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gizmo

Robert ninja wrote: »

Anything they make will be XBO or Windows 10 exclusive. For me that means they might as well have announced that Bill Gates farted this morning.

That's definitely an issue for them alright but ultimately it's a move designed to add value to their console platform, something they've been sorely lacking for the last number of years. Sony have been leading the way in maintaining a pretty excellent network of first party studios for years and if MS were ever going to make a dent in that, they had to start following suit rather than relying on third-party studios or worse, exclusive content deals like they did with Call of Duty back in the 360 days.

It also just happens to be a bonus that the rest of us can possibly enjoy them when they come to the PC. And by PC I mean Steam which should remove that Windows 10 requirement you find so irksome.

Robert ninja

CatInABox wrote: »

It's not really an issue though, Valve are protecting themselves legally. Anything that changes the rating of the game is a potential legal minefield, you only have to look at the Hot Coffee outrage from GTA.

I'm not so sure about that. They don't sell any pornographic material directly unless you count Lady Killer in a Bind (which got a free pass on censorship because it's from the correct people™) and all their legal woes have been about licenses, DRM, gambling etc. They give rating warnings all the time very clearly on store pages and AFAIK have never had much trouble for having too much sexual content... only shovelware.

I think this is probably because of some devs reducing the price of the games on steam (like NEKO WORKs) but then offer the rest of the game's content off of steam for a price. Steam don't want the user spending money outside of steam when it's for a steam game, simple as that.

gizmo wrote: »

It also just happens to be a bonus that the rest of us can possibly enjoy them when they come to the PC. And by PC I mean Steam which should remove that Windows 10 requirement you find so irksome.

For now perhaps but being sold on steam doesn't guarantee that they won't be W10 exclusive. There's no requirement for any particular platform support on steam. A VR game was W10 exclusive only until recently and their W7/8 compatibility hasn't worked out so well. MC practically give W10 away anyway so I won't be surprised at all if their latest venture only produces W10 games to push more into using it. I'd be happy to be wrong, though.

gizmo

Robert ninja wrote: »

For now perhaps but being sold on steam doesn't guarantee that they won't be W10 exclusive. There's no requirement for any particular platform support on steam. A VR game was W10 exclusive only until recently and their W7/8 compatibility hasn't worked out so well. MC practically give W10 away anyway so I won't be surprised at all if their latest venture only produces W10 games to push more into using it. I'd be happy to be wrong, though.

For sure, but being available exclusively through the Windows App Store does since UWP apps require Windows 10. Package your game traditionally and sell outside of that store and the only reason for a game to be Windows 10 exclusive is if you rely solely on DX12 which is a fairly bizarre move unless you've rolled your own engine and made some odd decisions on the way.

As for that VR game, you don't mean GORN do you? If so, the developer has said that requirement shouldn't be a worry.

Dyr

gizmo wrote: »

For sure, but being available exclusively through the Windows App Store does since UWP apps require Windows 10. Package your game traditionally and sell outside of that store and the only reason for a game to be Windows 10 exclusive is if you rely solely on DX12 which is a fairly bizarre move unless you've rolled your own engine and made some odd decisions on the way.

As for that VR game, you don't mean GORN do you? If so, the developer has said that requirement shouldn't be a worry.

Speaking of Gorn, there's a game that's a far more fun VR weapons simulator called Tales of Glory, basically Mount and Blade in VR, rough as a dogs arse right now but still

Anyway the voice commands in it are W10 compatible only.

gizmo

Bambi wrote: »

Speaking of Gorn, there's a game that's a far more fun VR weapons simulator called Tales of Glory, basically Mount and Blade in VR, rough as a dogs arse right now but still

Anyway the voice commands in it are W10 compatible only.

Ah, they've used Cortana for the voice commands, that'll do it. Wasn't even aware that was a thing, cheers!

Dyr

gizmo wrote: »

Ah, they've used Cortana for the voice commands, that'll do it. Wasn't even aware that was a thing, cheers!

Oddly enough the command system won't work for me but then I've tried to sabotage Cortana on 10 a few times.


10 is actually a great gaming OS but it's like a split personality OS, if you avoid the metro nonsense you can reign in the snooping a lot.

gizmo

Bambi wrote: »

Oddly enough the command system won't work for me but then I've tried to sabotage Cortana on 10 a few times.

10 is actually a great gaming OS but it's like a split personality OS, if you avoid the metro nonsense you can reign in the snooping a lot.

Aye, I've never had a problem with it for gaming or work but my biggest gripe is what they've done to Windows Explorer. I like to have things nice and organised so between the mess they've made of the navigation panel and the constant addition of new folder icons to My Computer, I tend to get a little regedit-happy too. God knows what kind of side effects they'll have when it comes to actually using Cortana. :pac:

Robert ninja

KOEI Tecmo still balls as Nioh releases on PC with shyte input support.

Kiith

I don't understand why anyone would want to play a game like that with a mouse anyway. It's an utterly awful control method for a game like that.

I'm not excusing the state of the port, just saying.

Penn

Telltale laying off a quarter of their staff.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/7/16619444/telltale-games-layoffs

In a statement, Telltale said the decision to lay off staff is design to make the company “more competitive as a developer and publisher of groundbreaking story-driven gaming experiences with an emphasis on high quality in the years ahead.”

“Our industry has shifted in tremendous ways over the past few years,” Telltale Games CEO Pete Hawley said in a statement. “The realities of the environment we face moving forward demand we evolve, as well, reorienting our organization with a focus on delivering fewer, better games with a smaller team.”

I'm sad for the layoffs but I do have a little contempt for their lack of innovation and the fact they simple acquire a license and make the same game of it again and again with only minor if any changes to the formula.

Robert ninja

Kiith wrote: »

I don't understand why anyone would want to play a game like that with a mouse anyway. It's an utterly awful control method for a game like that.

I'm not excusing the state of the port, just saying.

I beg to differ. I've played Killer is Dead, Dark Souls and Blade of Darkness all with KB/M and they were perfectly fine. Some even better than gamepad thanks to quick camera movement (clicking for sword strike in KiD was particularly enjoyable). Besides, 99% of people will have access to a keyboard & mouse on PC so it's just insane to give so little support to them. I'm actually one of those crazies who opts to use KB/M even though I have a plethora of modern and classic gamepads available and fully set up on my system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPxpVy7Ae3c

In news and still about KOEI Tecmo, they won't explain Blue Reflection censorship.

Intel & AMD work together on a new chip with high performance graphics as a focus point.

Penn

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm sad for the layoffs but I do have a little contempt for their lack of innovation and the fact they simple acquire a license and make the same game of it again and again with only minor if any changes to the formula.

Yeah I fell out of love with the Telltale games. I know it was always the illusion of choice and I accepted and understood that, but it was never as bad as with Game of Thrones which just completely broke my love of the formula. I haven't played S3 of the Walking Dead, S2 of Batman (and only played S1 of Batman as I got it cheap in a sale) or any of Guardians of the Galaxy.

I will be playing S2 of The Wolf Among Us though because Season 1 of it is Telltale at their best.

They need to fix their f*cking game engine though. It absolutely cannot be that difficult given how long it's been going on for and the repeated complaints about it.

Sephiroth_dude

Penn wrote: »

Telltale laying off a quarter of their staff.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/7/16619444/telltale-games-layoffs

Never nice too see someone lose their job but meh those games are boring as hell now and they need too re-invent themselves.The shining light in their games was the wolf among us!

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm sad for the layoffs but I do have a little contempt for their lack of innovation and the fact they simple acquire a license and make the same game of it again and again with only minor if any changes to the formula.

I agree, the "games" they make are dreadful anyway, if that's what you want call them.
Would be good as a DVD box set.

Zero-Cool

I think it's a good thing anyway. Their next projects are Walking Dead Season 4 and Wolf Among Us season 2, w of there best franchises so they deserve full attention instead of guardians and batman shyte. TWD S4 deserves a proper sendoff so looking forward to that.

gizmo

Penn wrote: »

They need to fix their f*cking game engine though. It absolutely cannot be that difficult given how long it's been going on for and the repeated complaints about it.

Course it can. You keep a small engine team, spread them thinly across multiple projects and have them concentrate on bugs and title specific issues that arise, leaving any significant work to be done for when you want to port your engine to yet another platform. Simples.

They have two ways out of this though, they expand their core tech team so they can handle a significant overhaul of the engine in the background which can then be rolled out for future projects or they cut down on the number of active projects to give the existing team some breathing room. I can only hope those layoffs are on the content side of things and they've gone with the latter approach.

The layoffs suck in general though, doubly so at this time of year with only one paycheck left before Christmas. Hopefully they get some decent redundancy and are hoovered up by the other companies looking for staff in the meantime.

Dyr

I struggled through the opening of the wolf among us until a particularly retarded flow of logic made me realise that I was wasting my time

It was the game that made me realise that games journalism had completely lost the run of itself

Mickeroo

Wolf Among Us is brilliant but I think Tales From the Borderlands just edges it as their best title. The frame rate issues in the final episode though....jebus.

johnpatrick81

The only way I'd play another telltale series is via the iPad for under a fiver for the whole season. Like an interactive comic. They're not games though.

Mickeroo

Mickeroo wrote: »

Wolf Among Us is brilliant but I think Tales From the Borderlands just edges it as their best title. The frame rate issues in the final episode though....jebus.

I've a good Charles Dickens quote ready for that "It was the best of times it was the worst of times"

Penn

Mickeroo wrote: »

Wolf Among Us is brilliant but I think Tales From the Borderlands just edges it as their best title. The frame rate issues in the final episode though....jebus.

Yeah TFTB is definitely up at the top too. Genuinely some of the biggest laugh out loud moments I've had in gaming. The Borderlands world just worked with the Telltale formula so well.

Kiith

I still really enjoy the Telltale games. The engine is a mess, and the illusion of choice doesn't work well sometimes, but they tell good stories, with interesting characters. Batman S1 was good, The Wolf among us was fantastic, and even Game of Thrones was decently enjoyable for me.

Hope they get a proper engine at some stage soon, as it's been barely holding together for a few years now.

ERG89

Kiith wrote:

I still really enjoy the Telltale games. The engine is a mess, and the illusion of choice doesn't work well sometimes, but they tell good stories, with interesting characters. Batman S1 was good, The Wolf among us was fantastic, and even Game of Thrones was decently enjoyable for me.

I enjoy the Batman games as they try to be a bit different from the subject matter. Tales from the Borderlands is great but they both seem to be an exception to the rule lately.
Game of Thrones if it never came back I wouldn't be too upset & Guardians of the galaxy is like TftB without any of the personality or likeability.
Considering how big those last 2 licences are I expected far better & if say they underperformed. I've bought nearly every telltale game & I imagine they underperformed as the studio spread itself far too thin. It's why often the quality of episodes can be night & day on certain series.
I think they already lost a few writers from their heyday so I don't have my hopes too high for The Wolf Among Us season 2

Kiith

EA just bought Respawn. Guess that means Titanfall 3 won't happen, or will happen but will have loot boxes and season passes.

https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/09/electronic-arts-acquires-respawn-entertainment-455/

heebusjeebus

Kiith wrote: »

EA just bought Respawn. Guess that means Titanfall 3 won't happen, or will happen but will have loot boxes and season passes.

https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/09/electronic-arts-acquires-respawn-entertainment-455/

They've already been burned twice by EA. Being limited to XBox for TF1 and then TF2 released in the busiest time of the year.
Madness

RIP Respawn.

Sonics2k

Kiith wrote: »

EA just bought Respawn. Guess that means Titanfall 3 won't happen, or will happen but will have loot boxes and season passes.

https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/09/electronic-arts-acquires-respawn-entertainment-455/

Let the closure countdown begin.

Robert ninja

Ubisoft CEO thinks 9th gen consoles coming in 2019
I'm curious if they're going to transition to PS4.9 (as it's at 4.5 now) so instead of whole new consoles we just get upgraded versions that still have backwards compatibility, same OS, network etc.

Nutaku launches platform for freelance artists to work on adult games
This is actually (potentially) great because there's a ridiculous amount of artists out there who produce primarily lewd content who would love to get some cash, experience and see their work go into a product.

PUBG publishers announce steampunk themed MMORPG
Could be interesting but it being MMORPG doesn't get me too excited.

gizmo

Not a particularly surprising announcement. I'd wager the ball started rolling on this one prior to them signing up to build their other Star Wars game. In any case, the space in the market for independent studios to work on big budget development is continuing to contract unfortunately. With choices limited to either scaling down projects and going the crowdfunding route, supplementing original IP development with contract work or just going the full third party route, going with the publisher buyout was probably the safest option for a company like Respawn.

Pretty interesting that Nexon were also interested in acquiring them though. I'm guessing they're quite confident in the Titanfall Online launch soon? Then again, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to run around in this Titan for the craic. :pac:

Kiith wrote: »

EA just bought Respawn. Guess that means Titanfall 3 won't happen, or will happen but will have loot boxes and season passes.

https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/09/electronic-arts-acquires-respawn-entertainment-455/

As per the Eurogamer link above, Titanfall 3 is confirmed to be in development. EA published the last two Titanfall games too though, the second one going so far as to drop the Season Pass in favour of a stream of free post-release DLC in order to not fragment the player-base.

Penn

Robert ninja wrote: »

Ubisoft CEO thinks 9th gen consoles coming in 2019
I'm curious if they're going to transition to PS4.9 (as it's at 4.5 now) so instead of whole new consoles we just get upgraded versions that still have backwards compatibility, same OS, network etc.

I doubt it. I'd say we'll get full next-gen consoles because, same as with the Xbox One X and the Pro, once you stay in the same generation of consoles with just updated graphics and more powerful architecture, you're still shackled by the performance of the launch consoles of that generation. All games released on the Pro/X have to be able to run on the launch versions, which means a) things like map size, number of NPCs, AI etc will be limited by what the launch consoles can do, b) FPS for multiplayer games will have to be the same throughout and c) games will have to work on all versions of the consoles, which reduces the incentive for people to buy yet another iteration of the same generation of console given we already have the Pro/X.

A proper next-gen console (regardless of backwards compatibility etc) allows for increased hardware sales, bigger & better games, more peripheral sales and bigger jumps in software.