Game News 2.0

Penn

I thought about the Microsoft/Activision thread just before I posted, however as the news centered more on Activision themselves and the cases they were involved in before the MS acquisition deal, and likely wouldn't sustain enough discussion to warrant its own thread, I thought it was best suited here.

Had I known there'd be more discussion on what is news rather than the accusations of a games company using political interference to disrupt investigations into regular instances of sexual harrassment, I probably wouldn't have bothered.

Retr0gamer

I don't think there's much discussion. Unless people tell me otherwise I think the majority here are happy with how the news thread is working?

Riesen_Meal

Working just fine the way it is, for the record I do think the Activision story does belong here also, as it is gaming discussion based, even if technically not about games themselves...

I thought gaming talk was the general discussion thread, with this thread serving as industry news.

pixelburp

This thread is fine. The last thing Boards needs is to dilute its conversations into narrower scopes; that's a sure way to make for a quieter forum.

Maybe just rename the thread to "General News", make it clear anything topical related to gaming is valid, be it the latest Ubisoft Busywork Simulator, or the latest depressing scandal within the industry.

Potential-Monke

What have I done! I think I may have mixed up threads with the General one. I just get a haze over me when I see politics of any kind. And it never surprises me that rich people do horrible things, but it's so far above me that I just don't care. If it means companies close, well, that sucks, but there's always another one to take up the role, and even the good staff can branch out and create their own indie studios, and create amazing games as a result. So never all bad news!

The lives of the rich are of no interest to me. And I'll leave it at that!

In news, Ireland is slowly copping on that loot boxes are gambling, and that's bad... Raises the chances of a child becoming addicted to gambling by up to 6%.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40852169.html

martyos121

Honestly, I’d add a zero onto that six percent. Children are already gambling their parents’ money on virtual items, and it’s widespread. There’s not much hope for them at all in terms of steering clear of gambling in the future if it’s being actively encouraged by game companies, and the government sitting idly by letting it happen.

There’s too much money involved for loot boxes and the likes to go away altogether, but some regulation at the very least would be nice. Obviously I’d love them to be eradicated completely as gaming was a much more interesting space before micro-transactions blew up, but that’ll never happen in all honesty.

AlmightyCushion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932305#Comment_118932305

It's actually worse than that.

The study said: “When controlling for monetary gambling, age and gender, recent loot box purchasing increased the odds of problem gambling 3.7 to 6.0 times, and at-risk gambling 2.8 to 4.3 times.”

That's crazy.

Potential-Monke

Oh, 6%, I meant times! Yeah, it's crazy that it's allowed to happen, but it won't be gone until they figure out another way to make the same amount of money. Rocket League is another great example of terrible monetisation. Granted, it has the Rocket Pass that gives you stuff for "free", but buying items individually is crazy expensive. About €20 for a skin, and it might even be limited to 1 vehicle, in an already massive list of items. But it's the Blueprints that are the worst, randomly given and costs real money to use, at the same price as the individual items.

Retr0gamer

Im not surprised by it either. It's a badly hidden secret that games companies employ gambling experts to design their games to give the best dopamine hits and to get people addicted all to make a profit.

Gambling I feel is becoming a massive problem lately. A few years ago it was something that was a bit niche but I see a lot of young people in their teens and twenties very into it. It's been normalized here and I feel its due to clever marketing by the likes of paddy power, their social media presence has been heavily geared to normalising gambling.

Governments really need to clamp down and regulate both games and gambling. There's far too many lobbying groups and corruption so governments have been slow to react especially when gambling has been a big source of tax. I can see it being a big issue when kids grow up with loot box issues and when the long over due recession hits and really hits people hard.

The academic research into lootboxes showing an exponential increase in likelihood to develop problems is horrifying and should be a wake up call for action but the experts and scientists will get ignored.

Videogame publishers continuing exploitation of their customers with lootboxes with no regard for their health is disgusting and really highlights how they are run by emotionless sociopaths only concerned about the profits game.

pixelburp

Whatdya all talking about "gambling" for? There's no gambling in games there are only "surprise mechanics" remember? 🙄🤥

EoinMcLovin

https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/1516447320929234944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1516447320929234944%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=

johnny_ultimate

At this rate, it’s more news-worthy when a studio isn’t making a Star Wars game. 😅

Mr Crispy

I wonder will they recycle whatever Project Ragtag was going to end up being?

They've a Marvel project happening there too... I don't think I'd be too comfortable getting so intimate with The Mouse. 😅

Potential-Monke

Bloody Star Wars... FFS Amy, sort out a Legacy of Kain remake (with original audio)! I don't care if it's no longer in your power, do it anyway!

Penn

Sonic Origins officially announced - June release date.

https://twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/1516763616455757826?s=20&t=y5FAP-mSwNDfGp5-qESzfg

Sonic 1, 2, 3 & CD, with Sonic, Tails & Knuckles all playable and some new animated content.

Maybe, just maybe.... I'll finally beat Sonic 2....

Retr0gamer

What's stopping you beating sonic 2? It's not that hard once you get over how boring metropolis zone is.

Is this yet another collection with out Sonic and Knuckles and no Sonic 3 + Knuckles?

Ah I see they finally included Sonic 3 and Knuckles for once.

I'm guessing these are using the Chris Whitehead engine? Will be interesting to see if the Sonic 2 port has the new levels based on the cut content that were in his Android port.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118952047#Comment_118952047

I've just never been able to beat the final boss. Can beat Metal Sonic, but can't beat Robotnik. Have beaten 1, 3 & S&K, but was never able to beat 2. Over 25 years at this stage, even getting it a few years ago on PSN and trying again... never been able to beat the f*cker.

This collection has the full Sonic 3 & Knuckles. But all characters are playable in all the games going by the trailer (saw Knuckles in a Sonic 1 level, and Tails in a S&K level).

Retr0gamer

Yeah Robotnik can be a fecker. It's all just about not losing your cool with him. When I beat him first I only hit him when he lands and bends down a bit as you are guaranteed a safe hit. You just have to do it 16 times and the biggest enemy is impatience because once you have it down it gets boring. Once you master that you can hit him when he is standing but I wouldn't recommend that until you get good at the game.

If you are playing as knuckles this is the only way to beat him because his jump has a fraction less height he can't safely hit robotnik until he lands and bends down.

johnny_ultimate

I remember sitting down one afternoon and finishing Sonic 2 around ten years ago. The main problem is that some of the later stages really are an overlong slog, and just finishing them within the time limit becomes an annoyance. Kinda zaps the energy by the time you actually get to the final bosses.

Although at least the late game plane / sky fortress levels are good fun.

Zero-Cool

No Sonic Spinball, no dice.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118952102#Comment_118952102

Oh it's definitely a mental block at this stage. I get a good few hits in but then just think the next one will be the final one and try to hit him, but one pixel of the claws are sticking out and I get got. It was also that I never owned Sonic 2 but instead only borrowed it from my cousin every now and again, so never had enough familarity of the later levels to get to the final level with a decent amount of lives (especially the oil rig levels which I always hated).

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118951779#Comment_118951779

I don't recall ever seeing Sonic CD rereleased. Some people say that's the best Sonic.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118952333#Comment_118952333

Had a pretty high profile rerelease on Christian Whitehead's engine in the PS360 era.

And it's not the best. I think it only got that from a bit of snobbery from the very few Mega CD owners. It's a very weird game that doesn't really work that well with some pretty lazy level design. It's worth a play but I'd take the other Megadrive and better Master System games over it.

sniper_samurai

It's been re released twice. Once on the Sonic Gems Collection for PS2 and GameCube and is available digitally on PS3 and Xbox Back Compatibility.

Shadowrun Trilogy announced for June. I know the game on Snes which I loved and then the later games on Xbox which were poo.

What are they releasing here ?

https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/shadowrun-trilogy/about

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118954343#Comment_118954343

Collection of the PC shadowrun CRPG games. Meant to be excellent. Well the first one is supposed to be a bit lacking but the expansions are meant to be excellent.

They would be closer to the Megadrive Shadowrun game than the SNES one but they are set in the same universe.

Zero-Cool

Never liked the megadrive one, wasn't a patch on the snes version. Must look up an emulator to take that for a spin again.

The name alone is tempting me to check out the collection though.

CatInABox

https://twitter.com/Daniel_Rubino/status/1517173919039594497?t=J2ykkUqlwldcFKQk9EMJFA&s=19

Sleazy man uses his girlfriends position in equally shady company to stop reporting about his scummy behaviour.

Professey Chin

He looks like a Titan in that picture