Sony announced Driveclub Bikes, an expansion to the superb PlayStation 4 Driveclub. The superbike title from Evolution Studios, features twelve two-wheelers with their own campaign, customizations, and multiplayer racing. The surprise reveal came during Sony’s Paris Games Week briefing and brings good news for trophy addicts.
There’s a lot to play for and there’s even a second Platinum Trophy to chase down, which means that Driveclub now features more Trophies to unlock than any other PlayStation game in history!
The Driveclub Bikes expansion can be purchased as a standalone for $19.99, or as DLC if you already own Driveclub for $14.99.
Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, the creators of 1983 arcade classic Dragon’s Lair, want to make a big budget prequel film of Dirk the Daring and his escapades. Before they do that, they’re asking fans to cough up $550,000 so they can make a pitch video. They’ll take that reel to studios and ask them to finance the full movie production. Since they’re not Star Citizen, they can’t expect to raise the whole $70 million budget through crowd-funding. They have to rely on a more traditional studio deal, which means that even if the Kickstarter is successful, they may never actually make a movie.
It’s ironic that the project that has given us the greatest recognition is actually that video arcade game known as Dragon’s Lair, created back in the early 1980s. The game has an extremely loyal fan base – now estimated to be in the millions and with each generation it has picked up even more fans. And after 30 years, the game continues to sell as an app for smart phones, smart tablets and personal computers. Fans have been begging us to do a major motion picture. Just like Dirk the Daring, a character that just won’t die, the game marches on – it’s time to make the movie!
For gamers too young to have experienced Dragon’s Lair in the arcades, imagine playing Dark Souls, but after every time you died, you had to give up a quarter. The Dragon’s Lair: The Movie Kickstarter will end on November 25th.
In DayZ, Rust, or other hardcore survival games, one of the more interesting dynamics are the way people treat each other. Because death usually means losing everything gathered up to that point, players will act in embarrassing ways to avoid the hardscrabble climb from nothing. No one wants to lose hundreds of hours worth of stuff, so dancing a jig, begging on your knees, or doing whatever the more powerful player wants you to do is a small price to pay to keep your meager belongings. Sometimes you get to leave the encounter with only a few things pilfered, and sometimes you get force-fed drain cleaner for your trouble. Restart! If that seems horribly cruel, imagine a whole game built around that player interaction.
When the enemy is defeated, you decide his fate. Forgive, humiliate, finish off, take everything he has it’s your choice. Saved the life of some loser? Take them captive and make them work it off. They will do everything to be free again. No other game will give you this feeling of power over other people.
Freedom of choice: kill, take captives, make others work for you or help those who need it.
Live communication: voice and text chat to see and hear screams of rage or cries for help.
“Full Loot” system: take everything your defeated enemy has.
That’s One Life, a game that uses players being jerks as the foundation for its gameplay. The hook? Every player has one in-game life. Just one. Get perma-killed by the environmental hazards or another player and that’s it. Your copy of the game’s client becomes inoperable and you’re out forever. The idea is that players will value their virtual lives more than in other games of the genre and act accordingly. Oh, and you can pee on other player characters. Because wasting their $10 (the price of the preorder) isn’t bad enough.
On October 15th Starbreeze and Overkill updated Payday 2 on the first day of the game’s annual Crimefest event with a feature that immediately caused chaos in the community. The Black Market Update added locked “safes” to the loot tables that could only be opened via the purchase of “drills” sold for $2.49 each. The safes contained a random assortment of weapon skins. Unlike the similar “gun case” system used in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Payday 2’s skins improved the stats of the base item. As expected, this update was met with negative reactions from the players. Some people accused the developers of changing the game to a free-to-play economy with pay-to-win transactions. Since the weapon improving skins could only be obtained by purchasing the drills needed to unlock safes, it was a charge that stuck. Adding fuel to the fire was this 2013 promise from Payday 2’s then producer Almir Listo:
We’ve made it clear that PAYDAY 2 will have no micro-transactions whatsoever (shame on you if you thought otherwise!)
Things obviously changed since that quote from Almir. While neither Starbreeze nor Overkill have publically commented on the issue, they have released a patch that added the drills to the loot tables as well, giving players the chance to obtain them for free. Since no one outside of the development studios knows the spread of items on the loot tables, it remains to be seen if this will placate disgruntled players.
By most players’ accounts, The Taken King expansion for Destiny and the updates to the main game are a success. The game at launch was criticized for its core loot cycle and level progression being obtuse, unfair, and just too grindy. With the 2.0 revamp, Bungie took a hard look at all the systems and addressed many of the complaints people had. In short, a loot-based action game launched with a screwy drop system and level progression that was unsatisfying, but the developers ditched core mechanics that proved troublesome and made the game better. If that story sounds familiar, it’s because it is.
Kotaku reports that in December of last year, members of the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls team met with Bungie to discuss what they had learned after Blizzard launched their loot-driven game. Namely, that people wanted the illusion of random chance, but that rewards needed to be skewed in favor of the players.
People who were at the presentation say it was extraordinarily helpful for Bungie’s team. One source called it “invaluable.” Others said it drove some of the decisions they made for The Taken King. In previous interviews with Kotaku and other sites, director Luke Smith has talked openly about avoiding randomness and designing quests with guaranteed rewards, an approach that has served Destiny well throughout year two so far. Destiny’s meta-narrative has followed the same path as Diablo III’s: It had a rocky launch, then the developers found redemption.
The turnaround on Destiny was successful enough that Bungie was able to approach Activision with the idea that future content could be supported through in-game purchases of optional content like emotes and cosmetic skins.
“There was a bet that was, ‘Hey if we did microtransactions, I bet you we could generate enough revenue to make up for the loss of DLCs,'” said a source. “Instead of it going Destiny, DLC1, DLC2, Comet, DLC1, DLC2, they’re actually just gonna go [big] release and then incremental release. So it’ll just be Destiny, Comet, Destiny, Comet every year. It’s basically just switching the game to an annual model.”
A little loot distribution from Diablo III and a page taken from buy-to-play MMOs gets you the current strategy for Destiny.
There are a bunch of faux classic cars in Grand Theft Auto V like the Vapid Peyote or the Albany Manana that seem ready-made for the mechanical wizardry of Xzibit. You can take them into the existing garages and add some modifications, but they’ll still look fairly normal no matter what. There just hasn’t been a way to turn them into the kind of street appropriate chariots that would make the cut in War’s song. Drive-by shootings in a soccer-mom car? As if! Luckily, Grand Theft Auto V’s next update will bring lowriders to the game. The free update adds Benny’s Original Motor Works to Grand Theft Auto Online’s Strawberry neighborhood. There, Benny will let players fulfill their dream of owning their own Gypsy Rose. Slow and low, metallic flake paint, and booming bass.
The Lowrider update will launch tomorrow for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto V.
According to Adobe pre-ordering games makes you sad, but you don’t seem to be able to stop plunking down money on upcoming titles. In a recently published report, Adobe looked at over 4 billion website visits and 20 million engagements on popular social media sites to determine how people feel about pre-ordering videogames. The number one emotion expressed by people discussing pre-orders was sadness with a whopping 33% of the pie chart. Joy was only cited 18% of the time, which was the same for admiration, then surprise at 9%, and finally anticipation finished the scale with a measly 2%. Unfortunately for all those people decrying pre-orders, they are up 24% this year compared to the previous year, and pre-order revenue has increased 33% in the same period. You hate them, but you love them.
If you played the Star Wars Battlefront beta, you may have noticed that Walker Assault Mode seemed skewed in favor of the bad guys. That wasn’t your imagination. It’s a balance issue according to the developer. The Hoth multiplayer level of the game recreates the famous battle scene from The Empire Strikes back with players taking on the roles of the plucky under-gunned rebels trying to stop the advance of two All-Terrain Armored Transports, (nerd card shown!) or the Imperials assaulting the rebel base. It’s possible to for the Rebel players to destroy the advancing walkers, but it’s not easy. The rebel players have to cooperate and communicate effectively. The stormtroopers just have to press their advantage by shooting at stuff, which can be accomplished without much coordination. According to DICE, they’re going to try to fix the issue. May I suggest making stormtroopers 50% less accurate with their weapons? That would align with the historical record as well as making the level easier for the rebel alliance.
Star Wars Battlefront is releasing on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC on November 17th.
What was the last symphonic music you listened to? There’s a good chance that it was in a videogame. According to the Wall Street Journal, orchestras are shoring up shrinking concert revenue by playing videogame music. Unlike other forms of popular music, many videogame soundtracks are already filled with brass, strings, and choral arrangements – a natural fit for expensive city orchestras. The music covers a wide variety of subject matter and styles, while having a built-in audience. Most importantly, that audience skews younger and hipper than traditional classical music concert-goers and they spend more money on souvenirs. To many cities’ music directors, concerts like The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, are essential for keeping orchestras in the green. Additionally, city orchestras are being hired to perform the original soundtracks for videogames, further supplementing their income.
As with any evolving art, some supporters of the traditional performances are less than enthusiastic of the new repertoires.
“From a business-strategy perspective, it completely devalues the brand,” said Roderick Branch, a 39-year-old lawyer in Chicago who attends symphony-orchestra performances about once a week. The very idea, he said, is “akin to Mouton Rothschild using its wine to make and sell sangria.”
Hold on to your monocles and opera capes! Videogame fans are coming!
At the end of every Call of Duty campaign, there’s that moment of victory that gives players their time in the sun. Jets flying overhead, medals won, fireworks, and a patriotic salute! Hoo-rah, soldier! You just served up a steaming cup of freedom to the enemy and made the world safe until the next globe-spanning threat. Achievement unlocked for slogging through five hours of grenade spam and quick-time event failures. Some people get little ego boost from that, but others just think it’s a chore. Like flipping to the end of a book, why can’t they just zoom to the end of the game and get a taste of the celebration?
Developer Treyarch agrees that in this age of YouTube surfing and streaming services, it just doesn’t make sense to restrict people to linear single player campaigns. According to Jason Blundell, the director of the campaign, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will have all single player levels unlocked from the start. If you want to spoil yourself and play the ending first, go for it.
“When Netflix release House of Cards and do all the episodes, does everyone just jump to the end and go and play the last episode? Sure you can. But it’s about the journey, though, right?”
“Sure, people will jump on and play the last level. Okay. Cool. That’s up to them.”
You’ll get your chance to skip the campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 on November 6th when it releases on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC. You could also play the game on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 where the campaign won’t be available at all.
That’s award-winning actor Gary Oldman reduced to stodgy virtual form for Star Citizen. Over the weekend, Chris Roberts of Cloud Imperium Games wowed the fans at CitizenCon by showing off the above video as well as announcing the cast for Star Citizen’s single player campaign Squadron 42. Besides Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong, Sophie Wu, John Rhys-Davies, Rhona Mitra, Andy Serkis, and other actors will be turned into stiff digital puppets for players’ delight some time in 2016.
Being in the West, you may not have a lot of experience with Alibaba or Tencent. Think of Alibaba as China’s Amazon.com, and Tencent as China’s Facebook. That should give you an idea of how big the companies are in the world markets. Alibaba and Tencent rolled out a consumer credit scoring system earlier in the year that takes social and political interactions into account along with your spending habits. Not only do your actions effect your ability to borrow money, but the people in your social network influence your rating as well. The theory being that if you hang out with a bunch of risky people, your risk as a debtor likely increases. People weren’t jazzed, but they accepted it as the price of doing business with Alibaba. That’s changing. China’s government announced a plan to adopt this system for the whole country by 2020. Beyond the social pressure aspect of the system, critics are finding fault with some of the actions that lower a person’s score.
Gamer? Strike. Bad-mouthed the government in comments on social media? Strike. Even if you don’t buy video games and you don’t post political comments online “without prior permission,” but any of your online friends do…strike.
Sorry, gamers. You’re typically too busy grinding levels or unlocking doodads to be considered a safe credit risk. And don’t get me started on how much you spend on DLC and microtransaction boosts.
The fact that Rise of the Tomb Raider is getting a Season Pass isn’t much to get in a huff about. The contents of that offer is another thing entirely. Purchasers of the bundle will get access to an Endurance Mode, which sounds like an extra hard difficulty setting, another tomb to explore in Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch, and Cold Darkness Awakened, which is a horde mode style of gameplay. Season Pass holders will also get a “steady stream” of outfits, weapons, and Expedition Cards. This is where things get a little janky. Tomb Raider’s Creative Director Noah Hughes explained what these cards do.
In Rise of the Tomb Raider, you’ll earn credits by completing challenges and exploring the world. These credits can be used to purchase Expedition Card packs. When used, Expedition Cards become modifiers in game modes outside of the single player campaign. Some Cards are humorous, such as Big Head Mode, while others can increase the challenge or give you special advantages. Expedition Cards can also be purchased with real-world currency.
There are two types of Expedition Cards: Foil and Common. A Foil Card will give Lara the strongest or strangest variations and can be used as many times as you wish. A Common Card is only used once, and you’ll need to earn more credits to buy it back.
Expedition Cards offer hundreds of ways to customize your Rise of the Tomb Raider experience. You can also set up challenges for your friends to see if they can beat your scores with the same card setup. We’ll have about 300 cards available at launch, and more will be added in the weeks that follow.
Oh, and look! You can buy morerandomcardpacks with real money! Thank goodness. Rise of the Tomb Raider is launching on November 10th for the Xbox One.
Ubisoft has announced Far Cry Primal. The newest game takes the franchise back to the Stone Age with players taking on the role of a primitive tribesman hunting wooly mammoths and other prehistoric wildlife while fighting against rival early humans.
You will play as Takkar, a seasoned hunter and the last surviving member of your group. You have one goal: survival in a world where you are the prey.
If you were hoping for a Far Cry: Blood Dragon style game done on the cheap and sold as a downloadable title for less-than-normal pricing, you’ll be disappointed. Far Cry Primal from Ubisoft Montreal launches on February 23rd for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and March for PC as a full priced retail release.
That’s a really nice Forward Operating Base you have there. It would be a shame if something bad happened to it. You’ve spent all that time and energy building up your online Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain FOB into a stronghold of armed men, equipment, and resources. It would really be terrible if some jackass infiltrator came in and stole all your plants, metal, and specialist soldiers. Maybe if you grease the wheels a bit with some real money, there might be something that can be done? If you’d like some peace of mind, Konami is offering FOB insurance in the latest update to the game.
Your FOBs are always at risk of coming under attack. Now, you can rest easy with FOB insurance (paid service). If you sign up for insurance, then during the insurance period you will be compensated for any materials and staff lost due to rival infiltrations.
The patch adds higher grade weapons, more equipment options for your security teams, and special infiltration missions. Wouldn’t you like to use that stuff without worrying about online rivals jacking your FOB? It’s a dangerous world out there. A little money can go a long way.
