7549 replies to this topic

[Randomman96]

The only innovation coming from big publishers these days is how they can make their money from us.

 

I'll point out a recent example... why does Battlefield 1, a multiplayer title known for large scale battles, need to be developed so that it can be used in 5v5 e-sports? Let me illustrate how weird this is another way...  a game about the worst conflict in history used for E-sports. This is the same game that has a really awesome codex written by the 'The Great War' youtube channel by the way. (Which goes to show a little respect for the source material set this game apart from the usual FPS clone)

Believe it or not, but the whole creation of BF1 Incursions is NOT because it's a way for DICE and EA to make more money (well, not fully at least), but rather because for the past few Battlefield Titles, the community has been asking for an official competitive mode.  Take a trip to the forums or subreddits.  You'll find posts of people asking DICE to make a more competitive mode for the franchise.  Look to the past with unofficial community competitive tournaments.  People have been wanting this.

 

And even then, look at how Incursions is.  It's clear DICE and EA never put much stock into a competitive mode until recently.  Given how it's completely changing the core of BF1, is responsible for the upcoming Weapon Re-Balance patch, completely changing up some maps, and was only revealed in an early stated just this year, that theory is supported.  It's very clear this is DICE testing the waters for a possibility of a competitive mode in future Battlefield titles.  In fact, what's most telling about how DICE and EA never gave it much thought until recently is that they ALREADY COULD SEE how much money eSports and competitive modes bring in.  Whether you want to go broad with the big eSport games of League of Legends and DOTA, or be more specific with shooters, namely with Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Halo, Rainbow 6: Siege, Overwatch, and even as old as Quake, they could tell that it's something that brings in money.  But they just never care for competitive modes, but the community was begging them for it.

 

And why use BF1?  Because it's the most recent title, it gets players back into it, and they are still working on it.  They aren't going to go and make it in Battlefield 3 or 4, because despite the fact that players are still playing it, DICE has stopped working on those titles.

[Spark]

Here's a scheduled dose of Xbox stuff, since this that stuff doesn't get a lot of exposure in the Echo Chamber.

 

It's not exactly news, but it is an interesting article about a certain something that is currently ongoing.

 

How the X1 got Backwards Comp going.

It's a really good read, even if this doesn't apply to you. Shines a light on a lot of behind the scenes going ons.

 

OG Xbox compatibility goes live tomorrow, you can use your original disc, or buy them digitally for $10 USD

First wave of titles:

Also "BLACK" too, but it's not in this pic for some reason.

 

In more Xbox news, turns out Xbox One games aren't the only ones taking advantage of all that extra Scorpio Power.

Halo 3, Fallout 3, ESIV: Oblivion, and Assassin's Creed 1 are all getting Scorpio launch day upgrades.

 

One last thing (not Xbox related): Here's Rockstar's long-awaited pithy excuse why they didn't do the planned single-player expansions for GTA V, and instead doubled down on the GTA Online microtransactions.

Here's R* as they conveyed the above article:

[Randomman96]

With the announcement of the original Xbox titles coming to the backwards compatibility program, has put out one video showing just how much of a resolution upscaling the Backwards compatibility brings for the original titles (namely Knights of the Old Republic, which is what they used to demo it), and two videos of the 360 title upscaling for Xbox One X (This time with Halo 3, using two multiplayer maps, The Pit and High Ground).  

 

And boy, does KotOR get a MASSIVE face lift.  Have a peek:

 

 

 

EDIT: Make that 4.  Missed one because I never played this game so I passed the video over.

[Ocelot]

I need to know how Ninja Gaiden Black performs and I need to know yesterday. It's a crime that the fastest and nastiest of the Holy Trinity of Action Gaming hasn't had a proper remaster or even a PC version after all these years. Sigma on PS3 is... most of the way there, at least, but even that is ten years old now. 

 

In other news, Shin Megami Tensei V has been officially announced for the Switch. I thought they'd already done that at the Switch reveal event, but I suppose back then it was just 'a new entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series', and now they've dropped the totally unpredictable bombshell that it will be called 'V'.

 

 

And America is getting a special SNES-themed 3DS XL in November, styled after the vastly inferior US SNES for losers:

 

[Spark]

Hey Ocey. Bud.

 

[Ocelot]

Hey Ocey. Bud.

 

 

 

I can't wait to see the Digital Foundry analysis video. It seems like the Xbox One plays 360 BC games better than the original console did, for the most part, so if they nail OG Xbox games that well it should be awesome. NGB at 4K60 would be like rendering your own HD remaster on the fly.

 

(Ocelot, you do not need to buy a $650 console to play a 13 year old game you've already played a million times at a resolution higher than your TV supports)

[Spark]

From experience, it's true for the most part. There's been some hiccups. Halo: Reach was nigh unplayable for about a month and a half after it first showed up for compat. But after they fixed it, it's running just fine.

 

The main problem I seem to be coming across is the games being upscaled cause a lot of jaggies. But if you can live with that, then everything is fine. This is for 360 stuff obviously.

 

As for OG Xbox stuff, it looks like they've done more under the hood than just simply making it compatible. They seemed to have done a "soft" HD port for them. Which is just so neat.

[Ocelot]

Yeah, I suppose there are always going to be some quirks when you're doing a blanket 'make the resolution more gooder' function that has to work for every game, rather than doing it on a game-by-game basis, but it seems remarkably solid. I mean, sometimes you get actual for-realsies HD remasters sold at full price that turn out to be buggy junk. I remember seeing that the backwards-compatible version of Bayonetta cut out the screen tearing entirely and smoothed out just about all the framerate drops from the original version, making it the best way to play the game until it came out on PC.

 

Plus sticking an original Xbox disc into an Xbox One X and having it not only not just spit out an error message, but give you a free digital copy of that game is just nuts to me. Like, isn't this the video game industry? Shouldn't there be at least one hoop to jump through? How does a 2017 console read the same discs as one from 2001? I don't have to subscribe to anything or pay any fees? What?

 

EDIT - So Super Mario Odyssey is killing it in the ol' Metacritic/Opencritic game. 98 after 44 reviews so far. I think this has to go down in history as the best first year a console has ever had.

[Ocelot]

OK, ladies, start shoveling some coal into the hype boilers, because DEVIL MAY CRY 5 IS DEFINITELY HAPPENING TONIGHT, DEFINITELY.

 

"E3 was only half the story".

 

Sony's Paris Game Show conference is on tonight, and they're teasing seven new announcements in the pre-show alone, while the show itself promises 'an exclusive new look at the next wave of huge PlayStation titles'. 

 

It starts in eleven-ish hours from this post; be there or be someone who missed the incredible announcement of the greatest video game ever made.

 

Geoff Keighloritos knows what's up:

 

 

And, really, would Geoff "Do the Dew" Shill-ley lie to you? Come on, don't be silly.

 

EDIT - Megatons!

 

Guacamelee 2

 

 

Ghost of Tsushima (from Sucker Punch! Remember Sucker Punch? Where have they been all these years?)

 

 

Detroit: Become 'yooman

 

 

God of War, starring Teal'c

 

 

Spider-Man

 

 

And The Last of Us 2, baby, featuring Ellie's AWESOME BICEPS! I am all about Naughty Dog's heroines having sick bicep veins

 

 

EDIT - PUBG is launching on Xbox One on December 12th, by 'Xbox Game Preview', which I assume is early access for Xboxes. I imagine they're going to sell a few copies of this here video game.

 

EDIT - Nintendo is rereleasing Breath of the Wild on Switch, for $60 with a guide book and a new poster and... not the DLC. You still have to buy that separately. 

[Ocelot]

Assassin's Creed Origins is getting a new 'Discovery Mode' patched in for 2018, which looks really cool. It's like a guided tour of Egypt circa 48BC, where you can visit all the lovingly-rendered sights of the era with some nice documentary-style voiceover to read you interesting facts.

 

 

Quantum Break, with its new Xbox One X patch and all the TV episodes downloaded, will weigh in at 178GB. 

 

Super Mario Odyssey is the fastest-selling Mario yet:

 

 

And, furthermore, Nintendo expects the Switch to outdo the Wii U's lifetime sales in right about one year.

 

EDIT - Speaking of video games for the Nintendo Switch, there's a Xenoblade 2 Nintendo Direct coming up on the 7th of November:

 

A

EDIT - And here it is:

 

[Maverick-Werewolf]

Hey y'all, I got some video game news.

 

TODAY IS OCEY'S BIRTHDAY.

 

 

Everyone wish a happy birthday to our local entertainment overlord. You know you only enter these boards to read his amazing posts. Let us rejoice that he still graces us with his endless wit.

 

Happy birthday, Ocey!

 

 

(sorry, I only traffic in hot video game guy gifs of the Chris Redfield and Nathan Drake variety, so I will use them to express my joy)

[Spark]

My birthday gift to Ocy is tidings of new game from Obsidian being announced soon-ish.

[Ocelot]

Happy birthday, Ocey!

 

 

(This is a Chris punch of warm gratitude that makes your head explode with happiness, obviously )

 

My birthday gift to Ocy is tidings of new game from Obsidian being announced soon-ish.

 

Alpha Protocol 2 for my birthday? You shouldn't have!

 

EDIT - Respawn Entertainment (makers of Titanfall) have just been acquired by EA. RIP.

[Randomman96]

EDIT - Respawn Entertainment (makers of Titanfall) have just been acquired by EA. RIP.

What most people don't know and don't mention, including you guys, is that EA had their hands forced to buy out Respawn.

 

Just prior to that announcement, it was announced that Nexon Games, a Korean publisher/developer, was attempting to buy out Respawn Entertainment for $400 million.  EA had to push back to keep Titanfall and keep Respawn working on their unannounced Star Wars project.

 

Now, you guys probably don't know who Nexon is.  Which is understandable, their American and Europe studio has barely put out any big name titles.  Their Korean one, however, is their cash cow in Asia, and given their titles, it's clear to see why.  Their US studio, which has been, somewhat successful, was more successful than their European one.  Their most notable titles though?  Only publishing Lawbreakers's PC side, as well as making Vindictus and Maple Story.  

 

Their Korean side?  Well, they tend to get games out by taking an established IP, making a "spin off" (using the loosest meaning of it), and slapping "Online" to the end of it.  Most notably "Counter Strike Online", "Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online", and more recently (explaining their interest in Respawn) "Titanfall Online".  

 

However, they only similarities to the IP is, well the name, setting, and core.  Beyond that, they just fill the game with outlandish weapon models (like these), outlandish female playermodels (from what I've seen from ported models from CS:Online, like these, WHICH THEY MADE A SEQUEL OF BY THE WAY, AS WELL AS A ZOMBIE SHOOTER CLONE!), and in the case of "Titanfall Online"...   Cat themed titans.

 

And if you guys thought EA was a studio killer, boy you don't know Nexon.  See, while EA has killed studios in the past, at least they give the studios they take a chance, IE DICE and BioWare.  Nexon though?  They don't just kill a studio. They will take a studio, force outlandish changes to a game, drag said game down, then kill said studio with said game.  Look at GitS:SAC-First Assault Online.  It only launched out of beta just last year, while being a paid to play game.  Nexon, however, took that game, forced it to go Free To Play, added in in app purchases, dragged that game down, then just in August (By the way, that Free To Play update? July of the same year), the developers announced they are closing their doors and shutting the games servers in December.  This was a game that saw a healthy community of players in the thousands prior to this.

 

And unlike EA, it's to the point that other studios ARE RUNNING FROM THEM.  CCP games, the developers behind EVE: Online, had used Nexon to distribute their game in a few regions (namely Japan) for a while before ditching them.  Splash Damage, the team behind Return To Castle Wolfenstien's Multiplayer/Wolfenstien: Enemy Territory(an opensource version of the MP), Doom 3 Multiplayer, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and Brink used Nexon to help fund and push out their most recent Free To Play Shooter, Dirty Bomb, before ditching them the moment they could and partnered with WarChest instead for funds to keep the game running.

 

And to add to it, something to make sure EA would have wanted to keep Respawn away from Nexon, their titles?  Free To Play and PC and Mobile only, and typically Asia only.

 

 

So no, Respawn is going to be just fine.  Even more so than the fate that would have awaited them if they suddenly went insane and too Nexon's money.

[Spark]

Ok take all of this with an extreme grain of salt but...

 

 

Devil May Cry 5:

This will finally be announced at PSX. Dante, Vergil, and Nero will all be playable on the game. I don't know if that will be confirmed at PSX in particular alongside the reveal, but multiple sources have informed me that all three characters are on it and you can play as them.

 

There's more stuff about other things like the Pokemon Switch version, Metroid Prime 4, Soul Calibur, etc.

[Ocelot]

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAH BOOOOOYEEEEEEEEEE

 

Although the guy also says that Metroid Prime 4 is being developed by a Namco Bandai studio, which I suppose isn't impossible but it does strain credulity a little. There's also the little wrinkle that Sony might not actually be doing a big flashy keynote for PSX this year. They are still doing something, but it doesn't seem like a big E3-sized thing like it was the last couple of years. So, I don't know, it doesn't mean DMC5 won't be announced there. Itsuno said his new game was going to be announced in 2017, and we're very quickly running out of opportunities. It's basically just PSX and Geoff Keighley's VGX Dorito Awards.

 

So what I'm saying is DEVIL MAY CRY 5 BOYZZZZZZ EVERYONE GET HYPE

 

In other news, Capcom is making Switch games for 2018 and beyond, and Ace Attorney is one of them.

 

EDIT - The next new hottest fighting game crossover guest character is... Noctis in Tekken 7?

 

 

I guess that makes about as much sense as Cloud in Smash did.

 

EDIT - Nominations and voting for the Keighley Awards are live. Mario Odyssey is nominated for pretty much everything, and for some reason they have separate categories for Action and Action/Adventure (and Prey is classed as 'Action', of all things). But, whatever, we all know it's Horizon Zero Dawn anyway.

[God-Emperor Thrawnie]

oh hey ea did a thing again

 

 

wheeeeeee

[Dalton Westmoore]

I heard about this, but this video informed me about some new stuff I hadn't heard about before. 

 

I was planning on buying the game as soon as I've got my gaming PC up and running, but screw EA's money grubbing tendencies, I'm waiting until Christmas to pick up this game.

 

 

 

 

[Ocelot]

 

I would like to say again that it is such a shame that EA got the Star Wars licence. In the years since Disney picked up Star Wars and kicked off a whole new era of gigantic cross-media mega success, EA has released exactly two widely-maligned online FPSes that aren't even related to the new movies. Like, for real, how hard can a ball be dropped? The best they can come up with to celebrate a newly-invigorated, universally beloved space adventure universe, with spaceships and happy little robots and sick laser swords and female protagonists is..."What if you played as a random goon and shot people forever in meaningless, context-free gun battles".

 

This is a sad situation even without EA trying to get you to spend your entire life savings on this game.

[Lord_Capulet]

I know, right?  And if someone does come up with games that actually sound unique and fun, like, oh I don't know, Star Wars Ocean's Eleven (Ragtag) written by Amy Hennig herself, not only does EA divert its resources to recycled garbage like Battlefield Hardline, they shut down the entire studio that was working on it!  What's with all the apparent hatred for single-player games from EA?  (I haven't played or really looked at Titanfall 2, so I don't know if that counts.)

 

 

 

 

I heard about this, but this video informed me about some new stuff I hadn't heard about before. 

 

I was planning on buying the game as soon as I've got my gaming PC up and running, but screw EA's money grubbing tendencies, I'm waiting until Christmas to pick up this game.

 

 

 

Or you could "stay woke," as the kids say these days, and just not buy the game AT ALL.  I did the same with the first new Battlefront, even after being impressed by the demo's graphics; and I haven't regretted it once.  The beauty of the Capitalist system is that you can make a difference with how and where you spend your money.  You just need to make informed decisions, and the information I have gathered tells me that EA doesn't need a penny from me.  Don't wait for a sale, don't rent it from a store, just spend your time and money on a game from a company you want to support.  Or invest it for the future, so you can afford to buy better games' collector's editions later on, if you so desire.  Up to you.  I need to take a few deep breaths.