Games and Gaming News

[Malaphax]

I have to hand it to netherrealm, they've always done a good job casting a wide net, and bringing in some goofy characters, I mean you can literally have terminator vs robocop, or spawn vs joker, that's goofy as hell, but also fantastic. 

I haven't really played much on playstation, but I will say I've been impressed with what I've seen/played.  Even the standard ps4 can pump out some really solid visuals, and playing from a couch on a TV with HDR is quite impressive. 
While I've never been a big console guy, I have to admit having standardized hardware really does allow some big developers to absolutely nail optimizations and push visuals that might otherwise take an absolute beast of a rig to run.  There are still tradeoffs and you're going to be playing mostly at 30fps (possibly 60 for some titles), but I find that to be less of an issue on a TV and with singleplayer games. 

I'm also curious about the next console generation, we've seen multiple announcements that basically all games bought in the next year for current consoles will come with free upgrades for the next generation.  I Imagine that microsoft and sony are both pushing incentives for these developers to offer these upgrades.  I think we're also seeing very few launch titles for the new consoles, which is a bit strange.  Combined with Xbox pushing their crossbuy and gamepass, not to mention sony slowly releasing older exclusive titles on PC, this seems like the worst console generation from a PC player's perspective, especially at launch. 

Either way, I really should spend some more time with the PS4 and crank through some of the games I own. 

[Malaphax]

Several trailers today from an xbox event, all of which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/user/xbox/videos

HR Giger - the videogame

This looks kinda neat, gameplay reminds me of Strike Vector

EDIT: Adding this cause it reminds me of Ruiner and I liked that game. 

 

[kuhla]

All 4 of those titles look appealing in some ways.

[Malaphax]

 

[Malaphax]

Tech Demo for Unreal 5.  I know it's a big joke that everything runs on unreal, but they genuinely do have a fantastic engine and I'm glad to see them continue to push boundaries.  If what this video claims turns out to be true, we could see another huge jump in visual fidelity on the next gen consoles (and PCs) which is great. 

Of course Mortal Kombat going full mortal kombat.  We now live in a world where the terminator can fight robocop, what a time to be alive. 

 

[kuhla]

17 minutes ago, Malaphax said:

Tech Demo for Unreal 5.  I know it's a big joke that everything runs on unreal, but they genuinely do have a fantastic engine and I'm glad to see them continue to push boundaries.  If what this video claims turns out to be true, we could see another huge jump in visual fidelity on the next gen consoles (and PCs) which is great.

That is definitely one of the better tech demo videos I've seen since they almost made it like a mini-game as opposed to some non-interactive cinematic style.

[T1no]

dint think robocop can move that swift

[Malaphax]

 

[Malaphax]

 

[T1no]

that game looks sick. reminded me of tenchu vibe

[Malaphax]

It seems like a mix of assassin's creed and sekiro.  The devs went wild with the grass and particle effects, but some of the animations, like when he shoots enemies with the bow, look absolutely trash.  I understand the stylized japanese samurai movie thing they're going for, but it's terrible for readability when enemies are standing up straight after having been killed.  Looks like this summer is going to be solid for playstation games. 

[kuhla]

seems like a mix of a few different things, interesting vibes

[Malaphax]

This is clearly game of the year.  Pack it up cyberpunk 2077 ain't got shit on chex quest. 

 

[Malaphax]

Sorta boring but important news.  Recently Doom Eternal added Denuvo: Anti-Cheat (they forgot to add in the copy protection at launch so it was already available to pirates). 
Their logic was that they wanted to prevent cheating... in a predominantly singleplayer game.  There were also reports that performance took a hit (which is supposedly unrelated), and that as usual anti-cheat was running on ring-0. 

Putting such onerous anti-cheat on a mostly single player game was pushing too far.  Luckily the devs (and their PR team) saw the outrage and decided it wasn't worth it so they're removing the anti-cheat in the next patch. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/gnjlo7/latest_information_on_update_1_anticheat/

[kuhla]

Nice.

[Malaphax]

We've been sort of in a rut regarding games we're interested in playing recently so I'm posting some ideas and suggestions, please feel free to contribute. 

• Warzone - I'm fine with playing this sometimes but I'm not really a battle royale person
• Apex Legends - see above
• Battlefield 4 (or 1) - We're not getting a new battlefield for a while, I'm fine with revisiting the older games,  Not sure how reliable these stats are but it's something: https://battlefield.agency/
• Titanfall 2 - I love this game, I'm always down to play it.
• Overwatch - I guess I'm alright going back to this for a while.
• Star Wars Battlefront 2 - I kinda like this game but I know kuhla hates it
• Deep Rock Galactic - I enjoy this, the co-op focus is a nice break from multiplayer.
• Vermintide 2 - Another co-op game for a change of pace - currently $7.49
• League of Legends or Dota 2 - I doubt anyone's interested, but they're a non-FPS option.  Slightly better option for that would probably be Heroes of the Storm. 

(Dis)Honorable Mentions

• Destiny 2 - I'm sorta done with this game, I'll need serious convincing to get back into it, I'll be holding off buying any season passes or expansions until I see what it looks like 2+ weeks after they release. 
• Valorant - I'm not really interested in playing this (or CS:GO) I might suffer through a few matches when it launches if we all want to play it together, but it's really not my style. 
• Guild Wars 2 - I have a hard time picturing what we could all do together, there's some new content (mostly singleplayer) but I don't think it's a good option, even if I'd like an RPG to dive into. 

Honestly, I'm fairly open to ideas and I'm willing to try new games - especially if they're free or cheap.  We also have the steam summer sale coming up so if there's something that looks moderately interesting and it's fairly cheap, I'm willing to buy in and give it a chance. 

[kuhla]

• Warzone - I am terrible at this game but there are many small things I like about it and I want a win so I'm pretty much always down for a few rounds even if it is basically just an endless meatgrinder.
• Apex Legends - Basically the same as above but there are just a few small things I like more in Warzone.
• Battlefield 4 (or 1) - Every time I think about BF4 I remember UCAV spam. Every time I think about BF1 I think about shitty maps and lame vehicles.
• Titanfall 2 - I love this game too and I went back to play it recently just to verify if it still felt good (and that I am not terrible at it). The problem is there is zero required teamwork and no long term progression so it does feel somewhat empty.
• Overwatch - I am OK with revisiting this but I am terrible at this game and I have numerical proof with a win rate in the 40% range I think.
• Star Wars Battlefront 2 - I don't like this game for multiple reasons.
• Deep Rock Galactic - This requires some teamwork and there is some progression but since it's PvE I feel like this waffles between too easy and very difficult sometimes.
• Vermintide 2 - I have basically no interest in this.
• League of Legends or Dota 2 - I have been terrible at every RTS and MOBA I have ever tried so I generally don't have any interest in playing them.

 

• Destiny 2 - I can think of worse games to play but right now this feels like the FPS version of a Korean MMO with endless endless grind of highly repetitive events required just to stay "competitive" (want to play the latest content with your friends? I hope you sunk just as many hours in the game as they did or get lost loser).
• Valorant - I want to try this.
• Guild Wars 2 - I kind of want to revisit this but solo at my own pace. There is plenty of newer single player content I have not played but I'm just hesitant to pull the trigger.

[T1no]

• Warzone. sure mindless bs all day everyday
• Apex Legends. ^
• BF4 I honestly like BFV game/shooting mechanic and quality of life better. i hate the dumb doritos
• BFV had a lot of fun playing it lately. not planning to pay for the extra content. got the game for free with my video card
• Titanfall 2 dont have it installed. I rather play modern warfare
• Overwatch im fine with this
• Battlefront 2 im fine with this i usually play with Chris Jose intanet
• Deep Rock; i enjoy this
• Vermintide 2, i have this and i play with Chris and mitch but i have no interest on the universe lol. rather play L4D2 or killing floor 2
• Rainbow six siege; i wish you guys play this. i love this game its one of those game that i think its special. teamplay and satisfying.
• GTA V its just fun and funny
• Division 2 i enjoy this i think its better game than destiny 2
• Destiny 2 i already pay for it and sunk enough grinding. if nothing else to do i play this
• cs:go / Valorant just need some one to play with honestly
• League or Dota 2 im terrible at this wasn't having much fun playing them
• Squad its a cool game. tacticool military
• Insurgency sandstorm. slightly complex call of booty

i recently sign up for the xbox pass for 1 dolla for first month

i have forza 4 horizon, gears 5 and sea of thieves downloaded

if all fails there is always chex quest

[Malaphax]

I tried to simplify this, but I'm not sure I succeeded. 

Stuff we're agreed on:

• Warzone / Apex - We're all sorta ok with these
• Overwatch - we're all ok with trying this again.  I guess I should install it
• Deep Rock Galactic - we're ok with this for co-op

Stuff we're mixed on:

• Titanfall 2 - kuhla and I like this, Tino prefers modern warfare
• Battlefield 1, 4, 5 - kuhla isn't super thrilled, Tino prefers 5, I prefer 4
• Battlefront 2 - Tino and I like this, kuhla hates it
• Valorant / CS:GO - Tino's ok, kuhla wants to try and I'm not a fan
• Division 2 - Tino likes this, kuhla's ok with this, I'm not really interested - richard also plays this
• Rainbow 6 - Tino love this, kuhla and I, not so much

Other Options mentioned:

• Killing Floor 2 - I'd be willing to buy and try this if it goes on sale.  Alternatively Left4Dead 2, although I'm fairly certain I would need to buy this. 
• Heroes of the Storm - I know you guys aren't much into RTS/MOBA games but I'd actually recommend this one since it's more team focused.  It's free.
• GTA 5 - I think we all picked this up for free from epic?  Idk, I'm not super interested but I guess I'd be up for trying it.

Throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks

• Monster Hunter World - Some progression light RPG mechanics, could be fun as a group to hunt big monsters.
• Mortal Kombat 11 - I've heard it's good, I guess I'd be ok with trying this - downside is that it's 1v1 and we'd probably need lobbies to rotate who's playing.

[Malaphax]

Technically there's spoilers for the first game's ending in this video.  The new gameplay footage shown starts at 14:30, and it's spoiler free.

 

[Malaphax]

Crucible Review thread on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/gs0z6i/crucible_review_thread/

Quote

Unfortunately, even Crucible at its best isn’t compelling enough to wait around for. There’s obvious potential in its creative heroes, but my enthusiasm falls flat as soon I actually have to play with them. There are too many shooters out there that do what Crucible does way better. That’s a big problem for a competitive multiplayer game, even one that's free.
- PC Gamer

On paper, Crucible was built for me. It’s a MOBA-infused hero shooter with an emphasis on mobility, with a diverse line-up and some interesting new ideas. In reality, I’d rather play any of the many games that grapple with just one of Crucible’s heads, and pulls it off far better. This hydra might be sprawling, but none of it looks healthy.
- Rock Paper Shotgun

[Malaphax]

Never played the original system shock, at this point I've heard most people say that Prey is basically the closest you can get. 

 

[kuhla]

If it's cheap I will give it a shot. A lot of associations with Deus Ex.

[Malaphax]

 

[Malaphax]

Another dark souls clone, still looks kinda neat.