#bad quality clip from my ps4

[ghostofashina]

"Please, show me your face. Something has happened, I see." "...... This will allow my lord to achieve Purification." "........." "I am merely doing what must be done." "... I understand."

[ghostlyhamburger]

Husband Plays Miraculous: Rise of the Sphinx

Recap: We started fighting Weredad, and learned the game actively breaks with multiplayer

We haven't even seen Notre Dame in the show yet, right? [I think we have?] Well I haven't.

Look at this game design. (A giant arrow on the wall) The point of game design is to -

The game doesn't wanna be played. The PS4 just turned off. I think the game just crashed my system.

The whole point of game design is to create a world and a methodology of showing the player where to go and not making it obvious, and then there's THAT. That's Bubsy 3D levels of things.

Also yeah the PS4 crashed. It doesn't want me to play this thing. Let's try this again.

you know what would be interesting? if the Sphinx makes them team up with Hawkmoth

Look at these books. They're so book-like.

You gotta stop moving to do the takedown, but also I don't need to do the takedown if I play as Chat Noir because he hits like a truck

Cannot power pole extend. Sad kitty is sad. Don't know why they gave him the power pole when that's a monkey thing and he's a cat.

Wait is that a macaron [yes but getting it will kill you] I don't care

(Macaron is at the bottom of a pit. he proceeds to jump into this pit multiple times. Clips through the impossible macaron a few times before giving up.)

This game is made.

if Adrien was real he'd be on so many drugs because his dad wouldn't let him do anything else

"These orbs, what do they mean? Something bad is coming! Gee, thanks!" I am looking forward to Fu leaving.

This game has less features than Super Mario 64

This game came out in the same year as God of War Ragnarok

If this game came out on the PS2, people would have loved it. But this is on PS4. That's utterly inexcusable.

I never thought I would hear Marinette say how about a knuckle sandwich

This is a ticket? I don't know, it's so blurry I can't tell

This single spot here is just to show you Notre Dame. This is a nice image, but the quality put into Notre Dame does not match the quality of everything else so it sticks out like a sore thumb.

you can tell these people have only worked on mobile games before

I'm pretty sure the guy who owns Miraculous pointed at Batman Arkham and said do that, but said it to the wrong studio.

Why can Weredad make goons? Why isn't he something like The Accountant?

Why do I need to take out all the goons? Do they weaken Weredad so we can fight him?

What's that sound effect of running on paper?

I know this is a kid's game, but the guy knows that most of the people watching the show aren't actually children, right? He has to

Why is there a combo counter? there's no benefit to doing combos

okay so the counter just doesn't work now

I'm standing in this pile. not on it.

What's with this camera angle. why is he running. What's with this boss fight??

What the fuck. what the fuck

The camera should be locking onto him.

If I sneak up on him, I can attack, but if he sees me he gets a free QTE escape thing

and now I'm Chat Noir. well at least this'll go faster.

Well he glitched into me

what the fuck is that pose? (Chat Noir laying on a paper pile but it's very ... ass.)

They didn't even let him finish his sentence.

That's it that's the show

Why does Luka look worse here than in the show

Why is his hand on his chin like that

I can't believe how hard they pushed Luka to the point of making other characters' relationships around him weirder

Luka is the incel of the show

Why is there no guide to this game yet

I don't know! What if it doesn't actually matter what you select in these parts

(Looking at the photo album) These are new renders. These aren't from the show. [I think these are from the Instagram.]

[jawbreakers2015]

Player Profile: Hang

avid modder, occasional TO and montage video producer from Germany top 12 in the Jawbreakers Stunfest Qualifier (artwork of Drop by Kagu)

What names do you go by?

I used to go by Troke for the entirety of April. Which was based on a dumb coincidence where I talked to Neer and had one of my usual mobile spelling errors and I wrote "I'm having ha troke" instead of "having a stroke".

I wanted to go away from "Hang Boy" since quite some time as I specifically wanted to get rid of the "Boy" and just "Hang" felt wrong and was still associated to Hang Boy anyway. But I guess I'm back to that now.

Reason to why I wanted to rid myself of "Boy" was as simple as me linking my online persona to my OC (By choosing her for profile pictures on basically any platform) which then of course lead people to believe she is a male based on the thought "Hey this is Hang Boy. So the profile picture must also be Hang Boy".

The name Hang Boy btw occurred just as I started my first step into the internet, when I was a big fan of the Binding of Isaac. So i needed an online name and I ventured through Isaac related things. Which was when I came across the Tarot card "Hanged Man". So I just took that and adjusted a bit.

How do you feel about your performance in this tournament?

Was pretty okay. I didn't expect to get far into it. Although I'm a bit sad I didn't make the Top 8 picture. Only needed one win more as well.

However I would have been disappointed in everyone else, if they allowed for me to reach Top 3. So good that didn't happen.

What was your strategy preparing for and competing in the tournament?

I haven't played Blaze in weeks. The only times I played recently was to get some recordings for a Toxic montage. Right before the tournament I was more worried to finish my Isaac run. Which I did win!

And during the tournament was pretty much just "Turn some nice music on, jam to it, play some Nitro, do some silly cuff shenanigans, do dumb parry grab down throws so the viewers can laugh over something".

I did "fly" with Nitro in one match but sadly it wasn't streamed so only Hellraiser was able to see the glory of Flying Cuff™.

Which was your hardest match of the tournament?

Hellraiser I suppose. He did kick me out of it. I never really played him or saw him play and he didn't fall for my aggressive playstyle, so it was a tough time.

What surprised you most about the tournament?

Cherry's second place finish. I know he's good, I think he's underrated even.

But second place is a really good finish. Even more so beating JawDrop since, in my opinion, he has some of the craziest tech and can be really really confusing to play against.

(Yea he also has weird lag even tho he lives in France but whatever :p)

Is there anyone you didn’t face that you wish you did?

I would have wanted to play Defur if possible. To some degree I see his entrance as a sort of meme entry. But jokes aside and game aside, I can only take my hat off to this man and his effort for the tournament scene.

Sadly didn't get to play Daio. It feels like a tradition to face off against him in FellowsTV hosted tournaments. Which always goes the same way tbf. He counters my playstyle hard, I'm annoyed to play against him, don't bother changing my playstyle in order to win, get demolished. But the tradition counts!

I'd put Neer in the same boat. Hate playing against him but it just kinda has to be.

How did you get into Lethal League?

A friend bought it for me. We played a couple of games, he had to leave. I went into QM, found Garu, got absolutely demolished, he friended me and pulled me into it.

I specifically remember seeing his Latch corpse juggles and thinking "Man this is so cool, I want to be able to do this too". So right of the bat I started to play for the style, which is what I still go by.

Style > Efficiency

It feels bad not having paid for LL nor Blaze but I bought LL for a bunch of friends so guess that checks out.

What's your current Lethal League experience?

450+ hours in LL 340 hours in Blaze (As of now. 26.4.2019) And a giant bunch of hours of community interaction and modding.

I was very excited when asked to be beta testing and it fulfilled a childhood dream of being in video game credits.

Despite only getting into Beta a month before release, I stacked up 90 hours before the game came out. Lots of 9 hour playtime days. It was massive fun.

I bought almost all of the merch...got most signed by Tim & Dion too. I went to the Netherlands twice to meet TR. It was fun, they are cool people. Watching Dion doing a live dance off was pretty rad ngl.

I brought self made cheesecake the second time, but Tim had to get it into the building since they check your bags for normal visitors and it wasn't allowed to bring food.

I'll never forget the sight of Tim with his big bag looking like he's smuggling a bomb into a convention.

Who are your main/side/counter character picks?

Everything. So yes random, it's random.

However I most enjoy playing Nitro because of all the dumb things he can do. Especially flying, cuff storage (specifically for down angle on the ground, to just pull a little bit forward) and half pull.

Doombox is also very fun. Special>bunt>smash>parry>special>repeat can chain pretty often on some opponents and is hilarious.

The only characters I "despise" playing are Toxic and Sonata. But only because I'm really bad with them.

What are your favourite character outfits?

Dust and Ashes. Just their whole design.

For real tho. There's not really skins that stick out to me since I use my own modded ones.

Can you share your favourite/most used custom outfit?

Hm I missed that that's not "outfits"...well take a load of skins! In order

Mothyman Jeviman Spacetor Golden Switch Drop Palette Sonata Supercharged Latch PaDice-a the Rapper Skull Grunt Supercharged Grid Supercharged Doombox Dropbox FYouBox Nitro with a blue, white and mint color scheme I made for every character and lastly my Toxic skin with that same color scheme

What are your stage preferences?

Idc. I play random so who really cares. I guess insert the usual "Paradise field eclipse succs!!!"

What input method do you use?

PS4 Controller Dpad for movement L1 Bunt R1 Swing R2 Grab

I used to play LL on a cheap SNES controller using only face buttons. When I was over at Dutch Comic Con with Serchiot I played a couple games of Blaze with his PS4 controller and really liked his layout and the feel of the controller. So I just sneakily stole his layout and got myself a PS4 controller.

Coming from all face buttons, I needed some time to get used to it. But in my opinion it's just superior this way.

How do you make your character montage videos?

I have two ways of recording clips. Just consciously recording with OBS or putting Shadowplay on and saving every time something cool happens. I usually just boot up Blaze and jump into ranked to get some games in. With the Toxic montage it was a bit different since I now have a 4K monitor but 4K can hardly be recorded at 60fps and setting the output resolution in OBS to 1080p got me weird screen effects. So every time I went to record, I put the resolution of my monitor to 1080p in order to at least get that in good quality. Then I just cut all the good clips out of the recordings and mix ‘n’ match ‘em. What's usually the hardest decision is what music to use. There's been a couple of songs that I'd like to use, but they either don't fit over Blaze gameplay, don't fit my playstyle or were just the wrong length.

My two favourite Montages are definitely for Candyman and Nitro. Candyman took a long way to develop, because I just wanted to show off so much. It's one of the few montages where I actually asked higher skill players for games instead of jumping into ranked. Picking the song was really hard, I was only sure I wanted a Klaus Veen track, but OD V2 was too mainstream and most others were too short. So in the end I opted for two songs with a break in between the montage. Splitting the clips into two sets, each song one. With the second part containing what I considered the more hype bursts.

And for Nitro I actually had the montage pretty much done, but I wasn't too happy with it. Still planned to just upload it like that tho. However when I saw the Nitro voice actor interact with a community member in a way that could only be described as "incredibly wholesome", I was inspired to redo most, if not all, of the clips and do the best I could. For the first time actually going into training mode to lab some combos (mostly corpse juggles tbf) and eventually learning Flying Cuff™ too. Watching JawDrops Blazin' Combo video and taking a slice off the Nitro plays there. Which resulted in a montage I am very happy with.

What other games do you play?

It differs from time to time.

The only games I always come back to are retro games like SMW, CTR or something like Mario Kart 8D. Which I always enjoy playing at local tournaments and pretty successfully so even. People just can't handle it when someone plays with one hand.

Atm I also like playing TBoI Rebirth.

Will you come to Stunfest?

Probably not. Driving/Flying over to France is just very expensive. I would love to meet all my Baguettes (Lusked, Jawdrop, Aru and Lalou, who stated he can't make it due to exams, yes I know). But exams and the neer-ing end of my apprenticeship is leaving a lot of work to be done.

So it probably won't fit into my schedule. However never say no! Trips to Blaze events aren't uncommon for me.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to the community?

Play the game for fun, not for glory.

Stop rubbing yourself for an imaginary title that doesn't mean anything as there's not even any competition for it.

I can't stress enough how great Soda City Funk by Tim Legend is. Go listen to it right now.

And for my last words. Be more like Kota. And remember, We love Ramkat <3

[marioclash]

this is correct

im gonna explain every choice now

snes: best 2d game controller ever created, its literally no contest

xbox 360: best controller for 3d games ever created, the d-pad is meh but it also god a redesign with a transforming d-pad which made all the difference in the world

gamecube: while its kinda small in my hands this is the second best controller ever made for 3d games, all its missing is a left z-button

ps5: i dont even own a ps5 but i got its controller to use with my computer. literally the best controller sony has ever released. i havent encountered the drifting problems other people have and it fixes literally every issue i have with the ps4 controller (ill get to that one)

wii u pro controller: a really versatile controller that, while it doesnt work super great for 3d games, is superb with virtual console 2d games

ps2 controller: its just the ps1 dualshock in piano black it looks cool

ps1 dualshock: just the ps2 controller in ps1 gray, it looks less cool but it still works yay

sega saturn: the best 2d controller sega ever released, i love the clicky shoulder buttons and the dpad is great for fighting games

nes: its simple, it works, only issue is the d-pad kinda cuts into my thumb but its not THAT bad

switch pro controller: a pretty good controller when it comes to ergonomics, but i constantly have issues with them, their quality control is kinda poor, im on my third pro controller

wii classic controller pro (i think thats what it was called): its pretty good, especially with 2d games but the short wire and the fact that it has to plug into a wiimote sucks

ps3: its like the ps2 controller except worse and has slightly poorer quality control and cheaper parts

xbox one: its like if you took a 360 controller, redesigned it for no discernible reason, made it less comfortable to hold with sharper corners, and made the shoulder buttons exceedingly fragile, but on the other hand i really like the rumble in it, and it gets pretty damn good battery life from my experience, oh and the d-pad is pretty nice

genesis 3-button controller: its very uncomfortable to me and i dont like the d-pad

ps1: its like the ps1 dualshock except without analog sticks or rumble, and its iffy d-pad makes it bad for controlling 2d games

switch joycon: drift, really lovely drift, also i hate the buttons in place of a d-pad

wiimote + nunchuk: it works but i hate what it did to the industry

xbox duke: its like holding a whopper in your hands and the d-pad sucks, the analog sticks have weird form factors to them

wii u gamepad: the weird jutted out thing on the back is supposed to make it more comfortable to hold but i feel it does the opposite and rests its heavy weight on your middle fingers, its uncomfortable thats literally my only complaint but its a huge complaint

ps4: this controller is mediocre and you know what i hate, you know what drives me up the fucking wall? its quality control. you know how many ps4 controllers i have had to buy? at least 6.

dreamcast: its form-factor is uncomfortable, the wire comes out of the bottom for some fucking reason (which then can clip into a divot in the plastic???), the analog stick is plastic which means your thumb will constantly fall off (even though its textured), and the dpad sucks

n64 controller: desperately needed a redesign. its analog stick has too much travel, its made of plastic which gives it the same problem as the dreamcast, its an aesthetically ugly controller, and even if you hold it the proper way, its uncomfortable

xbox series x: idk never used it

[thedizeezd]

A Full, Extensive, Thorough Guide to Streaming Video Games for Beginners

There's no secret. Streaming video games has caught on with many gamers like wildfire. The technology has finally adapted so that anyone, young or old, can start a streaming career even with basic equipment. Some streamers have seen success even with a one-monitor setup, while others who have gone all out on purchasing loads of equipment haven't seen much success at all. It proves that equipment—green screens, high-end sound equipment, multiple monitors—isn't the key to success.

So, then what? How does one get from point A, just beginning a stream, to point Z, developing an audience that actually pays you money for entertainment? It's honestly never an exact science to tell you the truth. A lot of it has to do with personality, who you network with, who you support, and what to expect from all of that. But I would argue the most important thing of all is never get discouraged with streaming video games. Millions of aspiring content creators all have the same idea—you want to create content that nobody has seen before. You've got great ideas! You want to plan out everything and start growing your community, and you know you can do it well.

I don't mean to discourage you. The road ahead is long and tiring. But you can traverse it if you put your mind to it and don't let up.

Thus begins the guide you need to start streaming video games. I can give you the keys, show you the door, and maybe even open it a crack for you. But you have to pull that door open the rest of the way, and nobody will do it for you.

Where to Start? Get Your Equipment

The good news is that some of you may already have enough equipment to start streaming video games and you don't even realize it. The PS4 and XBox One have built-in streaming capability along with camera support (if you have them) so you don't really need to concern yourself with bitrate, resolution, keyframe settings, or anything else that might be too confusing. I remember when I first started streaming and I was overwhelmed at all the settings—I started off with the wrong resolutions and didn't realize how shit my streaming setup looked until I actually got the brains to bring up a stream feedback.

Regardless, streaming via console isn't a bad idea to start because it can get you some kind of exposure. You don't even need a separate monitor or TV, although I do recommend you get a headset so you can hear the game audio without it repeating through an external microphone. I can't tell you how many streams I've heard where there's a very obvious echo from an external speaker and microphone that isn't on a headset. It's low quality and people will be turned off from it.

If it's your desire to start investing in some equipment, welcome to intermediate streaming. I would definitely recommend getting a second monitor, one to view your game on and a second to watch chat, have a stream feedback up, audio controls, and of course your streaming program. It all depends on what you want to monitor though—I run three monitors and a television which honestly is overkill for me. I try to fill up screen real estate only to recognize I don't even need the windows I have up.

Generally, you only need to be concerned about one of two programs. Those would be OBS and XSplit, the latter of the two I prefer. OBS is free, XSplit is paid. I just prefer XSplit over OBS because the UI is a little cleaner and the function terminology makes more sense to me. Most people I know use OBS, but I'd recommend trying out both to see what you think about either of them. I won't go into detail on how to set these up because that could take a lot more blogging. Instead, I've written a guide on how to stream using XSplit. It's a little outdated because of hardware upgrades, Amazon servers (I'm on Mixer now), and other factors, but should still hold true for anyone wanting to stream on either program.

A capture card is next. The two most selected brands for capture cards in the streaming universe are Avermedia and Elgato. Elgato is known to have fantastic customer service, Avermedia is known to have better hardware. I own both and I can attest to that. Pick one, I don't think you can go wrong. Some people go with higher-end capture cards because generally "gamer-related" products aren't worth the actual money, a lot more of the money pumped into them is just spent on marketing to gamers (coughrazer). But for these specific capture cards, I think they're actually worth it.

If you get an external card, be aware there will be wires. Many of them. Especially if you have multiple consoles, which brings me to switches.

Switches are nice pieces of equipment for video game streaming. I know plenty of streamers that have multiple consoles attached to one switch, and some of them detect their power so they automatically "switch" (ha) to the powered console and so there's no fumbling with buttons or trying to remember which console is on which output. It's just a matter of convenience so you're not fumbling with unplugging wires. Keep in mind that if you're using a switch to manage video output to your capture card, you will have a LOT of wires. I hold all my consoles in one ventilated hutch to keep clutter down. Clutter will happen if you decide to go this route.

Streaming started getting more popular around the time Intel Sandy Bridge processors released, so the technology has definitely developed so a lot of modern machines have the capability to handle on-the-fly video decoding to send to your stream servers. With that being said, you don't want to get anything meant specifically just for email and word processing. Generally, anything for streaming video games will take an i7 processor, especially if you use the x264 codec for streaming video games—that forces your processor to do the video encoding. Or, you can use NVENC if you have an NVIDIA card for your encoding, which is all in your streaming software settings. NVENC is a heavy drain on video cards, so if you're using a 1-PC setup running Call of Duty: Black Ops IV I would highly recommend an extremely beefy-ass PC, possibly with multiple video cards.

Going the 2-PC route is ideal, however. That's my current setup. I have two keyboards and mice and swap between the two when I need to control one or the other. Think of a 2-PC setup just as if you had a console plugged into your switch, only you control it through a keyboard and mouse setup instead of a controller. This is when your wires can get particularly nuts, especially if you run a KVM switch. I do not recommend a KVM switch, because it is cumbersome to have to switch between control sets just to change things on your streaming PC. Try and get two sets of a keyboard and mouse. I promise you it will work better.

A few last things on equipment: some people prefer using the Elgato Stream Deck which I think is a fantastic piece of hardware, but you can similarly just get a 10-key pad and map scene transitions to it. Do your research on decent lighting. And if you want to invest in really damn good sound, I'd recommend reading TransientGamers' extensive audio hardware guide. He recently hit partnership with Twitch, and he also does sound design for (I think) motion picture. Take a look.

I Can Stream...Now What?

Congrats on moving on with equipment! There's plenty of things you need to keep in mind when you start streaming and while you're streaming. I'll probably start with one of the most important things I've learned in the time that I've streamed.

Always be aware of what you say and do in the eye of the public. I've had numerous incidents where I've let something horrid slip, or I showed something I didn't want to show to an audience of people. What people tend to forget is that everything you say and do can be taken out of context, so even if you say or do things that are intended to be harmless, they can be used against you for harm. There was one time I let something slip on accident and around the same time a very prominent YouTube celebrity was under the scrutiny of the media for saying something similar to what I said. Thankfully, my current audience understood my intents and they laughed at my blunder. But remember, you are being recorded and anyone can copy what you've said to use it against you while you're streaming video games.

Second. Try to think of your stream as a television show. It might be hard to think of it as such a thing, but I've seen far too many people with dead air or constant chair stream where there's really no entertainment value. Remember, one of the biggest aspects to viewer retainment is to be entertaining. Otherwise, why would anyone bother with watching your stream? Television shows hide the politics and focus on the "relaxed fun" atmosphere.

Third. When you start off streaming video games, it's good to have a few scenes already set. Your first scene should be some kind of "Stream Starting" deal with something moving. You never want an entirely static stream. Ever play a video game that just says "Loading..." and doesn't show any indication of movement? Maybe it's the case that the game froze, or the computer locked up? You won't know unless you have something moving. A timer works great for this too, although I wouldn't recommend it right off the bat—if you set it for 5 minutes and don't have enough time for a full setup before the stream begins, either you'll start unprepared or you'll piss off people that come into your stream. Have something moving.

Another good scene to have is a motion-based "BRB" screen. There are plenty of small video clips and animations online you can purchase for cheap and just put a text source in it to notify others you're human and you need to pee sometimes. I've seen some people literally put up a BRB screen and go eat dinner for 30 minutes—it works. Others I've watched literally stop the stream. No. Don't.

Of course, there's the main stream scene. This should include your game. If you haven't thought of that part already, then maybe streaming isn't for you. Typically they include the webcam, sometimes a few stream stats, and other widgets to show on screen. Here's what my main

screen looks like, although I've just recently moved to Mixer as I outlined in the previous blog post. Some people prefer the pure, simple webcam/green screen/game look, others might prefer a ton of different flashy things on their streams. It's up to you and what kind of audience you might want to attract.

The Not-So-Fun Part

So now we consider what you want to do with your stream. If you want to turn it into a business, you're going to have to network. A lot. One of the things I say constantly is if you want a partnership, or perhaps some kind of viable money, it's important that you are known. If nobody knows who you are, you don't get support. It's pretty simple. There are some methods of getting "ahead" that are very legitimate, such as signing up to do charity streams. Althouigh the intended result with charity streams is to raise money for good causes, a welcome side-effect is that you get publicity. Pursuing charity streams for the intent of making a business out of streaming video games is...well, fuck you if you do so.

Keep in mind that with this day and age of broadcasting platforms, people tend to question the legitimacy of stream viewer counts. If there's 500 people in your channel, the channel lists only 30, and barely anyone is talking, this should raise a red flag for many, many viewers.

In other words, don't viewbot or try to get ahead by using some external hosting service. You will lose support. Partnership isn't everything, and neither is money. Pardon my french, but fuck you if you viewbot. You deserve no support.

But, as before, network. Stop by streams similar to yours. Say hello to people, even if you don't know them. You need to service people before they service you, and sometimes you get serviced, so return the service. You'll eventually find someone you click well with, and use each other to network.

If you use people to get ahead...well, you get the idea.

Attend cons if you can, find local groups, reach out to people on social media, and stop by their channels. Sometimes even boring content creators turn into your viewers, so don't be afraid to stick around someone's channel for the sole purpose of gaining a viewer. Visit channels on Discord, check out new channels from time to time, but I would advise not to automate any kind of social media. I used to put up auto-DMs in my Twitter and I would drop a link for people to check out. That never worked.

What did work is when I would engage in conversation with them. I'd stop by their channel, host them a few times, and maybe even donate and sub. Eventually, a broadcaster can turn into a viewer if you play your cards right. And if they don't, stop supporting them. That's it.

Also, do not go into another person's channel and announce "Yo streamer, I'm going to be streaming X game today!" That's a blatant advertisement of your own stream, and you're likely to get kicked or even banned if you pull that. Always be cognizant of the rules of anyone else's stream, and read them thoroughly before you even say anything. I've learned the hard way with that.

As before, network. Find the legitimate people you enjoy. Figure out who you can network with, and establish relationships with them. Eventually, you'll build something where some of your users are shared and some of their users are shared, since your audiences tend to like the same kind of humor, and birds of a feather flock together.

Lastly on this topic, although you may have made friends in some sense, recognize these are working relationships. However you treat whatever platform you broadcast on, recognize that some people will be trying to take advantage of you. Be amicable with people, but remember some people are out solely just to make a career playing video games and don't care who you are. I'm not much of a "magnetic" person, unfortunately, and I've been in the seat before where suddenly many, many people I didn't know had a strong interest in me. It's a weird feeling, and there were times I let it get to my head.

Don't. Having a large ego in this business will only cause you to lose support. I would know.

But, with all that said, I would caution you, reader, that at the first sign of someone doing unethical, shady things, do not pursue the relationship further. I wouldn't say burn the bridge, but keep your guard up with the particular person. Being used is never a fun thing.

A Business? Or a Hobby? Or Both?

This is always a hard question to answer because it feels like both often times. There are some ethical issues I've always had with it, so I try not to pursue too much with it. However, if you're able to distinguish between a business and a hobby, I have some tips for you with the former selection.

I started a spreadsheet (or many) that tracks the following: Profit and Loss, Preshow, Postshow, and Weekly Checklists, "extra" benefit recipients (for Patreon, Gamewisp, others), User Acquisition (how people came to your site and how you get them to stick), content timelines (internal and for your viewers), SEO, and whatever might come to your mind if you are really serious about streaming video games. I would definitely try to put effort into marketing your own self constantly. Truth be told, there are some aspects to content creation that are not fun. When you're not streaming, and for many that's about 6-8 hours a day, you have to dominate social media channels.

What exactly do I mean? I mean spread your name as far as the eye can see. Share your channel and its content as much as you can. Make sure your YouTube channel is up-to-date on clips. Make sure you use tumblr. Get those social signals and hit them hard. I've heard of pretty rough stories of 16 hour days of streaming, social media, content creation, blogging, networking, and pretty much doing whatever else is necessary to spread your brand for streaming video games. Generate your Discord and be sure to plug it regularly so you can build your community. But remember to take time off, too—never let this difficult career path affect your health. It's not worth it.

Also, if you decide you want to stream for the money, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Streaming video games for a living takes more work than you think. It's a fun job, but expect your time to be limited and your significant others to dislike you. Or maybe even leave you.

En Conclusion

That's what I have to say for now, for part one. I've been streaming video games for 5 years, but there's plenty I don't know. As before, I can show you the door and open it a little, but you have to walk through. It's your channel, your business, and you need to take the lead. There will be a part 2 soon, discussing sponsorships, free games (and how to handle those), and other matters of streaming video games.

Thanks, and see you online soon.

[bearpillowmonster]

Spider-Man PS4 Review

 I just finished the game so here's my official review. I've been taking some notes throughout playing it so don't think I didn't have time to think it over or anything. This will be a long post so bear with me. (NON SPOILERS)

I started by wondering if I should get this game, E3 looked hype from the trailers but it never stood up front the crowd, losts of speculation from me. A few months ago I watched a video where these guys got to play it early just to share game mechanics (I think it was GameSpot or something) I know what they meant in a lot of things they were talking about now. Now here's the kicker, there's DLC. I hate DLC, never get it despite a lot of it looking cool, however I saw Black Cat as one of the DLC. I have a soft spot when it comes to Black Cat, I just have to check it out when she's involved...leading me to not only buy the game but the deluxe edition as well.

Let me start from the intro of the game. It is actually very visual oriented and easter egg filled. It explains the story of Spider-Man, where we are, and the timeline in less of a minute without saying a word. A spider drops down from the window (Pete getting powers) There's a pic of Uncle Ben and May and Peter then one of Mary Jane and Harry (they've met, been friends, graduated) Next picture has only Peter and May (Ben's death). There's a notebook with concepts for a web shooter (throwback to the 2002 movie sketches) A magazine with Norman Osborn that's labeled "Secrets" with some green nerf darts (Green Goblin is the secret (hence green darts) so not yet introduced) There's a wall of newspaper clippings with some of the villains on them (The big ones that have already been fought in this timeline) Next is a series of post-it notes but the most visible says "RENT DUE". (Peter owns his own place and is struggling) Now that's what I call an intro (it gets more epic right after but i wont spoil)

One complaint I see is the graphics. "They aren't as good as we saw at E3" or something along those lines. BOI this game has great graphics for starters and second How noticeable is the texture on a wall or a puddle compared to the actual character models? This game has a perfect excuse for toning down some ever so slightly. It runs better. It's an open world game and there's maybe one small loading screen and then this bad boy of a town is all yours, If these cutscenes were prerendered (a select few are but for the most part) then it would seem weird going from that to a loading screen. THERE ARE NO LOADING SCREENS AFTER CUTSCENES! It's straight into the action. Seamless. Having the graphics of both cutscene and gameplay match each other just enhances the experience for me so good on them! Also you can look in most windows and actually see stuff in there like computers or if the light is on or chairs/tables etc. That's next level! There are tips on the few loading screens you have (such as if you start a side mission, which I'll get to here in a minute) and they go by so fast you can just barely read the tip, it's that quick for me.

Next complaint I don't see much at all anymore but saw when this game was announced was the voice cast. Yuri Lowenthal wasn't the first pick for a lot of Spidey fans but he does an excellent job in this game like I mean they all do but you can really tell that the cast went all out for this game, it's great. Yuri even shares a name with one of the characters so yay. Also he voices older Ben from Ben 10. Even though it would be cool to have different voice actors for different suits such as Tom Holland for the Homecoming suit, Yuri does a nice job. Jameson is in this and he hosts a podcast that plays sometimes while you're swinging, that's a good modern take on him but nobody will ever beat JK Simmons just saying.

The Spiderman juggernaut that was Spiderman 2 (preferably the GC version for me) was a big game to stack against, nothing has beat it until this game in my opinion. Spiderman 2 I could get lost in just doing side missions, I would literally spend my time saving people hanging from roofs, getting mugged and car chases and still be satisfied with that game, it was that good! (also I wasn't too good at knowing what to do in games as a kid so eh) The swinging, the jumping, all felt natural and fun. This game can perhaps even beat that even with nostalgia, the web swinging is the best we've seen, it applies parkour and acrobatics and gravity and momentum to define what I say is the word to describe this game "F-L-O-W". Everything has a flow and it feels good for it to flow. It does a good job of trying to keep what everyone liked with SP2...even a few character chase sequences, which I've always hated and still do but it's still nostalgic and would probably be missed if it wasn't in there. Wallrunning is a lot simpler and easier, web shooting is a lot more fun and gives you control, lots of different variety, lots of different unlockables. Also you can actually unlock that super jump like in SP2 and I love it! You don't get stuck nearly as often, if you're swinging, you don't lose momentum if you run into stairs or a building, he goes straight into wall run mode or just swings around it, feels so good. There's actually a throwback to the Spiderman 2 train sequence where he mentions "That worked last time" when trying to use his webs to stop a train.

I made sure to give a fair amount of effort to do as much as I can in this game. I did all the landmark missions, backpacks, black cat stakeouts, collected most of the suits, unlocked every skill, tried different play styles with webbing and such. (I can actually recognize how someone's play style is different than mine when I watch because I've played it so much) You don't like the white spider suit? Well you can unlock others and play as those instead, you barely have to use the white spider suit but doesn't go without saying each suit interchangeable quirks but not making any more powerful than another. Use the environment to your advantage, there's some stealth involved here but you don't have to use it, it's actually pretty fun. You can throw trash cans and concrete mix and shock people with stuff. You can crawl in vents.

Side missions and side stuff. Are they fun? I'd be lying if I said every single one was great but there are a lot of really good ones, some even bring in certain characters that I shuttered when I saw. Backpacks were awesome because it's always a mystery where they'll be as well as what's in them, plus it unlocks a certain suit. Black Cat missions, obviously I love, get a suit out of that too. Landmarks are kinda fun, I didn't think I'd like it much but I just did it and was like "Wow that's actually a really cool shot" it makes me feel like a photographer (Have yet to try Photo mode though). But here's something cool. If you go to a side mission, it will take you out of your current situation so you don't waste time or get distracted by certain elements and puts you in a separate but same version New York and if you're in a phone call with someone and you go to do a side quest during it, Peter will say something like "Sorry about that, continue" and it will either pick up where you left off in the call or rewind a little bit so you remember. Here's something I didn't think I would see though. Minigames. Yeah...so apparently you can scan an element for it's components and you have to match the lines and then there's one for the neural interface which has you making a path from one side to another, and it's not the best but whatever, it does what it does.

The story is on par. If it were separated into a movie, it might actually work, it's of that quality. The characters are great as well, each being unique to this story without breaking their comic origin too much. Spidey actually got me to laugh quite a few times with his quips. I want to go in depth with the characters because I really like how some of them are handled but I don't want to spoil who all is in this game. The AI is pretty good, I like that it tells you if an enemy can see you and can highlight where all the enemies are by pressing R3. I even had the final boss dodging some of my attacks, I had nothing but respect for that though, no salt.

Now this game is among the greats but that goes without saying there are some aspects that could be improved upon. People complained about Quick Time Events when this was revealed and I didn't blame them but now I do because I see a few scenes that look like "Aww I wanna play that" because it was probably a scene meant for QTE but they took it out because of fan backlash (QTE is still in there but not a lot fyi). At the end Peter is faced with some decisions and that's what Spider-Man is about, we even see it at the end of the first Spider-Man movie and done masterfully. This one is done really well but I almost wish we could've played that, and made the decision for ourselves just to see what the outcome would be then go and play it again to do the other route. The problem with that is this isn't a "Mary Jane will remember that Telltale/Detroit" kind of game so putting that in right at the end would feel a bit cheap. Just like the Marvel movies, there's a post credits scene so stay tuned for that. Overall a really good game, highly recommend it and await the the DLC/sequel?. I'm over 80% done with the game after finishing the story so I might as well just 100% it and complete all side missions and stuff.

[aurimeanswind]

Let’s Make Up—Sunday Chats—4/22/18

So last week I had a Sunday Chats all written and done, and while writing the last two closing paragraphs, my web browser crashed and Tumblr, being the platform with apparently no fail safes at all, completely lost all of what I wrote. I was initially going to just rewrite it the next day or the following Wednesday (my next day off) but then life happened and to be perfectly honest I had what we call in the biz a godawful week, so it didn’t happen. I apologize, I took your questions and selfishly coveted my answers when you had taken your time to submit them, and I am very sorry for that.

To make up for it, this week I am answering all of last week’s questions IN ADDITION to the few I got for this week, so hopefully it’ll be jam packed. Luckily I didn’t have a big editorial thought-piece ready for last week, so for this week...

The 10 out of 10

So I’ve been playing God of War, as I’m sure many of you readers have been, and I’m delighted by it in so many wonderful ways. But I think the reviews definitely set an expectation that is really impossible to meet. I’m not treading new ground here, I think that’s safe to say (as is usually the case with my writing) but it’s just the thought I’ve had the most playing God of War.

I think you get this idea that it’s a series of incredibly brilliant moments that tie together beautifully, and while I think much of that is true, a lot of what you do in God of War is run around and fight dudes. As great as that is, I’ve only had maybe two big moments in my ten or so hours with it. But the quality of what I’ve seen so far just gets me excited to see what moments I have coming up, especially since at this point, I really have absolutely no idea what the hell is going to happen next.

What i think gets understated in such a masterful score is just the sheer volume of production value poured into every inch of a game. I think that’s something that’s hard to convey across an entire review, let alone just a score, but boy, there is just a ton of polish and excellence throughout the game, from the small animations, to how Kratos always grabs a cliff’s face and doesn’t clip through it.

It’s really excellently made, and I hope everyone out there is enjoying it as much as I am.

What’s on Tap

So I finished Kingdom Hearts 1

I re-beat this game again, finally going and doing all the additional content, like synthesis, extra bosses, grinding to level 100, etc.

I dunno... I think Kingdom Hearts is great but its “post-game” content is really underwhelming. I think none of the bosses are truly “special” in a way that they are in Kingdom Hearts 2. They don’t have these strategies seared into my mind, at least.

That being said, the design philosophy in KH1 versus its sequel is so completely different and fascinating. It’s far more Metroidvania in its intent to have you backtrack and re-explore already searched areas. It feels almost like it’s from a completely different franchise.

Like... There is ZERO platforming at all in Kingdom Hearts 2. Like, none. I can’t think of a section where you have to jump from a thing to a thing, except maybe the extra dungeon they added in the Final Mix version.

It makes me hopeful that maybe they’ll revisit some of these ideas in Kingdom Hearts 3 but eh. I doubt it.

Kingdom Hearts 2 on Critical

I started this and it’s about as frustrating as I anticipated. It’s not terrible or world ending, as its essentially just Proud mode difficulty with half your total health.

But I’m about to fight Xaldin in my playthrough so basically it’s all downhill from here.

God of War

So yes, I’ve been playing God of War. It is indeed, a video game.

I mean it’s really great. I talked about it a lot on last night’s podcast if you want some more detailed thoughts. But here are some standouts:

The combat is labored in a way that makes it so much more intense and significant. Of all the things that remind me of The Last of Us, it’s this aspect. It’s the intensity of each hit, the feeling of desperation in every slam and slash, and the violence that goes with it feels justified in the God of War universe where it absolutely never has before.

I get a ton of Darksiders vibes from this game, specifically Darksiders 2. The way it introduces side areas, side dungeons, side puzzles, and especially chests, reminds me a ton of how Darksiders approached formulaic Zelda ideas. It works very well here.

The Axe is, of course, excellent. But I’d say it isn’t the throw of the axe that works, it’s calling it back.

The ambient dialogue between your characters feels pulled straight out of a Naughty Dog game, and it feels so derivative of that that it makes me like it a bit less that I’d personally want to. It just feels almost exactly the same, just with different characters, and so far, outside of Kratos and how “deals” it dialogue, there isn’t enough separating it.

Overall very good. I will eventually be writing a review for IrrationalPassions.com. Look for it someday.

Questions

Remember to look for my tweet with the hashtag #SundayChats every Sunday afternoon, reply to it with your question, and boom. That’s how the magic happens.

Last week’s questions:

Ya know last week I’d have a different answer but I’ll revisit that later. In short: stuff is happening. I’m trying to live my life. Trying to do good. Failing a lot, but I’ll keep trying.

I’ve been crazy busy too. I feel like this is the year I am trying to teach myself different and new things, whether they be on a technical level, or maybe software, or something else along those lines.

Thank you for the kind words. As for the future, I think there is another question asking a bit of something like this, but it’s trying to stay busy and trying to make bigger and better moves. Like, E3 I think is out of the question, but PAX West isn’t, and aiming for something like that is really exciting and it gives us a lot of new options and opportunities. Plus, we’ve been trying to have actual meetings on the reg about what we’re doing and what ideas we have.

A big one that Scott White has been spearheading you’ll probably know more about by the end of this month, and there are some new shows and new styles of pieces I think we are all trying to do. As for me, I just want to get better with video stuff, with supporting the team, and with GA, as that’s my main new project.

I like milk. I drink milk, by itself, or in chocolate form, pretty regularly. I’ve been at a restaurant with friends and asked for a glass of milk and everyone laughed at me. I’ve since never done that.

Milk is good.

I mean the biggest one was assuredly The Messenger, which is like, my #1 most anticipated. But I was lucky that my team got to go out there and see stuff and present it to me with cool thoughts and perspectives on all of them. Like, Solo sounds super cool and I want to see more of it, and City of Brass wasn’t on my radar at all but seems really cool. Mike convinced me to see Omensight and that’s just a really rad new entry from a team I didn’t think had it in them.

I mean, I don’t even really know who Kid Rock is. I mean I know of him, but eh. I’ve never heard his music before a day in my life. I hear he is like, not good? Like, not a good person, not necessarily a bad musician. But I don’t want to assume. Is this libel? Am I getting black balled out of the industry right now?

Also you look hella cute Roger. So proud of you.

It absolutely was not. A big thing was I was planning on getting a 4K TV, and since I had the Xbox One X I was happy with just that and then the HDR that my original PS4 could reach. But there was a good deal and if I was already investing so much I wanted to get the most out of my TV. So I swear to god if a PS5 comes out next fall I’ll be pissed.

Brian. Nabeshin. Jackson. So I can know what it feels like to be the nicest dude in the world and also a great uncle.

It’s really sad. But also nice since I can be alone again. But also sad.

A bit of a mixed bag.

Pretty much anything in Final Fantasy 15 looks amazing and delicious. But that Beef Bowl in Persona 4... Man, I’ve had dreams about that Beef Bowl.

This week’s questions:

Shoutout to Brandon Gann, who is in ALL WEEK’S questions for Sunday Chats.

Yes, God of War is great. I think I got into it pretty well above, but yes, I really enjoy it. The combat, above all else, just feels so great. It reminds me a TON of DmC Devil May Cry in that it is training me well and I feel really good at it. Plus the way the weapons work kind of reminds me of that kind of combat too.

It absolutely has to be the SNES. I think I’ve lost countless hours to that system, and it’s something that, as a gift for me, I had my parents go and buy of eBay waaay past its time so as I could sit down and revisit all these classic games. Something I’m still incredibly appreciative of to this day.

But A Link to the Past and Super Metroid are just so formulative of my current taste in games and the things I seek out the most in video games (see: adventure and backtracking) and that was the console I sank the most time into without a doubt. I think GameBoy is totally a great choice, I didn’t have my own until I got a GameBoy color, but the GBA was the one I fell in love with the most, and I wouldn’t really get deep into that until much later.

Hey like, real talk everyone? Hey? Everyone bring it down, it’s real talk time?

Like, I’m doing suuuuper not good. Like actively very bad, and it’s just a whole lot going on. Last week is like, top three, top four worst weeks ever for me, and I had to make a whole bunch of adult decisions that, while I was prepared for them, I wasn’t happy about anything, and everything seemed to just make the situation more miserable. On top of that, I just feel like I’ve been really shitty and a shitty friend to basically all the people in my life that matter the most, and on top of that I have a lot of stress from work and money and blah.

Like, in the grand scheme of things, I’m doing okay, I’ll be okay, but I feel bad, it all feels bad, and it’s pretty shitty. Like, I know this probably wasn’t the answer expected, but it’s definitely the truth.

I’ll do better next time.

In my defense, it’s what I was doing up until I started writing this, and, while I do need to go do the dishes before I get back into God of War because lord knows no one else will, I’ll be continuing my adventure in Midgard until I pass out tonight.

I mean I feel really good about it, so long as everyone involved feels good. Like we’ve certainly hit a lot more readers and have broadened our audience in a way we’ve never been capable of before, and we have opportunities now that we’ve never had before, and I feel really good about that. I’m not super into the numbers, but I am into opportunity, ability to cover games pre-release, go to events, things like that.

As for the end of the year, I feel like, or at least I hope, there is a bit more cross pollination as far as skill, like more folks will be able to support Social, and more folks will be able to do video, or host shows, or whatever that may be. But I want that to all happen within comfort: like Social is Jurge’s thing, and if he doesn’t want to share that because of his ownership of it, I get that, I respect that, and I’m all about that. People gotta have their territory of expertise, and since I’ve been jack-of-all-trading it alone this whole time, I’m all about doing that for myself.

Even though I kind of already have and that’s editing.

The Ninja Samurai from Ghosts of Tsushima (upcoming, I know) and Sly Cooper, because I’m all about creating the greatest Ninja clan this side of the land of the rising sun.

That’s all I got for this week. Thank you all for your patience and understanding. I’ll do better next time. I will try and continue to do these more consistently. I love you all, thank you for reading and supporting and listening and being great.

Until next time, keep it real.

[skriak]

A Hat In Time REVIEW - "Unbelievably charming"

PLEASE NOTE: This game has very little story to spoil but I will be talking about the entire adventure, so consider yourself warned

RELEASED: 2017

FORMATS: PC, Mac, PS4, Xbone, Switch (review based on PC and Switch)

I debated long and hard how best to open this review, and in the end I decided that nothing introduces A Hat In Time better than its astonishing soundtrack. Though I’d been aware of the game since before it released, I never actively sought it out until I happened to watch the launch trailer. Not only is the kaleidoscope of levels and characters eye-catching, what stood out as truly special was Pascal Michael Stiefel’s music. The trailer features the game’s main theme, which is striking, energetic and playful, easily one of my favourite videogame themes of this generation, and a perfect encapsulation of everything A Hat In Time is about.

At the risk of spoiling the end of this review, I usually find that the hardest games to critique are the ones I love most. A review of a bad game almost writes itself, because all I have to do is point out the wonky mechanics, or boring story, or the fact that one or more of the developers are bigoted pieces of shit (ION FURY), or whatever. But when I try to sum up my opinion on an excellent game, it’s hard for me to maintain some level of objectivity. So I guess we should all go into this on the understanding that I freaking adore A Hat In Time.

As mentioned, what strikes you first is the sheer, weaponised cuteness that A Hat In Time wields like a sharpened umbrella. I think Nitro Rad put it best when he said the game was just unbelievably charming. How many soundtracks outside of Star Trek prominently feature theremins? Other than a tiny smidgen of slowdown in the larger areas (even on my reasonably beastly PC), ON SCREEN NOTE: THE SWITCH VERSION IS LOCKED TO 30FPS BUT I LOVE THE PORTABILITY it’s an explosion of visual and audio polish that would be impressive from a bigger studio, let alone a developer which originally relied on volunteers. From the moment Hat Kid wakes up in her time-travelling spaceship only to soon find herself stranded on a weird planet populated by surreal characters, the expectations have been set sky-high.

But this tiny quibble didn’t distract me for long, because the opening Mafia Town chapter gives you a bright and colourful seaside town to get lost in, with highlights including a sequence where you pretend to be a ghost and chase a terrified henchman, and an operatic 2D showdown against the mafia boss. I actually think Mafia Town might be the game’s weakest chapter overall, but that’s like being the worst port of Metal Gear Solid 3: still pretty fucking good. Afterwards comes Dead Bird Studio, where you have to help two rival directors film stunts to earn a prestigious award, with particular praise going to the hilarious murder mystery on a train. It’s very neat that the winning director is decided by how many collectables you gather in their respective levels. Then comes the game’s darkest sequence in Subcon Forest, which starts with Hat Kid literally selling her soul to a melodramatic demon who’s probably the standout performance in an entertaining voice cast. One of his levels is a startlingly spooky manor which honestly might be too scary for younger players. Although no game will ever be as scary as that one bit in Banjo-Kazooie (shark clip). Next, however, you get a relaxing change of pace with Alpine Skyline, which subverts the established level structure with a more open-ended village hub which made me think of the original Jak and Daxter. At this point you’ll have most of the hats, which makes it easier to scoop up enough time pieces to unlock the final chapter, which is a single level consisting of some fiendish platforming and a suitably spectacular boss. While the narrative’s sudden attempt to tie unrelated characters together during this last sequence feels a bit forced, I eventually warmed to it as a "look at all the friends we've made along the way" affair. Plus the chapter itself is undeniably climactic, and I couldn’t help get a little emotional when that phenomenal trailer music which I refuse to shut up about kicked in during the credits.

The Gears For Breakfast team have cited 6th-generation 3D platformers like Mario Sunshine and Psychonauts as their main inspiration, which is when 3D games arguably hit their stride, and their game flaunts those influences with pride without being afraid to forge its own identity. Hat Kid is not only adorably cheeky, with an expressive face that reminds me of Wind Waker, she can also jump, dive and walk on tightropes so that the platforming feels precise and forgiving, and she quickly picks up an arsenal of hats which grant various powers. This is one of those collectathons where I suggest speeding through most levels before coming back later with all the abilities unlocked, because some macguffins can seem tantalisingly just out of reach, but won’t actually be accessible without certain hats. All the powers are great, though, and see frequent use, from straightforward ones like the hat that makes you run faster to the one that lets you jump on ghost-blocks. They complement Hat Kid’s default moveset really well and getting a new hat always feels like a big moment. There are also badges, which grant similarly useful upgrades, but you can only equip a few at a time. This is one minor gripe I have: swapping between hats makes sense, because using them all at once would break the game, but some of the badges (such as one that lets you climb walls after a dive) just feel like basic features which make the game worse if you don’t equip them. Limiting how many badges I can use at once just adds a bit of unnecessary faffing about in the pause screen. Pro tip: buy the “no bonk” badge from the creepy merchant straight away and never look back.

From start to finish, I genuinely struggled to find meaningful problems with A Hat In Time. I could have forgiven a lot of problems for the fun and inventive situations the game threw at me, but I never had to. Instead I have to say I found myself wondering when a game had last struck me as being filled with so many little surprises and unnecessary extra touches, including an entire co-op mode that’s apparently a bit buggy but awesome nonetheless. Hat Kid mainly communicates through one-word sentences but stands out in a sea of platformer protagonists because of the obvious love that went into her animation and soundwork, and the game as a whole has an amazingly strong aesthetic. I was genuinely upset to find that the Hat Kid plush toys are currently out of stock. There’s not much of an overarching plot but each chapter tells its own story and feels distinct, and there isn’t any filler content even though you only need 25 out of 40 time pieces to reach the ending. This is definitely more forgiving than Yooka-Laylee, which has yet to let me fight the final boss. A Hat In Time has at least a few challenging sequences for completionists to endure, including a badge that makes you die in one hit if you hate yourself that much, but crucially that stuff is optional if you just want to have an adorable adventure without too much swearing.

I’ve tried very hard in this review not to come across as overly gushing, because no game is perfect and I definitely have a soft spot for ambitious indie projects. As someone who only really heard about the game once it was out, though, A Hat In Time snuck up on me with how impressive it is as a crowdfunded game. Despite the many obstacles described in interviews, Gears For Breakfast delivered a platformer which I honestly hope Nintendo takes a few notes from, given that Mario has had a bit of a monopoly on 3D platformers ever since the genre went out of vogue. Super Mario Odyssey represents the peak of what a big-budget 3D platformer can do, but A Hat In Time is undeniably impressive as a smaller project and I honestly prefer it in a lot of ways, not least of all because it packs so much charm into a small package and introduces the world to an lovable new platformer mascot. Even if Yooka-Laylee disappointed a lot of people, it’s still really cool to see games like A Hat In Time and Snake Pass giving Nintendo some competition again. After years of 8 and 16-bit indie games, there now seems to be a growing nostalgia for games from the early days of 3D, and as someone who grew up around that time, the prospect of new games that revive and improve ideas from that era is obviously thrilling.

Hyperbole aside, probably the greatest compliment I can give A Hat In Time is that it lives up to the standard of quality set by that theme music: beautiful, original and unrelentingly exciting.

[ges-sa]

New Post has been published on https://ges-sa.com/tom-clancys-ghost-recon-breakpoint-review/

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint Review

Imagine Jurassic Park but with drones. The island of Auroa, owned by Jace Skell (The owner of Skell Tech) is an island overrun by the arms and corruption of a corporate gone evil. The island was supposed to be a world of innovation and coined “World 2.0” by Jace Skell, this was not the case though. Skell Tech is a major tech weapon producer of the US Government and comes under major investigation and public eyes turn to them when they are thought to have their hands in some corruption and dealings. The Wolves, an ex-US military Spec-ops, take over the island and take hostage employees of Skell Tech. When the island goes offline, the CIA launch a Ghost Recon operation to find out exactly what is going on and take down the Wolves. A throwback to Wildlands sees Anthony “Tony” Perryman aka Nomad, come back into the light as the Military helicopters sent into Auroa are taken down by a mysterious projectile. And so it begins…

BEAUTIFULLY OVERBOARD

Breakpoint reminds me of those intellectuals that overexplain something and go into so much detail that everyone leaves saying “HUH”. The game brings a beautiful island into our views with different environments to concur as well as enemies, giving it that extra touch of change and difference from mission to mission. Here is the thing though, as much variant as there is; it is too much, sometimes taking you a good 10 minutes to reach your objective to actually start the mission. The problem does not lie with the travelling because they put fast travel to points on the map; the problem lies in the “too much of a good thing”. Personally, on open world games I like to roam and take full advantage of the game’s offering, however, I felt myself going mindlessly through missions just because I did not want to trek across the entire map just to go through an entire mission to find 1 blue print. The story became mechanical and I lost that entire “oh look a butterfly” side mission journey that makes playing the game worth the time.

WORTH THE TIME THOUGH?

When it came to the actual gameplay, I was extremely surprised at how much fun I had running through missions due to the playstyles of each mission. Playing at a higher difficulty turned up the importance of each encounter with the Wolves. Strategically planning an entry point and who to take down first, how to stay out of sight of automated turrets and watch-drones made for exciting time spent during the missions. The ease of the controls with the keyboard is something you don’t see very often on PC, easy to learn and quick to engage. The efforts put into the objectives made it an amazing experience, with the thinking factor of the game turned up to max I felt myself engrossed in missions.

SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT

If you played Wildlands, you’ll know the general foundation of Breakpoint. In fairness, it’s a follow up title with links between the two. However, the same way wildlands felt and came across when it came out is the same way Breakpoint feels at this point. The title feels unfinished and not polished enough to call itself a AAA title. Wildlands did eventually see major updates some out that made it a lot smoother and more fun for the masses, which saw it draw a large fan base. The issue I faced with Breakpoint was the great number of issues I came across and the raw interactions I seemed to bump into. Visually I did not encounter many glitches or bugs but boy did I struggle with simple things like the camera getting stuck between taking cover or the character model clipped when I transition from cover to cover indoors. There was one point where I was laying on a rock to snipe into a camp and every time I went ADS the character model went full scorpion fit mode and start convulsing. A lot of these issues made me feel like the game was rushed and was not played through enough during the BETA phase. Perhaps the vast space and interactions makes it near impossible to get these kinds of things right and UBISOFT is relying on us to report back these issues, but then again I ask, why was the BETA not lengthened for this?

INTRIGUING AND PLANKED

In a world where Jon Bernthal is your antagonist, you would think “boring” would be the last thing someone says about this story. Well, you think right. The story is somewhat exciting and a little predictable on my end but that might be me. Learning your link to the now leader of the “bad guys” is an awesome experience in itself, but figuring out why and what is happening takes a backseat to this (Which I think was a smart move). Creating that personal character development and interaction creates a broken bind that is difficult to explain. The story is told well and characters are portrayed with great voice work and some awesome amazing writing. The main issue is the NOC side of the game; I felt like I was shooting walking scarecrows, mindless sacks of meat that were nothing but targets to slow down your mission. It was so bad at one point I restarted the game and turned up the difficulty to maximum so that I could get the best experience! Getting one shot by a screaming sack of meat was better than being stealthy just to shoot a mindless goof in the back of the head.

FUN WITH THE MASSES

The title seems thrive in the co-op function and cannot be stopped when you and your mates are sneaking around communicating your movements and actions in discord. The fun can be had with this, especially when you play like a spec ops team, making calls out and distracting the enemies together (like Wildlands before). Jumping into the PVP side of games usually comes to me quite naturally but I found myself not really worrying about that side of the game quite yet and only jumped in for a few rounds just to unlock my items and achievements from this. The PVP section is quite fast paced compared to the main game and the play styles needs to switch drastically if you’re a stealthier play like myself. I did have lots of fun but I would not say that this is even the 3rd or 4th strongest point about this game.

QUALITY TO COME

In all honesty, I believe in this game and the Ghost Recon titles has a whole, I trust in the developers and the studio to add more to this game like they did to Wildlands. With character customization and the level of skill tree progression, insane objective boards and crafting mechanics the game sure has potential to become one the other greatest objective based looter shooter out there in my opinion, if they devs choose to lead it that route. I say grab it if you’re a Recon fan, try it and if you don’t like it follow the patches until you see the changes you want because trust me they will come.

PRICE (ZAR)

AVAILABLE ON

RELEASE DATE

DEVELOPERS

R799 – R1069

PS4, XBOX, PC And Stadia (Soon)

05 October

Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft

#TomClancy #GhostRecon #Breakpoint # Ubisoft #Review

[illusivegore]

Eight to Consider: Games of E3 2018

This year’s E3 is in the books and, as I’ve done in years past, I thought I’d discuss some of the best games I saw during the show. There were a number of really interesting games shown off and announced this year, but unfortunately a good deal of those seemed to focus heavily on multiplayer. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just that these type of games don’t usually fall into my wheelhouse. With some of my favorite developers and game series going this route, namely with Anthem and Fallout 76, I was left to look a little deeper into upcoming titles. Luckily there are still plenty of games I’m looking forward to in the coming years. So, let’s have a look.

Before I jump into the actual list, I want to give an honorable mention to Media Molecule’s newest endeavor, Dreams. If you happen to have more of an imagination and creativity than I do, then Dreams is looking like quite the experience. It allows you to create your own games, movies, music, and more. As someone who used to dabble in making music, the music creation aspect actually got me pretty excited. I’m not sure it would be the kind of game I’d be willing to put the time into, but it’s one I definitely want to keep an eye on and one I think is worth checking out.

Beyond Good and Evil 2 Cyberpunk 2077 

Release Date: TBD Platforms: TBD

I’m going to kick things off by cheating a bit here. I decided to put Beyond Good and Evil 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 in the same spot because there just wasn’t a ton shown off for either at this year’s E3. They did have two of my favorite trailers from the show though. Both games also seem like they are a ways off from actually being released, so much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if they both ended up on next-gen hardware. Of course, this is just speculation at this point, but there are reports that Beyond Good and Evil 2 won’t have a beta until the end of 2019, which points to a 2020 release at the earliest. I guess we’ll see, but while we wait, feast your eyes on these sweet trailers.

Octopath Traveler 

Release Date: July 13, 2018 Platform: Nintendo Switch

As if I needed another reason to want a Switch, now Octopath Traveler is coming exclusively to Nintendo’s new system. I was initially drawn to the game because of its gorgeous art style, but after seeing it in action, Octopath Traveler looks like it will have plenty of substance to match its style. It seems like a classic turn-based JRPG through and through and I’m pretty bummed that I’ll probably never get to play it.

Strange Brigade 

Release Date: August 28, 2018 Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

Before this year’s E3 I had never heard of Strange Brigade, which was apparently even at E3 last year. Needless to say, I was impressed with what I saw. It’s a third-person shooter with a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe that can be played with up to four players. Strange Brigade‘s difficulty is supposed to scale to the amount of players in the game, so hopefully it can be enjoyed solo as well. I’m not expecting it to blow me away or anything, but it looks like it could be fun and I’m looking forward to giving it a try.

Days Gone 

Release Date: February 22, 2019  Platform: PlayStation 4

This year Days Gone took a bit of a backseat to PlayStation’s other exclusive titles, but Bend Studios still showed up with a couple of gameplay demos. I’m a little worried that Days Gone may not live up to the quality of other recent PS4 exclusives, but it’s still a game that looks very much like my kind of experience. I’m hoping that in the coming months before its release that Bend is able to add the polish it needs to stand with the best.

Spider-Man 

Release Date: September 7, 2018  Platform: PlayStation 4

On the topic of PS4 exclusives, boy does Spider-Man look fantastic. I’m not the biggest fan of the web-slinger, but Insomniac’s take on the hero might just change that. From combat to traversal, everything I’ve seen thus far points to a must-play experience for me. I think what I’m looking most forward to though is just getting lost in New York City as I swing from building to building ignoring all the helpless civilians.

Concrete Genie 

Release Date: 2018  Platform: PlayStation 4

Concrete Genie really surprised me this year. I remember hearing about it last year and not thinking twice about it, but after seeing the game in action, I’m definitely on board. You play as a kid trying to bring life back to his abandoned hometown while avoiding encounters with relentless bullies. The ability to create your own works of art, from creatures to landscapes, looks both intuitive and enjoyable. Here’s hoping Concrete Genie is able to make its projected 2018 release because I can’t wait to play it.

The Last of Us Part II 

Release Date: TBD Platform: PlayStation 4 

I honestly don’t have much to say about The Last of Us Part II because I know it’s going to be something I need to play. The Last of Us is one of my favorite games from last generation and if I wasn’t already sold on the sequel, the clip shown at Sony’s E3 conference would have changed that. Hopefully it manages to hit a release date at some point in 2019, Regardless of when we get it, I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

Resident Evil 2 

Release Date: January 25, 2019  Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

Please excuse my language, but holy shit does the remake of Resident Evil 2 look amazing. I was going to play it regardless because RE is one of my favorite franchises (and RE2 is one of my favorite games in the series), but I was completely floored with how Resident Evil 2 looked to be coming along at E3 this year. From what I’ve gathered, it is taking gameplay elements from RE4 and RE7 while using RE2‘s iconic story and setting as the backdrop. I don’t want to overreact or anything, but that honestly could be the recipe for one of the greatest games ever created. We’ll see if it all comes together like it should, but Resident Evil 2 is, by far, my most anticipated game right now.

[night-springs]

so you wanna play saints row

ok, so in case ive managed to get anyone interested in this series, i thought id type up some stuff about where to get the games that might be helpful. buckle up kids, lets get started [last update: 10/8/2018]

first off, you play the whole series as the same unnamed custom character, called playa/boss. in the first game there isnt a female option, but dont let that put you off!! from the second game onward you can play a female character, and customize them all the way down to their voice

Saints Row 1

now, saints row 1 is xbox 360 exclusive. if youre a console hoarder like me and you have one, the game is like $10 in the marketplace, but if you dont then thats where this post comes in saints row 1 is now backwards compatible with the xbox one!! but if you dont have an xbox of any kind then this post might help you

here is a playthrough of the entire game, missions and all, no commentary, so you can still experience the first game. alternatively, here are the cutscenes only (unfortunately in lower quality), if you dont care about mission dialogue (the game will make less sense this way but w/e)

prologue | vice kings (part 1) (part 2) | los carnales (part 1) (part 2) | westside rollerz | ending (start at 5:23)

if you do have an xbox and are playing it yourself, the game can get kind of hard at parts, so as @hawkewouldbethere suggested (thank you!!), here is a list of cheat codes to make it easier (you dial these on your phone with the # included, then theyll be added to the cheat menu on your phone. you can then navigate to and use them at any time)

#2666 - infinite ammo

#777468 - infinite sprint

#3855432584 - restore all health

#66639 - give cash

#778 - fully repairs the car youre driving

#463464836277 - gives the car youre driving infinite mass so it smashes others out of the way

Saints Row 2

saints row 2 is available on PC, xbox 360, and PS3. if you hate buggy pc ports you might want to get the other versions if you can. the audio quality of the PC port is not great, its buggy, and crashes a lot in fullscreen. plus the dlcs are only available on the console versions. i own both pc and xbox 360 versions, and personally i prefer the pc port despite its downsides (i use mods & record clips for gifs, so)

bad pc port aside, i do recommend getting sr2. its usually considered the best in the series, and its my personal favorite as well (note: there is a secret(ish) mission in this game that wraps up events from sr1. if youd like to play it, here is a guide)

if youre playing sr2 on pc, then i greatly recommend installing the mod gentlemen of the row (theres a spoiler for the third game on this page though, just dont read anything til you get to the “gentlemen of the row” banner). i could describe this mod to you but ill just quote the explanation from the site

“The Gentlemen of the Row Saints Row 2 Super Mod is a massive integrated collection of mods from myself and other Saints Row modders. It offers 100+ new clothing items with 120+ new logos, improved weather including a darker nighttime and more vibrant colors in daytime, plane and boat mechanics for customizing, additional missions, new vehicle dealerships, new weapons, new cribs, new homies and gang styles, new taunts and compliments, new walking styles, 100+ new ambient music tracks for purchase, more car paints, more skin colors, tattoos, makeup, optional 360/PS3 onscreen prompts, new cheat codes including NPC morphs, and tons of tweaks and bug fixes.”

now, if you dont want to deal with any of that, @block-of-writers has given me links to their playthrough of the entire game, missions and all (thank you so much!!)

prologue | the brotherhood | sons of samedi | ronin | epilogue & secret mission

Saints Row: The Third | Saints Row IV

saints row the third and saints row IV are both available on PC, xbox 360, xbox one, and PS3. IV was also made compatible with the PS4

there is also a mod similar to gentlemen of the row for saints row the third, named gentlemen of steelport. it adds things like mission replay, and you can get it on the same page i linked earlier

here is a playthrough of all of saints row the third plus the gangsters in space dlc (thanks to @block-of-writers again!!)

there is also sandbox+ for both srtt and sriv (srtt ver | sriv ver). this adds something akin to console commands that can be used via keyboard shortcuts, and theres a command list on each page. it differs for each game, but in sriv you can toggle animations on yourself, disable the HUD, enable flycam, teleport to different maps, etc. its not something you need but ill add it in case anyone wants it

Gat Out Of Hell

there is also gat out of hell, which is sort of a standalone post-game dlc for saints row IV, available on all the same platforms. this means you can play it without a copy of IV, but if you have IV installed it will automatically import your character from your latest save. as of the last SRIV patch, character import to gat out of hell is broken. heres a very complicated tool you can use to forcibly import your boss via hex editing (i used it and while theres a bug with a high pitched voice, it works perfect otherwise)

here is a game movie version of gat out of hell, with all the cutscenes and important bits of gameplay

and thats all!! have fun

[osakasshitpit]

My adventures with my PS4 and Night City

Here is what nobody asked for, my thoughts on Cyberpunk 2077.

Well well well. This certainly is a hot button topic right now. The game’s out, everyone is playing it and a fuck ton of people are complaining about it. Me as well. Playing it I mean, I spend the majority of this weekend playing it, actually, and I haven’t lost a word about it online. Full disclosure, I am playing on PS4 because I don’t have a PC that can handle it, let alone a PS5 (those fucking things are almost as rare these times as graphics cards, swear to god). I also could not play right on launch day, for a whole bunch of reasons. First, my Tabletop RPG group plays Thursdays and I’m the game master, so I can’t just drop off of the face of the earth and play Cyberpunk. I know, what a fucking nerd I am. Anyways, if that wasn’t enough, the fucking delivery service was fucking with me. My package didn’t get delivered on Thursday, for unknown reasons. Friday, it was finally due to arrive, but the mailman just didn’t think he should deliver my package. I only found out through tracking that he apparently was there and I wasn’t, despite the fact I was. Fuck that guy. I went to the post office to complain later. It turns out due to the ‘rona and the game being rated for mature audiences only, they could not deliver my package and I indeed had to pick it up from the post office, so I could verify I am of age. Usually, when this sort of thing happens and you gotta pick it up, earliest date you can pick it up is the next day, 10am... which would’ve been Saturday. Luckily for me, I was able to pick it up on Friday, despite the fact I shouldn’t be able to. Well, lucky me I guess. After coming home from work, I put the game in the console and had to wait pretty much the entire rest of the day for the fucking thing to install and patch, so that was a fucking bitch and a half. I played

After all that, I was finally able to at least make a character and play through the tutorial before going to bed.

Saturday and onward, I played roughly 20 hours, I got through the game’s story a bit and did a looooooooooot of side jobs. I played most of that time on version 1.04, the tutorial was on version 1.02.

So after explaining my situation, here are my thoughts.

The short version is, it’s a really good game that is sadly a little rough around the edges.

The long version... weeeeelll.

The game, even on PS4 with admittedly low graphics settings (the game was just not made for the thing and it shows from time to time), can look incredible. Most of that is in the lighting. By night, the city is glowing in this harsh neon tone I simply adore. By day, the city is bright and shiny, like polished chrome. The back alleys are dark, dingy and littered with trash. The city is like a maze made out of roads, alleys and underground walkways. The atmosphere this game has is what I expected and what I wanted, so A+ in that department. They also did an excellent job on the motion capture. When it comes to open world games, I’m pretty used to the shit bethesda sells you, so I was very very happy to see all the characters you meet move and emote like that. There were some rough spots, especially with everyone's favorite sleep paralysis demon Johnny, but over all the animation quality is top notch. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. The texture quality is pretty low, at least on the environment (I think the quality on the characters is pretty okay for PS4). It is noticeable in many areas, but I guess I’m okay with that. I kinda wished the environments had better texture quality but I guess it’s a small prize to pay. What was kind of distracting for me was the visual glitches I encountered. They were not as frequent as many made them out to be, but when they occurred it was very noticeable. Bodies clipping and getting stuck in geometry, being violently distorted as they are trying to get unstuck to the ground I probably propelled them into with a shotgun blast. Things flickering in and out of existence in the distance. Light effects flickering from time to time. And of course, the odd model being rendered in low-res before blending into the high-res model. The later seems to be a major gripe for many a people, but I had this happen like, maybe 10 times? At least I actively noticed it like 10 times. It usually only took about a second or two until the game caught up. It mostly happened when I took a motorcycle to get around. After going like 200 km/h and stopping at my destination, the game sometimes took a few seconds to catch up and render the area properly and granted, it’s a bit of an annoyance but well, it happened rarely enough to bother me. My theory on why this happens is it probably has something to do with how the engine (which is the latest version of their own proprietary engine, the RedEngine) handles Level of Detail. To explain, in short, level of detail is when a game uses lower resolution models and textures for objects that are far away. They look like shit because they are not meant to be seen up close. They are meant to be seen from a great distance. At a far distance, it doesn’t matter if that model has 10000 polygons or 5, because all you see is a few pixels in the vague shape of something. Its a neat trick engines use to render more on screen without using much more power, and everyone is using it. If you have played Breath of the Wild, you might have seen this when you zoom in really close with your shieka slate towards something like a shire or a building that is far away. Anyways, my theory is that due to the way the engine handles this, the game gets confused sometimes and it takes a bit until the high res model loads in, which is why you see low res models up close. It’s bad, but probably just a thing they need to patch out. I have to admit though, that I only played it on a 26 inch 1080p screen so people with larger screens might find these graphical shortcomings more distracting.

One thing I found rather annoying in regards to graphics is that sometimes UI elements take a while to load. This happens very inconsistently so I don’t know why this happens but it does suck.

I’ll be honest though and say what was important for me was less the graphics and more the gameplay, aesthetic/atmosphere and story. I already stated that I think the game delivers on the atmosphere and aesthetics, but what about the gameplay and story?

Well, it’s pretty good I’d say. Gun play is good, Cyberware is integrated well into the game, granting you new perks and abilities and the RPG Mechanics (while not being the most in depth and faithful to how the Pen and Paper Games worked) are also pretty fun to fuck around with. It works like this: You get Stat points you distribute to get bonuses to stuff and that allow you to do certain actions. Some things have a stat requirement to do, like breaking down doors or hacking into a device to collect paydata. There are also dialogue choices that have stat requirements. These are optional, but very helpful. I have to say though, it’s pretty easy to have a jack of all trades that can get past most of these things. You can see that as a positive thing or a negative thing. Outside of that, you have skills that improve when you use them. What that grants you is perk points you can freely distribute among the many, many perks you can acquire. These usually enable you to do some stuff or grand you a pretty nice bonus to something, like being able to carry a lot more shit, increasing reload speed for weapons or granting you a passive health regeneration in combat (which is pretty good). Also, pro tip, if you are playing a netrunner, get the perk that allows you to get RAM back during combat as quickly as possible. Shit is vital for you to be able to actively use your hacking abilities. Netrunning is another thing I liked. So here is the deal. There are two types of hacks: Breaching and Quick Hacks. Breaching is basically breaking into the enemies network and leaving behind malware that give you an advantage. These can be pretty strong and don’t cost you resources, but you have to do a minigame to activate the effects. How it works is that you have this grid with HEX Values. You have to hit a sequence of values to activate a malware. There was some in world explanation onto why, but I forgot. Anyways, You can chain these together to trigger multiple effects and if sequences have some overlap, you might be able to trigger multiple effects at the same time. The catch is, that you can only hit the values by going along the top most row, then the column of the value you hit first, then the row of the value you hit next, and so forth. It sounds more complicated than it is, really. As soon as you hit your first value, the timer starts ticking, so you are encouraged to first find an optimal path and then execute. It is a pretty fun and quick mini game that gives you just the right amount of challenge to make you feel like a hacker when you activate all the effects. I like it a lot. Other thing is quick hacks. These are just programs you can fire off that do any number of things. For devices like cameras, there are a set number of things you can do with a quick hack to manipulate it. I think these also tie into your hacking perks? Not sure. For people and enemies, you have programs you slot into your cyberdeck. These can do all matter of things, suited for stealth and combat. These are extremely useful for a lot of things, like blinding someone momentarily so you can steal stuff right in front of their noses, making their weapon jam so you can either run past someone or fight them without opposition, disabling their cyberware to weaken them, and plain just dealing damage. The promotional material made it sound like you have to play stealth to hack, but that's not the case at all. You can very easily specialize in shotguns or melee combat and hack your opponents to give you an edge in combat. I think it is more suited for stealth because hacking (as far as I got at least) is very focused on 1v1 encounters, but there are some things that affect a whole group of enemies, so you can still use netrunning pretty effectively in the thick of things.

The story is also pretty good. only played till chapter 2, but so far I like it. I can’t say too much and promotional material spoiled a few things about the first chapter but there were still some twists and turns I did not see coming, I’m excited to see where this goes. Outside of that, there are a lot of side missions in the game, which are also pretty good in my opinion. You don’t have dialogue choices that influence the outcome of every quest, but even the more linear quests are pretty enjoyable. At least they usually give you the ability to approach a quest your way. You can’t always solve things with words, but y’know, it is rare that you talk a gang into getting fucked over by you so it does make sense that sometimes, violence is your only way out. For those who want to play nice, there are non-lethal weapons and even guns can be made non-lethal with the right modifications. So, you can play as a pacifist, I guess. I don’t know if that does anything but there you go. What is pretty neat and sometimes challenging even, is that some quests require you to use non-lethal force. Be careful though, some quests can be failed by just walking away or doing them to late or missing dialogue options. If a dude comes to you and says he pays you to drive him somewhere RIGHT NOW, you have to get a car RIGHT NOW and drive him there. If you go away to get a car, the quest fails. I wish they told you that but I guess it makes sense. Thankfully, autosaves are usually pretty merciful and you rarely loose much progress. There was one quest that really fucked me over because apparently I didn’t talk through all the dialogue options when I should’ve. Without spoiling anything, you had to talk to a guy. After doing that, you can go to the guy who asked you to do that and get your reward, but the quest isn’t finished. If you didn’t do a thing before getting your reward, you will fail the quest down the line. You still get paid but... well, I guess you could say you get the bad end for the quest.

Sadly, Quests are also where my main issue with how the game is right now lies. There are some bugs that can render a quest objectives broken, or stuck in limbo. Some of these issues fix themselves after a while or after loading a save before the quest, but it sure as shit is annoying to do things twice because the fucking game wouldn’t let you finish the quest objective. This happened a few times for me. Two side quests got stuck in my quest log, with no quest objective. I think I even got the reward for the quest but the quest just wouldn’t register as finished. That sucks a lot. Twice or so I had to reload a save because I couldn’t progress in a quest because the game didn’t register me doing the objective. One time, during the main quest no less, I couldn’t fulfill the objective at all because the item I needed for that couldn’t be interacted with. That sucks and shouldn’t happen.

There are also the crashes. Thankfully, crashes only happened like 4 times for me in over 20 hours of playtime but still, it’s annoying.

Overall, I’d say Cyberpunk 2077 is a very good game that is plagued by some technical shortcomings, but it is very enjoyable despite all the flaws. I hope they fix these issues soon but by the look of things, they are hard at work on getting shit patched, which I can appreciate. It not as bad as some people make it out to be and it not a scam as some people have called it, it’s just another game that might have needed a bit more time in the oven.

[entergamingxp]

how id Tech 7 pushes current-gen consoles to the limit • Eurogamer.net

Doom 2016 revitalised the fortunes of both id software and the classic Doom franchise, delivering a phenomenal, exhilarating focus on high-speed combat, extreme gore and sprawling stage design. It was a modern, refreshed take on a retro classic, underpinned by some of the most impressive tech in the business. And the good news is that Doom Eternal one-ups it in every way. it’s harder, faster and sleeker. It’s larger in scale both in terms of level design and the amount of enemies you’ll battle – and it’s more optimal too: we’ve managed to get the PC version running at around 300 to 500 frames per second.

Powered by the new id Tech 7, Doom Eternal represents the latest and greatest from id Software, delivering an engine upgrade that delivers in every way. Textures are more detailed all around while the world is more tightly packed with visual flourishes. Even if you can’t put your finger on it right away, there’s something special about the environments that just feels >different. How is it that a game on the same consoles can look and run so much better than a previous installment?

The answer is not so simple but the basic idea is – it comes down to key changes made to the internal technologies. Having discussed id Tech 7 with lead engine programmer Billy Khan, he reiterated that their main objective was to deliver a combination of visuals and frame-rate at a quality so high that most people will wonder how it was possible.

One of the first major shifts is the move to the low level Vulkan graphics API – not just for in-game rendering on the PC side, but for everything including the backend tools used to build the game. Vulkan enables faster performance within the id studio, enabling the creators to work faster and more efficiently. Assets can be created and implemented at a much higher rate than the previous game. This is evident in the variety on display – Doom Eternal takes players to many different places. From ruined cities to space colonies and other dimensions and beyond, the world is constantly changing. This new releases features upwards of ten times the number of unique assets when compared to the previous game – all with a big bump to detail.

Doom Eternal – the Digital Foundry tech review, covering all aspects of the game’s tech plus a behind-the-scenes look at some of id’s new tools.

A large part of this increased level of detail stems from the shift away from id’s legacy megatexture technology. Originally created for Rage, megatextures were designed to allow increased variety by storing texture data in a large texture atlas that could be referenced based on what was needed on-screen at any moment. Streaming texture data in and out made sense on a platform like PlayStation 3 with limited memory but it didn’t scale well and has a lot of limitations. Disk space requirements were huge, iterating on textures required a lot of time and quality was compromised by multiple steps of compression. Even on fast PCs, texture pop-in remained an issue in Doom 2016.

For id Tech 7, the team has crafted a high performance image streaming solution instead, meaning much higher resolution textures. The move away from megatextures means that artists can more quickly make changes, combine layers and generally build more interesting assets without the same drawbacks as id Tech 6. There’s added flexibility too. The geometry decal system which has been expanded to allow artists to direct place decals directly on models during asset creation. These decals can be moved around wherever the artist wants allowing for increased experimentation and efficiency. The key here is that artists can create all these different materials then simply paint over the surfaces to create the desired look.

Another element in pushing forward detail lies in geometry. Doom Eternal features dramatically more complex scenes with an average of 8 to 10 times more triangles per scene. Laid out raw, you might have as many as 80 to 90 million triangles in view. Today’s current-gen machines would likely buckle under this load which is where the new GPU triangle and occlusion culling system comes into play. Basically, the CPU determines which surfaces aren’t needed during rendering and rejects them. A small software buffer (which is basically a small texture created every frame) tells the game which surfaces are occluded and this info is sent to the GPU. This helps the game draw only the visible triangles each frame and its efficiency allows the team to utilise higher density meshes to build the world.

This is coupled with a new LOD system that is designed to effectively switch between detail levels on models without interrupting the presentation. This works by determining how much of screen-space an object occupies on-screen at a per pixel level, then using the factor generated to decide uniformly when to switch LODs. There’s also a new light culling system which allows for per-pixel depth information to be read on each light. By rejecting unnecessary pixels per-light, designers have more flexibility in terms of how many lights per scene can be utilised. That means more dynamic and point lights in every stage. Ultimately, a lot of focus has been poured into more aggressively managing what does and does not appear on screen. These techniques are a key part of optimisation and a big part of why Doom Eternal can throw around much more detail per scene.

Other features are entirely revamped too – such as the gore system. Each model is comprised of multiple geometry layers smashed together. The idea is that you can dynamically clip chunks of the model apart revealing layers below the primary surface – perfect when it comes to chainsawing enemies to pieces. Everything is built around unified rigs that are designed to be easy to edit, enabling faster content creation and more creative dismemberment. There’s also an improved blood splatter system that is combined with the destructible demo system. This all works in tandem to create enemies that feel more like fleshy beings as opposed to static models. Your weapon has a genuine impact on enemies as you engage in combat making it feel as if you’re doing real damage.

In this video, Doom Eternal executive producer and id software studio director, Marty Stratton discusses Doom Eternal engine upgrades with the new id Tech 7.

Id Tech 7 also supports Alembic animation caching – a technique pioneered by Industrial Light and Magic almost ten years ago. This enables complex, reusable animations to playback effortlessly in real-time allowing more nuanced animations and events. We’ve seen this before in games such as Gears 5 but Doom Eternal utilises it everywhere – and to spectacular effect in some of the game’s impressive real-time set-pieces. It’s impressive at the macro scale – but also on the micro scale too. Alembic animation is used all over the game: writhing tentacles and demonic bits pulsate realistic, for instance, and this is done using Alembic. All of this data is streamed as needed but relatively light on resources, but the effective is transformative – the world is constantly animated.

The cumulative effect of all of these technologies is simply stunning. Each stage in the game is larger than anything in Doom 2016 while offering more geometry, higher resolution materials, additional animation and a wealth of dynamic lights. It’s also packed with more variety on top of that. For my money, it’s one of the best-looking games ever made – and the good news is that the experience is brilliant on all systems. Obviously, some sacrifices are made as not all platforms are created equally, but there are no ‘bad’ ports here. In terms of image quality, id has taken great care to ensure minimal aliasing across the board. The mix of TAA and temporal upsampling enables a clean image on all machines, even when the base pixel count is rather low. The major differentiating factor is clarity.

At the top of the stack we have Xbox One X which tops out at 1800p, while PS4 Pro comes in with a maximum resolution of 1440p. The vanilla PS4 is maxes out at 1080p and Xbox One S hits a high of 900p. In all cases, dynamic resolution scaling is implemented to ensure consistent performance. Xbox One X takes pole position here with a resolution that seems to stay above 1440p even in busy scenes, dropping to 1080p or maybe slightly below in the busiest scenes. Both base consoles can drop to near 720p, though PS4 never quite drops that low. Of the four, the base Xbox One is the only version that regularly appears blurry during normal gameplay, but at least aliasing is kept to a minimum across all platforms. Image quality is fantastic, all things considered.

Doom Eternal can deliver scenes with 80 to 90 million triangles, using CPU-driven culling techniques to stop the GPU from grinding to a halt.

Beyond resolution, settings also differ per platform. The base systems offer detail levels consistent with the PC version set to medium while Xbox One X and PS4 Pro use a mix of high and ultra settings. One of the primary optimisations relates to LOD distance – the point where the game swaps between higher and lower detail models based on distance from the camera. LOD is related to pixel count, so the base consoles routinely use lower detail LODs, but because it’s tied to resolution, there’s little in the way of noticeable object pop-in – it feels stable on all platforms. Only when you compare the vanilla machines with PS4 Pro or Xbox One X do you notice the difference.

Beyond the basic settings, however, the visual quality is comparable overall. Most effects are consistent across the board – the full suite of post-processing is utilised everywhere and the game looks great in all cases. Performance is also impressive, with a nigh-on locked 60fps on the enhanced machines, marred only by what seem to be occasional hiccups in I/O – which curiously manifested more noticeably on Xbox One X. However, the real takeaway here is that performance is so much more consistent than Doom 2016, despite the huge increase in fidelity across the board.

Neither PlayStation 4 nor Xbox One S deliver quite the same level of stability as the enhanced consoles but they’re not that far off. On PS4, for instance, the minor dips in frame-rate are simply a little more frequent, but ultimately this is a rather minor issue. Xbox One S is a similar story but here, the dips are even more pronounced. Given the relative lack of power in this system, however, the results are impressive and if you own the S, I can still strongly recommend the game. All of which is to say that I feel the team met its 60fps goal. Doom Eternal is more stable than Wolfenstein 2 from Machine Games and even smoother than Doom 2016. It just looks and plays nicely on all platforms.

Doom Eternal is one of the few triple-A PC titles to deliver consistent enough performance to full exploit ultra high refresh rate monitors.

Of course, the PC version is the way to go if you have the hardware as it supports much higher frame-rates all around. I’m running a rather powerful rig equipped with a 16-core Intel i9 7960X and an RTX 2080 Tiso you’d expect greater performance and it’s delivered without issue. In the marketing push up to launch, id promised astonishing performance and the team has delivered. In-game performance varied between 300 to 500 frames per second and Doom Eternal becomes one of the very few triple-A games that can actually deliver sustained, consistent performance for high refresh rate screens – up to and including the latest 360Hz displays.

So, the game is fast, optimal and beautiful – and one of the most impressive looking titles I’ve ever played. The mix of performance and detail is just perfect but it’s not just a pretty face – there’s a lot more to Doom Eternal beyond its technology. It’s simply a terrific game. At its core, between the colorful visuals, anti-gravity antics and fast pace, it feels like a mix of Doom and Quake 3 Arena in single-player form. Levels are designed around light exploration with secrets and keycards to find but combat is still the primary focus. There is much more in the way of platforming and aerial combat this time. Jump pads, climbing surfaces and huge open areas specifically recall some of the crazier Quake 3 maps while the grappling hook on the super shotgun becomes one of the most enjoyable weapons in the game, serving as a slingshot of sorts.

With Doom Eternal, I feel that id has made a clear distinction between new Doom and classic Doom – and that’s great. The original still holds up but I appreciate the way in which Eternal builds on some of those concepts while breaking new ground. It respects the past without being beholden to it – Doom Eternal is very much its own game. And that’s why I feel it’s an essential purchase. It’s a lengthy single-player adventure packed with interesting stages, enjoyable combat and brilliant presentation. Put simply, I can’t recommend it enough. Without question, Doom Eternal is one of the best action games of the generation.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/how-id-tech-7-pushes-current-gen-consoles-to-the-limit-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-id-tech-7-pushes-current-gen-consoles-to-the-limit-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[russellarmstrong1]

What You Don’t Know About Tips Capturing Game Video

Attempt to come up with three or more concepts before you get started making your game. Then decide on a deadline for when you need to have your game completed. Especially if you’d like to stream multiplayer games.

Attempt to keep your character sizes in-check and be certain to create your game’s universe as cohesive as you are able to. The secret is to produce a game which is addicting. Also, because you are a PS4 streamer, consider streaming games which are PS4 exclusives when they’re initially released.

If you would like to be productive, your game has to be unique but familiar. A viewer trying to find people playing that game will be unable to find you. Pay close attention and search for any compact specifics or characteristics of the game that if tweaked could aid in improving the game general quality. On one end you get a boring easy game and on the other end you’ve got an extremely hard to beat game.

Attempt to establish your website during the early phases of game development, so that you may use it in order to help promote your game throughout the whole process. You would like your game to be in the middle in regards to difficulty. Making games that are knock-off versions of different games is only bad business generally. Investigate and learn what’s effective and what’s not in each game. Neglecting your prior games is a little mistake that could have big consequences later down the line. In summary, whether you’re trying to develop your own video game, your very own Virtual Reality application, or perhaps a modest animated clip, Unity is a tool which will help you carry out that idea.

You don’t require a mike, special software, or just a desktop computer. If you would like to make your app go viral, you’ve got to take action immediately and get it released in ample moment. If you would like to make your app go viral, you’ve got to create a terrific game with viral potential. Another way to produce your app go viral is to produce a game that’s challenging. It is possible to also utilize updates to publicize your game continually. Another way to produce the the majority of your updates is to use the release notes section for your game.

The Number One Question You Must Ask for Tips Capturing Game Video

Consider advertising like the number of videos you’ve got. Maybe you can consider videos if you’ve got the resources and time. If you attempt to record iTunes videos with the above mentioned tools, you might locate what you get are blank videos with chessboard stripes.

The exact last trail camera trick is to not be lazy and move the camera once it comes time. Just plain photo is easily the most typical setting. Photos and videos must be downloaded to your phone or computer before they can be looked at.

When choosing a camera, there are a couple of items to think about, like what you need to use the video for, and where you wish to share it. Your videos ought to have a purpose aligned with your company targets. Also see our distribution checklist to establish where else your videos ought to be syndicated.

Videos have a tendency to capture my attention far more than articles. Live videos are an essential part of the internet space today. You may bring the PS4 video into the computer and utilize streaming software such as OBS in order to add video overlays to add interest to your stream.

from Russell Armstrong https://russellarmstrong1.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/what-you-dont-know-about-tips-capturing-game-video/

[androidgamerz]

GTA 5 Download for Android - Rockstar Games GTA 5 is Available on Android!

Finally, Rockstars game GTA 5 is available to Download and play on any Android mobile! This is a huge news for the GTA game player because they can play this game on any place on their Phone. It is GTA 5 Android version for mobile devices. Now you can download GTA V and enjoy it on the phone. If you are a fan of the series, download and start playing anywhere.  GTA 5 Download for Android. The game requires Android 4.4 or higher. To install the game you need to have 4.12GB of free space on your mobile device or memory card. The game is very well optimized. Do not wait any longer!

Grand Theft Auto V - a new part of cult series game action gangster studio Rockstar North – takes us back to a world modeled on California. In the world of Grand Theft Auto called the state of San Andreas and consists among others of the city of Los Santos, which is the main place of „five”. Creating a world Rockstar has once again decided to parody the reality we know, ridiculing ideologies, products, phenomena and human behavior.

GTA 5 APK features:

– High-quality picture, specially optimized for mobile devices. Enhanced color and improved models. – Two analog buttons mapped with a joypad for PS3 / PS4 – The ability to change graphics settings – Ability to choose the settings of joypad

Download Instruction:

Download APK

Make new folder and paste all files

Install GTA 5 APK

Installer must download the rest files

Wait until the program finishes work

Turn on the game

Enjoy!

I was browsing the internet when I saw the Chinese New Year Image. Chinese New Year is one of my favorite holidays. It doesn’t fall on January 1 like everyone else’s. And of course, during that year, it’s always the best time to play one of my favorite games – GTA 5 for Android. I don’t know why, but playing that game makes me want to celebrate this particular occasion and embrace its wonder and mysteries. It is almost like my ritual. Or I have mostly been caught up in the game itself. It’s kind of really weird, but let me tell you, it’s one of the best things you can do. That is if you’re a hardcore gamer, of course. Well, even if you aren’t, if you have tried playing the game I’m sure you will be.

Chinese New Year is one of my favorite holidays because how Chinese people are so generous. They would give a color red envelope with cash on it. And of course, it wouldn’t be the Chinese New Year if there are no fireworks. And in this generation, it wouldn’t be awesome if there were no games involved! One of the most must-have dishes during a Chinese new year would be the steamed buns. Also, Our Chinese brethren’s also have a hobby of hanging out lanterns just like an image. And also the famous dragon dance. Chinese lanterns would be carved with Chinese lettering’s or sometimes have intricate designs.

You won’t meet someone who has a strong belief in good and bad luck other than our Chinese brothers and sisters. They have so many charms, statues, relics and much more stuff on their homes, business places and even on cars. And what does it do? They believe it would attract more good luck and good fortune.

Chinese people believe in much stuff. Once, I met an expert on Feng Shui. Do you know what Feng Shui is? Feng Shui is basically an art or a ritual that would tell you how lucky or unlucky you are today. Also, some Feng Shui experts even believe that furniture placement in our homes great affects the flow of good luck. The Chinese Zodiac or the Zodiac is also one of their beliefs. And how could I forget? I think some of you people read your horoscopes every day on what’s going to happen right? To make a long story short, GTA 5 for Android is one of the greatest ways you can spend your Chinese New Year! Rockstar’s long-awaited Grand Theft Auto V set at San Andreas is coming on the third week of November 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Microsoft Windows will get to experience GTA V at a later date, most probably on January 2015. GTA V was initially released in September 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. GTA V is undoubtedly well-received. Feedback and review scores are quite high, not lower than 9 out of 10, and the first week of sales since its release garnered more than $800 million for Rockstar.

The most notable change about GTA V is probably the introduction of three characters which a player can switch in game. It was a risky but innovative decision for Rockstar because, after the release of GTA IV, they released episodic content packages to keep the game from becoming stale. GTA V revolves  around a mafia-like conspiracy interconnecting their criminal activities for the central theme’s “Pursuit of the Almighty Dollar.” There are three main characters: Michael de Santa, a retired former bank robber who lives with his dysfunctional family, Trevor Philips, his former partner in crime wallowing in his trailer located in the desert and has drugs to keep him company and Franklin Clinton, a gang member/repo man for an unscrupulous American car dealership.

GTA V is made more exciting by the introduction of new automobiles not included in its predecessor GTA IV. Rockstar has added approximately 262 vehicles composed of passenger cars, trucks, vans, emergency and military, aircraft, watercraft and motorcycles among others. Some of the player’s favorite automobiles are the Ubermacht Zion (BMW M6), Futo GT and the sexy Coquette. The Cognoscenti Cabrio fares well with those inclined to purely masculine rides.

Additional content is made available in GTA Online. It features more themes, customization features and new storyline for the three characters that can be controlled during the single mode. GTA V’s enhanced version has increased draw distance, finer texture details, denser traffic and fantastic resolution as well as upgraded weather effects, new wildlife, and vegetation. For the music lovers, you get to enjoy more than 100 new songs across the game’s radio stations. For convenience, players are able to transfer characters and progression of GTA Online from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 over to the new platforms. The Windows version has a replay editor that lets you create video clips of your gameplay.

[bettietull598-blog]

Amazing Headlines! Additionally, The Nourish Radiance Miracle Bowl-- Oh She Shines.

The PS4 Pro is actually right now a factor, which means our company can easily stop hypothesizing concerning its own effect on the marketplace, as well as start in fact assessing that. I liked and commiserated along with Quin along with what took place in manual one, now I simply wanted him to start with a clean slate. I wished to punch Scarlett concerning 15 times in the course of the book given that she said this set aspect of FIFTY billion opportunities. In contrast, the brand new company is actually on call on traditional personal computers and also notebooks, as well as manages to participate in any activity available via Heavy steam or other video gaming retail stores. The trailer gave an idea into just how the activity's battle will certainly operate in addition to a glance at special capabilities as well as the impact the activity's atmosphere are going to have on fighting. 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The Deus Ex-spouse set from games has grabbed the advanced imaginations from sci-fi and also cyberpunk followers the world over for decades. I have my very own private standards of values and quality for these console manufacturerers, and also activity authors vying for my challenging generated income and you certainly have none. There is actually the otherworldly lava areas of Dimmuborgir, where Mance Rayder establishes his camp in period three, the edge from the Haunted Forest" where Samwell Tarly and also God Leader Mormont are tackled by white walkers, and Grjótagjá, the cavern that ends up being Jon Powder snow as well as Ygritte's abode of love (and the area that website visitors are normally most delighted about finding, claims Benediktsson). That was every thing I definitely anticipated from this second publication in the series and also additional. 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Notable: Many valuable payment to Griffins men's hockey in 2015-16, where he led the crew in triumphes and also minutes. Also played basketball in high school at St. Francis Xavier where his levels gained him the Rutherford Scholarship. Played for the AJHL's Drumheller Dragons. Bro Daniel is actually also on the Lions. He when built residences in Africa. Gotten an ACAC player from the full week honor during the 2015-16 time. Within this instance the on Nov 22nd, 2016 discharged The Strolling Lifeless Game Time 3: Incident 1 & 2 Walkthrough featured a The Walking Dead Game Period 3: Episode 3 lead-in that is actually revealed at the top of this particular webpage. Wheel & Clank, albeit a remake (or even retelling as Insomniac is actually calling it), besides Horizon (and also UC4) is just what I take into consideration the need to have" games for the ps4 in 2016. A lot from the investigation on terrible video game usage depends on solutions to assess aggression that do not associate along with real-world brutality. This manual was a little bit odd for me. Each Bric and also Quin appeared like totally other individuals. It is actually also nicely evocative various other board games - specifically the excellently stepped T.I.M.E Stories. What both sides of the argument agree on is that this is possible for parents to take actions that restrict the achievable bad results of computer game. To read more on activities as well as the fine art (and also scientific research) from interaction, explore the web links on the following webpage. After investing days locked in brutal dispute, our international group from GameSpot editors and also video clip developers has actually eventually put together a rated checklist from the 25 absolute best activities of the year.