By Anonymous on Sep 16, 2017 11:30 pm 2D Metroid is back. Samus Returns marks the first new 2D Metroid in 13 years. So let's celebrate by talking a look back at Metroid's history.
By Anonymous on Sep 16, 2017 09:30 pm It's been a good few years since George RR Martin released the last Song of Ice and Fire novel, so Lucy investigates what the hold up is on Winds of Winter.
There are a multitude of powerful Exotic weapons in Destiny 2 that are each packed with unique characteristics and attributes. With so many Exotic weapons to discover, it can be tough to figure out which ones are worth keeping. To help you narrow down your choices, we've highlighted 10 Exotic weapons that we believe to be the best in the game (for now).
For more game guides, including breakdowns of the three classes, along with our skill and ability galleries for the various subclasses, be sure to visit our Destiny 2 guides and walkthroughs page to keep up with happening in the online world of the Guardians.
Skyburner's Oath: Energy Scout Rifle
Weapons that do bonus damage against a single enemy race can seem underwhelming, but Skyburner's Oath is an exception to that rule. This exotic scout rifle does extra damage to all Cabal, the main enemy type you'll face throughout the campaign and Destiny 2's raid, Leviathan. Wonderfully, it even shoots through Phalanx's shields. Having great stability and being full-auto only adds to its appeal, and when you realize it's also a beast in the Crucible, Skyburner's will become one of your favorite new guns in Destiny 2.
Merciless: Power Fusion Rifle
Merciless is an essential rifle to have as it can quickly mow down enemies and bosses, especially if they don't have any immunity triggers. This is because non-lethal hits made with this weapon increase its charge rate until an enemy is killed. Merciless is a must own for all PvE modes; though, it certainly packs a punch if you use it well during PvP as well.
MIDA Mult-Tool: Kinetic Scout Rifle
The MIDA returns from Destiny 1, and it's nearly as powerful as you remember it. While it sports a reduced magazine this time around, it remains a well-rounded rifle with great reload speed and fantastic handling. And with the Mini-Tool submachine gun, you have a strong pairing that'll do wonders in any battle.
Sweet Business: Auto Rifle
Sweet Business is a gatling gun that knocks back aliens in firehose fashion. It's a perfect Titan weapon through and through given how it can be set up on a low barricade that instantly reloads its 45 round drum over and over again until all of a guardian's reserve ammo is spent or everything in front of the guardian is dead, whichever comes first. Not only does it make a great stationary weapon but the High-Caliber Rounds perk also lets you fire with steady accuracy from the hip. With the heavy weapon class of light machine guns gone in Destiny 2, this buisness is the only LMG (light machine gun) business in town. The only weaknesses to this exotic is its lack of elemental damage, being a kinetic weapon, and some spin up time before reaching the full 360 rounds per minute, which can make quick reaction shots difficult.
Hard Light: Elemental Auto Rifle
The Destiny 2 version of Hard Light is a genuine improvement over its predecessor. While it retains the similar rapid-fire shredding characteristics of the original, the new Hard Light can change between elemental types, making it an optimal choice for plowing down shields in any situation.
Riskrunner: Elemental Sub-Machine Gun
Sub-machine guns can often be a bit hit-or-miss in terms of usability. However, the Riskrunner is a great example of how these tenacious little automated weapons can be more effective than you think. Not only is its chain lightning effect devastating against multiple foes, it's also a fantastic sight to behold during a firefight.
Wardcliffe Coil: Power Rocket Launcher
The Wardcliffe Coil is a powerful and versatile weapon that can make short work of enemies unfortunate enough to be within its firing range. While this rocket launcher's reload speed is understandably weak, nearly everything else about it makes it worth pulling out whether you're in a tight spot or just want to get the jump on a group of unsuspecting foes.
Vigilance Wing: Pulse Rifle
The Vigilance Wing's smooth handling, controllable recoil, and five-round burst make it a perfect choice for cooperative-focused battles, like Strikes and the Crucible. Smart use of its capabilities can easily save your fireteam in dire straits. Though, if you play solo, the Vigilance Wing may not be worth the Exotic slot to equip it, especially if you're able to secure the other Exotics that appear in this list. But the ease of control this rifle provides in making headshots make it well worth owning.
Rat King: Sidearm
The Rat King may seem like an odd choice, but it can be a worthwhile asset during Raids or any cooperative activities given how it becomes more powerful when more members of your Fireteam have it. It's a stylish weapon (+1 for the Katana wrapping on its grip) well-suited for coordinated groups.
Sunshot: Hand Cannon
The Sunshot is a useful hand cannon in both PvP and PvE due to its ability to fire powerful rounds that inflict both splash damage and make enemies explode upon death. Against weaker foes, the Sunshot can set off chains of exploding thralls or fallen. These traits-- combined with solar damage--make the gun particularly effective against Cabal. It also has a relatively quick reload time, which helps minimize one of the hand cannon class' greatest weaknesses.
Coldheart: Trace Rifle
Despite being a freezy death ray, the Coldheart does not freeze enemies in place--which is one of it's biggest weakness. In order to use it effectively, a guardian needs a clear line of sight and lack of other enemies charging at or firing on them. It increases damage over time, which means if you isolate a high level enemy, you can quickly deplete their health. Overall, the Coldheart seems less effective than other exotics. But there's no denying the use of its minion clearing capabilities and how that can be used to effectively build up super energy to finish off stronger enemies.
Over the last year, Final Fantasy XV has evolved from a rather ambitious entry in the JRPG franchise that may have bitten off more than it could chew, into a expansive game that will soon add a new online game mode, DLC Episodes featuring lengthy adventures with its supporting cast of characters, and general quality-of-life updates to smooth many of the rough edges from the initial launch. With the Windows Edition coming early 2018, the developers at Square Enix are looking to wind things down with FFXV, but are ready to offer PC players the complete experience.
During PAX West 2017, we had the chance to talk with the game's director, Hajime Tabata, about what's coming up for Final Fantasy XV, the focus on creating value for the game post-launch, and what could be next for the development team after work on the PC release is complete.
GameSpot: This particular game had the longest development period of any entry in the Final Fantasy series. It initially started as a spin-off, but it eventually became a core entry in the series. What are your reactions to seeing how it's evolved into what it is now?
Hajime Tabata: From a business standpoint, we've achieved over 6.5 million units, and the fact that we're still going to be putting out content till the launch of the Windows Edition--and then we have the Pocket Edition--this project has been very successful for us. But from a personal level, and from a dev team standpoint, what really resonates with us is the fan feedback we got from the day one release. A lot of the major criticisms was that they felt the story was lacking in certain aspects. So for us, we did our best to give back and supplement those areas where people felt it was lacking.
When those fans who were complaining about the story from the early days are now completely satisfied with the overall experience, that's the moment when we can say as a team that we're pleased with what we did for Final Fantasy XV. And obviously, we don't plan to draw this out forever. At some point we're going to have to mark the end of the journey for Final Fantasy XV. With that said, we're still listening to what the fans want and expect for this game.
It's unusual to see so much post-launch support for a Final Fantasy game that's not an MMO. What was the mindset the development team had when creating these new updates?
Hajime Tabata: We always had the plan of showing what happened with them in the DLC. Our goal is to give back to the players and give them content that they're gonna love. When you're playing as Noctis, your three allies are going through this journey with you, and their experiences throughout that adventure aren't shown. We tried a lot of new things for this, and it has allowed the dev team to really grow, develop, get stronger, and become more experienced. So in the long run, it all panned out for us. We're so happy with how it all worked out.
Was the desire to create more content in such a large space what led to the online mode? There are a lot of new features and support happening in FFXV, and an online component is a bit of an ambitious addition.
Hajime Tabata: We always had a plan for the multiplayer expansion. When we announced the DLC lineup, we started really thinking about how do we take on that project, and we needed a mission to have the players really feel like they're part of the overall story. It takes place during the 10 years that wasn't told in the main story. So we wanted people to really feel like they had a part in the story. Once we started thinking about the actual multiplayer, it became bigger than what we had initially anticipated.
Even before launch, we worked closely with the community and were open about our plans, addressing fan feedback. That's sort of what led up to the online service, where XV is a living, breathing world. Our approach was that we wanted to give back to our fan base, and we're seeing that support pay off. A month after the game had launched, about 30% of the people had beaten the game. Now, after several months, that's been continuously improving. We saw that rise to 60%. We're making the game more accessible to people and we're probably bringing in more fans. So as an overall kind of experience, we like this is a lot, but we still have a lot we learn from doing it this way.
Not including the MMO titles, this is easily one of the larger single-player oriented entries in the series. What would you say was the largest lesson you learned from making a game of this scale?
Hajime Tabata: The biggest takeaway we got from creating an open-world Final Fantasy game is that we understand why the big western developers that make these massive open world games require that much manpower. For FFXV, we made a lot of progress from a technological standpoint. We were able to push the boundaries, but we also streamlined our internal process to keep up with that pace. Looking back, there's still a lot to look back on, what we were lacking experience in, and what we didn't have the knowledge for. But there was still a lot that we were able to see and were aware of to make good progress on. When it comes time to work on our next project--taking everything we did--we're gonna do it even bigger and better, when that time comes.
So are you and the development team on XV planning on pursuing this style of open-world game for your next project?
Hajime Tabata: It's hard to say at this point if the entire game is gonna be based on an open world. But I would say that the overall experience that users get from playing in a massive area, that overall game experience is something that we're gonna make sure is in the next project as well.
Well, another Japanese developer came out with a rather notable open-world game this year with Breath of the Wild, which many fans have enjoyed. Have you all gotten the chance to play it, and if so, did anything stick out for you?
Hajime Tabata: So I personally haven't been able to get my hands on a Switch yet because they're really hard to find in Japan right now. [Laughs] It's embarrassing to say. I do have the game; I bought the game already so that I could just pop it in when I do get a Switch. But I've heard a lot from the dev team and their reactions to having played it. But just from hearing the stories and the feedback, you know, we can tell that it's a really complete game. It's very polished, almost a perfect game in that regard. And our goals are probably to take that experience that players felt with Breath of the Wild, but with our own technology and our own knowhow. We have in our disposal to create a very, very high-quality game with a strong visual element to it, while creating a world that's really immersive and really beautiful. That's probably our goals in terms of what we want to be with our next project.
We actually got the chance to check out the PC version of XV, and it's quite an improvement over the original in terms of visuals. We're actually seeing more developers in Japan take on PC releases for their games to solid success. What's impressed you with working on the PC release, and is this something you hope more developers in Japan will dive into?
Hajime Tabata: With the Windows Edition, the platform is already beyond what we did for the console version. Even our in-house engineering with the Luminous Engine has moved up a step in development. So we're at the next level in terms of our environmental creations. That's a little bit of a showcase of what we're capable of, but it's still something that we're still continuously working on. We've incorporated a lot of improved technologies for physics simulations and made it more natural and realistic. So we've tried to kind of elevate our game in a sense.
Obviously, we couldn't do a simultaneous release for console and PC for FFXV, as we were focused on getting the console version right first. So it's hard to say if that's gonna be a trend for more Japanese games in the future.
We saw with Nier: Automata, they released the Steam version pretty much alongside the console version. We saw that they had a massive reaction from their Steam user fanbase. So as a trend, moving forward, we think that means publishers and developers are gonna put focus on the PC and make sure that that's part of their overall strategy. We've made some great strides with the PC release of FFXV. From technical standpoint, to run the Windows Edition at a native 4K and 60 frames per second requires a beefy system. We understand that, there's certain things that PC gamers hold a lot of value for, like turning up all the graphics options to run the game how you want. But being able to experience this in 60 frames per second, it is really a genuinely rich experience.
One thing that PC gamers are really into is on the modification side of things. Many developers release tool-sets and design kits for their games on PC. While many people are anticipating mods to make the characters nude, there's likely going to much more than that with actual gameplay creations. What's your stance on PC mods, and are you OK with fans going at it with the game?
Hajime Tabata: Well, we'll definitely be allowing user-generated content for players. We know that that's a common thing. We'll provide a level editor so that players can create their own quests and their own mini missions. So that's at least one type of thing that we want to contribute and give to the players. But as far as the other stuff, we'll look at how the PC audience reacts to the Windows Edition with these and how many of them actually engaging with it. And depending on that, we might start thinking about what to contribute or what other tool sets to provide. We have plans for months, but we we want to see how this takes off first. Before we start thinking about okay, maybe if people seem to like this, so let's give them this tool set.
So you're pretty open to what fans plan to make?
Hajime Tabata: We want players to enjoy the experience, and that's part of the PC gaming world. So we understand that that's something that people are looking forward to. We definitely have concerns at how extreme people might take the mods, however. But we hope that people take advantage of it in good taste. Depending on how that turns out, is actually going to determine what kind of tool sets we end up providing. We'll be hands-off and just see what happens. What content that comes from PC mods, it's there for the players to use. But we'll be keeping an eye on the Steam workshop page.
Again, work on Final Fantasy XV has been going on for a long time. Looking back on the time you've spent with the game, what stick out most to you as something that you feel most proud of accomplishing?
Hajime Tabata: Well, it might not be one particular thing, but the fact that throughout the course of the development for Final Fantasy XV, we constantly made an effort to try new things and try new challenges, and also challenge ourselves to do something at a higher level than what we'd previously done. So being able to do that, you know, through all this time is the one thing that I'm really proud of.
Destiny 2 is a good looking game, and like its predecessor, it's packed with an abundance of breathtaking locations. From the innermost chambers of the Pyramidion to the landing of the Leviathan, there's a lot to admire. That's why we've gathered shots of the 15 most beautiful areas in the game for your viewing pleasure. Click ahead to check out the most stunning locales best Destiny 2 has to offer.
For more guides for the game, including breakdowns of the three classes, along with our skill and ability galleries for the various subclasses, be sure to visit our Destiny 2 guides and walkthroughs page for more information on what's happening in the online world of the Guardians.
Get your DVRs ready for the fall TV season, when networks release every new show and season they have at the exact same time. Obviously, that can be a lot to go through, making it difficult to figure out what's worth your time. Don't worry: we've got you covered.
Over the course of the next couple of months, we'll be looking at a selection of new and returning shows and giving you a quick breakdown of what is worth watching and what you should pass on. This week, we're talking about The Orville, The Deuce, The Mindy Project, and South Park.
The Orville
400 years in the future, Seth MacFarlane plays Ed Mercer, who has been given command of a spaceship named The Orville. His second in command is his ex-wife, Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki), and the two bicker with each other while running the ship. Their first mission goes awry, and the crew find themselves face-to-face with an evil alien race known as the Krill.
Regardless of what you've seen from the teasers and promos for this show, The Orville is not a true comedy. It's more a drama with a couple of jokes sprinkled in. In fact, every joke from the series premiere is contained within the trailer for the show. So what is The Orville actually like? Well, it's Star Trek: The Next Generation with a better computer-effects budget and some knee-slappers tossed in. While the show seems like it is supposed to be a parody, it never hits that same level that one would, like Galaxy Quest. The Orville tiptoes around parody and can't decide if it's going to be a serious show or a mildly amusing comedy. Luckily, the supporting cast is dynamic, fun, and adds some life to the show. If you're really looking for a space adventure with some comedy tossed in, Firefly exists, and it has its own voice.
Is It Worth Watching?: It's a pass. This is a really middle-of-the-road pilot. It doesn't feel like anything new, with only its supporting cast managing to stand out. Ultimately, it's Star Trek fanfiction.
The Orville airs on Sundays at 8 PM ET on Fox. You can watch the first episode on Hulu.
The Deuce
HBO's newest series takes place during the '70s in New York City; more specifically, Manhattan. It was a time when drugs, porn, and prostitution ruled Times Square, not Broadway shows and people dressed as Elmo. James Franco stars as twin brothers Frankie and Vincent Martino: one is a degenerate gambler, and the other is a bar manager trying to make a living to help his family, whom he never sees. In addition, the show follows numerous other characters including prostitutes working the area, their pimps, and an NYU student.
The pilot episode comes in at almost an hour and a half, and it is a giant information dump onto the audience; however, this show is brilliant. There is not a single moment when we're being introduced to the world that the show feels like it drags at all. The Deuce does a spectacular job jumping between characters and introducing their story arcs, which tend to weave into other character's stories as well. Maggie Gyllenhaal does a spectacular job as a prostitute who doesn't have a pimp, something almost unheard of in this world. Somehow, a fully fleshed-out story arc for her is present in the pilot, without feeling rushed or overshadowing the rest of the episode. The pacing and balance for these arcs is expertly crafted. Also of note is the set design and overall look of the show, which are perfect. It's hard to wrap your head around the fact that Times Square used to be a completely different place than it is now.
Is It Worth Watching?: Stop reading this and sign into HBO or video on demand and watch this episode. The Deuce is one of the best pilots for a series I have ever seen.
The Deuce airs on Sundays at 9 PM ET on HBO. The first episode is available on HBO Go/HBO Now.
The Mindy Project
Mindy Kaling is back as Mindy Lahiri, the young doctor trying to balance her work life and her personal life. The premiere for the final season has a recently wed Mindy learning about what it takes to be in a marriage. Obviously, she has a lot to learn as she's not very good at it.
This was a rough episode. The Mindy Project was a show I casually enjoyed a few seasons back, but this episode really didn't do anything for me. The show looks as if it was shot in 2017, but the writing and characters feel like something from a decade prior. It's clinging to a grounder, but overly wacky writing style that just doesn't work anymore. The episode straddles the line between being a compelling comedic drama and an over-the-top, silly show. The Mindy Project could be a whole lot more successful if it focused on one direction or the other.
Is It Worth Watching?: No.
New episodes of The Mindy Project are released on Tuesdays on Hulu.
South Park
The 21st season of South Park opened with Alexas and Google Homes taking over homes across the town. However, this has angered unemployed citizens who feel Google and Amazon are taking their jobs (dey derp r derps). The unemployed stage a protest in town, complete with Confederate flags and tiki torches. Meanwhile, Cartman deals with his girlfriend. What is Randy Marsh up to? He's hosting a new show with his wife called "White People Renovating Houses."
The episode is weirdly disjointed and the sound mixing was way off, leaving the score a whole lot louder than the dialogue; however, I've come to expect pure insanity when it comes to South Park, especially after last year's season, which was the only episodic season to date. Everything during the episode was a home run, especially a local waving a Confederate flag over an Alexa.
Is Is Worth Watching?: Even if you were put off by last season, you should check this episode out, but please make sure your Alexa, Google Home, and/or Siri are turned off before starting it. You'll thank me later.
South Park airs on Comedy Central on Wednesdays at 10 PM ET. New episode appear the day after they air on Hulu.
Come back next week when we're talking about Vice Principals, Channel Zero, Gotham, and Fuller House.
As we make our way into the second half of September, the Games With Gold lineup has changed. Microsoft today rotated in two more games that Xbox Live Gold subscribers can now download free for a limited time.
You can grab both of these games (as well as Forza 5) right now for free. Adding them to your library will allow you to continue playing them even after they return to their regular price. You have until September 30 to grab Forza and Battlefield, while Oxenfree will stick around until October 15. October's lineup of free Games With Gold titles has not yet been announced, but we'll be hearing about that later this month.
Each code will unlock 3 cards. Here's what you get:
Cataclysm x1
Geb x1
Magma Slam x1
You can download the game for free here or on Steam, and enter below to get your code below:
Hand of the Gods: SMITE Tactics is a turn-based, one-vs-one strategy game set in the same mythological universe as the hit MOBA, SMITE. Players build decks of cards that spawn units onto a fully rendered battlefield using Unreal Engine 4. Each pantheon has its own unique leader ability and pantheon specific cards that can be combined with neutral cards to support a variety of playstyles. Hand of the Gods is currently in open beta on PC. Download and play for free at www.handofthegods.com
Some lucky Dragon Ball fans now have a chance to go hands-on with Dragon Ball FighterZ. The closed beta for the upcoming fighting game kicks off today, September 16, and will only be available for a limited time.
PS4 players who were selected to participate in the beta following the registration period last month will receive a download code via email, while those on Xbox One will see a notification of their selection in the Xbox Insider Hub's Announcement feed. Unlike a typical beta, however, this test will only run during specific, three-hour blocks of time. You can see the full list of sessions below.
Dragon Ball FighterZ launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam in early 2018. While the game still doesn't have a concrete release date in the US, it will arrive in Europe sometime in February. Bandai Namco released a trailer for the game at Gamescom that provided a look at some of its recently announced characters and its original story mode, which imagines Android 16 being revived to battle Goku and friends.
Telltale Games, the independent studio behind the popular Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, and Minecraft adventure games, has a new CEO. Pete Hawley, the former executive at mobile and social gaming giant Zynga, has been hired to lead Telltale.
Hawley replaces Dan Connors, the Telltale co-founder who was CEO before being replaced by Kevin Bruner in 2015. Bruner resigned and Connors was CEO again in 2015. At this time, Telltale's board of directors was looking for a permanent replacement for its CEO, leading up to the announcement of Hawley in the top role this week.
Hawley worked at Zynga as a senior vice president and general manager since 2014. Speaking to VentureBeat, Hawley said it is "quite an honor" to join Telltale.
"I've been a huge fan since Telltale reinvented the old LucasArts games," Hawley said. "Now it is working with some of the biggest intellectual properties in the world. It was too good an opportunity to pass up."
Before joining Zynga, Hawley was a production lead at Fable studio Lionhead, working alongside Peter Molyneux on that series from 1993 to 2003. He then spent time with Sony (2003-2005), then EA (2005 to 2010).
Cliff Bleszinski knows the player figures for LawBreakers right now are low. But he isn't losing faith. Games can be slow-burners--just look at Warframe as an example--and developer Boss Key has big plans to get lapsed players to return and bring in new ones. In an interview with GameSpot this week, Bleszinski spoke frankly about LawBreakers. He told us he's been humbled by the low player figures; he talked about the mistakes he made in the direction of the game. He said launching near "Destiny season" probably didn't help. And he said he wants to be "less of a dick" with his interactions with people online.
Released in August for PC and PlayStation 4, LawBreakers is a team-based shooter that you might say resembles Overwatch in some ways. But for Bleszinski, he says he never wanted to try to go head-to-head with Blizzard's juggernaut. LawBreakers has an edgy, R-rated tone, you might say, while Overwatch is more colorful and lighthearted. Bleszinski spoke extensively about Boss Key's layers of differentiation, and the game no doubt stands out from the pack. But the game's release did not go entirely to plan. As mentioned, player figures fell off a cliff, at least on PC; the current player count on PC is reportedly very low, with a peak concurrent player figure of 181 over the past 24 hours; it had an all-time peak of 7,482 players, according to Steamcharts. These numbers may not be entirely accurate, but it is clear that player figures are low on PC. The PS4 edition is "doing fine," Bleszinski said. The console and PC communities have different mindsets when it comes to judging success, the developer said.
"There is a situation where players look at numbers on Steam; that doesn't happen on PlayStation 4. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but you look at PC, [concurrent user] health versus PS4, PS4 is doing fine," he said. "People cough up 30 bucks and hop online and they don't overthink it. On PC there is you wanting to declare something a success or a bomb by this internet culture that loves to just observe things. But it's like, guys, you know, the small bit [of players] that we have, we're going to continue to iterate and engage. As we issue content drops, maybe there's going to be sales or potential free weekends down the line, continue to fluff that CCU up."
One of the big issues with low player figures is long matchmaking times. Here in Australia, GameSpot has not been able to find a match on PS4 at all over the past two weeks after multiple attempts. We stopped trying the last time after 45+ minutes of matchmaking.
Boss Key has big plans for LawBreakers going forward. In addition to "rapid fire" updates for quick fixes and changes, the studio is working on new maps, new features (the much-requested Team Deathmatch is coming!), a ranked mode called Boss League, and a new, defensive-minded class.
"It's a marathon. Not a sprint," Bleszinski explained. "We're going to keep iterating keep working on it. At the end of the day, I didn't want to make the exact same archetypes that everybody else did. I wanted to make a game that was first and foremost a shooter for shooter players."
"I'm going to continue to iterate on this game, continue to add to it. And try to be less of a dick, honestly" -- Bleszinski
Bleszinski believes LawBreakers could have a trajectory similar to Warframe, which he says launched with low player numbers and scaled up in time due to developer Digital Extremes' commitment to release new and exciting content. For LawBreakers, Bleszinski says the team is also overhauling the game's marketing. As you may have seen, the game's logo--a Blink 182-like sad face with Xs for eyes--does not look all that inviting or one that would espouse positive feelings. The new marketing campaign for LawBreakers will take steps to help people understand the appeal of the game; principally that it is a white-knuckle, high-action, over-the-top shooter that is fun to play with friends.
"We need the bodies. We need to keep fluffing up the CCU," Bleszinski said. "We need to do what we can to let people know this is a really sweaty palm type of experience that can hopefully lend itself to eSports. But you know, I have to keep this game alive, first and foremost. I can be very cocky and very brash on social media. And realising that, you know, we have a fledgling player base. It's been very humbling for me. I'm going to continue to iterate on this game, continue to add to it. And try to be less of a dick, honestly."
The excitement of what it feels like to play LawBreakers is "not coming across right now," Bleszinski acknowledged. One further element of Boss Key's attempts to bring back lapsed players and draw in new ones is an overhauled onboarding experience. The full details are not known at this stage, but it'll include new tutorial videos and other guides to help players learn the ins and outs of each class.
Also in the interview, Bleszinski candidly spoke about what he would have done differently. There was no Team Deathmatch at launch (but it's in the game now through the Skirmish playlist), and Bleszinski unequivocally said it was a mistake to not ship with it; a mistake he made because he wouldn't budge on his vision and development mantra.
"I didn't want to do the exact same stuff everybody else did. The funny thing was, making a character-based, class based shooter--even though it's not as simple as a traditional arena shooter, it still has a lot of that kind of feel underneath it all," he said. "In hindsight, I think it was a mistake to not ship with it. I was stubborn. I was like, 'Ohh, everybody's [already] done TDM.' Even Blizzard's like, 'Screw it, we need to put TDM action in Overwatch.' Fundamentally, at the end of the day, players just want to get in and shoot some stuff sometimes. That's one of the things that I consider my strengths: I am willing to admit when I am wrong. I think people in the public eye--it would do them a great benefit to do that more often."
The lower-than-expected player figures for LawBreakers might have come as a surprise to Bleszinski, Boss Key, and publisher Nexon. After all, the game received a lot of praise in the press and from fans. Reviews on Steam are designated as "Very Positive," while the press mostly enjoyed the game as well. Whatever the case, the player figures are low, and Bleszinski is the first to admit his mistakes.
"I have a reputation for being brash and loud, but I am the first person to admit when I'm wrong," he said. "We certainly did make our share of mistakes with the game. In spite of the mistakes, we're going to continue to update and iterate, and the reviews do not lie."
"Fundamentally, at the end of the day, players just want to get in and shoot some stuff sometimes" -- Bleszinski on why he wanted to add TDM to LawBreakers
LawBreakers is the first game from Bleszinski's studio, Boss Key, which he founded after leaving Epic Games. Because the studio is so new, and relatively small, at just 65 people, some "concessions" had to be made in regards to the content that would be in the game at launch. Bleszinski wanted to put his employees first--and that is an notable, admirable thing, given the stories of extended crunch and overly stressful working conditions we often hear about.
"The problem with what we were trying to pull off with this company and this title was shipping a quality product with a team of 65 people without ruining everybody's marriages," he said. ""So certain concessions did have to be made from a production standpoint. It's easy for me to sit there and go, 'Ah, we should have shipped with this,' 'We should have shipped with that.' [Or] change the date. In hindsight, it would have made sense. But hindsight is always 20/20. If I could go back in time I'd find a way to change the schedule and ship with more of those things."
"Those of you who have been kind enough to drop $30 on this; we've got your back and we're sticking with it."
We will have MUCH MORE from our conversation with Bleszinski coming up soon. He also spoke about if the game could adopt a free-to-play, the likelihood of Xbox One and Nintendo Switch version, what's being done to improve matchmaking times, and how he's on a first name basis with the governor of North Carolina. This story has been updated to clarify the Steamcharts figures.
By Anonymous on Sep 16, 2017 08:30 am Destiny 2 is back with more shooting and looting! Is this galaxy worth exploring again, or is this game the equivalent of a raid wipe at the end of a 12 hour play session? Find out in our GameSpot review!
Destiny 2 is a lot more Destiny. The structure is largely the same, as is the mechanically excellent shooting and satisfying loot grind. But there are a variety of changes both under the hood and throughout your activities that make it a significant improvement over the original and a better experience for more than just the most hardcore players.
From the onset, there's an overwhelming amount of stuff to do. The Red War story funnels you through the four areas you can explore, introducing you to each one as you go. At each destination, there's a bunch of optional activities to choose from, including story-like Adventure missions, simple loot dungeons called Lost Sectors that lead to hidden areas of the map, and public events and patrols, which return from Destiny 1. Then, as you progress through the story, you'll unlock the strike playlist and PvP in the Crucible. For a newcomer to Destiny, it can be hard to decide what to do and when.
The Red War story missions are less about plot and more about acclimating you to everything there is to see. You'll level up at a pretty steady pace, but there are two level-gated missions that essentially force you to complete Adventures and other activities for XP before you can move on. There's no actual reason for the missions to have level requirements, which can be annoying, but having direction is welcome after Destiny 1's lack thereof. And aside from netting you XP and loot, the semi-hidden Lost Sectors reward exploration while Adventures are filled with lore and interesting details about the world that fall outside of the scope of the main story. Plus, if you're burnt out on standard PvE, you can switch to PvP to level up, which requires different gear and skills.
The story is enough to serve its main purpose, which is to contextualize the shooting and looting you're doing through it all. Its villain is a derivative conqueror figure with a hunger for power and destruction, and the save-the-world plot is tired. But you don't need to know much to get going except that humanity is in danger, and you of all people have the power to help. The story's strengths lie in atmosphere and side details, like the endearing craziness of the deranged AI Failsafe or the mysteries of the Vex machine race, and that should be fine for the majority of players who see the story as something to rush through in order to reach the high-level "endgame." The mournful soundtrack in particular is fantastic, and it carried me through the most basic story beats, even on repeat playthroughs.
Like Destiny 1, there's a lot of grinding to be done between finishing the story and moving onto the high-level endgame activities like the Nightfall strike and the Raid. And again like in Destiny 1, the shoot-and-loot feedback loop feels fantastic. The gunplay is still excellent, and being rewarded for your efforts with an even better gun is something worth celebrating. The biggest change is how much quicker it is to increase your Light level--now called Power--with minimal grinding early on. The combat isn't any easier because of it, though, so it simply takes away the Destiny 1-era frustration of running the same few strikes a dozen times before you can move on to literally anything else. Plus, knowing you might get a slightly more fashionable pair of gauntlets from a five-minute public event gives you the kind of instant gratification that will sustain you through to the endgame.
There's a decent variety of weapons and gear to find, mostly in random drops. And once you know what gear is desirable, it becomes a fun metagame to hope you'll find it. A favorite around the GameSpot office has been the exotic auto rifle Sweet Business, and though no one has been using it, we had a lot of fun embarking on the quest to get Rat King. You might get lucky and get what you want right away, but for most people, finding a combination of great weapons for both PvE and PvP and gear with abilities that complement them takes some time. As far as customization goes, the Eververse and its microtransactions return, though leveling up after the official level cap grants you the new Bright Engrams that can be redeemed for consumable shaders, emotes, and more (for free). The change to shaders wasn't popular among fans at first, but making them consumable allows for a greater range of customization on different pieces of armor as well as weapons.
Some activities and areas are more cleanly or interestingly designed than others, and after a handful of hours, you'll start to identify the ones you love to play again and again and the ones you aren't as fond of. At least two of the Crucible maps are circular in design and essentially funnel you to your death if you aren't paying attention, which can get pretty boring; some areas require a fair amount of platforming, which can vary from tolerable to tedious depending on your class. But others are laid out in all the right ways to be memorable and fun to replay, like the Arms Dealer strike that keeps you running from room to room and preserving your heavy ammo for a series of tanks.
Though there's plenty you can do on your own, Destiny 2 is undeniably better as a shared experience. That can come on many different levels; you can work silently with complete strangers to trigger a heroic public event that gets you all better loot, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, you can coordinate with five friends for hours on end to tackle the Raid. You can also join a Clan, which can grant you a number of passive benefits, like legendary gear, as long as someone in your Clan is meeting certain milestones. On top of that, Destiny 2 also introduces Guided Games, where solo players can search for groups who are short one person and willing to help them through difficult endgame activities like the Nightfall or Raid.
Success through strong teamwork is absolutely the best part of Destiny 2.
Success through strong teamwork is absolutely the best part of Destiny, and the top-to-bottom tweaks and additions in Destiny 2 make it more accessible without dampening your sense of accomplishment. Meeting the level requirement for the Nightfall or Raid and actually completing it are two very different things, and getting in sync with your Fireteam and flawlessly executing a strategy takes a lot of work. The first two Nightfall strikes, for example, both introduced a modifier to the original strike that forces you and your team to coordinate loadouts and stay in constant communication about which weapons and subclasses you're using. You have to figure that out while also shooting waves of enemies and trying not to die. You'll most likely fail, but each failure helps you perfect your strategy incrementally, and the process of collectively achieving that goal is immensely satisfying.
At the highest level, the vast and visually striking Raid combines the need for top-tier weapons and gear, picking the correct subclass and loadout based on what your team needs, strong combat skills, and problem-solving as a group. Destiny 2's first Raid, Leviathan, is very, very difficult, and solving its often obscure puzzles can be both rewarding and frustrating. For the most part, each failure teaches you something new, and the GameSpot Raid team actually cheered when we came up with a solid strategy after going in blind. But there was one section in the middle that we struggled to complete even after we figured out what to do conceptually. Of course, this was after about five straight hours of raiding, so fatigue was definitely a factor--but it didn't blend the puzzle-solving part with actual execution as well as the previous sections of the Raid.
In true Destiny fashion, if you do something once, you'll probably end up doing it many more times. The difference with Destiny 2 is in the variety and accessibility of what's available, which cuts down on a lot of the frustration associated with grinding. And even after you've leveled up, there's still more you can do, from keeping up with daily and weekly challenges to just hanging out with friends. It's a much stronger foundation than the original had and one that's enough on its own to keep people coming back week after week.
By Anonymous on Sep 16, 2017 05:30 am Cliff Bleszinski says "I have to keep Lawbreakers alive", and we talk about the biggest highlights from Nintendo's recent direct!
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