I think they’re okay with that. The budget for these games has ballooned so much, they feel like they need a market goal beyond the $60 sale. Microtransactions are one approach, but pulling people into a gaming ecosystem like PSN is another. If you’re not interested in either, you’re not their target demographic.
I still don’t think the enemy is “all live service games” exactly. A lot of us have a style of gameplay we enjoy that makes us go “That was fun! I want some more of it.”
Just that Rocksteady made singleplayer games well, and their poor shift just informs us that not all games need to be live service, especially when the gameplay shifts to something no one likes in order to achieve Number Go Up (similar situation with Gotham Knights)
I still don’t understand what job “game journalist” entails.
Say a politician takes bribes. A journalist can investigate public record documents and paper trails, and visit state houses, to interview workers to uncover what’s going on there.
Game studio is working on a new sequel, but hasn’t announced it. But this is a private company that’s not required to report to anyone. They’re not consuming taxpayer money. What, legally, should a game journalist be doing to reveal this info?
They’re basically just there to echo press releases and provide scheduled interviews, all of which must be basically at the publisher’s approval, since there are far more journalists than interesting studios.
I was excited for Persona 5, but not FFXVI. I think they’ve headed a bit too far down the road of Western imitation - going full medieval look, action combat (which I’m sorry, they’re not good at and it’s still confusing), etc.
The main thing I’ve expected from JRPGs is having a story and world that surprises me. There was something signature about the look of a guy with an oversized sword in a steampunk grungy city that pulled me into those games.
I know they poured a lot of budget into FFXVI, but it feels unplanned and vision-less. Like they could have been making the eikon fights in one team before writing the rest of the story, like how studios will film a car chase in one country and then work it into their action movie’s plot however they want.
I’ve started feeling this way about anime too, so it’s obviously a pervasive problem in Japanese markets.
Got a series that’s interesting? You can have some curious character developments and mysteries in the twelve episodes you get, but its REAL reason for existing is the hope of selling merchandise and concluding its story arc across 100 manga releases and 80 episodes (which almost never happens)
I would agree, but XIV (the MMO) moved so far off the norm that I don’t really count it with the others. It managed to handle things pretty well, and was stomachable even if the combat mechanics aren’t often what draw people in.
Sakura Wars is set in a Steampunk Tokyo, in the 1920s, protected by a mysterious Imperial Assault Troop. The male protagonist, Ichiro Ogami, an Imperial Japanese Navy Ensign, is transferred to the Flower Division in order to become its captain. As he arrives at the Grand Imperial Theater, the theater manager, Ikki Yoneda, tells...
Interesting to see a review of an older game in the series. I’d always found it interesting from its steampunk appearance. My only real exposure was the recent PS4 game, which very depressingly checked off some tired anime tropes:
One guy in a house of ladies
Women are all incapable without their big strong male leader
Bizarre plot occurrences like warping to another dimension, with little acknowledgement from the cast
Requisite hot tub misunderstandings scene
There’s some other bits that didn’t make sense to me, but basically it didn’t feel like such a fleshed out world either, even if the characters are meant to be fun.
The most agonizing debate is one you agree with, but not nearly to the extreme degree of the position you’re responding to.
There are some nuts out there that literally only buy a certain gun because “it’s in Call of Duty and it’s cool.” Worse, this demographic are not likely to be responsible gun owners - they are not buying for any perceived need. They don’t lock their guns correctly, or keep ammo separate. Those guns are the type most likely to be stolen for use in a mass shooting (or used by their owners). Arguably, those guns are designed to appeal to this exact crowd, not serve as a functional tool or hobby item.
That said, there are much better targets for gun legislation than “scary looking black guns” or Call of Duty’s choice of theme.
Not sure if many will join me on it, but with Microsoft going on the death march for studios, this might be the first of their major releases I don’t even bother with on Game Pass. After all, they fired Tango Gameworks, who knows when they’ll cut these devs loose.
I definitely wish there was more negotiation with tech library companies about this. It makes sense for movies - it’s a one-time experience, you only see the supporting studios’ logos one time, and it’s just building anticipation for the opening moments of the movie. But games are things people play twenty times a week. Someone might see the logos more if they play in shorter sessions, and maybe even avoid playing for a night because they’re familiar with the two minutes of setup to get to “actually playing”.
I even wish there was more effort to put gaming menus before the launch. A long time ago, Steam standardized a server picker for their own games, so you could skip “launching the game, hitting Server Browser”, instead just open the server list, double click one, and then that’s your “launching” task taking you to the thing you want to play. Even consoles could do this, even for games using matchmaking. I remember this being something the PS5 promoted in its menus but, not having a PS5, I’m curious if many games followed though.
I had a lot of fun with my Vita even without hacking it. It had a longer lifetime than people realize, in part through digital sales and indie games that were planning to do PS3/PS4 releases anyway.
I have an idea for the practice that could help us better explore practical uses. Basically, a company may train an AI off an actor’s voice, but that actor retains full non-transferable ownership/control of any voices generated from that AI.
So, if a game is premiering a new game mode that needs 15 new lines from a character, but their actor is busy drinking Captain Morgan in their pool, the company can generate those 15 lines from AI, but MUST have a communication with the actor where they approve the lines, and agree on a price for them.
It would allow for dynamic voice moments in a small capacity, and keep actors in business. It would still need some degree of regulation to ensure no one pushes gross incentives.
My issue is less around changing the story, more around incompleteness.
They’re making the turnout of certain events hazy and mysterious to allow for multiple future turnouts, and let them keep merchandising certain characters. And, they’re letting the conclusion keep going for multiple games.
It’s more of a monetary strategy than a storytelling one. Notably, FFXIV sells each of its expansions, but each one has an ending that feels like a victory and a satisfying conclusion to a story even when it sets new things up.
With such a broad scope on what counts as “disparagement,” this has caused quite a stir among the community, with some players being banned without realizing the terms of this contract. The developers released a statement addressing these terms, with NetEase saying it is aware of the “inappropriate and...
I sort of saw it that way, but the last bit about “subjective negative reviews” seems unusual even for contracts.
There’s enough lazy rage bait “Turns out X is DOGSHIT?!?” videos out there that I don’t think it’s unreasonable to put some terms in expecting some professional effort. But disallowing even polite criticisms definitely seems too far.
I’m wondering if better AI could save this genre. I always hated the fragility of any soldiers I wasn’t actively controlling, having idle workers, workers trying to chop wood in the middle of enemies, etc.
If the computer can take your high level commands but also put out logical low level ones, and maybe also punish high APM, it might restore some of the moderate-paced feel of the game.
It’s a question of whether to reward a player that can see that the opponent is using rock, take a step back, start building paper, and send them out even if they take time doing it; versus a player that just super-optimizes building an army of rock to send against armies of paper, and give them the best chance of winning by perfectly kiting every attack on the field.
There’s certainly an argument that some groups would like the tournament of APM, but I think a lot of people didn’t bother with high level StarCraft because they saw Koreans clicking 15 times a second and figured they can’t keep up. It’s like how fighting games work to demonstrate they’re not rewarding button mashing.
Support techs do not have access to insider industry information. They deal with dozens of region-blocked game support issues a day, and in 95% of cases that block was placed by the publisher. The tech is likely just using that term out of assumption and familiarity.
I’m not saying it’s impossible that Sony are the culprit, but a random support reply to an individual is not how we’d find out. It’s happened before that a Valve official puts out a correction to something support says.
They should have been part of the original restriction and it was noticed when the restriction was put in place for Tsushima. This was noticed and executed independently by Valve.
Do NOT trust journalists using hazy sources like job postings, replies from support, or patent claims as proof of anything. There’s plenty of places looking to generate headlines and clicks.
No, YOU’RE the one claiming speculation. The null statement is “Without a PR statement, we don’t know who delisted the game”. The speculation was “We believe Sony delisted it.” It just means he’s not satisfied by any evidence in place. You don’t demand sources to make someone disprove a speculative.
No matter how poorly thought Sony’s international release plan is for PC, that’s far easier to assume brief incompetence than malice around. Firing people who made a GOTY is a whole different level of evil.
There’s been one debacle based around PSN, as a service, only being available in certain countries, and Helldivers initially launching in others to simplify their launch.
As of yet, I could believe there are Sony execs that didn’t even realize such a gap existed for their PC releases, and are still deciding what they can legally do. (Premiering their service in new territories isn’t simple, and a lot of their PC investment, plus their multiplayer workings, might be based around the account expectations)
I think the issue is, asking people to set up PSN was the plan all along - and they somewhat ineptly realized months after their hit game’s release that caused a problem for Steam users not in PSN countries.
Xbox and EA all require accounts for their games too, but they’ve done that forever, and are a bit more territory-neutral.
It’s like an administrator/tenant relationship. Generally, the publisher controls the region locks, but if the publisher starts doing something potentially illegal or brand-damaging, like selling a bricked game, the store owner can also manipulate the locks.
If they couldn’t, a dev’s efforts to willingly commit brand suicide by releasing a game that bricks people’s computers (not beyond the pale given how stupid publishers are now) would also take Steam down with them.
I play DBD, and one of the playerbase’ biggest annoyance is balance by win rate and usage rate. Sometimes an option is just fun and well designed, without being too strong.
It’s especially important to look at what’s fun for multiple players. A good example might be Helldivers 2’s jet pack. Yes, it’s so fun to cover a lot of ground at once, but if the way that’s used is to abandon a cornered teammate to go do objectives while they die surrounded, then it suddenly makes teammates feel slow and useless.
Meanwhile there’s dopamine-driven team synergy potential with the assisted reload weapons. But, there’s not a lot of mechanical information encouraging their use, and it’s pretty simple for people to just use them alone.
I remember TF2’s simple idea where all weapons did more damage the closer you were to enemies, and it demonstrates what I think can be really good balancing design.
For what? They can’t even use a lot of these IPs anymore. Fallout is now associated with 76 unless you’re thinking of Obsidian. Bethesda as a whole is not trusted for big RPGs after Starfield. Blizzard is a shell of its old self, cutting interest in Warcraft, Starcraft, and Overwatch. Id has been doing okay, but has had a lot of brain drain, and they definitely don’t produce the “live service hits” MS appears to be looking for - just things people would love to see on Game Pass and discard. There’s rumors even Call of Duty is struggling to retain relevance in new releases.
…We about to see Crash vs Spyro Autobattle Royale?
This is an excellent explanation of why the layoffs were a terrible idea.
I wouldn’t have volunteered $30-$40 for Hi-Fi Rush on release because of my low budget for new singleplayer games - but I did play it through Game Pass, and knowing how good it is now I would’ve paid more. Similarly, MS has put out many “mixed” games that are perfect for certain types of people but not many others. Those are the things that keep people on Game Pass. Nobody needs to be paying $100 a year to keep playing the few familiar live service games they know.
The “unsubscribe” button is really easy to reach the month Game Pass stops putting out anything new and interesting, and that’s coming soon now that they have no one ready to put out these surprise hits.
I really hope this bites them if the industry goes less IP-centric. We’ve gotten a slow build of “From the developers of…” fan hype, and I don’t think a big “2” matters as much as it used to.
Elden Ring, Overwatch, Cyberpunk, Genshin Impact, were all technically “new franchises” but built insane followings off either good marketing or high knowledge of their studio. So now all MS can do is copy the death path of their parrot studios like 343 Industries and The Coalition, which were built to try to tentpole their old franchises made by better studios.
Even if I side with the community on the turnout, I feel like a community manager’s job is to represent the company’s interests to some degree. Kind of like a defense lawyer.
They shouldn’t go as far as lying to people or making bad promises, which can make it a tough job, but they definitely shouldn’t be siding with the players against the company, or the internal employees are catching flak from both sides.
Taking a look at big-cash high profile releases like Redfall and Starfield…is “guaranteed failure” what they’re going for? Because those indie games were pretty much the main reason I kept subscribing to game pass.
The biggest stumble seems to be from releasing without the requirement initially, and making the game available for sale in non-PSN countries.
Other studios like EA and Microsoft have traditionally required their accounts on online games since release; but unless I’m wrong, those accounts are also available in more countries.
There was a theory that the purchase restrictions were put in place by Valve, not Sony (because those countries couldn’t make an account without violating TOS). If so, Valve might shortly remove the restrictions.
Valve can remove games from sale for any reason they like - it’s been a point of consumer contention when they are accused of censorship for certain risque anime games, too.
They can completely remove a game from sale if it turns out to be bricking people’s computers or function terribly. (Sony did this with Cyberpunk on PSN, without CDPR’s approval)
There may be suspicion the game is not legitimate for sale, for instance it illegally uses someone else’s work.
Going country-specific, if a game is revealed to be slightly less than universally positive to the perfectly infallible, totally-not-genocidal Chinese Communist Party, they may want to stop sales in China.
If a game lets you buy it in Tanzania, download it in Tanzania, and then to play, has you sign an agreement that says “I truthfully state that I do not live in Tanzania”, then that bone-headed agreement reflects poorly on Valve, so they have almost a legal need to take it out of sale in that country.
Basically, each country has its own laws of sale. Having those switches to turn off sales in certain places is important for the store’s own safety. While 60% of the blame for selling a faulty product goes to the manufacturer, 40% still goes to the storefront that chose to stock and sell that faulty good. In this case, the fault was specific to the country of play.
To summarize or if the link breaks, one of the devs “knew beforehand” they’d have to require PSN accounts post launch, but disabled them for a smooth launch. That’s interesting, but as long as Sony was acting as publisher I feel like the blame still goes on them for selling the game to non-PSN countries initially.
I expect media companies to be greedy. What feels absurd is when they act out of blind, unmonetized efforts of control that seem to hurt their bottom line - like forcing employees to commute instead of work from home.
There’s a Smash Bros mechanic called Stale Moves where repeating the same move many times causes it to deal less damage. It feels like a worthwhile topic to delve on for more interesting fights, but given the way knockback works there could be a better target than just damage adjustment.
A Google Contractor Reportedly Watched Private Nintendo Videos And Leaked The Info Online (kotaku.com) angielski
God of War Ragnarök will require a PSN account to play on PC (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Sony learned nothing from the Helldivers 2 shitshow.
‘Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’ Ends Its Weekly Updates (www.forbes.com) angielski
Sony's Neil Druckmann Interview Shows Why We Need Journalists (aftermath.site) angielski
XDefiant Hits Around 8 Million Unique Players in 1 Week (insider-gaming.com) angielski
Former Square Enix exec on why Final Fantasy sales don’t meet expectations and chances of recouping insane AAA budgets (gameworldobserver.com) angielski
Cherry blossoms, mecha, and cute anime girls? – Sakura Wars / Taisen (Sega Saturn) (blisscast.wordpress.com)
Sakura Wars is set in a Steampunk Tokyo, in the 1920s, protected by a mysterious Imperial Assault Troop. The male protagonist, Ichiro Ogami, an Imperial Japanese Navy Ensign, is transferred to the Flower Division in order to become its captain. As he arrives at the Grand Imperial Theater, the theater manager, Ikki Yoneda, tells...
Families of Uvalde victims sue Activision, say Call of Duty is 'the most prolific and effective marketer of assault weapons in the United States' (www.gamedeveloper.com) angielski
Avowed and Indiana Jones Previews Are Coming After Xbox Games Showcase (insider-gaming.com) angielski
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II - Review Thread angielski
Game Information...
Masahiro Sakurai refused to add Dolby Surround to a Kirby game because players had to sit through the logo (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
Half Of PlayStation Players Still Haven't Upgraded To PS5 (kotaku.com) angielski
Ubisoft Cancels The Division Heartland (www.ign.com) angielski
Stellaris gets a DLC about AI that features AI-created voices, director insists it's 'ethical' and 'we're pretty good at exploring dystopian sci-fi and don't want to end up there ourselves' (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Final Fantasy Maker Square Enix Will Aggressively Pursue a Multiplatform Strategy After Profits Tumble (www.ign.com) angielski
Great, can we get FF7 Rebirth on PC now?
New Doom Game Could Be Announced At Xbox Showcase In June (www.gamespot.com) angielski
Marvel Rivals Apologizes Following Alpha Banning Controversy (gamerant.com) angielski
With such a broad scope on what counts as “disparagement,” this has caused quite a stir among the community, with some players being banned without realizing the terms of this contract. The developers released a statement addressing these terms, with NetEase saying it is aware of the “inappropriate and...
Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest (files.catbox.moe) angielski
On today’s episode of “This shouldn’t be legal”…...
The RTS genre will never be mainstream unless you change it until it's 'no longer the kind of RTS that I want to play,' says Crate Entertainment CEO (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Sony Confirmed To Be Behind HD2 Delisting Of 180 Countries, Not Valve (lemm.ee) angielski
Steam is now refunding Ghost of Tsushima for people in affected countries. (lemmy.ca) angielski
Here’s the tweet, nitter.poast.org/SteamDB/…/1788981898108182681
deleted_by_author
Helldivers 2 remains delisted in 177 countries and territories even as Sony backs down on PSN requirement, Arrowhead CEO says 'I won't rest in my desire to have it available everywhere' (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush the day after killing its studio (www.theverge.com) angielski
Arrowhead CEO admits: Helldivers 2's balancing isn't what it should be (www.destructoid.com) angielski
What is the point of Xbox? (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Microsoft’s Xbox Is Planning More Cuts After Studio Closings (www.bloomberg.com) angielski
Without paywall: archive.ph/e7Fgt
Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush the day after killing its studio (www.theverge.com) angielski
Xbox Has Had More Studio Closures Than First Party Game Releases So Far In 2024 (twistedvoxel.com) angielski
We've almost reached the end of the 1st half of 2024, and Xbox has had more studio closures than first party game releases in the year so far.
Microsoft’s Xbox Is Planning More Cuts After Studio Closings - Bloomberg (www.bloomberg.com) angielski
Others across the Xbox organization have been told that more cuts are on the way.
Helldivers 2 Community Manager Seemingly Gone After PlayStation Login Meltdown (kotaku.com) angielski
Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More in Devastating Cuts at Bethesda (www.ign.com) angielski
Affected devs:...
Nintendo makes first Switch 2 announcement (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
PlayStation Reversing Course On Helldivers 2 Is Both Smart And A Sign Of How Inept It Is (kotaku.com) angielski
Sony cancelled the PSN account linking requirement for Helldivers 2 (lemmy.world) angielski
Helldivers 2 now delisted in 177 countries (steamdb.info) angielski
Looks like Arrowhead might be moving forward with PSN despite “internal discussions”.
A Tekken 8 streamer spent almost a week using a one-button mashing bot to prove that Eddy Gordo is as big a menace as ever (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
That is honestly hilarious from a old, old used to play Tekken player.