Game News 2.0

Retr0gamer

We all know Sony on Wednesday is going to announce ace combat 8, drop the mic and let the trailer play then announce on Twitter that they won the console war definitively.

Jordan 199

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120628757#Comment_120628757

No doubt it will be a day one purchase for you 😃

CatInABox

Relic just got hit with huge layoffs. Company of Heroes was amazing, but I really bounced off the second one, and haven't had a chance to play the third.

https://twitter.com/eurogamer/status/1661270808143224833

Varik

I'm still playing COH2, played the beta of 3 and it ran poorly (also wouldn't save campaign between sessions) and I didn't like the changes to the factions. I prefered the commanders and the large variance they gave rather than the 3 choice per faction in COH3 with some extra unlocks to pick in game.

In COH2 you never knew if your amour was going to meet some heavy tank destroyer or if your infantry was suddenly going to be wiped out by something like a sturmtiger.

I'd a game recently where I'd picked a commander which had remote control bombs called goliaths, they were standard in COH1 but only a single commander has them in COH2. Enemy didn't see it coming from flank and it's not a command commander to use.

Seen player count for COH3 fell to below COH2, not sure if it stayed that way or not but that's not good.

Dawn of War 3 bombing probably had a big effect too.

Mr Crispy

Eesh. May as well add this to the (growing) list of Ubi games that will likely never see the light of day.

https://www.pcgamer.com/prince-of-persia-the-sands-of-time-remake-is-starting-over-from-scratch/

Potential-Monke

Probably the best move at this stage. Just... forget about the original trilogy. Start a new game/arc/character/location. I don't care at this stage!

Mr Crispy

We hates it, precious.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-5/the-lord-of-the-rings---gollum?ref=hp

sniper_samurai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120639517#Comment_120639517

I've seen one review where the verdict was Boil it, Mash it, Throw it in the bin.

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120639580#Comment_120639580

😂

I hope this isn't the thin end of the wedge though as regards LOTR games. The IP had been well protected for years but now it looks like Embracer are just giving any old project the go-ahead.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120639580#Comment_120639580

https://twitter.com/jbu3/status/1661689649708912642?s=20

...

sniper_samurai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120639635#Comment_120639635

This game was in development prior to Embracer getting the rights.

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120639660#Comment_120639660

I don't think I said anything to the contrary, just that Embracer are going to try milking the property after years of it being relatively unused.

johnny_ultimate

I personally still firmly believe the Embracer Group is an elaborate prank.

https://www.pcgamer.com/stunned-embracer-ceo-has-to-deliver-financial-report-right-after-dollar2-billion-mystery-deal-falls-apart-its-been-a-rough-night/

J. Marston

Between this and the LOTR show being as interesting as watching grass grow, that IP has taken a hit.

Potential-Monke

Similar to Star Wars, they need to set any new LOTR stuff in a time separate from the books. Create a new story, like they did with the Middle-Earth Shadow of games. Trying to create something new to intertwine with already extremely well established and explored lore, it's time to move away because it will never live up to the expectations. Just don't mess it up like with Shadow of War with Live Service style crap.

Jordan 199

Forza Motorsport cover art revealed:

quokula

A Corvette and a Cadillac doesn't exactly scream that this is a game with a diverse international line up, hopefully the game isn't too Americanised.

Mr Crispy

Villanelle and Hopper are finally teaming up.

https://youtu.be/RJekekI4Vkg?t=592

CatInABox

Homeworld 3 delayed to next year.

https://twitter.com/HomeworldGame/status/1661839559204675598

Niska

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120641616#Comment_120641616

Two after Relic announced 121 job losses. Took me a moment to go from - that makes sense, you let 121 people go it will be delayed TO oh yeah, Relic no longer make Homeworld.

Zero-Cool

Alone in the Dark, out October, prologue demo now available. It's on PSN anyway, not sure about other platforms. Search alone in the dark and select the drop-down to change product to the demo.

https://youtu.be/G1-HARRgn74

pixelburp

A new Alone in the Dark, aiming for atmosphere? We've come a lonnnnnng way, baby.

johnny_ultimate

Seems like there was a very good reason TLOU Factions wasn’t at the PS event.

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1662174968384311296?s=46&t=nwvJe3fJtU0siJ7wj5mjTA

Zero-Cool

So it went from Factions 2.0 to "oh we can do so much more with this, let's put more resources on it" to "hhmm not quite working, let's take resources off it and have another think". They should have at least kept Factions in TLOU pt.1. speaking of, Part 1 is the most expensive PS5 game you can buy in Smyths at 75 euro, ridiculous.

*Yes, I am bit bitter about this Factions news.

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120644645#Comment_120644645

Sounds like a big misstep unfortunately. It hasn't been cancelled though, so hopefully they can salvage something good from it.

So the single player game they're working on... TLOU 3, right? Or is it wishful thinking on my part to imagine that they're doing something new?

Zero-Cool

It's mental, if true, that Sony asked Bungie, the GAAS experts, to assess their current projects and Bungie raised questions if Factions could keep players long term and Sony went with their advice. If true Bungie is definitely an undercover xbox agent :)

As for their single player game, i would imagine it's a new IP if not for the HBO show being so successful. Wouldn't be surprised if Sony told them to make 3 so they did have tv material.

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120644920#Comment_120644920

I hadn't seen that about Bungie questioning it. I mean, they have Marathon in the works so maybe they didn't want the competition from a rival GAAS. 😂

Zero-Cool

Dave the Diver leaving early access and releasing on Steam in June. Really hope this comes to consoles, looks excellent!

https://youtu.be/qh0keDAVMuc

Jordan 199

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120646313#Comment_120646313

Diver dude, diver! 😃

Mr Crispy

Wishlisted!

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120646548#Comment_120646548

My predictive text swiping is really bad :D

johnny_ultimate

Oh wow, People Make Games has put together a massive, deeply reported 2.5 hour video on the whole mess around the recent events surrounding ZA/UM and the future of Disco Elysium. Delighted someone finally got around to properly looking into this - even happier it’s PMG.

https://youtu.be/JGIGA8taN-M

pixelburp

People Make Games has been low-key one of the best Video Games channels on YouTube for years now. I've always thought they're not half as championed as they should be.

Grumpypants

Fantastic work again. I really enjoy their work. Coffeezila is another channel in a similar investigative journalism style if you are interested in more content like this.

JimBurnley

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 out Oct 19th. Really enjoyed the last one, great for dipping in and out of

CatInABox

Moire layoffs, this time at Firaxis. Not too bad with only 30 gone. I'd say that this is more of a "rationalisation opportunity" than a hint of problems at the developer

https://twitter.com/eurogamer/status/1664172427851571201

If these guys got paid per hour I've put into their games, then they'd be all set on my play time for Civ 6 alone.

Retr0gamer

Sounds like their Marvel game didn't do the numbers it needed. Shame as I heard it's exceptional but card based games are kind of commercial poison for a lot of people and turn them off trying the games.

Zero-Cool

Midnight suns was actually pretty great. It didn't click with me fully as i kept wishing it was more like xcom but absolutely understand why they couldn't do that. So i inside you had the 'i wish it was like xcom' crowd and the 'i hate cards system' crowd and you could say the 'cards' were stacked against them.... anybody?

Man, might have to spin up xcom 2 again, great time to advise people to try it and play on rookie. Still a good challenge but the time/move countdown isn't as annoying. Super game.

sniper_samurai

Yuji Naka has been jailed for 2 and a half years in his insider trading case.

https://twitter.com/Toadsanime/status/1664200623783391233?t=PzgxqXEfnFWL536NTW1hyg&s=19

Retr0gamer

Deserves longer for creating Shadow the hedgehog and making people believe Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 are good games.

CatInABox

Jason Schreier has a quick thread on where Redfall went wrong, and of course it was management wanting a GAAS game. Other news in there though, is that we they tried to force through this game, 70% of the developers of Prey left (not all at once, over time).

Currently playing through Prey right now, and it's great. Sad that it didn't sell more.

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1664226073465298944

pixelburp

Doesn't bode well for Arkane's future: a haemorrhage of talent, and management can now hang this failure over creatives' heads

Retr0gamer

Prey was sent out by Bethesda to die. There was no marketing push behind it at all.

I really don't understand Microsoft and Sony's push for GAAS. The writing was on the wall about 5 years ago that the GAAS thing was a fad and over saturated by a handful of big players like Fortnite and Destiny. Any new encroachment into the market failed miserably yet they are still chasing after it.

DeSelby83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120666057#Comment_120666057

While I'd say most here would agree with you regarding the GaaS Sony/Microsoft only need one of these games to hit and they are laughing all the way to the bank

sniper_samurai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120666255#Comment_120666255

Well Sony has Destiny now since they bought Bungie. Saddened to see Marathon being turned into a R6 style GaaS game instead of a proper remake.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120666255#Comment_120666255

Exactly. One game hits even half the heights of Fortnite and it'd probably cover all the other GAAS failures.

The trouble is they're all trying to be the next Fortnite rather than the first (whatever). Fortnite definitely wasn't the first battle royale, or the first game with battle pass stuff, but it hit at exactly the right time for the type of game it was, and became the flag-bearer. Everyone is chasing that instead of finding what the next big thing might be.

Retr0gamer

It shows a real lack of understanding of the market. It's just chasing the money. Every single one of the GAAS successes have been lightning in a bottle. Destiny and Warframe were first to market. Fortnite jumped on the Battle Royale bandwagon and differentiated itself by being free and therefore the cheapest on the market. Rocket League was rescued from obscurity with a very successful PS Plus release.

Each of these games also started out with months of work to make them good games and worth peoples times whereas these have been designed from the ground up to extract money. That cynicism just ends up bleeding into the game design.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120666443#Comment_120666443

It shows how insane it is that Overwatch went from being one of those games with a monetisation system (lootboxes which made Overwatch a f*cktonne of money and would have continued doing so with OW2) that so many games tried to emulate, to a game which changed their entire rewards/monetisation system to try emulate the Fortnite system with seasons, battlepass, shop etc.

McFly85

I’m kind of surprised to read that MS were very hands-off regarding Redfalls development. It’s admirable that they don’t want their devs to feel micromanaged but if you’re a first party studio then you ultimately represent the brand. At the very least I would expect that the game would have been running near perfectly on their flagship console upon release.

Grumpypants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120665970#Comment_120665970

Make a great game that loads of people want to play. And then build a live service around it.

But companies keep front loading the building of the live service and run out of time for the build the great game part.