#it’s lack of wanting to play origins in general. i’m exclusively a console player. it’s borderline unplayable

[eye-of-yelough]

it’s a shame that i’ll probably never do an origins run where i spare loghain cos i really feel like i’m missing out sometimes. like why do so many people like him? i guess i’ll never really know!

[rockingcockatiel]

Game Portfolio

Introduction

This was the concept of a game I came up with wish I was unable to finish due to being unable to run the software for developing the game

This was the portfolio I made for the game to explain the idea I had for it and other games I took inspiration from

Basic concepts  

Game Identity  

2D pixel art platformer about a young adventurer trying to find treasure  

Genre  

The main genre of my game is a platformer and metroidvania combination the sub genres of it are puzzle, exploration, hack and slash, adventure and 2D.  

Audience  

The target audience of my game is teens and young children as it has a cute pixel art style along with simple mechanics that allow anyone to learn and play.  

Similar games already in the market  

Game that are like the one I'm planning on making are Celeste, The momodora series, Cave story and Katana Zero.  

Concept Explained  

Visual Style

The visual style of my game will be pixel art similar to how cave story + and momodora 3 are designed the reason for this is due to it being a simple style create and make a design for and as a solo developer; both of the developers of cave story and momodroa 3 worked independently on the game developer's, Another thing to note is that sprite based art is easier to animate as all you need to do is make a character sheet of all the characters and enemies and their different animations while this may look daunting at first as you working with the same characters and the graphics won't be overly detailed it allows for you to make all the animations just by changing a few minor aspects of the art; this also has the advantage of making the levels layout design be easier as you can reuse the same base art for it. An example of this would be if you're making a small valley for one area of the game but wanted to add a little add a hill you could take one of the other tiles use rotate it and edit it a bit so that it can appear as a hill. Another to note is the style appeals more to children than some sort of gritty gears of war style game while these games don’t have a bright colour palette when compared to other sprite-based platformers it still appeals to children by having cute characters and art style.  

Gameplay Elements  

The main element of the game would be its jumping and combat mechanics while the combat portion of the game is easy to understand as you get better weapons and higher levels you can learn combos for weapons which can allow you to deal more damage or even activate special attacks with unique animations; Another thing to note is that they can be combined together for example one of weapons allows for a combo that makes you tiny and can be activated in mid-air so if you were to turn tiny while jumping the player could jump off a wall into a tiny gap that allows them to get hidden treasure; The game will even encouraging doing this by having areas you can't have access to without certain items or weapons. Other games have done this while the games that inspire this one doesn’t use these mechanic as they mainly encourage the play to push forward and only come back to areas if they wish to buy items from shop keepers. One core platforming element of the game will be the double jump and wall jump features as it can allow the player to get to different areas if they know how to use it correctly while this feature isn't unique to the game I'm creating celeste does have its own feature in which the player is able to dash which can allow them to reach areas they couldn’t without dashing this is a core mechanic of the game as most areas can't even be beaten without dashing; A smaller mechanic of the dash feature is that the characters hair will turn blue after dashing.  

Genre  

The games genre is a combination of mainly platformer and metroidvania elements a metroidvania type game is encourages the play to backtrack, has map in which a majority of its areas are connected in one way or another with ways to teleport back to previous areas the reason I'm making my game like this is to encourage the player to invest more time into instead of completing it in one run, The game will also encourage the player to back track by having certain items or treasures being locked behind areas which require items you acquire later on in the game. The other main genre is platforming as the main aspect of the game is for the player to hunt for treasure and gear hidden throughout the games map; the reason I choose its sub genres, are because it will have certain features of those genres but it, they wouldn’t be the focus of the game an example would be the puzzle mechanic certain dungeons would require the player to activate certain buttons in specific places to unlock the vault door that leads to treasure. Momodora 3 and Cave Story+ are both games of the same main genre being Metroidvania and Platformer.  

Game Design  

Music  

The games music is going to vary between areas for example a desert like area would mainly use Arabic or Egyptian instruments, an area based of a castle or kingdom would use an orchestra, mountainous or snowy areas would have slow calm music with certain areas of the music being focused on like a drum solo. Some examples of this are Crosscode’s Bergen Village which has wind instruments being the main orchestra of the song to match the location being a mountain, Super Smash Bros (fire emblem castle siege) which is a remix of the original fire emblem theme made to match the more faster paced action of a super smash bros match , Kirby Air Ride - Sky Sands or Kirby Air Ride – Sand which uses fastest paced drumming and string instruments to make an arabic sounding beat for a racing game; Bosses in the game would also have unique themes exclusive to them. I would save my best designed music for each of the bosses. Some examples of hard video game bosses with well-designed music are Jevil from Deltarune which sounds like music that you would hear in a circus it conveys a feeling that you're going against a madman and should be prepared to expect him to throw anything at you, Cynthia in Pokémon Diamond & Pearl which instantlys goes into action instead of being a slow build up  it features a mixture of drum and bass along with pianos it tells the player that this fight will be over fight if you don’t try your hardest; and Godcat's theme from Epic Battle Fantasy 4 which is an has church orchestras along with a choir singing mixed with electro synthwave giving off the feel that you are fighting an entity that you have no chance against; These are some of my favourite video game boss theme and one of the main reason I would choose to replay a game myself is to hear the themes certain bosses or areas have a game with good or amazing music will be much more appealing than a game with bland or boring music.  

Design Pillars  

The main emotions or feelings I want the player to experience when playing my game are joy, excitement and calmness from the the simplicity of the game and it not being overly difficult.  

Miscellaneous  

Target Audience  

The reason I chose the target audience as children and teens is that my game will feature and mechanics, story and gameplay elements that appeal to them; for children it will feature bright colours and a cute or more child friendly design style; for teens the story will be one that appeals to them from having the hero’s journey so that they feel like they made the character grow along with having the main protagonists of the game being the same age as them, It will also have gameplay elements that will challenge them to get better at the game so they can show off their friends or even play it with a younger sibling so they can bound over it.  

Target Platform  

The platform I plan to release this game on is pc as to release it on a console would require a devkit for said console which would be out of budget as well as me not knowing how to develop any games. Another thing to note that there a multiple retailers' platforms on pc when compared to console which only has three being Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, while pc has multiple which are looking to host smaller developer's games on their platform  

We were also tasked with making a pitch for the game which we presented to other students

In the end I had to change a lot about the game due to the time constraints and the lack of resources I had from being a 16-bit metroidvania into a generic 2d platformer While I'm stilling working on art for the game due to being able to run unity properly I'm not fully able to develop that much of the game so it’s currently on hiatus; In the meantime I'm learning to use a simpler engine known as RPG maker Mv which I'm making a short game in I currently have no plans for what it's about other than the characters in it are based off of my friends personalities and how they act which I find easier to use to make a characters on.

Game Pitch

We were also tasked with making a pitch for a game in which we presented to other students to save on image space I'll give a rundown of what was on each slide

Details Of the game

Platform: PC 

Engine: Unity  

Genre: 2D Platformer, Metroidvania  

Classification: Casual Game  

Single player  

Dimensions: 2D

The target audience of my game

Gender: Male  

Secondary: Female  

Age: Young Teenagers 

Psychographics: Is a fan of 2d pixel art games, likes platformers or hack n slash games, Likes cute or pixel art style

The synopsis of the game

A young adventurer is sent on a quest after receiving a letter  

They go out exploring legendary treasure 

There's an evil organisation planning on dominating the solar system  

The adventurer is being deceived  

A superweapon is revealed  

Adventurer must destroy it

The genre of the game

Main Genres  

Metroidvania

2D Platformer

Sub – Genres  

Hack n Slash  

Puzzle 

Adventure

The sound design of the game

16- Bit  

Variety of Instruments  

Foley sound effects 

Main Style: Nintendocore  

Secondary Styles: Chiptune, Synthwave

Visual Style of the game

Anime- Styled  

Pastel-Neon hybrid Colour Palette 

Futuristic/Medival Era  

Cute Styled Art  

Minimalistic character and level design

How to meet the audience’s needs

Appeal to them with content they like 

Have the advertised content appear in the game  

Focus on appealing to main target audience  

Know what my target audience likes and wants in games

Similar Games in the market

Momodora 3 

Kirby Super Star Ultra  

Cave Story+  

Orange Island  

Celeste

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #454

Top Ten Launch Games 

Oooh, it’s finally here!  

By the time you read this, the Xbox Series X/S consoles will be out, and the PlayStation 5 will be imminent if not already with us. At the time of writing I’ve yet to sample either console, although hopefully that will soon change. However, it’s a bit of a weird console launch, especially for Xbox owners, as there’s not much in the way of actual launch titles. PlayStation has the excellent-looking technical showcase (in that it shows off their sexy new controller, if not necessarily the excesses of the console’s visual prowess) Astro’s Playroom. But on the Xbox side, the only genuine first-party exclusive (not including the port of rather smashing PC title Gears Tactics) was to be the troubled Halo Infinite, which has now been pushed to next year to deal with some of its apparent graphical deficiencies. For what it’s worth, as a Halo fan, I thought the actual gameplay presented looked as good as it always has, so I’m still very excited, but it’s a shame not to sample something genuinely new and shiny at launch. For me, then – as someone not getting a PlayStation this year – I’m going to have to contend myself with updated versions of older games, and hopefully something like the really exciting-looking The Falconeer or, eventually, Cyberpunk 2077.  

Of course, it’s not always been like this; in the past, a landmark game has often been the core reason to upgrade to a new console. Certain titles have defined their hardware platforms, offering a taste of the experiences to come, be it through revolutionary control systems, previously-unimaginable graphics, or simply by shattering preconceptions and expectations. As such, this weekend I’m celebrating my favourite launch titles. 

Now, a couple of my usual caveats. I’ve hardly owned any consoles in the grand scheme of things; I was a computer gamer until the launch of the first Xbox, and even then was PC-first until about midway through the 360’s life. As such I came to a lot of these late, or played them on friends’ systems. I’m sure a videogame historian would give you another list, one that was able to put each title into its historical perspective. For my part, I’m mostly basing it on how much I like the game, but I am also trying to weight it in terms of its “importance”. I mean, one of my favourite “launch titles” of all time would be Lego Marvel Super Heroes on the Xbox One/PS4, but that seems a bit of a ridiculous game to call a launch title, especially as it doesn’t really show off the hardware or define the generation in any particular way. I just think it rocks. So I’m trying to judge it also in terms of how effective a given game was at being a launch title, as well as my personal preference; as such, some games, which I think are more emblematic of their time or their hardware, might end up higher in the list than if I was otherwise just ranking my favourites.  

Christ, that was boring. Look, here are ten games that I like that came out when a console came out. Have at it. 

Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox, 2001): it’s not just that it made playing an FPS on a console as comfortable and enjoyable as on PC, but it revolutionised what an FPS could do. Expansive open landscapes, dynamic combat with intelligent enemies, an ingenious shield/health combo, two weapons, drivable vehicles, and frankly outstanding graphics. And for Xbox – a curious underdog, a big black sheep devoid of cool or class and feeling like Microsoft was trying to buy its way into the console space with a hefty dose of brute force – here was something unique, something incredible. I don’t think anyone quite expected Halo, and it’s arguable that it single-handedly changed not only Microsoft and Xbox’s fortunes but the entire game industry too.  

Wii Sports (Wii, 2005): the Wii was this strange outlier, a tiny white box that eschewed the grunt and girth of its rivals, and seemingly built around its unique motion controller. Would it work? Wii Sports proved that yes it would, a delightful bundle of games that perfectly showed what the console and controller could do. Immense fun in and of itself, but the Wii’s ability to lower the barrier of entry to non-gamers meant that your dad could thrash your brother at bowling. And that is a thing to cherish forever. 

Tetris (GameBoy, 1989): depending on where you look, Tetris may just be the best-selling game of all time. It’s on everything now, from the Xbox Series X to your watch. But there was a time when “Tetris” meant “GameBoy”; that four-colour greenscreen box of wonder that everybody had but me. It was beyond ubiquitous, and its short-form nature and simplistic styling made it ideal for the portable console, its chirpy and iconic music sounding perfect coming from those tiny speakers. And above all else, of course, Tetris is fantastic, one of the greatest games of all time. It was a perfect marriage of software and hardware. 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, 2017): so here’s the thing: I like Zelda, but I’ve never fallen in love with it. I didn’t grow up with it, so coming to Ocarina of Time, there were too many old-fashioned trappings in the way; it just didn’t feel as enthralling or as fun to play as, say, Half-Life or Deus Ex. BOTW changed that; the limitations were gone, the world was blown wide open. It no longer felt like an 80s game in three dimensions, it felt new. Better than new – it felt like tomorrow. Despite the Switch being graphically weaker than its contemporaries, BOTW was and is simply gorgeous to look at, but it’s how it plays, how it feels like a vast but real world, how it has its own rules and they make sense instantly. It’s the greatest open world game of all time, and emergent physics sandbox, and yet it’s still unquestionably Zelda, emphatically Nintendo. Okay, it technically came out on the Wii U at the same time, but who the hell played that? This was the game that made you want a Switch.  

Super Mario 64 (N64, 1997): this is often the game people cite as being one of the great revolutionary launch titles, but I must confess its charms were lost to me at first. Taking what was great about Mario and converting it expertly into 3D was a heck of a feat; graphically for the time it certainly impressed in the scale of its worlds, and whilst back then I felt it lacked the detail and granularity of some PC titles, in retrospect it was a perfectly-suited art style, offering smooth textures even when right up close. But it was its precise controls and the open, hub-based nature of its worlds that was revolutionary; many games aped its style, but it took a long time before anything really matched it.  

Hexic HD (Xbox 360, 2005): not every game here has to be some genre-busting graphical powerhouse; they can be simple but quietly revolutionary. Hexic HD is a terrific puzzle game with a simple hook, brilliantly executed, and enough intrigue and nuance to keep you coming back for one more go, to beat your high score, to get to the next tricksy level. But the time and manner of its release, and what that signified, marked it out as something more important. It was the first Xbox Live Arcade title; Microsoft’s curated gallery of smaller, more indie-flavoured games. More than that, it was free, coming pre-installed on all Xbox 360 Pros (the ones with the removable hard drive). It was a taste of what was to come, introducing audiences not only to the idea of playing these kinds of smaller, less intense games on a console, but also the idea of purchasing and downloading them digitally. It was great and ground-breaking in equal measure.  

WipEout (PlayStation, 1995): I kinda missed the PlayStation generation. I was still, more or less, in my PC-centric “consoles are toys” mindset (which I wouldn’t fully shake off till the release of the N64). But I came to appreciate its qualities as a cool, exciting, super-fast futuristic racer. I’m pretty sure it’s not the first 3D hover-car racing game, but it was presented in such a groovy package that it ticket all the boxes, and helped show off just what the PlayStation was capable of in terms of its 3D graphics and CD sound. And, of course, it helped define the console as being a bit more edgy and grown-up than the previous Nintendo and Sega stalwarts. 

Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1988): what can be said about one of the most iconic games of all time? Mario Bros defined not only a console, not only a generation, but arguably an entire artform. Creating what we now know as a platform game, it expanded and surpassed the basic template of Donkey Kong into a roaming adventure, part twitch-gaming reaction test, part puzzle game. I played a lot of copycat games on my Amiga, but even then, as a whiny computer brat, I knew that Mario was better. Even when my cousins got a MegaDrive and Sonic, I knew – deep in my heart – that Mario was better. It's a deep game, an endlessly replayable game, a supremely fair game despite its difficulty. I think it’s hard to overstate just how good, or how influential, Mario was. 

Project Gotham Racing (Xbox, 2001): I tried hard to pick a different platform for every game in this list, but I couldn’t exclude PGR. This may be tied up with my biography a little bit, but my other half and I played this game to death. I never think of myself as a big racer fan, but every once in a while a title comes out that I just really, really get into – Jaguar XJ220 on the Amiga, Midtown Madness on PC, the Forza Horizon series nowadays – and PGR did that in spades. A gorgeous arcade racer, it was a great launch title to show off the sheer grunt of the Xbox; then, as now, the most powerful console on the market. It also offered a terrific four-player split-screen. But its Kudos feature – borrowed from semi-prequel Metropolis Street Racer – offered ways to win outside of sheer racing graft, awarding cool driving. I still love the original, and I kinda wish they’d bring back or reimagine its city-based driving for a future release or Forza spin-off. 

Lumines: Puzzle Fusion (PSP, 2004): okay, so this is a bit of a cheat as I've barely played the original PSP version, but Lumines is just phenomenal; the best moving-blocks-around game since Tetris, and probably the most influential one since then too (for the record, I've played it extensively on multiple other platforms). An excellent spin on a Tetris-a-like, its use of music and colour made it a beautiful, brilliant sensory experience. With Sony entering the handheld market, the PSP needed a USP, something vibrant and cool that suited a portable experience, and Lumines provided it in spades; also its funky visuals and music was a good fit for Sony’s brand.  

Well, that was fun, and a lot harder than I expected. If you’re enjoying a new console this Christmas, then hopefully you’ll have fun with one of the new launch titles too – even if I doubt any (apart from maybe Astro) would trouble a list like this in the future (although I do think The Falconeer looks all kinds of cool). 

[wigshewrote]

The only reason that I’ve ever owned any sort of gaming console was to play the Pokemon games. Any other game that I played on those systems was likely to fill time between Pokemon games. Now, I can sink a decent amount of time into a Pokemon game, but once I defeat the Elite Four and complete the post game story, there’s really not much to keep me hooked and that game ends up collecting dust after a couple of weeks. 

I very rarely get a reason to keep playing that game, that’s why my number one hope for all new games is a substantial post-game. The ideal post-game in my mind is something like Gen 2 and their remakes. We got two whole regions to explore! It’s like a I got two games in one! But even that can only keep me entertained for so long before it gets set aside as I get ready for the next game. 

Enter Sword and Shield. A divisive entry into the Pokemon series to say the least. I looked forward to these games just for being new content--even though they also lacked some previous content. My main hope, as always, was some in depth post game. 

When the game was released, I was blown away before I even got to the post game. The Wild Area by itself gave me so much content to enjoy AND it gave me something I didn’t realize I wanted from a Pokemon game--a movable camera. It was odd, but I found myself plowing through the story so I could unlock new parts of the Wild Area and spend hours at a time there. 

When I finally got to the actually post game it was... fine. It was kooky and interesting but overall just fine. The characters introduced in the postgame made it stand out, but it felt far more linear than your usual Pokemon game main quest. You would think that’d I be disappointed in Sword and Shield for this post game, however, the Wild Area has been a nice stand-in to keep me coming back for a bit longer. All of these different promoted raid have been enough to keep me interested this long. They had a promoted raid event that made four hard to obtain Pokemon forms easier to get. A weeks later, they added another hard to get Pokemon form to that roster. During the December holidays they ran a third promoted event, and a fourth promoted event during New Years. I can’t say there’s a lot that’s new but at least something to keep this game from gather dust too soon.

Even with changing promoted raids, the game as is wouldn’t keep my attention much longer--though long enough to keep it satisfying. Before the release, though, I was already hoping for DLC. I don’t play many other console games but it always felt like the big games on consoles always got DLC! Skyrim and Fallout, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, even Mario Odyssey and the Mario and Rabbids games got DLC. So maybe Pokemon would too! Maybe right when I got bored with the games, they’d give me something to look forward to a few months later. Hot dang did they deliver! I’m barely ready to put the game down and Game Freak just said, “Don’t worry! More is on their way!”

This isn’t “buy a new cartridge to play a game that 95% like the previous game with 5% new content.” This is $30 for two new areas with a staggered release. That right there addressed my main concern about buying games--that eventually I’ll put it down and won’t pick it up again. Pokemon just delayed that aspect by almost a whole year. I can see me finally getting tuckered out by what’s in Sword and Shield by March, but when summer comes around I’m going to be stoked to play it again because of the DLC released in June. When will I put it down next? Who knows? Because the second part of the DLC is coming sometime this Fall and who knows when I’ll put it down again after that.

Unfortunately, there are grumps again, and I don’t get it. Did those other games get complaints for introducing DLC? Is it because it was announced so close to the games’ release? There are complaints that these aspects should have been included in the original release and that there are old Pokemon being added behind a paywall, but I just don’t get these complaints. I understand that not every Pokemon player plays the games for the same reason I do, but don’t we all want a reason to keep playing? If the Isles of Armor and Crowned Tundra was included in the initial release, then I certainly would be done with them by now. I logged 250+ hours into the games as is, 45 of that was to complete the main story. Even if there were included in the original release, wouldn’t you want something new to do at some point? I’m glad to have staggered release of gameplay to keep the game in my hands. 

As for the Pokemon behind a “paywall,” I’m just unimpressed by that argument. Sure, the easiest way to get these Pokemon is by getting the DLC, the second easiest probably getting a Pokemon Home subscription, and at the worst, trade for them! I mean, boy howdy, I feel like Pokemon was fairly upfront about that fact. Once each wave of the DLC is available, the Pokemon reintroduced in that wave will be available to obtain without the DLC. Each game has their own amount of unobtainable Pokemon, that can eventually be obtained through trading. It wasn’t the best but it was manageable. If these Pokemon are considered behind a paywall, then version exclusives should be considered behind a paywall too!

Old Pokemon being added in waves has me excited for a different reason though. Think about the implications of competitive Pokemon! In an older Pokemon generation, the meta would likely remain stagnant until the release of the next game. There might be some minor shake-ups no and again with the release of mythical Pokemon and suddenly available hidden abilities, but would hardly see the amount of change that Magic: the Gathering might see over the course of a year. Magic releases four sets a year. Their meta gets to adjust that frequently. Releasing Pokemon in waves is incredible. Dragapults and Galarian Darmanitans are running rampant. Will a returning Pokemon in June come in and decimate those two from the meta? What will the meta look like in the fall when Crowned Tundra comes out. This is what Pokemon needed to spice up their competitive scene! Especially right after they introduced so many aspects in Sword and Shield to make entering the competitive scene much less daunting.

We can’t even start preparing for the next competitive scene! Sure we can guess what will return--we already know of a few making a comeback--but we also know there’s going to plenty of new Pokemon and forms as well! Sure Blissey is returning, an OU favorite as a Special Wall, but will a new Pokemon or Galarian form change that? Who knows! What’s going to fall out of OU? What’s going to barely stay in that tier? Could a Pokemon already in game rise to OU as an unexpected check to one yet to be added? There’s so much to anticipate here! So much can change between now and then.

All of this is to say, what is there not be excited for? Does DLC typically invoke such ire? Isn’t it nice to have a game that will get you to keep picking it up and playing without it getting tedious? I admit that there’s an amount of content that a game should have initially before introducing DLC. But for another $30, isn’t it nice to have something to keep me playing throughout the year?

[mycsgoaccounts-blog]

The War on Used Games

Once we prepare for the coming wave of next generation systems, we should be anticipating improvements on all the good stuff we associate with the current crop of systems. Moving forward we expect: better graphics, faster processors, more fascinating games, you get the idea. But not everything that we're anticipating will be a progressive movement for gaming. At least, as far as Sony and Microsoft are concerned, you can wave goodbye to playing used games on their systems. Although these are simply rumors at this point, it wouldn't be surprising if they came to fruition. It's very plausible, especially when taking into consideration that a few game publishers have already fired shots at the used game market. Most notable is Electronic Arts(EA), who grew to be the first publisher to institute the practice of charging gamers, who bought used games, a charge to access codes that come with the game. To elaborate, Downloadable Content(DLC) codes are included with new copies of a certain game and only with those codes, can that content be accessed. EA expanded its project to provide playing used games online. Gamers would now have to pay $10, in addition to the cost of the used game they will purchased, in order to have access to the online components of their game. Ubisoft has since followed suit, requiring an internet pass for its games as well. You can identify the games which require an online pass as they uncovered the, "Uplay Passport", logo on the box. Ubisoft decided they'd take things a step further and additionally implement Digital Rights Management, a practice more often associated with DVD or CD anti-piracy efforts. Assassins Creed 2 was the first game to be effected by this practice. In order to play the PC version with Assassins Creed 2, gamers are required to create an account with Ubisoft and remain logged into that bank account in order to play the game. This means that if you lose your internet connection, the game will automatically pause and try to improve the connection. However , if you're unfortunate enough to be unable to reconnect to the internet you'll have to continue from your last rescued game; losing any progress you may have made since then. This will be the case for all of Ubisoft's PC titles, irrespective of one playing single-player or multi-player. While Digital Rights Management has been used to combat DVD and DVD piracy for quite some time now, this will mark the first time it's been used for a video game. In light of Ubisoft's guidelines of DRM, Matthew Humphries of Geek. com, cautions that it's feasible that eventually even console activities will require online registration in order to play them. So what's the reason for all of this? According to According to Denis Dyack, the top of Silicon Knights, the sale of used games is cannibalizing the profit of the primary performance market. He also claims that the used game market is somehow causing the price of new games to go up. His proposed solution is to move away from physical disks and embrace digital distribution. Essentially he'd wish to see services like Steam or EA's Origin replace traditional hard copies. There are even rumors that X-Box 720 will embrace the exclusive use of digital downloads and not use disks at all. Whether Ms will actually follow through with that plan remains to be seen. One could argue that Sony has already laid the bottom work for preventing used games from functioning on their future system. At the very least, they've already made quite hard work to make used games significantly less desirable. Kath Brice, of Gamesindustry. biz, reported that the latest SOCOM sport for PSP, SOCOM: U. S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3, will require customers who purchase a made use of copy to pay an addition $20 dollars to receive a code for online play. I'd like to see a few quantifiable evidence to support the claim that used games are in fact hurting the sales of new games in any respect. Without some actual facts, it sounds to me like a whole lot to do about nothing. Case in point, within day Modern Warfare 3 sold 6. 5 million copies, grossing $400 million dollars in sales. Proper me if I'm wrong but you haven't heard Infinity Ward complaining about the used game market therefore affecting their bottom line. That's likely because they're too busy counting their money earned by constructing games that people actually want to play. Imagine that. Maybe the problem isn't that used games have a negative impact on that sale of new games but, the problem is instead that game developers need to make better games that people are willing to pay full price for. In my opinion, not every game is worth $60 simply because it's the suggested retail price. Considering things objectively, not every game is created equally, therefore not every game is worthy of costing $60. Whether it's since that particular game failed to meet expectations and live up to the hype or because it lacks any sort of replay benefits. It's ludicrous to argue that gamers should pay top dollar for every game especially when they all too often end up horrible disappointments, like Ninja Gadian 3, or they're riddled with glitches like Skyrim. I know that the War on Used Games is nothing more than a money grab by developers, upset that they're helpless to cash in on a very lucrative market. To put it in dollars and cents, in 2009 GameStop reported nearly $2. 5 million dollars in revenue from the sale of used consoles and used games. And not an individual red cent of that profit reaches the pockets of game publishers. Greed as the motivating factor for any declaration of War on Used Games is transparent. Especially when you consider that when GameStop began separating ones own revenue from new games and used games in their financial statements, EA thereafter instituted their $10 dollar fee for used games. In the absence of empirical evidence, I'll have to settle for anecdotal. I'll employ myself as an example. I'm planning to purchase a used copy of Ninja Gaidan 2 . I've never been a giant fan of the series. I didn't play the first one because I didn't have an Xbox and when it was an Xbox exclusive. And I never played the original version. Needless to say, I was never clamoring to play Ninja Gaidan 2 . However the innovation in the second incarnation of the game, which allows you to disembowel your enemies, is enough of a novelty that I'd like to play through it at some point. I can buy it today, used, for about 10 dollars. If it was only being sold at full price I would more than likely pass on playing the idea altogether or maybe rent it. My point is that game developers are not losing money because of used video game titles; you can't miss money you weren't going to receive anyway. They're simply not getting money they weren't visiting get to begin with. Unless you have a significant amount of disposable income and a considerable amount of free time, you're probably enjoy me and you prioritize which games you plan to purchase and how much you're willing to pay for them. You decide which often games are must haves and which games you'd like to play but are willing to wait for a price drop in advance of getting them. Then there are the games which you're interested in, but they tend to fall through the cracks because they really are not all that high on your radar and you'll maybe pick them up several months later, or even years when their release, if you ever pick them up at all. I find it ironic that the looming death of the applied game market could likely spell the demise of GameStop who, ironically, push their customers to help pre-order new games and purchase them at full price. One would think that game publishers would be appreciative about this product and not detest GameStop and treat used games with such scorn. Pre-orders not only help promote your games but they function as a forecast of potential sales as well. Even Dave Thier, a contributor with regard to Forbes Online, who describes GameStop as, "a parasitic bloodsucker that doesn't do much besides mark in place discs and sit in the mall", recognizes the folly of passing the burden of the used game sector onto the consumer. I've only once pre-ordered a game myself. At the behest of J. Agamemnon, I pre-ordered Battlefield 3, which is ironically a property of EA. I paid full price for this game and was happy to do it. In large part because I was granted access to several weapons and maps that I would have must wait to download had I not pre-ordered it. I propose that instead of punishing gamers for hoping save their hard earned cash, the gaming industry needs to learn to incentivize gamers into wanting to pony up to that will $60 dollar price tag. I titled this article The War on Used Games in an effort to be tongue-in-cheek in addition to poke fun at how whenever the government declares war on drugs or terror or whatever it usually is, they only succeed in exacerbating the problem. It should come as no surprise seeing as how the government tends to take probably the most asinine approach possible trying to "solve" problems. The end result is always the same; precious time and resources are wasted, along with the issue is that much worse than it was before they intervened. If the gaming industry does indeed drop this path; they'll only hurt themselves in the long run, fail to share in the revenue they so greedily covet and worst of all, hurt their customers, who keep the gaming industry abreast with currency. It's very ironic and actually very fitting that it's EA who are spearheading the effort to attack the used game market right after they themselves are one of the largest beneficiaries of used games. Chipsworld MD Don McCabe, told GamesIndustry. biz that EA has what he referred to as a "franchise software house" in that they "upgrade their labels; FIFA, Madden; all of these are effectively the same title upgraded each year. And people trade in last year's for this purpose year's. " He went onto say that those titles are the ones which are most often traded with. Shutting down the used games market effectively destroys a tried and true method in which fans of EA's franchises keep up-to-date with each of EA's annual releases. Aside from nostalgia, what would be the point of keeping FIFA 11, when FIFA 12 is right around the corner? Don McCabe, an executive at Chipsworld, teaches that, "consumers won't prosper under this new system, as copies of the game will lose their reselling value". He goes on to say that retailers will "just readjust [the price] bearing in mind you must buy the voucher. " The CEO of SwapGame cautions that "customers who trade in for cash and credit do so to acquire new games they could otherwise not afford. " This means that ultimately it will be the founder who ends up losing money because when retailers adjust their prices to reflect the increase in charge for used games, the resale value of the game will drop and new games are not as likely to be purchased.

[thesevenseraphs]

Bungie Weekly Update - 4/26/18

This week at Bungie, we introduced you to Warmind.

Several waves of developers talked about what you’ll find in the game on May 8. Creative Director Brent Gibson from Vicarious Visions joined Design Lead Evan Nikolich from Bungie on our Twitch stream to talk about Destiny 2: Warmind. It was our first conversation about a new story created by two studios working as partners. After a quick tour of Hellas Basin and an introduction to Ana Bray, we dove into a bit of gameplay. Design Lead Jacob Benton and Design Lead Ben Wommack walked us through Escalation Protocol, a new cooperative endgame activity with some intense challenges and exclusive rewards. For the final act, Senior Crucible Designer Kevin Yanes gave us a preview of Seasonal Crucible Rankings and Private Matches, with Cozmo riding “shotgun,” while Senior Sandbox Designer Jon Weisnewski and Sandbox Design Lead Josh Hamrick spiced the live fire exercise with some commentary about how Exotic weapons are evolving for all players in Season 3. Oh, and DeeJ hosted, but no one cares what he has to say. If you missed the stream, here’s footage in full:

There’s a lot more we have to tell you today about Season 3. Read on for more!

Exotic Investments

How do you make an Exotic feel more Exotic? It’s a two part question, including how it feels to acquire and upgrade the weapon and how it feels to use the weapon. To answer the first question, Senior Investment Designer Mark Uyeda is here to walk us through the process.

Mark: Our goals in extending Masterwork perks and mechanics to Exotic weapons are primarily to create new in-game goals for hobbyist players and reinforce specific activities with these long tail pursuits.There were a few “problem spaces” that we wanted to address when creating the Exotic Masterwork pursuit. First up, Exotics in Destiny 2 are very easy to acquire. Many players have most, if not all, of the non-quest Exotics. As we don’t want to make players re-earn every Exotic weapon, Exotic Masterwork acquisition and progression needed to take place after acquisition. Additionally, we needed to figure out a player-friendly way of representing the process of obtaining and applying an Exotic Masterwork. The milestone tray doesn’t provide a good flow for every Exotic Masterwork, and bounties are planned for summer (as noted on our recently updated Development Roadmap). With these goals and restrictions, we landed on the following player experience: There will be one Exotic Masterwork per Exotic weapon that exists so far in Destiny 2. In order to begin the Masterwork process, players will have to find an Exotic Masterwork Catalyst. When inspecting the Exotic, there will be a hint at what activities can grant the catalyst for that weapon. Not all Exotic Masterworks have the same drop rates. Some Exotic Masterwork weapons are guaranteed after a certain amount of engagement, while others are earned at random.

Once acquired, the catalyst can be applied to immediately enable orb generation on double kills for the weapon. Exotic weapons with a catalyst applied will also start tracking enemies defeated, like their Legendary Masterwork weapon counterparts.

After applying the catalyst, there will be bounty-like objectives available that need to be completed in order to upgrade to the final Masterwork state, which will apply stat/perk bonuses to the weapon.

A few Masterworks will require you to do a single thing, where others will have multiple steps. These objectives will vary in difficulty and length, but will not be determined by RNG. The goal for these objectives is to push the player to engage with the weapon that they wish to make into a full Masterwork. When it comes to difficulty, there are a few Exotic Masterworks paired with difficult activities or accomplishments in-game. We’re expecting that there may be one or two Exotic Masterwork weapons that give players the opportunity to set goals in mastering specific activities in order to earn their most desired Masterwork. To get ahead of a few questions we’re expecting, here’s a quick roundup of more specific notes:

Exotic weapon Masterwork pursuits only need to be done once per account- you don’t have to chase your white whale on each character.

Through the Masterwork process, duplicate drops of an Exotic weapon via engrams, milestones, or even the Exotic Collection will be initialized at your current Masterwork upgrade state.

The Exotic Masterwork process takes place fully in the weapon details screen – there won’t be any objectives that take up character inventory space.

Not all Exotic Masterworks will be available immediately when Season 3 begins. If you inspect an Exotic Weapon and a Masterwork socket is not visible, the catalyst is not yet available.

We won’t be publishing guides on how to acquire specific Exotic Masterworks. This is in your hands!

As with all things in Destiny 2, these new features are subject to evolution. We’ll be monitoring acquisition rates and community reaction once these are in the wild and adjusting as needed.

The Exotic Gunsmiths

Over the last few weeks, Senior Sandbox Designer Jon Weisnewski has been giving previews on how some Exotic weapons are evolving at base level to feel more powerful in Season 3. We’re keeping the streak up. This week, Tractor Cannon, Hard Light, and Borealis are up for conversation!

Jon: Quick thanks and recognition to the video capture team that has been working hard to play, record, and publish this stuff on a tight deadline. The Tractor Cannon has delivered a high amount of spectacle and has a huge fun factor, but was lacking utility for many players. To address this, in addition to the expected damage and physics impulse, any target hit by Tractor Cannon now has a debuff applied that adds suppression and makes the target vulnerable to Void damage for 10 seconds. Suppression will function as you expect, so in the Crucible, this will shut down active supers and prevent players from using their abilities. In PvE, this will put most enemies in the suppression state where they cower and grovel. The Void vulnerability adds a significant weakness to any source of incoming Void damage. So if you’re a solo player, run it with your favorite Void weapons and/or subclass for optimal effect. If you’re running with a coordinated fireteam… we’re both excited and terrified to see how fast you can melt some of our harder bosses with strategic Void attacks. The Void vulnerability does not stack with itself, but it does stack with other damage debuffs. Get to work!

Hard Light is inheriting the Borealis damage type reload swap: Holding reload will cycle elemental damage types in combat. The teaser clip shows this off pretty well, but what it doesn’t show very clearly is the other interesting change we made to lean in to this weapon’s gameplay. The bounce projectiles have always been a dazzling laser light show, but actually using them to do real work on your enemies around corners or off of walls has been difficult. It’s more of a suppression tactic than reliable offense. One option we considered was preserving aim assist for the lifetime of the projectile, but we couldn’t commit due to the sheer amount of pressure this would put on our runtime engine. (Imagine 12 players on a console in 6v6 all using this weapon, each player firing a round every three frames, and our aim assist code trying to predict the trajectory of each bullet for up to three bounces and then attempt to correct it to hit a target.) So, rather than make it easier for you to land a bounce shot, we made the payoff better for when it does happen. Bounced bullets now do double damage. We’re looking forward to seeing some montages from the geometry nerds out there.

So a natural question that may come from this is: doesn’t this change make Hard Light a better choice than Borealis? While Hard Light will definitely have more uptime due to living in your Energy slot, Borealis is also getting an update that will make it a tempting choice.

For Borealis, the utility of having a weapon that can match any damage shield on the fly is good, but in order to make the weapon great we wanted to double down on the reward for successfully pulling this off. After breaking an enemy shield with a matching damage type, Borealis now deals double damage until the next reload or damage type swap. For PvE activities it gives the weapon a more reliable benefit than Hard Light, in both casual modes and high pressure activities. However, it’s not a perk that was meant just for PvE. This behavior also applies to enemy Guardians in the Crucible while their supers are active. Simply put: If you use a Void round to break shield and/or kill an enemy Sentinel Titan who is actively using their super, you have double damage sniper rounds (yes, that’s a one hit kill to the body) until you die or reload. It’s pretty rare to pull off and requires a fair amount of predictive awareness, but we’ve had it happen organically a few times during internal playtests and I’m highly confident that skilled players will be able to make some amazing plays with this weapon.

That’s all for this week! I’m sure we’ll be chatting again soon.

Glory, Valor, and Combat

Since their original announcement, Seasonal Crucible Rankings have been a hot topic. The Crucible team has been hard at work to implement the system. Starting with Season 3, Crucible Ranks will be available to all players of Destiny 2.

Senior Crucible Designer Kevin Yanes gave a quick overview on stream of what to expect. We’re diving deeper into the weeds to answer some of your burning questions.

Kevin: Hey everyone. During the Warmind reveal stream, we showcased Seasonal Crucible Ranks for the first time. We’ve been seeing a lot of questions from the community, so let’s get into the hot topics you’ve been asking about:

"What are Seasonal Crucible Ranks?"Seasonal Crucible Ranks are comprised of two key mechanics: a level and rank points. As players earn points in each rank, they will level up and unlock new rewards for Shaxx to dole out in the Tower. Leveling up gives players an assortment of Crucible Tokens, Crucible Engrams, and Masterwork Cores depending on how far up they have leveled. There are six specific Crucible Ranks that players can reach, starting with the rank of "Guardian" and ending with players becoming "Legend.” Here is the full break down of what levels each Crucible Rank will feature:

Guardian

Brave

Heroic

Fabled

Mythic

Legend

"What types of Seasonal Crucible Ranks are there?

"Starting in Season 3, we're launching two Crucible Ranks: Valor and Glory. Valor is a progression rank that goes up as you complete matches. Winning helps you move up faster and there are no loss penalties. Valor Ranks serve to showcase a player’s time commitment to playing Crucible. As players win, they will accumulate a win streak that will give players bonus points for each subsequent win. These win streaks will cap out after five wins, and then reset. Try to see how often you can hit a full five win streak! Players who complete their Valor Ranks can choose to reset them to begin their journey anew and even make progress toward some rewards that require a fixed number of resets. 

Glory is a progression rank earned in the Competitive playlist that goes up as you win matches, but down as you lose. Closing out wins is how players are going to move up here. Glory Ranks serve to showcase the mastery players have in some of our most intense game modes, and show how they stack up against worthy opponents. Glory features the same win streak system from Valor but with the addition of loss streaks that work similarly. As players lose consecutive matches, they will lose more and more points. This means no game is without its stakes, so it's best to keep on your A-game.

"What do I earn for moving up the Ranks?

"Beginning in Season 3, new crucible rewards will be attached to Seasonal Crucible Ranks. This means that armor ornaments, emblems, and new weapons will require players to earn both Valor and Glory ranks to acquire them. Players receive reward packages when reaching a new level in Valor or Glory. (Note: Players receive Glory reward packages only the first time a new rank is reached in a season; if you lose a match and drop a rank, you do not receive another reward package when ranking back up.)

In addition to the suite of Season 3 rewards, we’re planning on bringing a unique weapon to Glory Ranks for players to work toward. The weapon will only be available for the duration of the season and once the season ends, it will disappear for a long, long, long time. This season we have a new weapon called Redrix's Claymore. This Pulse Rifle features a unique perk set in Outlaw as well as a new synergistic perk called "Desperado" - "Reloading while Outlaw is active increases your rate of fire." This translates to defeating enemies in the same three bursts it currently takes from a high-impact Pulse Rifle, just much faster. Make sure to land your headshot kills and you can keep Desperado and Outlaw running indefinitely.

Redrix's Claymore will be available to players once they reach the Fabled level in the Glory Rank. Ranking above Fabled will be rewarded with an ornament for Redrix's Claymore and a new emblem- and for those who push their Glory rank to Mythic and above, a special secret awaits you.

"Where can I earn these ranks?"

Valor 

Quickplay

Rumble

Mayhem

Glory 

Competitive

Trials and Iron Banner will not have any Crucible Ranks attached to them as they have their own investment rewards and are separate from the Crucible. Additionally, to maintain the integrity of Glory Ranks, players will only be able to earn Glory in the Competitive playlist.

“Why should I keep earning Glory week over week?”

Each week your Glory Rank will change depending on the number of games you played, maxing out at three games per week. Players ranked Fabled and below will earn bonus Glory Rank Points each week. For players ranked Mythic and Legend, each match completed will reduce the amount of Glory Rank decay, up to preventing the decay for the week. This means if you’re a player in Mythic or Legend you’ll need to hop into the Competitive playlist at least three times a week to maintain your status.

“Will matchmaking be based on Glory Ranks in the Competitive playlist?”

The Competitive playlist will be using our existing matchmaking system. At the start of Season 3 we are going to reset the skill bucket in Competitive to give every player an equal start as they begin their climb to Fabled and beyond. This means that as you win and lose, your skill and rank will go up or down accordingly. As always, we are never done iterating and improving our systems, and so once you’ve had time to sink your teeth into ranks we’d love to hear your feedback.

"Too long, give me bullets" 

Valor 

Caps out at 2,000 Rank Points

Features win streak bonus points

Can be reset when fully completed, with no cap on resets per season

Resets each season

Has ornament, emblem, and weapon rewards

Requires a fixed number of Valor resets to earn some rewards

Featured in: Quickplay, Rumble, Mayhem

Glory 

Caps out at 5,500 Rank Points

Features win streak bonus points

Adds loss streak penalties for recurring losses

Players can earn bonus rank points or fend off decay by completing three competitive matches each week

Only resets each season

Has ornament, emblem, and weapon rewards

Features unique seasonal chase weapon that can be earned at Fabled level (about ~40% of the way through your journey in Glory Ranks)

Lets players earn ornament for seasonal weapon at Legend level

"How are you going to make sure everyone plays fair in the Ranked environment?”

Update 1.2.0 will come with a slew of improvements to our security systems to better maintain the sanctity of the Competitive experience. We've made what we feel are appropriate arrangements to ensure your Crucible experience is a good one.

"When can I begin earning Ranks?"

Players can start earning Seasonal Crucible Ranks beginning on May 8 with the release of Update 1.2.0.

Worthy Opponents

Playing the role of matchmaker isn’t an easy feat. In Destiny 2 Update 1.2.0, the Crucible team will be addressing player feedback about pre-made Fireteams being matched against solo players.

PvP Design Lead Derek Carroll has a quick breakdown of the changes that are going in, and what players can expect starting May 8.

Derek: From reading your feedback and looking at data, it’s clear that solo players are facing an uphill battle in the Crucible when they encounter well-coordinated opponents. Players in Fireteams have a substantial advantage, particularly as average skill increases. In the current Crucible, solo players at virtually all skill levels win fewer than half of their games. We're making some under-the-hood adjustments to try to ensure that even when solo players do end up fighting against Fireteams, they’ll be doing it on a more-even battlefield. 

Instead of using your normal skill value when in a Fireteam, we will use a modified value that takes your Fireteam size into account. The larger your Fireteam, the larger the potential modification. We don’t want to try to completely nullify the benefit of team-play, so our initial values are conservative and can (and will) be tuned as we see the system working in the wild.  All of these settings can be configured on our servers without waiting for a new update, so we'll be able to make additional tweaks based on what we see.

We always encourage you to bring your friends with you into the Crucible, but we think this change will improve your experience during those times you have to fly solo. As always, we’ll be keeping an eye on how well these changes are working once they’re live, and look forward to hearing your thoughts! #FTMM (Editors note: For those like me who didn't understand this hashtag immediately, this means Fireteam Matchmaking.)

Season 2 Finale

Lord Saladin returns for the final bout of Iron Banner in Season 2.

Begins: Tuesday, May 1

Ends: Tuesday, May 8

The game is Control!

As some of you may have noticed, we’re diving back into the Iron Banner playlist pretty quickly compared to previous months.

Senior Designer Jeremiah Pieschl gave us a quick rundown of initial feedback we’re looking to address since 6v6 went live:

Jerpie: While we continue to evaluate the feedback and data from the last Iron Banner Control with 6v6, we've heard two messages very clearly. Having more opportunities to play 6v6 is highly desired and Control remains the most popular mode for 6v6. As such, you can expect Iron Banner to feature 6v6 Control exclusively moving into Season 3.

As a warning, this will be your last chance to earn Season 2 ornaments, so make sure to jump in and complete those objectives.

Safari Stripes

Speaking of Iron Banner, Destiny Player Support has been working behind the scenes to investigate reports of error codes encountered last week. If you’ve recently seen a pesky ZEBRA or two, read below for some important information.

ZEBRA

With the launch of 6v6 Iron Banner, we saw a large increase in ZEBRA error codes which were determined to be caused by players timing out while loading into the maps. We took steps to reduce the rate of this error code by increasing the time in which players could attempt to load into a Crucible match. If you continued to frequently encounter ZEBRA error codes during 6v6 Iron Banner, you may be experiencing issues with your connection quality or your PC hardware may be below the minimum specifications. To improve performance and reduce the frequency of ZEBRA error codes, you may want to try the following:

Read through the Network Troubleshooting Guide for recommendations on optimizing your network setup

On consoles, try clearing your console cache

On PC, close other open programs, ensure all drivers are up to date, or run the Scan and Repair tool

We expect to see this issue continue in future 6v6 Iron Banner events; however, after Update 1.2.0 this instance of the ZEBRA error code will provide players with the BEET or KALE error codes. If you encounter these issues, please post a report to the #Help forum.

[aion-rsa]

Xbox Series X Review

https://ift.tt/3ka2zwJ

After spending over a week with Microsoft’s top-of-the-line next-gen console, one thing is clear: the Xbox Series X is a powerful machine, and an impressive hardware upgrade for anyone looking for a home console that can run games at 4K resolution and up to 120 frames per second. The Series X is also lightning fast thanks to its custom 1TB NVME SSD and Velocity Architecture, which seriously cuts down on load times, and the console also features many other quality of life improvements that make it the best way to play Xbox games in 2020. But even a console this fast can’t outrun its most glaring issue: a lack of next-gen exclusives at launch to justify making the upgrade on day one, even if its impressive 4K upscaling and Auto HDR technology does enhance the console’s vast library of past-gen experiences.

Before we jump into the games, let’s talk about the hardware itself. I covered the console’s physical attributes more closely in my unboxing article, but the short of it is that the Xbox Series X is a big, hefty piece of hardware. At about 5.9 inches wide and 11.8 inches tall, and weighing in at 9.8 pounds, the Xbox Series X isn’t quite PC tower size but it’s still massive when compared to most other home consoles. While its absolutely dwarfed by the 15.4 inch tall PlayStation 5, you may still have trouble finding a spot for the Series X in your home entertainment center. I certainly had to get creative with the Ikea TV stand in my living room, and ultimately had to lay the console on its side in order for it to (barely) fit in one of the shelves.

And while I find the Xbox Series X’s minimalist, monolith-shaped design to be eye-catching and a refreshingly clean look when compared to its next-gen competition and PC gaming rigs bathed in RGB lighting, Microsoft’s console looks much less cool when in its horizontal position. It’s true that putting the Series X in either its natural vertical or alternate horizontal position takes a lot less effort compared to the PS5’s removable stand, but I think Microsoft might have sacrificed a better horizontal solution for the sake of convenience to the player. When in the horizontal position, the Series X’s round stand sticks out of the left side of the console, a slightly ugly appendage that you can’t remove from the console’s otherwise clean shape. Maybe I’m seriously nitpicking here, but the point is that this console wants to stand in the vertical position, and I’d advise you to figure out how to display the Series X the way it was meant to be shown off.

You can check out the unboxing video below to hear way more of my thoughts on the console’s shape, size, and design:

Once you turn on the Xbox Series X, set up the console with your Xbox Live account, and sync it to the Xbox app on your phone — and I suggest you do so you can enable Remote Play and more Share options, which we’ll get to in a bit — the first thing you’ll notice is how quiet this machine is. Unless you put your ear real close to the vents at the top of the console, you won’t even hear a low hum from the Series X’s single “whisper-quiet” fan. In fact, the only time I was able to actually hear the Series X from the other side of my living room was while installing a game from a disc, the console’s 4K UHD Blu-ray optical drive working quickly to install the 32GB Mad Max. Still, the virtually silent Series X is a major improvement over the mechanical sound of the original Xbox’s hard drive and loud hum of the Xbox 360 and Xbox One’s fans.

Speaking of fans, the powerful airflow solution in the Xbox Series X is very good at keeping the console’s components relatively cool most of the time. Generally, what you’ll feel when putting your hand close to the console’s vents is a gentle breath of cool to tepid air. Things get a little hotter inside the Xbox when you’re playing Optimized for Series X titles like Gears 5 and Forza Horizon 4 at 4K 60fps, but the heat levels never felt all that alarming. I didn’t have a fancy thermal camera to test heat levels in the console, so I’d suggest you check out Digital Foundry’s excellent breakdown of the console’s power efficiency if you want to get into the nitty gritty.

The Xbox Series X’s specs have always been impressive on paper. Back in March, when we finally learned the specs of both consoles, we even speculated the Series X would be slightly more powerful than its next-gen competitor. It’s obviously too early to give a final verdict on the XSX vs. PS5 debate, but it’s not an exaggeration to say that Microsoft’s console has an advantage out the gate, boasting a more powerful CPU and GPU, even if the PS5’s potentially game-changing SSD has commanded much of the technical discussion.

Here are the main Xbox Series X specs you need to know:

Let’s talk about the console’s custom 12 teraflop GPU. While it might not be able to eclipse NVIDIA’s brand new line of GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs in terms of the raw specs, this is still an incredibly powerful graphics card when it comes to the home console market. Ever since it announced the Xbox Series X, Microsoft has had a clear mission: to make 4K 60fps the standard for all next-gen Xbox titles, while looking ahead at an 8K resolution future. After spending a bit of time playing Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4, and Sea of Thieves at 4K 60fps, it’s clear that Microsoft has absolutely knocked it out of the park.

While the Xbox Series X has no first-party next-gen exclusives at launch, which may make some players pause when considering the console’s $499 price tag, this machine does a lot to improve the Xbox experiences you already love. Playing Gears 5 at higher resolution brings the game’s diverse landscapes to life like never before, with improved textures and particle counts, while the inclusion of raytraced shadows and lighting makes all of the environments more immersive than ever before. There is some seriously beautiful lighting in this game to begin with, but the Optimized for Series X version of Gears 5 feels like the most fully realized take on this world. The higher framerate provides a better gameplay experience as well, especially when it comes to shooting mechanics, which feel silky smooth, a major boon when taking on Grubs.

Players can also set the framerate of Gears 5 multiplayer to 120fps, which provides the best look at the Series X’s current graphical ceiling (while the console is 8K-ready, there aren’t any 8K titles out to actually showcase that resolution). While I’m not sure I can tell as much of a difference between 60fps and 120fps when compared to the absolutely massive framerate jump between 30fps and 60fps, the ability to play a game on a home console at framerates that were once considered possible only on PC is no less impressive.

Ultimately, the jump to 60- and 120fps is a much bigger improvement to the home console experience than 1080p vs. 4K resolutions, especially when playing competitive shooters, racing, and fighting games, which demand quick reaction times and low latency. The clearer 4K resolution is certainly an improvement worth commending — just look at how good Forza Horizon 4 and Sea of Thieves look in the 4K screenshots taken from my Xbox Series X — but I’d pay more attention to what games you can turn all the way up to 120fps.

Unfortunately, there weren’t many Optimized for Series X games to actually try during the review period — only the Xbox One version of Yakuza: Like a Dragon was available ahead of the embargo, for example — so it remains to be seen how new titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion, current-gen games that are also Optimized for Series X and will boast 4K 60fps visuals, will perform at launch. What I’ve seen from the three optimized games I tried so far bodes well for the rest of the Xbox Series X’s launch lineup, though.

As I said at the start of this review, the Xbox Series X doesn’t have any first-party next-gen games on its list of launch titles, so it’s impossible to say how the Xbox Series X will perform when true next-gen experiences arrive to push that GPU and SSD to its limits. With Halo Infinite delayed to 2021, and other first-party releases like Obsidian’s Avowed, Ninja Theory’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, and Playground’s new Fable game still a way’s away, we may be at least a year out from seeing what the console can really do.

Fortunately, there’s a lot to play on the Xbox Series X until then. In fact, the Series X may be the most backward compatible and most bang-for-your-buck console ever released — as long as you already have a $15 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription (and you totally should, if you’re an Xbox fan). Boasting a library of hundreds of backward compatible titles from across all generations of Xbox consoles, you can bring all of your physical and digital games from the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One with you to the Series X. And with Xbox Game Pass, you also get a selection of over 100 games to download and play right out of the box. When compared to the PS5’s backward compatibility options, which only include PS4 titles and what’s available on PS Now, the Series X’s library of games is absolutely stacked.

I spent some time playing Star Wars: Republic Commando (an absolute banger for the original Xbox), Fable Anniversary for the Xbox 360, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection (which is also getting an Optimized for Series X upgrade later this month) and Mad Max on disc for Xbox One. The Series X emulates the original Xbox and Xbox 360 experiences perfectly, while Xbox One titles run natively on the console, which is a nice touch for those who simply want to pop in a current-gen disc and play without worrying about a middle man.

But even that quality of life feature pales in comparison to the way the Series X is able to upscale 720p and 1080p experiences from the past to next-gen 4K and up to 120fps, while also seriously improving the picture quality of those titles through the console’s Auto HDR technology. While I spent a limited time trying out these backward compatible titles on the console, I can definitely say that Republic Commando looks and plays better than it ever did on the first Xbox, while I noticed a distinct choppiness in the framerate in Fable Anniversary and Mad Max (again, running on a disc). Digital Foundry said in its own detailed breakdown of the Series X’s 4K upscaling and Auto HDR for past-gen titles that this isn’t a “one size fits all solution – but when it works, it really works.” I should also note that Republic Commando did crash on me once at the start of my playthrough, but hasn’t given me any issues since.

Now, you can of course make the argument that people buy next-gen consoles to play next-gen games, and I tend to agree with you on that, but the vast backward compatible library on the Xbox Series X still makes this machine a hell of a deal for people jumping into home consoles for the first time as well as new gamers. The size of the Series X’s games library may very well be the best selling point for parents buying next-gen consoles this holiday season. You simply get way more options on Series X. And that’s before you even factor in the console’s Smart Delivery system, which allows you to upgrade select Xbox One titles to the Optimized for Series X version for free.

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Microsoft has also made the incredibly consumer-friendly decision to allow Xbox fans to bring their Xbox One accessories over to the Series X. Both the Xbox Wireless Controller for the Xbox One and the Xbox Media Remote will work on the Series X, for example. As a player who doesn’t like the idea of spending $60 a pop on extra controllers, this is a huge deal. Setting up to play a few rounds of Mortal Kombat X on the Series X, it was very easy to sync my white Xbox Wireless Controller with the next-gen console and jump right into the fight. If you already have an Xbox One and are upgrading this holiday, rejoice in the fact that you already have more than one controller for the Series X.

The only Xbox One peripheral I wasn’t able to sync with the Series X was my SteelSeries Arctis 9X wireless headset, which is supposed to be compatible with the next-gen console at launch. It’s possible that third-party peripherals weren’t compatible with the Series X during the review period, or that this is a bug Microsoft will squash at launch with a firmware update, but just a note of warning if you’re trying to bring your fancy headset over to the next generation.

I’ve waited this long to elaborate on the Xbox Series X’s SSD-powered Velocity Architecture and Quick Resume feature for dramatic effect — because this is where the console truly reveals itself to be an absolute showstopper. Not only does the Series X virtually eliminate load times in past-gen games like Republic Commando — no longer must you wait while different sections of a level load in the middle of the action — but seriously cuts down load times in Optimized for Series X titles like Gears 5 and Sea of Thieves. Gears 5, for example, transitions between cutscenes and gameplay almost seamlessly, while jumping into the campaign in the first place takes only a matter of seconds. Comparing load times between the Xbox One version and Series X port resulted in the latter winning every time. An unsurprising result considering the XBO uses an HDD, but a comparison worth making if you want to see the real difference.

Then there’s the Quick Resume feature, which allows you to switch between several games at once without having to stop and restart applications. With Quick Resume, you can play a few hours of Gears 5, switch to the Halo: Reach campaign in Halo: MCC, play a few quarters in Madden 21, and then go back to Gears 5 and pick up exactly where you left off without having to go through the game’s initial startup again. Loading back into Quick Resume-enabled games takes only a matter of seconds — and this goes for back-compat titles like Republic Commando, Mad Max on disc, and Gears 5 through Remote Play on my Google Pixel 3a XL, too.

The only two games I tried that didn’t seem to work with Quick Resume were Forza Horizon 4 and Sea of Thieves, which had to load from scratch again after switching to other games, but that might come down to the console’s pre-launch state or the fact that both of these games require logging into online servers. Every other game I tried seemed to be compatible with Quick Resume, though. Besides one hiccup where, after Quick Resuming, I lost all sound in Madden 21, this quality of life improvement, along with the graphics upgrade, is enough reason for hardcore Xbox fans to make the jump to the next-gen console.

You can see Quick Resume in action in the video below:

Meanwhile, not much has changed with the Series X’s UI, which has made an almost seamless transition from the Xbox One version. Yes, menus on the dashboard load much faster and everything feels much snappier and flows more smoothly, with little buffer between the dashboard and loading into Settings menu for example, but you won’t find a major UI redesign here. As someone who thinks that the current Xbox UI outpaces the competition, I’d say that continuity between generations is a good thing.

I have a few nitpicks regarding the UI, such as the unintuitive way you access recent screenshots and gameplay clips captured through the console’s Share function, but I’d hardly call this a deal breaker. I will say this: for a company so invested in making PC-level resolution and framerates a reality on a home console, Microsoft missed one key aspect of the PC gaming experience — the ability to quickly adjust graphics on the go. At the moment, you have to exit out of games and visit the console’s Settings menu to change resolution and framerates. The exception out of the Optimized for Series X games I tried is Gears 5, which lets you switch between 60- and 120fps multiplayer in its in-game graphics menu. While it’s true that developers themselves decide just how adjustable a game’s graphics are in-game, it wouldn’t have hurt Microsoft to have implemented more robust graphics options in its first-party optimized titles at least.

The above might not be something console-only gamers are really all that concerned about, of course, which would explain why Microsoft hasn’t done much about it. But when you tout 4K and up to 120 fps gaming so often, you should at least create a faster way to access graphics options on the console without forcing gamers to exit out of the game. Maybe some quick toggles in the Guide menu would do the trick?

Like the UI, the Xbox Series X controller brings pretty much everything you loved about its Xbox One predecessor back for the next generation. Microsoft has perfected its gamepad to the point where it’s also become the preferred controller on PC, so there’s no point in fixing what isn’t broken. I went into way more detail about the actual feel of the controller in my unboxing, but the short of it is that the Xbox Series X gamepad is comfortable, responsive, and features some neat improvements.

The first addition is its new D-pad. Microsoft has done away with the traditional cross-shaped design and replaced it with a new facetted dish inspired by the Xbox Elite Controller. While the new, rounder D-pad felt a bit odd at first, I’ve quickly grown accustomed to it, and have even started to prefer it over the Xbox Wireless Controller’s cross, which now feels a bit stiff in comparison.

The other big new feature on the controller is the Share button, which I had an absolute blast using throughout the review period. With one click of the button, you can now easily capture screenshots of your gameplay, while holding down the button allows you to record 30 seconds of 4K gameplay (you can record longer clips at lower resolutions). From there, you can upload the captures to your activity feed, message them to an Xbox friend, post to Twitter, or even save them to your phone through the Xbox app.

All of the images used in this article were taken with the controller’s Share button, and the results look pretty impressive to this very amateur game photographer. As I mentioned above, for the best experience, I’d suggest handling these captures on your phone once they’re uploaded to the cloud, as it’s easier to zoom and switch between them on the Xbox app than in the console’s Guide menu.

There’s no doubt that the Xbox Series X is a powerful console, one worthy of the next-gen label, but what will ultimately decide the console’s success is its games. Unfortunately, and this is absolutely no secret, the console’s launch lineup is a bit of a letdown. Leaning heavily on third-party Optimized for Series X titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and first-party next-gen ports like Gears 5 — most of which aren’t exclusive to XSX — as well as its Xbox Game Pass and backwards compatible library, the Xbox Series X doesn’t really have an exclusive next-gen title in its launch lineup to entice gamers who are on the fence. Even timed next-gen console exclusive Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be available on XBO, PS4, and PC at launch.

It does seem at the moment like Microsoft’s console will limp out of the gate when it’s finally toe-to-toe with the PS5. Without something truly new and exciting you can only play on the Xbox Series X, I’m not sure I can recommend you buy this console on day one unless you’re looking for raw power in your next-gen gaming. So who is this console really for at the moment? Hardcore Xbox fans who want the best way to play upcoming Xbox titles as well as Game Pass and backward compatible games.

For everyone else, getting an Xbox Series X right now is really an investment in the console’s future. With so much GPU and SSD power at its disposal, the Xbox Series X should prove to be an excellent canvas on which developers will be able to create great pieces of art. And what’s coming up from within Microsoft — Halo Infinite, Avowed, all upcoming Bethesda titles — certainly has me excited about the types of experiences we’ll eventually be able to play on the console. What I’ve experienced so far in terms of graphics and load times tells me that the future of Xbox is very bright.

But at launch, Microsoft wants you to feel like this is still the Xbox experience you love with some major upgrades to performance. Is this a good strategy when it comes to hooking PlayStation and PC gamers across the aisle? That’s up for debate. But as a celebration of everything Xbox fans love about the brand, the Xbox Series X absolutely succeeds and shows a ton of promise to boot.

The Xbox Series X launches on Nov. 10. The Series S, which wasn’t provided by Microsoft in time for a review, will also release on Nov. 10 for $299.

Stay tuned for more of our ongoing coverage of the Xbox Series X here.

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The post Xbox Series X Review appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[benjaminreevesart]

WHY DOES FORTUNA DISAPPOINT ME SO?

In November of 2018 DE released its latest OpenWorldTM Fortuna, an update I had been waiting for with bated breath from the edge of my seat since its announcement last year. At the time of launch I was logging in every day just for the chance to be one of the first to experience it.

Now over a month later, I sit here struggling to convince myself to go back. Yes, even after the heist update. A sentiment seemingly shared among many others in the community. So as with all things in life we must ask ourselves… why?

-Aesthetic: they decided to drop this thing in November, so I guess instead of going outside to play in the snow users could stay inside log on to warframe and play… in the snow. Yay.

I find myself missing the familiar exotica of not-africa and its kind-of-alive-but-not-really-except-its-made of-flesh-and-you-can-eat-it-wtf-DE? tower. (that bothers me). Just standing in these updates’ respective hub-areas and listening to the ambiance of the environment speaks volumes. The plains has haggling traders, merchants announcing their wares, wind rustling through the many canopies and tent flaps of hand hade fabric, it feels alive where fortuna feels like a cold mechanical day job. If you say that’s intentional… well, I hardly think boredom is anything to aspire to.

I get that they’re going for a sci-fi-punk feel, but it just comes off as monotonous, hopeless, and impersonal.

-Personal connection: Sure Saya’s Vigil was stupid romantic melodrama, sure onko’s decision is lame, sure it was kinda dumb to give newby players a warframe blueprint they couldn’t build until after reaching the mid-game, but ya know what? It worked.

I know who saya and konzu are, i have been with them on their story, every time I see konzu standing there with his girl I know that is because of me. My journey, my struggle, my effort brought these people together. Its simple its small, its human.

I mean who the hell is eudico anyway, why does she fight? Why caste shade on biz’s origins, and are we just going to gloss over an innocent person getting their head chopped off and their organs harvested in the open fucking street???????? There are constant references to people being “brain-shelved” which I can only assume means they get their brain put in a jar and thrown in someone’s freezer, and we get ZERO resolution for that! I mean sure there are fragments to find and scan, but they don’t really tell us anything that couldn’t already have been inferred. With exception to the relationship between biz and little-duck, not that it seems to play into any of their interactions at all. The business does have his conservation thing, which is a part of his character, an old war veteran understand the fragility of life and working to preserve it through peaceful means. But the spirit of it is robbed when they give the same shtick to the random bird guy from cetus. Why? while I could buy Nef Anyo hunting whole species to extinction for profit, nothing about the setting of the plains suggests the animals are in any kind of danger from the grineer. Its just pointless. I mean you could’ve just used the business for both, maybe he’s building a zoo for critters from all over the system, I wouldn’t have questioned it. Heck, it could even have been a nice little unlock to see the place once you catch one of every animal.

Weirdly enough the one character I think is kind of done right here is ticker. Yeah, the kiosk guy above biz’s shop whose only purpose is to sell you debt bonds so you can increase your standing. Maybe its just a dumb stereotype but I like tickers flair for the theatrical, I find it charming. Plus, his first fragment is so terribly depressingly human it just makes me want to give the poor dude a hug.

But at least there’s plenty of snow in the sandbox… er…

-The sandbox is full: I may not be in the console market these days but there have been a lot of sandbox games as of late, like… ALOT! Its basically the only game Ubisoft makes anymore. A wide-open area filled to burst with pointless shallow time wasting minigames of no real importance. OpenWorldTM. The announcement said Orb Vallis would be twice the size of Eidolon and good god does it feel like it! The very construction of the map itself restricts you from moving around it. With its massive board blocking Tim Burton mountains, and how those same mountains prevent you from utilizing the full freedom of the hoverboard, a new vehicle introduced with the update. Sure, there’s a new pet and new guns, but we already had fishing, we had mining, we had a new faction of peaceful traders and merchants to interact with. Outside of new shooty-tubes and endo dumps I don’t really see what’s so special here, especially when the terrain itself renders the races more chore than a challenge without delivering on any significant or memorable locations. Which is weird since there are interesting set pieces in the Vallis that are just never used. Of all the bounties I did getting to “old mate” rank the only location used was a data vault spy mission. You know, the building with the profit taker on it, yeah, you know the one the worst part of the map. Its built like a maze, is too easy to get lost in, has too many BIG rooms going into tiny vents you need an eagle eye to find, and its just an unenjoyable mess. This is especially infuriating as there are numerous more interesting locals around the map, they could use for practically any of the bounties. But no, its never the big Nef Anyo statue we’re fighting under it’s that damn farm thing again. Its never that cool cavernous road through the mountains, its that same damn bridge right in front of Fortuna. Its never a big base filled with enemies and tons of vertical platforms, its always that one generic outpost just down the road.

-Environmental Story: what’s even worse for the environment is its total lack of connection to the rest of the universe. The Plains weren’t just some vaguely African safari area, it was a battlefield. Haunted with the remains of shattered sentient contained within a massive forcefield that also happened to protect it from the deadly radiation and poisons of the outside world. The strange rocks which dot the landscape are the remains of alien spacecraft and its soils are stuffed with all manner of deadly armaments and tools. So, it makes perfect sense that the grineer or other factions would covet this area for its agricultural and military resources. The vallis just looks like a giant sink of effort and resources that could be put to more productive use elsewhere, doubly so considering it’s the corpus funding the whole operation. Which is even more sad given that environmental stories are the one story telling mechanic exclusive to video games. There is no other medium which allows a reader or a viewer to experience its world at their own pace to seek information in their own ways. Making this literary opportunity not only a waste of warframes universe but of the medium itself.

This is naturally only compounded upon with how the resources of the vallis seem even more restricted to fortuna than the plains did to cetus. The toroids are the worst offence in this, but I think I’ll save my thoughts on this growing problem in warframe for when I get around to covering the jovian concord as the issue of resource gating is more blatant there.

-The warframes: so garuda and baruuk, while I find it strange that DE released two frames around the same time that where functionally immortal, I just find their acquisition boring. Garuda’s main blueprint is just handed to you after finishing the introduction mission, and baruuk is straight up just another item you buy. The only difference between buying baruuk for real money and buying him for in game currency is time, and a lot of it given how rare the resource to get him is. Now I know garas main was given at the end of sayas vigil too but there it was built up as an ancient relic of mystical origin. A man left his wife and home to keep this powerful artifact out of enemy hands, sacrificing his whole life and happiness to keep them safe. You weren’t building just another tank with tits; you were reviving a warrior of legend who slew giants and protected the innocent. Revenant as well, had a deific entity granting visions to a child guiding you to the grave of an ancient warrior who fought and eventually fell to the control of his hated enemy. This might sound like a re-tred of inaros for most of you but at least gara and revenent look their parts, rather than just a mish mash of infested gunk slapped onto a skeleton. Point is worldbuilding matters, especially for the warframes. Being the name-sake of the game they deserve some kind of gravitas behind them. Treating a new warframe like another commodity to be bought off a shelf or passed out like a gold star from kindergarden is just… condescending. At least hyldryn got a boss fight out of her release, which is more of a backhanded compliment when you realize almost every other warframe gets a boss fight by default. Soooo… yeah.

 Conclusion:

Maybe I’m jaded, just sick of snow, or maybe I’m projecting my exhaustion with the OpenWorldTM genre, I don’t know. There are a lot of reasons I find fortuna unfulfilling, but ultimately, I think its this; fortuna and the vallis were supposed to be an extension to the warframe universe, a playground to explore new perspectives and build on its mythos. It didn’t do that. We went from space travelling assassins trying to fight a war on many fronts to make the galaxy a better place, to a plucky resistance force against an evil conglomerate. It just doesn’t fit with the world we’ve already seen. everything “new” that was introduced here may be new to warframe but has been done much better within any title from the cyberpunk genre.

Its really a shame too as just looking a around can be breathtaking at times, some caves and structures are genuinely beautiful to look at. A lot of work was clearly put into this update, just not in the right places. Gameplay has a few upgrades, the environments are pretty if frustrating to traverse, but the story just comes up short. Sure, we can tolerate illogical grinds and only semi-complete mythologies for our new areas, but without a good story to keep us coming back, to tie everything together, its just disappointing.

-END OF LINE.

[anglosurfmops]

My E3 Wishlist / Hype Post

I don’t always show it on this tumblr, but I am an avid gamer and Nintendo addict. Here’s a post / text splurge about what I want to see at E3.

NINTENDO STUFF

I love my Nintendo Switch. It’s an incredible piece of hardware and I’ve already got a dozen games on it. While 3DS will likely have some presence (especially in the Treehouse streams), I want the vast majority of E3 to concentrate on this new platform

Stuff we know about and will see (again) Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC details - at the very least, we’ll get some brief footage and a date. I’m half-expecting them to say “you can download it RIGHT THE HECK NOW!” because that’s a great way to get people excited for an amazing game again.

Super Mario Odyssey - pretty much the only title that can challenge BotW for game of the year in my eyes. The first trailer was mind-blowing, seeing long-form gameplay footage is going to be even more of that.

Fire Emblem Warriors - Hyrule Warriors was a surprisingly fun game to play. Will a follow-up with a far-less-nostalgic IP be as good? We’ll find out.

Xenoblade 2 - the rumour mill is saying this game has been pushed back into the beginning of 2018 and that would not surprise me at all. What would surprise me is not seeing gameplay footage of this game.

Pokemon follow-up stuff - the recent Direct announcing Pokken Switch and Ultra Sun/Moon seemed custom-made to remove the need for Pokemon things in the E3 Direct, but we’ll still definitely have Treehouse segments for all things Pokemon, and the new 3DS sequels will be the cornerstone of any dedicated 3DS segment / montage in the Direct itself.

Mario Rabbids game - yeah, I’m as shocked this is actually real as you probably are. I don’t anticipate a big focus in Nintendo’s stream, since Ubisoft will have presumably already covered this themselves earlier. Also, Rayman cameo please?

Sonic Forces / Mania - Sega doesn’t have a major place to make announcements at most E3s, so if they were going to do a reveal of something special, they’d probably join up with Nintendo. I’d put money on some Nintendo-specific items for the Sonic Forces character creator (Mario hat, etc).

Surprises that seem likely Animal Crossing Switch - it’s been four years since the last proper Animal Crossing game and, at this point in Nintendo’s history, it’s pretty much their third pillar franchise after Mario and Zelda. Or maybe I just think that because it’s my favourite series in all of gaming. Nintendo put a heck of a lot of effort into their terrible Mario Party spin-off on Wii U, which makes me think a lot of the modelling and early design work for a proper Wii U sequel was already done before it got moved to Switch. Also, there’s a mobile app coming in early 2018, and tying that into a proper Switch entry makes sense to me. (I already use a phone app to track my New Leaf progress)

A proper Metroid sequel - there will be much gnashing of teeth if this game isn’t at least confirmed to be in development. If Nintendo value their hardcore crowd’s feelings at least a little bit, they should show something.

Super Smash Bros for Switch - just a straight-up Deluxe version of the Wii U edition, like with Mario Kart 8. Add the Inklings, Ice Climbers, all the DLC and a handful of other new things. Print money.

Virtual Console confirmations - maybe not in the main video, but Reggie is going to give some kind of firm answer on the lack or appearance of a VC service for Switch. 

Surprises that will probably never happen An exclusive Platinum Games announcement - Maybe it’s Bayonetta 3, maybe it’s Wonderful 102, maybe it’s something totally different. But Nintendo had a great relationship with Platinum last generation, and I want to see what they can do with the Switch.

F-Zero Switch - the Switch already has a great selection of fast anti-grav racing games, including Mario Kart 200c mode, but nothing beats the original.

GameCube games on the VC - do I think that we’ll see some more GameCube era remasters on Switch at some point? Probably, yes. Will we get a wide selection of GameCube games available to download on a regular basis? Probably not.

EVERYBODY ELSE

I play a fair amount of PC games and I do own a PS4, even though I barely play the latter any more. Still, I’m definitely keeping an eye out for the following:

More classic PlayStation - Ratchet and Clank was okay, the recent Wipeout collection is great and the Crash Trilogy is my most anticipated PS4 release right now. If they announce remakes (or proper sequels) to Spyro or the original PS1 Ape Escape, I might die of a nostalgia overload.

Steven Universe: Save The Light - this game looks incredible. Please announce it for Switch!

Star Wars Battlefront II - the PS2 originals were the basis of my entire relationship with my younger brother (okay, not true - but we drove our mum crazy with its cries of “losing command posts”). I outright hated the beta for the reboot and never bought it. I’m hoping for full local multiplayer, stronger single-player content and just an all-around more fun game.

Spider-Man - the PS2 version of Spider-Man 2 is still among my favourite games of all time. Insomniac have the skills to make this a great game.

God of War - I’ll admit, the God of War games were something of a guilty pleasure at the end of my teens. This looks to be going a more grounded route, which may pay off or might totally ruin the indulgence factor. We’ll find out!

State of Decay 2 - the first State of Decay, though buggy as hell on my PC, was a really fun and unique zombie action-survival game. A full new-generation upgrade could make this a genre-leader.

Cuphead - JUST RELEASE THE DAMN GAME ALREADY.

There’s probably a bunch of games I’m forgetting, but these are the titles weighing heaviest on my mind as E3 is about to begin. What games are you looking forward to?

[linkseasonmaster]

What would make for a successful port of Darkstalkers?

I’ve been a fan of the Darkstalkers series ever since I stumbled across a random arcade cabinet with Vampire Savior (aka Darkstalkers 3) as a kid in a hotel one holiday break. I was really young at the time, to the point where all of the sexual innuendo went completely over my head. Heck, I legitimately could not tell what gender certain characters were. Even so, the artstyle, character designs, atmosphere, and creativity just left an insane impression on me. To this day, while I’m far from good at any 2D fighters (including Darkstalkers), the series still holds a special place in my heart. I spent many a bus ride to and from school happily playing Chaos Tower on my PSP, trying to unlock all of the endings, while also attempting to track down the OVA and eventually watch it.

So when I learned that Darkstalkers Resurrection was going to be released while I was away at college (and I would be therefore unable to buy it immediately), I wanted nothing more than to do everything in my power to help it succeed. I tried telling people in general about the series, showed the trailers to various friends who I thought might be interested, eventually bought myself a copy on my Xbox 360 during the first break I was home after its release, etc. So when I learned that, despite being a digital bestseller, it was written off as a commercial failure without any evidence provided (namely how many copies Capcom expected to sell and how many ACTUALLY sold), I was furious. In the time since, I’ve come to realize something: EVERY port of Darkstalkers has had something that prevented it from being a truly good re-release. While some of them are elements I had to do extensive research on (for example, the gameplay of various characters seems to suffer in the ports of Darkstalkers 3 that have all 18 main characters available and not just 15), others are aspects even I can confirm despite my lack of skill in the genre.

So as much as I would love nothing more than to see this amazing trailer come to actual fruition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZfy2Qxz6Hs

I honestly would NOT be surprised if the next time Capcom tries to give us a Darkstalkers game, it’s yet another port rather than an actual new game in the series, BUT...if that is how it’s going to be, Capcom needs to learn from past mistakes so that the series really gets to shine. As for what they can do to make it so...well, I have several suggestions. While I’ll be using Resurrection as my main frame of reference, I will also be including concepts utilized in Chaos Tower as well as other Darkstalkers ports and even other Capcom Collections.

Strong Gameplay vs. All Main Characters needs to stop

When it comes to the roster size in Darkstalkers 3 and its various ports, there ALWAYS seems to one of two problems. Either not all 18 of the main characters are available, or all 18 are playable in a single game but the gameplay itself suffers in some way or another, be it framerate, inaccurate hitboxes, etc. One could argue that back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the amount of memory was the reason for this. But this should not have been an issue in 2013, nor should it be an issue going forward with future ports. Have the game playtested by people who know the ins and outs of the various characters to make sure the fighters play the way they are supposed to, but in the end, fans should no longer have to choose between gameplay and roster size when said roster at ABSOLUTE MAX is under 25 playable characters, including secret characters.

No more Japanese and/or console exclusives

Several ports in the series never officially left the shores of Japan, including one that features a secret character that has never been included in a port of the series before or since. Even among the ports that were released in the West, said games were often exclusive to one or possibly two consoles, severely limiting the potential reach. Should there be another collection of Darkstalkers games released, unlike the last installment of Resurrection, said game should be released on more than just the online stores of the current Xbox and Playstation consoles. They should also be available on platforms such as Steam or even Nintendo (admittedly, were it not for games such as Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U, even I wouldn’t have been sure that putting a game like Darkstalkers on the Nintendo Switch could be lucrative). This would help expand the potential market of fans looking to return to or even discover the series and support it in a reasonable manner.

All secret characters and their methods of unlocking/selecting available ingame

Within the series, there are five secret characters, all of whom have appeared in some version of Darkstalkers 3. They are Marionette, Shadow, Dee, Oboro Bishamon, and Dark Talbain. However, Dee has only ever appeared in one game exclusive to Japan, Dark Talbain is unplayable in Chaos Tower, and while Marionette and Shadow are primarily gameplay options for Arcade mode, Marionette is absent in Resurrection, and the methods for selecting any of these secret characters are not stated within the game itself. If another port for the series is to be made, not only should all of these characters return, there should be an option in the gallery of using in-game points unlocked through the awards system (more on that later) to discover what inputs are needed to select each of these secret fighters and which modes they are available in. Note that while this does imply that Dee is available for play in a brand new port released outside Japan, and that he as well as Oboro Bishamon and Dark Talbain are available for play both in and out of Arcade Mode, this does NOT mean I want a port to be the debut of Marionette and Shadow as actual fighters rather than their usual function of altering the gameplay of Arcade Mode. Even I can acknowledge that is something better saved for a brand new game rather than a port.of already made games.

Previous features need to return

There are various features that are available in one port or another, but not all of them. In addition to the natural inclusion of the classic Arcade Mode and Local Match for both Night Warriors and Darkstalkers 3, a future installment should include all of the online features available in Resurrection. These include but are by no means limited to Ranked Match, Tournament, Replays, and a direct upload to YouTube function but one that ACTUALLY works. That last one is due to the game freezing whenever I attempted to perform said feature on the Xbox 360, but when I tried reaching out to both Capcom and Microsoft, each company just told me to ask the other. In addition, there are various options for single players and additional content that are available in earlier ports. These include the Original Character feature in the PS1 port of Darkstalkers 3, the Chaos Tower found in the game by the same name, an options menu for changing various settings (such as Arcade difficulty or controls), the Gallery, and the Tutorials/Challenges as well as the Awards system and Achievements/Trophies in Resurrection. Admittedly, given how some of these features work in each of the ports they came from, just throwing them all into one game would not work. As a result, I have thought of a way of blending some of these features in a way that should make sense and hopefully work.

With Darkstalkers 3 on the PlayStation, the Original Character options enable players to customize and level up a character of their choosing, where reaching certain levels unlocked different parts of the Collection, The Chaos Tower allows players to create a team of three Darkstalkers and fight their way up a tower, with the health of each fighter not being used healing between matches and where meeting certain criteria would grant them an opportunity to face specific fights and therefore unlock unique illustrations in the Chronicles Mode. In Resurrection, the Awards system rewards points for performing specific actions and with these points, players can purchase bonus content such as art and arcade endings in the Vault. This begs the question: how would I go about feasibly integrating all of these features into a single game?

First of all, in a future port of Darkstalkers, there would naturally be the gallery mode (effectively the Collection/Chronicles/Vault from the earlier ports), but there should also be a Shop Menu, with the points used for said shop being earned through the Awards system implemented in Resurrection. The shop itself would have a fair number of songs and voice clips as well as concept and cabinet art available from the start, but some content such as game openings (like those for the original Arcade games and their various ports), character endings, high scores, specific illustrations, and the methods for selecting secret characters would only be added after beating either Night Warriors or Darkstalkers 3 with specific fighters or by progressing through Chaos Tower. As for Chaos Tower, in addition to selecting a team of three characters to play as, it will now include the leveling system found with the Original Character feature. Everything bought within the shop would be viewable in the gallery. As a little bonus, taking a cue from the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, it would be a neat treat if the players could potentially unlock the first episode of either the Darkstalkers cartoon or the OVA, if not both.

This point I will admit could be one of the trickiest to implement. Yet even acknowledging how much easier and even more cost effective it is to just simply port a game raises many questions about the lack of a Darkstalkers game on Steam and other modern platforms, especially Resurrection. Not only are most of the features I’ve listed in this point concepts that have already been included in previous Darkstalkers games in some form or another, but they’ve all been done in previous Capcom titles. Therefore, it stands to reason that the framework is already there.

Be honest and upfront about sales, both expected and realized

As mentioned previously, Darkstalkers Resurrection, despite only being available on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, was a digital bestseller. However, Capcom officially deemed it a commercial failure, yet did not state how many copies needed to be sold in order for the game to be deemed a success, nor how many copies actually sold. In addition, no record of EITHER can be found anywhere online, even on their official website. While I acknowledge that Capcom is under no obligation to share this information, especially in so public a manner, they have shown themselves more than able to do just that with games that both heavily underperformed and were poorly received such as DmC: Devil May Cry and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. Whether it was out of fear of being seen as unreasonable or just simple negligence, this cannot be repeated if a port of the series is to be used yet again as a means of testing the waters for interest in the series’ future. Public relations is especially important in this day and age, and many fans including myself still remember all too well some of Capcom’s bigger PR fiascos from this past decade alone.

Above all, the game needs to have heart and soul

When a game, be it a port or something brand new, is made solely with the intention of money, it shows. Whether it’s trying to be rushed by a specific date, or simply cash in on a pre-existing franchise’s reputation, the fans are going to be able to tell, and the game’s sales and reception will suffer as a result. From the presentation and execution of the game as a whole to clear signs of there being attention to little details, it becomes blatantly clear when and how much the people working on a game care about it. For a frame of reference, let’s take a look at Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. I recently borrowed a copy of that game from a local library for two weeks (technically one week with only one renewal), and while I quickly developed MANY issues with that game, Jedah Dohma was never one of them. The Dark Messiah is an absolute delight throughout the story mode, his gameplay is tons of fun, the translation of several of his moves into 3D (despite being toned down due to the graphic nature of them in the source material) was incredible, and the voice actor that was selected to play him was also the same person who voiced Pyron, another Darkstalkers character and the first main villain of the series, in the OVA series from the late 1990s. With all of these factors taken into consideration, it paints a picture of someone, if not multiple people, who worked on the game genuinely caring about the Darkstalkers series. That same love and attention NEEDS to be demonstrated in any future Darkstalkers games, be they ports or brand new installments. Anything less will just damage the game, hurting not only its potential sales numbers, but its reception in the eyes of critics and fans alike.

In the end, these are my thoughts on what needs to go into any future ports of old games in the Darkstalkers series. While I would much rather see a brand new game in the series first and foremost (any ideas for which I will save for a future post), if we are to see another port of older games first, this is how I feel such a game can truly shine and succeed. If anyone has other thoughts on what other elements should go into a future port (within reason) that will help give this series the justice it so rightly deserves, please feel free to share them and I may very well try to implement them into my points above.

[theinvinciblenoob]

Universal remote system Caavo is addressing some of the complaints with its first-generation hardware with today’s release of a new, more affordable system. Unlike the original, $400 home theater product, this second device arrives at consumer-friendly price point of $99.95 and adds support for 4K HDR, as well as other features focused on playlist creation and community sharing.

Caavo has always gotten points for being unique. It designed an odd device solving a pain point a number of people don’t have – that of owning too many streamers, game consoles, and other set-top boxes, and struggling with constantly switching remotes and flipping between various devices.

In reality, the people reviewing systems like these – tech reporters, generally – face this exact problem, with Fire TVs, Apple TVs, Chromecasts, Rokus, and other gaming consoles and boxes cluttering up their living rooms. But most consumers they are not.

The mainstream is still just now cutting the cord with cable TV and picking up their first media streaming device, or adding one to the mix in addition to their cable box. They may or may not have a traditional game console. Switching in between a couple of HDMI inputs on a TV set hasn’t felt like an overwhelming struggle to be solved. And finding something good to watch isn’t so hard either – if anything, there’s too much great TV these days.

Caavo then, wasn’t for everyone – it was for a sliver of the market.

The new, low-cost Control Center by Caavo aims for broader appeal.

The Control Center lets you connect up to four devices and a soundbar, compared with the original Caavo’s eight devices. It ditches the pricier device’s fancy cable management system that used posts to organize cables for just a set of standard HDMI ports on the back of its box. It also doesn’t ship with the 3″ red-and-white HDMI cable – you bring your own.

And it drops its design-forward real wood covers and decorative touches for a shiny black look instead.

In the box: Control Center, Universal Remote with batteries, power supply, IR Blaster 

Most importantly, the new device supports 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos – which the flagship product lacked, and was a definite hurdle in getting consumers to buy. (After all, if you’re the type of person with too many streamers, you’re probably rocking a nice TV, too. And at $400, lacking HDR was seen as a non-starter for those in the market for something like this.)

The company says the Control Center will be able to detect that the TV and source are HDR capable. It then negotiates with the source to allow the source to send an HDR bit stream and sends it to the TV.

The Control Center’s universal remote keeps the same button layout as before, for the most part, with its big, centered “Caavo” button for calling up the software’s main menu for switching devices and apps, alongside its various other navigation and TV controls. It’s simple enough to use, and still has the little stand, too, which has always been a nice touch.

Of course, the big selling point for a universal remote system is universal support for TVs. Caavo works to control TV power and volume across a range of top devices, like LG, Panasonic, Phillips, RCA, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba and Vizio.

Setting up my (crappy!) Polaroid TV was more cumbersome. It figured out the volume controls, but not the power on/off. I still have two remotes. Oh well. (I was never really the target demographic, though. We’re not home media geeks – we watch just as often on mobile devices than the big screen. And we’re generally happy here with just a Roku.)

Caavo can connect a variety of streaming devices – Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV with Siri Remote, Nvidia Shield TV, cable set-top boxes (Xfinity, UVerse, Dish, DirecTV, etc.), DVD/Blu-ray players, and game consoles. But adding something weird – like this goofy AirTV Player from Dish – was more trouble than it was worth. (You would probably need a bit a tech support to try to map the buttons correctly here.)

The Control Center adds support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice controls through a voice app. (e.g. Alexa, tell Caavo to…”) But it doesn’t feel natural. And if you want to use Alexa with your Fire TV, or Siri on Apple TV for their device-specific commands, you’ll still need their remotes. You can, however, use verbal commands to power on the Control center, search for shows and movies, control the volume, play content, and other remote-control functions.

Some of this still feels gimmicky, but that’s not Caavo’s fault, necessarily. Talking to TVs just isn’t as natural as grabbing a remote and mashing a button. It may not be for everyone.

You can locate a lost remote by pressing a button on the top – a standard feature on Roku’s high-end device, too.

With some of Caavo’s earlier key problems – like lack HDR support and a too-high price point – addressed, the company turned its focus to its software with the launch of Control Center.

“We want to provide a solution for people who are as entertainment obsessed as we are – who want to see all their options across all their devices and apps and subscriptions in one place,” says co-founder Andrew Einaudi. “The only thing we are more obsessed with than watching great shows is talking about them, so we wanted to create a new community where you could always find something great to watch.”

Like the first device, Caavo’s Control Center offers universal search across streaming services – an unbiased list of places where you can watch what you want. (Roku does this too, so it’s not really a Caavo exclusive.)

While individual streaming services like Netflix use a combination of algorithms based on viewing behavior to make suggestions, Caavo is going a different route in Control Center – it’s offering its own editorial suggestions. The interface will now feature hand-picked, curated lists compiled by editors and tastemakers in the Caavo community.

You can contribute, too, through the new “My Lists” feature which let you make lists of things to watch across streaming services and live TV alike, then share them with the Caavo community through the Crowd Surfing feature. You can also keep them private, if you choose.

“We are improving our algorithms on the software side but there’s also something to be said for real recommendations from real people,” noted Einaudi.

I’m not convinced this feature is all that useful, however. Because “anyone” can contribute, the lists section is cluttered with random suggestions, often without titles that make any sense to anyone but the original creator. “Things are about to get weird,” offered one list. “Pumpkin Spiced Scares,” was another. (Frankly, I’d take an algorithm, if I’m being honest.)

Caavo’s team includes those with deep expertise in hardware and media services, and it’s raised over $32 million in funding to get off the ground. The company now has 60 patents and patents-pending on its home entertainment system – something of value for a future acquirer, perhaps.

There’s a sort of obsessive, home media center geek quality to the original Caavo and now this new Control Center. It’s not perfect and even at $100, it’s still not for everyone. At the end of the day, universal remote systems feel like a luxury, not a necessity.

But Caavo has built a lot of technology here in an attempt to make difficult things feel seamless, from switching in between inputs to finding you a movie or show across streaming services then letting you launch it right in your favorite app on the device you prefer. But when it struggles or lags, you definitely notice – and wonder why you needed so many boxes in the first place.

Beyond the upfront cost, the new device requires a Control Center Service Plan of $1.99/month or $19.99/year, in order to use universal search, voice control, editorial guides, My Lists, Crowd Surfing, app launching, deep linked content, and Caavo Cache (a history and privacy feature). It’s, at least, cheaper than TiVo.

Control Center is available at Best Buy, BestBuy.com and Caavo.com beginning today, October 1.

Tech specs are below. 

Main Unit Size: 263 x 150 x 35 mm Weight: 1.0kg HDMI: 4 inputs, 1 output. HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2 USB: Service port only IR: 3.5mm IR out Power: Adaptor: 110-240V 50-60Hz AC. Draws up to 700mA; Set: DC 12V 2A Ethernet: 100Mbps Wireless: 2.4 and 5 GHz (802.11 2×2 ac) and Bluetooth 4.0

Supported Audio Formats PCM, 8 Channels, 24 bits, 192kHz Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Atmos up to 8 channels and up to 192kHz DTS and DTS-HD Master Audio up to 8 channels and up to 192kHz

Supported Video Formats max RGB/YUV444/YUV422/YUV420 4K (3840×2160) 10-bit at 60Hz HDR pass-through (HDR 10)

Remote Control Size: 38 x 174 x 22 mm Weight: 0.1kg Range: 6m-12m, under typical conditions Connection: Bluetooth LE Batteries: 2 x AAA

  via TechCrunch

[fmservers]

Caavo returns with a $100 HDR-capable universal remote system

Universal remote system Caavo is addressing some of the complaints with its first-generation hardware with today’s release of a new, more affordable system. Unlike the original, $400 home theater product, this second device arrives at consumer-friendly price point of $99.95 and adds support for 4K HDR, as well as other features focused on playlist creation and community sharing.

Caavo has always gotten points for being unique. It designed an odd device solving a pain point a number of people don’t have – that of owning too many streamers, game consoles, and other set-top boxes, and struggling with constantly switching remotes and flipping between various devices.

In reality, the people reviewing systems like these – tech reporters, generally – face this exact problem, with Fire TVs, Apple TVs, Chromecasts, Rokus, and other gaming consoles and boxes cluttering up their living rooms. But most consumers they are not.

The mainstream is still just now cutting the cord with cable TV and picking up their first media streaming device, or adding one to the mix in addition to their cable box. They may or may not have a traditional game console. Switching in between a couple of HDMI inputs on a TV set hasn’t felt like an overwhelming struggle to be solved. And finding something good to watch isn’t so hard either – if anything, there’s too much great TV these days.

Caavo then, wasn’t for everyone – it was for a sliver of the market.

The new, low-cost Control Center by Caavo aims for broader appeal.

The Control Center lets you connect up to four devices and a soundbar, compared with the original Caavo’s eight devices. It ditches the pricier device’s fancy cable management system that used posts to organize cables for just a set of standard HDMI ports on the back of its box. It also doesn’t ship with the 3″ red-and-white HDMI cable – you bring your own.

And it drops its design-forward real wood covers and decorative touches for a shiny black look instead.

In the box: Control Center, Universal Remote with batteries, power supply, IR Blaster 

Most importantly, the new device supports 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos – which the flagship product lacked, and was a definite hurdle in getting consumers to buy. (After all, if you’re the type of person with too many streamers, you’re probably rocking a nice TV, too. And at $400, lacking HDR was seen as a non-starter for those in the market for something like this.)

The company says the Control Center will be able to detect that the TV and source are HDR capable. It then negotiates with the source to allow the source to send an HDR bit stream and sends it to the TV.

The Control Center’s universal remote keeps the same button layout as before, for the most part, with its big, centered “Caavo” button for calling up the software’s main menu for switching devices and apps, alongside its various other navigation and TV controls. It’s simple enough to use, and still has the little stand, too, which has always been a nice touch.

Of course, the big selling point for a universal remote system is universal support for TVs. Caavo works to control TV power and volume across a range of top devices, like LG, Panasonic, Phillips, RCA, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba and Vizio.

Setting up my (crappy!) Polaroid TV was more cumbersome. It figured out the volume controls, but not the power on/off. I still have two remotes. Oh well. (I was never really the target demographic, though. We’re not home media geeks – we watch just as often on mobile devices than the big screen. And we’re generally happy here with just a Roku.)

Caavo can connect a variety of streaming devices – Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV with Siri Remote, Nvidia Shield TV, cable set-top boxes (Xfinity, UVerse, Dish, DirecTV, etc.), DVD/Blu-ray players, and game consoles. But adding something weird – like this goofy AirTV Player from Dish – was more trouble than it was worth. (You would probably need a bit a tech support to try to map the buttons correctly here.)

The Control Center adds support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice controls through a voice app. (e.g. Alexa, tell Caavo to…”) But it doesn’t feel natural. And if you want to use Alexa with your Fire TV, or Siri on Apple TV for their device-specific commands, you’ll still need their remotes. You can, however, use verbal commands to power on the Control center, search for shows and movies, control the volume, play content, and other remote-control functions.

Some of this still feels gimmicky, but that’s not Caavo’s fault, necessarily. Talking to TVs just isn’t as natural as grabbing a remote and mashing a button. It may not be for everyone.

You can locate a lost remote by pressing a button on the top – a standard feature on Roku’s high-end device, too.

With some of Caavo’s earlier key problems – like lack HDR support and a too-high price point – addressed, the company turned its focus to its software with the launch of Control Center.

“We want to provide a solution for people who are as entertainment obsessed as we are – who want to see all their options across all their devices and apps and subscriptions in one place,” says co-founder Andrew Einaudi. “The only thing we are more obsessed with than watching great shows is talking about them, so we wanted to create a new community where you could always find something great to watch.”

Like the first device, Caavo’s Control Center offers universal search across streaming services – an unbiased list of places where you can watch what you want. (Roku does this too, so it’s not really a Caavo exclusive.)

While individual streaming services like Netflix use a combination of algorithms based on viewing behavior to make suggestions, Caavo is going a different route in Control Center – it’s offering its own editorial suggestions. The interface will now feature hand-picked, curated lists compiled by editors and tastemakers in the Caavo community.

You can contribute, too, through the new “My Lists” feature which let you make lists of things to watch across streaming services and live TV alike, then share them with the Caavo community through the Crowd Surfing feature. You can also keep them private, if you choose.

“We are improving our algorithms on the software side but there’s also something to be said for real recommendations from real people,” noted Einaudi.

I’m not convinced this feature is all that useful, however. Because “anyone” can contribute, the lists section is cluttered with random suggestions, often without titles that make any sense to anyone but the original creator. “Things are about to get weird,” offered one list. “Pumpkin Spiced Scares,” was another. (Frankly, I’d take an algorithm, if I’m being honest.)

Caavo’s team includes those with deep expertise in hardware and media services, and it’s raised over $32 million in funding to get off the ground. The company now has 60 patents and patents-pending on its home entertainment system – something of value for a future acquirer, perhaps.

There’s a sort of obsessive, home media center geek quality to the original Caavo and now this new Control Center. It’s not perfect and even at $100, it’s still not for everyone. At the end of the day, universal remote systems feel like a luxury, not a necessity.

But Caavo has built a lot of technology here in an attempt to make difficult things feel seamless, from switching in between inputs to finding you a movie or show across streaming services then letting you launch it right in your favorite app on the device you prefer. But when it struggles or lags, you definitely notice – and wonder why you needed so many boxes in the first place.

Beyond the upfront cost, the new device requires a Control Center Service Plan of $1.99/month or $19.99/year, in order to use universal search, voice control, editorial guides, My Lists, Crowd Surfing, app launching, deep linked content, and Caavo Cache (a history and privacy feature). It’s, at least, cheaper than TiVo.

Control Center is available at Best Buy, BestBuy.com and Caavo.com beginning today, October 1.

Tech specs are below. 

Main Unit Size: 263 x 150 x 35 mm Weight: 1.0kg HDMI: 4 inputs, 1 output. HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2 USB: Service port only IR: 3.5mm IR out Power: Adaptor: 110-240V 50-60Hz AC. Draws up to 700mA; Set: DC 12V 2A Ethernet: 100Mbps Wireless: 2.4 and 5 GHz (802.11 2×2 ac) and Bluetooth 4.0

Supported Audio Formats PCM, 8 Channels, 24 bits, 192kHz Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Atmos up to 8 channels and up to 192kHz DTS and DTS-HD Master Audio up to 8 channels and up to 192kHz

Supported Video Formats max RGB/YUV444/YUV422/YUV420 4K (3840×2160) 10-bit at 60Hz HDR pass-through (HDR 10)

Remote Control Size: 38 x 174 x 22 mm Weight: 0.1kg Range: 6m-12m, under typical conditions Connection: Bluetooth LE Batteries: 2 x AAA

  Via Sarah Perez https://techcrunch.com

[gamerzcourt]

Could Sony and Nintendo’s Success With the PS4 and Switch be Derailed by Anything?Could Sony and Nintendo’s Success With the PS4 and Switch be Derailed by Anything?xbox 360

New Post has been published on http://www.gamerzcourt.com/could-sony-and-nintendos-success-with-the-ps4-and-switch-be-derailed-by-anythingcould-sony-and-nintendos-success-with-the-ps4-and-switch-be-derailed-by-anythingxbox-360/

Could Sony and Nintendo’s Success With the PS4 and Switch be Derailed by Anything?Could Sony and Nintendo’s Success With the PS4 and Switch be Derailed by Anything?xbox 360

The PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch are currently, not just ascendant, but dominant in the marketplace—they have both exceeded all expectations with commercial performance, put their respective brands back in the limelight, dominated chatter and mindshare due to a constant stream of great games, and are currently the leading consoles on the market. The thing, though, is, that as the gaming market has shown us, gamers are fickle, tastes can change at the drop of a hat, what’s successful now doesn’t have to be successful tomorrow (and vice versa), and fortunes can change without warning.

Just look at how Fortnite went from being a flop at launch to the most popular game in the world currently, or how Rainbow Six: Siege went from an unsuccessful launch to one of the most successful shooters of the generation. Look at how the PS3 went from being a laughing stock to widely being considered one of the best consoles of all time within a span of years, or how Nintendo went from one of the most successful consoles ever to one of the least successful consoles ever to back to one of the most successful ones within the span of just six years. Look at how Microsoft went from the original Xbox, which was an underground hit, to leading the generation with the Xbox 360, to their underperformance with the Xbox One.

Fortunes can change quickly in the gaming industry, is what’s I am getting at—although, and this is the important part, it rarely happens randomly. Fortunes change when those sheering the ship go wrong—due to miscalculations or sheer arrogance. Which is to say, bad decisions, whether motivated by a misunderstanding of the market, or arrogance, or both, can reverse the course of even the most successful company or console—so even if Sony and Nintendo are doing well now, they could still find themselves looking up from the bottom of the barrel tomorrow if they’re not careful.

“On Sony’s end, a lot of issues come down to how the company treats the issue of compatibility.”

Now, I have talked extensively about issues, potential and current, that face the Xbox brand extensively previously—most of them having to do with Microsoft’s lack of compelling games and exclusives for their console. PS4 and Switch more or less don’t face any pressing, immediate current issues—but there are some bubbling under the surface that could become problems for them in the future, which they would do well to address now, before that happens.

On Sony’s end, a lot of issues come down to how the company treats the issue of compatibility. With the PS4, the break in backward compatibility with the PS3 was understandable, if not desirable. But things have changed a lot in the years since—Microsoft has managed to raise the bar with its excellent backwards compatibility initiative on Xbox One, and the market has been trained by iPhones and Android devices to expect that when it purchases something digitally, it will be available there for it in the future. With Sony pushing greatly for digital purchases and its digital services, if the PlayStation 5 doesn’t maintain continuity and compatibility with the PS4, Sony could risk alienating a fair share of its audience. After all, if their present purchase won’t carry over to the PS5, why not look into the next Xbox as well? If the PS5 could play their existing content, they would have reason to stick with Sony’s ecosystem over trying to switch—but if it’s a full reset anyway, then the PS5 and the next Xbox are on even ground, which is not a situation Sony would want.

Compatibility is especially important at the beginning of a generation—it didn’t matter when Sony broke compatibility with the PS3 when they launched the PS4, because the Xbox One also broke compatibility with the Xbox 360 at first (backward compatibility didn’t come to Xbox One until 2015). But if at the generation reset, the next Xbox has backward compatibility, while the PS5 does not, then not only does Xbox have a greater chance of retaining customers than the PS5 does, but it could also potentially attract some PlayStation owners too—either with the prospect of a PS4 owner being able to pick up and play an old Xbox 360 game on the next Xbox as is without problem, or by simply inspiring confidence that their purchases, future and current, would be better respected on the Xbox side of the fence than they are on the PlayStation side.

“Sony has managed to skate by this generation well enough even in the absence of backward compatibility because Microsoft and Sony both started without it at first, and by the time Microsoft had made inroads with the feature, the PS4 was too well entrenched, with far too many great games and great momentum, for it to matter. At a generation reset, neither of those factors will hold true.”

Sony has managed to skate by this generation well enough even in the absence of backward compatibility because Microsoft and Sony both started without it at first, and by the time Microsoft had made inroads with the feature, the PS4 was too well entrenched, with far too many great games and great momentum, for it to matter. At a generation reset, neither of those factors will hold true.

Compatibility, then, is the greatest challenge Sony faces—Nintendo’s is different. While Nintendo, too, has broken compatibility with the Switch, on the whole there is enough reason to suspect that the company will maintain compatibility going forward with the Switch and its successors—since it has long been a stalwart of the feature. The biggest problem Nintendo faces right now, then, is what has long been its Achilles’ heel: its weakness in the network and services area.

Nintendo has trailed in the online functionality area for far too long—with the Switch, they are arguably regressing. I’m not going to get into the whole argument about the Switch lacking Netflix or an internet browser—neither of those are important to you playing games. But basic online functionality, such as the ability to voice chat from the system, form parties, invite friends to your session, have cloud saves, or send a message to a friend, is missing from the Switch right now. If someone, for instance, with over 200 hours in Zelda suddenly loses their save file, with no way to restore it, that is an angry customer Nintendo could lose in the future.

“Basic online functionality, such as the ability to voice chat from the system, form parties, invite friends to your session, have cloud saves, or send a message to a friend, is missing from the Switch right now.”

But outside of isolated cases like this, not having parity with online functionality creates another disadvantage for Nintendo—while the Switch is weaker than the PS4 and Xbox One, it is a modern system that is strong enough, and compatible with modern engines. Moreover, modern pipelines for game development are highly scalable—all of this is to say that with the Switch being a success, thirds party support for it shouldn’t be held back by its relative lack of power. That’s a good thing, and something Nintendo has been lacking for years now.

But the disparity in online functionality could end up creating a barrier for third parties anyway—most modern third party games have major online components, for gameplay as well as for their in game economies. If the Switch can’t support something as basic as the ability for a player to invite a friend to join their session natively, then either a third party has to work to program their own solution for that, or they ship their game without that functionality, leading to an inferior version. As a matter of fact, that is what happened with the Switch versions of FIFA 18 and NBA 2K18 last year. If a Switch version of a game is inferior, players are less likely to buy it. If players don’t buy it, third parties don’t support the Swich. If third parties don’t support the Switch, Nintendo ends up right back where they started.

For Nintendo, the most pressing thing it needs to address in the future is how it handles online functionality; we live in a world where online is no longer a novelty, no longer an option, no longer an add-on. It is mandatory, a necessity, an expectation—an expectation that Nintendo, thus far, has been unable to meet.

“The good news for Nintendo, and for Sony, is that they both make great games—and these great games ensure that their systems will continue to have appeal, and therefore attract buyers, no matter what.”

The good news for Nintendo, and for Sony, is that they both make great games—and these great games ensure that their systems will continue to have appeal, and therefore attract buyers, no matter what. It means that they have an advantage—they can continue screwing up in areas such as compatibility and online, but people will still buy their systems for the next Last of Us or Zelda. That’s Nintendo and Sony’s advantage—great games are, ultimately, what you buy gaming systems for. Everything else is extraneous.

So for now, Sony and Nintendo are doing fine, in spite of their obvious weaknesses. But their weaknesses are weaknesses nonetheless—why leave openings at all? The best way to remain ascendant is to do everything right. That includes, in fact, requires, doing well in areas you’re not doing well in right now. Hopefully Sony and Nintendo do just that.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

GamingBolt.com: Video Game News, Reviews, Previews and Blog

[troyhuch]

E3 From a Far 2017

So, I feel I should start this off by mentioning that the past couple of days have been a bit distressing. A few days ago, about a week before the start of E3, my grandfather passed away. This has impacted things a fair bit here for me and my family, and this may have impacted my view of things in this period. I felt this was an Important thing to mention as it has impacted things for me over the past few days.

That said I still feel it’s fair to say this has been a somewhat lacklustre E3. There were no real big winners. Nothing to really wow gamers. If I had to guess why, it’s probably because after the negative reaction a number of game releases have gotten over the last year or so, it has prompted a number of publishers to be careful with how they choose to promote and hype their upcoming titles. Just look at EA’s Play conference and the lack of Star Wars games, outside of Battlefront 2. For the past 2 years they’ve had some form of package prepared to show their work on other Star Wars titles, though never really naming much of the titles shown.

This is probably because for a number of years before this EA teased out another game in a similar fashion, Mass Effect: Andromeda. For Mass Effect: Andromeda EA and Bioware began talking a new title almost as soon and Mass Effect 3 was done, occasionally producing little teaser videos talking about and showing some of the supposed work being done, but never exactly naming the game until things got closer to release. This worked to build up hype for the upcoming title, making it all the more disappointing for players when the final game did not meet their expectations. It also didn’t help things that also game was buggy for a number of players.

So, new what we see is EA and other publishers trying to pull back on its own hype machine, so that should game come out and turn out to be a bit less than expects, the impact hopefully is not as damaging. That said I kind of have to wonder what has EA been doing with these other Star Wars games. It has been just a little over 4 years since EA acquired the Star Wars licence after Lucasarts was closed by Disney, and all they seem to have for us are two Battlefront games (one already out and one on the way) and a mobile game. They have the MMO The Old Republic, but they had that before they were fully given the rights to Star Wars, so it doesn’t quite count to me.

EA’s Play was looking to be the worst of the press conferences with little in major game announcements, and a focus more on sports than other games. Not to say sports games are bad, but there isn’t really much to talk about with sports games. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised by that EA would make sports games a major part of their conference considering that they are one of few publishers still doing sports games and the current CEO is a former EA Sports guy. Then came along Bethesda who, after being the new darling of E3 over the past 2 years, decided to do a Nintendo style announcement video, but still rent a theatre only for one person to come out at the start and at the end of their press conference, which ended up being only about 40 minutes long.

If I was to rank the press conferences is would say Microsoft and Sony took out the top positions. Being behind the manufacture of the Xbox and Playstation consoles, they we’re able to take from a wider roster of games than just what they intend to publish. Microsoft may be part of the reason why EA’s Play conference wasn’t as impressive as it could have been as they got to have the exclusive of showing the first gameplay footage of the new Bioware game, Anthem. But it was Microsoft’s reveal of the Xbox One X (formerly Project Scorpio) and yet they kept things focused in their press conference on revealing games rather than on the Xbox One X.

To keep things brief I’ll now only talk about a few games that got my attention.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Life is Strange was a game that I played last year that really got my interest. The followed a girl who gains time shifting powers after seeing her old best friend get killed. The game proved to be an emotional journey as it explored the relationship between its two leads, Max and Chloe. Now we have a expandalone game on the way where this time we play as Chloe in a period set before the event of the original Life is Strange, presumably centring around the relationship between Chloe and Rachel, the missing girl Max and Chloe are looking for in Life is Strange, and former friend of Chloe. This new game looks to be rather interesting, however the game may have a few things going against it.

First off, the game is developed by a different studio. Taking the place of Dontnod Entertainment is Deck Nine Games (Formerly Idol Minds,) a developer who was fairly active in the Playstation 1 and 2 period, but in recent years have been working on mobile games. Before the Storm is set to be the beginning of a new direction for the developer who are planning to do narrative driven games like this from here on. Deck Nine therefore probably has a bit riding on this, but they are not the original developer .

In addition to the loss of the original developers Before the Storm also loses a certain amount of the original Life is Strange voice cast. It’s unclear to what extent things have been affected here, but original Chloe voice actress, Ashly Burch, won’t be involved due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. This seems like something that could be a substantial lose for the game, especially since Ashly Burch has become a fairly substantial voice in the video game industry, having voiced now Cassie Cage in Mortal Kombat X, Nebula in the Telltale Guardians of the Galaxy series, and Aloy in Horizon: Zero Dawn. Ashly Burch apparently has acted as a consultant on the project, but not having her in the voice role of Chloe could still impact this game.

That all said, I’m still looking forward to this title, having been won over by the first game.

Marvel’s Spider-Man

One of the biggest games series in recent years would have to be the Batman: Arkham series, giving players the ability to take on the role of the caped crusader. But after Arkham Knight develop Rocksteady has said they are not doing anymore Batman games (though they did do the Arkham VR spin-off.) In steps Insomniac Games with this new Spider-Man game to take Batman’s place. Looking at some of the footage for this game it feels very reminiscent of the Batman: Arkham game to me, but changed up for Spider-Man, so the gadgets and such are different, plus everything is set during the day rather than at night (or at least what we have seen is during the day.) So I am very interested in seeing how this one goes.

Skull and Bones

In Assassin’s Creed 3 Ubisoft came up with a way of playing as a sail ship captain that proved to be so good and popular to fans that they created the next Assassin’s Creed game (Black Flag) around being a deadly pirate/assassin sailing the waters of the Caribbean. After Black Flag though the Assassin’s Creed series returned to its traditional gameplay of being in one open world city, and not being out at sea. Skull and Bones however takes the naval gameplay of Black Flag and spins it off into its own multiplayer based game. Unlike other pirate games like Sea of Thieves, you won’t be forming a crew with your friends, but a fleet, to take on other fleets of players in the PvP or to take on missions against the AI. While I am more of a single player guy and therefore would prefer to see another single player game be made with these mechanics, this does still grab my interest, especially after having played a fair bit of Black Flag this year.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War

Shadow of Mordor was another game that released a while back that surprised us with its new gameplay mechanics. The Nemesis system helped to make Shadow of Mordor more dynamic. Rather than having a fixed set of bosses and mini bosses, you have a rotating and evolving roster of captains and war chiefs based on the performance of NPCs in the game world. Generic NPCs in the game even have the chance of becoming captains if they manage to kill you.

It has been while now since Shadow of Mordor’s release, and players have been wanting to get another game with the Nemesis system. There had even been rumours of WB Games Montreal, the guys responsible got the one Batman: Arkham game not developed by Rocksteady, developing a new Batman game or and Batman: Arkham spin off using the Nemesis system, but that game has yet to be revealed if it does exist.

Now Monolith is bring it back the Nemesis system with a sequel to the game that introduced us to it. Giving us a bigger player area (or at least a greater selection of play areas) and throws more into the system to make things more dynamic and challenging. The goal this time around appears to be to gather an army to take over Mordor. Problem with that is that, unless Monolith plans to seriously deviate from the story of Lord of the Rings, we already know somewhat how this will end. But then the main story for a number players probably isn’t that important. What’s probably of more interest is the story they form with the Nemesis system. I hope too that the game has better free play options to better stretch out the gameplay beyond the main story.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

This was teased last year when we got a fake DOS prompt at the start of Bethesda’s E3 presentation showing a list of Id games covering the Doom series, and modern Wolfenstein series with New Colossus with the Wolfenstein games, but with no date on the game. Not much was shown beyond a basic trailer this, but it was a welcome end to the lacklustre Bethesda presentation. Wolfenstein: The New Order was a welcome return to something more basic and almost classical in its play style. It was this sort of return to classic style gameplay, which has become more of a thing in recent years, particularly with games connected to Id Software. Hopefully, whatever we get turns out to be rather decent.

[nazih-fares]

In these modern days, 3D fighting games are a rare commodity. Born from 3D craze of the mid-1990s, with an urge for every single console in the market to enter this new dimension, the genre flourished… until it almost disappear entirely. Let’s face it, in the case of fighting games, a combat in a 3D environment can pose many gameplay worries and few titles have mastered this trend, like Soul Calibur and especially the Tekken series (both published by Bandai Namco). Known for these endless combos, the series had lost some of its punch after the release of Tekken 6, but Katsuhiro Harada wanted to bring back the saga with the might of an iron fist, worked for years with the perfectionist mind of a Japanese developer, and finally gave us Tekken 7 on consoles after a year in Arcades, and might be the series best entry so far.

Since its early days, the Tekken series suffers from many of the genre’s clichés which were too difficult to forget (I’ll refrain from mentioning the horrible Tekken 5 and Tekken 6 which did not help at all). With its lengthy combos, its endless aerial juggles and a certain amount of accessible playability, the franchise did not bother to reshape the gameplay. Now with Tekken 7, Harada’s team had the main goal to get away from the old trends, and get back to the days of being a fun but also very technical fighting game for the sake of the fighting game tournament scene. On that competitive front, Tekken always played a role in major international tournament series like EVO. For that, the franchise decided to expand that by adding native eSports features in the game, such as the possibly to organize your very own bracket online tournaments, participate and spectate matches being played, which help tremendously streamers.

To start with, when to comes to technical gameplay, Tekken 7 says goodbye to the infinite combos to return to something purer and raw, closer to the gameplay feel of my favorite entry in the series which is Tekken 3. In general fighters seem heavier on ground, but lighter in the shock of the punch and kicks, helping push back the opponent without the endless aerial juggle of the previous games. (the nuance is important) And return more quickly to the ground. In the air, the hitboxes seems more reduced than before, requiring players to time hits better to link these famous air combos. The result of all this is shorter but more violent combo threads, which above all will demand a greater mastery of the game, which is what we wanted.

The game is therefore more technical, but also more tensed, with a real work done on the defense and the possibilities to counter-attack. Tekken 7 introduces the Power Crush system, which allow the players to absorb damage from a mid to high attack and use it against your opponent (similar to Street Fighter IV Focus Attack). The Power Crush system doesn’t work on low sweeps or grabs, so don’t expect to abuse or spam these features. This is where the mindgame takes on its importance since you’ll have to be close to active that Power Crush, but at the same opens the door to get countered by a simple grab, and thus reminding you how important attack variation is in Tekken 7. Besides the Power Crush, Tekken 7 enriched the Rage system introduced in the previous opus. With RB (or R1 depending on your console), it is possible to launch a Rage Art attack, a kind of Super Attack (a bit like Mortal Kombat’s Xray Attacks), but also to use the Rage Drive, a unique attack that has the ability to break enemy guard, and initiate longer combos. Tekken 7 of course didn’t forget the cinematic angle of franchise, and added this Super Slow Motion that is activated when both of the players are at low health and are just about to hit each other.

When it comes to the story mode of Tekken 7, it tells the end to the conflict between Heihachi Mishima and his son Kazuya, known as the “Mishima Saga”. The mode will expand with a few different characters other than Heihachi and Kazuya, which could entertain fans of the series. I for one never bothered understand the storyline of the Tekken Series, and this episode is no different as it’s riddled with cliche dialogue lines and scenes. The game story takes a hell lot of time to tell the story, with too many cinematics, but also weird conversations where characters would be enacted by different lanaguage voiceovers, which is a bit weird and illogical. I mean, unless you are at an interpreter party, who would logically start a topic in English (Nina), for a Japanese (Heihachi) to answer back in his native tongue, only to be interrupted by a new Italian fighter (Claudio). Anyway, it might feel normal for people, it’s just weird to hear 3-4 different voiceover languages in the same scene.

At launch, Tekken 7 gives us a fine selection of 36 characters to play, including old ones like Nina, Kuma, Law, but also nine brand new fighters including Claudio, Luchy Chloe and our first Arabic one called Shaheen. The new fighters are necessarily more classical in terms of design styles, adding a great diversity in the roster of the game, without creating useless duplicates. Every fighter has his own personality and it will once again be difficult not to find one that clicks to your style, whether you prefer some like Lucky Chloe with very fast hits and extremely fluid movements, or go for – my favorite so far – Master Raven who’s more technical and relies on counter-attacking, as well as using teleportation and quick dodge paired with Ninjutsu style (Sort of robotic-enhanced ninja).

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As it is the case with many fighting games nowadays, including recently Injustice 2 (reviewed on our site last month) you will have the freedom to customize your favorite fighters through a dedicated editor. Clothing, hair, color schemes, and a bunch of – mostly goofy – accessories will create numerous combinations. I wish though that they focused a bit on creating real secondary identity like character specific or exclusive accessories, because most of the alternative set given are mostly just alternate color scheme sets based on the original. If you didn’t get what I mean, I’m referring to ideal secondary cosmetic skins that dramatically change the look of the fighter, maybe with a classical retro look, younger age, etc. As you would have guessed, most accessories aren’t unlocked and require you to either spend money (in-game currency) or do specific game actions and achievements. You can earn money through various existing game modes (online, singleplayer, etc) or spend time in the Treasure Fight mode. The latter, is a like a min-arcade mode, forcing you to beat a succession of enemies and will win a chest after each win that contains a customization item, and the more you chain victories, the more rare the loot.

On the side of the online mode, I’m happy to say that it’s probably the best around from this new generation of fighting games (In comparison to Injustice 2 and Street Fighter V). While it was still difficult to judge the effectiveness of matchmaking since few people had the game when I received my review code, but after the launch week, I faced no problems, with no latency issues, dropping server connection and no frame drops whatsoever.

Sadly my small issue with the game is the general visual look of Tekken 7, which is closer to an older generation game. For a game launched in 2017 – even if it was in Arcade 2016 – it visually looks like a Tekken 6, lacking a sort of finesse. Even if the game is perfectly fluid, using a brand new Unreal Engine 4 custom graphic engine, the general feel is a bit sub-par on couple of points. Menus are slick, arenas are really colorful and special effects pop, but face animations feel crude, and some clothing and other cosmetic parts of the fighters look pixelated around the edges.

But at least, on another artistic point of view, the game has some of the best audio compositions, mixing fun guitar metal shreds and heavy riffs, traditional Japanese and far east instruments and even some Arabian and Spanish influenced tunes. To be honest, that surprised me a lot, as previous games were always playing the clichés of the genre, which you can actually listen to in the PlayStation 4 exclusive Jukebox mode, which acts as a historical music library of the Tekken franchise.

Tekken 7 was reviewed using an Xbox One digital copy of the game provided by Namco Bandai as well as a PC Steam copy of the game purchased by the reviewer. The main review was done by Nazih Fares and the technical PC review was written by Mazen Abdallah after a tested on a PC running Windows 10, with an 8GB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1070 fitted on a 4th Generation Intel i7 4790 3.6Ghz CPU and topped with 16GB of RAM. The game is also available on PlayStation 4 via retail and online stores. We don’t discuss review scores with publishers or developers prior to the review being published.

After waiting for more than 6 years for a sequel, you'd expect Tekken 7 to come back with the might of an iron fist, and Bandai Namco absolutely nailed that. In these modern days, 3D fighting games are a rare commodity. Born from 3D craze of the mid-1990s, with an urge for every single console in the market to enter this new dimension, the genre flourished...

[hopefulphantomwonderland-blog]

New Post has been published on Pagedesignweb

New Post has been published on https://pagedesignweb.com/the-war-on-used-games/

The War on Used Games

As we prepare for the coming wave of next generation systems, we should be anticipating improvements on all the good things we associate with the current crop of systems. Moving forward we expect: better graphics, faster processors, more engaging games, you get the idea. But not everything that we’re anticipating will be a progressive movement for gaming. At least, as far as Sony and Microsoft are concerned, you can wave goodbye to playing used games on their systems. Although these are just rumors at this point, it wouldn’t be surprising if they came to fruition. It’s very plausible, especially when taking into consideration that several game publishers have already fired shots at the used game market.

Most notable is Electronic Arts(EA), who became the first publisher to institute the practice of charging gamers, who bought used games, a fee to access codes that come with the game. To elaborate, Downloadable Content(DLC) codes are included with new copies of a particular game and only with those codes, can that content be accessed. EA expanded its project to include playing used games online. Gamers would now have to pay $10, in addition to the cost of the used game that they purchased, in order to have access to the online components of their game. Ubisoft has since followed suit, requiring an online pass for its games as well. You can identify the games which require an online pass as they bare the,”Uplay Passport”, logo on the box.

Ubisoft decided they’d take things a step further and implement Digital Rights Management, a practice more often associated with DVD or CD anti-piracy efforts. Assassins Creed 2 was the first game to be effected by this practice. In order to play the PC version of Assassins Creed 2, gamers are required to create an account with Ubisoft and remain logged into that account in order to play the game. This means that if you lose your internet connection, the game will automatically pause and try to reestablish the connection. However, if you’re unfortunate enough to be unable to reconnect to the internet you’ll have to continue from your last saved game; losing any progress you may have made since then. This will be the case for all of Ubisoft’s PC titles, regardless of one playing single-player or multi-player. While Digital Rights Management has been used to combat DVD and CD piracy for quite some time now, this will mark the first time it’s been used for a video game. In light of Ubisoft’s implementation of DRM, Matthew Humphries of Geek.com, cautions that it’s feasible that eventually even console games will require online registration in order to play them.

So what’s the reason for all of this? According to According to Denis Dyack, the head of Silicon Knights, the sale of used games is cannibalizing the profit of the primary game market. He also claims that the used game market is somehow causing the price of new games to rise. His proposed solution is to move away from physical disks and embrace digital distribution. Essentially he’d like to see services like Steam or EA’s Origin replace traditional hard copies. There are even rumors that the X-Box 720 will embrace the exclusive use of digital downloads and not use disks at all. Whether Microsoft will actually follow through with that plan remains to be seen.

One could argue that Sony has already laid the ground work for preventing used games from functioning on their future system. At the very least, they’ve already made quite an effort to make used games significantly less desirable. Kath Brice, of Gamesindustry.biz, reported that the latest SOCOM game for PSP, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3, will require customers who purchase a used copy to pay an addition $20 dollars to receive a code for online play.

I’d like to see some quantifiable evidence to support the claim that used games are in fact hurting the sales of new games at all. Without some actual facts, it sounds to me like a whole lot to do about nothing. Case in point, within 24 hours Modern Warfare 3 sold 6.5 million copies, grossing $400 million dollars in sales. Correct me if I’m wrong but you haven’t heard Infinity Ward complaining about the used game market and it affecting their bottom line. That’s likely because they’re too busy counting their money earned by creating games that people actually want to play. Imagine that. Maybe the problem isn’t that used games have a negative impact on the sale of new games but, the problem is instead that game developers need to make better games that gamers are willing to pay full price for.

In my opinion, not every game is worth $60 simply because it’s the suggested retail price. Looking at things objectively, not every game is created equally, therefore not every game is worthy of costing $60. Whether it’s because that particular game failed to meet expectations and live up to the hype or because it lacks any sort of replay value. It’s ludicrous to argue that gamers should pay top dollar for every game especially when they all too often turn out to be horrible disappointments, like Ninja Gadian 3, or they’re riddled with glitches like Skyrim.

I suspect that the War on Used Games is nothing more than a money grab by developers, upset that they’re unable to cash in on a very lucrative market. To put it in dollars and cents, in 2009 GameStop reported nearly $2.5 million dollars in revenue from the sale of used consoles and used games. And not one red cent of that profit reaches the pockets of game publishers. Greed as the motivating factor for the declaration of War on Used Games is transparent. Especially when you consider that when GameStop began separating their revenue from new games and used games in their financial statements, EA thereafter instituted their $10 dollar fee for used games.

In the absence of empirical evidence, I’ll have to settle for anecdotal. I’ll use myself as an example. I’m planning to purchase a used copy of Ninja Gaidan 2. I’ve never been a huge fan of the series. I didn’t play the first one because I didn’t have an Xbox and at the time it was an Xbox exclusive. And I never played the original version. Needless to say, I was never clamoring to play Ninja Gaidan 2. However the innovation in the second incarnation of the game, which allows you to disembowel your enemies, is enough of a novelty that I’d like to play through it at some point. I can buy it now, used, for about 10 dollars. If it was only being sold at full price I would more than likely pass on playing it altogether or maybe rent it. My point is that game developers are not losing money because of used games; you can’t miss money you weren’t going to receive anyway. They’re simply not getting money they weren’t going to get to begin with.

Unless you have a significant amount of disposable income and a considerable amount of free time, you’re probably like me and you prioritize which games you plan to purchase and how much you’re willing to pay for them. You decide which games are must haves and which games you’d like to play but are willing to wait for a price drop before getting them. Then there are the games which you’re interested in, but they tend to fall through the cracks because they’re not all that high on your radar and you’ll maybe pick them up several months later, or even years after their release, if you ever pick them up at all.

I find it ironic that the looming death of the used game market could likely spell the demise of GameStop who, ironically, push their customers to pre-order new games and purchase them at full price. One would think that game publishers would be appreciative about this service and not detest GameStop and treat used games with such scorn. Pre-orders not only help promote their games but they function as a forecast of potential sales as well. Even Dave Thier, a contributor for Forbes Online, who describes GameStop as, “a parasitic bloodsucker that doesn’t do much besides mark up discs and sit in the mall”, recognizes the folly of passing the burden of the used game market onto the consumer.

I’ve only once pre-ordered a game myself. At the behest of J. Agamemnon, I pre-ordered Battlefield 3, which is ironically a property of EA. I paid full price for this game and was happy to do so. In large part because I was granted access to several weapons and maps that I would have had to wait to download had I not pre-ordered it. I propose that instead of punishing gamers for wanting to save their hard earned cash, the gaming industry needs to learn to incentivize gamers into wanting to pony up to that $60 dollar price tag.

I titled this article The War on Used Games in an effort to be tongue-in-cheek and poke fun at how whenever the government declares war on drugs or terror or whatever it may be, they only succeed in exacerbating the problem. It should come as no surprise seeing as how the government tends to take the most asinine approach possible trying to “solve” problems. The end result is always the same; precious time and resources are wasted, and the issue is that much worse than it was before they intervened. If the gaming industry does indeed go down this path; they’ll only hurt themselves in the long run, fail to share in the revenue they so greedily covet and worst of all, hurt their customers, who keep the gaming industry abreast with currency.

It’s very ironic and actually very fitting that it’s EA who are spearheading the effort to attack the used game market when they themselves are one of the largest beneficiaries of used games. Chipsworld MD Don McCabe, told GamesIndustry.biz that EA has what he referred to as a “franchise software house” in that they “upgrade their titles; FIFA, Madden; all of these are effectively the same title upgraded each year. And people trade in last year’s for this year’s.” He went onto say that those titles are the ones which are most often traded in. Shutting down the used games market effectively destroys a tried and true method in which fans of EA’s franchises keep up-to-date with each of EA’s annual releases. Aside from nostalgia, what would be the point of holding onto FIFA 11, when FIFA 12 is right around the corner?

Don McCabe, an executive at Chipsworld, explains that, “consumers won’t prosper under this new system, as copies of the game will lose their resale value”. He goes on to say that retailers will “just readjust [the price] bearing in mind you have to buy the voucher.” The CEO of SwapGame cautions that “customers who trade in for cash or credit do so to acquire new games they could otherwise not afford.” This means that ultimately it will be the publisher who ends up losing money because when retailers adjust their prices to reflect the increase in cost for used games, the resale value of the game will drop and new games are less likely to be purchased.

I’m a fan of several EA franchises, I enjoy Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed and I’m a die hard Sony PlayStation enthusiast. As their customer, I’m outraged and offended by their current practices. I fear for what future methods they may use to further stifle or even kill the used game market. That said, I’m hopeful that these companies will be receptive to the outcry of their customers and adhere to our wants. I implore them to discontinue punishing their customers in an effort to capture what they perceive as missed profits. They risk not only alienating their customers but they risk finding themselves with significantly fewer customers and substantially less profit. And at the end of the day, that’s really the bottom line.