Game News 2.0

BlitzKrieg

Varik wrote: »

Think I've seen more deranged stream reviews than useful ones.

People bitching about the game, it not being worthwhile/good/whatever but somehow they've thousands of hours in it and are probably overly invested and just pissed about some random change they don't like.

Heh, thats actually becoming a running joke in the war thunder community, a lot of people describing the game's development as some form of psychological torture for the player base.

I played the game way too much but I never got how tied up a lot of the other players have gotten in its progression where the slightest balance change can spill out into 'the worst thing to ever happen to war thunder' a few times too many.


Battlefield suffers a similar issue.

gimli2112

In defence of the lunatic fringe of which I consider myself a member the devs don't always help themselves either. Take Warzone for example. Every new season they dlc in new guns which are totally op, often ludicrously so.

The most efficient way to rank up the guns is to buy Black ops. I have no doubt the devs take their ideas to some commercial director who tells them to make them stronger.

It's all fine laughing at us but when you're being obliterated for a week or two by guns you have no access to it's a very big deal, well a very big deal in the make believe world.

BloodBath

It's a common thing in many games. Release new content that is broken at release but would take several weeks to unlock with conventional grinding but can be unlocked instantly for a price. If you want those few weeks of op before it get's nerfed you got to pay up. They do it on purpose.

Varik

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

Heh, thats actually becoming a running joke in the war thunder community, a lot of people describing the game's development as some form of psychological torture for the player base.

I played the game way too much but I never got how tied up a lot of the other players have gotten in its progression where the slightest balance change can spill out into 'the worst thing to ever happen to war thunder' a few times too many.


Battlefield suffers a similar issue.

Not played for a good while but they really did mess War Thunder up a good few times.

Low Spawn points ATGM for helicopters so you can die seconds into a game before you leave the spawn.

Or ones that actually helped me, when they changed it so you could manage with just 1 crew member for tanks but that meant that the Germans were vastly more survivable and when air games ended due to fleets of BV 238 and Hitlerbolts wining every game.

Anytime they try to balance with repair costs.

gimli2112

BloodBath wrote: »

It's a common thing in many games. Release new content that is broken at release but would take several weeks to unlock with conventional grinding but can be unlocked instantly for a price. If you want those few weeks of op before it get's nerfed you got to pay up. They do it on purpose.

ah yeah I know but I retain the right to be infuriated by it

Stone Deaf 4evr

gimli2112 wrote: »

In defence of the lunatic fringe of which I consider myself a member the devs don't always help themselves either. Take Warzone for example. Every new season they dlc in new guns which are totally op, often ludicrously so.

The most efficient way to rank up the guns is to buy Black ops. I have no doubt the devs take their ideas to some commercial director who tells them to make them stronger.

It's all fine laughing at us but when you're being obliterated for a week or two by guns you have no access to it's a very big deal, well a very big deal in the make believe world.

yeah, its a pain, particularly in COD where the best guns are also 30 levels into the battle pass, making you want to either pay for the more expensive battle pass or buy a blueprint from the store.
It also doesnt help that the best attachments are always the last 4 to unlock either, so even when you have the gun, you've more grinding before it becomes viable /OP.

Its 100% intentional design, no matter what they say, its obvious as all the best skins are for the OP guns.

Robert ninja

Happens in fighting games aswell: https://youtu.be/iVfaAz7Z2dA

Publishers want all the money and control of GaaS but none of the downsides. Games aren't reviewed once upon release and then the judgement written in stone. Instead it's a continuos investment relationship. The point of a review is to actually help inform fellow consumers whether they should invest in it... and money isn't the most valuable thing you can spend in this cheap medium. I've put lots of time into some games that I can confidently advise others to avoid because sometimes it can take that long to realise it's not worth or its changed so much.

Traditional critic format is much less relevant now. The sites compensate for it with clickbait as well as heaps of tracking and ads as you can see by your ad-blockers going haywire on their sites which often have fullscreen takeover promotions, too. Their staff aren't even fit to comment on things like balance updates because they barely even understand that kind of thing. There's not a single breathing paid critic on a mainstream site out there who could hope to understand or relay any useful information on Tekken's balance, updates, DLC, business model or technology to anyone who actively plays Tekken. The players just listen to other players like with the video above or in social media, discord, steam/user reviews etc

Retr0gamer

I really think placing the blame on critics for this is ridiculous. If you've been in the games press you'll realise how much work is actually involved in keeping up with news and reviews and then expecting them to be knowledgeable in multiple forever games is ridiculous when most normal people only have time for one or two in their lives. For lots in the games press forever games are the worst as you've spent the day absorbed in games your escape in the time off isn't more gaming.

sniper_samurai

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I really think placing the blame on critics for this is ridiculous. If you've been in the games press you'll realise how much work is actually involved in keeping up with news and reviews and then expecting them to be knowledgeable in multiple forever games is ridiculous when most normal people only have time for one or two in their lives. For lots in the games press forever games are the worst as you've spent the day absorbed in games your escape in the time off isn't more gaming.

And you get paid like crap for the "privilege" of constantly getting harassed because you thought the new CoD is a pile of crap.

johnny_ultimate

None of this is 'either/or'.

If I want tips for using the light bowgun in Monster Hunter, I'll go to the several YouTube channels that specialise in the game.

If I want a broad overview of the news, well-written reviews of new games, decent features and the odd hidden gem being flagged, I'll flick through the handful of mainstream gaming sites I browse daily.

If I want just the hidden gems, there's some good blogs and Twitter accounts dedicated to just that.

For casual chats, opinions, recommendations, new release chat etc, there's a few reliable podcasts that populate my feed weekly.

If I want more academic, literary or design-focused takes on games, well thankfully there's even a few publications and video essayists that offer that up.

There's even places to go and people to follow if you just want industry info, retro game chat, tech talk etc etc...

It's all a healthy plurality of media, IMO - none of them redundant or unimportant.

Robert ninja

I said critic format, don't get me started on the critics themselves.
For fighting games and other genres there's plenty of commentators who release high quality, experience-rich videos and posts every week about news/thoughts on various fighting games. Creators who can bring thousands or even millions of viewers on their own. Do mainstream sites ever hire or contract these people for news content? Instead they'll get some diversity hire with the right political opinions and has pronouns in their verified twitter account who graduated from California. People who can't gather an audience without a corporate backing. Mainstream game press have been anti-consumer for a long time now so good luck trying to get me to feel bad for em'.

sniper_samurai wrote: »

And you get paid like crap for the "privilege" of constantly getting harassed because you thought the new CoD is a pile of crap.

They get paid quite reasonably actually and have the added job security of being un-cancellable thanks to their clique.

Speaking of which, they were on another cancel brigade... such hard work:

https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/06/22/five-nights-at-freddys-creator-scott-cawthon-announces-retirement-following-outrage-over-his-political-donations-that-included-donald-trump-and-tulsi-gabbard/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVR-xRoykAE

sniper_samurai

Robert ninja wrote: »

They get paid quite reasonably actually and have the added job security of being un-cancellable thanks to their clique.

Speaking of which, they were on another cancel brigade... such hard work:

https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/06/22/five-nights-at-freddys-creator-scott-cawthon-announces-retirement-following-outrage-over-his-political-donations-that-included-donald-trump-and-tulsi-gabbard/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVR-xRoykAE

In the US they are reasonably paid, they get paid like crap in the UK, about £23,000 vs $60,000.

Cawthon got cancelled due to being two faced, professing love for his LGBTQ fanbase while funding politicians who have actively harmed their community far more than any other governments in the past 30 years.

Whether it is deserved or not I will leave to others to decide.

I also see the article and video you posted are far right cancel culture nutbags, stuff similar to rubbish you've posted in the past.

pixelburp

Yeah, the Cawthon situation is a pretty clear-cut case of hypocrisy and his two-faced actions: happy to publicly court the love of his (LGBT+) fans, then actively funds politicians who - at best - demonise, and at worse legislate against those fans' very being & existence. It's some nerve.

But, sure. Something something cancel culture. It's just Pavlovian response at this stage. Sometimes, ássholes get caught out, it isn't victimisation. :rolleyes:

Retr0gamer

Can we call cancel culture what it really is? Public karma for being an evil prick.

Markitron

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Can we call cancel culture what it really is? Public karma for being an evil prick.

Yes I don’t understand why, all of a sudden, losing your job cos you were bad at it or harassed co-workers now has a new label.

If I got sacked from a Lidl cos a manager caught me fellating all the cucumbers, does that count as being cancelled too?

pixelburp

I don't even understand what it means anymore, if calling out someone for being completely two-faced is now "cancel culture". The guy got caught being a total hypocrite, and somewhat understandably, people were upset a supposed "good guy" turned out to be donating to homophobic politicians. He tried speaking out of both sides of his mouth, and is now paying the price.

Sounds like "consequence culture", not "cancel culture"

BlitzKrieg

Heh, I did think we were talking too long about game journalism without an appearance from Robert Ninja.

gimli2112

what are the actual consequences of being cancelled . I assume I won't open my door to a hitman. Does it mean people will no longer engage with me on social media or do I simply have to acknowledge I'm a bad person and everyone hates me?

johnny_ultimate

gimli2112 wrote: »

what are the actual consequences of being cancelled

In Scott Cawthorn's case *checks note* voluntarily retires with a shedload of money to see him through the rest of his life.

gimli2112

that doesn't sound so bad

johnny_ultimate

gimli2112 wrote: »

that doesn't sound so bad

Now all you need to do is make a wildly successful series of janky-ass video games, go donate money to awful human beings, make the information public, and then publicly and entirely voluntarily announce your retirement in a dramatic Reddit post after you're correctly criticised for giving money to said awful human beings. Success!*

*(success is not guaranteed)

Retr0gamer

You might get a nice opinion piece spot with the likes of the daily mail, fox news of gb news out of it as well.

Robert ninja

gimli2112 wrote: »

what are the actual consequences of being cancelled . I assume I won't open my door to a hitman. Does it mean people will no longer engage with me on social media or do I simply have to acknowledge I'm a bad person and everyone hates me?

Typical scenarios are: Lose job, get pushed out of the field, have your name tarnished by multiple outlets all on the same side. If you're young, haven't already made your money or don't have the ability to gather an audience/income independently this can be career ending. Sometimes censored and banned.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Public karma for being an evil prick.

'Public'. As in blue checkmarks and outlets run by global corporations. A minority of freaks who thrive off the power corporate social media gives them.
And 'evil' as in not supporting the politicians/opinions that are protected by big tech.

Markitron

Robert ninja wrote: »

Typical scenarios are: Lose job, get pushed out of the field, have your name tarnished by multiple outlets all on the same side. If you're young, haven't already made your money or don't have the ability to gather an audience/income independently this can be career ending. Sometimes censored and banned.

'Public'. As in blue checkmarks and outlets run by global corporations. A minority of freaks who thrive off the power corporate social media gives them.
And 'evil' as in not supporting the politicians/opinions that are protected by big tech.

You haven’t answered my question about sucking off the cucumbers in Lidl.

Robert ninja

Markitron wrote: »

You haven’t answered my question about sucking off the cucumbers in Lidl.

No

pixelburp

Robert ninja wrote: »

Typical scenarios are: Lose job, get pushed out of the field, have your name tarnished by multiple outlets all on the same side. If you're young, haven't already made your money or don't have the ability to gather an audience/income independently this can be career ending. Sometimes censored and banned.

'Public'. As in blue checkmarks and outlets run by global corporations. A minority of freaks who thrive off the power corporate social media gives them.
And 'evil' as in not supporting the politicians/opinions that are protected by big tech.

That's a lot of buzzwords while ignoring the actual context of the situation. "Freaks" is also an interesting choice of words, given the actors involved here.

Cawthorn tried to play both sides and got caught out, angering a lot of people who felt his political donations were funding initiatives either undermining or trying to eradicate rights afforded those communities. An especially bad look from someone who tried to play himself as a "good guy".

Waffling about big tech is just weird obfuscation over a fairly human-level situation: no more than if any personality espousing anti-racism sentiments was discovered to be funding far-right or KKK politicians, the backlash is earned here.

Maybe, just maybe you're eagerness to peg everything as some corporate conspiracy is missing the wood for the trees here.

johnny_ultimate

Beyond the culture war, Inkle have some more info on their untitled Scottish Highlands game.

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/inkle-reveals-more-about-its-next-project-says-its-more-gamey/

Cant wait to see them tackle a platformer. Overboard is one of the best games of this year, and their last ‘big’ game Heaven’s Vault was utterly fascinating and absorbing (rough edges aside).

Retr0gamer

Robert ninja wrote: »

Typical scenarios are: Lose job, get pushed out of the field, have your name tarnished by multiple outlets all on the same side. If you're young, haven't already made your money or don't have the ability to gather an audience/income independently this can be career ending. Sometimes censored and banned.

'Public'. As in blue checkmarks and outlets run by global corporations. A minority of freaks who thrive off the power corporate social media gives them.
And 'evil' as in not supporting the politicians/opinions that are protected by big tech.

If you make yourself unemployable because of your own antics then that's on you not the people outraged by how disgusting you are.

It's free speech working as it should. You can say and do what you like but you have to own the consequences. And if the consequences are losing you job and livelihood because you made other people's lives worse then that's a good thing.

pixelburp

One of the two Skyrim community backports, Skywind, released a recent update. They're still plugging away, but still miles off a release. The Beyond Skryim team seem a little more advanced, maybe they have more bodies on their work. Wonder which will be finished first; this or Star Citizen :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_K7Kpt7X84

Penn

Markitron wrote: »

You haven’t answered my question about sucking off the cucumbers in Lidl.

I picked a bad post to stop scrolling at to see what was being discussed over the last few pages...