[Mentalist]

System shock reboot now aiming for Q1 2020 release.

I'm really glad I forgot to pledge to that Kickstarter. I really respect NightDive for bringing the IP out of the legal limbo it was in, but remaking the game may be more than they can chew.

Let's hope we hear smth soon(ish) on System Shock 3 from Spector & Co.

[Aptorian]

I feel like both those System Shock projects are doomed to fail. I'd love for them to come back from the grave but with out a massive budget I fear they'll never live up to people's expectations. Especially when you have games like Deus Ex, Prey and Bioshock paying things forward.

[Mentalist]

Why would System Shock 3 fail? We know virtually nothing about it, since the team that's making it is currently working on Underworld Ascendant, and the previews I've read are suggesting they are creating a systemic world that offers players a lot of room to experiment and achieve goals, a
la Prey (which I haven't played yet, but which is clearly an homage to System Shocks, and has almost nothing in common with the original Prey). It's a case of bringing old concepts into the future, while taking advantage of the advances in the meantime- look @ Phoenix Point, which is the "modern UFO"- it looks at what Firaxis did with X-COM, and doesn't just blindly stick to the 90s formula (although Gollop WAS the one who came up with it). There's no reason to think Spector & Co will be any different. I remain optimistic about SS3, for now.
Plus, like I said, they have a publisher, which is a plus for the project's viability, I at least.

As for the remaster, I agree that it's a risky project, since the original was always quite clunky (and, honestly, it was Shock 2 that made the big splash, before both Thief and Deus Ex). The shift from Unity to Unreal for engines, and then feature creep aren't encouraging- SS1 was even more bloated on features than SS2, and by far not all of them were useful.

[Aptorian]

Mentalist, on 25 March 2018 - 07:03 PM, said:

Why would System Shock 3 fail? We know virtually nothing about it, since the team that's making it is currently working on Underworld Ascendant, and the previews I've read are suggesting they are creating a systemic world that offers players a lot of room to experiment and achieve goals, a
la Prey (which I haven't played yet, but which is clearly an homage to System Shocks, and has almost nothing in common with the original Prey). It's a case of bringing old concepts into the future, while taking advantage of the advances in the meantime- look @ Phoenix Point, which is the "modern UFO"- it looks at what Firaxis did with X-COM, and doesn't just blindly stick to the 90s formula (although Gollop WAS the one who came up with it). There's no reason to think Spector & Co will be any different. I remain optimistic about SS3, for now.
Plus, like I said, they have a publisher, which is a plus for the project's viability, I at least.

As for the remaster, I agree that it's a risky project, since the original was always quite clunky (and, honestly, it was Shock 2 that made the big splash, before both Thief and Deus Ex). The shift from Unity to Unreal for engines, and then feature creep aren't encouraging- SS1 was even more bloated on features than SS2, and by far not all of them were useful.

It's just my gut feeling. Otherside is an unproven studio and 505, while a prolific publisher, is not exactly a big player. I doubt they have the chops to create something to compete with the expectations set by the aforementioned AAA successors to System Shock.

Warren Spector for example gets touted as a grand old man of the video game industry but the guy hasn't had a real hit since Deus Ex and Thief 2004. The Epic Mickey games didn't exactly impress me.

On the other hand I was just listening to an interview with Joe Fielder one of the writers for Underworld Ascension on Giant Bomb and that game does sound great - And then you look at the trailers and again, you wonder what level of quality that game is going to be.

Maybe System Shock 3 won't fail but I doubt it will live up to it's legacy.

[Mentalist]

? SS3 is being published by Starbreeze.

[Aptorian]

Ah, yes, I mistook it for Underworld Ascension - Same difference though.

[Gothos]

I hope they won't go for an AAA release for System Shock. That approach didn't do Thief 4 any favours - it's a very bland, uninteresting game which gutted gameplay for a cinematic experience.

[Aptorian]

My new LG 4K B7 OLED TV arrived earlier. Modern TV's are amazing!

Until now I've had a relatively cheap Phillips HD TV I bought around 10 years ago. It was perfectly fine but it was starting to die, it would switch off randomly and it had begun to do this weird humming noise when it had been on for a few hours.

Switching to a Smart TV feels like a huge jump in technology. The thing intelligently anticipates your needs and it has a ton of functions, many of which I can't perceive I will ever need but it's very versatile. The presentation and introduction was very user friendly. I imagine even my ludite parents would had been able to follow it's step by step installation process.

Looking at the screen now is strange. Most programs and internet content isn't made for 4K, nor does it really utilize the high end screen settings, but there's still this new found crispness to every edge, every letter, every color.

Now I just need to find a good deal on a PS4 pro and I am going to go nuts with that sexy new HDR business.

This post has been edited by Alternative Goose: 26 March 2018 - 11:30 AM

[Aptorian]

D, on 30 January 2018 - 09:21 PM, said:

I played a Steam game on the weekend called "Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime". It's a co-operative game where you're all piloting a spaceship in a top-down 2D area shooting bad guys and rescuing bunnies. The kicker is that the ship has eight rooms and there are only four of you, so you have to run back and forth between stations and hilarity ensues when enemies show up on all sides and everyone thinks they're the one person who will leave their station to go activate the superweapon.

Wasn't very difficult, but apparently there are harder difficulty levels we could have played. Either way it was fun.

While I'm at it, anyone have any suggestions for similar frantic-cooperative games? (Aside from Overcooked)

D'rek have you been keeping an eye on A Way Out? Not an entirely frantic game but very co-op intensive.

[Mentalist]

http://www.pcgamer.c...o-road-to-eden/

PC Gamer did a feature on that "Mutant: Year Zero" game we mentioned earlier. The team behind it includes a bunch of ex- Hitman devs.

The game sounds most like a more open-ended Shadowrun: there's a hub, and from there you venture into the Zone, where you scavenge in real-time with your RPG party until you encounter/get spotted by hostile, at which point the gameplay switches to XCOM-style combat. You also get to find and recruit additional characters during your wanderings.

Sounds neat. I loved Shadowrun, and if it's a similar PnP adaptation, it may also be modular, offering more possibilities of smaller games like this set in the same world.

That's another one to look out for this year, I guess.

EDIT: a bunch of in-game footage:

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 29 March 2018 - 10:30 PM

[D'rek]

Alternative Goose, on 26 March 2018 - 11:41 AM, said:

D, on 30 January 2018 - 09:21 PM, said:

I played a Steam game on the weekend called "Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime". It's a co-operative game where you're all piloting a spaceship in a top-down 2D area shooting bad guys and rescuing bunnies. The kicker is that the ship has eight rooms and there are only four of you, so you have to run back and forth between stations and hilarity ensues when enemies show up on all sides and everyone thinks they're the one person who will leave their station to go activate the superweapon.

Wasn't very difficult, but apparently there are harder difficulty levels we could have played. Either way it was fun.

While I'm at it, anyone have any suggestions for similar frantic-cooperative games? (Aside from Overcooked)

D'rek have you been keeping an eye on A Way Out? Not an entirely frantic game but very co-op intensive.

In short, no. That looks really cool, but that sounds way too intense for our casual tastes (and even if it's not really that complex/intense, it *looks* like it is so I'd never be able to get a friend to agree to try it).

[Traveller]

Anybody ever got rsi from gameplaying?

My right forearm has a dull, weird pain right in the middle, up near my elbow. It aches in the morning when I wake up, but recedes during the day. I've prodded and poked, and tried to figure out what it is, and I think it might be from gaming.
As, the pain is only triggered when I press hard on anything with my 1st or 2nd finger - L1/L2 on the controller. I have been playing for a few hours a night, but nothing strenuous - although it did start just after my last boss battles on DS3.

It hasn't gone in about 3 weeks, I'm thinking I might have to stop my Kingdom Come playthrough and see if it gets better.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 30 March 2018 - 07:26 PM

[Aptorian]

I developed a Weird fatty nub over one of the bones in my wrist when I played too much WOW back in the day but nothing worse than that.

I do get hand cramps once in a while when playing with a controller though.

This post has been edited by Alternative Goose: 30 March 2018 - 07:06 PM

[Malankazooie]

Never got any pains from gaming, I'm not that old. Also, I'm not one of those players who gets all agro with the controller when the action gets intense. I've been able to really keep zen and realize that subtle movements usually are what win the day. Before I start to play any game I always turn the camera speed levels up to the max and then adjust down to calibrate to my liking. A lot of the times, the max speed setting is what works best for me.

As Bruce Lee said:

Quote

"You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend."

But I have developed an ever hardening callus on my thumb from the persistent pushing the sprint/run on the analog stick.

[Mentalist]

I have multiple calluses on my hands from typing/mousing, but I use a PC at work, so it's not really game-specific.

I'm also slowly developing CTS, but I suspect it's the same reason.

[Mentalist]

Extinction, the "kill giant ogres before they level the fully destructible cities" game is out today.

Initial reviews are not good. GameSpot gave it a 4/10, and called it a forgettable mess that totally buries the few nice ideas.

PC Gamer is more generous (5.8/10), finding it to be to be competent, but one-trick pony that's definitely not with the AAA price.

Given a CAD AAA price these days is 75 bucks, this is getting wishlisted until I see it on sale for a 20

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 11 April 2018 - 08:27 PM

[Aptorian]

Not surprised about the reception. I watched a couple of video last week (or was it during the weekend? anyway...) the game looks thin and janky. It's a shame. I love Dave Lang and as such I want Iron Galaxy to succeed in what ever they do but that game is a joke.

[Malankazooie]

Eat a bag of dicks Star Wars pussies (keep that shit for the booger eating babies it's made for).

Behold. The most profitable piece of media in history.
LINK

[Aptorian]

I read some of the speculation on that article on ResetEra. There's actually some confusion around what the income covers. They may not even be factoring in all the microtransactions from the Shark Cards. Which makes it EVEN MORE profitable.

It really is crazy how well that game continues to sell. When ever the UK sales numbers are released (the only real numbers we get in the west) GTA5 is still in the top ten selling games for what ever month. It does better than some AAA releases in their launch week, even 5 years after its release!

I do wonder about copying that success though. No doubt, if you make a great sandbox game and you provide free multiplayer to the kids, your game will sell a lot but 90 million copies? Is it a fluke? I doubt they'll copy that success with Read Dead 3. Could they do it again with GTA6?

One thing I hope some of the big publishers take away from the success is that it can be beneficial to take your time on a product and spend that extra money to make the game exceptional, rather than constantly hunting those financial quarters and profit margins.

[Mentalist]

Umm, wat? GTA started as a PC game. GTA 2 is one of my all-time favorite games. GTA 3 was likewise a PC game. It was only with 4 that Rockstar started playing console exclusivity and "Rockstar Social Club" DRM shenanigans.

Also, GTA V is one of the permanent best-selling games on Steam week after week, according to Valve, so (even given the delayed launch) i'm really doubtful about the accuracy of that 2.4% for the PC.