Random Gaming Talk Thread

[Pissy F Benny]

I'm very interested in Forza 8.

I'm curious to know what kind of sickos are still playing the elder Scrolls online all these years later, I know they exist is a large enough number to have had a fair few expansions but you never really see anyone talk about it

[Nintex]

I fear that Arkane and Microsoft will sooner or later end up in a Rare situation where they have to more or less support other studios or keep doing experimental stuff but the experimental stuff that is trending at Microsoft Corp. and not anything a real person would want.

[Tasty]

Microsoft is gonna have their hands tied and mouth gagged this year, it's against their interest to hype Xbox up in any way whatsoever right now. We saw this at The Game Awards. E3 this year is going to be interesting.

[chronovore]

Microsoft is gonna have their hands tied and mouth gagged this year, it's against their interest to hype Xbox up in any way whatsoever right now. We saw this at The Game Awards. E3 this year is going to be interesting.

How so? What'd I miss?

[Tasty]

Microsoft is gonna have their hands tied and mouth gagged this year, it's against their interest to hype Xbox up in any way whatsoever right now. We saw this at The Game Awards. E3 this year is going to be interesting.

How so? What'd I miss?

Hyping themselves up will accelerate the Activision merger tanking. Microsoft is basically making the case to the FTC that they're a bit player and Sony's like, soooooo dominant, they really could use Activision to help fight that Japanese Goliath. "Pwetty pwease FTC? We promise we'll be good!"

Narrator: "In fact, Microsoft had no intention of 'being good.'"

Now that the merger is definitively in limbo, Microsoft has to clam up for even longer. Gonna be real interesting how that plays out, hype and gaming are more connected than any other mass medium.

[headwalk]

Actually releasing games is the best way to kill hype these days.

[HardcoreRetro]

I thought for a long time the Hogwarts devs were the Just Cause people. Seems it's the devs that made Disney Infinity and Disney tie-in products.

Wrong Avalanche.

Edit: They gave away Disney's Bolt with Live Gold years back. Time to experience one of their classics.

[archnemesis]

I had the same misconception. Now I'm less excited for it.

[HardcoreRetro]

Bolt is dogshit. Who'd have guessed?

[Joe Molotov]

Bolt is dogshit. Who'd have guessed?

TERFs btfo

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I also thought it was Just Cause Avalanche for a long time.

[close]

[Svejk]

Bolt is dogshit. Who'd have guessed?

So is Game Freak, but it'll still sell like hot cakes because normies will eat that shit up.

[Pissy F Benny]

Apparently other "similar sized" pubs as Ubi laughed in their faces when they approached them about being bought out/merging.

Guessing that means EA and Take Two? Maybe Square? Embracer?

Probably a safer bet to hope they go bust and pick up studios and/or IP on the cheap than merge with that bloated mess of a company.

[paprikastaude]

I thought for a long time the Hogwarts devs were the Just Cause people. Seems it's the devs that made Disney Infinity and Disney tie-in products.

Wrong Avalanche.

 

[Pissy F Benny]

seems foolish that the could be two studios with the same name, have they never heard of copyrights and trademarks?

[Potato]

Apparently other "similar sized" pubs as Ubi laughed in their faces when they approached them about being bought out/merging.

Guessing that means EA and Take Two? Maybe Square? Embracer?

Probably a safer bet to hope they go bust and pick up studios and/or IP on the cheap than merge with that bloated mess of a company.

The French and bloated bureaucracies full of people who can't finish anything and then surrender...name me a more iconic duo!

[Svejk]

  Looking like what Devil's Turd was meant to be...

[BIONIC]

Apparently other "similar sized" pubs as Ubi laughed in their faces when they approached them about being bought out/merging.

Guessing that means EA and Take Two? Maybe Square? Embracer?

Probably a safer bet to hope they go bust and pick up studios and/or IP on the cheap than merge with that bloated mess of a company.

The French and bloated bureaucracies full of people who can't finish anything and then surrender...name me a more iconic duo!

While also being sex pests

[Nintex]

I've been thinking maybe they keep delaying Skull & Bones so they keep their funding from the government of Singapore.
The whole thing sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[Potato]

I've been thinking maybe they keep delaying Skull & Bones so they keep their funding from the government of Singapore.
The whole thing sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

If your business model relies on exploiting international tax breaks and government funding, maybe your business model is broken guys?

[benjipwns]

seems foolish that the could be two studios with the same name, have they never heard of copyrights and trademarks?

One is Avalanche Software (TERF GARBAGE) and the other is Avalanche Studios (Just Cause), also the latter is Swedish. It might be surprising but Software is the far older one, their first two games were Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on SNES/GEN and Mortal Kombat Trilogy on PS1, it was founded by people fleeing Acclaim gobbling up other studios.

[Polident Hive]

Somehow got into researching modern boxing games. With nothing worthwhile, the boxing fan communities continue playing games from the 2000s. What I’m learning is the sim boxing game is a Japan only PSP game called Boxer’s Road 2. A sequel to a PS1 game and spiritual sequel to the Hajime no Ippo PS2 games. I think. They went from one generic name, New Corporation, to another, Grandprix, on top of being an obscure Japanese developer.

Anyway, that last Fight Night game sounded divisive and had a story mode copying Undisputed with prison boxing? They were running out of a steam even back then.

[Pissy F Benny]

Fight Night Champion is a great game, I can't say I've ever seen anyone say otherwise. Its a disgrace really that EA have made 4 mid UFC games (a series that EA Sports MMA on ps360 shits all over imo) and not blessed us with a new Fight Night :atah

[HardcoreRetro]

Yeah, Fight Night Champion is great. If you have an Xbox One (any of them) you can buy the game on the Store since it's backwards compatible.

[MMaRsu]

https://twitter.com/DrTomTilley/status/1613846131175469057

[Polident Hive]

Fight Night Champion is a great game, I can't say I've ever seen anyone say otherwise. Its a disgrace really that EA have made 4 mid UFC games (a series that EA Sports MMA on ps360 shits all over imo) and not blessed us with a new Fight Night :atah

I got the sense it’s people who’ve played these handful of games for a decade and nitpick the details. Fight Night 3 is the slow one. Or how Fight Night 2 let you move while blocking and it unbalanced things.

They’re bringing Skate back. Never know.

[BIONIC]

Got my ass handed to me in a Returnal run and went to close it. I wondered where the icon went only to realize that I accidentally deleted the fucking thing.

I think this was the third game I did this too in the past couple of months 

[bork]

[Polident Hive]

Late to discovering these Sega 3D remakes for PS2. Kinda upsetting to look at, but I want to try them. If I’m getting this, Sega partnered with D3 to make Simple series games, basically.

[Skullfuckers Anonymous]

Got my ass handed to me in a Returnal run and went to close it. I wondered where the icon went only to realize that I accidentally deleted the fucking thing.

I think this was the third game I did this too in the past couple of months 

I love buying stuff on the PS5 store where I have to triple check that I’m buying the ps5 version instead of the ps4 version due to how terrible the design is.

[BIONIC]

Got my ass handed to me in a Returnal run and went to close it. I wondered where the icon went only to realize that I accidentally deleted the fucking thing.

I think this was the third game I did this too in the past couple of months 

I love buying stuff on the PS5 store where I have to triple check that I’m buying the ps5 version instead of the ps4 version due to how terrible the design is.

Dumb Delivery

[bork]

[paprikastaude]

"I think that in the original, there were places where players used their imagination to compensate for the graphical limitations at the time. I hope they take a close look at all of the remake's completed visuals, though.
[...]The fear players projected onto the dark screens of the original using their imagination have been replaced here with fears they can walk through and experience on a large 4K screen. [...] They'll see it's a kind of fear they can only experience in such a detailed world"



The George Lucas approach. No, Harrison Ford was never meant to shoot anyone and the desert was also supposed to be full of dancing CG creatures - watch it as I really intended it, because you just didn't get it.

Also god forbid horror games fuel your imagination. Sounds like they should've gone with Silent Hill 1, which is more on the pure terror side of things.

[Potato]

Consistent with the current state of idiot game design for idiot players though.

[Svejk]

Don't care how budget or jank this is, this shit looks fun as hell. 

And Stephanie Joosten being the cutscene director?    Ok, I'll bite.

[Pissy F Benny]

Don't care how budget or jank this is, this shit looks fun as hell. 

And Stephanie Joosten being the cutscene director?    Ok, I'll bite.

That's Quiet from MGS 5 right?

[Svejk]

Don't care how budget or jank this is, this shit looks fun as hell. 

And Stephanie Joosten being the cutscene director?    Ok, I'll bite.

That's Quiet from MGS 5 right?

Yup. 

 

[paprikastaude]

goty

[Nintex]

Xbox's 'traditional' console business is falling apart rapidly.

- GamePass growth stagnating
- No show at the VGA's, where they once announced the Xbox Series X
- Leadership of PlayGround games left to start Maverick Games
- Between 60 and 130 lay-offs at 343i, at this point the entire campaign team is basically gone as is the art team
- Around 200 lay offs at Bethesda/Zenimax (so far)
- Former staffers calling out the failed management and corporate policies on Twitter and elsewhere
- Future of HALO seems to be outsourced Battle Royale
- Holiday sales are devastating in both US and Europe, Xbox Series S/X in third place behind PS5(2nd) and Switch(1st) by quite a margin
(remember that PS5 actually went up to $550 while XSX dropped to $250(!))
- Actiblizz deal is still getting blocked and the opposition against it piles up
- Instead of the expected big 'X0' event a small 'Developer_Direct' has been announced for 4 upcoming titles
- Rumors that Starfield might be delayed again
- Rumors that more to be announced big third party games are PS5 exclusive (and PC / Switch)

I believe this is the make or break year for the traditional console business for Xbox. If Starfield doesn't move boxes I don't see how they can continue to take these L's with nothing to show for it.
Usually Xbox picks up the pace later in the generation as happened with the original Xbox and Xbox 360 but right now the trajectory is down instead of up.
If they drop the console business they can focus exclusively on GamePass as a service (which I believe was always the intention, just not this soon) and the Actiblizz buy-out would not be such a headache either.

After PlayStation 3, Stadia, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X.... what do we learn from all this?
Don't put a man named 'Phil' in charge of your videogame platform 

[Bebpo]

Eh,

Shit is always cyclical in this industry. People gonna MS is doomed and then MS will come back strong and Sony will be last for a bunch of years again. Sony's really been pushing the whole arrogance thing that lost them 1st place with the PS3 for years now and at some point it's going to bite them in the ass.

Then they'll recuperate and be successful and MS will be faltering and the cycle just repeats over and over.

Nintendo will always either be doomed or in 1st place and generally just ignored in the conversation.

[Nintex]

I think for Microsoft the choice is to be the biggest subscription service/publisher or the smallest console platform. I'm very surprised at the poor showing from the Xbox Series S at that price.

It's very unlike Microsoft to keep a product around that is in a distant third place. Not that I expect Xbox to disappear overnight but Microsoft to make moves that pivot further away from the traditional console hardware (as they've already been doing).
More deals to put GamePass on other services and devices for example as opposed to a hardware revision of the Xbox Series X console like Sony is preparing for the PS5 right now. It sort of reminds me of the place they were in around 2008/2009, when they had the choice to keep making traditional games with the likes of Rare and Lionhead or to can Banjo Racing, Crackdown 2, Perfect Dark Core, Kameo 2, PGR5, Fable 4 and all and go full Kinect instead. Obviously they choose the latter which in terms of growth was the right decision at the time even though they lost part of their audience and Kinect was only a short term success.

As for Nintendo, as I predicted they're going all out on Switch this year building on the momentum of their theme park opening, the mario movie and a fuck ton of first party games and another big push from Square Enix.
https://twitter.com/6d6f636869/status/1616229065194901506

[Pissy F Benny]

I was pretty high on Microsoft a couple of years ago, now though?

They've shipped what two exclusives in the past two years, and those were a month apart

[Svejk]

Phil's shaken up the REEEE crowd of late with his "cancel culture" comment too. 

[benjipwns]

I believe this is the make or break year for the traditional console business for Xbox. If Starfield doesn't move boxes I don't see how they can continue to take these L's with nothing to show for it.

Other than the continuously increasing revenues.

And contra your narrative their last quarter reported hardware sales up and services was down despite the Game Pass growth.

[benjipwns]

Late to discovering these Sega 3D remakes for PS2. Kinda upsetting to look at, but I want to try them. If I’m getting this, Sega partnered with D3 to make Simple series games, basically.

HG101 has a long set of articles on these: http://hardcoregaming101.net/segaages/segaages.htm

[Potato]

As for Nintendo, as I predicted they're going all out on Switch this year building on the momentum of their theme park opening, the mario movie and a fuck ton of first party games and another big push from Square Enix.
https://twitter.com/6d6f636869/status/1616229065194901506

Potential price drop?

[Joe Molotov]

As for Nintendo, as I predicted they're going all out on Switch this year building on the momentum of their theme park opening, the mario movie and a fuck ton of first party games and another big push from Square Enix.
https://twitter.com/6d6f636869/status/1616229065194901506

Potential price drop?

Potential whimsy increase

[benjipwns]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1846380/Need_for_Speed_Unbound/

Already 50% off.

[Tasty]

Feels like Nintendo is deliberately doing this as a "fuck off" to those Switch Pro "leakers"

[HardcoreRetro]

How about they make an update with controllers that don't break. I've been exclusively splitpad pro for years cause the joycons are such dogshit.

[bork]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1846380/Need_for_Speed_Unbound/

Already 50% off.

Is the game worth it at this price?  Reviews are pretty mixed.

[MMaRsu]

no it ll hit Gamepass soon enough or wait to buy till 10 or less

[Nintex]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1846380/Need_for_Speed_Unbound/

Already 50% off.

Is the game worth it at this price?  Reviews are pretty mixed.

It's the best Need for Speed in years. Scratches that classic Underground / Most Wanted / Criterion vibe. Unlike Horizon which is a gacha game disguised as a racer this game doesn't give you 50 cars within 30 minutes by just spinning wheels or showing up.
Instead you have to tune, upgrade, master your starter car and squeeze it to the limit before you can afford a new car. The car handling model could've been better though.

Also it is very 'zoomer' your opponents aren't a gangster or ex-cop but rather a they/them TikTok dancer, soy hip hop artist or anime nerd.
There's also a lot of current events political drama on the radio that I'm sure will tie into the story at some point in a Need for Speed game.
On the positive zoomer side there's a lot of creativity in the art, UI and overall presentation with a lot of energy which really sets it apart from other dull racing games.

I don't know what EA was smoking trying to sell this at 79,- at launch. I got at it 40 about 2 weeks after launch which seemed about right.

[Nintex]

Marvel Avengers last content update will drop March 31st, all support for Marvel's Avengers ends September 2023.

All cosmetics from the marketplace will be gifted to players for free.
The remaining balance of marketplace currency will be converted to in-game items.

[Tasty]

Getting big "Massively-Hyped WoW Killer Goes F2P" vibes

[benjipwns]

https://www.reddit.com/r/gtaonline/comments/10h1dab/make_sure_not_to_brake_during_bar_resupply/

[Beezy]

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/Halo/status/1616918614254157828

 

Make Halo Great Again

[Tasty]

It reads as a threat more than anything.

[Nintex]

For the staff I suppose

[BikeJesus]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1846380/Need_for_Speed_Unbound/

Already 50% off.

Is the game worth it at this price?  Reviews are pretty mixed.

EA Play on Steam is a great deal. All games over 6 months old are free to play, and new games you get 10 hours to test it out.

I only pay $30 canadian a year. I hate EA, but man is it a smoking deal.