The Kickstarter campaign for the Banjo-Kazooie successor called Yooka-Laylee from a team of former Rare developers went live yesterday and quickly hit its funding goal of £175,000. A day later, the Kickstarter campaign crushed that initial target, raising a whopping, £1 million, or roughly $1.5 million.
"Obviously we would like to offer our sincere thanks to everyone who has backed the project so far," Playtonic Games said in a Kickstarter update. "Our intention from the beginning was to use Kickstarter as a means to improve Yooka-Laylee, and you've helped us shape it into one fine specimen."
Playtonic says the additional funds will allow it to release the game on PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U simultaneously.
Since it reached all of its initially stated stretch goals, Playtonic added two new ones. If funding reaches £1.1 million, Playtonic will add an old-school N64 shader mode and a credits GK Rap video written by Grant Kirkhope. If it hits £1.2 million, Playtonic will produce a developer walkthrough and commentary Let's Play video.
You can secure a copy of Yooka-Laylee by pledging at least $15. Backing at that level gets you a copy of the PC version, while you'll need to pay around $22 to get a console copy.
The Last of Us has great characters and story, but not everyone is good enough at video games to get through its stealth combat gameplay. Thanks to YouTube user Grant Voegtle, now anyone can enjoy the game's story, even if they don't like playing video games.
Voegtle has been working over the last month to create an episodic, cinematic playthrough of The Last of Us, cutting captured gameplay footage to focus on the important story beats, and the result is something akin to a television show.
"I was hearing that people wanted to share the story of The Last of Us with their family, but they just didn't have the time to have them sit down and play the entire game," Voegtle told The Verge in an interview. "Hearing that and knowing that I could do that for people—that's been the most motivating thing so far to keep me working on it."
You can watch trailer for the cinematic playthrough above, and catch up with the entire series of videos on Voegtle's YouTube channel.
In other The Last of Us news, Sony and Naughty Dog on Friday announced that the single-player expansion for The Last of Us, called Left Behind, will be released as a standalone download on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 this month.
We're in the eighth generation of home video game consoles, and of the three most popular options, two are not backward compatible. Nintendo's Wii U offers access to its back catalog of Wii games through a separate console mode and to games from the company's early days through the Virtual Console. But for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, owners have to count on remastered editions of their favorite older games or services like PlayStation Now if they want access to them on the newer machines.
It hasn't always been this way, though. Previous console generations had the guts (literally) to run games from older hardware, but over time the cost of adding the extra technology to newer machines proved to be too high. Are we justified in feeling cheated out of consoles with backward compatibility? Or is it all just part of the industry's evolution towards better, brighter experiences?
The history of backward compatibility
When we say something is backward compatible, it means that the object in question can work with input generated by an older product or piece of technology. If the new, most recent technology can receive, read, view or play input--like media--in older formats, then the product is backward compatible. In the case of consoles, when we talk about backward compatibility, we're asking if the console can play games create for previous hardware in that console's family. For example, early PlayStation 3 models could play PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 1 games, while the first run of the Nintendo Wii was compatible with GameCube games, memory cards, and even controllers.
The early years of video game consoles saw backward compatibility as a more common feature. But for some companies, it was harder than others.
Atari: The Atari 7800, released in 1986, was backward compatible with the Atari 2600 but not the console that directly preceded it, the 5200. This was because the 7800 included many of the same chips built into the original 2600. Users could put the 7800 into a "2600" mode that slowed down the console's processor from 1.79 MHz to 1.19 MHz, which mirrored the 2600's processor. In this mode, game data was accessed in 4K blocks rather than the 7800's standard 48K blocks, allowing the newer Atari to read and play the older machine's games.
Atari never released another true console with backward compatibility, but in 1987, the company launched the Atari XEGS, which could play the entire library of software developed for Atari's 8-bit home computers. Additionally, the company developed but never released the Atari Jaguar II; the canceled project would have allowed users to play catridges for the original Atari Jaguar and Jaguar CD.
The Sega Master System.
Sega: In 1983, Sega released the cartridge-based Sega Game 1000 in Japan; it would never be released outside of the territory. The company's next machine, 1986's Sega Master System, was built to be compatible with the SG-1000's game cartridges. Following the Master System, Sega opted not to put the previous console's chips in its next machine, the 1989 Sega Genesis, but instead made backward compatibility possible through a peripheral. Although the Genesis contained an 8-bit processor, this accessory, the Power Base Converter, had to be hooked up to the Genesis in order to play Master System games.
Sony: The PlayStation 2, which launched in 2000, allowed users to play PSOne discs, although PSOne memory cards were also required to access and store save data. PSOne controllers were also compatible with the hardware, although certain functions like the analog buttons were not available to use when playing PS2 games. Early PlayStation 3 models were backward compatible with both PSOne and PS2 games, and save files from PSOne and PS2 memory cards could be transferred to the PS3's hard drive using a memory card adapter. When Sony debuted the PS3 Slim model in fall 2009, the company removed backward compatibility chips in order to make it a thinner piece of hardware. No PS3 models following the launch of the Slim have had backward capability.
Microsoft: The Xbox 360, 2005's successor to the original Xbox, allowed for some backward compatibility but required several more complicated hoops to jump through. Unlike the PlayStation 2 and 3, players couldn't put previous generation discs into the system and expect them to run. Playing Xbox titles on Xbox 360 required system software updates from Microsoft and emulation profiles. These emulation profiles were created for each individual game--there was no blanket solution for all Xbox titles--and could be downloaded straight to the console via Xbox Live or through Xbox.com and burned to a CD or DVD. Only Xbox 360s with the official Xbox 360 hard drive could run the emulation profiles.
In November 2007, Microsoft stopped creating emulation profiles for Xbox games. To date, there are 461 Xbox titles that are compatible with the Xbox 360. Any game without an official emulation will not work.
The Nintendo Wii with a GameCube game and controller.
Nintendo: While Nintendo's early consoles ran on their own media--with sizes and shapes of cartridges and discs varying between generations--it all came together with the Wii in 2006. Wii models made pre-2011 were fully backward compatible with Nintendo GameCube game discs, memory cards, and controllers. This was because the Wii hardware had ports for both GameCube memory cards, and peripherals and its slot-loading drive was able to accept and read the previous console's discs. When playing a GameCube game, however, only GameCube functions were available, and only compatible memory cards and controllers could be used because the Wii's internal memory would not save GameCube data. Online and LAN features of certain GameCube games were not available, however, due to the Wii not having serial ports for the GameCube's Broadband and Modem Adapters.
The redesigned Wii Family Edition and Wii Mini, launched in 2011 and 2013 respectively, had this compatibility stripped out.
What's the current situation?
Right now, Nintendo's Wii U is the only console on the market with true backward compatibility. Wii software can be transferred to the Wii U and and accessed through Wii Mode by clicking on the "Wii Menu" home screen icon with a Wii remote. Speaking of which, Wii remotes and peripherals also work with the Wii U. In Wii Mode, games can be displayed on the GamePad screen, but Wii Remotes are still required to play them.
Additionally, Nintendo's handheld lines also hold up in terms of backward compatibility. The Game Boy line read software from most previous incarnations of the handheld, with the exception of the Game Boy Micro. The company's most current handheld, the Nintendo 3DS, can also play games from the Nintendo DS.
Neither of Sony's current gaming hardware, the PS4 or PlayStation Vita, are backward compatible. The PS Vita cannot play the UMD discs of its predecessor, the PlayStation Portable, because there is no UMD reader; instead, the Vita utilizes small flash memory cards the size of SD memory cards. Compatible PSP games can, however, be downloaded from the PlayStation Network on PS Vita.
The main reason PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can't play older games games is because both consoles use an entirely different kind of chip with a different instruction set. While older PlayStations and the Xbox 360 used PowerPC chips, the PS4 and Xbox One completely changed the guts of the system by using an x86-64 architecture, which is closer to Intel and AMD CPUs.
For PS4, Sony's PlayStation Now service, currently in open beta, does allow users to stream PS3 games, but requires a subscription fee.
Speaking with GameSpot during the PS4's launch in November 2013, PS4 architect Mark Cerny said that, while the plan for PS3 was to put PS2 hardware in every console, the move was impossible with PS4.
"Software emulation is very hard to do unless you have 10 times the frequency of the previous console," Cerny said. "Software emulation is not about the overall performance that can be achieved by having a great number of processing units. It's about being able to do things quickly. You're trying to emulate your previous hardware, and that takes you a certain number of operations to emulate whatever it was doing. So, PlayStation 1 is emulatable on PlayStation 2 because there was an increase in the frequency of the CPU and GPU to something like a factor of 10. And the same thing is true between the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. The PlayStation 2 is something like 300 Mhz; PlayStation 3 about 3.2 Ghz -- about 10 times as much. But even so, it's very, very hard to do.
A top-down view of the PS2's motherboard.
"The world we're in now, though, frequency has stopped increasing," he added. "For example, if you look at your PC, the frequency of the CPU hasn't changed much in the last ten years. And that makes emulation just really hard to do."
Microsoft's Xbox One is also not compatible with its predecessor's media. Nor can you use the Xbox 360's Kinect with the Xbox One; you must purchase the updated version of the peripheral. There is no PlayStation Now equivalent for Xbox One.
How do you make something backward compatible?
The more advanced the technology used for consoles becomes, the more difficult--and more expensive--it is to add the hardware or software necessary for backward compatibility. Consoles with more features will likely be pricier, and a current generation console with a the previous generation's chipset would be wildly expensive; think of a PS4 or Xbox One with another $200 tacked on to account for the additional parts. This is one reason why Sony and Microsoft have shied away from including backward compatibility in their current consoles.
But just what does it take to make something backward compatible? There are two ways to go about implementing the feature: hardware implementation and software emulation. Either you have the exact hardware needed to run previous generation games, or you're using the full power of the new hardware to emulate the previous generation's software.
The best way to add backward compatibility to a console is to include the important pieces of the previous generation machine's guts, like the CPU, GPU, and sound chips. For example, the Wii was able to play GameCube games because it was essentially a more powerful version of the GameCube. The PlayStation 2 also had the original PSOne chipset built in.
The other way, emulation, is a little trickier, and there are two different ways to make things work.
The motherboard of the original Xbox.
Dynamic recompilation ensures the most compatibility. This process takes code that has been written for one chip and, as the code goes through the CPU, translates it into code that the native hardware can interpret. This method may give hardware the best way to emulate software, but you need really strong hardware in order for dynamic recompiling to reproduce a 1:1 experience performance-wise.
Another way to emulate software is to add another layer of software that is written to mimic the hardware a code has been written for. This is the most common form of emulation because it doesn't drastically affect a game's performance. A good example of this is Microsoft's approach to emulating Xbox games for the Xbox 360; individual emulation software was written for each compatible game. That's the slight drawback: one emulation software can't be created for multiple titles, so the code has to be created separately for each game needing compatibility. The downloadable PSOne games Sony has released for PS3 and Vita come with emulation code tailored to that specific game, which is why we haven't seen every PSOne Classic released at once for any of the newer consoles. This is also how Nintendo is handling game releases for the Wii U Virtual Console.
For the Xbox 360, some games had additional compatibility updates to fix problems, but not all of them received these patches. Many Xbox games still have problems running on the 360, compatible or not.
The PS2 had a more powerful graphics system than its predecessor that could do parallel processing. When running a PSOne game on PS2, the timing between the hardware's parallel processing and the running software had to be exactly right, or the game would break. Later, slimmer PS2s used software emulation for PSOne games, and as a result only supported certain titles.
What do Microsoft and Sony have to say now?
Last fall, Sony's vice president of Sony Network Entertainment Eric Lempel stated in an interview with Game Informer that PlayStation Now could see the addition of PS4, PS2 and PSOne games in the future.
"In our plans going forward we're looking at everything so there's the real possibility that you'll see PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 4 titles available," he said. "Right now it's just PlayStation 3, but these are all options for the future."
Around the same time, head of Xbox Phil Spencer said Microsoft have heard fans' cries for backward compatibility, and that something was in the works for Xbox One.
"Back compat is always a hot topic at the turn of a generation, and I get why." - Phil Spencer
"Back compat is always a hot topic at the turn of a generation, and I get why, especially on [Xbox 360] so many people bought so much digital content and it means that a lot of us, we're holding on to our 360s," Spencer said. "I get the question. I totally respect the question. There's nothing I can say about it right now, but I'll just say 'I hear you.' I definitely hear you and I'll continue to try to work to build something that can help people out."
GameSpot reached out to Sony and Microsoft for comment on their plans to bring backward compatibility to current consoles. However, neither company could share any information at this time, other than reiterations of what we already know. A representation from Sony said the company's long-term goals for PlayStation Now include bringing PS1 and PS2 games to service, but for now they are focused on PS3.
So this is where we are today: current consoles are not backward compatible, but with the recent rise in re-releases and remasters of previous generation games, we technically can play older games on newer consoles. The downside of this is the cost, as all of these remasters require an additional purpose. Moving forward, it seems that this is the likeliest way publisher will ensure we'll be able to play their older games for years to come.
The Legend of Zelda Wii U looks as close to being an open world adventure as the Zelda series has ever come. Though previous games in the series usually featured large overworlds to explore, they weren't exactly open worlds in the true sense of the term. Consider how Hyrule is physically segmented in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Hyrule Field acted as a vast hub area, with little spokes that branched off to Hyrule Castle, Kakariko Village, Kokiri Forest, Zora's Domain, and Gerudo Valley. Each of these locations was separated from the field with a loading screen, and in most cases, you couldn't travel directly from one to the other without first crossing through the Hyrule Field hub. This didn't feel like a true open world as we think of them today.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds created what felt like a more open world through an unorthodox approach--for the series--to "gating" your progress. Gating is the act of keeping you out of certain areas of the game until you fulfil certain conditions. Again, consider Ocarina of Time: You couldn't enter Dodongo's Cavern without the Power Bracelets. You couldn't get the Power Bracelets until you learned Saria's Song. And you couldn't even climb Death Mountain until you met Princess Zelda and received her letter. A Link Between Worlds did away with this linear progression by allowing you to rent the items you needed to progress in any order, and at any time.
I feel that something approaching this type of gating is necessary for exploration in an open world Zelda game to work. Even if I can travel from one end of Hyrule to the other without a load screen, what is the point if I have to do it in a specific order, anyway? This is a problem that The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker suffered from because of the way its vast Great Sea overworld was designed. After a few dungeons, you could sail anywhere, with no loading screens--but there wasn't much reason to until you began the penultimate quest to collect the Triforce pieces. Because it didn't make sense to gate players' movement as they sailed across a vast sea, Nintendo instead placed Wind Waker's gates on the island themselves: impassable obstacles that blocked entry to the island's depths until certain items were acquired. For me, little else defeats the grand sense of adventure than travelling to a new, unknown location, and discovering that I'm not allowed in yet.
A Link Between Worlds gated its locations with items, too--but the difference in that game was that the order you acquired those items was up to you. My problem with that game's item gating was how artificial it felt. Barriers outside dungeons had a picture of the item you needed printed on them--they didn't feel like natural features of the terrain to overcome or circumvent. My hope is that The Legend of Zelda Wii U will find solutions to both of these problems. From what we've seen of the game, Hyrule is a physical landmass, not an ocean. This naturally gives Nintendo far more options for gating progress in ways that don't feel as artificial as an item requirement.
From the gameplay in the video above, originally aired at the 2014 Game Awards, it seems like Nintendo is thinking along similar lines. If I see an interesting landmark in an open world game, I want to be able to travel to it. With Epona galloping through fields, Link para-sailing off cliffs, and setting waypoints far in the distance, The Legend of Zelda Wii U has exactly what I need to spark my initial sense of adventure. However, when I get to that landmark, I want to go inside if it's a cave, or climb it if it's a tower.
This harkens back to the feeling of the first Legend of Zelda game for the NES, and Shigeru Miyamoto's original intentions for it--to capture his feeling of exploring caves in the countryside as a child. This worked for the first Zelda game, because its narrative was not as complex as those of its successors--find the pieces of the Triforce, defeat Ganon, and rescue Princess Zelda. I can accept that The Legend of Zelda Wii U may need to have a main quest line that needs to be followed in a certain order for a deeper and more complex story to work. But if that means I need to explore the open world in a similarly linear fashion, and complete dungeons in a certain order, I'll be disappointed.
How would Nintendo solve that? How would they create a consistent story but still allow non-linear exploration? I have an idea, and it's pretty simple: they could decouple the narrative progression from the item and dungeon progression. Look at The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for an example: the Zora storyline is a self-contained arc which unfolds primarily in the Great Bay. The Gorons' snowy plight is resolved by completing tasks within Snowhead itself. These "story pockets" often required certain items to resolve, and you could bookmark them and return to them if you did discover where that item lay. However, access to those pockets was still restricted by the hub and spoke approach to its world, as in Ocarina of Time. Resolving these narrative events with items is far more satisfying, and feels far less artificial, than opening a new route to travel through, or overcoming a physical barrier to exploration. When exploring an open-world Hyrule, I shouldn't run into those barriers. But if I want to progress the narrative? That's when a hero like Link should run into problems to resolve.
The Grand Theft Auto V modding scene on PC is still in its infancy, but there are already a few good tools out there that will let you modify the game in some interesting ways.
GameSpot's Robert Handlery and Mary Kish took the top GTA V mods for a test drive, and as you can see in the video below, the results are hilarious.
If you want to know how to spawn whales from the sky, recruit a crew of bodyguards, start a riot, or go back to North Yankton, these are the mods being used in the video:
Unfortunately, you may have trouble installing these mods now. According to members of the modding community, the last patch rendered Script Hook V, a tool used for GTA V mods, unusable. This is forcing those who wish to continue using mods to revert to older versions of the patch, which you can only do if you've made backups ahead of time or are willing to download older files online from unofficial sources.
Welcome to GameSpot Q&A, a weekly section where we ask our staff and readers an interesting discussion question about video games. Look at this as a forum where you and others can discuss and compare your opinions of this beloved hobby of ours. So don't hesitate to let us know what your answer is to this week's question in the comments below!
This week's question is as follows:
Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem
What two game series do you want to be in a crossover together? And what kind of game would you want it to be?
Kevin VanOrd
Wheel of Time and Elder Scrolls. This is a bit of a cheat, because Wheel of Time has only had one significant game, but I want an exploration-heavy role-playing game in the Wheel of Time universe so badly I'd cut off my left pinkie toe to see one come to life. Game of Thrones has captured our culture's imagination, but Wheel of Time's greater focus on magic gives its world's politics an edge ripe for exploring in interactive form.
Eddie Makuch
I'd like to see the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises team up for a crossover fighting game. OK, so they're not just video game franchises, but there have been enough good (and bad) entries in both to consider each a video game series, I'd say. The benefits of such a fighting game are plenty, but one obvious positive is that we would finally know who would win in a fight; Gandalf or Dumbledore? Frodo or Harry Potter? Smeagol or Dobby? Both franchises are owned and operated by Warner Bros, so it could totally happen!
Mass Effect 3
Chris Watters
The Mass Effect universe is one of the richest realms in gaming; it's absolutely bursting with untold stories. And you know who's great at uncovering fascinating stories in a rich world? Geralt of Rivia. Give me solar systems to explore, a ship captained by the Witcher, and don't shackle me with any kind of save-all-carbon-based-lifeforms quest, and I'll roam the stars with a song in my heart. (And if it sounds like I'm describing my ideal Cowboy Bebop video game, well, I am.)
Matt Espineli
I'd want a stealth action RPG crossover between Metal Gear Solid and Deus Ex. Given their cyberpunk narrative themes, they'd definitely compliment each other well. I can totally imagine Snake sneaking around trying to uncover some kind of illuminati conspiracy. Gosh, I can even see him constantly fighting against a JC-Denton-like agent character that slowly uncovers the same conspiracy over time. But in terms of gameplay, it would be great to see the RPG elements of Deus Ex mix in with the stealth/combat and Mother Base recruitment mechanics of the newer Metal Gear Solid games.
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
Justin Haywald
I love working my way through brainteasers and devious mental challenges, so I search out and complete every puzzle in the Professor Layton games. But as much as I enjoy hunting around the cartoony, 2D setpieces, it's a game I'd love to see in 3D. I imagine mashing Layton up with another of my favorite games, World of Warcraft, would create some amazing possibilities. The game would look like Layton but play like Blizzard's MMO (minus the combat). NPCs in the world with a glowing exclamation mark over their head would stand out as puzzle distributors. Instead of attacks, you could dole out mini-challenges to other players when you meet them. Instances and raids would be a massive gauntlet of puzzles to try and overcome (but puzzles wouldn't respawn, of course). And just imagine a bustling London to explore done in the Professor Layton style but on the scale of Stormwind!
Rob Crossley
Hearthstone has changed my life more than I'd like to admit, it's an outstanding game of wits that requires constant thinking and rethinking. But I don't really know Warcraft's lore too well (never played WoW etc), so swapping its cards with characters from the Half-Life series (or Game of Thrones, even) would probably result in blissful bankruptcy and a barren social life.
Gradius V
Peter Brown
I would love to see a Gradius and R-Type crossover. Arcade shooters aren't as popular as they once were, but I still love them, and it would be a treat to see a crossover shooter based on my two favorite series in the genre. Mix up mechanics, ships, and create a new setting, and G-Type (the made up name for this unlikely game) could easily carve out a niche all its own within the modern shooter fold.
Alexa Ray Corriea
I just want Telltale Games to make a Mad Men game. It makes total sense. A story-driven adventure game about navigating the relationships that come with big business and complicated personal lives. It doesn't even have to be a story about Don Draper. Forget that guy. What about a story about Bob Benson? Or maybe even a tale about Joan's younger years in the early era of Sterling Cooper, her origin story? I think the franchise leaves so many of its smaller, yet still important, characters out of the loop, and I'd love to see more of them, perhaps during times when they were first starting out. Origin stories of Mad Men characters, in which you have a serious hand in determined just how screwed up their lives get. It's a perfect match.
Dark Souls
Daniel Hindes
Dark Souls and Dishonored. I love the hostile world of Dark Souls and its sequels, but I'm growing tired of its combat style, and the way I feel rooted to the ground. So I want to play a Dark Souls game with Dishonored-style powers - the ability to teleport around the environment, possess and confuse enemies, and generally play more stealthily.
Danny O'Dwyer
I'd want Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat, and in either direction. Every time I see the "MKTV" logo in the replay screen in Mario Kart 8 I dream of a world where Scorpion and Sub Zero get to race side by side against those bastarding Koopa Kids. Or the other way around - I want to watch my boy Wario rip Toad's head off and use his stupid face as a football. I mean, worse case scenario, getting some of those Smash Bro's skins into the PC version of Mortal Kombat X shouldn't be too hard right?
Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae
Zorine Te
I would like to see Final Fantasy crossed over with the Warcraft universe. Imagine a role-playing game where you live out Thrall's journey both in the World of Warcraft and beyond. The boss fights would be awesome, strategic, and all in turn-based combat, of course. Thrall could chest-bump Cloud in a victory fanfare every time a battle was won. Grom would argue with Sephiroth. It would be majestic chaos.
Konami is one of the most recognizable brands in gaming, having cut its teeth in the arcades in the late 70s before bombarding Nintendo Entertainment System owners with one unforgettable series after the next. Its prominence in the console market blossomed through the following console generations, but around the time PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 hit the market, the number of new Konami games began to slide.
Fast forward to the present, and we're witnessing a major shift in the way Konami conducts its game development business. Hideo Kojima, a developer who has arguably done more for Konami than anyone else, is purportedly months away from parting ways with his employer of nearly 30 years. This comes amidst a shakeup involving the combining and rebranding of studios, as well as new executive appointments. Kojima's potential separation from Konami signals an end to Kojima's brand of Metal Gear as we know it (though Konami says it's committed to new Metal Gear games), and as we learned earlier this week, it's already impacted one game that many people were anxiously awaiting: Silent Hills. Kojima's reboot of the Silent Hill series with film director Guillermo del Toro and actor Norman Reedus has been officially cancelled, all but confirming that Kojima and Konami will be parting ways in the not too distant future.
While we wait to see how these events unfold over the coming months, now's a great time to look back and appreciate the games and series that made so many people dedicated Konami fans in the first place. Though some appear too far gone to be resurrected, others still have a pulse and could be revived down the road.
Metal Gear: 1987-2015
The arrival of Metal Gear marked the beginning of a new era for action games, introducing the notion that you may have just as much fun avoiding combat as you do diving headlong into it. Hideo Kojima's experiment was an unlikely success, sparking a torrent of Metal Gear games and merchandise in the decades that followed. Kojima's perspective on world events and his love for film drove the series forward, and by the time Metal Gear Solid arrived in 1998, his status as an auteur was set in stone. For the success of the series and for Kojima's influence on the industry at large, Metal Gear is the most important series Konami has ever produced.
The most recently released Metal Gear game is Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, the prologue to upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The small but exciting Ground Zeroes took the series in a new direction, introducing sandbox gameplay while giving us our first look at Kojima Productions' and Konami's powerful Fox Engine. Some people viewed it as an experience that was all too brief, despite its budget price tag, but people who dug into it wholeheartedly found that there's more to the game than simply beating a mission; there were ample opportunities to get creative and alter your tactics as you go about rescuing and assassinating targets. It was a great experience, but it was only the tip of the iceberg that is Metal Gear Solid V.
The story that began in Ground Zeroes will come to its conclusion in The Phantom Pain this September. More importantly, The Phantom Pain fills in the last major gap in the Metal Gear series' timeline, in the years between Ground Zeroes and the original Metal Gear; otherwise known as the years between Naked Snake, AKA, Big Boss, and his clone, Solid Snake.
By all accounts, this will likely be the last Metal Gear game lead by Hideo Kojima. True, Konami has stated that it's looking for new talent to lead the next Metal Gear game. However, Konami is a publicly traded company, and if it were to announce that the series is coming to a close, fans and investors may get cold feet and look elsewhere. By making a soft announcement for a new game, both parties are theoretically satisfied--for now.
Silent Hill: 1998-2014
The original Silent Hill arrived in a post-Resident Evil world, but Konami's Team Silent didn't try to emulate RE's spooky mansion or its use of zombies. Instead, it delivered a haunting tale of a father in a strange town searching for his lost, adopted daughter. Though it was used in part to make up for the PlayStation's limited RAM, the fog in Silent Hill proved to be an effective means of orchestrating horror, and has gone on to become an iconic element of the series.
Though Silent Hill fans enjoyed a healthy stream of games in the years following its debut, Silent Hill has been struggling for a few years. The last titled Silent Hill game was Silent Hill: Book of Memories, which was released for PlayStation Vita in 2012. Like other Silent Hill games after Silent Hill 4: The Room, Book of Memories was developed by an external studio. In this case, WayForward Technologies (Shantae, Contra 4, DuckTales: Remastered) took the helm. An unlikely choice for Silent Hill, WayForward Technologies took the series in a new direction by making Book of Memories an isometric RPG. Suffice it to say, the game didn't fare well with critics; it earned a 6 from reviewer Britton Peele on GameSpot, and has a Metacritic score of 58.
By the time Book of Memories was released, it seemed like the series was on its last legs. However, behind the scenes, a new face began work on a new and exciting take on Silent Hill: Metal Gear's own, Hideo Kojima. After hinting for years that he wished to work on a new game in the series, his chance had finally arrived, and in true Kojima fashion, the new game, Silent Hills, was announced via a cryptic reveal.
At Sony's 2014 Gamescom press conference, the unheard of 7780s Studio announced a new, free horror game, P.T. Available immediately, P.T. became an instant hit for it's mysterious plot and terrifying setting: a single, looping hallway that grows increasingly frightening with every subsequent trip. To everyone's surprise, a post credits sequence at the end of P.T. revealed Kojima's Silent Hill reboot, and his collaboration with director Guillermo del Toro and actor Norman Reedus.
To everyone's surprise, once P.T. is finished, a post credits sequence reveals a new Silent Hill game, Silent Hills. We also see Kojima's name for the first time, along with director Guillermo del Toro and actor Norman Reedus.
Sadly, Kojima and Konami's reported split has led to Silent Hills being cancelled. Konami has stated that it isn't giving up on Silent Hill, but that Kojima's take on the series isn't moving forward as planned. P.T., which is both highly regarded and the only sample of what Kojima had in mind for Silent Hills, has since been removed from the PlayStation Network store. The future of Silent Hill, like Metal Gear, is up in the air.
Pro Evolution Soccer: 1995-2014
Nobody would blame you if you thought that Metal Gear was Konami's most profitable series, but Pro Evolution Soccer, otherwise known as Winning Eleven, is its real prize pig. For the past two years, it's been the single most successful franchise for Konami, outselling Metal Gear by a wide margin.
PES has been around for a long time, but there was a period when Konami had another soccer game up its sleeve: International Superstar Soccer. ISS arrived in 1995 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but in 1997, while ISS was exclusive to Nintendo consoles, Konami created International Superstar Soccer Pro for PlayStation owners.
Fast forward to 2015 and PES is alive and mostly well, though sales are sliding year over year as FIFA continues to dominate the pitch. PES '15 is the first game in the series to ship as late as November, which is only really important to note when you consider that new FIFA games have consistently shipped in late September or the first week of October for the past 10 years. Konami typically announces a new PES game in the Spring, but this year, the only news regarding PES was a price drop for the current version. If a new PES isn't revealed at E3 or Gamescom, PES fans may find themselves with little choice but to convert to FIFA next fall.
Castlevania: 1986-2014
There was a period of time when Castlevania was one of Konami's most notable and popular series. Debuting in 1986 on Nintendo's Famicom Disk System (an add-on to the Japanese version of the NES--the Famicom), Konami has since released over 30 Castlevania games across a wide range of platforms. Castlevania's roots are in side-scrolling action games, and with the exception of the obtuse Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, many early games adhered to a strict level-based design.
With the arrival of Koji Igarashi's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the series took a turn in a new direction, replacing individual stages with a large castle that the player could explore as they saw fit--so long as they had the means to survive and progress past obstacles. This formula was used in six more games over the next decade, with a smattering of other Castlevania games filling in the gaps.
During this time, Konami released a handful of 3D Castlevania games: two on the Nintendo 64, and two on PlayStation 2 and Xbox. These games didn't enjoy the same success as their portable, Igarashi-made counterparts, but this changed when the spanish studio, Mercury Steam, worked with Konami Producer, David Cox, to create the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series. The original Lords of Shadow would go on to become the best selling game in the series' history, but despite the success enjoyed by Cox and Mercury Steam, the future of the series looks uncertain. Cox has parted ways with Konami under uncertain terms, and while Mercury Steam is still an active studio, there's no telling who at Konami will lead the charge for a new Castlevania, nor where this hypothetical game will be made. With a four-year gap between Lords of Shadow and Lords of Shadow 2, it's too early to rule out a new Castlevania, but with Cox and Mercury Steam declaring that Lords of Shadow's story is complete, any new Castlevania will likely fall under a new subtitle.
Bemani: 1997-2014
People love both music and video games, and Konami was smart enough to capitalize on this by creating Beatmania in 1997, the first of dozens of music-based games under the Bemani moniker. Bemani games were the jumping off point for series like Guitar Hero, but where Activision dominated the console market in North America, Konami injected Bemani games in arcades all over the world. Despite the shrinking arcade market, Konami and the Bemani brand thrived thanks to the games' energetic nature, which made it as much of a spectacle for outsiders as it was a test of rhythm and endurance for the player.
Gamers outside of Japan were no strangers to Beatmania, but Dance Dance Revolution was the series that truly kicked off the Bemani craze on an international scale. Foregoing the faux DJ setup of keys and a turntable from Beatmania, DDR utilized a simple, quad-directional dance pad. Good players managed to beat difficult Japanese pop songs with great focus and determination; great players destroyed entire soundtracks, rarely looking at the screen as their impeccable muscle memory led them into choreographed routines filled with outlandish maneuvers. DDR was many things to many people: it was a game, an exercise program, and a medium for performance art.
DDR's success inspired numerous spin-offs from Konami and me-too games from other publishers, yet despite stiff competition, Bemani remains one of Konami's most profitable franchises. It's unlikely Konami will stop developing new Dance Dance Revolution in the foreseeable future.
Suikoden: 1995-2012
Suikoden was an unusual RPG when it arrived on the PlayStation in 1995 due to the large number of characters that you could recruit, known as the 108 stars. This system set Suikoden apart from other console RPGs of the day, many of which were derivative, riding on the success of series like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Suikoden frontman Yoshitaka Murayama led the Suikoden charge for two more games, ultimately departing Konami towards the end of Suikoden III's development cycle.
By that time, Suikoden was extremely popular due to the success of the still-renowned Suikoden II, and Konami was happy to keep development of the series going full steam for another ten years. Unfortunately for fans, there's been no activity since 2012, when Konami released Genso Suikoden: Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki (Suikoden: The Woven Web of A Century) exclusively in Japan for the PSP. The last Suikoden game that made it to Europe and North America was Suikoden: Tierkreis, and despite being received positively by critics, it failed to make an impact at retail.
At this point, being one of Konami's supplemental series, it's unlikely that we'll see a new, traditional Suikoden game anytime soon. A group of dedicated fans, collectively known as the Suikoden Revival Movement, have worked for years to bolster the series chances at a comeback. Unfortunately, after three years of activity, Konami seemingly isn't convinced, with no Suikoden-related hints or official announcements since the inception of SRM.
Contra: 1987-2011
Like so many of Konami's treasured series, Contra's life began in the arcades in the late '80s and found worldwide success once it landed on the NES shortly after. It set the bar for side-scrolling shooters (it also included some vertical-scrolling levels) through challenging level design that emphasized platforming elements and fast-paced action, and the variety of weapons in the game gave players multiple ways to strategize for high-scores; support for two-player co-op added even more depth. Due to anti-violence media laws in Germany, Konami localized Contra for all PAL territories by reworking the game's human characters into robots, subsequently changing the game's title to "Probotector" to avoid confusion.
This dual-identity persisted up until Contra: Legacy of War on the PlayStation and Saturn in 1996. Legacy of War was also the first Contra game developed outside of Konami's internal studios, created by Appaloosa Interactive. The same team went on to make The Contra Adventure, which was exclusive to North America and PlayStation. Neither game managed to capture the excitement of the older games due to clunky, formulaic design, and while Konami eventually returned to developing new Contra games in-house at KCET, the series had begun to slip away from its flagship status.
After shipping two good by under-appreciated games on PlayStation 2--Contra: Shattered Soldier and Neo Contra--Konami sought outside help once again, turning to WayForward Technologies for Contra 4 on the Nintendo DS, M2 (3DS Sega Classics) for Contra: Rebirth on the Wii, and finally, Arc System Works, for Hard Corps: Uprising on Xbox 360. HC: Uprising came in 2011, and since then, the Contra series has been missing-in-action. David Cox (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer) stated that he was very interested in working on a new game in the Contra series, but after his departure following the completion of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, it's unlikely that him, or his friends at Mercury Steam, are working on anything Contra related.
Gradius: 1985-2008
Gradius is one of Konami's earliest successes, and presently, one of its least-utilized series. The 1985 arcade original sprang from Scramble, a 1981 Konami shooter that introduced a free power up system that would ultimately become Gradius' defining element. As you defeat enemies in most Gradius games, you occasionally earn units that move a cursor along the length of the power meter. You have to effectively kill enemies, collect power up units, and survive in order to unlock top-tier upgrades, but you can also stick to the low-tier powerups for immediate gratification. Either way, if you die, your ship is respawned at stock, negating all of your hard work. This mechanic gives players multiple ways to strategize, albeit by favoring speed, firepower, or defensive power-ups.
Over the years, Gradius has landed on nearly every console (with the exception of the original Xbox and Sega systems), but not always as a numbered game in the series. Its early success led to the creation of numerous spin-off games, such as Salamander--which is similar to Gradius, but with an altered power-up system and some vertical-scrolling levels--and Parodius--a game that purposefully mocks Konami games and shooting games at large.
The arcade shooting game market has changed significantly since Gradius arrived, and instead of spaceships and the like, many new games in the genre from publishers like Cave feature young girls in short skirts as avatars for pilots and aircraft. Konami's Otomedius Excellent on the Xbox 360 is the perfect example. A Gradius game in every way except for the setting, characters, and title, it seems to be an attempt on Konami's part to capitalize on Japan's growing and unfortunate trend of over-sexualizing girls in media. This would come three years after Gradius V on PlayStation 2, which was developed by the legendary studio formed by ex-Konami members, Treasure, and is one of the best games in the series.
Thankfully, the last true Gradius game brought things back to the series roots. Gradius Rebirth on Wii delivered a traditional Gradius experience with remixed levels from past games, though it seems to have failed to generate the sales and excitement that could inspire a new game in the series. With the cancellation of Gradius VI (which was announced at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show) for PlayStation 3, Gradius, like many franchises under Konami's watch, has been relegated to art that gets plastered onto pachinko machines in smokey gambling parlors.
Hudson Soft Games
After years of flirting, Konami finally absorbed Hudson Soft and all of its IPs in 2012, giving it unfettered access to a strong catalog of recognizable characters and franchises. Despite owning series such as Bomberman, Bonk, and Bloody Roar, Konami hasn't utilized them, and by all accounts, there's nothing to indicate it has plans to do so.
Where Does Konami Go From Here?
As Konami continues to consolidate its studios and buckle down on its current cash cows, mobile and pachinko development, and fitness centers, it appears that classic series like Gradius and Castlevania may be relegated to the land of merchandising. While this may sound sad to the many fans who grew up with those series, or otherwise hold them near and dear to their hearts, can you really blame Konami? Regardless of how it got to this point, most of the talent responsible for making these games household names have left the building, and while it could look for new talent to revive those franchises, that may be too risky of an endeavor for executives and investors to swallow.
Somewhat understandably, many people feel betrayed by this turn of events, but the truth is that Konami owes us nothing. We can bemoan the current state of affairs all we want, and we can chastise Konami from withholding the future of these series from the comfort of our social media accounts, but realistically, none of that will sway decision makers who value money over nostalgia.
Games have changed drastically since the dawn of Konami, and while we all want more games like the ones we know and love, they're a product of the past. Instead of lamenting the theoretical future of a series that we can't even predict, go play Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and talk about them with friends. It's the best way to keep the spirit of your favorites games alive.
Valve has released the 2015 Compendium to its annual Dota 2 tournament The International last night, and proceeds from its sales have already raised the championship's overall prize pool to more than $4 million.
First introduced in 2013, the Compendium is a digital interactive program for the competition, where you can keep track of the different teams and make predictions. Each Compendium costs $10, and each sale raises the prize pool by $2.50. As the prize pool grows and hits its stretch goals, more rewards unlock for all Compendium owners and, in some cases, all players. When the Compendium hits $4.5 million, for example, Valve will add new loading screens to the game.
Leveling up your Compendium by using it and completing special challenges will reward you with Battle Point and different items. You can also just buy points to level up, and 25 percent of those sales will also add to the overall prize pool.
Last year, the Compendium helped drive the total prize pool to over $10 million, making it the largest purse for any eSports event in history.
Valve sold tickets to the 2015 International in two waves of 10,000 tickets in late March, both of which sold out in less than 10 minutes.
This year's International takes place August 3-8 at KeyArena in Seattle, WA, the city that's hosted the last three tournaments.
Earlier this week, we found out that that you could embed entire MS-DOS games preserved on the Internet Archive in tweets, but yesterday Twitter killed the feature.
The tweet below, which we included in our early story about being able to play MS-DOS games directly through Twitter, originally allowed you to play Wolfenstein 3D without leaving the page. As you can see, it is now just a link that takes you to Internet Archive, where you can still play the game.
It seems that the feature violated Twitter's rules around Play Cards, which allow users to embed audio and video clips. According to Twitter's site, "Player Cards are reserved for linear audio and video consumption only."
Twitter specifically asks developers to "not build end-to-end interactive experiences inside the video or audio player unrelated to Player Card content, such as the following: purchasing, gaming, polling, messaging, and data entry."
Women quitting the games industry over harassment is a "real shame," according to Kate Edwards. She is the executive director of the International Game Developers Association, a non-profit group that advocates for developers big and small across the world. It's a significant responsibility, and one she doesn't take lightly. That's the impression I got when I sat down with Edwards recently for a wide-ranging interview about several hot-button industry issues making headlines in 2015.
Below are highlights from our conversation, covering topics like the the aforementioned harassment some women are facing, the need for developers to take risks, and more.
Harassment of Women: "A Real Shame"
The IGDA partnered with chip-maker Intel earlier this year as part of the company's $300 million effort to increase efforts to hire women and minorities in the wake of the firm's controversial decision to pull an advertisement due to pressure from the "Gamergate" movement. Edwards says she's quite proud of Intel's campaign and looks forward to working with the company on the inclusivity effort.
"Obviously, there was a big deal made with our partnership with Intel, which we're very proud about. And I think what Intel did, their move, which I really applauded them for, was not just about--'Let's just remedy our mistake,'" Edwards said. "[Brian Krzanich], the CEO, he is very serious that it's not just about covering our ass with this one mistake. [He said], 'We're going to change this situation not just for the game industry but the entire tech sector,' and I thought that was a very bold move for them. I'm hoping other companies follow suit because it's not just one company's problem."
"I'm hoping other companies follow suit because it's not just one company's problem"
So in our partnership with them, we're focusing on areas of primarily looking at acquisition and retention as two key areas that we need to focus on in the industry. And with acquisition, part of that is going to be developing a better pipeline; there's a lot of STEM programs out there for girls, there's a lot of even game STEM programs for girls, and people of color. How do we get that better connected with the actual industry track, like how you get into the industry? It's one thing to expose them to it. How do you actually bridge that from exposure to education to actual entry into the industry? And so we're talking with different partners about how we can make that happen, implementing programs and have a better on-ramp to a game industry career."
Talking specifically about harassment towards women in the video game industry, Edwards said she's heard stories of women who have simply walked out of the games business and took another job in the technology sector to avoid the abuse. That's a "real shame," Edwards said.
"So when we're talking about retention issues, of course one of the major retention issues, especially in light of the last few months, is harassment and how do you deal with that," she explained. "Everyone has a different fortitude with how they deal with it. I know a lot of women I speak with in the industry, they see that happening, they've been part of it, they've been targeted by it, and they're just like, 'I don't need this. I can go get a job … I can still be a programmer, just not in games. I can go work for some IT company, have a good job, and will never have to deal with this stuff.' And that's a real shame. We don't want to see that happen."
As part of the IGDA's effort to combat such issues, it's working with organizations like the anti-bullying group Cybersmile and mental health advocacy group TakeThis to provide resources to game developers.
"So there's different organizations like the Cybersmile group that specializes in online bullying, and there's groups like TakeThis which is focused mainly on mental health issues," Edwards said. "So we're trying to better partner with them because we, in our role, we interface with so many developers worldwide. We can act as a resource center so they can come to us and help them to say, 'Here's what you can get if you have this need go to these folks.' If we can't provide it, then we're going to partner with someone who can. And obviously we're not trying to retread the wheel. If we can be a coordinating group that brings together different resources that developers can leverage, then that's what we're going to do."
"Sequel-itis"
Clearly, there is money to be made by releasing sequels--and there is nothing inherently wrong sequels or making money. But all the same, "sequel-itis" is a potential problem, Edwards says.
"One of the big things we need to be careful of is being risk-averse. It's understandable why an industry would be risk-averse because they want to maintain revenue flow. And that's why we keep seeing sequel-itis. Not that that's necessarily always a bad thing because sometimes these sequels are good; they're good, compelling games. So I'm not knocking that strategy. It's just that, going back to the idea of advancing game design and advancing the craft and providing the public with something they've never seen before, we have the opportunity to do that. Just like film does it. Film has been around for over 100 years; you think you've seen everything, and then some movie will come out one year and it blows your mind."
I interject here, saying I thought Birdman was an example of this. Edwards agrees.
"Are you going to just keep delivering the umpteenth variation of a Bejeweled/Candy Crush game or are you going to do something that's really different?"
"So we have the opportunity to do that. We basically have the collective attention of a consumer base that loves playing games. So what are you going to do with that? You have this demographic, they love playing, so what are you going to do with it? Because effectively that is your future. Are you going to just keep delivering the umpteenth variation of a Bejeweled/Candy Crush game or are you going to do something that's really different?"
"And a lot of it comes down to, it's an individual developer decision. Do they want to make money and that's it; obviously there's a lot a reasons for it; we get cloning," she added. "Or do you actually want to do something different and unique, and have accolades for it? Or not even get accolades; just be happy with what you're doing? And I think for most developers out there, they really want the latter.
The Video Game Industry: Similarities to the NFL?
The National Football League had its fair share of problems in 2014. Off-the-field domestic violence controversy was a staple of the season, with some even calling for commissioner Roger Goodell to resign amid the fallout. He didn't. And despite all of that, the Super Bowl in February posted the best ratings in history. I wondered if Edwards thought the the video game industry, which also faced an avalanche of criticism during the year over "Gamergate" but saw overall sales climb year-over-year, was similar to the NFL in this way. That is to say, the headlines may sometimes be unpleasant, but they aren't enough to drive people away.
Edwards admitted there are similarities. But she sees a one major difference. That's the fact that Goodell has the power to step in and make dramatic, sweeping changes in regards to policies and punishments for domestic abuse (or any other issue), while is no one central body that ultimately influences behavior for the video game industry.
"There's certainly similarities with the community around, the fanbase community, around that, whatever it is. Yeah, you can draw similarities between the way the game-playing community would act or react to something. It's kind of the nature of fandom, is what I'm getting at," Edwards said. "And I think there's a lot of similarities around anything. Fandom around comics, movies, sports, whatever. So I think you can draw a lot of parallels there."
"The game industry is extremely diverse; it's global, you've got so many variables that make up what is the industry"
"But I think at the same time with the game industry, there's a lot of things we can do to change; the NFL can do it too," she added. "They can make those changes. Actually, I would say one of the differences there is that the NFL is one body; they can just decree and make it happen, although it has to be through negotiations with their unions. But the game industry, that's not what we are."
Edwards said the video game industry is tough to describe with any one definition, since it's such a diverse and constantly changing business, full of developers big and small. And with the proliferation of free or inexpensive game development tools, just about anyone can be a developer today.
"The game industry is extremely diverse; it's global, you've got so many variables that make up what is the industry," she said. "You've got a definition of the industry that is rapidly changing because when you consider, for instance, what do you call someone who gets a free copy of Unity and does Unity games on their spare time but they're an accountant? And they love being an accountant and they're never going to change that, but they love throwing a game up on the App Store every once in a while. Are they a game developer? And if they are, then what does that make professional game developers versus hobbyist game developers?"
"I think in a way, that's OK. I think we're at that stage where [we're] talking about ubiquity of gameplay. I think we're also at a stage where we're talking about the ubiquity of game development. Because tools are cheap, they're free, there's umpteen tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere, and so in a way it's kind of like the old days when anyone could get a drawing pad and start sketching; anyone had access to painting. Everyone could have access to a typewriter to write to express themselves artistically; so I think we're finally getting to that stage with games where virtually anyone can just make what they want to make."
PS4 Ships 22.3 Million Units Worldwide:PlayStation 4 sales continue to soar. As part of Sony's latest earnings report this week, the company announced the new lifetime PS4 shipment tally. And Sony also said it expects to ship another 16 million new consoles in the current financial year.
Silent Hills Canceled, Konami Confirms:The strange developments at Konami continued this week, as the Japanese publisher officially announced that the horror game is no longer in development. It was going to be worked on by Hideo Kojima and Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo delo Toro, starring Norman Reedus of Walking Dead fame, but it was not meant to be.
Valve Removes Paid Mods From Steam:Just a few days after Valve and Bethesda released a new paid mod system for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Valve removed the feature. "We've done this because it's clear we didn't understand exactly what we were doing," Valve said at the time.
THE OTHER STUFF:
Microsoft has released the next Halo 5 teaser as part of the game's Hunt the Truth website. This one's a doozy, and well worth a listen for fans of the franchise looking forward to the new game. Listen to Episode 5 here, where you can also catch up on the first four.
From YouTuber AbsolutePab comes this excellent new Grand Theft Auto V video made using the game's Rockstar Editor video tools. It's called "Manhunt," and it's well worth a watch. Check it out.
Looking for a game to play on the go? The mobile port of Playdead's acclaimed Limbo is now available on Google Play for just $1. Buy it here.
Shigeru Miyamoto is a living legend. Having created the Mario and Zelda franchises (among others), he's affected the lives of millions of people the world over. But that doesn't mean he's a pro gamer. Watch this video to see Miyamoto die a lot in the upcoming Wii U game Mario Maker. Gameplay starts at around 2 minutes in.
Free-to-play PC and PlayStation 4 MMO War Thunder has reached a new user milestone. The World War II game now has an incredible 9 million players. What's more, developer Gaijin Entertainment has released the game's next major update, called Weapons of Victory.
Here's another great video. Watch as Jeremy Renner, who plays Hawkeye in The Avengers, sings a song about Mario Kart and getting free guacamole at Chipotle.
Like cycling? Then this is for you. Focus Home Interactive this week released the first screenshots for its upcoming game based on the Tour de France 2015. The game launches for consoles and PC in June, ahead of the big race in France, and it looks quite nice. Take a look at more screens here.
PlayStation's James Fairbairn has a simple question for you. What amazing new features would you like to see on PS4? That's what he asked on Twitter. What would you like to see? Let him know and maybe it'll happen!
Hey all. What amazing/magical/insane capability would you add to PS4's feature list? Asking for a friend.
With competitive gaming growing in popularity, this was bound to happen. Former Microsoft manager Rahul Sood has launched a new platform that aims to make it easier for people to bet on eSports. It's called Unikrn; check it out here.
Square Enix this week released its mobile game Hitman Go on Windows and Windows Phones--it even supports Xbox Live features on the new Microsoft platforms. You can buy the game today for $5. It's already available for Android and iOS.
Sexually Awkward Moments in Video Games. Need I say more?
YouTube channel Did You Know Gaming has posted its latest video, this one diving into the history of the Xbox platform. How much do you think you know about Xbox? Watch and find out.
Whoa! This GTA V modder has unlocked the game's secret world of North Yankton. Check out the full video below. GTA V doesn't officially support mods, but clearly that hasn't stopped fans from making them.
Game of Thrones: Ascent, the free mobile and Web game based on the hit fantasy series, is now available on Amazon for Kindle Fire devices. Get it on Amazon right now. You can also download Ascent from the App Store, Google Play, DisruptorBeam.com, Facebook, and Kongregate.
"We were kind of always a round peg in a square hole." That's John Smedley, the president of H1Z1 and EverQuest developer Daybreak Games, formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment. That's his take on what it was like working for Sony, which he said didn't have much of a PC gaming business. "We were it, and we were part of the PlayStation group. So we always were kind of the odd man out." Read the full interview over at Polygon.
Mistwalker's mobile RPG Terra Battle has reached a new milestone. This week, the game eclipsed two million downloads following its release in October 2014. As a result of the milestone, Mistwalker has announced plans to bring the game to consoles. Read more about those plans here.
Update: Xbox Live (and Xbox.com) appear to be mostly back online. The service status page does note, however, that certain apps are currently experiencing issues, including YouTube and Netflix.
Original Story: Xbox Live is currently experiencing problems that Microsoft says it's in the process of resolving.
The current Xbox Live Status page
On the first day of a free online multiplayer weekend for Xbox 360 owners, the service is offline, though it's currently unclear why. On top of that, it's impossible to check its status--the usual webpage tracking any issues lists all services as "unavailable." The entirety of Xbox.com has also been rendered inaccessible for periods of time.
According to multiple tweets from the Xbox Support Twitter account, Microsoft is aware of the problems and is attempting to fix them. "Our teams are currently working to resolve a few Xbox Live issues," the account said in one tweet.
We'll have more details as they are made available.
Amazon prices are accurate as of publishing, but can fluctuate occasionally throughout the day.
GameSpot's gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site.
Last night, Steam's Community Market was simultaneously filled with outrageously priced items and absolute bargains due to a currency error that Valve continues to work toward resolving.
At some point in the overnight hours, Steam's currency exchange rate was thrown off for anyone using Indonesia's currency, the Indonesian rupiah. According to PC Gamer, the system treated the rupiah's value as being identical to that of the US Dollar, which in fact is worth almost exactly 13,000 rupiahs.
The effect of this was twofold. Those using rupiahs were able to buy items on the market--where players can buy and sell various things, including in-game items from Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2, among other games--at incredibly low prices. Conversely, those using USD found prices on some items to be a tad higher than usual, like a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive weapon whose starting price was $3,549,383.07 (via Reddit).
In order to deal with this, Valve took Steam trading and the Community Market offline for a period, during which time it "reverted as many of these purchases as possible," according to a message posted on Steam. "A relatively small set of users have one or more transactions where the item was restored back to the seller, but the wallet funds have not yet been returned to the buyer. We are still working to resolve this issue and appreciate your patience while we sort everything out. "
Likewise, Valve hasn't yet fixed an issue where rupiah users who used codes to add money to their Steam wallet received the wrong amount. However, Valve says that situation "will be fixed later today."
Microsoft is planning a phased rollout for its upcoming operating system, Windows 10. The new OS will debut first on PC this summer, following by versions for phones, Xbox One, HoloLens, and other devices later in the year. That's according to a new report from noted Microsoft blogger Paul Thurrott, who attended a special event at Microsoft's Build conference in San Francisco today where the details were divulged.
Citing a conversation with Windows executive Joe Belfiore, Thurrott that Windows 10 will arrive for those non-PC platforms "according to their own schedules later in 2015."
Microsoft announced back in January that Windows 10 would be integrated into Xbox One by way of a future update. Xbox boss Phil Spencer assured fans at the time that when the Windows 10 Xbox One update arrives, it won't morph the games console into an enterprise-centric device.
How it will operate is unclear, and whether it will come with a dashboard rearrangement is not known.
"We won't see people using Excel on the Xbox, but Microsoft is making it easier to port experiences from PC over to Xbox where they make sense," Spencer said at the time.
Xbox One Preview Program members will get to try the new Windows 10 integration first. Spencer said on Twitter earlier this week that Preview Program members will be able to test it out "at least" a month before general availability. Access to the Xbox One Preview Program is available by invitation only.
Sony's Japanese PlayStation website has launched a new section devoted to the PS4 version of upcoming RPG Persona 5, and along with it, we've got a batch of new high-resolution screenshots to fawn over.
Many of the screenshots look to be taken directly from scenes shown off in the game's debut trailer, while others were previously available only in small images on the official Japanese website. There's a mixture of images from combat, social areas, and dungeons, as well as one of the game's ridiculously stylish menu system.
At the time, Persona 5 director Katsura Hashino offered some new information about the game, explaining, "For this game, we're going with a challenge that fuses together a juvenile school setting that is as large as life, together with a picaresque romance. In the previous game, we wrote a story that involved having a justice group chase down a bad guy that could easily be feared by just about anyone.
"This time, it's about a group of high school students that are being 'chased' by unexpected occurrences due to the justice they believe in. We're writing [the story] to convey a thrilling everyday life in the shoes of these characters, that are as large as life, in this juvenile school setting."
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