Video Game News and Miscellany

GasBandit

Staff member
People have been trying to convince Blizzard of the same thing with Warcraft for over a decade now. :/
I'm pretty sure the lorefuckery that WoW has unleashed upon the IP means we'll never see another Warcraft RTS again, abarring a complete reboot/alternate history setting. They probably think "if you want a Blizzard RTS, play Starcraft 2."
 
Ok, so on the topic of that Beyond Good and Evil 2 trailer. Was anyone put off by the cussing? I know the original game wasn't squeaky clean by any means, but that was like Prince of Persia: Warrior Within levels of edgy compared to the first reboot Prince of Persia.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
WANT, want so bad!

8Bitdo announced the "SNES30 Pro, which is billed as 'the ultimate retro gaming controller.' It showcases bluetooth, USB-C, rumble vibration, motion controls and player indicator LED’s, and is expected later this year. In short, it's the ideal retro-themed replacement for your Pro Controller."



*grabbby hands*
 
Now, it looks like a Super Nintendo controller, but does the d-pad actually feel like a Super Nintendo d-pad? That's fucking important.
 
WANT, want so bad!

8Bitdo announced the "SNES30 Pro, which is billed as 'the ultimate retro gaming controller.' It showcases bluetooth, USB-C, rumble vibration, motion controls and player indicator LED’s, and is expected later this year. In short, it's the ideal retro-themed replacement for your Pro Controller."



*grabbby hands*

I've used controllers with that shape and layout before, and I don't find it to be very comfortable. Especially when using the analog sticks, the lack of handles down the sides for your fingers to hold onto make it very unstable. Oddily enough, the best controller I've found for retro gaming is... the xbox one s controller. The d-pad is one of the best of the modern controllers, it works on any windows machine with no fiddling with drivers, and it's incredibly comfortable and stable to hold.
 
It had a little notch to hold it so that it would seem to come out of the back of the top. They needed most of the top for the expansion bays :p
Yeah, and it constantly fell out of that notch.

You'll never convince me the stupid tomagotchi wannabe memory cards were a good idea.
 
Monster Hunter World looks like it'll rock ... well, my world. Open world Monster Hunter, with towns and environments, environmental traps, chases, pitting monsters against each other. Monster Hunter has had some of the most impressive behavioral programming for its adversaries, so if they can take all that detail for bosses and apply it to an open world at large, this could be amazing.

There was a 2D game in Dunky's E3 review that I need to find out what it is, because it looked up my alley.

I feel like there are more things that I'm happy they exist than I'm looking forward to playing. Example, the new God of War looks pretty cool and I'm glad they're taking it in this direction, but I don't feel much urge to play it myself. The Mario/Rabbids/XCom game looks fun, but I'm not buying a Switch for it. And like I said, Shadow of the Colossus looks gorgeous, but graphics aren't enough unless we get some new content. AssCreed: Origins looks like a breath of fresh air. I'm excited all these things will be things, but I don't really want to spend the time playing them.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
The Dreamcast was a fantastic machine with a terrible controller. Seriously, even the N64 had a better controller than that POS.
N64 controller? Are you insane?!



That thing was a goddamned nightmare. The Dreamcast controller was a monument to superior ergonomics.

Pistols at dawn, sir. Pistols. At Dawn.
 
N64 controller? Are you insane?!



That thing was a goddamned nightmare. The Dreamcast controller was a monument to superior ergonomics.

Pistols at dawn, sir. Pistols. At Dawn.
They were both terrible designs, but for some reason the DC controller always felt to me like a terrible design by a cheap & nasty 3rd party manufacturer. I know it wasn't but everytime I played with it I would think "Why am I using a shitty knockoff instead of the...oh wait, this *is* the official controller isn't it? Well, shit."
 

GasBandit

Staff member
They were both terrible designs, but for some reason the DC controller always felt to me like a terrible design by a cheap & nasty 3rd party manufacturer. I know it wasn't but everytime I played with it I would think "Why am I using a shitty knockoff instead of the...oh wait, this *is* the official controller isn't it? Well, shit."
I'd never held a controller more comfortable than the Dreamcast controller, and I've never since. The thumbstick was perfect. The buttons were perfect. The long, soft pull of the analog triggers were perfect. I've sometimes considered getting the USB adapter that lets you use it on PC, but I never got around to it and rumors of compatibility problems also were a factor.
 
I'd never held a controller more comfortable than the Dreamcast controller, and I've never since. The thumbstick was perfect. The buttons were perfect. The long, soft pull of the analog triggers were perfect. I've sometimes considered getting the USB adapter that lets you use it on PC, but I never got around to it and rumors of compatibility problems also were a factor.
This is gonna be like that giant-handed guy who liked the original XBox controller, only Gas's hands each look like a hanaar from Mass Effect.
 
I'd never held a controller more comfortable than the Dreamcast controller, and I've never since. The thumbstick was perfect. The buttons were perfect. The long, soft pull of the analog triggers were perfect. I've sometimes considered getting the USB adapter that lets you use it on PC, but I never got around to it and rumors of compatibility problems also were a factor.

You might want to look into the original fat xbox controller, as it was heavily based on the dreamcast design.

And you're in luck, because it's coming back.

https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-xbox-duke-controller-hyperkin-seamus-blackley-e3-2017/
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Victor Vran - from descriptions I thought this would be a passable knock-off of Diablo/Torchlight, but it does quite a few things differently.

1. Moving with WASD is the default, and I'm thinking that's the right choice over mouse controlled movement for this game.

2. You can jump. Take that waist high walls!... Actually, this feature seems superfluous, except for hiding secrets. Maybe it'll play into strategy later, but thus far it just feels like they should have kept the space bar for something else.

3. Skills are item based. You get two skills that are tied to weapon type. All hammers have the same two skills, same for swords, rapiers, shotguns, etc. Then you also get spells (demon abilities) from collectibles, and passives from another type of collectible.

4. When you level up you get certain base stat upgrades, plus your choice of a piece of loot. There's no spending skill or attribute points.

5. Mana is very different. Attack skills just have cooldown, with some cool ways to speed it up, but there's no mana for them. Spells use "overdrive" but in a set chunk. You start with one use, and I just earned a second. Overdrive is replenished different ways depending on what outfit you wear. I'm wearing one that slowly regenerates over time, others are based on kills or get bonuses for being hit.

6. Each area in the game has 5 challenges (kill enemies in certain ways, or in a time limit, find secrets, break pots, etc.) that provide bonus money or exp.

As for what I think of the game... It's okay. The art style is competent, if not very unique. The combat feels fun, thus far. I haven't gotten far enough to judge the difficulty or the plot. I find the narrator annoying, it tries to do the Bastion / Stanley Parable thing, but it's a smug evil voice taunting you, and that's just a pain.
 


It's like...instead of trying to sneak in some gaming during your office life, it is instead trying to sneak office life into your gaming.

--Patrick
 


So the devs for Fridya the 13th: The Game are giving out free stuff in thanks for the support they got (and as an apology for the server issues). Everybody is getting...

- 13000 CP for rolling perks or unlocking Jason kills. That's 26 perks or most of the Jason kills.
- Upcoming Double XP Weekend
- 2 new costumes for counselors
- Retro Jason Skin and chiptune music (It's Purple Jason from Friday the 13th on the NES!)
 
This was a good game series. I really loved the original, despite the really bad acting and the irritatingly long load times. Would like to see more.
The acting went up a notch in Soul Reaver, SR2, and Defiance. Blood Omen 2 was a bizarre experiment that didn't feel like Legacy of Kain and took way too much from the concept art of a canceled Chakan The Forever Man game. The character design was ridiculous - the Sarafan Vampire Hunters later in the game are dressed like fetish nun/dominatrixes for absolutely no reason. Seriously.
 
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