Grand Theft Auto V launched over three years ago, yet it's still a big money-maker, proving that — at least in some small way — crime does pay. The popular open-world action game has now shipped 75 million copies, publisher Take-Two Interactive revealed today during an earnings call.
Via: GameSpot
Source: Take-Two Interactive
Koei Tecmo's latest PC ports are a hit and a miss. Released February 7, 2017, Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book is receiving very positive user reviews as the JRPG Atelier series finally arrives on the PC. Conversely, Nights of Azure didn't fare as favorably with a few port issues (registry tweak is required for 4K, default control issues etc.).
Both titles are 15% off each at GMG for their Steam copy, or if you want to go for a twofer, you can pick the "Gust bundle" with both titles on Steam Store for 20% off at $47.98.
If you already have either title on the PS4 - we don't really see the point of handing over cash to Koei Tecmo again, unless you really want Atelier on your PC...
I've been sleep deprived this past week and I don't see that changing. The cause? Nioh. I can't get enough Nioh. It's Team Ninja's Souls- and Diablo-inspired samurai action game, and it is fantastic.
Chris got us rolling with some quick tips of his own, and I have a couple more to add. As you might expect with a loot-driven game with dungeons and chests and demons galore, sometimes, there are traps. In Nioh, not every chest you find is just a chest, but there is One Weird Trick to tell them apart.
Blizzard's roster of games have all evolved from their initial versions through periodic updates tweaking rules and adding content, but only after extensive testing on the studio's end. To let players in on the fun, some of the titles have opened up temporary beta servers called Public Test Realms to fiddle with proposed changes before they're fully implemented into the games. Hero shooter Overwatch is finally getting its own PTR today which PC players can use to try out the new Server Browser and Capture The Flag mode, along with a few character alterations.
Source: Overwatch blog
Watch live video from Nasty_Nate_86 on www.twitch.tv
Speedrunners are a talented bunch. Just a few days after Resident Evil 7's release, dedicated players managed to complete the survival horror game in under two hours. Now, they've done it again, with a knife-only speedrun that clocks in at two hours and two minutes.
Twitch streamer Nasty_Nate_86 holds the current knife-only record in Resident Evil 7. It's a new category for the game, but a staple of the Resident Evil speedrunning community, where Resident Evil 3, Remake, and others have been completed without firing a single bullet.
Nintendo has just released some commercials promoting the upcoming Switch console. The ads show off some gameplay from a few of the system's most heavily anticipated titles, including Splatoon 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The commercials will air on Japanese television and streaming sites, but you can watch them below.
I think it's interesting that Nintendo appears to be advertising to an older audience in these commercials; I don't think I saw anyone under 20 in any of them. We'll see if that's the case when English language commercials come out. They can't be far off, there's less than a month until the Switch releases on March 3.
I could never imagine living with a fatal disease. I've seen it take the life of my aunt and have watched others slowly succumb to some miserable affliction, but I don't know how I would react in a similar situation. Would I cling to the things I love most, or shelter myself and wait for the inevitable? I don't envy anyone in that kind of situation, because any minute could be your last. Having to go through life knowing you will never see your family grow older with you or miss out on one of your favorite pastimes would slowly destroy me.
This story about Gabe Marcela, a 26-year-old man with CHD (congenital heart defect), is very gut-wrenching. Posted on Waypoint yesterday, the article details Gabe's struggle with his heart condition, his passion for gaming and Zelda, and how Nintendo was able to give hope and joy to a man in his final hours. It doesn't end well, but the message should be clear to anyone who reads this.
We often take gaming for granted as able-bodied people. For us, we can put the game down, go outside, and experience the real world. For some, though, that may never be an option. Having a portal into a different dimension where you are the hero of the day can be huge for keeping someone's depression and condition at bay. I know for myself, I suffered from some pretty severe bouts of depression and would often retreat into the vastness of gaming to find respite.
There is real power in this medium. Gaming is more than just bright colors, flashy graphics, and time wasting. We can bicker about failed experiments, cancelled projects, or unsavory developers all we want, but we're all here for the same reason: video games are magical.
The Dying Man Who Found Hope in 'Breath of the Wild' [Waypoint]
Welcome back to Comments of the Week, where everything's made up and the points don't matter! I'm your host Fuzunga, and this week we've got tons of great comments compressed for your viewing pleasure.
Overwatch's current seasonal event, Year of The Rooster, added a Capture the Flag mode that proved to be quite popular. So popular, in fact, that game director Jeff Kaplan went back on his previous claim that CTF would be limited to the run of the event. In today's developer update, Kaplan said that CTF would be available as a custom game mode once the next patch rolls out, after testing on the Public Test Realm. What's more, he said that the Overwatch team has converted nine more King of the Hill maps to work with the Capture The Flag rules to provide a little more variety. Presumably, these will be based in Ilios, Nepal, and Oasis.
The Capture the Flag mode sounds like it will be the enticement to play custom games, which will be a big focus of the next patch. Blizzard promised that Overwatch would gain a server browser at Blizzcon, and it looks like the feature is nearly ready to deploy. The server browser will allow players to create and search for custom games in a public list divided by region. Once the patch goes live, players will be able to gain experience in custom games just as they do now in Quickplay, Arcade and Competitive modes.
Kaplan spoke a bit about some of the features you'll be able to play around with. In the CTF mode, you'll be able to set the flag to have more or less pickup time, or to drop if an evade ability is used. You could also make it so you have to have both flags in your base to get a capture, or turn off specific hero abilities if you think they're overpowered.
These options won't be limited to just CTF mode, though. All maps and gametypes will be available to play around with, and Kaplan suggested a couple of the modes people might want to experiment with. He said his team was enjoying a mode where Widowmaker's grappling hook refreshed quickly, allowing the entire team to "Spider-man" their way through the levels. Another suggestion was a "Boss fight" mode with a team of low-health players trying to take down a triple-health Roadhog.
Kaplan closed by saying that Blizzard will be watching to see what modes become popular in the custom game browser. This is hardly surprising, considering that both the tower defense genre and Defense of the Ancients were spawned from Warcraft 3 mods.
It's hard to have a consistently positive relationship with professional wrestling. Anyone above a certain intelligence (like 40 IQ) is destined to become a "smark," a smart mark who understands that wrestling is fake but enjoys it on a more conceptual level. It's these people who find themselves at odds between what they want a company like the WWE to do and what the WWE actually does.
WWE 2K17 released on PC today. It costs either $50 or $75 depending on how many additional wrestlers you want. Also, WWE 2K17 isn't very good according to Mike. So maybe you shouldn't get it.
But, maybe you should get it because just think of all the things you can do -- all the things that WWE won't do in real life. You could have Kevin Owens not drop the belt to Goldberg at Fastlane. You could have Lesnar and Goldberg not hurtling toward a Wrestlemania match that will probably be for the Universal Championship despite the fact that they're both part-timers. You could have Undertaker go out against someone who's not Roman fucking Reigns. You could have Seth Rollins not tear his MCL and miss his second straight Wrestlemania because the man deserves way better than that.
I mean, just think of all the things you can do.
WWE 2K17 [Steam]
Gears of War 4 is the kind of game that's built to have a long tail. There are frequent tweaks to refine multiplayer, a constant rotation of maps, a steady stream of themed events -- all efforts to keep people playing. This summer, there's a big change coming for people who think Gears 4 just isn't hard enough.
In a post on Xbox Wire, Gears of War developer The Coalition outlined the short- and long-term future of the game. Maybe most notable is that an update will buck the long-reigning Insane difficulty and make "Inconceivable" the toughest challenge Gears has to offer. Inconceivable will be a new difficulty in both the campaign and Horde mode. Other changes that are planned for a summer update are an IronMan mode for campaign and Horde (although there's no explanation as to what this is), level six class skills, and more skills for existing classes.
More immediately, there's going to be a Valentine's event in Gears 4. Torque Bow Tag, themed bounties, new Gears Packs, and a craftable character are all being added on February 10. The event is said to last "over a week."
Also, two familiar maps are getting remixed. Impact has been reworked as Impact Dark. The Coalition says that smoke reduces visibility and forces players to fight at closer range than before. Here's a fly-by video:
The folks at inXile are showing off an early look at what combat will be like in The Bard's Tale IV, a Kickstarter-funded game I admittedly forgot was in the studio's pipeline but am glad to see again.
Take a look! But before you rush to comment about the rough character portraits (and yeah, they are rough), keep in mind that's "still at a first pass" and "there are things we're not in love with yet."
As for the grid-locked combat itself, while this footage is slow and guided enough to get the point across generally, "One thing that is harder to see in the video is our input queuing system. When you take an action in combat, you can begin ordering another party member before the action has played out," and "this keeps the flow of combat moving along faster than a traditional turn-based system." Nice to hear, because after you reach a certain familiarity with a game, that stuff really adds up.
"There's a lot more to talk about here, from the way elements like health, mana, and armor interact with each other, how channeling abilities and focus work, the way that temporary status boons can affect a character's functionality, or how positional tactics can let you set up more devastating damage," inXile added. "These open up a lot of subtle possibilities, but we'll save more of those details for future updates."
New Gameplay Video [Kickstarter]
Ever since its formation in 2010, Forza Horizon is all that Playground Games has ever known. Forza is an annualized series, but Microsoft takes turns between the dead serious Forza Motorsport and its open-world spinoff Forza Horizon. Playground has been at the helm for all three installments of the latter, each to fantastic results.
But, Playground is looking to grow its business and its expertise. As revealed by GamesIndustry International, the UK-based company is opening a second studio "ideally within walking distance" of the first. Playground Ralph Fulton explains that even if it completely took over the building it's currently in, the developer still wouldn't be able to grow to the size it wants.
The main motive behind expanding is so that Playground can make a new game that isn't Forza Horizon. Fulton says "We feel like we've become pretty good at racing games over the years. We can always get better, we can always strive to get better but we'd love to prove ourselves in a different genre. That's another goal of Project 2, to allow us to do that. We're going to need to hire some very talented people with experience that we don't have." Fulton added that this new title will be open-world and not a racing game.
But just because it wants to try something new doesn't mean that Playground will ditch the old. "(Forza Horizon) remains the cornerstone of our business -- we're not running away from racing, we still feel passionate about making new racing games and delivering new experiences for our players," Fulton explained.
It's almost certain that Forza Horizon 4 will show up in 2018 and that Playground Games will again be in charge. Eventually, something new will eventually pop up and it'll also have the Playground name. That's entirely welcome because this studio hasn't faltered yet.
Playground Games opening second studio for open world game [GamesIndustry International]
This isn't the first time Humble Bundle has put together a Star Wars bundle (and it won't be the last), but if you want to overwhelm your backlog with some darn good games, this group gets the job done.
Pay $1 or more:
Pay more than the average:
Pay $14 or more:
It's worth noting that Shadows of the Empire is the only one listed as a "debut" title for the bundle, and currently, you can't buy the game standalone through Steam (though it is and has been available through GOG.com). Some of these games have aged better than others but, on the whole, I think you can still have fun with most of them -- even if you don't have nostalgia backing you up.
Star Wars Humble Bundle III [Humble Bundle]
Just earlier this morning, Operation Velvet Shell launched for the continuously popular Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. The new operation is contained in the Year 2 Pass, which happily (and non-coincidentally) for PC gamers is on sale today.
The discount found at Green Man Gaming is worth 20% off the $30 you'd pay elsewhere online. GMG is a fully authorized Ubisoft distributor and interesting enough, a quick scan of gray market shows you'll find keys in the $29 range (not much of a saving there).
Also on sale at GMG is Rainbow Six Siege's Gold Edition Year 2 and Complete Edition -- both at the same 20% off. These editions are what you'll want to get if you're buying from scratch. The Complete Edition gets you all content offered in the game since release, while the Gold Edition Year 2 has everything except the first year's Season Pass content.
Tim Schafer and Double Fine have announced that Psychonauts 2 will be published by Starbreeze (The Darkness, Payday 2), who is bringing eight million dollars to the table, more than doubling what was raised on Fig (a crowdfunding site similar to Kickstarter that has direct ties to Double Fine). Double Fine is also contributing funding to the project, but just how much is not confirmed. Based on Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson's claim of Double Fine looking for $18 million to fund the game (the original cost $11.8 million), then that suggests about six million being fronted by Double Fine.
To make that eight million back, Starbreeze will take an 85% initial revenue share, dropping to only a 60% share of profits. The other 40% will be divided between Double Fine and its Fig investors, who unlike Kickstarter backers are entitled to a return based on the project's success. Despite this, Double Fine will retain "100% of the intellectual property." Whether or not this implies retainment of creative freedom is not clear.
My first Warhammer 40,000 game was Fire Warrior, which pretty much sums up the historical cyclical nature of the series in the gaming world. Games Workshop kind of just hands out the license to anyone, diluting the franchise in the sense that every game is wildly different in quality. For every good Space Marine there's a mediocre Deathwing, and so on.
Well, we're getting yet another 40K project with Inquisitor – Martyr, an open world sandbox RPG, but the good news is that you can try before you buy. The developers are holding a public alpha event on February 10. I'm highly intrigued by the four player co-op and base building elements, but like all 40K games, my expectations are in check.
Inquisitor [Neocore Games]
Before Final Fantasy XV arrived, Square Enix was projecting super hard regarding the sales targets they'd need to hit to break even. They gave some Square Enix-ey high number, and actively looked worried that they wouldn't hit it. As it turns out though, they hit their break even point on day one. And we're learning this news after Ignis' birthday of all days.
According to Dualshockers, who spoke with director Hajima Tabata, they noted that on the first day of launch, November 29, 2016, they broke even. Now we're basically realizing that they five million shipped number they initially gave is how much they needed. Since then Square Enix has announced that it's sold an additional million, and likely will see a long tail with DLC, and a possible PC port down the line.
I mean, folks still buy Final Fantasy 1-14, sometimes multiple times over, so it's a good brand name to have.
Final Fantasy XV Broke Even with Development Costs on Day One [Dualshockers]
Japan gets all the cool mech stuff.
Over in the east, Square Enix has yet another franchise in Figureheads, a free-to-play tactical shooter for PC. I hear it's actually good, so it's great that we may see a better chance of a localization now that it's hitting PS4 on March 9. Along with the port it'll bring a PVE mode where teammates can fight superbosses.
Oh, and it also has a Xenogears costume set (Weltall, Brigandier, Siebzehn) if you pre-register. I mean, all of the hits just keep on coming, swiftly to the head with this one. Xenogears costumes in a PVE mech shooter? Can someone put Xenogears outfits into the new Heavy Gear game?
Figureheads [Hachima Kikou via Gematsu]
I once had a college professor who would call on someone, and when they were hesitant to answer he would say "c'mon, assuage our eardrums with your melodious and canorous voice!" Well, actually, he only said that to the women in the class. Regardless, it stuck with me, and this headline is dedicated to him.
Wandersong was kickstarted last year and has been on my radar ever since. I even included it on my list of 2017 indies to watch for last month. With its new trailer comes some release date information as well -- the game will come out sometime next year, making my list already erroneous. I think developer Greg Lobanov did this just to spite me and the list.
I love the way Wandersong makes me feel on the inside. I don't care if the puzzles are super challenging or the gameplay requires any real sort of dexterity, I just want to exist in this world and enjoy the ride. I mean, if the trailer can make me grin from ear to ear, I can only imagine what the actual game will do!
Greg Wohlwend is an accomplished independent game designer and artist whose résumé includes critically acclaimed mobile titles Threes, Ridiculous Fishing and Puzzlejuice. His games tend to be whimsical and playful, and his latest project, TumbleSeed, is no different in this regard.
TumbleSeed is a "rolly roguelike" -- players guide an adorable rolling seed up a treacherous, procedurally generated mountainside pockmarked with deadly holes and dangerous creatures. Fall into a hole or run into a nasty beast, and players are sent back to the base of the mountain to begin the climb all over again. The concept is easy to grasp, but the game itself is difficult to master, Wohlwend says.
In that sense, it's reminiscent of early Nintendo Entertainment System games like Tetris or Dr. Mario. That's one reason Wohlwend wanted to bring TumbleSeed to Nintendo's new console, the Switch.
The free-to-play nonsense embedded in Fire Emblem Heroes doesn't seem so bad. Sure, you can't just power through the story mode as you'll run out of "orbs," but the game does a pretty decent job of making sure you'll have a satisfying stint while playing. That is, if you aren't using a first generation iPad Mini like me and can't get the game to stay open for more than four minutes. UGH!
Either way, fans will be happy to know that Nintendo is planning on adding more content to the game in the coming months. In an interview with IGN, the director of Heroes (Kouhei Maeda) stated, "We plan to add new stories continually after release, at a pace of about two a month or one every two weeks." That may be a bit extreme, but if everything is free, then extra content is appreciated.
Along with just stories, the DLC plans for Heroes will also include new characters, additional skills and some new game modes. Nintendo's game director, Shingo Matsushita, claimed that the company would be willing to support Heroes as long as fans keep on playing. I'm sure they want us to dig into those sweet, sweet microtransactions, but this sounds like great stuff for people on board with the game.
Nintendo Details Fire Emblem Heroes’ Post Launch Plans [IGN]
For indie developers looking to fund their art - or any AAA studio that wants to take advantage of its fans - there are a wide array of crowdfunding websites to turn to for money. Some are popular and some are obscure, some let you fund anything while others focus on a specific type of project. Kimochi Red Light is the latter, focusing exclusively on a niche segment of gaming: porn games.
Well, technically, the Red Light crowdfunding platform is for age 18+ games, and I guess that could include titles with excessive violence like if anyone ever tried to make a video game based on Blood Meridian, but I feel as though those types of titles will be very few and very far in between. Let's be honest, anyone going to this website is going for the sex. Kimochi Red Light had a soft launch last month ahead of today's official launch and people have already opened their wallets, fully funding a few of its very NSFW projects.
If there's one thing that Nintendo has struggled with, it's enticing third-party developers to create games for its consoles. But according to VentureBeat, the company is looking to change that with the advent of the new Switch. At an investor Q&A session, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that Nintendo engineers have been learning how to use third-party development tools like the Unreal Engine.
Source: Venture Beat
It's my dream to one day see the entire cast of Overwatch present in Heroes of the Storm. Don't get me wrong, there needs to be a lot more love sooner than later for franchises like Diablo (I'm looking at you Mephisto) and Starcraft before that happens, but eventually, it would be amazing to play Overwatch as a MOBA with an entirely Overwatch team.
We already have one Warrior in Zarya, an assassin in Tracer, and now, a support in Lucio, so we're close!
Nioh can get really rough at points. That's a good thing, mind, as long as you're okay with "two to three hit kill" bosses type of rough.
Here are some tips to help you along the way.
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
Did you watch the Super Bowl on a Vizio TV? There's a chance it may have been watching you too, while LG drops some more G6 hints and Google keeps tweaking Maps.
Two prominent British YouTubers have been fined for running an unlicensed FIFA betting website called FUT Galaxy. Craig Douglas, better known as "NepentheZ" online, pleaded guilty to two charges -- being an officer of an unlicensed gambling company, and another linked to the advertising of unlawful betting. His business partner, Dylan Rigby, admitted to three separate charges related to the provision of betting facilities and advertising illegal gambling. As BBC News reports, this is the first time a UK court has prosecuted people for running an unlicensed gambling website in connection with a video game.
Source: The Guardian, Eurogamer, BBC News
