Ryo Hazuki returns to home consoles in his own title for the first time in 17 years with today’s physical release of Shenmue I + II on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This remastered port is also available on Windows PC as well as a digital only release through Steam.
Before Grand Theft Auto III, Saints Row and open world pioneers Shenmue attempted to create a semi open version of 1980s Japan and China respectively. With shops that have their own unique business hours, NPCs that have their own schedule for tasks and movements, part time jobs for Ryo, collectable capsule toys and real time weather there really was nothing quite like Shenmue when it dropped on the Dreamcast back in 2000. It is not surprising that Sonic Creator, Yu Suzuki’s magnum opus third installment still in development for the PlayStation 4.
John Clark, a VP at SEGA Europe had this to say about today’s re-release:
“SEGA Europe has wanted to re-release the Shenmue series for such a long time and thanks to tireless work behind the scenes, it is our pleasure to bring these games back, laden with accolades as one of the greatest gaming series of all time, for gamers of all generations,”
Shenmue I + II HD features a number of new features that the Dreamcast originals simply was not capable of. PC users have complete control over the game’s resolution and neither the PS4 / Xbox One or PC versions will have the slowdown featured in the original DC release. Enhancements from the 2001 Xbox (original) re-release such as improved water textures, shadows and world textures are also present in today’s release.
Digital Foundry did an exhuastive breakdown of all of the technical changes, improvements and differences between these 3 sets of Shenmue ports.
Have you ever played Shenmue or its sequel? I played Shenmue I back on the Dreamcast back in the day but never finished. I also picked up Shenmue II on the original Xbox and actually got to finish that one. If you’re interested in a piece of gaming history that helped shape one of the most modern genres, this double feature is a definite recommendation.
SEGA will take us back to mid 1980s Hong Kong and Japan with the re-release of Shenmue I & II on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on August 21st. The publisher confirmed the price, release date, discount and various technical details surrounding this dual port in an F.A.Q posted on the official SEGA website.
Shenmue I & II will be priced at $39.99 CDN and includes the full version of the 1999 Dreamcast title and its 2002 Sequel. In their F.A.Q SEGA confirmed that the codebase for this port comes from the Xbox Version of both games which was originally released back in 2003 in North America. Working from the XBOX version ensures that features like photo mode, filters and better overall anti-aliasing are supported from the start. Gameplay segments will support 16:9 HD resolutions but cut-scenes will be preserved in their original 4:3 presentation. A “modern control scheme” has also been implemented that maps Ryu’s movement to the analog sticks rather than the D-Pad, as originally intended.
A number of other small additions have also been added to the Shenmue I & II port including both Japanese / English dialogue, configurable controls on PC, Achievements and the ability to save anywhere.
As well as the herculean effort of porting the code to the new platforms, there is a huge number of things we have added:
Choice of Japanese or English speech in both games
Saves can be carried over from Shenmue into Shenmue II on all platforms
Saving anywhere in both games
HD resolution rendering
Updated UI
New post processing effects for both games
Full controller support and configurable mouse and keyboard for PC users
Full Achievement support for both games on all platforms
Above: A Trailer From 2000 Official Dreamcast Magazine.
Shenmue I was heralded back in 1999 for its pseudo open world approach to game design – allowing players to explore a fully realized slice of Japan in full 3D with a working internal clock, the ability to rent motel rooms, visit pachinko parlors and even work a part time job. Players take on the role of Ryo Hazuki who witnesses the murder of his father – which launches a multinational adventure that spans multiple games as players help Ryo with his quest for vengeance.
On PC Shenmue I & II‘s minimum specs are quite relaxed:
The next major update to Final Fantasy XIV Online: Stormblood will come out in late May Producer / Director Naoki Yoshida confirmed during a regularly held community live stream known as Letter From The Producer LIVE. Patch 4.3 brings a number of brand new features to the game – the conclusion of the Doma main story questline, a brand new raid, a new “deep dungeon” leveling experience and so much more!
In terms of in-game content adventurers will be able to take part in the second of the Ivalice themed 24 person raids, The Ridorana Lighthouse. Smaller parties will be able to take on a brand new secret trial (Zeno extreme as rumored by players? The next of the Four Lords series perhaps?) as well as journey through a brand new dungeon called the “Swallow’s Compass”. Crafters and Gatherers who have jobs at least level 60 can start to befriend the fish-like Namazu.
Players who have completed the Stormblood MSQ might remember a Jinga-like structure that received prominent placement in a cut-scene during the Ruby Seas ark. Well it turns out that the structure is actually called “Heaven On High” – similar to Heavensward’s “Palace of the Dead” – a self contained leveling experience where adventurers start at level 1 and rapidly progress through their profession’s abilities. After completing a set number of floors in “Heaven On High” it is expected that players will receive at least 1/4th of a level out of the tower upon completing 10 floors. Unlike Palace of the Dead, the total number of floors is only 100 floors vs the 200 of Palace of the dead. In HoH floors 30+ will be challenging content.
Here is a breakdown of all of the in-game content coming in FFXIV 4.3 – some of these descriptions are obviously just little tidbits:
New Main Scenario Quests – The story of Stormblood continues.
New Alliance Raid – The Ridorana Lighthouse.
New Trial
New Dungeon – The Swallow’s Compass.
New Beast Tribe Quests – The Namazu.
New Sidequests – The Four Lords, Doman Reconstruction and Further Hildibrand Adventures.
New Deep Dungeon – 100-Floor Heaven-on-High.
The Forbidden Land, Eureka Expansion – Pagos Expedition.
New Ultimate Difficulty Raid – Ultima Weapon.
Updates to jobs, PvP, glamour system, housing, performance actions, new more powerful gear and more.
Coming at some point later will be an official FFXIV Companion App that will enable all users to chat with friends as well as message the Free Company chat channel. Organizing inventory, purchasing and placing items for sale on the in-game market boards will also be supported. A paid for premium plan allows subscribers to double their chocobo Saddle Bag storage, sell up to 2 items per day using Kuppo Nuts (vs 1 with the free plans) and have an extra retainer. We don’t have an official price for the premium tier just yet.
Here’s a breakdown of the companion app that Square Enix provided:
ll players that download the app will be able to enjoy benefits such as the following:
Chat with friends and free company members
Organize events with the scheduler
Organize inventory and armoury chest
Peruse the Market Board
Put items up for sale and purchase items
Register an additional favored destination Aetheryte
An optional, Premium Plan is also available, which unlocks the following features for a monthly fee:
San Francisco, California — Broken Joysticks Media, a Canadian technology and interactive entertainment focused blog platform announces the release of Emotional Support Catgirl (prototype version) on the Itch.io platform. Developed during the 52 hour Train Jam game development event leading up to GDC, Emotional Support Catgirl tells the narrative of a trans woman living in the Midwestern United States who finds comfort and support through the BBS systems of the 1990s.
Emotional Support Catgirl invites players to experience the journey of Nichole as she connects with an entire cast of other queer transwomen through a private bulletin board system between the years of 1999 and 2000. Emotional Support Catgirl’s adaptation of the Unity Engine provides players with a functional command-line and era specific commands used on bulletin board systems of the era. This is a game forged from the personal experience of its developers.
Train Jam is a gathering of game developers from a number of disciplines to develop experimental and interesting titles on the cross-America journey from Chicago, IL to SF,CA during the week leading up to the Games Developer Conference. This year’s theme was given as “Odyssey” which resulted in 84 unique entries being submitted. More information on Train Jam can be found on their website – http://www. trainjam.com/ All 84 unique games submitted to the Jam can be viewed here – https://itch.io/jam/train-jam-2018/entries.
Key Features of Emotional Support Catgirl:
Replica of a 1990s / early 2000s Bulletin Board System.
Several different threads, replies and time-states available to players to experience the narrative.
Command-line driven gameplay.
Lots of green and black for the true throwback experience.
Queer as hell narrative.
A downloadable prototype of Emotional Support Catgirl can be downloaded for free at https://itch.io/jam/train-jam-2018/rate/235983. Emotional Support Catgirl will be playable on the GDC Showfloor along with all other 84 entries at booth N4918 during the Games Developers Conference.
For the first time in North America and Europe, Suda 51’s The Silver Case: The 25th Ward is coming to home console. On March 13th “The 25th Ward” will be released in North America on PlayStation 4 and globally on Steam with a European release to follow on March 16th.
Set 5 years after the events of The Silver Case, a woman is found murdered in the Bay Side Tower Land” apartment complex under mysterious circumstances. Now multiple protagonists, including Tokio Morishima from the first Silver Case game, must connect seemingly random events together to solver this woman’s murder.
Get ready to re-enter the “Kill The Universe” world created by Suda 51, as The 25th Ward offers up similar circumstances from three different perspectives in this unique sounding sequel.
Daybreak Studios’ long running battle royal title H1Z1 (formally H1Z1: Just Survive) received a major update late last week that adds a brand-new combat focused map called Combat Zone, new daily challenges and a whole lot of miscellaneous bug fixes / quality of life improvements that may help players climb the ranks and be the last one standing.
Combat Zone differs from the regular wide open forest area map in a number of ways: first and foremost there is no parachuting into position. Instead all players start already on the ground with a full loadout of equipment, so there’s no more rushing to find a shotgun, pistol or rusty work.. You know whatever happens to be lying around. Combat Zone also has a smaller size (2KM by 2KM) with a reduced player count of 56.
Also added in the November 17th update to H1Z1 are daily challenges which provide players with tasks of varying difficulty. They’ll come in three different flavors – Easy, Medium or Hard. One challenge can be discarded per day and daily quests do not need to be completed within a single match.
Read the full patch notes including details surrounding the quality of life improvements after the video break.
New Feature: Combat Zone
This is an all-new game mode designed for practicing combat mechanics.
Spawn in with a full kit ready to go.
Respawn after death, no parachuting.
Game takes place on a small, more intimate map that highlights various elements of The Arena.
Max number of players per game is 55, and games end after one hour.
New Feature: Daily Challenges
We’ve added a Daily Challenge system to the game which primarily rewards Skulls. You’ll be given three Challenges per day; one easy, one medium, and one hard (harder Challenges reward more Skulls). You’ll be able to discard one Challenge per day and get a replacement. Challenges don’t necessarily need to be completed in a single match and won’t be replaced until you complete or discard them.
A few examples of Daily Challenges:
Halfway There – Place in the top 75 of a Solos match (easy)
Domed – Destroy 10 helmets worn by other players (medium)
One Shot. One Kill. – Kill an opponent with the .308 Hunting Rifle (hard)
With the introduction of Daily Challenges, the Bounty System has been removed and the Skull Store has been updated[www.h1z1.com] with several awesome new rewards including the first ever animated Helmet!
Combat & Gameplay Tuning
We’ve made a number of weapons adjustments based on player feedback.
Slightly decreased AR-15 recoil reset time to give the user more responsive 2-taps.
Reduced AK-47 fire rate to help alleviate close-quarters spammability.
Added a fixed, non-rotating pattern for Shotgun blasts including a center pellet.
Shotgun damage and fall-off damage have been increased to increase its close-quarters reliability.
Bullet drop has been reduced for pistols and rifles. The values are now much closer to what they were before the Combat Update in August
In addition, there are several quality of life gameplay improvements in this update.
Fall damage should be significantly more consistent now. Height is now the only determinant of fall damage, so forward velocity will not affect you. You should also no longer take 1-2 points of damage randomly when running and jumping over small objects.
Explosive arrows are now very effective against vehicles.
It is now possible to loot while reloading.
The fifth passenger in a vehicle can now reload and shoot (careful!).
Fuel is now consumed slightly faster than before when using turbo boost.
Match Pacing & Tuning
First safe zone is now revealed after 45 seconds, instead of 2 minutes.
Gas begins moving after 2 minutes and 15 seconds, instead of 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
First phase Gas moves slightly slower over 5 minutes and 27 seconds, instead of 5 minutes.
The first phase will be 2 minutes and 30 seconds shorter but it should be easier to outrun the gas in a vehicle.
The toxicity mechanic has been removed.
The gas mechanic has had its damage retuned due to the removal of the toxicity mechanic.
The airdrop plane and drop itself now move slightly faster.
The loot distribution system has been tuned on a per mode basis. Item spawns have been increased in Duos by approximately 15%, and Fives by approximately 25%.
Slightly increased AR-15 spawn rate.
Slightly decreased AK-47 and Hellfire 4-6 spawn rate.
Slightly increased Medkit spawn rate in residential areas.
Increased crossbow spawn rate and decreased long bow spawn rate. There will be roughly the same number of total bows (including both types) as before.
Development software provider Yo-Yo Games has released a more cost-effective version of their latest game creation software titled Game Maker Studio 2: Creator Edition.
GMS2 (and by extension GMS2: CE) offers amateur and professional game developers an integrated development environment that supports both prebuilt functions that can handle common tasks like collisions and animation as well as its own proprietary scripting language to help developers write more complex solutions.
Creator Edition provides aspiring developers with access to the Windows and Mac OS desktop exporters. It removes a number of the limitations that are present in the current trial version of Game Maker Studio 2 and includes full access to extensions, shaders, source control and other professional level features but seems to be limited to the two platforms mentioned above. It is priced at $39.99 USD for a 12-month license through a SAAS (Software As A Service) model. After the 12-month term ends developers have the option to upgrade to the full version of Game Maker Studio 2 with a 30% discount.
This post contains details and images provided by Yo-Yo games PR. We previously covered Game Maker Studio 2 as part of our GDC 2017 coverage, which you can read here.
Gearbox Software’s FPS / MOBA mash-up Battleborn will see its final update released later this fall and while the servers will remain online “for the foreseeable future” the game will not receive any new content or patches. Pretty sad for a game that went Free to Play less than three months ago – but remember in Gearbox’s own words, Battleborn was never F2P but simply an “unlimited demo”.
You might remember the short-lived Overwatch Vs. Battleborn “rivalry” that sprung up in May 2016 after both games were slotted for release that same month. Both games had a few similarities – a roster of hero characters with unique abilities, FPS gameplay with different objective types and while both games focused on co-operative teamplay, Battleborn took a lot more from the MOBA playbook when compared with Overwatch – with A.I minions and defensive structures that could be bolstered by players.
Battleborn got absolutely trounced by Blizzard’s behemoth of a game – eventually ceding so much market share to other titles that the game had only a couple of hundred players online at any given time before the “unlimited” trial was released this past June. Gearbox’s changes would bring in a strong population boost with an all-time peak of 12,000 players – sadly today this is down to less than 120 players according to Steam Chars.
For the few that hung around for the long haul Gearbox will release a final patch with brand new skins before closing this chapter of their history to work on an “unannounced title”.
Here is, in part, a statement from the game’s Creative Director:
“As of this week, there will be no more Battleplans and there is currently no planned content after the Fall Update. Details of any future changes or news will be made on our forums or through social media, so keep your radars on.
Never fear! Battleborn is here to stay. Nothing is changing with Battleborn, and the servers will be up and active for the foreseeable future. We announced the Fall Update for the game at PAX including some new skins, themed around some of your favorite Borderlands characters! That update will also include some updated title art (more full bar titles!) for the more significant challenges in the game, as well as some additional Finisher Boosts and Taunts. Also, there are minor balance changes in that patch.
If you’ve been paying attention to recent news from the Gearbox Panel at PAX West, you’ll have heard that many folks at Gearbox are working on a highly anticipated project. Although I’m sad my time on Battlebornis coming to a close, I’m happy to announce that I will play a significant role on this highly anticipated but unannounced game, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing some from me again in the future regarding Gearbox games.”
The world of free to play games can be daunting with the amount of sheer choice available and if you’re not careful you might end up choosing a game that is more advertisement for the in-game cash shop than a proper video game.
Thousands of Steam users – almost 8,000 concurrently at the moment of the writing of this article – have decided to download and try out this previously under the radar free to play shooter. On a weekend where Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is free to play for everyone, what could this imported and 3-year-old FPS from Korea offer players that Activision isn’t?
Black Squad’s gameplay feels like a throwback to the shooters of the 90s- eschewing recent staples like vertical movement, wall-running or peaking behind cover. In their place are the identical hit boxes for every player, fast movement / res-pawn time and a limited selection of weapons. As quickly as players die in TDM they respawn and are thrown back into the fray. Combine all of this with some trappings from Counter Strike: the previously mentioned role based selection of weapons, running animations featuring a knife and a loud announcer and you’ve got a recipe for a nostalgic throwback of a game that doesn’t really care for the current trends in the genre.
In terms of modes, there is the standard Free for All and Team Death Match (where I spent the majority of my three hours with the game last night). Also offered are two objective modes where special abilities can be used based upon the amount of experience you’ve accrued throughout the match. These range from the mundane: placing down a sentry turret or ammo packs for your team-mates; to the spectacular: calling in a devastating airstrike that rains hellfire from above. XP rewards aren’t nearly as flashy or differentiated as the Kill Streaks in Call of Duty but in a game like this, they don’t really have to be.
With the gameplay being provided for free there has to be some form of monetization. Black Squad comes with the requisite cash shop and multiple forms of currency (one earned through completing matches, another purchased with real dollars and yet a third “medal” currency awarded for weekly challenges). Despite the onslaught of currencies available Black Squad doesn’t feel pay to win. Each gun has a number of different stats that are tweaked depending on what other options the gun offers – silencer, scope, laser sight etc. – but it all feels balanced enough. This isn’t a game where someone can put down $20 on the table and buy a super powered sniper rifle and one shot everyone. The minor difference in stats & armor don’t appear to give paying players any sizeable advantage; instead, the developers hope to earn cash through limited edition skins and weapon models sold through loot crates. It is great to see them prioritizing balance & fun factor for all players versus taking the easy route of offering a $99.99 USD Golden Gun that could kill anyone.
Who knows if the sizeable community that has formed around Black Squad will stick around for the long term. Steam fads have a tendency to come and go with the whims of the players- who is still playing The Culling? The thousands of people who flocked to the revamped Battleborn have all but left, leaving that game with similar to numbers to before the Free to Play transition. Then again, some thought (myself included) that Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds was going to be a flash in the pan next to H1Z1: King of the Kill and PUBG has had considerable staying power – enough so that it has spawned imitators like Last Man Standing.
Nexxon and Boss Key Games announced that the open beta for their upcoming first person shooter, Lawbreakers, is now available on Steam for everyone to try out.
Unlike other team-based FPS games, Lawbreakers doesn’t give its heroes a personality so to speak. Instead each of the team’s members are broken down into unique roles – the chain gun wielding Vanguard, the all-around assault class the Enforcer, the vertically mobile assassin class among others. Unique to Lawbreakers is also a low gravity mechanic where portions of the map are entrapped within a bubble that allows players to jump higher but with a lower fall rate.
In a press-release announcing the availability of the Open Beta until July 5th, Nexxon provided a brief rundown of new features available in the Open Beta:
New Map: Vertigo – located in a remote location in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Vertigo is a high-altitude reconnaissance outpost with near suborbital elevation;
New Mode: Uplink – capture the uplink in the centre of the map and deliver to your team base, continuing to protect it until points are earned;
Weapon Stickers – players can test a new customisation feature and earn a special Beta participant Weapon Sticker by completing five matches during the event. This reward transfers to the full release of the game at launch.
Lawbreakers will be releasing on both PlayStation 4, PS4 Pro and Windows PC with the base game priced at $39.99 CDN.
The latest Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Stormblood has been in early access for the past 72 hours and despite constant disconnects, server crashes and long queues I’ve played through the first story arc until level 62. Here is a point by point recount of my experience with the game.
Thoughts of Level 60 – 70 Bard Changes
Bards are now a lot more mobile thanks to the removal of “casting times” during the usage of Wander’s Minuet. The mobility is certainly welcome but I was used to the split second timing of waiting for the cast time and then moving to avoid AOEs. Not having cast time takes away from a damage bonus we had previously while Wander’s was up and active.
Changes to Bard’s active songs are a welcomed addition. I thought it would be difficult to manage the critical strike bonus and additional effects of Wander’s Minuet, Mage’s Ballad and Army’s Paean. Surprisingly I find myself cycling from song to song rather naturally and the new rotation was starting to form muscle memory within the first hour or two.
Pitch Perfect – the flashy new ability linked to Wander’s is probably my absolute favorite of the three changed songs. It is so satisfying to see the bright flash of light that comes with having three Pitch Perfect Charges.
Having a “Job Gauge” makes managing procs and other timed abilities a lot easier to handle – I had feared it would have added additional “visual clutter” to the layout.
Thoughts of New Zones & Story
After seeing three different areas of Gyr Abania, it is very clear that we aren’t in for hours and hours of simple dry desert. Instead, Gyr Abania is full of lush vegetation alongside running oasis and rivers. When your character enters the settlement of Rhelgar’s Reach giant tents, several NPCs and a large statue measuring in the 100s of feet tall greet you.
The resistance settlements feel alive, as do the members of the resistance I’ve met thus far. For sure the stand out for me – without giving spoilers would have to be M’Naago.
I can’t wait for my Bard, Reka Ai’a to help out the resistance and experience the tale that Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood has to offer. I’m intentionally avoiding ANY spoilers since the game is in Early Access and the general release date is tomorrow. My full thoughts will be shared throughout the next week or so.
Server Instability
Stormblood has had a number of high-profile hiccups during Early Access. Throughout the first 24 hours or so the game’s “instance servers” which handle Party Finder, Duty Finder and some customized quests for Main Story crashed under the intense load. This meant that even if you got access to the game, you were stuck behind a bottleneck of players spam clicking to get into one of the two instanced early story sections that were required to continue.
Square Enix has issued multiple statements and conducted emergency maintenance more than once on the North American and European data centers to address these issues. For the most part, the quest related bottlenecks and instance server crashes appear to be a thing of the past.
Login times on the most crowded servers, including my home – Balmung, can take up to two and a half hours to complete. For most people this would probably be a deal killer – but I’ve struggled through the wait times thanks to Netflix and other games. So far Stormblood has delivered a positive story experience that is well worth the wait. At the peak, I’ve seen queues up to 4500 people – with 100 or so entering every 5 minutes. It doesn’t help that some players are abusing a logout glitch that keeps their player active on the server for an infinite amount of time without performing any action. This has lead to characters idling in town, taking up valuable slots, while their owners sleep or do other things.
What’s Next?
Reka Ai’a is on her way to the Far East and the lands of Doma, where she will meet up with the Ninja Yugiri. I’m looking forward to where the story will take her, I also look forward to sharing my specific thoughts on Main Story Quest Events and Dungeons after Stormblood releases on PS4 and PC tomorrow.
Here’s hoping tomorrow’s full release doesn’t make the queue times on Balmung even worse. I wouldn’t want to have to watch the entire LOTR trilogy before continuing my journey.
Studio Wildcard will be bringing the prehistoric survival game ARK: Survival Evolved out of the Early Access age with the release of the retail version on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on August 8th. ARK on personal computers will be available for multiple operating systems including Microsoft Windows, MAC OS and various flavors of Linux.
Three different editions of ARK: Survival Evolved will be available for Xbox One and PS4 and are available for pre-order the company announced. They are:
ARK Survival Evolved Standard Edition – $59.99 USD
Includes the base ARK experience.
Access to all free content and updates that have been released to date.
Survival Evolved soundtrack as performed by the Philarmonica Orchestra.
Studio Wildcard development team poster.
Leather- bound Explorer’s Notebook.
With three different versions it might get a little confusing for new players to know exactly which version of ARK to pick up. Surely only the hardest of hardcore fans will choose to purchase the Limited Collector’s Edition since, as the name implies, it will be manufactured in limited quantities. Early Access backers such as myself seem to be funneled into the Standard Edition, this makes sense – Scorched Earth has always been add-on DLC since day one. Studio Wildcard promises that even the base ARK experience will provide players with 100s of hours of entertainment.
Windows PC players will be able to explore the world of Paramitia as one of million potential Warriors of Light in the Steam port of Mobius Final Fantasy. As they follow the path set out before them players are guided by are these disembodied voices commanding the Warriors of Light to continue their quest, are these apparitions really on the level? The whole narrative sets an interesting precedent for online only Final Fantasy titles, sure in FFXIV everyone is the main character, as far as lore is concerned, but in the world of Mobius there are thousands or millions of contenders but only one true WOL and the rest are doomed to fail.
Battles in Mobius Final Fantasy draw from other games in the series – with common items, summons and spells making an appearance but what really sets Mobius apart from other entries in the franchise is the fact that its battle system is turn based + card based. Players can have multiple jobs – each with their own unique decks of cards. Players will have to stack the cards in their favor by unlocking new cards by completing quest and defeating monsters in order to survive the main scenario. and build the best possible decks The cards themselves use different base elements such a stone, ice, fire, cure and more which can lead to interesting strategic options.
Mobius Final Fantasy was originally released on iOS and Android and has multiple free to play chapters available for play. Users on Steam who login to the game will not only be able to claim some freebies including ability tokens and other rarities but also participate in the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake cross over event.
Here’s the Steam trailer, the game will arive on Feb 6th.
Remember those sub $300 USD virtual reality headsets that Microsoft announced would be manufactured by partners like Hewlett Packard and Dell last month? The tech giant has now shed some light on the minimum requirements that a users systems will have to meet in order to use the Windows Holographic Shell on one of these devices.
Unlike gaming focused headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, these new headsets will not require 8GB of system memory or a beefy GeForce 970 in order to power the Windows Holographic Shell. During the Microsoft “Windows 10 Creator’s Update” presentation from last month on-screen graphics pictured these new headsets tethered to a laptop, and it seems like that may indeed be realistic.
Here are the minimum specs as originally reported by The Verge:
– 4GB Ram
– DirectX 12 Compliant Graphics Card
– One USB 3 Port
– Quad Core Processor
These minimum specs come on the same day that Microsoft announced that Xbox One game streaming will be supported on PCs that supports the Oculus RIFT. Xbox One VR game streaming will be released in a free Xbox VR Streaming app that will be available via the Oculus Home storefront, the app will support popular titles like Gears of War 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Forza Horizon 3 (which is also available on Windows PC).
In part, here is what Microsoft said about their on-going partnership with HTC:
“Today marks an evolution in our ongoing partnership with Oculus, as Rift owners will be able to stream their Xbox One library to Rift with the new Xbox One Streaming to Oculus Rift app, including fan favorites like “Gears of War 4,” “Forza Horizon 3” and “Halo 5: Guardians,” the biggest sports games, indie darlings, Backward Compatible Xbox 360 games, and more titles coming in 2017. The Xbox One Streaming to Oculus Rift app is available for free in the Oculus Store on Dec. 12.
With all of this VR excitement Microsoft also released a brief CG demonstration of what it is like to use the Windows Holographic Shell. More information on the Windows 10 Creator’s Update is expected to be release prior to its March 2017 release.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2follows up on its predecessors with a strange proposition. Imagine you’ve grown accustomed to driving a car without brakes. You hit other cars, you die, so you learn how to avoid doing so. You follow the road, you swerve correctly, you do fine, right? Then, one day, your car suddenly has brakes. And, when you hit other cars, it takes a couple hits before you actually crash. This would be disorienting, right? Because you’d have to completely relearn how to drive that car.
In Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, Pac-Man literally has a brake button.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 follows a recent tradition of modifying Pac-Man’s classic formula. Games like Pac-Man Battle Royale and Pac-Man 256 have proven that Pac-Man’s basic maze gameplay has a lot of unexplored depth, and the Championship Edition series has led the charge in showing off how interesting and unique Pac-Man can become.
As with its predecessors, Championship Edition 2 is gorgeous, with a blissful neon aesthetic and incredible techno music that will keep you going for hours of play. CE 2 takes advantage of its new position on next-gen hardware to deliver mind-bending visuals at a consistently high frame rate.
The game’s new 3D flourishes exemplify this, offering fluid animations as a new reward for skillful ghost busting. It’s not surprising that Namco’s sound team has outdone themselves, either, with clever sound effects and arguably the series’ strongest soundtrack.
In addition, fans of previous outings will find some of their favorite songs, like Pac Rainbow, left in tact, along with some series favorite mazes like Championship I & II, Highway, and Spiral. While the aesthetics remain the same, and callbacks to previous games will make series regulars feel at home, there’s a mountain of modifications to the gameplay that might not excite everyone.
From Pac-Man Championship Edition‘s release, Namco has shown it’s not afraid of changing Pac-Man in subtle ways. In the first Championship Edition, players initially play the game at the speed of the classics, collecting pellets and regenerating the maze’s layout as they collect fruit. DX changes things up a bit by allowing you to collect a “Ghost Train” rather than having to avoid the traditional four ghosts on the map.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 piles on new systems in a way that isn’t as satisfying as the natural evolution and simplicity found in the older titles. Pac-Man CE 2 adds, in no short order: Angry Ghosts, Boss Ghosts, a brake button, jumping, Ghost Routes, Runaway items, several new modes, and a compulsory tutorial just to cram all this in. It’s clear that Namco doesn’t want the series’ first proper numbered sequel to feel like a gentle iteration, but all of these revisions don’t gel with the simple gameplay of the original two titles.
Players who were looking for a game more similar to the original Championship Edition will be left out in the cold. CE 2 will feel more familiar to DX players who are used to chasing after Ghost Trains. In 2, rather than building up speed after collecting members of Pac-Man’s Ghost Train, the player starts off at full-speed, and any ghostly minions collected become trails behind the four main ghosts, Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde.
The challenge comes from chasing pellets at full-speed while avoiding both the roaming ghosts and their new trails. It’s a race against time, as before, trying to accumulate as many points as you possibly can before time runs out. At its strongest moments, CE 2 is a fast-paced score chaser that feels reminiscent of the gameplay offered by DX with some new and interesting twists.
Sometimes, those twists end up tangling up in one another and bog down the gameplay with undue complication. Changes pile upon each other and lead to series regulars needing to rethink their traditional CE play.
Grinding on the wall of the maze is still there, for instance, but because of Pac-Man’s increased speed and the unpredictable new behavior of ghosts, it doesn’t feel the same, and it’s something you typically want to avoid.
When eating ghosts, instead of going after the Ghost Train behind you in a satisfying finish, you’re sent on a frustrating chase after the four ghosts and their trains along Ghost Routes, colored escape routes that require memorization and constant attention.
New rules constantly interrupt basic tenets of gameplay put in place by DX, and while offering something new can be fun, the amount of relearning necessary might be challenging to those who have been playing CE DX for the past six years.
If all these new details weren’t aggravating on their own, they’re paired with new modes that only serve to highlight the game’s shortfalls. As in prior outings, the game is rife with unlockables, but rather than simply mastering each maze to seek rewards, players must conquer a new mode, Adventure. Adventure fails to deliver the classic, simple fun of the traditional score attack mode, and most players will likely avoid it altogether.
The new mode challenges players to complete several time attack missions in order to unlock Boss Battles, which are in themselves just a more challenging brand of time attack. Time attack isn’t very rewarding when failure is often found in having to battle stuff like Ghost Routes.
The process of completing stacks of time attack missions only to unlock even harder time attack missions isn’t rewarding, and if it weren’t for the promise of Galaga sprites for use within score attack, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. Within the context of 2, Adventure mode serves as an unfortunate annoyance.
Conclusion
By no means is Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 the weakest entry in the Pac-Man universe. At its best, Championship Edition 2 is fast and engrossing, pulling you in with engaging visuals and throbbing music. It’s a unique evolution on the classic arcade gameplay that you’d be hard-pressed to compare to its 1980 progenitor. Compared to its contemporaries, however, it lacks cohesion. At its worst, skillful play feels more like a wrestling match against new mechanics.
Pac-Man 256 and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX proved that you can iterate on the maze game formula without feeling overly complicated, without needing coercive tutorial levels, and without muddling what makes Pac-Man simple and fun to play. Mastery in titles like these is rewarded by a building sense of speed that motivates and excites.
Championship Edition 2 starts fast, stays fast, and ends with Pac-Man crashing into a wall of minions behind an Angry Ghost. If you’re ready to rethink the way you play Pac-Man, or you want to enjoy one of the best video game soundtracks this year, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is absolutely worth a shot, but you’d be remiss without playing stronger entries in the series first.
