The Video Game Thread - anything and everything...

[Riceball]

Honestly, these studios need to stop announcing release dates until the games are 100% finished. That way they don't have to keep delaying them over and over and over.

There's no inherent problem with having a release date and announcing it, you'd want a release date so that fans/buyers will have an idea of when to expect it and just not forget about it because no one knew when it was going to be released. The problem comes when the publisher announces a release date and is adamant about sticking with it come hell or high water. Too many studios see release dates as written in stone and rely far too much on being able to patch the game on release, and in some cases, continuously for months after.

 

[Cephus]

Unfortunately, more and more often, studios have no intention to release anything on the stated release date, they do it for hype and to make money off of pre-orders. They still release horribly broken games. The same thing is happening with movies lately. Things keep getting put off because they're being overly optimistic.

 

[Paul Andrew]

Unfortunately, more and more often, studios have no intention to release anything on the stated release date, they do it for hype and to make money off of pre-orders. They still release horribly broken games. The same thing is happening with movies lately. Things keep getting put off because they're being overly optimistic.

I think you're still conflating studios and publishers, and probably attributing a fair bit of deceptive ill-will on the part of studios that I don't think is founded in reality in most cases.

For larger releases studios will have less say in release dates than their publishers, who are more concerned with making sure their annual numbers hit.

There are definitely times where a publisher decrees that a game has to come out, ready or not, in order to meet fiscal goals or whatever. But there are also times where a game will get delayed because they know releasing it in the current state will be a PR disaster, possibly costing them more than the delay would. But even then, the publisher is probably answering to a board of investors that are pushing for results.

 

[Master Boda]

This is almost a depressing thread, I have been gaming since 1983.We have come a long way from pong as far as graphics go but went back many steps. I can’t put the game in and play,I have to wait for it to download,play for 5 minutes then sit through 10 minutes of story. I beat the game,no you need more DLC to have a complete game after already paying for the base game.Games are amazing at what they have become both good and bad.Sorry for the rant my fellow gamers,now back to Minecraft I go.

 

[Nth]

Chaos Dwarves finally arriving to Warhammer Total War in April.

 

[Riceball]

This is almost a depressing thread, I have been gaming since 1983.We have come a long way from pong as far as graphics go but went back many steps. I can’t put the game in and play,I have to wait for it to download,play for 5 minutes then sit through 10 minutes of story. I beat the game,no you need more DLC to have a complete game after already paying for the base game.Games are amazing at what they have become both good and bad.Sorry for the rant my fellow gamers,now back to Minecraft I go.

I don't mind 10 minutes of story before I start a game so long as I can skip after I've started playing the game. I like that many single player games these days have a strong story and it's not just beat one level and move on to the next with only a thin veneer of story. I feel that a lot of games these days are like playing out a novel or a movie and even if the game itself isn't appealing, they can be fun to watch on YouTube if they have a good story. There have been some games like Horizon Zero Dawn, and Subnautica that don't appeal to me on a gameplay level but I've enjoyed watching playthroughs by certain YouTubers because the story is good.

As for DLCs, I can see the appeal of DLCs, even if I don't personally actually ever buy DLCs. It makes a lot of sense, some people just enjoy the game so much and the universe/story is so open that it's easy to continue it in the form of a DLC. It's cheaper and easier for the devs to create since the base game is already there and for the players, it's cheaper than a full game and there's no learning curve since it's just a continuation of an existing game. It does get kind of questionable when the DLC is simply cut content because the game was running into issues in getting out in time. But as long as any cut content DLC is free, then I have no problem with it.

 

[Paul Andrew]

Home sick today, finished up AM2R (another metroid 2 remake). Its just as good as any of the OG metroid official releases. Highly recommended.

 

[Ron]

Nintendo Is Closing The 3DS & Wii U eShops And Has "No Plans To Offer Classic Content In Other Ways"

"it will no longer be possible to make purchases"

www.nintendolife.com

When Does 3DS And Wii U Online Shut Down? Nintendo eShop & Online Play Closure Guide

End game

www.nintendolife.com

 

[Nth]

New Aliens Dark Descent teaser went up today

Also new teaser on Warhammer 40K: Boltgun, the DOOM inspired retro shooter coming.

 

[Riceball]

That Aliens game looks pretty cool, but I think I'll wait for the Jungles playthrough first before deciding whether to get it or not.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Also new teaser on Warhammer 40K: Boltgun, the DOOM inspired retro shooter coming.

I don't know much about Warhammer, but that one looks cool. I'm just tired of game sites calling 90s FPS games "Boomer shooters". It's not even the right generation of people and it just sounds stupid. Please just call them FPS!

 

[The Terminator]

Another unreal engine update:

Looking unreal as usual

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I still remember back in the late 90s or early 2000s getting a new Geforce card and it had a demo with a tree with individual leaves that moved. That blew me away. Now we're steadily approaching complete realism.

 

[JediMichael]

I decided, after nearly 15 years, to try out Sonic Unleashed for the PS3. I've seen people say it was their favorite or that they liked it. After spending the last day playing it, I can say that for me, its by far the worst Sonic game I've EVER played. I'm probably not halfway through and I'm just about ready to delete the game off my harddrive its so absolutely frustrating. I cannot possibly see what anyone likes about the game.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Been playing the remake of RE4 and since the optimal way to play RE4 already exists (base game + RE4 HD Project) I can't be too critical about it, but I've been underwhelmed by these remakes of 2-4. They have the flavors of the originals but no soul. They miss the point of what made those games fun. RE4 Remake is another example of that: mirthless and tedious. The gameplay of RE4 still holds up as the whole game was built around its base mechanics. RE4 Remake just takes, adds a movement mechanic, and dumps 50 things on top of you that do too. Frantic does not make fun.

The remake doesn't have the balance of a horror and an action game like the original does. It throws hordes of enemies at you and rewards nothing to kill them, so it doesn't incentivise the action but won't let you move on without killing monsters. Befuddling to say the least.

 

[JediMichael]

Finished the Sonic game. That was pretty difficult. Glad to beat it, grab a few trophies I could get, and then delete it.
Then last night I saw that the Ghostbusters game remaster was onsale for xbox.....and I'm like, The Remaster?
I had no idea they remastered the game, and back in 2019. Its a really fun game. So I checked it out for PS4, and its wasn't onsale there and was $30, but I already had $9 in my online wallet. So for $22, not too bad. Hard mode lives up to its name, but at least it is a pretty fun game.
My ex girlfriend's son had an xbox back in 2010, so I got the game for that system back then. Christmas 2012 I got a PS3. By November 2014, I was wanting to play the game again, but now onboard to collect trophies for the fun of it, I actually took the xbox version to gamestop and traded it for the PS3 version. I'm sure they employees thought that was a weird decision.
Back then, there had been an online mode that had some trophies attached, but by 2014, all the servers were down, so a ton of people were now locked out from ever getting the Platinum trophy.
So I just started the remaster, and glad that all the online trophies have been taken out. But, everyone I had gotten back then, I'll have to re-get, but now I can at least have the platinum. yay.

 

[Iskelderon]

The Sonic games have been a mixed bag for years, but it seems like they finally realized that the drop in quality is damaging to the brand and therefore invested more work in that area.

 

[Nth]

Playing Dredge. Surprisingly addictive game that combines Lovecraft and Fishing.

 

[JediMichael]

The Sonic games have been a mixed bag for years, but it seems like they finally realized that the drop in quality is damaging to the brand and therefore invested more work in that area.

Frontiers was a huge step in the right direction, but, still needing work. I found the open world stuff really good and fun with great controls for the most part. The actual levels, not so much. Almost like a whole different team worked on that section and didn't talk with the open world team.
Still some glitchy parts. Hopefully this makes Sega realize that with more work, they can make a better game more people will like.

 

[Nth]

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection release date announced. I'm probably going to end up getting this collection on both Playstation and Switch.