Part two of the news:
Dragon Age: The Veilguard devs talk redesigning the game after BioWare bailed on the whole live service thing in 2021: 'I never personally saw it as a reboot'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/dragon-age-the-veilguard-devs-talk-redesigning-the-game-after-bioware-s-bailed-on-the-whole-live-service-thing-in-2021-i-never-personally-saw-it-as-a-reboot/
Dragon Age: The Veilguard might be good or bad, depending who you ask on the PC Gamer team—we're a little split on it, a downright smorgasbord of varying levels of grumpy and old about the entire thing. While the game unhappily comes saddled with the usual pre-order bonus nonsense, it's still a relief to me that this thing isn't a live service game—because it very well could've been.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard was, initially, supposed to have substantial multiplayer live service components. However, after the catastrophic failures of BioWare's Anthem, EA decided to strip the in-progress sequel of all its multiplayer mechanics, focusing instead on making a single-player RPG.
I've been learning what Deadlock's items actually do, thanks to this player-made build calculator that I can keep open in my tabs
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/ive-been-learning-what-deadlocks-items-actually-do-thanks-to-this-player-made-build-calculator-that-i-can-keep-open-in-my-tabs/
To a newcomer, Deadlock's builds and special items can be confusing, especially if you're more of an FPS player than a MOBA one. You can always practise making builds in-game, but it can be a little hard to think big-picture when you're trying to stop Adams from crushing your lane. Luckily, one player decided to create an easy way to do so.
Cyberpunk 2077 engine lead says some of its legendary launch bugs happened because the alternative was even worse: 'Either you show a T-pose, or you hard crash… we prefer not to hard crash'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/cyberpunk-2077-engine-lead-says-some-of-its-legendary-launch-bugs-happened-because-the-alternative-was-even-worse-either-you-show-a-t-pose-or-you-hard-crash-we-prefer-not-to-hard-crash/
As someone who played Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time only after it got its big 2.0 overhaul, I feel confident saying that it's one of my favourite RPGs of the last decade. (...)
Wasn't always the case though, was it? (...)
But it could have been worse, if you can imagine it. In a big breakdown of CDPR's comeback after the game's disastrous launch over on Eurogamer, Cyberpunk's lead engine programmer Charles Tremblay broke down just why the game was so legendarily buggy back then. It was a mix of factors, as you'd expect, first among which was the fact that old-fashioned spinning hard drives just weren't up to the kind of streaming the game required. But also? Sometimes you could either bug out or crash the game completely, and the devs preferred option one.
After years of silence, the legendary life sim Spore has crawled back to life like a 3-eyed amphibian emerging from a primordial alien sea
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/after-years-of-silence-the-legendary-life-sim-spore-has-crawled-back-to-life-like-a-3-eyed-amphibian-emerging-from-a-primordial-alien-sea/
Spore was a pretty big deal back in the day, a life-sim RTS from famed Sims studio Maxis that gave players the opportunity to guide the evolution of a species from primordial soup to interstellar exploration. It was huge, ambitious, and unique, and alas, it was not great: The ideas behind it were bold, but the actual gameplay was pretty flat. We said in a 2018 retrospective that "in many ways, Spore was No Man’s Sky before No Man’s Sky"—minus the redemption arc.
All these years later, could that redemption arc still happen? Extremely unlikely, yes, but not entirely impossible, because Spore is back, baby. The first update posted on the Spore website in more than five years says the game has a new team within EA and an official Discord server "where you can keep up with the latest news from the development team, participate in contests, and get to know other players of Spore."
Tim Sweeney says Epic Games is now 'financially sound' after last year's layoffs and Bandcamp fumble
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/tim-sweeney-says-epic-games-is-now-financially-sound-after-last-years-layoffs-and-bandcamp-fumble/
Like so many tech companies, Epic Games grew aggressively at the start of the 2020s and then suddenly declared that it had made a mistake. The Fortnite and Unreal Engine maker cut over 800 jobs last year and maimed and sold off Bandcamp, a website it had purchased just a year earlier.
(...)
At an event for Unreal Engine developers today, however, Sweeney declared that the ship has been righted.
"We spent the last year rebuilding and really executing solidly on all fronts," said the CEO. "I'm happy to tell you now that the company is financially sound, and that Fortnite and the Epic Games Store have hit new records in concurrency and success."
The games industry is undergoing a 'generational change,' says Epic CEO Tim Sweeney: 'A lot of games are released with high budgets, and they're not selling'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-games-industry-is-undergoing-a-generational-change-says-epic-ceo-tim-sweeney-a-lot-of-games-are-released-with-high-budgets-and-theyre-not-selling/
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said during his address at today's Unreal Fest in Seattle that while there's still uncertainty about what exactly the metaverse is, the continuing growth of Fortnite—and the failure of a number of high-profile big-budget games to meet expectations—is proof that it represents the future of gaming.
Destiny 2 is adding new maps and factions to the superb Onslaught mode next week, but Bungie confirms no new 'shiny' weapons
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/destiny-2-is-adding-new-maps-and-factions-to-the-superb-onslaught-mode-next-week-but-bungie-confirms-no-new-shiny-weapons/
These days, when I log onto Destiny 2, which for my sins I still do most nights, the conversation with my clan mates has a funeral air. The talk invariably turns to what Bungie should do to stem the player base from bleeding out in the wake of The Final Shape expansion, and the backdrop of mass layoffs at the studio. The one thing we all agree is that the brilliant Onslaught horde mode, which was introduced as part of the Into the Light update in April, needs to be a cornerstone of whatever comes next.
So, good news! When Episode 2: Revenant launches next Tuesday, it will include a revamped version of the mode called Onslaught: Salvation. Wisely, it ticks off almost all the features from players' wishlists: Three new maps (Widows Cout was shown during the live stream), two new enemy factions (Vex and Shadow Legion Cabal), and a suite of new defensive upgrades to the tide.
Smite developer Hi-Rez Studios lays off employees to ensure 'long-term success'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/smite-developer-hi-rez-studios-lays-off-employees-to-ensure-long-term-success/
The videogame industry has been suffering a malaise since the start of 2023 that somehow still shows no sign of abating. September alone saw people put out of work at Mountaintop Studios, Airship Syndicate, Evening Star, Microsoft, Midnight Society, Lost Boys Interactive, Ballistic Moon, and Rocksteady. Now it's October 1 and here we go again: Hi-Rez Studios CEO Stewart Chisam has announced the "difficult but necessary" layoff of an unspecified number of employees, saying the cuts were made "to ensure Hi-Rez's long-term success."
Devolver has a new label dedicated to making games based on comics, films, TV shows and 'cult heroes'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/devolver-has-a-new-label-dedicated-to-making-games-based-on-comics-films-tv-shows-and-cult-heroes/
Devolver will start publishing game adaptations of films, comics, TV shows and "cult heroes" under the label Big Fan, the company announced today. Like Devolver itself, Big Fan will focus on indie studios, which will presumably lead to more risky (or at least more realistically budgeted) adaptations. Think stuff like John Wick Hex, which was not coincidentally published by Devolver subsidiary Good Shepherd.
Leaked screenshots claiming to be from the next Sims game Project Rene have surfaced and fans are in shambles over them
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-sims/leaked-screenshots-claiming-to-be-from-the-next-sims-game-project-rene-have-surfaced-and-fans-are-in-shambles-over-them/
Screenshots that claim to be from a recent playtest for the next major Sims game, codenamed Project Rene have surfaced, and the Sims community is absolutely not picking up what EA is putting down.
Please excuse my bad English.
Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070
Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.