Gamer's Outpost Press (Archived)

by Paul Tassi

It seems a day can’t go by without some news breaking about which upcoming games will hit 1080p and 60 FPS, and which ones will miss that mark. Developers are constantly coming forward to try and get ahead of these stories so their games don’t launch and their native resolution becomes some kind of scandal, which is what we saw in the early days of the new console war between Xbox One and PS4.

And really, these resolution differences are one of the last major fighting points between the two consoles, now that the two are borderline indistinguishable from one another. Sony fans tout that their system hits the 1080p/60 FPS mark more often than Microsoft’s console, while Xbox fans seem content to shrug and say they don’t care, as it really isn’t a big deal.

But some people care. A Lot. Hence the reason for this post. I thought I’d compile all the recent resolution news in one spot so you can get a handle on which game will run at which resolution and FPS on which consoles. Here we go:

– Bioware says Dragon Age: Inquisition will run at 1080p on PS4 and 900p on Xbox One, “maximizing the potential of each system.”

– Ubisoft is targeting 1080p and 30 FPS for Far Cry 4 on PS4. No word on Xbox One yet.

– PES 2015 will run at 1080p/60 FPS on PS4, 720p/60 FPS on Xbox One.

– Mortal Kombat X runs at 1080p/60 FPS, and the implication is that it may hit that mark on both consoles.

– Assassin’s Creed: Unity will run at 900p/30 FPS on both PS4 and Xbox One. Originally Ubisoft said this was to “avoid all the debates and stuff,” but later clarified that they were not purposefully hamstringing the PS4 version to be on par with Xbox One.

Those are some of the more major games where resolution has been in the news, and some big fall titles have not yet addressed the issue like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. If you want to delve into the past, IGN has a great chart showing the native resolution and framerates of a lot of games on the PS4 and Xbox One, along with which system has the advantage. It’s the one you’re guessing.

The question has always been…does any of this really matter?

I’d argue yes, but not for the reasons many think.

The functional difference between 1080p and 900p or even 720p on home consoles is not nearly as noticeable as it is on PC, where you’re sitting two feet away from the screen. Most Xbox One players have probably played many 720p or 900p titles and then popped over to their friends’ to play the same game on PS4, and were probably none the wiser about the resolution difference. Framerate, however, is more noticeable, which is why sacrificing 1080p on occasion for 60 FPS seems worthwhile.

The problem is that even the resolution difference is functionally irrelevant across PS4 and Xbox One, the debate and all these news stories feed into the narrative that the Xbox is underpowered when compared to Sony’s system. Though the power difference is largely negligible, and hardly the difference between say, the Wii U and the PS4, if given two consoles with a practically identical games line-up, many consumers may make their decision based on the idea that yes, the Xbox One is less powerful. And that’s why this all matters, and has mattered from the beginning.

The problem is, the perception is already there, and Mucrosoft working overtime to try and get Xbox One up to the same FPS/resolution standards as Sony is admirable, but probably a lot more work than it’s worth in practice.

It’s not really a functionality problem that affects games in meaningful ways. Rather, consumers simply have expectations that of course new generation consoles would be able to hit 1080p/60 FPS consistently. I mean, TV is moving for 4K for crying out loud, right? Yes, but gaming is in a different place, and if resolution is your primary concern, I suggest you take up PC gaming, as has always been the case. The new console generation hasn’t changed that equation, though that realization has been something of a letdown for fans.

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by Paul Tassi

Destiny’s raid has been the source of much joy and frustration among players since its launch nearly a month ago. Joy for those who have gotten to experience and beat the most challenging, most innovative, most rewarding content of the game. Frustration for those whose schedules don’t allow them to organize a 6-man raiding party to beat a raid that can take anywhere from two to ten hours, depending on your skill level and knowledge of what’s inside.

I always wondered about how with Bungie’s lack of Raid matchmaking and how challenging the content is, how many players would actually attempt and complete the Raid in its current form. Now we have answers from Bungie themselves. Here are the vital stats (via the Bungie Weekly Update and Kotaku):

Destiny averages 3.2M players every day with an average playtime of 3 hours a day(!)

1,970,807 players have attempted the Raid on Normal

472,082 players have defeated the Raid on Normal

202,729 players have attempted the Raid on Hard

36,181 players have defeated the Raid on Hard

Honestly, this is more than I anticipated in all categories. 1.9M attempts out of 3.2M active players is a pretty solid ratio. So is 472K who have actually beaten it. That’s about 15% of daily active players who have beaten the Raid, meant to be the top-tier challenging content of the game. Given these numbers, it seems it’s working as intended.

And yet, I’m still convinced the Raid needs matchmaking, both in-game and out of game.

Out of game, there are a number of pretty solid third party sites that have sprung up which try to connect players together in order to form raiding or Nightfall parties. Destinylfg, ThatWizardCamefromtheMoon, and so on. Still, it is inexcusable that none of these sites were set up by Bungie themselves ahead of time when it was them who made the “friends only” matchmaking rule in the first place. A Bungie site would have the budget to be a lot more in-depth and effective than these third party sites (though they’ve done a great job), and should have existed from the beginning.

And yet, the problem remains with these sites that if you’re going online to try and find anywhere from 1-5 strangers to round out your team, why is there simply not randomized matchmaking in the game in the first place? Finding a group of strangers online is more or less randomized matchmaking itself, only stupidly annoying to organize compared to an automated in-game system.

I understand the downsides of Raid matchmaking which always come up each time this topic is raised. There’s little to stop you from getting throw into the game with lower level players or poorly communicative teammates, but honestly, that happens already regardless. And while sure, many match-made teams will likely disintegrate and most won’t reach end the end of the Raid, at least it would give players a chance to experience the content in a way that doesn’t force them to go on outside forums looking for a group, or sending random invites to everyone they see in the Tower. And I’m willing to bet that even randomly matchmade groups could grow to become a tightly knit team if they communicate and perform well. That’s already happened to me many times on matchmade Strikes, where I’ve stuck with the same group mission after mission, and had a pair of new friend requests waiting for me when I was finished. Why couldn’t that happen for the Raid as well?

Again, this comes down to something I was talking about earlier this week, that Destiny’s next update needs to be heavily social-focused, as it’s too hard to make friends effectively in the game.

I just don’t see the downside in inserting matchmaking into high level events like Raid, Nightfall and Heroic Strikes. Right now some players don’t get to experience this content at all because of those restrictions. With matchmaking, sure, it may prove to be more challenging and frustrating than with a tightly knit group of your buddies or max level strangers, but at least the challenge is presented, not avoided entirely. Worst case scenario you don’t beat the mission and you’ll come back another day, but at least you got to try. Best case you find a good group that you stick with until the end, and you’ll probably make a few friends after an ordeal so harrowing.

Even if these Raid numbers are higher than I may have anticipated, I still believe matchmaking is a must. There’s no point hiding what is far and away the best content of the game from half or more of your players due to arbitrary restrictions that require players to manually organize their own teams outside of the game.

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by Anthony McCartney

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will defend Activision in court against a lawsuit filed by disgraced Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega over the “Call of Duty” franchise, the video game maker said Thursday.

Giuliani joined the legal team fighting Noriega’s lawsuit last month but had not been expected to argue the video game giant’s case at an Oct. 16 hearing.

Noriega sued Activision Blizzard Inc. in July over his inclusion in 2012’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops II.” The former military dictator did not authorize the use of his likeness in the game, but Activision contends its usage is protected by the First Amendment.

The ex-dictator sued, claiming the game maker depicted him as a killer and enemy of the state. The game features a story line in which players capture Noriega, who in turn helps the game’s villain.

Activision contends that Noriega plays a minor role in the game and his case should be dismissed.

“If successful, this case would obliterate the entire genre of historical fiction,” Giuliani wrote in a statement. “I couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of being back in court to defend the makers of Call of Duty against this convicted murderer who wants to make a mockery of the U.S. legal system and attack our right to free speech.”

Previous “Call of Duty” games have featured historical figures such as President John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro.

In a sworn declaration, Noriega wrote that he learned his likeness had been used in the game after his grandchildren played it and asked why one of the missions focused on captured the ex-dictator.

Noriega’s lawyers argue that the First Amendment defense doesn’t apply because Activision copied the ex-dictator’s likeness without consent and did not transform his video game character into something different from his actual persona.

“Here, Activision painstakingly created a character in its ‘Black Ops II’ game that was nothing more than a conventional, high-tech recreation of General Manuel Noriega,” Noriega’s lawyers wrote in a filing earlier this month.

Noriega was toppled in 1989 by a U.S. invasion and served a 17-year drug trafficking sentence in the United States. He later was convicted in France of money laundering, and that country repatriated him to Panama in December 2011. Noriega, 80, is serving a 60-year sentence for murder, embezzlement and corruption.

He has had health issues in recent months and has been treated for high blood pressure, flu and bronchitis. His family also has said he has a benign brain tumor and heart trouble.

Giuliani, who led New York City’s government for two terms — including during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — is also a former U.S. attorney and sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. In private practice, Giuliani worked as a free speech lawyer, representing major news outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and the financial magazine Barron’s.

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by Paul Tassi

Despite the struggles of the Wii U, it’s hard to find anyone, fans or critics alike, who isn’t excited for this November’s Super Smash Bros. installment for Nintendo’s latest console. We’ve been hearing about the game for literally years at this point, and now that Nintendo has finally set a premiere date for it (November 21st), everyone can breathe easy about further delays (we hope).

But naturally, fans aren’t pleased with every bit of information that’s come out regarding the game. One frequent topic of conversation has been the usual addition of clones. In Smash Bros. for Wii U’s case, that includes Lucina, Dark Pit and Doctor Mario, who aren’t really new characters, but just alternate models for existing characters in the game with a few minor tweaks. Think Mario vs. Luigi in the original Super Smash 64. In fact, every Smash Bros. game has a few of these types of clones, but some fans are upset that more work wasn’t put in into making them fully-fledged characters.

Smash Bros. director Mashiro Sakurai explained a bit about why and how clones exist when speaking to Famitsu with translation from Nintendo Everything:

“There are 3 fighters [Lucina, Dark Pit, and Doctor Mario] that are alternate models (clones) in the game. Each was originally a color variation, but during development, they were given balanced characteristics. Since their functionality had differences, forms were separated from each other. However, it was vital that this didn’t increase the required man-hours. Some relative tuning was sufficient as it wasn’t necessary to create balancing from scratch.”

Seems logical, but Sakurai goes on to appear downright offended at the implication that fans “deserve” more from him and his team in terms of making these clones into more involved characters.

“This is like a free dessert after a luxurious meal that was prepared free of charge. In a restaurant with this type of service, I don’t think there’s anybody who would say, “Change this to a meat dish!!” Yet, I’m told [to do that] about Smash Bros. But, I guess since a lot of them are children, it cannot be helped.”

Ouch. Perhaps this is one of those times where translation makes a statement sound more blunt than it is, but those are some pretty harsh words for his critics. I’m not sure if he genuinely believes that children are the ones complaining about these kinds of things, but I think most of us in the gaming space know that grown adults throw plenty of tantrums about their favorite games, depending on the topic at hand. I have to imagine that’s the case here as well, in addition to any actual children who may be complaining.

While I understand why fans may want more unique characters in the game, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is hardly lacking for fighters, and boasts a beefy roster, whether you include the clones or not. Here, Sakurai is essentially saying “You get clones or nothing” with these characters, and I can’t say that’s an incorrect stance to take. Would you want Smash delayed to 2015 so these three clones can become a bit more fleshed out? Because I certainly wouldn’t.

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by Emily Gera

Actress Lindsay Lohan continues her lawsuit against Grand Theft Auto 5 makers Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games with a new 67-page complaint against the companies for allegedly using her likeness in the open-world video game, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The new complaint features 45 pages of pictorial evidence, including one of the game discs that features the image of a blonde, bikini-laden woman. According to the text, the suit emphasizes a “common interest among all celebrities, actors, singers, and athletes … to protect their likeness and personas from misappropriation by unscrupulous merchandisers.”

The filing also alleges that Take-Two Interactive used this female character on merchandise and advertising: “The Defendants were in the business of selling games as opposed to artists displaying artwork in galleries for profit where unauthorized images or portraits of individuals were reproduced in limited editions as opposed to the mass production for commercial promotion and financial gain.”

The Associated Press reported earlier this year that Lohan’s legal team filed a lawsuit in a Manhattan court that alleges Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games based GTA 5 character Lacey Jonas on the actress, who has starred in Herbie Fully Loaded and The Canyons.

The developer “incorporated her image, likeness, clothing, outfits, [Lohan’s] clothing line products, ensemble in the form of hats, hair style, sunglasses” and the jean shorts worn by Lohan without her permission, according to the complaint.

The suit also alleges that the in-game hotel Gentry Manor, based on West Hollywood hotel Chateau Marmont, is associated with Lohan, as she formerly resided there.

In Grand Theft Auto 5, players can encounter Lacey Jonas in a mission in which they must escort her to escape the paparazzi. Her in-game dialogue portrays her as a famous Vinewood actress with an eating disorder. You can see what she looks like in the image at the top of the page.

Lawyers for Take Two had previously claimed the lawsuit filed by Lohan was done “for publicity purposes.”

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by ‘James’

Ubisoft has issued a response to the recent concerns surrounding the “parity” the studio has made for their upcoming game, Assassin’s Creed Unity.

Vincent Pontbriand, the mind who started this whole commotion by stating they shot for parity between the two consoles to avoid any “debates and stuff” was the first to issue a response. Pontbriand stated that they would “absolutely not” lower the resolution for the PS4 version, something they’ve been working on for four years.

Like before, Pontbriand cites Unity’s massive crowds and the detail Ubisoft has put into Paris as the reasons both versions are 900p/30fps:

“We realize we had also pushed for 1080p in some of our previous games, including AC4. But we made the right decision to focus our resources on delivering the best gameplay experience, and resolution is just one factor. There is a real cost to all those NPCs, to all the details in the city, to all the systems working together, and to the seamless co-op gameplay. We wanted to be absolutely uncompromising when it comes to the overall gameplay experience. Those additional pixels could only come at a cost to the gameplay.”

Assassin’s Creed Unity will be available on the PS4 and Xbox One on November 11th.

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by Giuseppe Nelva

Microsoft’s Xbox Division head honcho Phil Spencer was interviewed by the good folks at The Inner Circle podcast, and he had a lot to say about the future of Xbox One, starting with the promise that he’s listening to feedback on Backwards Compatibility:

“Back compat is always a hot topic at the turn of a generation, and I get why, especially on 360 so many people bought so much digital content and it means that a lot of us are holding on to our 360s. I get the question. I totally respect the question. There’s nothing I can say now, but I’ll just say “I hear you.” I definitely hear you and I’ll continue to try to work to build something that can help people out.”

He then moved on to talk about the cloud, explaining what we can expect from the technology as it gets gradually adopted by developers and admitting that communicating it better with gamers may be a good idea:

“On cloud, and I don’t know, people always make fun of me when I say cloud, I need to come up with another word (laughs). Just like with dedicated servers and people playing multiplayer, but people don’t think of that as cloud because everybody does it, and I get that, but I think I looked at a stat the other day, and I bet it’s gonna be 34 to 40% of the games live this holidays are gonna be using the cloud technology that we put out in some way.”

“When you look at something like crackdown, you’re picking up something that’s trying to jump a leap ahead and do some things that people haven’t done before. Titanfall did some of this with the AI stuff that they did. […] Halo 5 is gonna be something that’s obviously making use of the technology.”

“In any kind of these technologies, you kind of do a little on the technology platform side, then you get some studio to try to use the tech, they tell you what’s working and what’s not working, the platform makes more progress, and you kinda iterate over time. […] Definitely from first party and third party we’re seeing more and more people look at the technology that we’re putting out there and use it. Maybe we should think about how to talk about it with consumers better.”

Finally, he gave a very straightforward answer on DirectX 12, that some touted as some miracle tech that somehow doubled the power of the Xbox One’s GPU, a view that Spencer doesn’t hesitate to curb with refreshing honesty:

“On the DX12 question, I was asked early on by people if DX12 is gonna dramatically change the graphics capabilities of Xbox One and I said it wouldn’t. I’m not trying to rain on anybody’s parade, but the CPU, GPU and memory that are on Xbox One don’t change when you go to DX12. DX12 makes it easier to do some of the things that Xbox One’s good at, which will be nice and you’ll see improvement in games that use DX12, but people ask me if it’s gonna be dramatic and I think I answered no at the time and I’ll say the same thing.”

Yet, Spencer explained that it’ll ease development especially for those working on both PC and Xbox One, since the API will make using the hardware on both platforms easier. He also mentioned that developers will get better at using DirectX 12 over time, and we’ll see a continuous increase in the fidelity of the games like it happened with Xbox 360.

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by Chris Reed

It’s a rare game these days that offers a high level of challenge. Most popular games are carefully play-tested and tweaked to offer a gentle difficulty curve. It makes sense: if you spent years making a game, wouldn’t you want as many people as possible to experience the entire thing from start to finish?

That said, when a game comes along that uses exceptional difficulty in a smart way, it can give players a truly rewarding experience. To beat these games, you must pay attention, learn and adapt, and you can’t give up. But when you succeed? Oh man, it feels good. It feels like you’ve accomplished something — because you have.

Below is a list of some of the best challenging games that are worth the effort. These are games that pull no punches and give no quarter. They’re also games that give you a feeling of deep satisfaction when you finally do beat them.

Dark Souls (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC)

The Souls series — which encompasses Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2, with Bloodborne coming next year — is far and away the highest profile set of games that fit the bill of being super challenging, but worth the effort. Just the fact that these games keep coming out is proof that a substantial number of gamers crave the kind of challenge they deliver.

For my money, the original Dark Souls is the best game in the series. It’s better balanced and easier to wrap your head around than Demon’s Souls. It’s also a little better designed than its sequel. If you’re not sure if you’re up to the task, feel free to use the guides and hints you can find online. There’s no shame in that, and they’re likely to save you a lot of time and frustration as you acclimate to the series. If you find that you enjoy the game, try playing another entry in the series without assistance.

Super Meat Boy (Xbox 360, PC)

Once you get past the fact that the main character is a squishy hunk of raw meat, you’ll find Super Meat Boy to be a surprisingly fresh take on the platforming genre. There’s no real gimmick to the gameplay here, so you’ll spend all your time running and jumping to get from point A to point B. The only problem is that deadly obstacles are everywhere. Depending on what level you’re in, these may come in the form of saw blades, enemies, or piles of salt — all of which kill you in a single hit.

This might be frustrating if not for the game’s brilliant design. Meat Boy has the perfect amount of inertia, making the controls incredibly tight. When you die (and you will die a lot), you respawn instantly at the beginning of the level, ready to try again. There’s very little punishment for your failure, which makes you always want to give the tough parts another shot.

1001 Spikes (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, PS Vita, Nintendo 3DS, PC)

Another game that’s designed to kill you at every turn is 1001 Spikes, a side-scrolling platformer with a very different feel from Suer Meat Boy. While all of the games on this list demand technical proficiency, 1001 Spikes requires you to play each level again and again, sussing out exactly where the danger will come from. Platforms crumble beneath your feet, spikes pop up in the most unlikely of places, and rocks plummet from the sky without any warning whatsoever.

There’s really no way to complete these levels without a lot of trial and error. That may put some people off, but if you don’t mind throwing yourself at a problem again and again, crossing the finish line can give you an exhilarating rush. No matter how good you are, there’s no way you can know where death lurks until you die.

Splunky (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, PC)

Before we talk about Spelunky, we have to talk about roguelikes. A roguelike is a game with randomly generated levels and something called “perma-death.” That means when you die, you lose all the progress you’ve made, and start back at the very beginning. The name “roguelike” comes from Rogue, the 1980 computer game that’s credited with kicking the genre off.

Spelunky is a roguelike. It’s a side-scrolling platformer made up of randomly generated levels, which means no two play-throughs will be exactly the same. The thing is, it’s a long game that takes several hours to complete, so when you die and have to restart from the beginning, it can be a little disheartening (to put it mildly). But for all you lose, you also learn a lot with every play-through. Most people who see Spelunky through to the end spend weeks or months playing before they have a chance to fight the final boss. But by the time you do, no one can say you haven’t earned it.

Hotline Miami (PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PC)

Some games have brutal difficulty, while others have brutal violence. Hotline Miami has both. This game is retro in just about every sense of the word. It has an 8-bit aesthetic (in fact, it’s kind of ugly), and a difficulty level that may make you throw your controller across the room. Thankfully, it also has a forgiving checkpoint system, so you never lose too much progress when you get one-hit killed.

In Hotline Miami you play as a hitman who receives mysterious phone calls, telling you where to go and who to kill. When you get to the location, without fail, it’s a building that’s crawling with bad guys. You can scope out the level, plan your attack, and then attempt your killing spree. It almost never works out the first time you try (or the first 12 times), but once you start, this is a game you’ll want to see through to the end.

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Wii U)

It’s weird to think of a Donkey Kong game as being challenging. He’s so cute and lovable! He’s a cartoon gorilla, for crying out loud! Those things are true, but it’s also true that the levels in this game are designed to kill you. Despite its kid-friendly looks, this is no kiddie game.

The levels in this game are incredibly dynamic, with all kinds of moving parts that can snuff out your life in the blink of an eye. Misjudge a jump or a cannon shot, or simply bump into a deviously placed enemy, and it’s game over. But for all its difficulty, this really is a brilliantly designed game. Each level introduces new ideas that are a blast to experience — even if you die so many times you end up experiencing them over and over.

VVVVVV (PC, Nintendo 3DS, iOS)

Another retro-style platformer is VVVVVV (that’s six Vs, for those counting at home). In this game, you can move left and right as usual, but when it comes to jumping, things get a little wonky. Instead of being able to do normal jumps, in this game you actually flip gravity, so your feet will leave the ground and you’ll go sailing toward the ceiling, where you can run around until you flip gravity again to come back down.

It’s a great idea, and the controls respond as quickly as you can push the buttons. However, flipping gravity doesn’t come natural to us humans, so expect to strain your brain as you try to navigate between fast-moving enemies and avoid spikes at the same time. (Spikes are everywhere in this game.) Again: a forgiving checkpoint system is in place to save you too much trouble when you die. But this is a game of reflexes, and you’ll be surprised by how quickly you can pass through environments you would have thought impossible just a few minutes ago.

Cloudberry Kingdom (Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC)

This tough-as-nails game is also a side-scrolling platformer. (Are we seeing a pattern here? Yes we are.) The levels are randomly generated, but they’re always beatable in the sense that it’s technically possible to beat them. Whether you’re able to do so or not is a matter of skill and luck.

The game doesn’t start out so hard, but as you progress more and more, swinging maces and rotating fire rods populate the levels. Then come the lasers, spike pistons, collapsing platforms, and lava columns. By the end, the majority of the screen is taken up by traps and enemies, and it’s all you can do to survive a few seconds at a time. Thankfully, the game has infinite continues and quick respawns.

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