Video Game News

[Haymitch]

I think Star Citizen is... to big to be viable. If that makes any sense.

Absolutely! I have my own reservations concerning the scope of the game itself, but full disclosure, I have backed the project. Essentially what I want and am hoping I get is something similar to Wing Commander/Privateer, the single player seems to be shaping up nicely, the Privateer side I don't know. So that makes complete sense really, with as grand as the vision is and how much money is behind it, I just don't see it hitting all of it's intended targets, as long as it hits those two for me though,  it'll be worth it.

[RubySlippers]

Wargaming ,yes that company the creators of the "World of" games, did their early release of Masters of Orion and its available on Steam. I know I'm normally wary of early release games but this is WARGAMING a gaming power player and their first game not a MMO. I have to admit its fun and the packages has all the versions of the earlier game to download with it from the 90's.

[LoosCannon]

Did you get MOO?  I've seen it but the reviews aren't that hot so I've been hesitant to pull the trigger.

[Haymitch]

Did you get MOO?  I've seen it but the reviews aren't that hot so I've been hesitant to pull the trigger.

Been a bit hesitant myself after seeing the Steam reviews, I did watch a few youplay videos as well and wasn't enough to get me over the fence - I have GalCiv, how does this pair up? Or even say Sins of a Solar Empire? If it's about in-between the two, I'd snap it up.

[Inkidu]

Really, only about a fifth are negative. It still has a mostly positive rating by way of Steam. Seemed to come out of the gate pretty strong from what I see.

[LoosCannon]

Get Sins. Even if not for the base game (which is awesome) the mods people have made for that are amazing.

[Haymitch]

Get Sins. Even if not for the base game (which is awesome) the mods people have made for that are amazing.

I've got Sins already, loved every minute I've played. Over a hundred hours on Steam alone haha. Gonna pick up MOO once I'm feeling better, hopefully tomorrow or Monday.

[CaptainNexus616]

So anyone else here excited for Uncharted 4?

[LoosCannon]

I did pick up MOO and it's actually pretty good. Obviously still early on, but it's a fun romp.

[Dice]

I was not a big fan of Elite, I think I put maybe two hours in and decided that game wasn't for me. I would consider this lighter and more forgiving in term of mechanics.

I loved the customisation of Elite. I can do so much in that game it is nuts. Turning on and off Flight Assist, sometimes mid combat so I am flying diagonally and shooting as I go to cycling though weapons systems and trying my dam hardest to not have my canopy cracked open... again. I actually find, when it is all said and done, Elite does not give me enough freedom. I wish I could turn the engines off when I land, I wish I could use independent throttle controls for the thrusters, I wish the game was less forgiving then it is and I know I am not really in the majority here.

If NMS turns out to be a step back in what I can do with my ship, I likely will not stick around. I do not mind if it is made so that others do not have to remember to turn their engines on before they lift off, but I want that option open to me.

[Haymitch]

I loved the customisation of Elite. I can do so much in that game it is nuts. Turning on and off Flight Assist, sometimes mid combat so I am flying diagonally and shooting as I go to cycling though weapons systems and trying my dam hardest to not have my canopy cracked open... again. I actually find, when it is all said and done, Elite does not give me enough freedom. I wish I could turn the engines off when I land, I wish I could use independent throttle controls for the thrusters, I wish the game was less forgiving then it is and I know I am not really in the majority here.

If NMS turns out to be a step back in what I can do with my ship, I likely will not stick around. I do not mind if it is made so that others do not have to remember to turn their engines on before they lift off, but I want that option open to me.

I do think No Man's Sky is going to be a let down in that regard. If I had to rate this between casual(Star Citizen) and Hardcore(Elite, Orbiter) I'd put this more into the casual category with Star Citizen. Again, I haven't played it, but I have followed it fairly closely and they don't seem to have the level of customization or freedom that Elite allows. My problem with Elite was that it tried to be Orbiter without giving me the chance to learn anything without being hassled. Docking is a fairly simple process for example and yet even in the tutorial I'm being hassled for not doing it quickly enough - just let me dock once, see the procedure all the way through without rushing me, accuracy first, speed second. It's not a bad game, I just realized the game was far too impatient with me and that wasn't going to come to a good conclusion.

[LoosCannon]

The other problem with Elite is that there just isn't much to do. Your Sidewinder is going to be inferior to pretty much everything. The various ships don't really have roles (aside from those which have more cargo and are therefore your trading ships). Get bigger ships, do more missions to get more money to get bigger ships, etc.

Although I do need to check back in. They seem to be releasing new features.

[Dice]

I do think No Man's Sky is going to be a let down in that regard. If I had to rate this between casual(Star Citizen) and Hardcore(Elite, Orbiter) I'd put this more into the casual category with Star Citizen. Again, I haven't played it, but I have followed it fairly closely and they don't seem to have the level of customization or freedom that Elite allows. My problem with Elite was that it tried to be Orbiter without giving me the chance to learn anything without being hassled. Docking is a fairly simple process for example and yet even in the tutorial I'm being hassled for not doing it quickly enough - just let me dock once, see the procedure all the way through without rushing me, accuracy first, speed second. It's not a bad game, I just realized the game was far too impatient with me and that wasn't going to come to a good conclusion.

Docking is fun. When docking in a Python that is powered down, dropping heat sinks and going at a speed that is not at all safe (Smuggling) that's when the game is most fun. I wish there where more situations that put your flying to the test but sadly that is about the only real time.

[Haymitch]

Docking is fun. When docking in a Python that is powered down, dropping heat sinks and going at a speed that is not at all safe (Smuggling) that's when the game is most fun. I wish there where more situations that put your flying to the test but sadly that is about the only real time.

I really can't think of any game that really pushes flying skill/ability other than the various simulators out there. I've played a few of them, Orbiter is the only one I've stuck around with though.

[Inkidu]

Lionhead Studios Likely to Close, Fable Legends Cancelled

Ouch...

[Inkidu]

Mass Effect Andromeda Loses Senior Editor

[LoosCannon]

Not surprised by Lionhead to be honest. They really never recaptured the magic of Fable. Andromeda, though, that does worry me.

[Inkidu]

Not surprised by Lionhead to be honest. They really never recaptured the magic of Fable. Andromeda, though, that does worry me.

I know the senior editor probably didn't leave the industry over Andromeda, but I still can't help but think this ME game is the sinking ship to so many rats.

[Laughing Hyena]

Editors fortunately aren't writers. So there is still some measure of hope.

But yeah Peters ship was sinking fast after such debacles.

[Inkidu]

Editors fortunately aren't writers. So there is still some measure of hope.

But yeah Peters ship was sinking fast after such debacles.

A good editor is worth like three good writers. If they'd had a little more supervision 3 might not have needed an extended ending. Protection from editors does no one good.

EDIT: Plus they already lost their head writer.

[Laughing Hyena]

A good editor is worth like three good writers. If they'd had a little more supervision 3 might not have needed an extended ending. Protection from editors does no one good.

EDIT: Plus they already lost their head writer.

So a couple of red flags got thrown up eh? Considering how hard Hudson pushed for ME3's ending I agree. A good editor is worth the weight in gold. But I also know that an editor can be just as bad. Editorial mandates can kill a story just as badly as an unchecked writer.

[Inkidu]

So a couple of red flags got thrown up eh? Considering how hard Hudson pushed for ME3's ending I agree. A good editor is worth the weight in gold. But I also know that an editor can be just as bad. Editorial mandates can kill a story just as badly as an unchecked writer.

And they've done and gone fired a writer and an editor.

Not good.

[Haymitch]

I don't really see this as a net positive or a net negative as far as Andromeda goes. As far as Bioware bleeding talent, yes they are losing senior figures. Time for the less senior figures to rise. Bioware promoted the departed folks from within their own ranks and they achieved great things. I'm willing to withhold judgement, it is worrisome sure, but Andromeda likely already has the story set and edited, they've got a year to fix whatever went wrong(likely a game play issue, not a story issue, I'll confess, I'm assuming here, but it would be truly odd if the story was suddenly rewritten this late into development - look at Destiny for how that turns out.)

I'll get Andromeda day one, I don't think I'll be disappointed, but then Dragon Age 2 did happen, so it's within the realm of possibility, just not a realm I choose to believe exists because an editor and a lead writer left - if they're professionals, they would've left after their job was done. Which I wholeheartedly believe these individuals are.

[Skynet]

Recently a game on Steam called Bear Simulator came out.  It was the result of a successful $100,000 KickStarter campaign. Kotaku Link.

However, PewDiePie recently did a video on it and did not like it at all.  This resulted in quite a bit of drama, culminating in Bear Simulator's developer calling it quits.

As much as I'm not a PewDiePie fan, apparently there's been problems with the game and lack of communication/content.  Beyond that, watching videos of the game made it seem very bare-bones, yet rather impressive for one's first game.  Still, naming your game "_____ Simulator" on Steam these days is asking for trouble due to the huge amount of shitty undeveloped ones sharing a similar title. This will negatively predispose people to your work before picking it up.

[Inkidu]

Recently a game on Steam called Bear Simulator came out.  It was the result of a successful $100,000 KickStarter campaign. Kotaku Link.

However, PewDiePie recently did a video on it and did not like it at all.  This resulted in quite a bit of drama, culminating in Bear Simulator's developer calling it quits.

As much as I'm not a PewDiePie fan, apparently there's been problems with the game and lack of communication/content.  Beyond that, watching videos of the game made it seem very bare-bones, yet rather impressive for one's first game.  Still, naming your game "_____ Simulator" on Steam these days is asking for trouble due to the huge amount of shitty undeveloped ones sharing a similar title. This will negatively predispose people to your work before picking it up.

There's also a problem with small to one-man dev teams not being able to take any amount of criticism anyway.