General gaming discussion

SuperBowserWorld

Nice compilation of games of the year award winners from various places.

Hard to believe the Switch had Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey in the same year. And Mario Kart Deluxe 8 (if you never played it on WiiU). What an incredible line up of games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_of_the_Year_awards

SuperBowserWorld

Good video about how beguiling a beautiful game world is.

I'd forgotten how stunning and sombre Ori and the Will of the Wisps is. I don't know how they achieved that in a 2D video game. Amazing. I can now play it in 120 FPS 4K HDR. Must give it another spin.

RDR2 is still the most beautiful game world out there to me. It's like a painting (ignore those waves in Guarma) And Skyrim did some amazing stuff years ago. Plus that soundtrack. Beautiful. Ghosts of Tsushima is stunning looking.

I find the Horizon games too clinical and sterile though. Can't appreciate the world ... and the characters are bland Disney TV. Amazing tech demos rather than a work of art for me.

https://youtu.be/Q8_41m0Svvk

Retr0gamer

I think a gorgeous world can only be so beguiling if the gameplay matches it. I found Zelda's world so much more beguiling than RDR2 and to a lesser extent Tsushima because those games were just awful or very shallow respectively. It really spoils the illusion whereas Zelda or new Vegas feel so much more alive.

warrior00

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121355785#Comment_121355785

RDR2's world was alive. It is a mostly rural game so you cannot expect GTA V levels of people walking around or on horse back.

I agree with SBWorld that RDR2's world is the best looking game put out there and the game area is massive and extraordinarily detailed. It still had mostly good quests in there but it was a long game so not all were up to par.

PixelPlayer

After a fantastic couple of months I can't believe it but I'm stuck for something to play.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121356068#Comment_121356068

Have you tried Sea of stars?

PixelPlayer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121356191#Comment_121356191

I have not. Thanks for the recommendation!

Jordan 199

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121355817#Comment_121355817

The wagons in RDR2 are beautifully detailed 😉

warrior00

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121356515#Comment_121356515

They sure are. You are making me want to go back to the game and go on a leisurely horse ride with a wagon. 🏇

Jordan 199

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121356627#Comment_121356627

You should. A relaxing way to travel.

Penn

Was going to post in the Game Awards thread, but don't want to derail it.

Basically, I saw a bit of discussion online regarding the Best Independent Game category, considering Dave The Diver was made by a studio which is part of Nexon, a Korean games publisher, and therefore isn't an Independent studio.

https://twitter.com/GameOverGreggy/status/1724118851942826166?s=19

It's an interesting discussion, considering Baldurs Gate 3 would have a bigger claim to be in the Independent Game category than Dave The Diver, as Larian Studios are an independent developer and publisher.

So what is an "indie" game these days?

Zero-Cool

Hhhmmm interesting, i definitely wouldn't say indie is a 2d pixelated side seller but at the same time, when does an indie dev become non indie. Either way, Dredge for the win.

PixelPlayer

Interesting. I've wanted to post some games on the indie thread here on boards and I've had to stop and remember 16 bit pixilated graphics is not the definition of indie!

It should be recatigorised ad low budget. In that regard, Hi-Fi Rush wins it for me 😀

J. Marston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121364652#Comment_121364652

CoD is an indie gem.

https://twitter.com/AggroCrabGames/status/1724175506940305534

Grumpypants

It used to be for the guy that sat in his room for 3 years and made his own game. But now you have proper studios of 10-15 people that are fully funded making pixel art games being put in beside the one man band.

It has to be a game made by an independent developer.

Publisher owned studios are not independent.

There is a grey area where an indie Dev signs a publishing deal for a game. But I'd still let that into the category as it is usually more like a distribution deal.

johnny_ultimate

In some online quarters ‘indie’ has become shorthand for ‘2D pixel art’, but that definition really hasn’t cut it since basically the start of the modern indie movement.

IMO indie in its strictest sense should be just that: independently produced games, by studios neither owned nor funded by major publishers.

Obviously within that it gets tricky though given the nature of the industry. Should a game published by Annapurna or Devolver or other medium / small publishers fit the bill? Technically not, but realistically they will be considered indie by most.

Grumpypants

There are different levels of publisher involvement too. Indie Developers that don't have experience or time to self publish may get a publisher to do that side.

That I'd liken more to the old fashioned distributors. Where they sell the game for them rather than fund it up front and perhaps influence it.

But Dave the diver, even though I'm enjoying it and it's a good game, is not indie in any sense of the word.

Zero-Cool

Annapurna is a great example. I would deem the majority of not all games the publish to be indie as they seek out indie studios to publish their games. Ah Indie Game dev shouldn't be lumped into AA or AAA because of its publisher but yeah, definite grey area. I would say it's great to see Geoff get uncomfortable with this but I'd say he's loving the attention. "Nothing to do with me even though these are The Geoff Awards".

Retr0gamer

I don't know why I get bent out of shape when the game awards come around every year. They're at the end of the day just a popularity contest. I can't take anything seriously when the winners are by public vote.

Even the choices for nominees are chosen by popular vote from publications. It's just an industry back slapping event that somehow manages to feel like it means even less than the Oscars.

The BAFTA awards seem to at least feel a little more genuine.

Mr Crispy

I find The Game Awards particularly irritating. They announce an actual cut off date for nominations, after which specific date games are illegible for that year's awards. But then they announce all the nominees at least a week before that date? Nonsensical.

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367584#Comment_121367584

Ha yeah, I saw the Pentinent dev got caught in that and then the topic spiralled on whether that was even an indie game :D

johnny_ultimate

The awards are the unconvincing ‘justification’ for showing a bunch of ads under the guise of something more significant. But really it’s all just an excuse for ads, and - on a less cynical note - a fun night out for developers.

Retr0gamer

Doritodew

Mr Crispy

I wonder will anyone be allowed speak out on Israel's actions in Gaza. The Golden Joysticks had a "no politics" rule this year. It would be incredibly hypocritical if the Game Awards follow suit after there was a concerted show of support for Ukraine at last year's show.

johnny_ultimate

Keighley’s career trajectory is baffling to me. By all accounts he’s a solid journalist when he wants to be - his ‘final hours’ series is well regarded. But hard to see how someone goes from that to shameless, relentless ad man - well, money aside. I mean we all gotta make a living, but such a strange way to do it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367686#Comment_121367686

Given it’s a US-centric event and the political / cultural hypocrisy there knows no bounds when it comes to Israel-Gaza… I wouldn’t get my hopes up, but will be pleasantly surprised if so. Hard to see People Make Games winning an award without bringing it up though!

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121367779#Comment_121367779

Yeah, it was more of a rhetorical question than anything. But it's a big platform for anyone who does have something to say.

Retr0gamer

I can't see them allowing anything being said about Israel/Palestine that's anti Israeli genocide. We saw what big American business did to Paddy Cosgrave in the last few days and I can imagine big game publishers are perfectly capable of doing similar here. I don't see Geoff as someone that would risk his career over it.

PixelPlayer

Dune spice Wars hits game pass. Might scratch an itch.

warrior00

Hell!

Grumpypants

I came across the Satisfactory patch notes for update 8 and thought this was a great way to do it.

Not just that they have a bit of fun doing it, but they talk openly about the challenges, the features and the improvements in a normal way that explains it really well. Wish more Devs were this inventive rather than just blog posting a list of fixes and corporate jargon.

https://youtu.be/BIZieuScBmE?feature=shared