Crimson Dragon, the downloadable Xbox One launch game, is getting a balance patch based on feedback regarding the game’s difficulty. Director Yukio Futatsugi posted that the game’s difficulty is getting a tweak as well as experience and in-game loot payouts. Criticism of the game has centered on the necessity of purchasing in-game currency with real money. The speculation being that the game is designed with free-to-play “energy” mechanics to encourage players into spending money to bypass the grind. Futatsugi claims that the game was always meant to be challenging.
This has always been my vision for the game. I want you to feel like you’ve accomplished something each time you master a mission. To be proud of each dragon you’ve worked so hard to evolve to its ultimate form. My challenge as the game director is to find the sweet spot of adhering to my vision for the game while keeping the game from becoming too frustrating.
Meanwhile, Forza 5 and Gran Turismo 6 are launching with options to purchase in-game credits to buy better cars rather than accumulating the money through races.
Galactic Civilizations III will feature hex-based movement. Lead designer, Paul Boyer, explained to PC Gamer that he changed the series’ use of quadrilateral movement to better balance the game.
“It was a decision I made because I was always bothered by the fact that if you move diagonally, you’re technically getting two tiles. We moved to hexes so everything could be equidistant, and it just looks sexier – more science fiction. But gameplay wise, it should help balancing substantially.”
Hear that? It’s the panicked clickety-clack of fans typing up furious posts explaining that hexes are too much like Civilization V and worse than square grids for strategy games. As a wise man once wrote, “Hexes do not make a game Civ V.”
The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler, the second of the Headhunter DLC packs, is coming to Borderlands 2 next week – just in time for Thanksgiving! Players will have to kill a giant mutated turkey and take the head as their trophy. That’s what you do in Pandora. Kill things and collect stuff.
Gearbox also announced that the third Headhunter DLC will be called How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day and will be available to purchase in December.
Paradox Interactive has released update 2.0 for Crusader Kings II. The content update, which is free for everyone, adds Ironman Mode, a slew of bug fixes, drops dependance on the Paradox-hosted metaserver, and includes Steam achievements. The new achievements include ones that celebrate the sanctity of medieval marriage.
Until Death Do Us Part – Have your spouse assassinated
Black Widow – As a woman, have three different husbands killed
Keeping it in the Family – Sire a child that has the Inbred trait
The 2.0 patch comes hand-in-hand with the new Sons of Abraham DLC, which focuses on adding more options for the Abrahamic religions like Judaism and Christianity.
Gran Turismo 6 will feature options to purchase in-game credits with real money. The announcement on the EU PlayStation Blog explains that the credits can be used in the game to add more expensive cars to your garage and to buy parts for your new rides.
In-game credits will be purchasable through the PS Store or your friendly local retailer in the following denominations: 500K, 1 million, 2.5 million or 7 million credits which you’ll be able to apply in-game for cars and parts.
The addition of real-world money being used to buy in-game credits is a first for the series.
Unlike the PlayStation 4, which already has a healthy group of folks streaming their next-gen gaming, Twitch broadcast streaming will not work on the Xbox One until sometime in 2014. In the announcement, Microsoft did not explain the reason for the delay, but did want gamers to know that using the Twitch app on Xbox One could net them some achievements.
We know the ability to instantly broadcast gameplay is something the gaming community is excited about, and we are too. We are working to ensure the initial Twitch on Xbox One broadcasting experience meets the expectations of the Twitch community, so while this feature won’t be available right away, we’ll let you know as soon as it is ready.
I’m sure people are excited to use the Xbox One Twitch app to watch PlayStation 4 gamers play their console exclusives.
After fans spied a PS4 devkit in the Roberts Space Industries studios, they speculated that a console version of Star Citizen would be forthcoming. Chris Roberts posted in the official forums to assure backers that the game would be “primarily a PC game” and not be “dumbed down” for “lesser” platforms. Roberts listed various advantages of the PC as a gaming platform, including open standards and access to the latest technology. He then went on to clarify that Star Citizen would not be appearing on the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3, but he did not rule out the possibility of the game being ported to the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4.
“IF the platform holders (Sony & Microsoft) allow us to update the code and data without restrictions and odious time consuming QC procedures, IF they allow our community to openly interact with each other across platforms then I would CONSIDER supporting them.”
Star Citizen has raised over $27 million in crowd-funded pledges so far.
That’s not a live-action commercial for an upcoming videogame. That’s the full trailer for DreamWorks’ Need for Speed movie starring Aaron Paul and Scott ‘Kid Cudi’ Mescudi. It also has Michael Keaton spitting poetry into a microphone for some reason.
How much of an achievement hunter are you? Do you really need to see a neat row of 100% progress on your achievement page? Does the addition of DLC with new achievements cause you pain because the increase in possible points sets your stats back to only 75% or 80% complete? The Xbox One may kill you. The Console has an all-new achievement system that gives publishers and developers greater freedom for achievement creation, along with a new interface to track your progress.
The new achievement page is a thing of horrible beauty. Large screenshots of the moment you achieved something sit on a grid showing the total progress. Looking at that image almost makes me twitch with greed. I want to get them all and fill the ring to 100%. I don’t want to even play Ryse, but that image is awfully compelling.
Insidiously, administrators can set achievements on anything. Play a demo? Have an achievement! Look at an advertisement? Achievement! Achievements for non-game apps don’t come with points – for now. Heck, the just-announced Machinma app will have achievements for watching videos.
The Machinima experience on Xbox One will also offer gamers the opportunity to earn unique media achievements created by gamers, for gamers, taking inspiration from the original game achievements on the Xbox platform. Remember, media achievements will not affect gamerscore. Can’t get enough of the videos on the Machinima App? Watch 1,000 videos and get the “TV Rots Your Brain” achievement!
The Xbox 360 Mincraft Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Mash-up Pack features wintery Nord terrain textures, Elder Scrollsy crafting objects, a revamped user interface, and music from Skyrim squashed into Minecraft. It’s two games with aimless wandering and player-driven stories combined into one mega-open-world DLC!
Pre-made World recreating the area of Whiterun, Riverwood and Bleak falls Barrow (on a smaller scale in order to fit with technical constraints of the games map size limits)
Okay. Maybe it’s not so mega-sized. The pack will be available on Wednesday for $3.99.
That’s my current go-to squad in XCOM: Enemy Within. My back-up squad is an all-female group as well. It’s either the coolest bug or feature the expansion brings to the game. Apparently, the chance for female soldiers to enlist has increased dramatically. I’m more than fine with this. It certainly makes nabbing the Flight of the Valkyries achievement a lot easier.
State of Decay’s Breakdown DLC will be available on November 29th, for $7, for both the Xbox 360 and PC. You’ll get a survival sandbox mode, new characters, and an RV. Did you hear that? An RV! Like in Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and We’re The Millers. More info here.
I can’t say I’m terribly excited about another Minecraft clone, even if it is made by some of the folks at Trion who brought us the reliable Rift and Defiance. But I like the cel-shaded look. And I like the name. How come no one has used the name Trove yet?
Trion pledges they’ll communicate “directly with alpha testers and forums such as Reddit to help determine the direction the game will take”. That should end well.
Did you get your PlayStation 4 last night? Joey Chiu, the guy in the picture, did. He was first in line at the New York PlayStation launch event. He doesn’t seem as excited as those PS4 advertisements say he should be. Doesn’t he know he’s the first regular guy in the US to get the “most immersive, jaw-dropping gaming and entertainment experiences imaginable” with his new consumer hardware? His life is going to be totally different.
At least until Nov 22nd, when the Xbox One launches and offers Joey even more immersive, jaw-dropping gaming and entertainment experiences imaginable thanks to the Power of the Cloud.
Download-only Xbox Live games will have 1000 points worth of achievements on the Xbox One. The longstanding rule on the Xbox 360 has been that games featured only as a downloadable title through the Xbox Live Marketplace were limited to 400 points of achievements, while games sold through retail channels were allowed 1000 points. There had been indications that this policy was changing for the next gen console. PopCap tweeted that Peggle 2 would have 1000 points of achievements, and the achievement list for Halo: Spartan Assault showed 1000 points. After some speculation by fans, Microsoft confirmed that all games on the Xbox One will have the same achievement score potential.
“On Xbox One, games are games. All games follow the same policies for achievements and Gamerscore.”
Good news, gamers! Your Peggles, your Castle Crashers, and your State of Decays are just as good as Halo!
