This has been a long year, and as we head into the holidays it seems as good a time as any to share some resources; the games and stories that offered a light in the darkness, a simple escape, or a moment of meaning. We hope that if you are reading this and find yourself in need of a lift, then you might find inspiration in The Pandemic Papers.

You might not have heard, but CD Projekt Red released a game this year. The hype for Cyberpunk 2077 was huge even before we were all confined to our living rooms for months on end, a game that promised so much. As the Green Goblin says in Raimi’s first Spider-Man, the only thing people love more than a hero is to watch a hero fail. So it has been in our vicious news cycle, the sadly familiar toxicity of passionate fans turning their energy towards tearing down a project that people worked away on for the better part of a decade. Now I’m not here to claim that all this ire is unwarranted, Cyberpunk 2077’s release was well and truly bungled by a company that was trying to please all people – a fool’s errand. What I want to do instead, is talk about why there was so much hype in the first place, that super power that made CD Projekt such a hero, their world-class attention to detail, and how it made me love slow-gaming.

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is an exceptional game. A sprawling map, memorable characters, enormous expansions, heck even the card-based mini-game was spun off into its own franchise. I first began playing the Wild Hunt two years ago, and have returned over and over because it is one of the first games that felt alive in some way. From the very first choice I made, I was obesessed by the meta-game mechanic of my own moral compass guiding decisions. This first choice was whether or not I turned in an arsonist who seemed to have carried out a racially-motivated hate-crime. I felt a pang of guilt as I tore the arsonist away from his dependant younger brother, and that turned into knot of dread as the dwarven blacksmith who initiated the quest then turned out to be in league with the occupying Nilfgardian army and had the arsonist hung out of pettiness. This is the magic that CD Projekt achieved with the Witcher 3, I didn’t care about the gold or prize I won for completing the quest, I felt a real moral quandary about the decisions I made and it altered the way I played as a result.

I have always been a slow gamer, more interested in fiddling with the in-game camera to create cinematic framing than rushing to scale every tower. However, during the pandemic (and much inspired by this excellent Mark Brown GMTK video) I slowed down even more. Not every game holds up under this approach, walk too slowly through Skyrim and you notice the duplicated NPCs and muddy textures, but with the Witcher 3 I was endlessly rewarded for taking the time to really appreciate the work that CD Projekt had done. My first move was to cut the HUD, no more following the little dotted line as Brown puts it in his video. Gamers are conditioned to spending so much of time eyeing 1/20th of the screen, that we can miss a lot of details sprinkled along the patch. A small child playing with a bow, 7 cats wandering around outside the 7 Cats Inn, sure these are innocuous and don’t involve gameplay, however they make the world of the Witcher 3 feel lived in – and I would’ve missed them had I been watching the radar.

Losing the mini-map forces you to play differently. The Witcher 3 has an enormous map, crisscrossed by rambling trails that wind around woodland and widen into settlements small and large. Having to stop and pull out the actual map meant that I was making mental directions for how to get to my destination; “take the 2nd left, then turn right after the bridge” etc etc. This created a new level of gameplay, where I began memorising the landmarks I could see rather than fast-travelling to the mission start. By engaging in this act of “slow-gaming” I found that how I played the role of Geralt began to transform. The more I tried to move through the game world in a realistic way, the more he felt like a real person to me. I would always make sure when going indoors to leave my trusty steed under some shelter from the rain, and after a particularly harrowing encounter with a nest of giant spiders I would allow Geralt a wine from his own estate to remind him of happier times.

What I found remarkable about the Witcher 3, was how much CD Projekt rewarded me for going the extra mile to really look around at the world they created. A great example is when I was meandering around Toussant in the aftermath of a gory massacre in the excellent Blood and Wine Expansion, when I spotted a plume of smoke. Upon following the smoke, I found myself at the tournament grounds where weary guards were piling bodies onto a fire. This gruesome display was not part of any quest, and could easily have been missed, however it gave me an opportunity to reflect on all of Geralt’s actions during the quest, and the sad fact that haunts every hero – you can’t save everyone.

A much less macabre example followed the wonderful wedding quest in the Hearts of Stone expansion. The quest involves all manner of wedding-related activities from dancing to chasing pigs (which they should do at every wedding!), and after all of Geralt’s grim experiences it was a joy to guide him through some light entertainment for once. Much like a real wedding, I was so enamoured with this quest that I was sad when it was over, and so the next in-game day I went back to the venue. In a some games, the venue would be back to its pre-wedding state, or else left as it was without any guests. Instead what I found were guests lazing around with a hangover, or else clearing up debris from the night before. I even examined the stage where the band had played, and found their set list which included titles like “Hey, Donny Boy” and “The Roving Redanian”.

Since my slow-gaming epiphany, I’ve been applying the strategy to a number of games, with mixed results. Playing GTA V in first-person with no HUD can be relaxing if you’re just just using road signs to find your way, or else quite intense when you’re running from the cops with no idea what their search radius is. Meanwhile, Red Dead Redemption 2 became a meditative experience as I turned off all game-elements, and just followed the setting sun. Obviously this approach doesn’t work for every game; Arkham Asylum quickly became confusing without waypoints, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was simply just too large to navigate without a radar. Some games aren’t meant to be played slow, I doubt I would last long in Doom Eternal if I stopped to smell the roses. It also isn’t great for a whole gaming experience, in The Witcher 3 I always need my health and stamina to show during combat, and some quests I honestly needed that little dotted line or I would never have found the item or enemy I was seeking. In general, however, playing more slowly has given me a greater appreciation for the hard work that goes into the construction of our digital playgrounds, and on some occasions it has enhanced the gameplay experience immeasurably.

Bringing this all back to Cyberpunk 2077, and the sad state of its launch. The internet has been ablaze with gamers vilifying CD Projekt developers for lacklustre quality control, or else the corporate decision makers who forced unrealistic timelines and a multi-console launch. My twitter timeline is filled with videos showing the bugs that are hilarious at best, game-breaking at worst, and I totally understand the frustration.

As I have waxed lyrical about how the world of the Witcher 3 was so life-like I had to slow down to appreciate it, I am incredibly disappointed that the followup is riddled with immersion-breaking issues. I truly believe, however, that the main reason the response to Cyberpunk’s launch has been so vitriolic is because of our impatience. Gamers don’t like waiting; we want constant news and trailers for upcoming games, we complain about delays, and we are overjoyed at the absence of loading screens. As so many reviewers have pointed out, Cyberpunk 2077 will be patched and updated until it is not only playable, but likely up to the incredibly high standard that CD Projekt are capable of. Until then, I will be slowing down and enjoying my time in a host of other games, because if there’s one thing this pandemic has taught me, its that you’ve got to enjoy the little things.

The post Playing the Witcher 3 as CD Projekt Red Intended – Slowly appeared first on COGconnected.

This has been a long year. As we in Vancouver, and many elsewhere in the world, prepare to head into another period of restricted travel, it is with a sense of weariness…this again? Mingled with that weariness, however, is hope. We made it through last time, we will do so again, and what is more – this time we know what to expect. It seems as good a time as any to share some resources; the games and stories that offered a light in the darkness, a simple escape, or a moment of meaning. We hope that if you are reading this and find yourself in need of a lift, then you might find inspiration in The Pandemic Papers…

The wind pummels me from the right, to my left a sheer drop. A hefty load of cargo sways on my back, pulling me off-centre, and my shoes are about to dissolve. Things are just about as bad as they can get, but then the rain starts, and the rain brings monsters.

Death Stranding is filled with moments like these, completely player-driven instances of life or death, a masterfully crafted gameplay experience that balances long pensive periods of quiet with sudden instances of terror and awe. The Playstation 4 exclusive (now available on PC) came highly anticipated after auteur director Hideo Kojima’s very public split with Konami – the producers of his wildly successful Metal Gear series. With only a few cryptic trailers to go on, I had no idea what to expect when I ordered this game. As I sat stranded on my couch in the middle of lockdown, I certainly did not expect Death Stranding to be a transcendent experience, and perhaps the perfect pandemic game.

“… that which you cannot see is most frightening of all.”

The story of Death Stranding is oblique from the start. The player is simply dropped into the middle of the action somewhere on the Eastern seaboard of America after some sort of cataclysm has wiped out huge swathes of the population. The wide open spaces of this near-post-human landscape are immediately striking, with a palette of greens and greys that are soothing and inviting. The surviving humans have become isolated – retreating into a few disparate cities or else completely cutting themselves off to live in underground bunkers. It is no virus that has driven mankind to the brink, but rather the “Beached Things” – invisible monsters trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead. Much like a virus, however, the beached things employ the greatest truism of horror cinema – that which you cannot see is most frightening of all. There is no way Kojima could have predicted the lockdown, but from its beginning Death Stranding simultaneously fulfils the fantasy of being in the great wide open, while also throwing into sharp relief the disconnectedness and isolation we were all feeling in those first few weeks of March.

Our hero, Sam Porter Bridges, is known as “the great deliverer”,  a courier who is willing to brave the outside world to bring essential supplies to these far flung communities and settlements. He moves from one distribution centre to the next, piling boxes high on his back and the player must balance both figuratively, the risks and rewards of each package and, literally by distributing weight so that they can navigate the uneven landscape.

Even before the pandemic busy people were relying on deliveries of everything from toiletries to food to arrive at their doorstep, Kojima’s twist on our online-ordering addiction offers a satirical glance at where our society may be headed. He might not even be that far off, as a Chinese delivery company has already tested out an exo-skeleton reminiscent of the one Sam uses in the game. Since the advent of Covid-19, this global network of couriers has only become more important, with many praising the work of those delivery drivers genuinely taking on personal risk to keep us supplied. Playing this game during lockdown, this parallel was inescapable from the very moment I took the game from the courier at my door.

“Never in a game have I felt more in tune with every step.”

Not only does Death Stranding ask you to carry bulky loads across a demon infested America, it asks you to do this while carrying an adorable baby in a bell jar. Sam is first given his Bridge Baby, or BB for short, and told to think of it as nothing more than a piece of equipment – a tool for detecting the invisible monsters that plague the world. To think of BB as just a tool (or even just as the lines of code that in reality it is) was completely impossible for me. Instantly I cared for BB, scrambling to soothe its cries whenever I took a tumble, and feeling a swell of joy whenever it giggled or laughed.

Never in a game have I felt more in tune with every step, as if I were carrying a real child – terrified that the ground might give way. As Sam fights to unite the nation and secure its future, all while carrying a child, I could not help but think about our own world, and the future that we are building. Games so often position us as the saviour, the only one who can rescue the world from the brink, but usually they also grant you power and a complete lack of consequence. Death Stranding, by contrast, puts only obstacles in your way, and every step you take towards your goal you are accompanied by a reminder of the innocence you are trying to protect as BB coos away.

In a lengthy cinematic sequence (which fans have come to expect from Kojima – a man whose twitter bio claims “70% of my body is made of movies”) it is explained that the circumstances that lead to this world’s slow apocalypse also gifted it with the Chiral Network, essentially allowing almost any non-organic structure to be 3D printed in seconds. From bridges to motorcycles to weapons, the Chiral Network is a marvel that allows the remnants of humanity to build with ease, however most of the USA is not connected. So Sam is sent on a cross country trip, across arid rocky landscapes, swamps, and mountains, to connect the remaining settlements of America and bring them into the network. As the player explores, they quickly realise that not everyone wants to sign up. There is abundant distrust of the forces trying to unite the nation, and a general resignation to the way things are. On a one man mission to bring progress to the far-flung reaches of the country, Sam meets surprising resistance that brings to mind some of the challenges we face in our real world. As I carried vital components through a valley filled with wind turbines, or used the Chiral Network to build roads across difficult terrain, Kojima’s imagined future of technological wonders felt like an idyllic version of where we may be headed, but even in our invented worlds we face challenges to living in harmony with one another.

“A feeling of connection at a time when I needed it the most.”

The Chiral Network is the evolution of an idea Kojima first began playing with in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. In MGSV players are tasked with building up an army, and are given the opportunity to acquire nuclear weapons. Kojima, fiercely anti-nuclear weapons, built a secret ending into the game that was only possible if players could link up online and rid the world of nuclear weapons. Death Stranding takes this cooperative spirit a step further, and as Sam builds up the Chiral Network not only is the player networking the cities in their own game, but they are accessing the work of other players around the world. Suddenly, you are not only building bridges for yourself, but contributing to the projects of others.

Players can leave signs for each other to point out difficult areas to traverse, or else just a thumbs up and an encouraging “hang in there”! This felt gimmicky at first, but soon I learned to love sharing my game, and my in-game currency of materials and likes. While you never see the other players in your network, you feel their presence through your shared mission to connect the world. This was a profound experience for me as a player who almost never plays online. I like my games to be personal, I like to control my own pace, I like to play my way. Kojima’s approach to cooperative play is radically different, and I soon found myself changing the way I played to better suit the community. Instead of hoarding materials (as I would in any other game) I would donate any spare to the nearest construction project. Instead of ignoring the online component of the game, it became a huge part of my enjoyment, and a feeling of connection at a time when I needed it the most.

“Networks are what make us human.”

Death Stranding is a strange game. Its story is oddly paced, and its mechanics fly in the face of traditional wisdom about what makes something fun. However, 2020 has been a strange year, and perhaps traditional wisdom ought to be thrown out in favour of thinking differently.

At the time of writing, things are improving, and going outside is a little easier every day. However, thanks to my experience with this game, I understand more than ever that a network is not just a means to distribute goods, nor a commodity to sell, and certainly not an optional extra feature to be ignored. Death Stranding made me appreciate that networks are what make us human, connecting us to each other even in times when we desperately want to shut ourselves away. Video Games are a young industry, and experienced developers like Kojima right now are carrying it like I carried my BB, towards what is assuredly going to be a much more connected, and hopefully brighter, future.

I would love to hear about your experiences gaming throughout the pandemic, feel free to share in the comments.

The post How Death Stranding’s Revolutionary Online Mode Cured My Lockdown Blues appeared first on COGconnected.

Google has been trying to crack the gaming market for some time, and the Stadia has been a step in the right direction despite some teething problems. With many companies opening up to the possibilities of cloud-based streaming as a standard for gaming, Google is looking to position itself at the forefront of that revolution – which is why recent comments from the creative director of Stadia’s Montreal studio caused such a stir.

Alex Hutchinson took to twitter to discuss to vent about streamers who were concerned about their content being pulled because of music rights. Hutchinson took the issue a step (or perhaps more accurately, leap) further by commenting “The real truth is the streamers should be paying the developers and publishers of the games they stream. They should be buying a license like any real business and paying for the content they use.” These comments caused a very interesting discourse online, with many jumping to the defence of streamers by pointing out how much value they add to the industry.

The Stadia is a platform designed to stream games and allow its users to broadcast their content, and Google’s service has many features designed around the idea of players being able to view each other’s streams. More broadly, Stadia is planned to be closely integrated with Youtube (also owned by Google), which is home to many of the world’s most popular streamers. Hutchinson’s stance, while not without its supporters, flies in the face of the general direction that most games industry actors are taking with regard to streamers – with Microsoft and Sony actively touting the ease with which players can share their gameplay.

In a statement, Google representatives claimed “The recent tweets by Alex Hutchinson, creative director at the Montreal Studio of Stadia Games and Entertainment, do not reflect those of Stadia, YouTube or Google.” It is not uncommon at all for there to be a dissonance between a corporate entity and one of its employees, however this was particularly intriguing for a couple of reasons. First and foremost because Hutchinson’s comments proved to be very unpopular, receiving a backlash that Google cannot have failed to notice. Secondly, because Google has not been very consistent or forthcoming with its messaging about Stadia, what it plans for the future of its gaming service. These comments forced the monolith into action, having to at least clarify that for the time-being, streamers are welcome on Stadia!

The games industry may well be at a tipping point. Microsoft and Sony launch their next generation consoles in less than a month, while Amazon and Google are attempting to access the market using a lower price-point and pushing a Netflix-for-games type model. This is not a time for any company to alienate the growing audience for games, and game-related streaming content, which is why Google was so quick to make a statement. Streamers will definitely be a part of gaming’s future, just how the relationship between developers, publishers, and streamers will work is going to be a long and winding road.

Do you thing streamers should pay to license content? Civilised discussion in the comments encouraged!

SOURCE

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Legendary games industry company Atari has a storied place in video game history, however it has not been a big competitor in the market for some time, focusing instead on hotels and cryptocurrency. These days the former console manufacturing powerhouse is better known for its iconic logo than as a serious competitor in the gaming space. That may all be about to change, with the surprise announcement of the Atari VCS.

With pre-orders now live, and shipping this year, the Atari VCS marks a return to the living room for the first time since the Atari Jaguar back in 1993 (not counting the Atari Flashback). The VCS was first hinted at back in September of 2017, then codenamed the Ataribox, with rumours suggesting it was going to be a hybrid Console and Home Computer. Those rumours were confirmed today, with the Atari VCS featuring the ability to “reboot into PC mode” and the capability to run Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS.

The Atari VCS is being sold as something of a jack-of-all-trades. Running on an AMD Ryzen processor, the VCS will be a home for over 100 classics from the Atari vault, but also capable of running new games – whether this means there will be 3rd party titles available remains to be seen. The website details specs for an Atari VCS 800 and 400, with the latter having half the RAM. Everything about the presentation of the VCS, from its logo to the black and walnut colour scheme, harken back to the classic Atari systems. The VCS even comes with an updated version of the Atari joystick (featuring a new secondary fire button), for that added nostalgia kick.

The Atari VCS will retail for $389.99 and be available from Walmart and Gamestop, and enters the market at a fascinating time for consoles. As Sony and Microsoft compete to be the face of modern gaming, Atari seems to be focusing on the goodwill that older gamers have thanks to growing up with the brand. The heavy focus on the VCS being a home computer (mouse and keyboard compatible) is an interesting direction for the company to take, but this functionality combined with a more modest price point than its competitors, may make it attractive to consumers this holiday season. The thing that really sells systems, however, is games; and at this point it is hard to tell whether the VCS will have much to offer anyone who doesn’t have an in-built love of its classic games library.

What does Atari mean to you? An old favourite, or a dinosaur? Sound off in the comments.

SOURCE

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Since the playstation 2 came with a build-in dvd player (and even before if you count the PS1 being a CD player), Sony has sold its home consoles as a hub for all your entertainment – not just games. The playstation 5 is no exception, and now we know what media apps will be available at launch.

As highlighted in the PS5 user experience video, Media will have its own home in the UI, separate from your games. This is a cleaner approach than the PS4 where all entertainment apps would show up in the XMB, mixed in with your recently played games and whatever else you used your PS4 for. Sony has confirmed that all new media apps you want to install will be accessed through the media space, rather than through the revamped playstation store.

The playstation 5 remote will feature dedicated buttons for Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, and Youtube – obviously Sony is confident that none of those services will be disappearing any time soon! Apple TV will also be available at launch, with Amazon Prime Video, MyCanal, Hulu, Peacock, and more being made available at some point. We do not yet know what Sony’s own offerings will look like in terms of renting/buying music, TV, and movies – whether they will have their own competing service in the media space, or perhaps their content will be sold through the playstation store.

Twitch – the most important streaming service for many gaming fans – will also be available at launch. Sony seems dedicated to making the game streaming experience as easy and accessible as possible, so expect Twitch to be optimised for use on the PS5. With the current discourse around streaming, and its place within the industry, it will be fascinating to see how games streaming evolves over the course of the generation. As Esports continues to grow at a rapid pace, and celebrities are becoming more engaged with gaming on the whole (we’ve seen Joe Biden’s Animal Crossing Island and AOC on Among Us), the prospect of watching other people play is certainly going nowehere, and may well become one of the most important pillars of the industry as we know it.

What apps do you use your console for? What would you like to see added? Sound off in the comments!

SOURCE

The post Here’s How Sony is Approaching Media on Playstation 5 appeared first on COGconnected.

Mythical Games, led by veteran developers who brought you Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, today announced the beta of their brand new toy collecting MMO mashup – Blankos Block Party!

The beta starts on November 17.

Blankos Block Party is a techno-coloured, high-energy MMO with a heavy focus on customisation and player built levels. The Blankos themselves are digital vinyl toys designed by artists like John-Paul Kaiser, Tara McPBherson and Pete Fowler – whose crazy work you can check out online. It should be no surprise that some of the developers of Blankos Block Party also worked on the Skylanders series, and this has the potential to be a similarly hyper-collectible phenomenon.

Beginning today, players will have an opportunity to get exclusive in-game goodies and founder’s bragging rights as multiple “founders packs” become available. The packs are available in four tiers starting at $24.99 USD, and go up to $149.99 USD, with each pack containing increasing amounts of exclusive Blankos, in-game currency, emoticons and more. What makes Blankos Block Party so unique is that when you buy a Blanko, you own it, like purchasing a piece of digital art. None of the founders packs Blankos will ever be made available again, so this is your only chance to own these exclusive designs.

Blankos Block Party aims to be the next big thing when it comes to online multiplayer madness. From the gameplay reveal trailer, the Block Party looks like the child of Fortnite and Little Big Planet; with shooting and jetpacks, as well as powerful creation tools and a bonkers irreverent sense of humour. Players who purchase a founders pack will have priority access to the private online beta, giving them a chance to be in at the ground level and help define the kind of crazy experience that Blankos Block Party grows into.

Mythical Games have their eye on the future, with all founders packs being purchasable in flat as well as digital currencies, and all purchases will be numbered and recorded on blockchain – potentially enhancing the resale value as more Blankos are created and these founders editions become rare collectibles. Blankos Block Party has been announced for PC, with other platforms to follow.

Do you think Blankos Block Party has a chance to be the next big thing? Sound off in the comments!

Source: Press Release

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Disney Park’s Galaxy’s Edge is a Star Wars fan’s dream come true, a chance to walk around an immersive in-universe world that has all the danger and excitement of the Mos Eisley cantina. With the parks currently closed due to the pandemic, the timing is perfect for the upcoming VR experience – Tales from Galaxy’s Edge.

Releasing on November 19th exclusively for Facebook’s Occulus Quest and Occulus Quest 2, Tales from Galaxy’s Edge will allow players to enjoy a variety of adventures through the eyes of a droid repair technician who crashlands on Batuu after a run in with the Guavian Death Gang. This has always been the big draw of Star Wars expanded universe media, a chance to explore the fringes of the story that we get glimpses at in the films.

Black Spire Outpost will serve as a hub of sorts for players to start their adventures, with various Tales being told by the bartender Seezelslak taking you off into new stories. There will be opportunities to take things at your own pace, exploring Black Spire as you see fit, chatting to C3PO and R2D2, or playing a round of repulser darts.The Disney park already gave us a chance to build our own lightsabers, the Tales from Galaxy’s Edge VR experience takes this even further as  the “tales” will offer up multiple different gameplay scenarios from lightsaber combat to blaster shootouts and droid repair.

The main storyline is set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, with the galaxy in turmoil (when isn’t it?) as the First Order expands their grip, and Black Spire Outpost is one of the few outer rim planets where the various rogues and scoundrels of the galaxy far, far away can do business. Tales from Galaxy’s Edge is not tied to this one time-frame, however, as different missions will take you into various parts of Star Wars history – with one standalone tale featuring the beloved Yoda, voiced by the inimitable Frank Oz.

A big part of the attraction of the Star Wars universe is the idea that there are all sorts of people just making a living while the Skywalkers and Palpatines do battle. Tales from Galaxy’s Edge looks like a great way to experience the weird and wonderful things happening at the edges of the galaxy – all in immersive VR.

SOURCE SOURCE

What Star Wars activity would you love to do in VR? Sign me up for Podracing! Sound off in the comments!

The post Tales from Galaxy’s Edge is the VR Star Wars Experience We Need appeared first on COGconnected.

Here at COG Connected, we are counting down the days to the release of Pumpkin Jack – a pure hit of nostalgic goodness for those of us that grew up with the 3D platformers of old. With its release just days away, publisher Headup Games has given us a gorgeous new trailer to whet our appetite.

The launch trailer shows off Pumpkin Jack’s charming visuals, evoking the Halloween (or Christmas depending on your disposition) classic Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as the mascot games of the ps1/ps2 era such as Spyro or Jak and Daxter. The score to the trailer is reminiscent of Danny Elfman’s iconic work, and the earworm soundtrack will be available on GOG and Steam, as well as other platforms at release.

As the trailer shows, the Devil himself sends Jack to the Boredom Kingdom in order to aid the forces of evil in the fight against the good! The video shows off a number of weapons in Jack’s arsenal, including a scythe, spade, and firearm, with the full game containing even more delightfully devilish ways to dispatch your enemies. The trailer also highlights the divers gameplay, from the standard combat and exploration, to horse-riding and even a section where the player controls Jack’s disembodied pumpkin head!

Developer Nicholas Meyssonnier has been hard at work learning from classics and modern games alike to create something that feels like the games we remember, but built using Unreal Engine 4 with modern gamers in mind. Pumpkin Jack will feature fiendish puzzles, memorable companions, and each level will have a unique gameplay aspect, such as the aforementioned horse, or a runaway mine cart. Side-note; when is a runaway mine cart not awesome?

Meyssonnier has been very open about the development process behind his passion project, recently giving a commentary as part of Steam’s Autumn Festival. Anyone interested in being involved in the indie world should definitely check out his social media for a fascinating look at what it takes to make your own game. Pumpkin Jack will be released this Friday (Oct 23rd) on Steam, GOG, Epic, Xbox One & Nintendo Switch for a price of $29.99 / €29.99 / £24.99 on all platforms, with a 20% launch discount. A PS4 version will follow a few weeks later.

Which old-school platformers are your favourites? I’ll throw a shout-out for Croc! Sound off in the comments…

The post Spooky Indie Pumpkin Jack Gets a Devilish New Trailer appeared first on COGconnected.

Amazon has come a long way since it first burst onto the scene as an online market-place for books. Jeff Bezos’ tech giant has consistently muscled its way into emerging markets and industries for years, from E-books to streaming TV and movies, and now they are ready to enter the cloud-based gaming space with their new app – Luna.

Officially announced back in September, Luna is Amazon’s cloud-based gaming service allowing customers to stream games from a library onto their Fire TV, PC, Mac, Android, or iPhone, and can play with either a keyboard and mouse, a Bluetooth controller, or a Luna controller. As the reveal trailer demonstrated, players will be able to instantly switch from one device to another – a very cool feature that shows Amazon is trying to rethink the way we approach our games.

Luna has now entered early access for a select number of US based customers, this initial phase is all about Amazon calibrating the service for its broad audience, as Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services vice president Marc Whitten explains “We are just getting started and need streamers and players of all kinds—core, casual, and first-time gamers—to provide feedback”. Amazon seems to be casting a wide net with this service, with so any different ways to access and play it is likely they will be patching and making adjustments for a while.

For those in the US who want to take part in the early access, you need to subscribe to the Luna Plus Game Channel, which comes with 50 games for $5.99 a month. You’ll get the first seven days for free, so you could check out what the service has to offer without emptying your wallet! Ubisoft have already announced a partnership with Amazon, and a large selection of Ubisoft games will be available on the Luna channel soon, adding even more value to the trial.

Amazon has been attempting to crack into the games market for a while now, with several failed attempts over at Amazon Games Studios. Luna marks a different approach, making existing games more accessible. This has always been Amazon’s strength, to take an existing model that works and make it convenient and affordable, so Luna perhaps has more of a chance than the company’s other video game endeavours. Cloud-based game streaming is definitely not going anywhere, and while the big 3 gaming companies don’t seem to abandonning physical media in the near future, they have certainly hedged their bets by investing heavily in steaming games.

Would you abandon consoles in favour of Luna? Let us know!

SOURCE

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Red Dead Redemption 2’s Online mode is a dream come true for those of us who want to live out that Wild West fantasy, you can partake in hunting challenges, shootouts, or just ride across the frontier. If you log into Red Dead Online between now and November 16, however, you’re in for a spooky surprise!

Starting on October 20th, players will be able to purchase the Halloween Pass, granting them access to exclusive macabre content themed around all things horror. Fans who pick up the pass will have 20 new ranks to progress through, with rewards to be gained as they level up through different events. The creepy new content includes:

• Unique and seasonal personal effects
• A full Gothic renovation of the Moonshine Bar
• Mystical variations of full weapons
• Filters for your Advanced Camera with added effects
• And much more!

As part of the update, Rockstar has added a brand new game mode titled “Dead of Night” in which four teams will fight each other while also fending off hoards of the undead. Players will earn points for disposing of the dead, as well each other, and also have a chance to find the “Night Stalker” mask which will grant them supernatural powers to turn on their foes.

The cost of the Halloween pass is 15 gold bars, the precise value of the bars depends on how you get them, but you can purchase 25 bars for $9.99 USD. If you haven’t already bought bars, this is a good time to jump in as you can get a one-time offer of 25 gold bars for $4.99 USD ($0.20 per gold bar). For players who don’t want to shell our for in game currency, you will still have access to certain rewards including the “Phantom Buck” horse mask and an advanced camera filter.

Rockstar’s Red Dead series has a history of stellar horror content, including the fantastic Undead Nightmare expansion for Red Dead Redemption on the PS3. This Halloween Pass continues that tradition, with some good old fashioned fright and fun in the old west on Red Dead Online.

What games would you like to see get a horror-themed update? Let us know in the comments!

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Anniversaries abound as Limited Run, the bespoke online store dedicated to physical media, is celebrating 5 years of bringing tactile love to some of our favourite games. In honour of the Monkey Island series turning 30 years old, Limited Run is releasing a special edition anthology collection with all manner of goodies.

The Monkey Island series, which began in 1990 with The Secret of Monkey Island, is an iconic franchise from LucasArts – masters of the adventure genre. Chronicling the mis-adventures of Guybrush Threepwood as he struggles to achieve fame and fortune through piracy, the beloved series is known for its tongue-in-cheek humour and sometimes fiendishly designed puzzles.

The Monkey Island Anthology from Limited Run costs $159.99 USD and comes in a stylish black box containing a treasure trove of content for fans to dig into. All 5 games in the series are included for PC in a handy LucasArts branded USB drive, however if you’re lamenting the lack of physical disks then worry not as also included is a throwback floppy disk – Disk 22. For the uninitiated, this is a reference to a gag included in the first game where Guybrush would allude to a network of catacombs beneath the island and prompt the player to insert disks 22, 36 and 114!

Also included in the Monkey Island Anthology are; a certificate of authenticity signed by one of the game’s creators, a handsome statue of the roguish hero Guybrush, a set of classy enamel pins showing the evolution of Guybrush’s sprite, and a couple of fun in-jokes for fans of the series. Another classy addition to the anthology is a multi-layered shadowbox featuring a scene of Guybrush under water – really showing off the silly tone of the series and a nice keep-sake for people who grew up with the series.

Limited Run is a wondrous place to visit for us video game enthusiasts, with everything from custom sleeves for your games, to full boxed editions of cult favourites like Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath. With the holiday season approaching, it is a great place to look for that unique gift for the gamer in your life, or just to treat yourself to a piece of gaming history.

The Monkey Island Anthology will be available on October 30th, and ships internationally.

SOURCE

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Vancouver-based developer Hothead Games, known for their high-quality mobile games, are doing their bit for the Extra-life project. You will be able to donate to this amazing initiative, and get a little something in return from the fine folks over at Hothead.

Founded in 2008, The Extra-life project was inspired by Victoria Enmon, a young gymnast from Texas who heroically battled leukaemia for four years before tragically passing away. During her time in children’s hospital, Victoria found video games to be a great comfort; her friends and family took inspiration from the escape that video games could offer, and have turned it into a world-wide fundraising initiative where the gaming community can get together to enjoy their collective passion while raising much needed funds to help children’s hospitals do their critical work.

There are many different ways you can get involved in Extra-life, and the good people at Hothead are making it super easy. Simply donate a minimum of $2 to receive an in-game bonus for the epic mobile-fps Kill Shot Bravo, the action-packed team-based Hero Hunters, or the addictive Super Hit Baseball. There are multiple tiers of rewards depending on how much you donate, with increasingly awesome rewards including new skins, hero tokens, and for $35 you get all the previous tiers plus the gnarly-looking assault-rifle they’re calling “The Grisly Goblin” – right in time for Halloween!

Hothead is passionate about supporting this great cause, and they have an ambitious target of raising $15,000 for the BC Children’s Hospital – an institution that provides life-changing care for those that need it most. Any amount you can spare will help bring Hothead closer to this goal, and the team have set up multiple milestones on the way which, when reached, will trigger a gift of in-game currency to all players. The more we give, the more we get!

So if you already enjoy any of these games, or want something new on your mobile, then this is a great opportunity to game and feel good – supporting Extra-life in their wonderful campaign.

LINK TO DONATE

COGconnected’s own Paul Sullivan is also raising funds for Extra-Life, undertaking an epic gaming marathon to smash his old record, and you can check it out on Twitch and Youtube. Donate to Paul’s funraising effort HERE.

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It’s like Christmas-eve for gamers, new consoles are on the way and we get new info daily on all the exciting hardware specs, UI design, and new games coming next month. But, do we really need another generation of consoles? No. The answer is no.

Let’s look back at generational leaps gone by. The move to home consoles from the arcade, well heck that’s pretty monumental – now you can play Space Invaders on your carpet! How about the transition to 3-D graphics? The Sega Saturn, Playstation, and N64 were just an unbelievable step forwards – literally as your characters could now actually walk forwards with a push of a button. The PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube era is one we all hold fondly in our hearts, taking advantage of the increased power and graphical capabilities to push what we thought games were capable of. Shadow of the Colossus (a game so gripping we’re still playing it), and Grand Theft Auto 3 were titles that just would not have been possible before, which is the best marker for progress.

The PS3 and Xbox 360 were certainly capable of better graphics. They were also both multimedia players in their own right, a way for you to access the power of the internet and play games online with your friends. Developers used all the extra power to make games look more photorealistic, and they created a whole new industry of competitive online gaming to the point that single-player campaigns looked like they may go extinct all-together. By the end of the era, titles like GTA V and Skyrim were showing us what the systems were capable of; games were now more expansive, more online, and more realistic than ever. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Wii, and Wii U (which cannot fairly be lumped in with the next group) did next-gen thinking in their own way, pushing motion control tech forwards in a way that was so popular that Sony and Microsoft followed suit.

The PS4 and Xbox One, well, they have been home to some wonderful games, but did either of them really change how we play? They were certainly more focussed on our ability to share our content, but their readiness for VR has so far been something of an afterthought. All that extra processing power has given us gorgeous games, Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us II look incredible, but is that the only bar that developers must clear to call something next-generation? The Nintendo Switch went entirely the other direction, less power and putting games back into your hands as most of us play Breath of the Wild in our beds. I’d argue that the Switch, while really just pulling the same trick the gameboy did way back when, did more to push developers to think about games differently than Microsoft or Sony.

The halfway step of the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X were…nothing really. Yeah I know that they are capable of higher resolution blah blah blah. Bottom line, neither of these 1.5 consoles did anything to push gaming forwards. Now we’re on the eve of a new generation, the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S dominate headlines and everyone is getting excited. The flame wars on twitter, which side-note: are beyond ridiculous, have fans at each other throats crying about how their chosen system is the messiah that will save gaming. We gobble up news like the addicts we are, desperate to see the PS5 UI, or to know how many Xbox games are backwards compatible, but honestly – have we seen anything to be that excited about?

Spider-man: Miles Morales, Watchdogs: Legion, Horizon: Forbidden West; these are all launch titles for the next generation. Guess where else they will be available? On your good old fashioned, creaky current-gen hardware. I don’t care about additional features, ray tracing, or faster load times. Sure, they’re nice, but are they fundamentally changing your gaming experience, I don’t think so. Why should we be so excited to plonk down a hefty wad of cash for a new system, are we all sick of the games we’re currently getting? Who honestly wouldn’t be thrilled if they announced Elder Scrolls 6 for the Xbox One, or else Ghost of Tsushima 2 for PS4? There are so many ways that developers could change up the experience on current-gen hardware. Invest more in branching narratives, make more use of the motion sensors or track pad, incorporate our mobile devices, all these ideas are achievable right now, but instead we’re all distracted by the shiny bauble on the horizon.

I’m not saying we’ve reached the pinnacle of gaming. I know that the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S will have some insane power under the hood, and once developers have had chance to get to grips with all that horse-power I’m sure there will be some phenomenal gaming experiences to enjoy. I can’t wait to see what developers do with adaptive triggers and 3D audio, and there seems to be a whole new push for accessing our games via streaming which could open the floodgates for indie titles like never before. In spite of all this promise, however, I don’t get the rush. The first game I played on PS4 that really felt like a generational leap was God of War – a full 5 years into the life of the system. It wasn’t just that it was pretty, but the design philosophy felt totally different in a way I hadn’t experienced since Grand Theft Auto 3. So while everyone else is wetting themselves in anticipation of the new hotness, I’m going to grumpily wait a couple of years and catch up on some golden oldies, because we do not need a new generation right now.

Am I just crazy? Probably. Will I get myself a next-gen console? Definitely. Do I need one? No.
Do you disagree and think I should be banned from ever holding a controller again? Let me know in the comments!

The post COG Considers: We Don’t Need A New Generation of Consoles appeared first on COGconnected.

As a sucker for in-universe content, I have been absolutely loving the marketing push for Spider-man: Mile Morales. Taking the form of Daily Bugle blog posts, Insomniac is showing off the deep roster of supporting characters that the game’s writers have to draw from, as well as the rich 80 year history of Marvel comics, while offering clues as to what we can expect in the game.

In a post written by Katherine Farrell, we learn about the Roxxon Corporation’s new clean energy initiative. Farrell is an ace reporter in the Spider-man universe, often embroiled in corporate conspiracies. One of Farrell’s most important storylines sees her investigating the death of Michael Hart and his wife Alice, the case sees her discover the Tinkerer’s involvement and also Michael’s return from the grave as the vigilante Judge.

The post acknowledges Roxxon’s new Head of Research and Development – Simon Krieger. A historical villain in the Marvel Universe, Krieger has been known to impersonate Tony Stark to try and further Roxon’s agenda. In Spider-man: Miles Morales, Krieger is spear-heading a new technology called Nuform, taking over the whole of East-Harlem to do it. The city has been suffering blackouts (much like in into the Spider-verse!) and the Tinkerer’s gang has a lot of high-tech weaponry, so it is logical they are all involved somehow in a criminal conspiracy.

Ben Urich, another classic Marvel reporter who notably showed up in the Daredevil Netflix series, posts about the fall of Oscorp. The first Spider-man PS4 game revealed that Mayor Norman Osborn was desperately pursuing dangerous science to save his son, and it seems this pursuit has cost him his political career and business empire as Oscorp is collapsing in Spider-man: Miles Morales. With Roxxon making waves, the stage is set for a clash of the Marvel business titans, and Norman Osborn is not a man to underestimate! Whether we will be seeing the Green Goblin in this game remains to be seen, but I would guess that he will be saved for the next title.

The final story comes courtesy of Betty Brant, a classic Spider-man character and Peter Parker’s very first love interest. Betty is known to be an ally of Kat Farrell in the Spider-man universe, which may play out in some of the game’s found narrative. Betty is often the secretary to notorious blow-hard J Jonah Jameson, who she points out in her article is in talks to return to the Bugle after having his own podcast in the first game. All of this suggests that the Spider-Man Playstation Universe is shifting to more closely resemble its comic book counterpart, while retaining its own uniquely modern flavour.

Did you spot any clues we missed in these posts? Let us know in the comments below.

SOURCE

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Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is something of a pilgrimage for Star Wars fans, a chance to walk around the Black Spire outpost on the remote frontier planet of Batuu. You can treat yourself to a blue milk, ride aboard the Millennium Falcon, and even build your own lightsaber. Now, after a Disney blog challenge, a new lightsaber is up for grabs.

Cal Kestis’ lightsaber from the hit game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be available to purchase from Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities later in the year – the perfect holiday gift for that Jedi in your life. Of course, one of the awesome features of the game was the ability to craft your own saber using parts that you find, and even Cal’s saber changes form over the course of the game, so to clarify – it is Cal’s default saber coming to the store.

Cal’s saber has a uniquely distressed appearance, bearing the scars of trauma that Cal himself experienced in his escape from the brutal Order 66, which destroyed most of the Jedi. Cal kept his saber hidden until the events that kick off the story in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and a large part of the gameplay loop involves mastering the ancient weapon of the Jedi. Cal’s lightsaber will be lovingly recreated to full scale and added to the collection at Galaxy’s edge, which also features classic saber designs like Count Dooku’s curved saber, or Ahsoka Tano’s twin blades.

The iconic lightsaber from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order won a poll on a Disney Parks Blog post, beating out tough competition from five other legendary sabers. The results of the poll were:

• Cal Kestis – 40.79%
• Qui-gon Jinn – 19.56%
• Anakin Skywalker – 12.37%
• Lord Corvax – 11.41%
• Kanan Jarrus – 9.85%
• Ezra Bridger – 6.02%

There are some classic sabers in there, and it is very likely that some if not all of them will make their way into Dok-Ondar’s legendary collection at some point. Cal Kestis’ victory is a great recognition of how popular Star Wars video games have become, and its great to see our favourite hobby well represented in the galaxy far, far away….

Which lightsaber is your favourite? Let us know in the comments!

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Fans of mind-bending cinema like Christopher Nolan’s Inception or Memento will surely get a kick out of the new release from Chilean indie Playmestudio. The Signifier is a thrilling tech-noire available today on PC and Mac.

The setup for The Signifier is classic point and click stuff; a wealthy executive has been found dead in her home, and you need to figure out what really happened. The method of investigation is where things get really interesting, in The Signifier you will be jumping between three different realms; reality, objective memories, and subjective feelings. The player will be in the shoes of Frederick Russel, a psychologist and AI expert who is behind an experimental technology called the DreamWalker, which allows Russel to delve into the deep recesses of the mind.

The world of The Signifier sounds like a pitch for an episode of Black Mirror; a world on the brink of an AI revolution, a shady corporation, and a technology that hacks into your memories, Playmestudio is asking some big questions with this game, such as “can you find truth in a subjective world”? The game is beautifully designed, with the reality section looking like something out of Architectural Digest, full of clean lines and gorgeous interiors. Things get weirder when you enter the subconscious, fractal images reflect raw data, while abstract figures haunt the fringes of the screen as you get into the really subjective stuff. If you enjoyed the design approach of Control, then The Signifier could definitely be something you want to check out.

The developer is staying tight-lipped on the story details, but what we can gleam from the trailers is that the investigation into the executive’s death will lead down some dark corridors in the human psyche, dark and grungy environments ripped straight out of horror cinema represent the pain and suffering of the human condition, and there is surely a deeper mystery to uncover at the dark heart of The Signifier.

The game has an intriguing concept and some gorgeous visuals, and you can check it out right now on Steam, GOG, and Humble, while a PS4 and Xbox One version are planned for some time in 2021.

If you could hack your subconscious, what would it look like? Let us know in the comments!

The post A Trippy Spin on the Detective Genre: The Signifier, Out Now! appeared first on COGconnected.

Legendary fighting series Mortal Kombat has had its fair share of iconic characters through the ages, ever since it first debuted in arcades. Now, with the release of Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate just around the corner, another fighter has joined the tournament.

Joining the roster on November 17th as part of Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate, and Kombat Pack 2, the divine demi-god Rain returns to the series as a playable character for the first time since Mortal Kombat (2011). The purple garbed ninja-god first appeared as a red herring from the eternal trickster and series co-creator Ed Boon, a riff on the popular Prince track Purple Rain! He would however appear in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 as a playable character with fully fleshed out backstory – Rain’s heritage as a descendent of protector-god Argus should make him a defender of Earth-Realm, however he betrays this lineage and joins Shao Kahn to fight Earth’s warriors.

Rain has some gruesome moves using his ability to summon powerful torrents of water, as well as take on a water-form himself for defence. He also wields a transforming Katar – a deadly dagger which slices through his opponents on his way to claim his position as a prince of the realm.

Fighting games are perfectly suited for the current industry model of releasing DLC content post-launch. New stages and fighters can add something totally new to the mix, without feeling too much like the original release was an incomplete game – and Nether-realm has been good at threading this needle. The release of Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate will give players access to all the already released DLC, including Robocop and Rambo, as well as the Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Expansion.

Who are your favourite MK fighters? I’ve always been a sucker for Raiden! Let us know in the comments below.

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The real-time strategy genre is enjoying something of a comeback, with remasters of classics like Age of Empires 3 hitting the shelves, and new Total War releases carrying the torch. Developer Alter Games and Publisher Daedelic Entertainment today release a brand new IP for armchair generals to master – Partisans: 1941.

As the name suggests, Partisans: 1941 is set during World War 2, specifically the Nazi occupation of the Eastern Front. Players will take on the role of commander, leading a small squad of rebel fighters carrying out guerrilla style attacks on the Nazi war machine as it rolls through Russian territory. Inspired by the classic Commando RTS series, Partisans: 1941 is all about strategy; with the player outmanned, outgunned, and having to rely on their smarts to complete objectives against a ruthless enemy.

Partisans: 1941 is an intriguing pitch for RTS fans, focussing on a less well known theatre of the second world war and putting you at a disadvantage from the very start. Partisans is all about a rag-tag team which under the player’s guidance will grow in experience and abilities. Very much rooted in the classic RTS gameplay style, you will be balancing quick reactions with careful planning, using rocks and knives and whatever weapons you can acquire to even the odds and gain the upper hand over your foes. Alter Games have learned from other genres, and your squad will update between missions in a way that will be familiar to fans of the X-Com games, while you will also be responsible for keeping up morale and expanding the Partisans’ basecamp in your downtime.

Fans of real-time-strategy have gone through something of a drought when it comes to solid tactical games, however that seems to be coming to an end. With Age of Empires 4 in active development, and titles like Partisans: 1941 here to scratch that itch, the future of RTS is looking bright.

Keep an eye on COGconnected for our review of Partisans:1941 coming soon, and let us know in the comments which RTS classics you enjoyed!

The post Real-Time Strategy is Back with Partisans: 1941 Released Today appeared first on COGconnected.

The Iconic Japanese developer and publisher SEGA turns 60 this year and has already released its own brand of GO SEGA Sake! To cap off the year, Sega is celebrating this incredible anniversary with 8 weeks of give-aways and announcements.

For many of us, our earliest memories of gaming involve the classic SEGA theme. The classic company logo is an icon of the industry, and will be forever tied to some of gaming’s most legendary titles including Sonic the Hedgehog, Virtua Fighter, and in modern times series like Yakuza. While the company may have bowed out of the console business, they remain beloved due to their famous IPs and their smart acquisition of developers like Relic Entertainment and Creative Assembly.

The GO SEGA 60th Anniversary kicks off this week with a handful of deep discounts on Steam, with some titles 95% off. Play Total War: Shogun 2 for free, while classics like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are free to download and keep. There are additional savings on the expansive Total War series, so now is as good a time as any to get started as you take your pick of setting from Ancient Rome to the Warhammer Universe. 

SEGA will be continuing its Anniversary celebrations until December 13th, and following their Steam takeover they will be highlighting a different studio each week – beginning with Amplitude Studios, best known for their turn-based strategy series Endless Space. The lineup for the GO SEGA 60th Anniversary celebration is as follows:

WEEK 1: Oct 14th-20th  Steam Sale
WEEK 2: Oct 21st-27th Amplitude Studios
WEEK 3: Oct 28th-Nov 3rd Two Point Studios
WEEK 4: Nov 4th-10th Creative Assembly
WEEK 5: Nov 11th-17th Ryu ga Gotoku Studio
WEEK 6: Nov 18th-24th Relic Entertainment
WEEK 7: Nov 24th-Dec 1st Sports Interactive
WEEK 8: Dec 2nd-9th Sonic
FINALE: Dec 9th-13th

This is a packed schedule which is sure to include some exciting announcements, I’m particularly excited for Relic Entertainment, who are currently working on Age of Empires 4! It is great to see a legacy company like SEGA celebrating its history, while still having lots to look forward to!

What are your favourite SEGA memories? Let us know in the comments!

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Take 2, the parent company of Rockstar Games, has acquired Ruffian Games – the developers who made Crackdown 2. The move follows a year-long development partnership, and paves the way for the Scottish studio to work on Rockstar’s giant IPs.

Ruffian games was established in Dundee, Scotland in 2008 and has worked an a variety of different projects. Their most well-known title is probably Crackdown 2, and while the sequel Crackdown 3 fell short of expectations, Ruffian were not the lead developer and their work on Crackdown 2 still holds up as a fun superhero sandbox.  Ruffian also worked on updating Halo: Reach as part of its inclusion in the Master Chief Collection, in addition to porting Halo 3, Halo 4 and Halo: ODST to the Xbox One and Xbox OneX.

As for what Ruffian Games, now rebranded as Rockstar Dundee, will be working on going forwards – we can find some clues in the studio’s history as well as looking at industry trends. Their work on porting games to new systems and collections could make Ruffian valuable to Take 2 as we head into a new console generation. There is no confirmation that Ruffian worked on the porting GTAV to PS5, but it is certainly possible. Otherwise perhaps they are bringing some of Rockstars older titles, including the PS2 GTA trilogy or maybe Red Dead Revolver/Redemption over to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S?

Ruffian has also worked extensively with various video game peripherals, creating Star Wars Kinnect for the Xbox 360, and RadTV – a wacky multiplayer game built for the Oculus Rift VR system. Rockstar has shown willingness to adapt the way its games play in the past, notably bringing a first person mode to GTA V when it released on PS4, so perhaps they are considering leveraging Next Generation VR for one of their games, maybe even the highly anticipated GTA VI.

Ruffian are Rockstar’s first acquisition since the creation of Rockstar New England back in 2008, and takes the company back to its roots as DMA design – the studio which made the original Grand Theft Auto – was first established in Dundee. Rockstar Dundee also be just over an hour away from Rockstar North – the developer’s Edinburgh based studio which has worked on nearly every Grand Theft Auto game to date. As the UK becomes more and more of a hot-spot for games development in general, Rockstar is firmly planting a flag in Scotland!

What are you hoping for from Rockstar’s next game? Let us know in the comments!

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Microsoft announced today that their backwards compatibility programme has yielded impressive results, meaning that your old Xbox games will get a new lease on life when played on the next-generation Series X/S console.

Microsoft engineers have been working since 2015 to ensure your library of Xbox games will come with you to the next generation for no extra charge. Over 500,000 hours of gameplay testing later and the Xbox manufacturers can show off their successes, promising that all backwards compatible games will run at their peak performance – many with significantly improved frame-rate stability and faster load times.

The Xbox Series S is also introducing auto-HDR for all games, meaning that as long as you have a monitor that can take advantage of High Dynamic Range, you will be experiencing a greater display of colour than was possible when many of the backwards compatible games were first released. This means your games will look brighter, with colours really popping at no extra cost to system performance.

The headline news of the blog post is the fact that Microsoft have developed a custom processor allowing certain games, including Fallout 4, to effectively double their frame-rate. Of course Microsoft now have even more cause to promote Fallout given their recent purchase of Bethesda parent company Zenimax, and as you can see in the footage below – the RPG looks fantastic at 60fps.

It is not technically possible for all your favourite games to benefit from the frame-rate boost, whether due to their original physics or animations, many will run more smoothly than before. For certain select titles, Microsoft is promising higher resolution on their next-gen hardware, claiming that some games that played at 360p on the original Xbox will run at 4K on the Xbox Series X – this is a huge leap and it will be fascinating to see which games get this treatment.

Is backwards compatibility a game changer for you? Let us know in the comments!

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With Spider-Man: Miles Morales recently going gold, and release just around the corner, Insomniac is ramping up its marketing and giving fans exciting glimpses into the world of the game 1 year on from the original Spider-Man PS4.

Insomniac has already given us a glimpse at one of the new suits Miles will be wearing, likely early on in the game’s story. In a new post on social media, following the same format as the last by presenting itself like a Daily Bugle Blog article, the developers give an overview of the events that happened in the first game; namely Spider-Man defeating Kingpin and Mr Negative, all while thwarting a prison break orchestrated by Doc Ock. The post notes that Spider-man revealed the secret identities of several villains, the Kingpin being real estate mogul Wilson Fisk, and Mr Negative being philanthropist Martin Li. The post reaffirms how tragic the backstories are for many of Spidey’s rogues gallery, but also hints towards the state of New York in the game – with public figures revealed to be villains it stands to reason that the city could do with some hope.

We know from the PS5 showcase that Miles’ mom Rio Morales is running for office, and that Miles is starting out on a hero’s journey of his own. They are living in a different New York to the one Peter protected in the first game, with gang wars springing up around the city as lower level hoods battle it out for supremacy. The blog post, once again attributed to Spider-man ally Robbie Robertson, points out that “The Underground” gang is taking advantage of these “gang brawls” to advance their control, now lead by the Tinkerer as we saw in the PS5 showcase. These gang brawls could potentially be side-quests early in the game, or else a story quest that brings Miles into The Undgerground’s line of fire.

The post concludes by wondering whether either of the Spider-men step in to take down this new threat. We don’t yet know what kind of emotional state Peter is in at the beginning of this game, considering the tragic consequences of the last game he may not be in a state to take on this new gang and perhaps Miles will have to step up. The images in the post show off the high-tech neon weaponry that The Underground thugs are carrying, so Miles may well be in for the fight of his life.

What other villains do you think we’ll see Miles face off against? Let us know in the comments!

SOURCE

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Video games are great eh? Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, and I am extremely thankful to live in an amazing era of gaming – there’s just so many to choose from! If you want to add a few more titles to your collection, there are some amazing deals coming up.

Most obviously we have Amazon Prime day, which begins Tuesday, October 13th, at 12AM PT/3AM ET and will run until 11:59PM PT/2:59AM ET on Wednesday the 14th. This annual bonanza of reduced prices will be getting a lot of coverage, so be sure to check out the dedicated video games deals page on the Amazon website to pick up so great games for low prices. If the title you wanted is sold out, keep an eye on other retailers like Walmart and Best Buy, who often put on their own sales to match the shipping giant.

Amazon is not the only deal in town, however, with others stepping in to get ahead of the buying frenzy. The Insanity Sale over at Fanatical will go live on Monday evening and overlap with Prime Day, however its format is slightly different. Deals on Fanatical will have timers, so you have to get them while they’re hot or you’ll lose your chance. Fear not, however, as when one deal elapses it will be replaced by another! All the codes purchased in the Insanity Sale are for PC on steam, and if you check it out right now you’ll see  amazing deals on AAA hits like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Gold Edition for 78% off, or the excellent RTS Commandos 3: Destination Berlin for $1.09!

Gamestop, who recently made headlines for their multi-year deal with Microsoft, is getting in on the sales action with its online-only 1UP sale. Gamestop already have some great live deal, including buy 2 pre-owned games under $30 and get another 2 for free! The 1UP sale is similar to Fanatical in that the deals elapse after a certain time, with Gamestop switching out the selection every 4 hours – enough time to start your new game before checking back for more.

What games have you been waiting to buy in the sale? Let us know in the comments!

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Insomniac Games’ released a brand new teaser, showing off a new look for Miles, and some hints at the story in their highly anticipated followup to the smash hit Spiderman PS4.

Spiderman: Miles Morales is a PS5 launch game from one of Sony’s crown jewel first party studios, Insomniac. The legendary developer behind the Spyro series delivered a stellar experience with Spider-man PS4, a return to form for the old web-head which we awarded a perfect score. Insomniac has shown off footage of their gorgeous looking sequel, running on PS5 with glorious reflections, eye-watering particle effects, and silky smooth gameplay, and today they released a teaser which included a look at Miles’ new costume.

In an Instagram post designed to look like an article on Daily Bugle Now, Insomniac’s in-universe re-imagining of J. Jonah Jameson’s infamous anti-spider-man tabloid, the developers give the low-down on how New Yorkers are responding to their new Spider-man. It appears that Miles is still very new to his hero-gig, and the Bugle article mentions that he has been seen around town training with his mentor. Insomniac haven’t said whether or not Peter will be playable in the game, but he will certainly be a presence at the very least.

The post includes a still image of Miles on a rooftop, showing off the snowy New York that will be his playground, and he stares at a computer console featuring the spidey logo as well as a figure performing combat. It seems that these could take the place of the police radar towers that Peter was linking up to in the first game, perhaps tied to Miles’ upgrade tree? Above the console is a hologram of Peter in his Spider-man PS4 suit – most likely offering the young hero some sage advice or else dispensing a quest. The photo on the post is credited to Justin West, who in real life is a marketing specialist who worked on Spider-man PS4, though whether he has in in-game counterpart remains to be seen.

The Bugle article, which is positive in tone towards the Spider-men, is credited to Robbie Robertson – who is a canonical ally to Peter Parker at the Bugle. With a storied history in the comics and other media, Roberston could be another mentor figure for Miles, or this may just be a fun nod from the marketing team at Insomniac.

The post ends with a brief teaser video of Miles and Peter web-swinging through the city side-by-side like they did in the excellent Into the Spider-verse film. Mile is even dressed similarly to his counterpoint in the hit movie, with a hoodie and backpack over the top of his suit. The suit underneath is not his classic black and red costume, but rather a red suit that looks like it could be one of Peter’s spares. Certainly this suggests that the clip is from early in the game, and that Peter is supporting Miles’ ascension to hero status. As for where the game picks up, we may get to enjoy some of Miles first clumsy steps as a Spider-person prior to being trained by Peter, maybe in an even more makeshift suit.

What are you most excited for in Spider-man: Miles Morales? I for one can’t wait to try out his venom-strike and stealth powers! Sound off in the comments below!

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