Tag Archive

Kojima: “I will still make big games”

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima remains intent on making “big games” in the wake of his departure from Konami, a task that he feels is his “role in this world.”Kojimas eyes so intesnse

In a new interview with the New Yorker, Kojima revealed he considered taking a year-long trip to a deserted island after leaving Konami under reportedly less-than-amicable terms. He has decided to keep making games after sharing the plan with an unnamed ” Hollywood friend” who suggested he instead keep working.

“Hearing that affirmed to me that my role in this world is to keep on making big games for as long as I can,” Kojima said. “That is the mission I’ve been given in life.”

Despite this, Kojima suggested earlier this week that the first project from his new studio, Kojima Productions, could be “smaller-scale.” Following whatever that first game turns out to be, the studio “could consider movies, animations, anything.” I think this is a good thing honestly, lets let him get his legs under him as an independent studio find and work with good talent, and then we can ask for another epic.  In the new interview, Kojima seemed to be happy with the flexibility that being independent provides.

“When working in big companies, especially Japanese companies, every little thing has to be approved beforehand, and you need paperwork to do anything, Now that I’m independent, I can do what I want with much more speed. I don’t need to invest time in unnecessary presentations. I shoulder the risk.” this idea fascinates me, Japanese business culture is very structured and rigid, but will Kojima’s new studio be more fluid and flexible, or will he ultimately fall back on the ways of traditional Japanese style development?

It seems that at least for new Kojima is quite content to even have the right to say what ever he wants as he said regarding Konami as a company  “When I was in a company, my personal statements could be taken as the overall direction of the company, as such, I couldn’t say just anything.”

Konami has said they intend to keep making Metal Gear games, so it’s unclear if Kojima was commenting directly on his former employer, but this shift is brought up by the New Yorker, which then quotes Kojima as saying, “If you’re only focused on the profits immediately in front of you, the times will leave you behind. It becomes impossible to catch up again.”

Sony announced earlier this week that it’s partnering with Kojima Productions on its first game. That title will debut on PlayStation 4 before later being released for PC.

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Psyonix has made over 50 million on Rocket League

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Developer Psyonix’s amazing super powered ultra fast sports racing car game is crazy fun. Dont belive me? Read my review or check my steam library and see all the play time. However it also seems that at least according to the Wall Street Journal its also crazy profitable.  In an interview with the WSJ Psyonix said ““Rocket League” has raked in nearly $50 million in revenue and amassed more than 8 million registered players since its July launch on PC’s and Ps4s”

This is pretty unprecedented for an indie game from a small studio with out a backing by a major publisher. the report also details how Psyonix spent over two years and a figure close to two million dollars to develop Rocket League. That figure is quite large for a studio considered by many to be an “indie”. When asked how they manged studio founder Dave Hagewood said ” “We paid the bills by working on some of the biggest games in the industry,  including Mass Effect 3 and Gears of War.”

Perhaps most interesting is that the article also tell us that the most recent addition to Rocket league, the famed deloran of Back to the Future, was not something Psyonix sought out. Rather Universal (the studio that owns the property) came to them and said we want to work one of our properties in to your game, lets get a deal made.  Hagewood added, “It didn’t really sink in until they told me they had to get Steven Spielberg’s approval.”  and when it comes to additions to an already existing great game the hits just keep on coming for Psyonix. Since adding the Delorian, Psyonix has done a deal with Bethesda to add the Vault Boy from Fallout 4 to the game, and more recently it added a pile of holiday goodies through an update that includes antlers, Christmas trees, and Snow Day, an unranked three-on-three play style that trades the giant soccer ball for a giant hockey puck.

No doubt there are many more planned additions to this already amazing game, and I personally cant wait to see what Psyonix has up their sleeve.

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The dress is back, this time in Just Cause 3

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Just cause 3 has no shortage of easter eggs, so will come as no suprise to many people that a popular internet meme from the last year also slipped in. Some people may remember “the dress” which made the rounds on the internet causing many people to question their perception of color with its simple question, is it white and Gold?  or black and blue?

Originating on steam from a user called Ricochet227  it seems that the developers of Just Cause too felt the needs to weigh in on the fight between yellow and black in their own way. Steam user Ricochet227 posted pictures of the two women, saying he found them on a rooftop in a settlement called Citate Di Rivello. One woman is wearing a black-and-blue dress, while the other is wearing one that looks more white and gold.

ITS BLUE FFS

Gold and White? Black and Blue?

Steam user AliceTheGorgon posted an image, saying the dressses are “actually different colors in-game.” Sparking a new the ages old debate of weather or not this dress was Black with blue accents, or Gold with white. Personally I just love that the developers of JC3 have enouhg of a sense of humor to include things like this in their game. Though i haven’t had a chance to play JC3 yet, I hope to soon, and our review will be out this week, so stay tuned!

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2nd Annual Game Awards Report

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Last night was the second annual Game Awards, with a full line up of presenters, world game premiers, and musical acts.  Most people probably came for the world premieres, of which there were several.  Included were: Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn, a Telltale Games Batman title, Far Cry Primal, Psychonauts 2, Quantum Break, Rock Band VR, Shadow Complex Remastered, Rocket League‘s Xbox One release, Star Citizen, and The Walking Dead: Michonne.

This is of course also an awards show so here is a list of winners and some of my reactions from the event:

GAME OF THE YEAR: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) – The polish studio behind The Witcher 3 really cleaned up this year, taking home several big awards. I guess I need to play it, since it was really off my radar since it’s a seriously large game that takes so much investment. Im not surprised this happened with the scale and scope, but it did have to beat out Fallout 4 and MGS:V

DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR: CD Projekt Red – Ok I was surprised at this, I haven’t had a chance to play The Witcher 3 yet, but I know it’s a huge beautiful game, but I thought with two huge games this year Nintendo was a for sure this one.

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME: Rocket League (Psyonix) – This one actually kind of disappointed me, the other choices were Axion Verge, Her Story, Ori and the Blind forest and Undertale. All of which I think have better story since well Rocket League doesn’t have a story. There are way too many indie games for this award to work, like did anyone consider Besiege, or Honey pop  (ok that’s a joke). The guys at Psyonix deserve this for sure but I think its hard to nail this category since it just has so many things.

BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD GAME: Lara Croft Go (Square Enix Montreal/Square Enix) – Ok this one was hands down going to Laura Croft go, no questions. If you haven’t checked it out do so. The only real competitor here was maybe the Vault game from Bethesda but the two are super different.

BEST NARRATIVE: Her Story (Sam Barlow) – Her story is not a game that I played, or even heard about at all before this awards show, I honestly disagree with this one it should have been Life is Strange, which I adored.

BEST ART DIRECTION: Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios/Microsoft Studios) – Not surprised here, the bright color pallet and whimsical imagery win this one over the darker tones of most modern AAA games.

BEST SCORE/SOUNDTRACK: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Ludvig Forssell, Justin Burnett, Daniel James/Kojima Productions) – Get what you pay for here, MGS:V was a great game, with amazing visuals, great sound, and a story that mostly did a good job, a well-deserved win here.

BEST PERFORMANCE: Viva Seifert (Her Story) – Other than the presenter confusing the game that won this award, I found myself again surprised that a game that was so under the radar cleaned up so well. I’m sure Viva’s performance was brilliant and this win means I need to check out Her Story for sure.

GAMES FOR CHANGE: Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment/Square Enix) – At least Life is Strange gets the nod here, I can’t help but think this is mostly because the main protagonist is a member of the LGBT community and thus the game focuses on some of those issues, but it’s nice to see the shout out.

BEST SHOOTER: Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2/Nintendo) – I am so glad this won. Splatoon is one of the best games of this year, and I am really glad to see it receive recognition for what it is an amazing multiplayer shooter.

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions/Konami) – Glad to see that Metal Gears Open world playground gets this award. The game is amazing, and if you haven’t played it go do it, that’s all I can say.

BEST ROLE-PLAYING GAME: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) – Another win for the polish CD Projekt Red, since this was one of the only major RPGs to come out this year I wasn’t super surprised.

BEST FIGHTING GAME: Mortal Kombat X (NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) *Disclaimer I know nothing about fighting games* Iv played this game at the arcade, and it’s a pretty game, but its also the only AAA fighter released this year, so the win is a gimme.

BEST FAMILY GAME: Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4/Nintendo) – Seeing Nintendo getting the shout outs at a major game awards show still feels really odd to me, but this has been an amazing year for Nintendo,

BEST SPORTS/RACING GAME: Rocket League (Psyonix) – there are other sports racing games?

BEST MULTIPLAYER: Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2/Nintendo) – This one I kinda disagree with, there were other great multiplayer games this year, and while Splatoon was the most original I don’t think it was the best and most polished. I really liked the idea of MGS:V winning this for Metal Gear online, but it didn’t happen.

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME: No Man’s Sky (Hello Games) – Can we stop giving the award to this game please? I get it ok, people want No Man’s sky, and have since they announced it like 4 years ago.

ESPORTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kenny “KennyS” Schrub (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive/Team EnVyUs) – This was a surprise to me, and it was less surprising than the next win.
ESPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR: Optic Gaming – woah, surprised here, expected this to be a League Team or at least DOTA2.
ESPORTS GAME OF THE YEAR: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve) – this is a given since its getting its own League on cable TV. With the annoucment that we will be getting a show on TBS on Friday nights and with over a million dollars up for grabs, CS:GO is going to win this no problem.

TRENDING GAMER:  Greg Miller – who? Sorry but I have no idea who that is, honestly and I watch a lot of YouTube.  Props to greg for the win, guess I know who he is now.

BEST FAN CREATION: Portal Stories: Mel (Prism Studios) – this flew under the radar, but it was really an amazing fan creation, playing portal again really made me happy and honestly made me wish for another portal game.

And that’s about that. The awards are still run by Geoff Keighkey and this year the aestitic shifted from spikes MAN MAN MAN style of last year, over to a cyber-styling that I really enjoyed. Also of note was Hideo Kojimas absence, apparently due to a legal issue with his (fromer?) employer Konami. Geoff called out Konami on how they were treating their golden goose. This was graet to hear. There was also a major tribute (like 15 minutes) to Satoru Iwata who’s genius is one of the major reasons Nintendo exits as a game company today.

There was also a huge packed line up of game trailers, premiers and additional information about already out games, take a look at all the video content below the drop

Read More

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Fnatic launches peripherals range

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Fnatic has decided to expand beyond simple T-shirts and branded soft goods with a newly announced line of gaming peripherals. The announcement was made via the teams page and they are running a IndieGoGo   to get the line off the ground. The design choices may seem out of place but Fnatic has taken great care on their site to explain the motivation behind the design. The price certainly is hi-end with the full keyboard and mouse set available in the IndieGoGo for 167$.

So what do you get for your almost 170$? The full set consists of the Flick G1 optical gaming mouse, the Rush G1 mechanical keyboard with Cheerry MX red switches, and the Focus G1 mouse pad (cloth), or the Boost G1 (polycarbonate) mouse pad.  The products are set to ship out in December and January of 2015 and 2016. That’s a pretty impressive turn around time for anything physical on Indie Go Go. The Keyboard looks to be fairly hi end, including two additional USB ports, LED backlighting, and several on board profiles no one is going to accuse the keyboard of being low end.

Kpkeyboard

The Flick mouse is equipped with a “pro-grade optical sensor, an ergonomic feel for the hand, and three customizable profiles” This at least is refreshing to see, as many hi end gaming mice do not support any on board profiles. As for the lower DPI of the sensor the officail word from the Indie GO GO is that they did not need a high DPI sensor, and that instead they wanted something which performed reliably.

Keypoints mouse

The final portion, the mouse pad is perhaps the most interesting of all. A variably sized mouse pad in two different types of materials a cloth and a PVC, a well as several sizes. The focus G1 and Boost G1 are the two mouse pads which each come in three sizes so that no matter how large or small your mousing surface is, you can still use one of them.

Kp mousepads

It remains to be seen weather or not these new gaming peripherals will make a dent in the already crowded market of high end keyboards and mice that are marketed exclusivly to gamers, but I for one would at least like to see the product before I pay 170$ for it.

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3 new flight modes to be added in Star Citizen 2.0 Release

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Star Citizen

Star Citizen has been pretty controversial recently. Robertson Space Industries, the developer, has been accused of not delivering of having major staff issues, many backers requested updates on time tables and finances, and it even seemed some former employees corroborated these stories.  Well RSI hopes to put to bed all the malcontents with patch 2.0 for the alpha which brings major changes.  The change will add three new flight modes, Quantum travel, and move to a “third order motion control system,” what ever the heck that is.

Here’s what we know about the three modes: ships will now launch in the first flight mode precision mode. During this launch top speed is reduced and acceleration scaled back in exchange, the player gets  finer and easier maneuvering. An opposite mode will be called cruise: “Velocity at the expense of control,” as Cloud Imperium Games explained in yesterday’s update. The third mode, which is called SCM  is quite the same as the current area commander flight model, but now calculates maximum velocity dynamically as a function of force and mass in order to optimize each ship’s performance in a fight.

StarCitizenDev-2015-10-16-14-17-57-96

Additionally we will get Quantum Travel, which sounds like something out of bad scifi, but is similar to cruise mode, utilizing a quantum drive, and enabling long distance travel over short time periods. The limitations of the Quantum Drive mean that any ship equipped with one can achieve the same maximum velocity of 0.2c—that’s one-fifth the speed of light—but some will take longer to get there than others. In the blog post it says

 “At these speeds, tiny variations in angle will result in massively different flight paths, so this is where slower ships will have the chance to escape a faster ship accosting them,”Of course, traveling at these incredible speeds is quite dangerous, so the ship computer will automatically pull you out of Quantum Travel if the possibility of collision is detected or the ship has any downed shields.”

2.0 will also feature many bug changes, fixes, and the standard patch balancing and content addition you are used to seeing in a major patch release.

 

check out the blog here for full info and some nice videos of the new stuff in action.

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I Shall Remain Review

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

review by special guest editor Focks

(Editors note: this is a very long game, and due to print time constraints, only about 4 hours of game play were unlocked.)

I Shall Remain is an indie, post-apocalyptic, ARPG zombie game, Published and developed by Scorpius Games. Set in the aftermath of WW2, the Nazis have released a deadly virus in the US. The game tells the story of two brothers and their relation to the world that emerged because of the virus. ISR has real time character progression and RPG systems, over 100 abilities, many weapons and weapon enhancers, plenty of infected, 20+ mutations, a large amount of NPCs and teammates all in a 20+ hour long campaign. Weapons include melee: such as knives, swords, pipes, brass knuckles, and many more Small arms: pistols and SMGs, Rifles, Shotguns And heavy weapons: flamethrower rocket launchers.

Each weapon has at least 4 levels of effects and bullets can be enhanced. Grenades, mines and flares can be found throughout the game and the player can pick up objects in the environment and injured NPCs. Occasionally there are vehicles the player can control and use its weapons. Throughout the game there will be buildings for the player to explore which can have items inside.

You gain experience from everything you do in ISR. Whatever your playstyle is, the game will grant you experience in the places you need it. Doctrines allow you to improve attributes and/or give you abilities and each doctrine can be upgraded. There are currently 128 doctrines in ISR. Serum is the currency in ISR. There are traders that buy and sell things for serum such as weapons, medkits, ammo, and flashlight batteries. You can upgrade ammo with serum and use it to control your characters infection.

There are quests in ISR similar to real life scenarios. They add on to the story of the game. About half of the quests in the game aren’t related to the main story line. The side quests help the player immerse themselves into the game world.Fatigue builds up when your character is outside. It affects hp and stamina regen and your chances of properly aiming. There doesn’t seem to be very many places to rest. There are many places for you to scavenge for items in the game. Every weapon has a durability. You can repair them yourself, with scrap you get from dismantling items, or find an npc or teammate to do it. There are plenty of teammates and you can choose what skills they get. You control the weapons they use. There is a detection meter in ISR. Shooting a gun, using your flashlight, and running raise it. Melee weapons, walking, high infection and no flashlight lower it.

Overall ISR is a well made zombie rpg with a decent story. I like the fact that it is set right after WW2. It has plenty of weapons and many skills to choose from. The fact that you gain xp based on what you do it offers many different playstyles and seems to have some replayability. There is a survival mode and a permadeath option for story mode.

A few very small negatives about ISR: If you disable shadows, the dark holes in the ground that zombies come from reflects the environment. When you kill an enemy they release red clouds that can obstruct vision. The camera clips through background buildings and weapons degrade too fast.

I Shall Remain is a good game and is totally worth $15 if you enjoy zombies, top-down ARPGs or both. This is a game i would recommend others that are looking for a zombie game.Zombie03172015_091811701

 

 

 

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