Month: May 2016

The Fifth Rule of Game Buyer’s Club: ALWAYS talk about Game Buyer’s Club.

This is long and ranty.  But I feel that it is important.

You guys absolutely got the industry you wanted.

We got here through slow degrees.  Like the proverbial frog in the pot - although, it didn't actually seem that way to begin with.  So, very quickly, let's talk about the divide between modern games and how they monetize and older games and how those raked in the money.

In the bad old days, a game was a once-off experience - for the most part.  You bought the game, it had absolutely all the content on the disk and off you went.  This wasn't absolutely universal, of course - even back then we had what were known as "Scenario Disks" and added content through content builders - Things like the Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures construction kit.

But if you bought a game you would be assured of ALL the content.  At least until a scenario disk/expansion pack rolled around.  There was no messing around with day one DLC [a misnomer, but we'll get there] or very many "added content exclusives."  The game you took home was - generally - the same game your European friends took home on the day of release.

Then, Bethesda cracked open the door through Horse Armor and everything changed.

But it's important to realize an important thing about this whole fiasco:  we can't go back.  We can't stuff the genie back into the bottle.  But we can maybe make executives think twice about fleecing us.

Read more

Rising WRUP, Back on The Streets

Hey gang its another Weekend!

WOOT! Let's see what the crew will be up too!

  • Greywolfe (Twitter, YouTube): Grey has gone fishing.  Regular service resumes on 22 may, 2016.
  • Yoda0VGs (Twitter): Getting into Duelyst a good bit. I'll probably stick with till Overwatch comes out.
  • Hamilton: Bit the bullet and bought far harbor for fallout 4.
  • ScrooLoose: Still playing Dark Souls 3 and Doom. Trying to solve issues with Doom and OBS so I can get a live stream going there some time soon. Looking at New game ++ in Dark Souls soon-ish as well.
  • Dante: I'll be playing Shank to complete my #5dM..
  • Andrew: Shock Troopers and Tomb Raider. Also, right now my son is into Earthworm Jim for some reason so I will probably help him play some of that.

Dante’s #5dM

For this Cinco de Mayo challenge I'm trying to beat these 5 games:

Splatoon

I've spent many hours playing Splatoon's multiplayer matches, but I had barely scratched its single player campaign. This May is the month I'll beat the crap out of those octopuses.

Table Top Racing: World Tour

This game was given away as a PS+ freebie this month. I don't have any other racing games for my PS4 so it'll be a nice change of pace to my gaming routine. I'm going to go for the 6 championship gold cups available in the base game.

One Piece Pirate Warriors 3

I played through the main story mode for One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 back in April. However, there are plenty of characters to be unlocked in the Dream Log mode, which seems to take longer to complete than the main log. I'll consider it complete when I have unlocked all characters, including Shanks. Speaking of Shanks...

Shank

I bought this game a long time ago as a part of a Humble Bundle. It always seemed interesting to me, but my lack of PC controller made me hesitate. It's been in the backlog for years, and it's time I give this one a go. I'll find time later to play Shank 2 which I also own... Darn bundles...

The Stanley Parable

I'm taking The Stanley Parable for this Cinco de Mayo just as I took Gone Home for the 4 in February. It's supposed to be short and it's well regarded by the critics so I hope I enjoy it as much as Gone Home.

 

Gateway Review: The Subtle Art Of Waiting For Things To Happen

I quite like reading.  I quite like adventure gaming.  So the best of both of those worlds has got to be text adventures, right?  Well.  Sort of.  If the writing is smart and the characters are clever then text adventures can - absolutely - paint marvellous pictures in your mind - the kind graphics engines simply don't have the oomph to render, but the problem with text adventures is that they're sometimes obtuse.  The writing can be fantastic and the game world and characters can be completely memorable - both good reasons to start playing text adventures today [because modern text adventures tend to double down on both those things] but...

...the puzzles.  Dear God, the puzzles.

And that's why I kind of like the design intent behind Gateway.  Gateway sort of understands this problem. Read more

100% WRUP, from concentrate

Hey Guys!

Sooooo, what’s everyone playing over the weekend?

 

  • Greywolfe (Twitter, YouTube): simon the sorcerer is now underway.  i have...mixed feelings about that game.  most of them are tied to how adult it's going to be.  i remember it being...a little humorous in a pretty british way, but that memory is from twenty+ years ago.  i'm also digging into spellweaver, which is one game i'm trying out to scratch my ccg itch since i'm no longer playing hearthstone.  i love the card art.  it feels a lot like magic, though, so...i dunno?  finally, the king's quests are proceeding apace!  i got a /lot/ done this week after neglecting it for a while, and now i feel like i'm about half way through the game.  i'm past the worst part, too.  so that's good :)
  • Yoda0VGs (Twitter): Gnna be dipping into some more Rocksmith this weekend. As well as play around with Unreal Engine 4 a bit more. I also got into the Closed Beta for Paladins so maybe I'll check that out too.
  • Hamilton: Still dealing with my withdrawl from Overwatch so I might try some more Stellaris or bite the bullet and get Doom
  • Scroo: Well I'm still playing Dark Souls 3 because I can't tear myself away from it. Making more videos and overall just still having fun. I also started Doom and I really like the campaign game play so far. I wanted to record that as well from the beginning as a sort of "see it how I'm seeing it" reaction type thing, but OBS won't capture it, sadly. So I'll probably do a quick written first impression article. Anyway, it's fun, seems a bit slower paced at first but it only tends to be that way in between the hordes of demons.
  • Dante: I think I'll play the Stanley Parable this weekend. Hearthstone dailies too.
  • Andrew: Being that today is Friday the 13th and all I will probably play some Mortal Kombat X (as a certain machete-wielding horror icon). After that, Doom.

Dark Souls 3: Patch Today Helps Combat “Deviant Behavior”

Here's the patch notes copied right from Steam:

Community Announcements - Kimundi

Ashen Ones,

We have heard your concerns about being victims of deviant behavior while playing online multiplayer, we have released a patch solving some of the issues you can encounter. Other updates will follow to continue this work, we will keep you posted in due times!

Today’s update have solved the following issues you may encounter in the Online Mode:

  • Being sent immediately to your world
  • Being sent to the Firelink Shrine
  • Being changed in full Dragon Body Status

We’d also like to remind you that our Server Team is checking all the accounts before penalizing players. If you received an “Invalid Data” message, please refer to the following article:https://support.bandainamcoent.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/507/458/dark-souls-iii---restrictions-and-warning-messages-what-do-they-mean. Players that fall victim of online issues will not be penalized if they are innocent.

The patch is small, only 41mb, and could be a great step for players who are being victimized by folks determined to ruin game play for the rest of us if in fact it does combat the quote "deviant behavior."

I've yet to run across any of this kind of thing myself thank goodness, but it's still recommended that you back up your save file from time to time.

The default path is: C:\Users\Your-username\AppData\Roaming\DarkSoulsIII\

You'll probably have to make Windows show hidden items to see the appdata folder and once you're in you'll be looking for the SL2 file extension. Just make a copy of that and rename it (example: DS30000_old.sl2) or something and that'll back up your save file in case something does happen. This way you can re-load and maybe lose only a couple of hours instead of a whole character or more.

 

Witcher 3: Blood and Wine is Closely Approaching – Updated May 31st Release Date Announced

Original Posting: May 3rd

Well guys, CD Projekt Red is releasing the newest and final expansion for Witcher 3 pretty soon. It was originally stated that it would arrive in the first half of 2016. I for one am looking very forward to it and I've been holding off on playing the Hearts of Stone expansion because I want to go back to back on both stories. More information is coming on May 10th and I'll try to update this article as soon as I learn more.

This latest expansion is called Blood and Wine, and it will take Geralt and Roach to the seemingly peaceful lands of Toussaint; a place where the war has yet to reach, but hides a "bloody secret". Toussaint is said to be as big as all of the Skellige Isles combined and promises to provide us fans with an addition 20 hours of play time with new creatures and quests and even a new Gwent deck.

Blood and Wine will mark the finale of the Witcher as a whole and it looks to be as fine a way to do so as any. Speaking of series finales, this one will probably be one of the only things that gets me away from Dark Souls 3 for a while, until it's expansion content comes around later this year anyway.

It'll be released on all supported platforms at the same time, thank god, no bullshit timed exclusivity purchase that comes with a useless hat or some such nonsense. Now to wait for Cyberpunk 2077 and see if Yoda0vgs and I have speculated correctly that Ciri has some involvement there.

Update: May 10th

The official release date for Blood and Wine is confirmed to be May 31st. It's also said that this final expansion will add an extra 30 hours to the game, approximately, through the main and side quest lines. You can also expect to a new "point of interest" system and it sounds like Geralt will even get a house to live in.

Of course if you own the Witcher 3 season pass, you'll just get your copy when it's released at the end of this month. If you didn't participate in a season pass, then you can buy a digital copy separately for $19.99. Or if you prefer, you'll also be able to get ahold of a physical copy for $29.99 that will include the Northern Realms and Nilfgaard, Gwent decks along with a game guide and Gwent tokens to use while you play. The physical copy is supposedly a limited edition so grab one while you can I suppose, even though I'm fairly sure the chances of running out of boxed copies is slim.

This is supposed to be Geralt's last Witcher game. Maybe that means some time in the future we'll see Ciri get her own Witcher title, maybe? Or perhaps it's over forever. In any case it's been a blast and I for one have been looking forward to Blood and Wine since I first heard about it. Gonna be great I'm sure.

Here's a quick teaser to get your Witcher Senses tingling.