Sat down and played Gorogoa yesterday. Only took a couple of hours. Downright lovely little game, though. It's short, but that's because it's lean, and dense.
Based on what I'd seen and heard I'd prepared myself for a nice interactive experience with some modest puzzle elements that could mostly be solved by just clicking around, but I was pleasantly surprised to find some genuine puzzles in there, that had me going back and forth and thinking a fair bit. The only times I got stuck at all mostly had to do with not realizing something was clickable (even though there's a nice option to help make that more obvious, to reduce frustrated pixel hunting), but it was moderately challenging at points, which is more than enough for a game this pretty, with such a delightful mechanic.
Recommended, for sure. Jason Roberts immediately goes on the list of indie devs who have my full attention for whatever they decide to do next.
I bought a PlayStation 4 recently, and so, I've been making my rounds with some of the games I didn't have a chance with. I beat Until Dawn twice in two-days with my girlfriend, and we've started the "******* run," as well, where we intend to kill all the characters for the Platinum trophy. I also beat Uncharted 4 and Bloodborne (review below of that one), and am pretty far along in Ratchet & Clank. I intend to buy Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier, and Nioh: Automata eventually. Although, I am looking for recommendations, generally, I like horror, so I'll probably get SOMA and the Amnesia collection.
I don't know if the newest Resident Evil would work, but it was fun.
But did you ever play the second Uncharted?
The newest Resident Evil wasn't bad. I liked it more, thematically, than Resident Evil 5 and 6, but it didn't meet the expectations I had for it. As for Uncharted, I've played through the first three twice over, and I'd say that Uncharted 3 is by-far my favorite, with 2 and 4 arguing over second-place.
I bought a PlayStation 4 recently, and so, I've been making my rounds with some of the games I didn't have a chance with. I beat Until Dawn twice in two-days with my girlfriend, and we've started the "******* run," as well, where we intend to kill all the characters for the Platinum trophy. I also beat Uncharted 4 and Bloodborne (review below of that one), and am pretty far along in Ratchet & Clank. I intend to buy Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier, and Nioh: Automata eventually. Although, I am looking for recommendations, generally, I like horror, so I'll probably get SOMA and the Amnesia collection.
I'll sit down with Nioh one of these days and give it a proper shot. I mean, what's not wonderful about playing an alt-history Irish pirate in shogun-era Japan with Dark Souls combat made by the Ninja Gaiden guys?
Nier:Automata is a ****ing masterpiece .... provided you make it through routes A & B. Otherwise, it's just an incredibly neat character action/JRPG hybrid. The barriers to entry are pretty steep, but if it clicks with you then it's GOTY material.
Then buy Yakuza 0 and Hitman. Modern classics.
__________________ "Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how theTatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan
Best I've done was sitting in the back of a Jeep in a solo run and waiting for someone to get into the drivers seat - It's surprising how many people don't bother looking if the vehicle is occupied.
Braaap!
First Chicken Dinner last night in squad! Unusually all 4 of us were alive, with one knocked out though.
I got 2 kills from back of a jeep the other day, game crashed when we were travelling, got back on and we were parked at a house and I couldn't get out jeep, obv cause of crash. Squad got in firefight and I was in good position (open top jeep) and helped wipe squad out.
Another funny incident, squad game just me left, 3Rd last circle, I'm hiding in a bush. 2 guys come running from behind and pass either side of me, like close enough for running arms to touch me. They lay down in grass 3 feet from me, knocked both out with suppressed AR, another teammate comes to ress them, pop pop pop sorry gents!
First Chicken Dinner last night in squad! Unusually all 4 of us were alive, with one knocked out though.
I got 2 kills from back of a jeep the other day, game crashed when we were travelling, got back on and we were parked at a house and I couldn't get out jeep, obv cause of crash. Squad got in firefight and I was in good position (open top jeep) and helped wipe squad out.
Another funny incident, squad game just me left, 3Rd last circle, I'm hiding in a bush. 2 guys come running from behind and pass either side of me, like close enough for running arms to touch me. They lay down in grass 3 feet from me, knocked both out with suppressed AR, another teammate comes to ress them, pop pop pop sorry gents!
I'm not usually one to recommend gaming YouTube channels (mainly because I hardly watch any) but Eurogamer's new(ish) channel is becoming excellent. They do PUBG streams every Tuesday and they're a refreshing change to most of the popular streamers.
Their Britishness is weirdly comforting, kinda like watching Alan Partridge and David Mitchel doing Let's Plays.
The newest Resident Evil wasn't bad. I liked it more, thematically, than Resident Evil 5 and 6, but it didn't meet the expectations I had for it. As for Uncharted, I've played through the first three twice over, and I'd say that Uncharted 3 is by-far my favorite, with 2 and 4 arguing over second-place.
Carmageddon Max Damage is free on GOG for a little while.
Car combat games kinda died when no one bought the fantastic Blur (the lack of success of which caused the studio, which was also behind the classic Project Gotham games, to shut down), and Blur was more Mario Kart than Twisted Metal anyway.
Carmageddon Max Damage is free on GOG for a little while.
Car combat games kinda died when no one bought the fantastic Blur (the lack of success of which caused the studio, which was also behind the classic Project Gotham games, to shut down), and Blur was more Mario Kart than Twisted Metal anyway.
I played the precursor to this and it felt like it was missing a dimension. (I think it's because it refused to give you control once you hit the air). There was always a 'bowling' aspect to the originals, which was cool, but even the green blood couldn't get my retro engines firing in this case. (The voiceover guy really needs to lay off the penis puns too )
I played the precursor to this and it felt like it was missing a dimension. (I think it's because it refused to give you control once you hit the air). There was always a 'bowling' aspect to the originals, which was cool, but even the green blood couldn't get my retro engines firing in this case. (The voiceover guy really needs to lay off the penis puns too )
Turns out I was mistaken and it wasn't the new Carmageddon on sale but the old, classic (and horribly dated) one. Even so, yeah, I don't think I saw anyone with a good word to say about the remake. I'd file it alongside Drawn To Death, the new game from David 'Twisted Metal' Jaffe.
It launched free for PS+ subscribers and even then I didn't bother downloading it. It's like the only thing he holds dear from the 90s is the 'tude. Silly man.
Anyway, in hopefully more positive news, this cryptic Tweat from Swery is getting me all in a spin over either a Deadly Premonition remaster or a fully fledged sequel.
Some of Crytek's claims still seem to be weak or screwball, but it just takes one of the biggies to hit home, and they've made enough of a case for each to need debating.
This thing's going to court, with Crytek specifically seeking 'discovery'.
SPECTACULAR SPECULATION: If the Star Citizen guys have the cash, they'll probably settle to avoid that. If they don't have it, or Crytek hardball for more out of vengeance, disclosure may get iiiiinteresting...
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EDIT: Oh Sod It Here's Some Nuance :
Here's a handy summary of the claims as they stand, from Crytek's own robot army. I've bolded the key complaint and added the shape of CIG/RSI's counter below each:
Defendants promised that they would develop Star Citizen with CryEngine, not any other development platform. But Defendants now boast that they have breached that promise, and are promoting a competing development platform.
Counter: Claim the 'exclusivity' clause was a granted right, not a limit on permissions, and just meant they couldn't farm the engine out to 3rd party developers not listed amongst their umbrella companies etc. [This aspect of the contract is terribly worded].
Defendants promised that they would prominantly display Crytek’s copyright notices and trademarks within Star Citizen and in any marketing materials for Star Citizen. But Defendants have admittedly breached that promise.
Counter: They've moved to other engines, and were permitted to do so, as above. (IE their 'Star Engine' build of Cryengine, and then the Amazon fork of Cryengine known as Lumberyard).
Even though Defendants had licensed Crytek’s technology to develop only one game (Star Citizen) they later separated Star Citizen’s feature “Squadron 42” into a standalone game without a license to use Crytek’s technology in two games
Counter: They claim as SQ42 was explicitly mentioned in the license, even if as part of SC, it has full permission to use Cryengine independently. [The license obviously seeks to rule this out, but is again poorly worded. Although SQ42 has definitely been marketed for pre-order as a separate game, it hasn't actually been released (and accessed via a stand-alone client, which would be the clincher, using the license's stipulations). Crytek are stating it's a separate revenue stream, so they're owed royalties on top of their upfront lump sum, plus that it's a breach of contract].
Defendants promised to provide Crytek with any improvements or bug fixes that they made to CryEngine while developing Star Citizen. Defendants never made a good faith effort to honor that promise.
Counter: They've barely mentioned this to date. Possibly taking the hit here. [I doubt they're admitting to not having made any advancements ]
Defendants promised that they would maintain the confidentiality of Crytek’s valuable technology, But they published excerpts if Crytek’s source code unilaterally and shared Crytek’s technology with a third-party developer without Crytek’s approval.
Counter: They claim this is all 'Star Engine' & Lumberyard code [hard to distinguish, given they're both Cryengine forks], plus Cryengine has been available to view free under basic license during that period.
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Bonus Personal Drama:
Crytek are playing some weird cat and mouse with the lawyer and co-founder of Star Citizen companies Ortwin Freyermuth, who helped draw up this license for CIG etc, and previous licenses for Crytek. They've back-pedalled a bit from a conflict of interest claim that he didn't have a waiver (he did it turns out), but they still haven't published the waiver itself. The gossip is that it doesn't actually declare that Ortwin had co-founder status, and this is a baited hook. If so, that's him looking at being disbarred etc, and opens up loads of Crytek-favouring angles re the wording of the document, its interpretation, and any intent to decieve (intent being key for unlocking the big damages...).
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Bonus Errata: One Moral of This Tale?
This bit does have some interesting weight to it:
Crytek began assisting the development of Star Citizen at Defendants' infancy in 2012, when Defendants lacked the resources to develop sufficiently impressive software to attract crowdfunding backers. Crytek stepped in to aid Defendants, creating demonstrations and proofs of concept and otherwise providing technology that enabled Defendants to set crowdfunding records.
It does seem that Crytek were pretty vital in making Star Citizen look like a going concern. (Indeed they allowed Chris Roberts to spin it like he had a working product, and he's hardly looked back ).
A SomethingAwful Goon just tipped another interesting aspect onto the pile, if true. (He's got a decent record on dev leaks, legal assessments & chaos collation - so it's possible. Excuse his slaphappy writing ):
slick lookin spaceship sale videos: actually made by crytek (ever wonder why they stopped doing them lol)
If you haven't seen any of these glossy monstrosities, check one out...
Maybe Crytek don't deserve too much moral currency here. Shoring up the more dubious end of Chris Robert's vision-selling isn't the shiniest example of industrial creativity. (And yes screw you too Elite, even if your small print revealed that this wasn't a working Kickstarter build ).
But it's definitely another reason for them to want to kick Roberts in the pants. And the bank balance too
As a fun counter-point, Eurogamer have flagged up the guy behind Camelot Unchained dealing with delivery delays in a more traditional / honest manner. [IE ponying up some of his own cash to tide them over, and getting a new round of private & friend investment in]
Euro seem to be enjoying contrasting it with another possible approach
I've never played these games before, but it was $30. So I'm taking the plunge.
Gird all of your loins!
(But not so much that you can't scurry around like a madman in a loincloth...)
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---------- *ALERT* STAR CITIZEN *ALERT* ----------
It just doesn't stop. I'm so sorry. But the further you dig the more wonderful the rabbit hole becomes.
“One of my big goals in Hollywood was to try and build the same sense of world that I did in my game worlds […] Outlander is a great example of this. I helped make sure we did a truly exceptional amount of pre-production, really building all the details of the world in just the same way we used to at Origin. And I would say that I learned a lot in the process that we’re going to bring to Star Citizen,” Roberts told Gog.com in 2012. The only problem with Outlander — apart from the fact that critics considered it an entertaining train wreck, at best — was that it grossed $7 million, having cost $47 million to produce.
Fricking Outlander, the accidentally hilarious sci-fi-viking flick . I mean this is old news, and the type of thing that informed my folk memory of Roberts as having blagger aspects and feature creep issues. But this whole thing is just such a fascinating conjunction of personalities, deep histories, new tech, and the age old draw of a train wreck.
And again old news, but my god those whales. Caveat emptor and all that good Latin ****, but my god when you realise that they really did successfully sell this Jpeg for $3000 a pop. That alone is mindblowing. And then when you realise that none of the 11 Capital Ships are currently in the game. And given the state of said game, that the odds of these massively multicrewed polygon palaces ever making it into an enjoyably functioning form seems profoundly unlikely. (They currently have an issue where even a 'large' ship being used destroys the entire server. The executive ORG platforms are a pipe dream, surely. Will be fun watching the 2 'in production' ones drop though )
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