Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-18-2020, 07:39 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Video Game Deep Cuts: Ori’s Will, Duty’s Call, Nioh’s Sequel?
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from video game industry ‘watcher’ Simon Carless (GDC, Gamasutra co-runner, No More Robots advisor), rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend.
The latest highlights include intelligent impressions on a mass of new titles, including Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Call Of Duty Warzone, and Nioh 2, as well as great writing on pixel pets, bullet painting in GTA V, Kabaddi, dev crunch, and lots more besides.
Weird week, huh? Let’s keep on keeping on, especially since a lot of people are going to be looking at their computers and phones more over the next few weeks. Oh – and don’t forget we’re doing a GDC virtual streaming week this week in place of the actual event, with the full IGF/Game Developers Choice Awards, a Day Of The Devs showcase, & a ton of remotely recorded talks. Hurray?
The Man Behind The Mustache(Bijan Stephen / The Verge – ARTICLE) “Currently, the Doc is in a nondescript building in Glendale, California. Over the course of two days, the cockpit of a helicopter has taken shape in the middle of a very large soundstage, an assemblage of ‘80s-era buttons and dials and a generous amount of black paint. It’s all because Doc is here to shoot a hype video for his latest announcement: he’s re-signed to Twitch for an exclusive two-year contract — for a lot of money. [SIMON’S NOTE: excellent longform Dr Disrespect streamer profile.]”
Murder by Numbers Review: Ace Attorney Meets Picross!(First Five / YouTube – VIDEO) “Murder by Numbers sets up a straightforward pitch: An Ace Attorney-esque visual novel that spruces up its inspiration’s investigation segments with some actual gameplay more riveting than clicking around a screen adventure game-style. And then it goes about…fantastically delivering exactly that without any additional muss or fuss!”
Where in North Dakota is Carmen Sandiego?(David Craddock & Frank Cifaldi / Video Game History Foundation – ARTICLE) “You all know Carmen Sandiego, but do you know about her most obscure caper? Back in 1989 – somewhere between her jetsetting adventures Where in Europe and her chrono-conquest in Where in Time, Carmen took an odd detour to the Peace Garden State – North Dakota. When I discovered the game decades later as a minor footnote on Wikipedia, I couldn’t help but be intrigued.”
Call Of Duty: Warzone is the best battle royale since Fortnite(Gene Park / Washington Post – ENHANCED ARTICLE) “Warzone is a unique Call Of Duty take on battle royale. Specifically, it’s a battle royale game where I don’t have time to be bored. [SIMON’S NOTE: interesting ‘text snippets x gameplay video’ format for this review.]”
The Ars 13: Our top indie game picks from PAX East 2020(Kyle Orland & Sarah Leboeuf / Ars Technica – ARTICLE) “Playing every indie game at a modern PAX East would take multiple weeks; a four-day show just doesn’t offer enough time to take it all in. But we did our best, sampling from a wide variety of the most interesting indie prospects. Here, in alphabetical order, are 13 indie games that stood out from the PAX East crowd.”
Valorant: How Riot finally made something new(Austen Goslin / Polygon – ARTICLE) “But while Riot will soon be publicly earning the “s” in its name, the truth is that it’s actually been there for a lot longer than players might think — the studio just didn’t tell anyone. During a recent visit to Riot’s headquarters in Los Angeles, I was able to hear how Valorant’s long and winding development process started, from the developers who have been there every step of the way.”
The Wild Astrophysics that Outer Wilds Simulates(Super Bunnyhop / YouTube – VIDEO) “[SIMON’S NOTE: Here’s a comment on the video which explains things well: ‘I love how this guy can hop from journalism and mechanical/thematic analyses to full on physics (complete with Carl Sagan cosplay). The amount of effort and pure intelligence that goes into his videos is amazing.'”]
Pixel Pets: How game developers bring animals to life(Stacey Henley / Gamasutra – ARTICLE) “Research is one of the pleasures of my work. It makes me appreciate the world around me in new ways,” Emma Richey, the art director for the upcoming Shelter 3 told me. “We’ve studied the anatomy, habitats, motions and sounds for inspiration. Yet, our intentions have never been to create realistic animal simulators, but instead emotional journeys, told through the eyes of animals.
‘Dreams’ Is So Much Weirder and More Interesting Than Video Game Remakes(Patrick Klepek / VICE – ARTICLE) “I had no interest in The Algorithm. If it was possible, I’d sort Dreams not by “most liked” but by “least liked,” because I’ve been primarily interested in discovering what people are creating that’s either being ignored or created without the explicit purpose of being popular. I want to see what seven-year-old kids are getting up to when they’re supposed to be asleep.”
Ori and the Will of the Wisps review: A natural beauty(Kyle Orland / Ars Technica – ARTICLE) “The most striking thing about Will of the Wisps, though, is how it maintains a feeling of near-overwhelming threat despite Ori’s inexorable rise in power. Even as your abilities increase, Ori remains a very small force working against a sprawling and uncaring universe.”
The authors of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre were roleplaying long before Dungeons & Dragons(Jody McGregor / Dicebreaker – ARTICLE) “Branwell Brontë owned a collection of miniatures any Warhammer player would be proud of, and when his father brought home 12 toy soldiers as a birthday present he shared them with his three sisters. Each sibling chose a miniature and named them. They became Bonaparte, Gravey, Waiting Boy and the Duke of Wellington, and were the first inhabitants of a land eventually dubbed the Glass Town Confederacy and sketched out by Branwell on a map that needs only a hex grid to look at home in a tabletop RPG supplement.”
Killing Me Softly: The Insidious Beauty of Dying Game Worlds(Sean Martin / EGM Now – ARTICLE) “If anything, our love of post-apocalypses reflects an abdication of responsibility, a wish to skip over the ending and find a brave new world waiting for us. But as a “quiet apocalypse,” van Lierop’s The Long Dark, insists on giving us a slow, beautiful death.”
The Fragile Art of Bullet Painting in Grand Theft Auto V(Jack Yarwood / Fanbyte – ARTICLE) “For most players, the walls of Los Santos are unremarkable. A dull patchwork of greys and whites, they blur into the background without any need for recognition. But for a small group of digital artists, these same walls are blank canvases waiting to be painted. Their art implement of choice: Grand Theft Auto V’s vast assortment of weaponry.”
The Mysterious Origins of Mastermind, the Codebreaking Board Game(Duncan Fyfe / VICE – ARTICLE) “If you only know Mastermind as a well-worn and underplayed fixture of living room closets and nursing home common areas, you may have no idea just how big this thing was in its early years. Invented in 1970, Mastermind would sell 30 million copies before that decade was up, and boast a national championship at the Playboy Club, a fan in Muhammed Ali, official use by the Australian military for training, and 80% ownership amongst the population of Denmark.”
Descenders ‘Rewards’ Pirating Gamers With a Fitting Flag(Ernesto / TorrentFreak – ARTICLE) “RageSquid, the studio behind the downhill biking game “Descenders” has come up with a unique feature for players who pirated the game. To “reward” the efforts of release groups such as SKIDROW and CODEX, it has pimped their bikes with an unremovable pirate flag.”
Nioh 2 and the annoying joy of fighting through a puzzle game(Dave Tach / Polygon – ARTICLE) “I hold the R1 button down, tap the triangle button on my PlayStation 4 controller, and my Nioh 2 weapon transforms from a blade on a pole into a sickle so large and ornate that the Grim Reaper would blush. This is the Seething Dragon switchglaive in its most powerful (and slowest) form. I’ve gone full scythe because I’m getting desperate.”
As Naughty Dog Crunches On The Last Of Us II, Developers Wonder How Much Longer This Approach Can Last(Jason Schreier / Kotaku – ARTICLE) “Even in an industry where overtime is ubiquitous, where it’s near-impossible to find a game that isn’t the result of weeks or months of crunch, Naughty Dog stands out. Its games, including the Uncharted adventure series and 2013’s groundbreaking The Last of Us, are widely considered among the best of the best, with ultra-realistic graphical fidelity and the type of meticulous details you wouldn’t see in other games.”
It’s Time You Knew About Kabaddi: The Ancient Game That’s Gone Pro(People Make Games / YouTube – VIDEO) “Quinns dives headfirst into Kabaddi, India’s fastest-growing sport. [SIMON’S NOTE: Shut Up & Sit Down’s Quinns has joined up with the already great People Make Games to talk about, well, not computer games, and this is the excellent first video.]”
Ashly Burch saves video games by making fun of them(Joshua Rivera / The Verge – ARTICLE) “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet isn’t just a great comedy about video games, but a strand connecting an older, weirder era of its culture to the more mainstream world of workplace comedies. Few people on the show exemplify this more than Ashly Burch, a writer on Mythic Quest who also plays Rachel, a wide-eyed game tester for the studio that makes the show’s eponymous game.”
Why the Developers of ‘Amnesia’ Waited 10 Years to Make a Sequel(Patrick Klepek / VICE – ARTICLE) “I had a chance to spend a few minutes chatting with Frictional co-founder and creative director Thomas Grip earlier this week, and I teased a few details about Rebirth out of him. Most of our conversation, however, was about the big changes Frictional has undertaken since Amnesia blew up, what it’s like to give up micromanagement, how he’s handling Amnesia fans becoming Amnesia developers, and what lessons have been learned about some SOMA players being turned off by the game’s scary enemies.”
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[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at tinyletter.com/vgdeepcuts – we crosspost to Gamasutra later, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to [email protected]. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra & an advisor to indie publisher No More Robots, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-18-2020, 07:39 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Reboot Develop Blue is the latest game event rescheduled due to coronavirus
Reboot Develop conference organizers confirmed today that the upcoming Reboot Develop Blue event in Croatia will be postponed until the fall due to travel bans and other issues caused by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
This is the latest in a string of game industry events being postponed or cancelled due (at least in part) to the spread of coronavirus, and the quarantines and travel restrictions being implemented globally to try and contain it.
Reboot Develop Blue was originally slated to kick off in Dubrovnik in late April, but in a post to the Reboot Develop Facebook page today the organizers say it will instead be postponed until October 15th. They also expect to be able to provide attendees more information next week, including further details on how to cancel (and presumably rebook) their accommodations with no penalties.
This comes just days after the ESA cancelled its annual E3 industry trade show due to “increased and overwhelming” coronavirus concerns, though it left open the possibility of doing some sort of streaming show during the week in June E3 was scheduled to take place.
Organizers of the Game Developers Conference confirmed last month that GDC 2020 will be postponed for similar reasons, though some talks planned for the event will be streamed via the GDC Twitch channel next week (when GDC was slated to take place) alongside awards ceremonies for the annual IGF and Game Developers Choice Awards.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent Informa Tech
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-18-2020, 07:39 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Watch WWE's 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Have Fun With An Empty Arena
As the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic continues to lead to event cancellations and postponements around the globe, things are getting very strange and surreal in the world of professional wrestling. It's already been announced that WWE will be moving the upcoming Wrestlemania 36 event to the WWE Performance Center, presenting it in front of a live audience. However, the company is also broadcasting its weekly TV shows from there.
That brings us to a truly bizarre moment, perhaps one of the weirdest in WWE history. On the March 16 episode of Raw, which was dubbed 3:16 day by the company, WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin appeared. Austin had been previously scheduled to appear on the show when it was set to air live in front of an arena full of fans. Without those fans, though, Austin got to have a new kind of fun.
Standing in the middle of the ring at the Performance Center, Austin went into his traditional "give me a hell yeah" shtick, which would normally elicit a massive response from the audience. However, given the current situation, the camera instead cut to a section of audience chairs that were simply empty. The look of utter confusion on his face after being met with deafening silence is classic "Stone Cold" and very entertaining. Of course, when he tries it once more and gets a response from Raw commentary team member Byron Saxton, he responds with a simple, "What?"
A Custom Tom Nook Emoji Has Been Added To Twitter For A Limited Time
To help promote the upcoming Nintendo Switch release Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Tom Nook is teaming up with the social media platform Twitter. For a limited time, if you use the hashtags ‘AnimalCrossing’ or ‘AnimalCrossingNewHorizons’ the face of Nook will appear in your tweet.
While it’s not the first time something has been done, it always nice to see a Nintendo game – or character, in this case, get a bit of extra love. After all, Tom Nook is one of the most misunderstood raccoons out there. He’s just an animal who cares about his business and doesn’t even set a deadline on loan repayments.
Check out all the hashtags featuring Tom Nook’s furry face over on Twitter.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-18-2020, 12:14 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Watch Microsoft's GDC Stream: Xbox Series X, Gears 5, XCloud, And More Panels
Despite being postponed due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the Game Developers Conference is still continuing as a digital event, with talks being streamed throughout the week on Twitch. As part of this, Microsoft will hold its two-day Game Stack presentation, during which the company intends to talk more about Project xCloud and the Xbox Series X, among other things. You'll be able to watch it all here on GameSpot.
Microsoft's "New Chapter in Gaming" panel will be held on Wednesday, March 18 at 11:55 AM PT / 2:55 PM PT / 6:55 PM GMT, and it plans to discuss Xbox Series X and xCloud during this. It's unclear what the company plans to cover during the livestream, but the official Game Stack website states the company will discuss "the latest cloud and game development technologies from Microsoft, go behind-the-scenes with design and development decisions made by teams at Xbox Game Studios and creators in the ID@Xbox program."
There are other presentations Microsoft will hold, including a bunch that start on March 17. These include panels with Gears 5 developer The Coalition, a discussion about what Game Stack is, a look at how Rare built its pirate action-adventure game Sea of Thieves, and more. There are also talks happening on Wednesday, March 18 alongside the company's "New Chapter in Gaming" panel, including chats with developers Double Fine (Rad) and inXile Entertainment (Wasteland 3), and much more.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 03-17-2020, 05:34 PM - Forum: Windows
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Mixer’s got a new homepage, features and more
We’re barely into 2020, and yet so much has happened in such a short time. We know many of you, like the Mixer team here in Redmond, are practicing “social distancing,” learning how to “flatten the curve,” and otherwise taking precautions amid the outbreak of COVID-19. We’re proud and heartened by the stories you’ve shared and the ways we’ve seen Mixer streamers and their communities using Mixer to stay in touch digitally and support each other during this challenging time. Thank you for continuing to make the Mixer community shine as a positive and welcoming place for new and existing members alike.
Over the past couple of months, we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes on a set of new features and capabilities based on feedback we’ve heard from you. These are focused on improving discoverability, empowering communities of all sizes and making it easier to find your new favorite Mixer creators. We’re rolling them out starting today.
New Mixer homepage – We’ve refreshed the Mixer homepage across all platforms to give more focus to featured content as well as provide smart, AI-powered recommendations. The most immediate change you’ll notice on your homepage is that we’re introducing a new layout that displays all featured creators at the same time.
Below the “Featured,” “Top Category,” and “Partner Spotlight” sections, you’ll also find brand new content rows. These rows will highlight and recommend streams from community events, cultural moments, and more tailored content as time goes on. The rows will be a mix of AI-powered personalized recommendations and editorially programmed content, ensuring you can discover and join even more communities across Mixer.
Auto-Hosting for everyone – We’ve spent the last month testing Auto-Hosting with Mixer Partners and now we’re excited to share it with every streamer. With this feature, you’ll be able to create a list of specific streamers that you want to automatically host when you’re offline. We’ve added a host of customization options as well.
You’ll be able to set your Auto-Host list to host in a priority order or to pick at random. With showcase, you’ll be able to set custom Auto-Host time durations. This means Auto-Host could switch to a new streamer from your list every hour (you determine the time) instead of when that hosted streamer goes offline.
You can access your Auto-Hosting setting in the Broadcast dashboard.
Higher-Quality Emotes – This top community ask is no longer “Soon™”, it’s finally here! Starting today, we’re enhancing all emotes to 28 pixels across all platforms, introducing new prefixing requirements and completely refreshing our global emotes. New global emotes will be visible today and all partner emotes will be updated over the next few weeks.
Ad Break (Beta) – Our Mixer Partners have been testing advertising pre-roll for the last few months and now we’re expanding our advertising testing with an Ad-Break beta. With this, Partners can choose when they want to run ads during their stream. This was a request from the Mixer Partner community, and we’re excited to be testing it as part of the full package of monetization opportunities on Mixer.
Xbox Viewing Improvements – We’re continuing to add more features to the new Mixer viewing experience on Xbox. This new experience is built from the ground up to get you to your favorite streamers as fast as possible. With the April Xbox One system update that’s in some Insider rings now, you’ll see the additions of emotes and subscriber badging in chat.
Ember messages will also get the flair they deserve to help them stand out. We’ve also made it easier to access stream settings for selecting chat layout or video quality. Outside of this latest Xbox One system update, we also expect to have Gift Subs available in the new experience in the coming weeks.
Partner Badging on Homepage – To make it easier to find Mixer Partner channels, we’re adding the new badging to the homepage as well.
Notifications UX Improvements – We’ve added a new notification bell to the pages of channels you follow, so you have better control over which channels will trigger “go live” notifications.
Clips Creation Improvements – Clip creation is now available for more viewers of Mixer Partners and Verified channels in the Mixer app on iOS and Android. Clip creation on mobile respects the Rank, Subscriber, and Moderator permissions that the channel owner has set.
There’s much more coming, and we’re excited to share details soon. Going forward, we will be posting more frequent community updates on this blog. They’ll cover everything from events, to community news and features! Stay tuned for more updates and please keep sharing your feedback on Twitter with us at @WatchMixer.
Save 30% On WayForward’s Switch Library To Celebrate 30 Years
A few weeks after the independent developer and publisher WayForward celebrated its 30th anniversary, the Nintendo Switch eShop across multiple regions including the US and UK is hosting a special sale on select games.
Save 30% on WayForward’s Switch lineup to celebrate 30 years of indie excellence! Embark on a half-genie adventure in the Shantae series, hit the streets in River City Girls, solve platforming puzzles in Mighty Switch Force! Collection, and battle the undead in The Mummy Demastered!
This 30% off sale runs from now until the end of the month, so be sure to spend fast if you want anything in particular:
US
UK
River City Girls
Now: $20.99, Was: $29.99
Now: £18.89, Was: £26.99
Mighty Switch Force! Collection
Now: $13.99, Was: $19.99
Now: £11.19, Was £15.99
Shantae Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition
Now: $20.99, Was $29.99
Now: £15.32, Was £21.89
Shantae Half-Genie Hero
Now: $13.99, Was $19.99
Now: £11.19, Was £15.99
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse
Now: $13.99, Was $19.99
Now: £10.21, Was £14.59
The Mummy Demastered
Now: $13.99, Was $19.99
Now: £12.59, Was £17.99
Will you be adding any of these titles to your collection? Tell us below.
Sony has announced that it will host a livestream to detail technical aspects of the PlayStation 5 tomorrow, March 18, via the PlayStation Blog.
The stream will be presented by PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny, who previously revealed details of the PS4 and PS4 Pro at their respective events. The announcement was made on Twitter, with a follow-up from PlayStation Japan's account clarifying that the information was intended for GDC (which has been cancelled) and will only be in English.
Tomorrow at 9am Pacific Time, PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny will provide a deep dive into PS5’s system architecture, and how it will shape the future of games. Watch tomorrow at PlayStation Blog: https://t.co/bgP1rXMeC8pic.twitter.com/BSYX9tOYhE
