit and collaborators Clockwork Cuckoo about the imaginative arena battle game with what I found to be the terrifying premise of imaginary characters fighting to the death to be Timmy Bibble’s friend for the day. And not forgetting serial game developers Playniac, makers of Insane Robots, Cat on Yer Head, International Racing Squirrels and of course, squeezing secrets from forthcoming strategy game Great Leader. All the devs we’ve met have not only been extraordinarily talented at designing play, but thoroughly nice chaps, what more reason to be proud of the talent we are producing in the UK.

- Discovering PopCap’s Plants VS Zombies on PC after Tom coached me through what I had to do, then immediately getting it for my iPad. I don’t really know how it passed me by.

- Beating a really cocky guy in the Street Fighter II tournament, then being utterly crushed by a pro in the next round. Or when me and Tom were beaten to a pulp at the first Tekken, spawning the hashtag #NoTekkers.

- A late Ian Rush goal proving the difference at Sensible Soccer.

- Realising that after the shock of the new(est) Duke Nukem, going back to 3D is pure joy.

- Pinball. Even though most of the machines broke and they removed the whole arcade and pinball section for 2014, but it looks like it may make a return by popular demand.

- Finally, not about games, but there’s no way it can’t be on a list of top GEEK memories, grabbing a pizza for our journey home with my fellow SMP bros.

GEEK 2015 runs from 20th - 22nd February at Margate Winter Gardens. If you are interested, a full what’s on guide and tickets are available from GEEKs official website here.

FIST OF AWESOME is out now for iOS, Android and OUYA, as well as PC and Mac via Steam. You can also download and print out free paper models from the game at Nicol’s website is here.

Bopscotch is available now for iOS, Windows Phone, Xbox Live Arcade and Android. You can find out more at the Leda Entertainment website here.

Timmy Bibble’s Friendship Club is currently still in development, but you can access the Beta by pre-ordering at the official website here.

Insane Robot, Cat on Yer Head and International Racing Squirrels are all available now, although the top secret Great Leader is still in development. Playniac's website is here.

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Brian Fargo Premieres Wasteland 2's Opening Film at MCM in London

This last weekend I attended London's premier celebration of nerd culture: MCM at the ExCel Centre.

I had a great weekend, I actually went back in October and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd go again. Highlights for me were:

- Talking to Ashens, whose YouTube videos I've long enjoyed, and I really hope a sequel for his fantastically funny feature length Ashens and the Quest for the Gamechild can get off the ground.

- Meeting the creators of Future Duck. Hosted on HuHa, I've been a big fan of the Terminator parody web cartoon for a long time.

- Meeting the Cyanide and Happiness guys. Can't wait for the full length show.

- Meeting Weebl.

- Chatting with the guys working on Paradox, a new sci-fi web series. I really enjoyed the new teaser trailer and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished series.

However one highlight for me stands well above all the others. I was milling about and Brian Fargo walked past me. That was all. I didn't want to bother him so I didn't go over to him, I guess I didn't really know what to say being "I think you're a really talented developer and I really like your games".

Then later on in the day he premiered the opening film for Wasteland 2.

The atmosphere was electric and by the short films end the crowd was cheering wildly.

The full game will be released in August 2014 but it is currently available through the early access program on Steam.

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Atari Landfill Site Found

The legends were true!

I’ll admit that even as I write this I’m skeptical. I always just thought:

"Well if millions of copies were really buried in the Nevada desert, then someone would have had to have gone there and buried them, and surely everyone would know who these people were, and surely when people were talking about this mythological event, they could have come forward and been like "Oh that? Yeah that happened for sure, I buried them/drove the lorry that carried them/filed the permits to dig a giant hole in the desert/hired the lorries/saw the permits because I worked as a clerk etc" or "I worked at a manufacturing plant and we made 4 million ET cartridges, but only 1.5 million were ever sold, so it must be true, or where have all the extra copies gone" because none of these people have ever come forward, surely it can’t possibly be true." - Me, since I heard the story

You’ll notice I never included “no-one could have ever had been so stupid as to make all these copies of this game that would require burial in the first place”, mostly I have never thought that because I’ve played more than my fair share of god awful, shitty games, ET included, so I know that even giant corporations can be that stupid and any company arrogant enough to think they can treat consumers with such contempt almost deserves to come unstuck.

In June 1982 the film ET was released to critical and financial success. Following this success. Steve Ross, CEO of Warner Communications, then parent company to Atari, began negotiations to secure the rights to make a game based on the film. Spielberg was excited at the prospect of a more interactive experience based around his film and Universal sold the rights, reportedly for between $20-$25 million in 80’s money (nearly $50-$60 million today). Ray Kassar, then CEO of Atari, voiced his concerns early on when asked by Steve Ross about the prospect of making a game based on ET:

"I think it’s a dumb idea, we’ve never really made an action game out of a movie before." Ray Kassar, CEO of Atari

Howard Scott Warshaw had hits with Yars Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Ark, another Spielberg film, before, so when plans for ET were being drawn up, Spielberg personally asked for him again. Kassar informed him in a telephone conversation on July 27th 1982 that the game would need to be complete by September 1st 1982 in order to meet the production schedule to ensure a lucrative holiday 1982 release for the game. By contrast, Yars Revenge, Warshaws first Atari 2600 hit took him 7 months, while the acclaimed Raiders of the Lost Ark took 6 months. Warshaw, no doubt flattered that he was Spielbergs first choice, saw the short development deadline as a challenge he could rise to, completing an innovative 2600 title based on a film he had himself seen and enjoyed. His fee has remained a matter of debate, but it has been reported that Kassar offered him $200,000 (nearly $500,000 today) and a holiday to Hawaii, paid for entirely by Atari. He was told he would be meeting Spielberg in a few days time, and it was in those few days that Warshaw came up with the entire concept behind the game.

Fall in pits, seemingly endlessly, to find pieces of a special phone for ET to call home, all the while being chased by adults and also there’s a time limit.

Spielberg wasn’t impressed and asked them to reconsider, instead to make a PAC-Man clone. Warshaw felt that he didn’t want to make a clone game and worked on his concept and it would remain the only input Spielberg would have. Warshaw finished his game on time. The tight production schedule worried Atari and it was decided to skip the usual step of audience testing. Atari felt confident, the industry was doing well in 1982 and they anticipated huge sales, ordering enormous quantities of cartridges…

The game sold 1.5 million copies, which made it one of the Atari 2600s best selling games. Even before the game went on sale, retailers were ordering far in excess of what they expected to sell, leading most at Atari to believe they were right to build so many copies. But the security of the games market also prompted alot more companies to build consoles, each with their own libraries. Christmas 1982 saw shelves bulging with no less than 13 different consoles, with a further 2 scheduled for release in 1984, and of those 15 consoles, Atari would be producing 3 of them.

Retailers began to cancel orders for ET.

Even though it was a hit, they did not meet the high figures that were anticipated. A widely spread story by a man called Al Nilson, a former employee at J.C. Penney, was that the price of the game was slashed 5 times from $49.95 down to less than a dollar.

Kassar stated that of the 4 million copies produced, 3.5 million were returned by retailers as unsold stock, or returned by customers.

Sales gave Atari $25 million, but the cost of production amounted to $125 million. It was a disaster.

The following year the market crashed after consumers lost heart after a string of poor releases, like ET and Atari’s port of PAC Man, and a bloated market filled with all those different consoles. Atari was left with alot of unsold stock, including alot of other titles, this unsold stock seemingly disappeared. Atari buried them in a landfill in the Nevada desert and covered them over with concrete the legend went. Even now I read that in a thick West Country accent as if I’m in a pub talking about pirate treasure.

For over 30 years the cartridges were a mystery, laying hidden only to have been discovered over the weekend, exactly where legend had said it they had been all along, a monument to arrogance.

Companies need to respect their customers, a lesson that I personally don’t feel the industry has learned, but companies have certainly become more risk aware, after all the adoption of disk based formats greatly reduced production cost, and now there’s an even bigger shift towards digital distribution and micro transactions, particularly in mobile games. Never have I been more certain of a lack of respect for consumers than when I saw a talk at GDC was called “monetizing Whales”, because that’s how companies see us.

Some commented it was sad seeing all those cartridges, I see it as a lesson that can still be learned from, more than 30 years on.

- Charlie

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Xbox One Gets Cheaper in UK as Amazon & Asda slash costs

SMP's Charlie getting the first UK XB1

Not even 6 months into its lifespan the Xbox one has seen another slashing of its initial asking price here in the UK.

Originally pitched at £430 in its release we saw Microsoft offer a official reduction in the units cost price in order to help see the savings passed on to consumers. The revised unit bundled with highly anticipated TITANFALL was available for £399.

Now UK retailer Amazon, (EDIT and quickly followed suit by Amazon) have seen a further cut in the consoles pricing. The XB1 + game bundle is being sold off with another £50 off that sticker price taking it down to £349 - a near 20% saving on the original launch cost. While this price isn't a official cut by Microsoft head honchoes its interesting to see a console available for so relatively cheap so early in a consoles life cycle. Perhaps a indication that the retailers intended to ship more units than they sold currently.

Either way the price is absolute bargain and can found here

- Will the cost saving make you buy a Xbox One? Do you have one already and feel a bit let down? Let us know

-Tom

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Naughty Dog writer joins forces with Visceral Games

Former Naughty Dog worker and lead writer of the Uncharted series Amy Hennig has announced her new role following her department from Naughty Dog last month. She will now take up a position at Visceral Games, to take a lead role as creative director on its upcoming Star Wars game. In a PR statement Steve Papoutsis a senior producer expressed his joy at the acquisition stating “I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Amy Hennig to our team”

The appointment follows a few weeks of speculation after the sudden announcement of her departure from the Sony owned studio. The news came as a big surprise as during announcements of the ‘Uncharted’ PS4 project both Henning and director Justin Richmond were heavily referenced in the involvement of the new title. Both have now left the studio with The Last Of Us Directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley taking over the reins.

"I began my career @EA almost a quarter century ago... It might've taken me 23 years, but I'm back - and it's good to be home @EA!" Amy Hennig describing her new role via twitter

Visceral Games are not strangers to Sci-Fi having found success with the Dead Space series. At present very little is known about the upcoming Star Wars project

[supermegapodcast]

Ether One from White Paper Games

I've long awaited the day I would finally get to play Ether One. It seems like an eternity ago that I stumbled across it on the Steam Greenlight. It peaked my interest as a genre that just isn’t really tackled anymore, in the same vein as all the first PC games I ever played. In hindsight, ones that really formed my thinking and attitude as to what games can be. Games live Riven and Myst, both of which I still own in their big box packaging on my top shelf where my old PC games live, and that whenever my Mum comes to tidy, she asks me why don’t I throw them out. When I dignify her with response, it’s a firm “no”.

Ether One is a exploration game at its core, but it takes a while to realise you aren’t really exploring the small fictional Cornish town of Pinwheel. Sure, you are moving through its streets, opening the doors of its houses and the small towns haunts, but what you are actually exploring, in the words of developer White Paper Games, is the fragility of the human mind.

Unfortunately, many of us have been effected by afflictions of the mind, personally or in family members. It’s tough subject matter, but imagine for a moment if you will, that you could save precious memories or thought from the ravages of time? That’s precisely what the games eponymous company: Ether have discovered. Enter the player into the role of a Restorer, people who delve into patients memory with the guidance of a mysterious narrator, never seen, ever watching over our your every action. I’m a fan of silent protagonists and it’s welcome here, I feel spoken lines would have ruined the immersion, and it accentuates the feeling of paranoia, that all is not as it seems at Ether.

As you go deeper into the game, and it’s a game of so many layers, it dawns on me: where are all the people? Suddenly it feels creepy that these empty streets and empty buildings lay as if abandoned in a moment, left untouched for us to find. The town is rich with life, despite being devoid of people, with notes left to give us an insight into the lives of the townsfolk, and even more telling, objects strewn around. There’s an ominous feeling, dread I would liken to seeing Pripyat in Ukraine.

I enjoyed talking with the developers and Designer Pete Bottomley provided alot of insight into the nature of the game. The main section of the game can be completed in around a shortish 4 or 5 hours, but that’s not to say that the game is complete by a long stretch of the imagination. The game features optional puzzles, that take the form of film projectors, that provide an even deeper level of insight. Accessibility was a word that kept coming up when I enquired as to the nature if the puzzles, and I was worried that this would mean the puzzles wouldn't really provide much of a challenge, as I was looking forward to challenging my own brain in a game exploring the nature of the mind. These fears proved unfounded, with a range of difficulty. I found myself making notes in an old pad for each puzzle, feeling a need to know more and delve deeper. 

As I explored, I fell deep into full on loot mode early on, quickly filling the shelves of my Case. Then it dawns on me, I'm doing it wrong. I don't need to loot everything in sight, I need to think, to be selective. Most satisfying of all, the puzzles never feel forced or that they've been placed there to find or solve, they feel natural, a real world.

Graphically, it's of extremely high production value. The art style fits perfectly into the games tone. The environments look like you’re exploring inside of a painting. It's not really cell shading, but that's the best way I can describe it. It's an indie game and the small team of 6 that worked hard for so long on this clearly poured their heart and soul into it. It's not fair to compare the graphical fidelity to a game a team of hundreds worked on with an enormous budget for years on a AAA game in my view, but White Paper Games have used their limited budget and manpower well here. N.J. Apostol, who worked so tirelessly on the Sound Design for the game, told us that he wanted the sound to be less conventional and the soundtrack is beautiful. it's a minimalist approach, leaving the player to explore the sounds of Pinwheel for themselves, and you'll frequently find radios and musical instruments that make music an important part of the game, even some of the puzzles are based on sounds.

I've been playing mouse and keyboard, but the game also supports gamepads and more interestingly Oculus Rift. This is exactly the sort of game that I would love to play with Oculus Rift and I hope that other developers can take note that this is exactly the sort of genre that I feel the Oculus Rift was ready made for, less so Mark Zucherberg's talking to a doctor with the headset on or watching sports...

Usually in games, you find yourself fighting against something. Killing bad guys, defeating evil, overcoming great obstacles to save mankind, the world, the galaxy or the universe. In Ether One, you realise you aren't doing any of these things, you're trying to save one person and that way, it's extraordinarily personal. It left me thinking, what would my life be life projected in this way? The game left me thinking about one of my favourite quotes, it’s from the Talmud and it goes “whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world”.

It's personal, it's deep, it's thoughtful, it's magnificent.

Ether One is available now on Steam, with a launch week discount of 15% or you can also get it at GoG.com and the HumbleBundle Store

We'll be keeping a close eye on these guys.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

- Charlie

[supermegapodcast]

UK Budget Closes Tax Loophole

For ages we've been promised games tax relief, yet still it's yet to be formally enacted into law in the UK, while other countries with similar tax relief legislation have seen studios popping up all over, most notably Canada. UK based trade body TIGA has pressed hard for tax relief if we can hope to keep up with other countries that actively help studios and nurture their growth with these kinds of relief then we need to match them at the bare minimum.

So no tax relief in the budget, but the government did act on closing tax loopholes that will mean those £0.69 games on your mobile will increase to £0.79. It doesn't sound like much, but it doesn't just apply to these cheap games. A £6.99 Steam game will go up to £8.00 and a £34.99 game on enormous internet conglomerate Amazon will bump up to a full £40.00 starting in the new year.

The new legislation applied to games means you pay the full Value Added Tax (VAT) based on the country the product is purchased in, negating any tax havens retailers may be using, and also notably effecting digital purchases. Physical shops like GAME will be happy with the new legislation, as it really narrows the gap that online retailers, and digital distributors too I suppose, have enjoyed over them in the past, and will pocket an estimated £300 million to the treasury.

Since the economic downturn we've been told the government is going to aggressively target tax avoiders, but why is it that we read companies like Starbucks, Amazon and Google pay poultry amounts of business tax in this country, yet the legislation passed targets us, the consumer, more than these retailers. It's us paying the VAT when we buy the product, yet the effect on the gaming sector as a whole could be a downturn of sales when you can see that one game could cost £5 more. Again it doesn't seem like much, but it'll pile up. By your 8th game purchase of the year, based on that rate, you'll have spent enough to buy another new game.

I'd much rather have seen tax relief announced to encourage the industry in a country that has produced Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto, Total War, Batman Arkham and Peter Molyneux, not to mention all the amazing indies we've been looking at of late, instead, we've got an attack our own wallets.

- Charlie

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EA Pops a Cap in subsidiary as studio downsizing trend continues

The recent trend of downsizing some videogames companies continued this week as US studio and now EA subsidiary PopCap, games has announced a number of its team have been released from their contract, according to information made to gaming site Polygon.

The Seattle based publisher known for hits such as Bejewelled was founded in 2000. Making its name originally through PC gaming and titles such as Feeding Frenzy. In recent years a switch of focus to mobile devices saw the rise of new franchises like, Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle, the latter due a sequel Peggle 2 very soon on the 360, saw the companies profile increase until it was bought out by EA in mid-2011.

In the statement to Polygon the general manager John Vechy added the company was sad to lose "some of our friends and colleagues” by this decision, however going on further explain that the decision was necessary in order to “stay on course with our future plans for mobile games, live services and new IP. “

PopCap is a studio that made its name building great games that the world can fall in love with, and that's what we'll continue to do." - John Vechy PopCap GM

What these new plans and IP’s are is still something of a secret with the PopCap press office remaining tight lipped, simply stating they have "no changes to announce with regard to PopCap titles." Whether this will affect any of PopCaps upcoming titles remains to be seen. Keep your eyes here at SuperMegaPodcast and will let you know more as we hear it.

-Tom