Fallout 76 Could Get Single Player Options In The Future

Posted: July 4, 2018 in Game Articles
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by Tom Chapman via Screen Rant

Although the upcoming Fallout 76 will be the franchise’s first online multiplayer, Bethesda boss Todd Howard says single-player options could appear in the future. Despite an impressive marketing campaign ahead of Fallout 76‘s November release, many gamers are still left confused about how the game will work.

As fans once again prepare to head out into the Wasteland, they’re promised that Fallout 76 won’t be as lonely as previous titles in the series. Teamwork is key in the MMO, and although NPCs are being almost totally done away with to make for a PvP experience, developers have clearly looked into returning to a classic Fallout formula somewhere down the line.

Fallout 76 may be something different to the “main” series of Fallout games, but that hasn’t stopped Howard reiterating that it will still be part of the same family. Asked by Italian website Multiplayer.it whether Fallout 76 will contain any single-player areas or dedicated player vs environment servers, he confirmed that it won’t be part of the game’s launch:

“Not at the launch. When you come into play you can see the other players but you will not be forced to interact with them; you can play on your own. You can see them but you do not have to fight them. Maybe you can use them to exchange items, to join a team, or you can visit their camp. There are a lot of things you can do with other players that is not a comparison with weapons. However, one of our long-term plans is to have servers where you can live your lonely world. You alone. Or at the limit where you can invite only your friends; or you can apply mods and change the rules at your discretion. All of this is in our projects but there will not be at the launch of the game.”

While Howard doesn’t give a timeframe for the possible introduction of a single-player option, the popularity of Grand Theft Auto Online shows the potential of a game like Fallout 76 running for a long time. If Fallout 76 is as popular as Bethesda hopes, it could become an evolving title that might one day have single-player servers or even move beyond its West Virginia backdrop.

Considering Fallout 76 has made such a big deal about its cooperative mechanics and working together as part of a team, it makes sense that Bethesda continues to push the unique selling point when the game launches. That being said, World of Warcraft has already shown the benefits of PvE within a multiplayer game. It is a handy way for casual gamers to train and level up without the fear of being harassed by bloodthirsty players. On the flip side, PvE can be criticized as a lonely style of gameplay that encourages fans to go it alone rather than get into the spirit of teamwork.

There is a long-term plan as Bethesda promises cosmetic microtransactions will help fund Fallout 76’s DLC options for “years and years.” What the game’s shelf left is remains to be seen, but it sounds like those aloof players who want to become their own scavenging loners will also be catered for at some point. Whether buddying up to take on the apocalypse with friends or echoing the single-player campaigns of the Sole Survivor, Courier, and Lone Wanderer, Bethesda is working on something for everyone with Fallout 76.

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‘Shenmue’ returns August 21st

Posted: July 3, 2018 in Game Articles
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by Kris Holt, via Engadget

Everything we know about the next Xbox console

Posted: June 28, 2018 in Game Articles
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by Gabe Gurwin via Digital Trends

It has been nearly five years since the launch of the Xbox One, and the console has changed significantly over that time with the discontinuation of Kinect, full redesign of the Xbox One S, and major enhancements of the Xbox One X. But revisions like these can only get a console so far, and it has us thinking about what comes next. Here is everything we know about the next Xbox console.

Sony’s PlayStation Now subscription service allows PlayStation 4 users to stream games from the cloud instead of buying and downloading them outright, and in Japan, the Nintendo Switch has even flirted with this for Resident Evil 7.

No such service exists on the Xbox One, but during Microsoft’s E3 2018 presentation, Phil Spencer revealed that his team is currently developing cloud gaming technology that will allow you to play console-quality titles from several devices. It goes without saying that the next Xbox will be one of the supported systems, and this service could save players money if they want to try a game for a few hours before purchasing it.

However, it’s very unlikely that the next Xbox will drop support for discs. The Xbox One S and X are the only two consoles on the market that support 4K Blu-ray discs, and with internet speeds still slow in much of the United States, physical games still serve a purpose.

It will likely be backward compatible

The Xbox One introduced backward compatibility with Xbox 360 games a few years ago, and it eventually added backward compatibility with original Xbox games, as well. It appears this will continue with the next generation of Xbox, though what form this will take remains unclear.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Phil Spencer said he is “very proud of [Xbox’s] track record of compatibility” and that he wants to respect players’ previous purchases. Nothing concrete was revealed, but this certainly makes it sound like Xbox One games will be supported on the next Xbox.

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Virtual reality won’t become reality

Mike Nichols, Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer for Xbox, squashed the rumors about virtual reality support by telling Gameindustry.biz that “We don’t have any plans specific to Xbox” for VR, or even mixed reality.

The “specific to Xbox” phrase could give Microsoft an out, since it’s possible the company could bring over technology from Windows. Still, that seems like a long shot, because Microsoft has struggled there, too.

The hardware will be similar, but quicker

There’s no firm rumors about what will be in next Xbox, but there’s also not many options. Both Microsoft and Sony turned to using x86-based processors, like those found in PCs, with the latest console generation. They also turned to using AMD to build graphics. Both those solutions remains the most sensible, so it’s unlikely we’ll see anything different in the next Xbox.

That said, the follow-up will of course be more powerful than the Xbox One X. The architecture of the current Xbox One and Xbox One X suggest the company has many opportunities for improvement. It could increase the CPU core count, change the CPU architecture, or upgrade to a new GPU architecture, like AMD’s Vega or perhaps even Navi, which isn’t yet in production but is on AMD’s roadmap.

It’s codenamed ‘Scarlett’ and it’s two years away

According to Thurrott’s Brad Sams, the next Xbox consoles are being codenamed “Scarlett,” similar to how the Xbox One X was referred to as “Project Scorpio” before its final name was revealed.

The same report claimed the systems are planned for release in 2020, which would fall in line with Microsoft’s general timeline for hardware launches. The Xbox 360 was followed by the Xbox One eight years later, but that was an unusually long time for a console generation. Given the relatively low sales numbers for the Xbox One since its launch, expediting this process seems likely.

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Major changes are coming to ‘Fortnite’ and the most popular player in the world isn’t happy about it

Posted: June 22, 2018 in Game Articles
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by Ben Gilbert via Business Insider

Major changes are coming to “Fortnite,” and this time it’s not a meteor.

Instead, “Fortnite” maker Epic Games says it’s exploring ways to evolve the gameplay of Battle Royale so the last few minutes of each match, “don’t boil down to ‘just build lol’.” That’s a direct quote, mind you.

As things are right now, players who reach the end of a given match in “Fortnite” are likely to encounter rockets, endless building, and shotguns. “The superiority of shotguns, rockets, and uncapped building are such a dominant play style in the final circle that most other strategies are being drowned out,” the post from Epic Games says.

So, what changes are coming? And when? That’s not clear.

“We are exploring changes to weapon balance and resource economy, like e.g. resource caps,” the post says, under the “Recent & Upcoming Changes” section. Expect those changes “over the next few weeks.”

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Epic is proposing some major shifts to the core of “Fortnite” — with over 125 million people playing the game any little change impacts a ton of people. One very prominent member of that massive audience is Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, who makes his living streaming “Fortnite” online.

And Blevins isn’t happy with the potential for resource caps.

“You’re just gonna have a potential situation where a bad player is just spraying [shooting] you, and you run out of materials, and then you die. That would make a good player rage,” he said on a stream this week. “I took the time to farm 999 wood, by golly I wanna use it!”

Given the massive popularity of Battle Royale games in general — from “Fortnite” to “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” and beyond — it makes sense that Epic wants to continue evolving its game. If “Fortnite” stays the same forever, it risks boring players and eventually losing them; if “Fortnite” changes too much, it risks alienating players and eventually losing them.

We’ll see how it plays out in the coming weeks as Epic implements changes for “Fortnite.”

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Microsoft says it’s no longer planning VR support on Xbox

Posted: June 20, 2018 in Game Articles
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by Adi Robertson via The Verge

Microsoft has completely pulled back on plans to support virtual reality headsets on the Xbox. In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer of gaming Mike Nichols said that “we don’t have any plans specific to Xbox consoles in virtual reality or mixed reality.” Nichols goes on to say that the PC is “probably the best platform” for virtual and mixed reality, and that for the Xbox, “our focus is primarily on experiences you would play on your TV.”

This basically completes the slow decay of Microsoft’s console VR plans, at least for now. In 2016, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said that the upcoming Project Scorpio console would support “high-end VR” like that available on Windows PCs. Since Microsoft had previously partnered with Oculus to support Xbox controllers on the Oculus Rift, there was widespread speculation that Scorpio might work with the Rift as well.

This never happened, but later that year, Microsoft announced an entire line of VR headsets — and a few months after that, it said that mixed reality content would be coming to Xbox devices in 2018. However, at last year’s E3, Spencer was substantially less enthusiastic. He told Road to VR that although he was “long-term bullish” on VR, it wasn’t ready to come to Xbox yet, and the market was “years away.” Now, Nichols is barely even expressing interest in the platform.

Spencer described an “over-exuberance” in Microsoft’s early VR plans, and the market has definitely grown more slowly than many imagined. However, Microsoft’s competitor Sony has done reasonably well with its PlayStation VR headset, and Microsoft has gone forward with several PC VR headsets alongside partners like Samsung and Acer. Microsoft is still trying to shore up the Xbox One’s shaky position, though, in part because it overemphasized selling the Kinect motion controllerearly on. It’s not surprising to see the company’s Xbox VR plans slip away — especially since it’s largely focusing on business uses for its mixed reality headsets.

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Former Head Of Sony Online Entertainment Lays Out ‘Dumb Reason’ For No PS4 Cross-Play

Posted: June 19, 2018 in Opinion Piece
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by Paul  Tassi via Forbes

The storm around a lack of cross-play on PS4 has not abated in the wake of the news out of E3 that not only can you not play with Xbox or Switch players if you have a PS4-linked Fortnite account, but that you cannot use that account at all on either of those platforms.

Sony has issued a statement that somehow manages to boast about its sales numbers while dodging the account-locking part of the problem entirely. Epic has now thrown up error messages throwing indirect shade at Sony for the problem, but don’t seem to be interested in picking a fight other than simply saying “we wish this could happen.”

But now someone else is making news. That would be John Smedley, the former head of Sony Online Entertainment (and current head of Amazon Game Studios), who seems like he’d have some pretty good insight into the situation. And it appears he does.

After calling for “pressure” on Sony to make the issue go away, Smedley went on to explain via Twitter the reason that Sony gave for why they don’t want cross-play:

“btw when I was at Sony, the stated reason internally for this was money. They didn’t like someone buying something on an Xbox and it being used on a Playstation. simple as that. dumb reason, but there it is.”

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This is, of course, what many people assume is happening, despite statements like the one below, given by then head of PlayStation global sales and marketing, Jim Ryan after E3 2017 when it was Minecraft cross-play being debated:

“We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe,” said Ryan. “Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it’s something we have to think about very carefully.”

No one really took this seriously at the time, and “we’re doing it for the children” practically became a meme afterward. But combined with the statement from the former president of SOE, this really does not look great for Sony.

I get it, it’s a business, Sony wants money and wants everyone to own games on PlayStation and buy all their games on PlayStation. And yet clearly that’s not what fans want and where the industry is moving as a whole. Sure, Microsoft may be able to embrace the whole cross-play thing because they’re behind in sales, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t pro-consumer all the same. Sony, after years of besting Microsoft at almost every turn this generation, is clearly on the wrong side of the issue here, and now with Nintendo getting involved, a market leader itself with seemingly no qualms about cross-play, it makes them look even worse.

I have to imagine that there are frantic discussions behind the scenes here between Epic, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to try and work this out, and yet as has been pointed out, if Sony caves for Fortnite, they’ll have to cave for all games that want cross-play, and it’s very clear they do not want to open those floodgates. At this point, I’d put more money on them trying to ride out the storm than actually changing anything, but clearly this is not going to be the last time this issue comes up.

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‘Gaming disorder’ is officially recognized by the World Health Organization

Posted: June 18, 2018 in Announcements, Game Articles
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by Brian Heater via TechCrunch

Honestly, “gaming disorder” sounds like a phrase tossed around by irritated parents and significant others. After much back and forth, however, the term was just granted validity, as the World Health Organization opted to include it in the latest edition of its Internal Classification of Diseases.

The volume, out this week, diagnoses the newly minted disorder with three key telltale signs:

  1. Impaired control over gaming (e.g. onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context)
  2. Increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities
  3. Continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences

I can hear the collective sound of many of my friends gulping at the sound of eerily familiar symptoms. Of course, the disorder has been criticized from a number of corners, including health professionals who have written it off as being overly broad and subjective. And, of course, the potential impact greatly differs from person to person and game to game.

The effects as specified above share common ground with other similar addictive activities defined by the WHO, including gambling disorder:

“Disorders due to addictive behaviours are recognizable and clinically significant syndromes associated with distress or interference with personal functions that develop as a result of repetitive rewarding behaviours other than the use of dependence-producing substances,” writes the WHO. “Disorders due to addictive behaviors include gambling disorder and gaming disorder, which may involve both online and offline behaviour.”

In spite of what may appear to be universal symptoms, however, the organization is quick to note that the prevalence of gaming disorder, as defined by the WHO, is actually “very low.” WHO member Dr. Vladimir Poznyak tells CNN, “Millions of gamers around the world, even when it comes to the intense gaming, would never qualify as people suffering from gaming disorder.”

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Sony is shutting itself off to Xbox and Nintendo gamers — and it could totally blow PlayStation’s lead in the console wars

Posted: June 16, 2018 in Opinion Piece
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by Dave Smith via Business Insider

The PlayStation 4 is the market leader in terms of game consoles sold this generation, by a long shot. With sales so gargantuan — 79 million PS4s sold, and 80 million monthly active users on the PlayStation Network — you’d think Sony would be confident about the PlayStation 4.

But Sony’s stance on cross-play between the PS4 and rival consoles, like the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One, is not only backward, it’s downright cynical, and it makes the company look more vulnerable than it really is.

This isn’t a new stance on Sony’s part, but as more and more games are made for multiple platforms, like “Fortnite,” it’s become increasingly obvious that keeping players from being able to access their accounts on multiple consoles, or letting people play with their friends on different consoles, only makes Sony look borderline fearful.

In contrast, Nintendo and Microsoft come off looking nice and open when it comes to issues of cross-play. Their actions obviously speak volumes — “Minecraft” players on Xbox can play with their Nintendo Switch brethren, and so forth. But while neither company’s statements have called out Sony by name, it’s quite obvious who they’re talking about.

Just listen to what Xbox chief Phil Spencer told Business Insider correspondent Ben Gilbert this week at E3, when asked about cross-play (emphasis mine):

“Say you’re not into gaming, and it’s your kid’s birthday. You buy them a console. I buy my kid a console. We happen to buy consoles of different colors — you bought the blue one, I bought the green one. Now those kids want to play a game together and they can’t because their parents bought different consoles.

I don’t know who that helps. It doesn’t help the developer. The developer just wants more people to play their game. It doesn’t help the player. The players just want to play with their friends who also play games on console. So, I just get stuck in who this is helping.”

Obviously, if you don’t consider what people actually want and only the sales numbers, you can see why Sony doesn’t want cross-play. Right now, if you want to play games with your friends that own a PlayStation 4, you have to go out and buy a PlayStation 4 yourself. If you could play those same games with your friends on a more affordable console, like a Nintendo Switch or Xbox One, that’s one less reason for people to buy a PS4. So, Microsoft and Nintendo have much to gain from cross-play being a thing, if you look at it that way.

But to only consider console sales — a single metric — is a cynical and short-sighted attitude, especially since Sony’s stance on cross-play doesn’t necessarily make PlayStation 4 owners happy either. I own a PlayStation 4 and a Nintendo Switch, for example, and I was really bummed to learn this week that I couldn’t play “Fortnite” on my Switch unless I created a new account specifically for the Switch.

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Considering how so many of the 2+ million people who downloaded “Fortnite” for Switch in its first 24 hours of availability had the same issues I did, and reacted over social media in kind, Sony was forced to release a statement addressing the cross-play furor on Thursday. But the statement itself was carefully worded so as to not mention the millions of Nintendo Switch and Xbox One customers frustrated by Sony’s decision.

“We offer ‘Fortnite’ cross-play support with PC, Mac, iOS, and Android devices, expanding the opportunity for ‘Fortnite’ fans on PS4 to play with even more gamers on other platforms,” Sony told the BBC.

If Sony were smart, it would at least allow cross-play for certain titles, where it has less to gain from being restrictive. The case of “Fortnite” is less about cross-play and more about letting one access an account on multiple game consoles, but “Fortnite” is a game that millions of people play every day, even on smartphones; cross-play should be allowed there. Similarly, millions of people — especially little kids — play “Minecraft” every single day, and I bet they would be very happy if they could all play together whether they own a PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch or Xbox One.

Sony is the clear market leader in game consoles this generation, and its future looks bright with so many excellent games coming from Sony-backed studios over the next several years. Those games can only be played on the PlayStation 4, and Sony should be confident in those titles, and the other features that set PlayStation apart. But for customers’ sake, and for the company’s own PR, it should learn that there are occasions where it makes sense to play nice with others.

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‘Batman Arkham’ Developer Rocksteady Apologizes to Fans for E3 Absence

Posted: June 14, 2018 in Game Articles
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by Stefanie Fogel via Variety

Rocksteady Studios, the developer behind the popular “Batman Arkham” series, is apologizing to fans for skipping this week’s E3 event in Los Angeles.

“We know some of you were disappointed we were not at E3 this year,” Rocksteady co-founder and game director Sefton Hill tweeted on Wednesday. “The whole team has been reading your comments, and all of us here at Rocksteady really appreciate your passion for our next project. Knowing how much it means to you keeps us inspired and energized to deliver a game that you will be proud of. We’ll share it with you as soon as it’s ready.”

Rocksteady’s last-known project was a virtual reality adventure game called “Batman Arkham VR.” It launched on PlayStation 4 and PC in 2016. Later that same year, Hill revealed in a Reddit AMA the team is working on something new.

“We’re very hard at work on our next project but we won’t be releasing the details for a while,” he wrote. “When we do you guys will be first to hear as we want to get the community involved heavily in what we do next.”

Since then, fans have wildly speculated about whether or not Rocksteady is creating a new DC superhero-based game (it’s one of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s in-house studios) and which property it could be. Rumor is it’s working on a Superman titlein Unreal Engine 4 that will be three times larger than “Arkham Knight.”

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Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox console will reportedly launch in 2020

Posted: June 13, 2018 in Game Articles
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by Jacob Siegal via BGR News

At its E3 press briefing on Sunday, Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, confirmed that the next generation of Xbox consoles is already being made, suggesting that it won’t be long before we see new hardware from Microsoft. He didn’t share a release date, an image, or offer any specific details, but nearly five years after introducing the Xbox One, Microsoft is finally ready to clear a path for the ninth generation of game consoles in the coming years.

But just because Microsoft wasn’t able to get into specifics doesn’t mean that we have to settle for vague teases. On Tuesday, Brad Sams of Thurrott.com reported that Microsoft is currently planning to release its next Xbox console in 2020. The future of Xbox is codenamed “Scarlett,” but that name actually refers to a family of devices.

Here’s what Spencer said about the next Xbox near the end of the E3 2018 press briefing on Sunday:

The same team that delivered unprecedented performance with Xbox One X is deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles, where we will once again deliver on our commitment to set the benchmark for console gaming.

Jargon aside, the fact that Spencer referred to “the next Xbox consoles” seems significant. Sams doesn’t know if the new hardware will consist of completely new devices or be more in line with the One X, but considering how recently the One X launched, it would be shocking to see Microsoft abandon the platform altogether in 2020. This might point to the Xbox Two (or whatever it’s called) being backwards compatible with the Xbox One. And we also have to take into consideration the “console-quality game streaming network” the company is building.

Be it consoles, phones, games, or anything else, leaks this far out are always worth taking with a grain of salt, even if they come from reliable sources. Microsoft’s plans could change over the course of the next year, and between Spencer’s proclamations and this new report, we know that the Xbox team is getting ready for the future of console gaming.

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