#and my history with mmos and shooter games it seems.

[astrxealis]

man i wanted ffxv comrades for the longest time. fun fact but like. it's been less ever since i got into ffxiv but i've always been super into games w character customization (bcs ocs or self-insert stuff lol) !! so all mmos i've gotten into (most on mobile bcs i never really was a pc gamer </3 or played online games on ps until xiv) are bcs of the character customization actually. even ffxiv (but also esp bcs i love final fantasy). man i hope i can get ffxiv comrades sometime ??

[brothermouzongaming]

E3 2019 overview

I wanted to take the time to look at and talk about some of the games we’re more than likely seeing at the conference. E3 is...dying and it’s misleading trailers don’t help, but despite this, the show is still important and at least gives us a little insight into what may come in games/tech. So let’s cross our fingers and dive in. I’ll be focussing more on main titles and not DLC and updates. Available footage will be linked in the corresponding title.

Avengers project (Crystal Dynamics/ Square Enix)

It feels like ages since the teaser for the Avengers project dropped. Since then I have been trying to keep my hopes high, I even thought it was canceled for a time when we heard literally nothing since that trailer. I know nothing about this game, but I just hope Crystal Dynamics and Square are treating something this big with the care it needs. The last thing Marvel, more importantly Disney, want is another Battlefront 2 situation on their hands. If Square can incorporate their over the top combat style to the Marvel universe, it could be amazing, incredible, invinci- okay I’ll stop.

Borderlands 3

Getting back into Borderlands just before the big press release was very serendipitous. Something about this made me even more excited for some of the additions coming like loot instancing, slide/mantle (finally), secondary fire weapons, more diverse and varied play spaces, and a lot more. So many of BL2 and the Pre-Sequel’s flaws are glaring with me having played them recently and to see the long-awaited title addressing these exact issues so comforting when I get to thinking about this next adventure into the wastes. It isn’t some massive leap forward or anything, it’s more Borderlands and there’s nothing wrong with that to me. Finally, an online optional looter shooter that isn’t some strange mmo lite, long live the king. Randy Pitchford is a weirdo but I’m not gonna hold that against the devs lol.

Cyberpunk 2077

This is more than likely going to be my game of the show. E3 is typically full of surprises and anything can happen but in all honesty, I just can’t see much coming close especially since we aren’t seeing Death Stranding (thattrailertho). I was literally giddy when they released the gameplay trailer that they showed press and influencers and the FPS RPG looked very good but not unrealistic. Recently it’s come out that the game is “pretty different” from that showcase and that statement interests me as much as it gives me pause. Regardless, we are going to be seeing more of this game with CDPR claiming they’ll have an even bigger presence than last year. I just hope that we get solid gameplay footage and not buzzwords and theatrical trailers.

CoD 2019

Black Ops 4 came out guns drawn and it really impressed at first. Since that time Activision has found a way to completely reverse the conversation around BO4 and where the franchise is headed/ is as a whole. Activision needs a win, and with this being their main and essentially only franchise it has to be big. The rumor is that it’s Modern Warfare 4 which would be a “soft reboot” if that is the case. If not this year then next, I’m surprised it’s even taken them this long so hopefully all this time will lead to something good. Honestly, I’m shocked we’re still getting annual releases of this game. I don’t forsee CoD lasting much longer and this tug at our nostalgia may be a sign of that. 

Destroy All Humans (THQ Nordic)

I spent so many hours with my friend Walter terrorizing the meat bags between the tools the game devs gave us and some gamer creativity that was a relatively new aspect of gaming compared to nowadays where player creativity is often an aspect of gameplay. THQ has reported something insane like 50+ games in development which...sounds like a stupid choice but if this is one of them it’s definitely going to get people’s heads turning. Can you imagine what they’ll be able to do with today’s tech? They don’t have to go crazy but then again for the sake of a concise vision but...maybe they should?

Dino Crisis (Capcom)

Let’s talk more about old ass games I’m completely shocked could be coming back. So in light of Capcom bringing back past titles and breathing new life into them, it is reported that Capcom is looking to bring back...Dino Crisis? I swear to god if they make Dino Crisis before Viewtiful Joe and Onimusha? POWER STONE ANYONE?? I’m more than willing to suspend my meh-ness because Capcom has proved that not only can they bring back an old game we love, but they can do it damn well. If this is true, then maybe there is hope for some of my favorite Capcom titles from the past but mother of god why Dino Crisis?

Doom Eternal

Doom 2016 was one of the best first-person shooters I’ve ever played. “Smooth as butter” isn’t something I would use to describe most games but god damn if that game wasn’t lubed up before they packaged it because it’s damn slick. So imagine the stiffy I got when that gameplay was dropped and mobility was increased. Can we talk about the grappling hook shotgun? The new demons and takedowns to dispatch said demons? God knows what else is under the hood for us to find out when it releases let alone when they talk about it during the conference. A more open level design in tandem with the conventional “kill room” here and there is gonna really spice up the combat especially if exploration is properly rewarded. Rage 2 was a disappointment but I do have hope this is gonna live up to the hype the way it did the first time.

Gears of War 5

Lawd Microsoft needs a win. This is quite clearly their attempt at a blockbuster event like God of War was for Sony. Everything about the trailer screams “Oscar bait but for games” and I hope they do the damn thing. Make me sad I don’t have an Xbox dammit! This could be a big step for Gears and could even lead it down a more character focussed design. The world of Gears of War is rich for a deeper explanation, and I know that isn’t what Gears is known for but I won’t be told that they can’t do both. It appears to be heavily cinematic though gameplay can be seen in the trailer above. It seems interesting and I hope they really make something worth owning an Xbox for. The fans deserve it.

Halo: Infinite

Did I say Microsoft needs a win from the software perspective? Cause they do. The Xbox One is fine, the One X is a huge step up and is the most powerful console but there are next to no exclusives for this console. Ya know, the reason why you buy a certain console outside of interface and services. What better way than to bring back the most successful franchise Microsoft has associated with. There’s talk of it having an open world which is jarring initially especially when the history of Halo is rich with environments that tell stories alongside the mid-range combat. If they can properly expand that baseline to fit an open world format, it’ll be amazing. Whether or not they can is the question.

Harry Potter: Magic Awakened

Warner Brothers does a great job of shooting themselves square in the foot. They just put on the finest shoes money can buy and BAM queue the red kool-aid fountain. Shadow of War is the pinnacle of such stupidity with the way the monetization completely bankrupted the integrity of the game. The brief footage that was up involved a third-person real-time action reminiscent of the original games. Warner Bros. jumped on the trailer takedown but it’s safe to say the cat is out of the bag and casting spells in the kitchen. This could be a unique adventure involving a custom character, it could involve something more directly related to the books. Anything is possible but if we heard about it this year it wouldn’t entirely surprise me.

My Friend Pedro

A twin stick shooter of a different kind. Imagine stranglehold but cartoony, John Wick but even more comic book like. It looks like the entire game is going to be centered around ballerina jumping through levels and enemies leaving every enemy in your wake riddled with bullets. It seems light, fun, and self-aware in it’s silliness which can lead to the most fun type of games.

Session

Oh boy, SKATE was my jam back in high school and if you’re anything like me you’ve been waiting for the next game/ literally anything like it to come along. Session appears to be that game, we weren’t told a lot when it was revealed so I’m hoping that E3 will lead to some more information on gameplay and ya know, a release date. 

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order

Anthem is in shambles and in my opinion, it’s this year’s No Man’s Sky. Between the games they put out, and the Star Wars games they put out (or don’t put out depending on your perspective); this does not bode well at all. Respawn is working on the project and their track record is very good, but I can’t help but worry about what EA is planning. They always find a way to put their hand directly into a project and do exactly what needs to be done to ruin it. Sometimes that’s on the front end in development and planning or lack thereof, and sometimes it’s on the back end with moving devs to other projects/ not hold their devs to the post-launch promises they tend to make and not fulfill. This story of a padawan in hiding after Order 66 is ripe for gameplay development and storytelling. So long as Respawn has the vision and can execute, all we need is for EA to stay the fuck away and let them work. We’ll see.

honorable mentions: Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Vampire Bloodlines 2, From Soft and George R. R. Martin collab, Fable remake, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad, Wolfenstein Young Blood, Afterparty, Beyond Good and Evil 2, Bleeding Edge (Ninja Theory’s new game), Last of Us 3 (v hype just not a lot of info)

[boosthunter228]

Command And Conquer Generals 2

Command And Conquer Generals 2020

Command And Conquer Generals 2

Command And Conquer Generals 2021 Download

The announcements coming out of this week’s Gamescom trade show in Cologne, Germany are coming so quickly they almost seem to rival this year’s E3. Today, EA announced that its upcoming real-time strategy game, Command & Conquer Generals 2, will be free-to-play. The game will be a part of EA’s new online platform it is simply calling Command & Conquer. The platform and the game will launch sometime next year for the PC. C & C Generals 2 is the first of what EA said will be many free Command & Conquer games.Players interested can register for beta access to the game on the Command & Conquer website. “We are thrilled about this opportunity to transform Command & Conquer into a premier online experience,” said Jon Van Caneghem, general manager at EA. “For nearly two decades, this franchise has existed as something you buy; now we are creating a destination where our fans will be able to access the entire Command and Conquer universe, starting with Generals and continuing with Red Alert, Tiberium, and beyond. With Frostbite 2, we are able to keep an emphasis on the AAA quality our consumers expect while staying true to the RTS gameplay they know and love – all available online for free.” It’s clear that EA is hoping to bring as many people into the game as possible, probably in the hopes that C&C Generals 2 will make inroads into the eSports world. Right now, Starcraft 2, a real-time strategy game from Blizzard, is one of the most popular eSports around.It’s not yet clear how EA hopes to monetize C&C Generals 2, but it has probably learned from its Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO that free-to-play game models are the future of multiplayer gaming. For a competitive multiplayer game such as C&C, EA might look to Valve as an example of how to implement a successful free-to-play strategy. That company converted the competitive first-person shooter Team Fortress 2 to a free-to-play model just over one year ago. Since then, it has been able to foster a community around the game by releasing frequent content updates. Valve is able to sell Team Fortress 2 players various low-cost in-game items, such as hats. Command & Conquer will be available as a free, client-based, game for the PC in 2013. For more information on and to register for a chance to be selected for exclusive closed beta access, please visit www.commandandconquer.com/free.

Can We Reach 500 Likes?Please Help Me Reach 1000Subscribers:Do Follow And Like Me On My Social Media:Facebook:ht. Command & Conquer (previously known as Command & Conquer: Generals 2) is a cancelled real-time strategy video game in the Command & Conquer series. It was being developed by the now-closed video game studio Victory Games for Microsoft Windows. The game was set to use the Frostbite 3 engine and would have introduced downloadable content to the.

Editor-in-Chief

Command And Conquer Generals 2020

Editor-in-Chief

02 January 2017

Here’s a little look at the game, which never actually made it to retail.

Command And Conquer Generals 2

Command & Conquer: Generals 2 is the game from the past. The game was announced back in 2011. This real-time strategy was developed by Victory Games – one of Electronic Arts sister studios. It was a relatively big company, which was part of BioWare (it was even called BioWare Victory) at one time and worked solely on Command and Conquer games. It seemed like the studio had potential, but it never actually worked.

Their debut Command & Conquer project was a real troubled development story. What started as a continuation of a successful franchise gradually turned into free-to-play simply called Command & Conquer. What a horrible way to go for one of the most beloved franchises in history.

Command And Conquer Generals 2021 Download

Electronic Arts is transforming Command & Conquer: Generals 2, first announced last year, into a free-to-play title simply called Command & Conquer.That doesn’t mean Generals 2 is going away, it. Feb 20, 2015 Of course every Command & Conquer fan and their dog know by now that the next game in the series centered around Generals 2 and what this site is here for was canceled some time ago. Hate it or love it (depending on if you wanted to see EA fail), it made sense given all of the non sense that lead up to the game’s cancellation. Command & Conquer (previously known as Command & Conquer: Generals 2) is a cancelled real-time strategyvideo game in the Command & Conquer series. It was being developed by the now-closed video game studio Victory Games for Microsoft Windows. 134 The game was set to use the Frostbite 3 engine and would have introduced downloadable content.

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The game actually allowed you to buy new generals and extra game modes for cash. The story was simple. There was Europe, Asian Alliance, and terrorists fighting each other. The gameplay was pretty much the same: building the base, harvesting resources, creating units. There was no limit on the unit count. The greatest thing was that the game was powered by Frostbite 2, and later Frostbite 3. Unfortunately, the development took a very bad turn.

EA suddenly closed the company and canceled the game. The main reason was the low quality of the game, which didn’t do very well during the beta-testing phase. last time we’ve heard about the game was in 2013. The worst thing was that the game was actually the last big entry in C&C franchise. What a disappointing way to go. Let’s hope 2017 brings some nice surprises for the C&C lovers.

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[neon-serpent-llc]

Time to stroke my ego and elevate my opinions to untouchable facts with the fourth annual Whatever Awards! Now, don’t let me being a veteran AAA game developer trick you into thinking this list has any merit. My pointless, subjective list carries the same weight as The Oscars, that is to say, none.

Now read my absolutely important, objective list of Best Games.

Intentionally Hardcore or Accidentally Impossible? - ELEX One of my gaming guilty pleasures involves wonky sandbox adventures from Europe. Colorful worlds with unconventional RPG systems make for...unique game experiences. Which means unpredictability; something AAA games sorely lack.

This year’s prime example was ELEX, from the makers of Risen. Adding a dose of sci-fi seemed like an interesting twist on this already bizarre sub-genre, but it may (or may not) have gone horribly wrong. Because I genuinely can't tell if this game is monstrously difficult by design, or by accident.

The leveling system is heavily balanced towards quest completion, yet most quests involve traveling to areas swarming with tough monsters (who reward almost no experience for being killed). The combat is extremely stiff, so fighting them is an uphill battle to begin with, but presumably easier with better weapons. Yet you can't upgrade weapons (or even hold fancy weapons, like a blaster pistol) until you level up your character...which is almost impossible, since you finish so few quests. There's no good way to break in to this loop.

So my brief time with ELEX devolved into cautiously exploring the world and running away from all combat. And reloading often from the never ending stream of one-shot kills.

The Tale of Two Takes Award(s) - Nioh and The Surge Both games offered a take on the Soulsborne formula this year, with varying degrees of success. Without naming names, one was fast, fun, and interesting, whereas the other was slow, awkward, and frustrating. I liked the settings of each, and the core systems, but ultimately one I finished and the other I dropped after getting lost for hours in the second level. And for me to get lost is an almost unheard of feat. Remember, I make virtual mazes for a living!

Phrases to Retire Award, part 1 - Love Letter Every indie game on Steam is a love letter to some game from the past. Just once, I'd like to see a reply from one of the games that’s been called out.

Dear Face Xploders Xcelsior, Thanks for the kind thoughts. I tried your demo, and it kinda sucked. Please, don't write me again. Ciao, Castlevania.

P.S. Stop mentioning my name!

Too Much of a Good Thing Award - Prey Prey is a smart, rewarding game with confident, emergent design. Except for the last four hours of backtracking and more backtracking through monsters that repopulate at mach speed. Because of this, there is little motivation to fight them, only to flee, leading to a marathon of speed-run style tactics to get from point A to B, and back again. That said, the ending IS great, and makes everything come together as a whole, but it could have arrived much sooner. AAA games are so afraid to cut any finished content, (hey, that cost time and money!), but sometimes its necessary.

Way Too Much of a Good Thing Award - Miitopia Miitopia is a quirky, cute game with fairly standard JRPG design. And there's a good dose of humor in the unexpected interactions between Mii characters. Nothing close to the likes of Tomodachi Life, the insane, brilliant Mad-Lib generator, but still amusing.

This is a slow paced game, one that I burned through over the course of many nights, falling asleep in bed. But the thing is, this game is HUGE. It keeps going and going, world after world. Long after it has run out of new things to show you, there is just MORE. Even beating the game unlocks two worlds and an infinite side-quest system. As a kid, I never imagined that a game could be too long. Sorry, Little Me, but you were wrong!

Bad Habit Award - Hyperbole Headlines Everything is either the Best Thing Ever or the Worst Thing Ever. This reaches much further than the game industry, but some (not all) of our news sites have jumped fully onto this trend, which is the Worst Thing Ever, by the way.

I Forgot This Came Out Award - For Honor One of my only repeat awards, the "I Forgot This Came Out" Award is not meant to downplay the award's recipient, its meant to humbly remind us that hype and excitement mean nothing when it comes to standing the test of time. For Honor was a big E3 reveal for Ubisoft, a new IP set to redefine online combat. It had the world's attention. I tried the beta and it never clicked for me, but I know some of my co-workers adored it.

And then...it was gone. Like so many of the games we pour years of our lives into creating, they get their 15 seconds of fame, and nothing more. No end of the year praise, no all-time best lists. Just another momentary fragment of joy.

Best MMO - Destiny 2 No matter what Bungie claims, Destiny 2 is an MMO...and it's pretty fun this time! There's a deep-seated momentum to the gameplay. You never sit still as you dance through a progression of ever more colorful worlds. And strong art direction bleeds through everything. Compare that to my only memories of Destiny 1: sitting around, waiting for a FitBit to decode computers in dull, empty rooms.

Phrases To Retire Award, Part Two - Blowing Up My phone is blowing up! This game is blowing up! These awards are blowing up! They got two whole retweets!!

Remasterpiece Award - Final Fantasy XII Sometimes its sacrilege to mess with a masterpiece. Even the phrase "Who shot first?" evokes memories of defending Han's trigger finger. Yet, in videogames we buy remakes and remasters with the express hope that our masterpieces HAVE been messed with. They better have spruced up them graphics and tripled the FPS, re-recorded the voice-overs, let me fast travel, save anywhere, and given me a new epilogue for good measure.

Such is the case with Final Fantasy XII, a masterpiece to begin with, and much more so now with the addition of one clever feature: the fast-forward button. One click and the entire game runs at either 2x or 4x normal speed. I was certain using it would cheapen the experience, but to my surprise, it greatly enhanced it. By speeding up the tedious parts, players have more time to enjoy the tasty bits. It encourages deeper exploration of the world and its content.

One could argue, of course, that there should be no tedious parts, but I can think of few narrative-heavy games without some tedium built-in. Every second of the story can't be exciting, we need peaks and valleys. A sprinkle of tedium helps virtual worlds feel more lived-in and authentic. Pure games like Ikaruga can dispense with tedium because the story of Ikaruga is "shoot or die!"

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Shadow of the Colossus next (this) year. A ground-up remake of yet another masterpiece, but by a completely different creative team. Every line of code is new. If I told you I had the exact blueprint to replicate the Mona Lisa, I doubt you'd be excited to see my "remake."

Trend That Needs To Die - Loot Boxes They've been lame since day one and everyone finally seems to agree. Companies, just let us directly buy the dumb consumer junk we want!

Game that Most Impressed my Parents Award - Horizon: Zero Dawn My Dad is a classical landscape painter, so I like to show him vast game environments. While he was impressed by Assassin's Creed's Egypt, and Zelda's rolling fields, he was blown away by the sheer beauty of nature on display in Horizon. And my Mom also remarked that it was "very pretty." I made a brief attempt to explain robot dinosaurs to them, but ultimately concluded with, "look, its a videogame, ok?"

The Inverse Xenogears Award - Mass Effect Andromeda Xenogears, if you'll recall, started strong and remained strong...until disk 2 where, frankly, the game kinda fell apart. Many games fall into this mold, most famously Mass Effect 3 which ended on a particularly underwhelming note.

So what happens when I game STARTS on a particularly underwhelming note, but gains momentum and finishes strong? Such is the case with ME:A. The game sets up a simple, awe inspiring premise: humanity goes to Andromeda. We've finally reached a new galaxy. Things beyond our imagination await here, just you wait!

Oh, never mind. Turns out its just the standard bipedal dudes-with-guns waiting for us, behind cover no less. Also, some animations were weird. Buzz killed. Understandably, most people bailed out around this point.

But, given about ten hours, the game opens up. For one, you start visiting proper alien-looking planets, and the scope of the story broadens vastly. Around the same time you've gotten enough abilities to zip around the battlefield, never needing to hide for cover again. This is where the game should have started.

By the end, the fate of Andromeda convincingly rests in your hands in a truly bombastic finale that hits on every level. And your character is a bona fide joy to control by this point. This is easily the strongest ending in Bioware's history, overcompensating for the ME3 ending fiasco. Shame that most will never see it, and the stage that it sets will never continue. Mass Effect is likely dead now.

What's the Fuss Award - Player Unknown's Battlegrounds This game has been around for years, more or less, in various forms. So why do people suddenly care? Why this one? Nothing about it is particularly new. If anything, it seems like a slower, clumsier version of almost any other shooter that comes to mind. The Zeitgeist is weird.

Might have been game of the year, if I had more time to play it - Persona 5 Even though I've played ten hours already, I know I'm basically nowhere in this game. Which is more than I can say for Divinity 2, another supposed GOTY candidate that I've yet to even start. There were just too many good games this year. Who has the time to play them all, especially these 100+ hour behemoths?

Movie and music critics can easily keep up with new releases, but game reviewers are obligated to complete these massive games before rendering judgement. Most professional game outlets divide reviews across numerous individuals and even then these outlets only review a fraction of new releases. Is there a single soul on Earth that played EVERY Steam game released in 2017? Doubtful. Given this, is any "game of the year" pronouncement valid? At best, GOTY is more like "Best game I played this year, of the 5% of total releases that I actually played"

Phrases to Retire Award, Part 3 - Is a thing. Apparently, Microsoft Windows 3.1 is still a thing. Listen, it might have been cute if it was said once, by one human, and then retired for a decade. But instead it's said by every human, every second, about every THING. How is this a thing?

The Long-Lost Everything Award - Xenoblade 2 This game reminds me of all the best bits of ye olde games of yore: A huge, sweeping story that keeps evolving and unfurling with none of the cut corners I associate with the PS3 era (where every game got really short, and every environment got reused 200 times). A huge, sweeping soundtrack with countless memorable songs and none of the generic movie-orchestration I associate with games made in the west. A huge, sweeping overworld that's intricately hand crafted to match the story (living on the shoulders of Titans is escapism at its best), with none of the generic cities/fields I associate with, well, most open world games.

Mostly, this felt like a great, overlooked space-opera Anime that we've all somehow rediscovered 15 years later. That said, the fan service also feels fifteen years out of date, and is the only questionable bit from ye olde games of yore.

“Hey, I Have a Fun Idea” Award - Super Mario Odyssey The award is named after how the game was designed. Just a bunch of people sitting around saying, “hey, I have fun idea,” and then making that into a tight, micro-slice of gameplay bliss. This game is loaded with brief, memorable moments that are novel, and never overstay their welcome. As the last drop of fun has been reached with one activity, the game is already moving you along to the next...hundreds of times in a row. Now that's impressive.

Everyone's a Speedrunner Award - Ys VIII: The Lacrimosa of Dana Most games try to mimic real-world physics when it comes to character movement. A character's jump, for instance, looks wrong if it doesn't match what we'd expect to see in reality. Speedrunners know how to exploit these pseudo-physics to great effect, and use this knowledge to "break the game" by moving and jumping in ways unintended by the game's developers. Usually this type of movement is difficult to perform, and requires hours of practice to master single-frame animation windows and pixel-perfect jump arcs.

But not in Ys VIII! Just mash on the jump and dodge buttons and you'll soon become a whirling dervish of energy, constantly increasing in speed. It requires no practice, and feels exhilarating. The music's tempo matches the speed, and nothing ever slows you down, making it clear that this freedom of movement was by design. Brilliant!

The Armchair Architect's Wet Dream Award - Gravity Rush 2 Gravity Rush 2 is a beautiful game. Maybe too beautiful, as I spent most of my time slowly walking the streets, taking in the colorful architecture. And while this world is obviously an impossible place, most of the buildings still seem like they could work. In particular, I liked that the bottom of every island was explorable as well. I guess there are literally no places to hide when your main character is a badass, flying-cat superwoman.

Game of the Year Award (or Best game I played this year, of the 1% of total releases that I actually played) - Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Hardly surprising given that Zelda has won this award from...well, everybody I think, but there is no denying this game is just sublime. A profound sense of freedom and old-school Adventure permeates every inch of this vast world. And the game is greatly unpredictable, thanks to all the emergent physics systems built-in to the core gameplay. No two encounters play the same because of it, keeping this behemoth utterly engaging from start to finish.

Art of the Year Award - Nier Automata Videogames are an Artform, which we all (finally) know by now, but of course they're only one of many Artforms that fight for our hearts and minds: Movies, music, literature, painting, sculpture, and sandwiches made at Subway (hey, they're made by "sandwich artists," right?). And with this in mind, I offer up my first ever "Art of the Year Award" to the best damn Art I've seen in many years: Nier Automata.

It's hard to explain why this game packs so much of a punch, especially given that, at first glance, it seems like an easily dismissable fan service game. Do not be fooled! What starts as a standard sci-fi premise, becomes more and more involved both in terms of plot and philosophy. This buildup leads you exclusively in one direction, thematically. This theme is remarkably consistent, from the music to the side quests, even to the enemies you encounter. That is, until the credits of ending five roll (there are 26 endings, but you'll only need to see five to fully understand what I mean). Then everything gets flipped, so to speak, in what is EASILY the best ending in video game history. This turnabout is not only well earned, but it makes every second preceding it feel more important and absolutely necessary. In terms of vision, this is a Complete Thought, delivered in video game format.

Most importantly, Nier showed me that "art games" don't have to be boring. It's so fun to play! With my game, ULTRAWORLD EXODUS, I kept many exciting elements of movement out because I was worried players wouldn't pay attention to the message, which was the game's reason to exist. But instead, they paid attention to the lack of movement options, and missed the message anyway because they were too frustrated. Nobody wants a symposium, they want to smash giant robots. And hey, if someone is talking that philosophy stuff in the background, that's cool I guess, as long as I can keep smashing. This one will stay with me for years.

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And that’s all; what an embarrassment of riches this year was! Feel free to disagree with me, because honestly, that’s the point. Your opinions will always hold the most weight, far more than mine, which suck. So, yeah, whatever :P

[zydrateacademy]

Review: Destiny 2

It took me a while to compile enough thoughts for a proper review, and to find time to actually begin writing because I’ve been far too busy actually playing it. This will come with a minor disclaimer or two. First, I haven’t played the first game. It was on console and I’ve been on PC for a long time. Secondly, I may mention a lot of other game comparisons and there’s a reason for that. This game feels like it borrows some of the best parts of other games and stitched them together to make something great. I can’t really comment on the game’s previous story, but I hear from most players that there wasn’t much of one. Somehow I feel that this is hyperbole on their part because you can’t really have a game without a story. Even team shooters like Overwatch shoehorn some lore within their dialog or various external material. All the same, I’ve gathered that a giant alien ball gave a large portion of the Earth population immortality topped with magical powers. Not exaggerating, I have literally heard the word “magic” be used in what seems to be a Sci Fi adventure. The game proper starts off with a full on assault from an enemy faction that only had a tertiary presence in the first game. They win pretty swiftly and kick you off a tower. Your guardian loses their “light” powers and must traverse the first forty-five minutes or so of the game without the ability to resurrect. Of course that is of limited value as checkpoints are still a thing so feel free to die if you don’t quite have a handle on the gunplay.

The campaign is stated to be around six hours long and that’s fairly accurate. It felt incredibly short and it was surprising to learn about this sun-destroying device that the Red Legion created. Funny enough, that’s actually the halfway point and the exact moment where the story becomes less interesting. Before that, you hop between planets to “get the band back together”, essentially. You collect the various class leaders across the system, each with their own unique problems that you solve and get back together to help lead the push against the guys who took everyone’s light. After that, it’s a generic doomsday device that you must disable, and the campaign missions themselves feel a bit padded at times. You’re often assigned to disable something, only for it to not work so you must go destroy something else two more times before the thing actually works. The old school trope of “You cannot thwart stage one” is in full effect here folks, and you’ll likely predict what will happen to the big bad Ghaul himself long before you actually see it. Weak story aside, the gunplay is some of the best feeling in a first person shooter I’ve had in a while. At first glance the game looks and feels like a less irritating version of Borderlands, a franchise of which I love anyway like a slowly improving problem child. Enemies have large health bars and every hit you land, magical floating numbers pop up signifying your damage. Ultimately these numbers mean very little because max level players can play with level three’s and nobody can really one-shot anything except for the basics. There’s some strange autobalancing coding going on in the background, but it still manages to make sure that anyone can play with their friends regardless of people’s gear level. This includes the fact that max level players will constantly get tokens and can break down lesser gear for yet another type of turn-in token. There’s always a reason to do things and I find that it’s a great mechanic. 

The story is mostly just an excuse to get you to maximum level and have access to the tower. After that, the full game unlocks to you which is common MMO fare. It lets you dip your toes in some player-versus-player but after you beat the campaign, every planet and game mode will have a set of challenges and milestones for you to work towards and continually get your item level up, also known as a “Gearscore” if you’re a veteran of WoW. Ultimately this is where the game shines and where I typically have the most fun, because it essentially becomes a first person sandbox. No, there’s not really an open world and there’s not much to explore unless you’re hunting for Lost Sectors, secret sections of the map that typically have yield chests with better loot that will only unlock when you defeat the local miniboss. They’re a lot of fun. Each planet has this sort of “hub” area that you’ll find a few other players running around in. I figure they’re instanced with a likely player cap because I’ve never seen more than a few at a time. At most I think I saw about seven other people joining in on a public event with me, one of my favorite features of the game. Public Events are not a new concept in recent gaming history. The earliest comparison I can personally think of is Rift (2011), but I think they started dipping into MMO’s a year or so before that. It’s as it sounds, in hub areas these events will trigger down from a five minute timer to allow other people gather and prepare and it will spawn a moderately difficult boss or objective based event. They’re typically too difficult for me to solo but I’m sure other, better players can manage. By completing optional objectives you can help upgrade every event to “heroic”, which yields a lot more experience and a bit more loot. You might have to research or simply take cues from other players and see what you have to do, but if you see people shooting at that ship circling the area or slamming on this random device in the middle of the firefight - That’s probably why. Those side challenges I mentioned can be a bit fickle sometimes. Sometimes they’ll require you to kill enemies with a certain weapon or a certain way that doesn’t necessarily to cater to my playstyle. One in PvP once wanted me to make a few kills with a subclass I never used and thus had no upgrade points put into. I never got that challenges because, as per the game’s meta, there’s certain gun types or subclasses people just don’t use in certain modes. For example, nobody ever really uses the Hunter’s “Nightstalker” subclass in PvP because it’s a sort of crowd control that’s useful against several clustered enemies. In PvP that almost never happens and it would be too easy for actual players to escape the little orb that the Hunter created. 

There’s also a multitude of gun types, all with their varying clip sizes, fire rates, and range capabilities that are more useful in one mode than the other, so this typically encourages you to keep a certain ‘collection’ of things depending on what you’re playing. So far I’ve only talked about challenges and public events. I’ve found it hard to talk about what and first because there’s a lot to the game to chew through between the various updates the game will inevitably have. Of this writing, the game’s first expansion has already been announced for the fifth of December which will likely bring a whole new set of milestones, strikes, missions and most importantly, loot. I’ll try to get through some of the fun stuff you can get a hold of at the endgame which mercifully doesn’t take long to get to. Strikes are basically just dungeons from other fantasy based MMO’s. There’s not a lot to say about them, they’re ten to twenty minute encounters with a variety of bosses and mechanics you need to figure out. My least favorite so far is this Fallen boss who will constantly disappear after just a few hits and spawn these electrified robots that will limit your movement and now allow you to jump at all (and there’s a LOT of jumping in this game). They’ll also constantly damage you because of course they will. It reminds me of a survival game to be honest.

There’s the Crucible, Destiny’s name for PvP combat. It’s run of the mill PvP with your usual zone controls, team deathmatch and even a mode that’s reminiscent of Call of Duty’s “kill confirmed” mode where you only get points by picking up a sigil from a fallen enemy; Or else let their allies pick them up and get denied the score. I enjoy it and I can sometimes get rewards from it even by losing. I’m currently working on an exotic weapon quest where you have to dismantle rare or better scout rifles, which the crucible rewarded me with one just for losing. So hey, progress! There’s also something called “Nightfalls”, which remind me of “Heroic dungeons” from World of Warcraft, but are actually more comparable to Starcraft 2′s mutator mode in their Co-Op. Every week it changes, typically with some kind of timer mechanic to make sure your team is at their most optimal. On our first week, in addition to the timer, all of our skills recharges what seemed to be five times faster. So the mutations are not always there to hurt us. Naturally it gives much better loot than their more basic versions and can be incredibly intense. Myself and two buddies from my gaming community managed to kill the boss of one with a mere four seconds left on the timer. Our first ever Nightfall, to boot. I alluded earlier to the fact that there’s tokens you get from a variety of activities. This mostly gives incentive for high level players to continue playing, as you can turn these tokens in to a variety of faction leaders for engrams (a fancy word for “loot boxes”) that typically level with you so they’re usually good to grind out.

And yes, there is a grind here to a certain degree. There’s a sort of soft cap to gear levels, I found it a crawl to get past the 260-265 hump but then slingshot past it on the game’s second week with a new rollout of milestones that wanted me to play several crucible games, complete five challenges out in the world, and a few other things. Each of them gave me 269′s and 271′s and helped me gear up a bit. At a certain point it becomes advantageous to roll multiple characters so you can do all of this more than once, padding the gameplay and turning it into a grind. There is a bit of fatigue once you hit that soft cap I will admit but it’s typically relieved by playing with friends. This goes with any multiplayer game, true enough. As mentioned I can continue playing missions with newer players, hunt for public events, or toss my scrub ass into the unforgiving ring of failure that is Crucible and I’ll always get something for my trouble. There’s never not anything to do. All this time I’ve actually forgotten to talk about how really damn pretty the game is, to boot. Most of my settings are on maximum with the sole exception of my textures, which have to be medium as to not stress my unfortunately low about of VRAM. I’ve had people smarter than me try to explain why exceeding it matters but regardless, the game is still one of the best looking things in my entire library.

There’s a lot of chatter about microtransactions in the industry lately. Yes, they are present here in the form of “Bright” engrams, which can be acquired in two ways. Obviously you can buy “Silver” which acts as a separate currency for Bright engrams. The other way is, as a level 20 you will get one per ‘level up’ as you continue to play. The flow of such is pretty slow and I typically only get one or two a day (If I’m actively playing my main Hunter) as opposed to dropping ten dollars and getting five immediately. They typically contain cosmetics, some more practical than others like faster speederbikes that will help you traverse stretches of land on planets with a bit more ease. They’re the primary source of the shinier “shaders”, or armor dyes. You can get shaders out of basic chests and other loot boxes but shaders do have “rarity” like any gear does and I don’t think I’ve gotten some of the better looking ones through more basic means. Still, the microtransaction craze does speak to a seedier part of the industry and I will admit the “It’s just cosmetic!” argument doesn’t quite hold up, but I’ll leave that for the individual to decide. I’ve already purchased some silver twice now, but that’s my prerogative. I’ll just say that the game never, not once, beats me over the head with “BUY SOME OF THIS AND YOUR LIFE WILL BE MORE COMPLETE”. They better not, after I spent the full hundred dollars to begin with. In conclusion, the game feels like the most refined collection of a dozen games I could name, like the world’s cleanest zombie. Borderlands, The Division, World of Warcraft, Rift. The gameplay constantly reminds me of other games but is the absolute best version of all of them. The gunplay will keep me coming back as I do occasionally itch for an ironsight shooter but all the current ones I have are boring or have dead communities with long matchmaking. A large portion of my gaming community is playing so I can typically play at my own pace, or get others to join me if I feel like I want my objectives to go a little quicker than usual. There’s plenty to do and it’s all up to me to figure out what I want to prioritize when I log in. For a game with this much in it, it can only improve with more content.

[vrheadsets]

PlayStation VR Library Now Over 100 Titles

Originally launched on 13th October, 2016, the PlayStation VR went through something of a rocky start to reach its current position as king of the high-end virtual reality (VR) castle, with over 1 million units sold. With the upcoming release of the updated PlayStation VR headset, this seems like a good opportunity to look at the history of the device so far, and what is currently available for users to play.

Upon first launch, the PlayStation VR’s popularity appeared to take Sony by surprise, as the company had not produced enough stock to meet demand, a problem particularly seen in Japan where customers queued around the block on restock days. With the new PlayStation VR version seeing initial release in Japan later this month, lets hope Sony have learned from experience.

The PlayStation VR features a 5.7 inch OLED panel with a display capable of 1080p resolution, the device also has a video output box that allows video to output to the TV as well as the headset as well as providing processing for 3D audio effects. Though the PlayStation VR has no build-in headphones, it has a standard 3.5mm audio jack for users to plug in their own headphones, or a third-party audio solution such as the Mantis. The headset has nine LEDs for position tracking, which is PlayStation Camera is responsible for.

A run down of the currently available PlayStation VR titles follows below:

Title

Publisher

Release Date

Dreamworks: Voltron VR Chronicles Digital Domain Interactive September 26, 2017 DWVR Perziur Slu September 26, 2017 Light Tracer Oasis Games Limited September 26, 2017 End Space Orange Bridge Studios Inc September 19, 2017 Bloody Zombies NDreams Ltd September 13, 2017 The Solus Project Grip Digital S.R.O. September 18, 2017

  The Solus Project

A tense, atmospheric hybrid between a survival crafting title and sci-fi horror that gradually ramps up the tension until you are jumping at your own shadow.

VR Karts Viewpoint Games Ltd September 12, 2017 Don’t Knock Twice Wales Interactive September 5, 2017 Sparc CCP Games August 29, 2017 Sneaky Bears War Ducks Ltd August 29, 2017 Soul Dimension Time of Virtual Reality August 22, 2017 Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul VRWerx, LLC August 15, 2017 Neptune Flux Zoxide Games August 8, 2017 The Lost Bear Fabrik Games Ltd September 5, 2017

  The Lost Bear

A narrative puzzle-platform title that uses an aesthetic borrowed from paper cut-out puppet shows to tell a story of overcoming fear.

Dino Frontier Uber Entertainment August 1, 2017 CastleStorm VR Edition Zen Studios August 1, 2017 Theseus Forge Reply S.R.L. July 26, 2017 Smashbox Arena Archiact Interactive Ltd July 25, 2017 Tiny Trax FuturLab Limited July 25, 2017 Heroes of The Seven Seas Time of Virtual Reality July 25, 2017 Infinite Minigolf Zen Studios July 25, 2017 Superhot VR Superhot Sp. z o.o. July 21, 2017 The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Viewing Revolution Bandai Namco Games America Inc. July 18, 2017 Manifest 99 Project Flight School Inc July 18, 2017 Archangel Skydance Interactive LLC July 18, 2017

  SuperHot VR

A VR recreation of the hit time-bending first-person shooter. With its own unique and distinctive look etched in red, white and black SuperHot VR delivers unique gameplay in which time only moves when you do.

Apollo 11 VR Immersive VR Education Ltd. July 12, 2017 The Bellows Castle Steps LLC July 11, 2017 Fantastic Contraption Radial Games Corp. July 11, 2017 Arizona Sunshine Vertigo Games B.V July 5, 2017 Spider-Man: Homecoming – VR Experience Sony Pictures Virtual Reality June 30, 2017 Cavernous Wastes PouncingKitten Games LLC June 27, 2017 Ancient Amuletor Time of Virtual Reality June 27, 2017

  Arizona Sunshine

In a world overtaken by zombies, you must travel the desolate and dangerous deserts of Arizona, shooting down zombies with your trusty gun, facing horrors in bright sunshine.

Chess Ultra Ripstone LTD June 20, 2017 Air Force Special Ops: Nightfall Sony Interactive Entertainment June 20, 2017 Race the Sun Flippfly June 13, 2017 (VR Update) Special Delivery Meerkat Gaming LLC June 6, 2017 Tekken 7 Bandai Namco Games America Inc. June 2, 2017 Star Trek: Bridge Crew Ubisoft Entertainment May 30, 2017

  Star Trek: Bridge Crew

Fulfil the dream of generations of Star Trek fans by taking a seat at a bridge console and becoming a Starfleet officer. Explore the galaxy, battle Klingons and get your friends in on the action for this intergalactic experience.

Dick Wilde PlayStack Limited May 16, 2017 Farpoint Sony Interactive Entertainment May 16, 2017 Moonshot Galaxy Big Fish Games May 9, 2017 Polybius Llamasoft Ltd May 9, 2017 Gnog Ko-Op Mode Inc. May 2, 2017 Oasis Games Shooter VR Bundle Oasis Games Limited April 25, 2017

  Polybius

Drawing inspiration from an infamous videogaming urban legend, Polybius presents a surreal arcade shooter that is as addictive as it is bewildering.

Symphony of the Machine Stirfier Pty Ltd April 25, 2017 Statik Tarsier Studios April 24, 2017 Quiz Night Tonight! Mardonpol Inc April 21, 2017 Bandit Six: Combined Arms Climax Studios Limited April 19, 2017 HeroCade Lucid Sight, Inc. April 18, 2017 VR Invaders – Complete Edition My.com B.V. April 18, 2017 StarBlood Arena Sony Interactive Entertainment April 11, 2017 Mortal Blitz Skonec Entertainment April 4, 2017 Fated: The Silent Oath Frima Studio March 28, 2017 Korix StellarVR Limited March 28, 2017 Leave the Nest Kaio Interactive LLC March 14, 2017 Darknet Archiact Interactive Ltd March 7, 2017

  Statik

A puzzle title featuring a creepy scientist who seems to have taken lesson in charm from GlaDOS and a box that holds your hands confined form the basis for a clever and intuitive puzzle title.

Unearthing Mars Winking Skywalker Entertainment Limited March 7, 2017 Dying: Reborn Oasis Games Limited February 28, 2017 Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin Double Fine Productions February 21, 2017 Mervils: A VR Adventure Vitruvius Technologies Inc. February 21, 2017 DiRT Rally Plus PlayStation VR Bundle Codemasters Inc. February 17, 2017 Joshua Bell VR Experience Sony Interactive Entertainment February 14, 2017 VR Ping Pong Merge Games Limited February 7, 2017 Dexed Ninja Theory Limited January 31, 2017 Moto Racer 4 Anuman Interactive January 24, 2017 Resident Evil 7 biohazard Capcom U.S.A., Inc. January 24, 2017

  Resident Evil 7 biohazard

Generally acknowledged as one of the best entries in the Resident Evil series for many years, this dark tale of an apparently abandoned plantation house and the sinister family inhabiting it is given whole new levels of terror in VR.

Eve: Valkyrie CCP Games December 23, 2016 Rollercoaster Dreams Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd. December 20, 2016 Lethal VR Team17 Software Ltd. December 20, 2016 Fat City Heavy Iron Studios December 15, 2016 Starship Disco Solus Games December 15, 2016 Perfect NDreams LTD December 13, 2016 I Expect You To Die Schell Games LLC December 13, 2016 Werewolves Within Ubisoft Entertainment December 6, 2016 Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality Bossa Studios Limited December 3, 2016 How We Soar Penny Black Studios Ltd November 29, 2016 Crystal Rift Psytec Games Ltd November 29, 2016 Pinball FX2 VR Zen Studios November 29, 2016

  EVE: Valkyrie

Spin-off of the popular sci-fi MMO EVE, EVE: Valkyrie for many was their first taste of the depth and immersion that VR is truly capable of.

NBA 2KVR Experience 2K November 22, 2016 Gary the Gull Limitless Sky Squadron, LLC November 22, 2016 HoloBall Treefortress Inc. November 22, 2016 VirZoom Arcade VirZoom, Inc November 22, 2016 Proton Pulse Plus ZeroTransform LLC November 22, 2016 Space Rift – Episode 1 bitComposer Interactive GmbH November 15, 2016 Time Machine VR Minority Inc. November 15, 2016 Trackmania Turbo Ubisoft Entertainment November 11, 2016 (VR Update) Robinson: The Journey Crytek November 8, 2016 Eagle Flight Ubisoft Entertainment November 8, 2016

  Robinson: The Journey

Step into a sci-fi world full of adventure, secrets, and dinosaurs. The players takes the role of a young boy, trying to survive on a harsh world with only an AI for company.

Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare Jackal Assault VR Experience Activision November 4, 2016 O! My Genesis VR Xpec Entertainment Inc. November 4, 2016 Carnival Games VR 2K October 28, 2016 Weeping Doll Oasis Games Limited October 27, 2016 Windlands Psytec Games Ltd October 25, 2016 Tethered Secret Sorcery Limited October 25, 2016 Pixel Gear Oasis Games Limited October 20, 2016 Sports Bar VR Cherry Pop Games October 18, 2016 Waddle Home Archiact Interactive Ltd October 13, 2016 Gunjack CCP Games October 13, 2016 Rez Infinite Enhance Games October 13, 2016

  Rez Infinite

Successor to the cult trance shooter of the SEGA Dreamcast, Rez Infinite gives the experience a new dimension by bringing it into virtual reality with spectacular results. Particularly with Area X.

Headmaster Frame Interactive Studio LLC October 13, 2016 Loading Human: Chapter 1 Maximum Games October 13, 2016 The Assembly NDreams Ltd October 13, 2016 Ace Banana Oasis Games Limited October 13, 2016 Catlateral Damage Fire Hose Games October 13, 2016 (VR Update) Job Simulator Owlchemy Labs, Inc. October 13, 2016 The Brookhaven Experiment Phosphor Games October 13, 2016 Battlezone Rebellion October 13, 2016

  Job Simulator

One of the earliest VR success stories, Job Simulator is a tongue-in-cheek look at a future run by computers where humans have forgotten how to work. Job Simulator was so successful that merchandise was produced.

Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live Sega of America Inc October 13, 2016 RIGS Mechanized Combat League Sony Interactive Entertainment October 13, 2016 Here They Lie Sony Interactive Entertainment October 13, 2016 Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes Steel Crate Games, Inc. October 13, 2016 Volume: Coda Bithell Games October 13, 2016 World War Toons Beta Studio Roqovan, Inc. October 13, 2016 Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration Square Enix Co. Ltd. October 11, 2016 Batman: Arkham VR Warner Bros. Interactive October 11, 2016 Thumper Drool LLC October 10, 2016 Harmonix Music VR Harmonix Music Systems, Inc October 10, 2016 100ft Robot Golf No Goblin LLC October 10, 2016 SuperHyperCube Polytron Corporation October 10, 2016

  Batman: Arkham VR

Though short and more of a proof-of-concept than a full videogame, giving people the chance to be Batman, even for a short time, drew a lot of attention.

The Playroom VR Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Until Dawn: Rush of Blood Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 PlayStation VR Worlds Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Tumble VR Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Hustle Kings VR Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Super Stardust Ultra VR Sony Interactive Entertainment October 10, 2016 Wayward Sky Uber Entertainment October 10, 2016 Driveclub VR Sony Interactive Entertainment September 21, 2016 Nebulous Namazu Studios August 30, 2016 Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X Sega of America Inc. August 30, 2016 Bound Sony Interactive Entertainment August 16, 2016 VEV: Viva Ex Vivo‎ Truant Pixel, LLC May 17, 2016

from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2xnesGY

[almaruf-blog]

Cartoon Network Gamings

You can play solitary gamer video games or play sophisticated large multiplayer video games with various other gamers from around the world. Welcome to Miniclip.com, the leading online video games site, where you can play a big range of complimentary online games consisting of action video games, sporting activities games, challenge games, games for ladies, mobile games, iPhone games, Android video games, Windows Phone, games for children, flash video games and many more. for you to play. At GamesGames, you can experiment with whatever from youngsters games to massive multiplayer online video games that will certainly challenge also the most effective of players.

Eve Online is unlike any type of video game in its group as a result of the large series of tasks to take part in in addition to its (suitably) heavenly in-game economic 영앤리치 먹튀 climate. There are a lot of MMOs that have actually been launched or re-released as free-to-play games. However, Lord of the Rings Online is among those titles that the majority of is worthy of review.

Can I play PUBG mobile online?

Play PUBG Mobile in online version. BATTLE in online multiplayer game. PUBG online is military blocky pixel game and battle royale game. Kill enemies in multiplayer Battle Royale!

Auto Attempts To Squeeze Between Two Tractor Trailers, Doesn’t Enjoy.

After some initial training, the video game designates you a placement, either a participant of the Justice Organization or The Culture, relying on your selection of hero or villain.

Battlegrounds was very first launched for Microsoft Windows through Heavy steam’s very early accessibility beta program in March 2017, with a complete release in December 2017.

What’s particularly great is that with Fortnite, you can really play with your buddies, despite which system they get on.

Do your finest to pair up the numbered cards while you complete against the computer system or various other players online.

In doing so, you’ll invest a great deal of your time engaging in battle with various other gamers online.

To state that Fight Royale video games are preferred in 2019 would certainly be an enormous exaggeration.

Chief Executive Officer as well as head of state of Gearbox Software Randy Pitchford will certainly tell you differently, however Battleborn is free-to-play. Officially branded as a “complimentary trial” on Steam, there isn’t much to separate this hero shooter from other free-to-play games on the market. You can bet as long as you want using six of the video game’s 30 characters, rotated regular to tremble things up.

To state that Fight Royale games are popular in 2019 would be a substantial understatement. However, the level of success that Peak Legends has actually reached so rapidly after launch talks volumes. It’s absolutely made its spot on this checklist as one of the very best cost-free video games.

That still doesn’t stop it from being one of the best complimentary video games, nevertheless. You can download and install the ready cost-free or run it in your browser making use of Java, making it a lot more hassle-free than the majority of other on-line role-players of this massive range. The initial of its kind to commercially prosper with a 3D video game engine, Everquest was launched in 1999 as an MMORPG (greatly multiplayer online role-playing game) as well as has given that been documented as one of one of the most crucial video games in the tool’s history.

Released in 2009, Adam Atomic’s “Canabalt” came with the very end of the web games period, and the very beginning of the mobile phone application trend. I know this because playing the variation online convinced me that I required it on my iPod Touch. In terms of manufacturing worth for a Flash video game, couple of can cover it. It’s visuals stimulate the preferred faux-16-bit sprite art that titles like “Super Meat Young Boy” as well as “Pez” popularized, and also the music and also seems effects so immersive that the app version highly suggests you have fun with headphones.

[punkwhodrinkstea-blog]

It Is Your...

Uhhhhhhg. I swear I’m one step closer to being a corpse. For those of you who follow gaming at all, you will know that the most anticipated and award winning Destiny 2 was released for PC this past Tuesday. The game was released 2 months ago on console but the first game was never released for PC. Since the game seemed to suit the PC community and mouse and keyboard controls perfectly, there was much added excitement. Once the game launched I put in nearly 24 hours straight and even the next day I put in another 12 hours and then lastly another 6 hours after that. I stopped only a few hours ago and honestly I have a maxed character and 2 other characters who are underway. I have been living in my gaming chair sipping tea and eating apples, muffins and chips (I don’t usually eat chips but I was desperate). I haven’t seen daylight in a few days and that is until last night I got to see my girlfriend. Thank goodness. I’m pretty worn out from Destiny 2 and not only do I need a break from it but I’m feeling super depressed due to not taking care of myself and a lack of sleep, food, water and general hygiene.

Destiny 2 though is a pretty great game. It’s hard to not like it. Heck, it’s hard to not love. The overall graphics are on par with today’s standards but the lighting effects are a bit better which makes it look really good. The gameplay is silky smooth for some reason and plays beautifully. The movement mechanics and flow of each fight has been well designed to keep the player moving instead of spending too much time simply pouring bullets into a single stubborn enemy. The campaign comes with the base game (and will likely be added to upon DLC) is good but simple and most of the characters are good but some aren’t very enjoyable in my opinion. Also the story is very expendable because since the game is an FPS MMO RPG, most players simply don’t care and the Campaign takes less than 10 hours to finish. The Campaign really just acts as an easy warm up for those of us more hardcore players, meanwhile will act as a decent challenge for your casual stay at home dad or lesser experienced players. But just like any MMO RPG, the game doesn’t truly start until you put the ‘final’ boss 6 feet under. The campaign actually seems to hold back the player from gaining “Light” which is the measurement for how powerful your character is. After killing the boss from the Campaign, the grind begins with the player doing side missions. There are two types of side missions, “Adventures” and “Quests”. Adventures are available from the start of the game and run on an endless loop providing a decent mini mission for players of all skill levels and character levels (they’re really easy). The “Quests” on the other hand don’t seem to be endless. They are a chain of mini missions which usually are about the same difficulty as a Campaign mission but not as long and once you complete all of them, you get a nice prize. Lastly there are “Public events” this is fairly unique to Destiny. This is when an objective appears in the open world part of the game and any and all players nearby can simply walk in and fight side by side to complete an objective, which of course requires you to kill lots and lots of bad guys. The game also allows you to buy treasure maps which will tell you where loot chests are which may or may not give you a good reward. There are two other game modes as well, one is “Strikes” and the other is the “Crucible”. Strikes are simply missions that three players can play together and complete and usually offer better loot. The Crucible is Destiny's Player vs Player mode which has been made better since the first Destiny however it’s not on par with games like Halo, Call of Duty and many other PvP shooters but it’s not bad either. Anyway you get the point, the game is amazing��. However….

Destiny 2 is no doubt a great game but frankly… it’s too easy. Back in the 1st Destiny enemies varied more in their threats. For example there is an enemy called a ‘Wizard’ it’s basically an alien monster about 12 feet tall and flies above the battlefield and hurrells lightning or plasma or something at you and it used to deal lot’s of damage. They were scary! And worst of all they would scream extremely loud and fill your ears with this high pitch screech which would terrify you, these things were freak’n terrifying but in Destiny 2 you can kill them with a single clip and they don’t scare the player with high damage attacks or loud screams. I think every bigger enemy in the game has been nerfed. (“nerfed”: Gamer lingo for, made weaker). It simply makes them less scary and makes the game easier. Now enemies can come as “elites” which do deal more damage and have more health making them a bit scarier but still, the last game had that too and the elite versions of enemies were a player’s bane. The kind of thing that would make a player walk into a room and say “OH HELL NOOO!”. Now the advantage the game has to making these enemies weaker is now players kill more enemies and switch from one enemy to another which helps keep the excitement for the modern person who generally has a shorter attention span. I think this hinders the actual game and kinda dumbs it down but… there’s more. The whole game seems to be dumbed down for the casual audience. Not only by making the enemies easier but even the bosses, ya know those really big things which are suppose to be really hard and make your hands sweat or make you have to try again and again to over come… yeah those are also easy. My online friends and I had no struggle against those and were very underwhelmed at how easy it all is.

Now I’ve done some digging around on the internet and found that not many console players have found the game to be much easier but they think it’s different due to bigger enemies being nerfed. Which is true. But it would seem that PC players, like myself are having a cake walk (which I am too). The reasons are fairly obvious. On PC we play at 60fps or higher meanwhile console players are at 30fps which I find makes making precise movements and shots more difficult. Console players are also forced to play the game with a field of view of 55 degrees…. That’s like looking through a tube. Meanwhile on PC the game allows you to play at 105 degrees which is just shy of distorting image like a fish eye. I personally perfer 110 degrees but I’m not too picky. However anything below 90 degrees is simply stupid in my opinion. The primary reason rarely play games on console these days is because of the field of view. I simply can’t go back to looking through a tube. Now if the frame rate and the field of view wasn’t enough to give PC players a huge advantage, we also have mouse and keyboard controls. When using a controller you can only rotate your character so fast and can only be so precise. For example jumping into the air and shooting enemies on console is hard and you will likely one have time to shoot one enemy but on PC I find myself jumping into the air and killing one enemy and then turning 180 degrees to shoot an enemy behind me, this is simply a dream for a console player. Also it is but easier for PC players to hit weak spots on enemies and control weapon recoil. So not only are enemies in Destiny 2 generally weaker than the first game but now PC players can consistently hit the weak spots of enemies. Giving PC players another advantage when it comes to gun play. Anyway these are the reasons that PC players are having such an easy time with this game. But how would Bungie fix this? I mean I don’t mind too much. Having a casual FPS MMO RPG as amazing as Destiny 2 is super nice and I’m not complaining. But if Bungie wanted to make the game harder, how would they? They could crank up the enemy difficulty but then it would be unproportionate from the console version. I have no issue with that but it would be the first time in gaming history that PC gets a gamer but modified to be harder than the console version. Meh I dunno, it doesn’t really matter I guess.

Oh man I just realized how much time I just spent writing about destiny 2… I should do something else today other than think about that game. Also today I’m trying to recover from my lack of sleep, food, water, hygiene, etc. Peace out folks and happy hunting.

[gamelyplanet-blog]

Cuphead, “casual” modes and hypocrites

I don’t want to spend too much time on this, so I’ll just rant a bit about the recent nontroversy around the indie title “Cuphead”. This is off-the-cuff, blog post stuff, with minimal editing. You’ve been warned.

So, Cuphead, the charming 2D shooter that impressed everyone with its retro-cartoon presentation during E3 2017, has somehow become the center of discussion regarding difficulty in games and the value of design vs accessibility.

Or so games media claim, because make no mistake, before I write down anything else; the only reason the usual suspects opened their mouths to shit out the usual pseudo-intellectual, arrogant drivel is because this entire thing started when the Internet got wind of one journalist, Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat, having trouble with the tutorial of Cuphead during the last Tokyo Game Show.

Let’s also get this out of the way: Dean, dude, I don’t know you. I dislike what passes for games journalism these days, but I’ve never read your stuff or heard of you before. The mockery towards you for that Cuphead footage was, as far as I’m concerned, unwarranted. I don’t have the context to support or condemn you for it; it was during a con, it was an earlier build of the game, the footage looked a little pathetic, but I really don’t know. So, I didn’t say anything against you, but I’m sorry for the shit flung at you.

The problem is that the primary reason this shit even became an issue is that the representatives of games media and their indie hipster buddies started this years ago; and in the last few days, they seem hell-bent on widening the gap between media and gamers in the worst way possible. Blame GamerGate or whatever, but we all know the mocking of journalists’ gaming skills became popular when Polygon posted that pathetic footage of their playing 2016′s DOOM and failing spectacularly at what’s a very basic shooter.

It wasn’t on a whim, either; we’re talking about an entire part of the industry that for years pretended to be an authority on video games; they talked *over* their audience, they talked *down* to their audience, they mocked, they demeaned, they insulted their audience; because they thought they “knew better”. Nobody would’ve really paid any attention to Polygon’s DOOM footage and all that it represented, if Polygon wasn’t a publication that gave “Tropico 5″ a 6.5 by first prefacing the score with the claim a city-builder game should’ve included commentary on dictators and banana republics and authoritative regimes. Nobody would’ve care about Polygon’s DOOM footage (nobody would’ve even seen it, really), if a few years back Arthur Gies hadn’t literally body-shamed 2.5 points off of “Bayonetta 2″, fucking Platinum Games out of their bonus. Polygon are representative of the state of games media right now and they’re not the only ones.

No better proof of all this than how suddenly there are “editorials” on Rock Paper Shotgun and Polygon and Twitter threads by indie game devs that spend most of their time pretending they’re the bastions of intellectuality in game design, whenever they don’t spew shit at their annual circle-jerk that we refer to as the “Game Developers Conference”. John Walker of RPS, when commenting on “Assassins Creed: Origins” new “no-combat” mode, was quick to point out that gamers are hell-bent on maintaining the challenge of harder games, because they are exclusionary. Then, RPS published another article about Cuphead’s “Simple” mode (which prohibits the player from getting the true ending); oh, they were quick to note that it was “satire” toward sites like Kotaku, but any knowledge of RPS or Walker, a senior editor, raises questions to the validity of that claim. Then, Walker himself decided to challenge the term “gameplay” on Twitter because it’s a vague term, apparently never occurring to him that his criticism is pretty fucking vague in itself. Typical overcompensating with which games journalism is rife at the moment.

Rami Ismail, an indie developer who has yet to say a single thing that could be deemed correct or valuable to anyone outside his industry bubble, was quick to link that piece of shit editorial and argue for providing players with the freedom to play a game how they want. I must’ve missed that memo when the market was being flooded with third-rate crappy-looking pixel-art platformers and walking simulators. Suddenly “freedom” and “choice” matter.

Unless it’s the “Mass Effect 3″ ending; if you want choice to matter then, you’re just “entitled”.

Here’s the rub; there’s no discussion to be had. This isn’t an interesting topic or a new discovery for games development. This is as old as gaming itself. Player freedom exists within the developer’s freedom. Player agency is a component of game design, not a handicap. When someone makes a game, they don’t feed data into a generator and then the machine farts out a complete project. Every weapon, tool, and slope or bottomless pit in a level have been designed to complement each other. Difficulty options aren’t bad; quite the contrary. But they’re limited and they can harm the game’s artistic vision irreparably. Do you have any idea how many games I played and found boring on easy mode years ago, only to return and really appreciate them now that I’ve improved? That’s why Walker got shat on for his challenging the term gameplay; his criticism was off-base. The art in games is in the mechanics. Gut the mechanics and the art is degraded to popcorn shit.

Difficulty isn’t just challenge and it’s not just a means to frustrate the player; it’s a tool and it’s a component a lot of the time. The better developers know how to use it to the game’s benefit. It’s also something that’s an umbrella term; what’s difficult for one person and what’s acceptable in terms of challenge differs for someone else. Yes, I’m kind of bumped out I cannot play the Souls series; it seems like it has very interesting combat mechanics, but sparse checkpoints are a no-no for me. I’ll take any challenge you throw at me, but don’t make me retry the same thirty minutes of game all the time. Should I send an angry letter at FromSoftware for not neutering their game for my benefit? I wager those checkpoints are integral to the Souls experience; so, they can stay and I can fuck off to Twitch to watch a stream about it.

Accessibility, for that is the right word and not “inclusion”, is a moot point in this day and age. There are many games to choose from, in different genres, from different developers. There are countless people talking about them and about as many streaming them. The consumer is instantly and easily informed about the specifics and they can make an informed purchase. The notion of being “owed” game progression because you bought the game is ridiculous. Am I owed my money back for not liking that new cocktail I decided to order? Am I owed to see my team win the Champions League (google it Yanks), because I paid for a season pass?

Going back to Walker, after the butthurt for being challenged on his idiotic remarks regarding gameplay, he tweeted that he’s only trying to make gaming accessible. The problem is that gaming, as a whole, is extremely accessible; more now than ever before. All you need to do is download a free game on your phone and lo and behold; access. If you want something more serious, have a look at the simplified, free-to-play MMOs, some even published by AAA companies. The point is, there is not even an admission price to gaming anymore. One niche game for one niche audience isn’t going to turn people away from gaming. What the fuck are you even talking about, John? Nobody in the history of gaming has suggested all games should be Cuphead or Dark Souls. All they suggest is that we make whatever we want and choose what suits us best. You keep raving like a lunatic about “gaming culture” and “toxicity” and “gate keeping” and you’re the only assholes out there to consistently shout, pull rank and cause problems. You are professional trouble-makers, John!

What is fitting is that Ubisoft did indeed announce they intend to add a “skip combat” option in the upcoming “Assassins Creed: Origins”. Is that a good option? I honestly can’t tell, because I’m not familiar with the AC games. I’ve never played one, so I lack the context. If the Assassins Creed games provide a semblance of engaging gameplay by skipping combat, i.e. if exploration is as integral to the AssCreed experience as combat is, then it’s an acceptable compromise. After all, even Minecraft has a casual mode, because hiding from Creepers isn’t the point of that game; mining resources and building shit is.

When the indie portion of the industry started making its mark, we were all delighted; more choice, more games, more space for original ideas and variety, away from the boundaries of AAA publishers. But now, no; now we have a social issue in our hands, now we’re talking about how making the game you want is a matter of “culture” and it’s a discussion that we surprisingly never had before, not even when shitty Twine text apps somehow made it to Steam. Curious that.

“Inclusion” has been the industry standard since at least the days of the original Playstation, when gaming went truly mainstream and turned into a ridiculously profitable industry. The alternative is bad business. There is a reason we now have context-sensitive UIs for everything and why there are more tutorial messages than there are lines of dialogue in so many AAA titles; they want their games sold to and played by as wide an audience as possible. The indies can do something different.

What’s really getting on my nerves in all of this is the hypocrisy; Souls? Fine. Super Meatboy? Fine. Megaman 9? Fine. Bloodborne? Fine. So many hard games, but no, now it’s a “discussion” because a bunch of self-involved writers decided to shit-talk gamers and developers alike for clicks. Again. Fuck, even these very outlets reviewed Cuphead well; but then they found the chance to latch on to a bunch of innocuous tweet and demean their audience again, because presumably their traffic went down. Again. Alas, playing video games isn’t a social issue. The bullshit presentations at GDC that tell you you have a social responsibility when designing video games are lying to you. If you’re a journalist, nobody owes you shit. Do your market research before you buy and let people create and enjoy whatever the hell they want.

Walker’s “Skip Button” word vomit on AssCreed

RPS’ “satire” article on Cuphead

Ben Kuchera’s desperate effort to publish something without saying anything, but only citing what others said, on Polygon