Gamer's Outpost Press (Archived)

by Giuseppe Nelva

There are many elements to the life of a gamer that can prove annoying and inconvenient. But there is one that can easily be defined bloody hinderingly awkward, and it’s the following scenario:

Friend A: “Hey mate, I heard you bought Destiny. How is it?”

Friend B: “Yeah, I love it. My Guardian’s almost to the cap now.”

Friend A: “I have a Warlock. We should really get a fire team going and shred some Fallen.”

Friend B: “Sounds like a plan, what’s your Xbox Live Gamertag again?”

Friend A: “Oh crap…”

I’m quite sure a situation like that happened to almost everyone, just as much as the scenario in which, prior to purchasing a game, one has to pretty much choose between his friends on one or the other platform, knowing that he’ll be able to play with some while excluding the others.

With the fact that Xbox One and PS4 now share quite similar architecture, and that said architecture is close to a PC, it’s really time for that artificial, silly and anachronistic barrier to fall. It’s time for Xbox, PlayStation and PC gamers to be able to share the same gameplay on the same servers.

While it’s not possible to know all the deals and policies going on in the background, at the moment it seems that the biggest obstacle to this long overdue reunion lays within Xbox Live’s policies, which explicitly forbids any kind of direct cross-platform gameplay.

But it doesn’t really matter whose policies, caveats or nonsensical legalities are keeping gamers apart. Those have to go. It’s really that simple.

It’s not even unprecedented. Not only are there multiple games that currently permit PC and PS4 gamers to play and interact together in the same virtual spaces, but the old and venerable Final Fantasy XI puts PS2 and Xbox 360 players shoulder to shoulder against the monsters of Vana’diel.

While it has never been officially confirmed (at least to my knowledge), Final Fantasy XI‘s case seems to stand apart from the rest because the deal between Square Enix and Microsoft was sealed before the new Xbox Live policies were put in place; but that’s really besides the point. It’s definitely a demonstration that not only it can be done, but the sky didn’t fall on Microsoft’s collective head for allowing it.

It isn’t even just a matter of removing a barrier that has never made sense and makes even less sense in today’s globalized internet: by preventing cross-platform gameplay, Microsoft is missing on some games like Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and War Thunder, which automatically became console exclusives for the PS4.

In today’s extremely competitive market in which the Xbox One is currently occupying a rather uncomfortable underdog position, Microsoft can hardly afford handing over exclusives to its rivals.

There’s also a more subtle, but still relevant matter at hand. In today’s fluid market, gamers move on quite readily to the next big title causing online communities to dwindle rapidly. This is especially true for MMORPGs that directly base their continued success and survival on retaining a numerous playerbase.

Grouping all major platforms together on the same servers would cement each game’s playerbase, removing a rather damaging fragmentation effect. This would keep even older games active longer and would reduce the need for server merging, saving both gamers and developers a rather large source of headaches.

Of course the ball isn’t just on Microsoft’s field — it takes two to tango. So, a full-scale opening of the borders for any developer that requires it (as I’m sure there would still be plenty developers opting to keep their players separate for one reason of another) would require a degree of coordination between Microsoft and Sony, something that can definitely be done.

Microsoft’s new head of the Xbox division — Phil Spencer — has proved to be quite the progressive thinker in the few months he has been in charge, and has even gone as far as timidly mentioning the possibility of letting Xbox One and PC gamers play together. While that would be highly welcomed, it would still fall short of what can and should be done.

It’s time for Spencer, Shuhei Yoshida at Sony and the teams behind them to put their heads together to hack down this obsolete divide.

This November will mark the first birthday of the PS4 and Xbox One. Even more importantly, it will bring the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It’s time for the division between PlayStation, Xbox and PC gamers to meet the same end. Carrying a souvenir home could be more difficult this time around, but it’d still be a day to remember.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net/

by Usman Pirzada

I am a solid supporter of the DIY ideology in PC builds and consider pre-built systems like these slightly less then a rip-off. However, I just couldn’t stop myself from publishing this particular Alienware reveal. The Area 51 introduces very impressive aesthetics and an absolutely insane amount of GPU – CPU horsepower for a fully 4K Ready gaming experience. Ofcourse, you can make a similar build for considerably less the price, but if you have got money to burn and want the best your gold can buy than this is for you.

Alienware Area 51 Boasts Eight Haswell-E Cores with Triple GPUs for a full 4K Experience

Usually I wouldn’t suggest anything past an over clocked Intel i5 to PC builders who strictly want to game, but I actually don’t dispute Alienware’s decision to go with Haswell-E processors even though they are not really meant for gaming. Normally a simple over clocked i5 is enough, and by normally I mean single GPU rigs. Once Multi GPU configurations enter the scene, things start to go pretty south. To those of you who don’t already know this, a GPU is entirely dependent on the CPU for ‘orders’ which is why a single i5 suffices for a single GPU configuration. However, triple the GPU literally means triple the ‘orders’ for the CPU to dish out, which is why unless you have a very powerful CPU, your multi GPU configuration can get bottlenecked. In this case, the Area 51, which is of course completely configurable to the customer’s needs can support a maximum of 3 GPUs, in which case you would most certainly need as much CPU power as you can get. This is one of the primary reasons low level APIs like DX12 and Mantle are so important to reduce costs.

Anyway, here are the maximum specs of the Alienware Area 51 (2014). I think one of the major reasons why I am posting this is because the I am absolutely loving the style of this thing. The chasis called the “Triad Chasis” is a simplistic triangle design that features an interesting airflow schematic. The Area 51 will feature liquid cooling and you can either opt for a 6 core or an 8 core CPU. This will ofcourse be the Haswell-E series, which consists of the i7-5820K, i7-5930K and i7-5960X. This is coupled with an X99 chipset and DDR4 Ram (upto 32GB) for increased bandwidth and lower power consumption. Now I am not really sure how much all of this will cost but I am pretty sure it won’t be easy on the wallet, at all. Not even remotely. Actually your wallet will probably stop existing. Alienware is set for the full reveal in a few days.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net

by Marty Sliva

The Order: 1886 demo I played at PAX Prime was one of the stranger slices of a game I’ve played in quite some time. It managed to reel me in from the get-go and keep my attention until the very end, despite some deep gameplay flaws. Let’s start with the positives.

I don’t need to tell you that The Order is a gorgeous video game. The characters, setting, and lighting effects are all top-notch. The world is an interesting and unique setting that straddles a nice line between Victorian horror and alternate history. The idea of a game combining werewolves and Nikola Tesla is fantastic — I love the looking at a historical setting and playing with the idea of what it would be like with a dash of technology here and a bit of magic there. The few major events I was privy to inside of the world were equally intriguing. The voice work and banter between my team was great, and it was genuinely one of the few times where a game transitioned from a cinematic into gameplay, and I just sat there not moving because I didn’t spot the hard-cut from one to the other.

But sadly, as much as I really admired these aspects of The Order, the actual act of playing the game resonated far less with me. This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve had reservations about The Order’s gameplay. Once I did actually realize that I was in control of my character, I was thrust into a cover-based gunfight against a mob of enemies scattered across the levels of a nearby building. The sticky-cover system definitely feels like Gears of War, which is not a knock in my book. Epic really nailed that aspect, so there’s no reason to fix what isn’t broke. But while Gears had a great suite of weapons with some fantastic visual feedback when you made contact with an enemy, The Order’s arsenal felt like some really gorgeous prop guns.

My main weapon in the demo was the Thermite Rifle, a machine gun that also fired off explosive-flares. I loved the small detail of how the flare would corkscrew through the air on its way to my target, but igniting the explosive never gave me the desired effect. Blasts right on top of enemies didn’t seem to faze them, and certain explosions would cause structural damage while others seemed to just be bursts of light. So I instead decided to focus on picking them off with my rifle. The problem here was that the bullets spread out in such a wide area so quickly, that I could burst-fire an entire clip at an enemy across a street and have every single bullet miss its target.

Trying to pick off the seemingly-endless droves of enemies became a Sisyphean task until I switched over to my tiny pistol sidearm, which didn’t feel all-that great to use, but at least did a better job at dispatching the enemies. As I made my way through the town to my eventual destination, I couldn’t help but compare my progression to an early-’70s Disneyland attraction. Enemies would pop in and out of cover, but exhibited the lack-of awareness and sense of self-preservation of an animatronic. The feedback I received from a direct hit didn’t feel empowering, but rather like when your laser-sight would get close enough to a node in a shooting gallery.

The demo closed with a moment where my party barricaded themselves in decrepit building. I was told to wander around and search for any clues in the environment that might help lead us to safety. The first quiet moment of the demo, I was immediately shocked by how close the third-person camera remained behind my character. The space we were in was relatively small, but the lack of distance between me and my avatar led to a claustrophobic and disorientating effect, and not in a good way like what Bloodborne accomplished. I finally had a moment to soak in The Order’s world, and all I wanted was for it to be over.

Given how gorgeous The Order: 1886 is, I want to be able to explore its world. Given how well-defined its environment is, I want to enjoy parsing through every nook and cranny. Given how much I admire its character design and writing, I want to spend time unraveling its mysteries. I’m bummed out that the actual act of playing The Order seems to urge me away from what I want. Reading about the more horror-centric slice of the game that Colin got to play at E3 leaves me with a bit of hope that the demo I saw might not be representative of everything we’ll be playing in February. Here’s to hoping.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net/

by Jeremy Peeples

Nintendo’s announcement of the New 3DS surprised everyone, but it really shouldn’t have been too shocking. With the exception of the GameCube, Nintendo has frequently altered their hardware during its life cycle. The original DS was supplanted by the DS Lite, and both were rendered obsolete with the release of the DSi and the DSi XL that added a camera and debuted DSiWare games that couldn’t be played on either a DS or DS Lite. In the case of the original Wii, Nintendo left it alone for the most part until the tail end of its life. They released a version of the Wii bundled with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and took out the GameCube functionality and made the system a far worse overall value. Still, this was a better value than the Wii Mini, which slimmed down the form factor, but gave you composite video-output and eliminated all web features, including the eShop and its vast library of games, and online play.

Now, Nintendo finds itself in the familiar position of doing its best to make a new version of the hardware seem like a must-buy to people who already own a version of the original system. The DSi was a hard sell because it wasn’t a huge power upgrade, but offered up a whole new storefront to use and a camera. The DSi XL came out afterwards and finally addressed an issue people had with the DS for years – the small screen size. Nintendo is helping to alleviate frustration caused by staggering the DSi and DSi XL releases (and after that, the 3DS and 3DS XL) by releasing both the New 3DS and New 3DS LL at the same time. This means that people won’t be buying one system and wind up blindsided when another variant of it hits the market — a good move in the long run.

With Nintendo announcing new Wii U bundles, one also has to wonder if they’re going to phase out the Wii U in its current form in favor of one with a bit more horsepower. The system has come under fire since its launch nearly two years ago for being incredibly underpowered – with only a few third party games like Need For Speed: Most Wanted U and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag really taking advantage of the increased power compared to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, Nintendo has already released two versions of the system before – with the white 8GB basic model being phased out in order to simplify things. Why offer up two different variations of the same hardware when neither version is selling well? Nintendo realized this issue and focused on the 32GB model. They also including a variety of top-notch games to give people a reason to buy the system, which they’re continuing with this year’s holiday bundle SKUs. The difference between all of the hardware revisions done before and the Wii U is that those systems, whether they were consoles or portables, were exceptionally popular. The NES got the first major revision, and that came out with the SNES in full force and was a budget-minded version of the hardware that stripped things down to an RF connection, but was otherwise far more reliable a system than the original front-loading model, and it came with a more comfortable SNES-style pad to boot. The SNES got a Super Famicon-style revamp when the N64 was released, while the N64 got absolutely no revisions made to the hardware beyond new colors. The same story was told for the GameCube, while the Wii’s revisions were stealthy with the full-sized model, and made more apparent during the more limited release of the Wii Mini.

With the Wii U just gaining traction and still having a ways to go, I doubt we’ll see any kind of upgrade in hardware for it. Nintendo didn’t do anything like that for the Wii, and it was far more out of date graphically than the Wii U is presently. The Wii U is also aided by having first-party games that regularly stun people thanks to a high level of image quality, and Nintendo is at least showing that you can indeed make impressive-looking games on it — most third parties just aren’t doing that. Their present approach of focusing on their own content and bundling top-notch, but older games is working, and including a digital copy of a game with a fairly early Mario Kart 8 purchase was brilliant. It not only showed that the company could embrace digital gaming, but giving people a fantastic deal, and an incentive to buy a game on day one (or fairly close to it). While Nintendo has taken some risks at alienating console owners before by removing some features, it’s clear that they literally can’t afford to do that with the Wii U and aren’t likely to do any major hardware changes beyond adding more on-board storage at most. They’ve already have enough issues establishing the Wii U brand name without adding to the system’s troubles with another similarly-named version of it. People already thought the Wii U was just a Wii accessory, likely due to the uDraw accessory that gained its most fame on the Wii. Nintendo didn’t help matters by making TV ads that didn’t really show off anything but the Gamepad — a mistake they’ve never repeated. Due to the Wii U’s trouble history, it’s doubtful we’ll see a 3DS-to-New 3DS style of upgrade for the company’s current console. They can afford a mistake in the portable space, but not on consoles.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net/

by ‘pastapadre’

Having spent considerable time now with both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of Madden NFL 15 there are some slight differences of note between the two. Last November at the launch of the two systems I discovered a slight preference with the XB1 for Madden NFL 25 despite settling on playing PS4 for the long-term.

That hasn’t changed with Madden NFL 15 in either regard. The games are practically identical but the Xbox One version gets the nod in a couple areas that wouldn’t really be identified without trying to make judgments between the game on one system vs the other.

Once again player control feels a little tighter on the Xbox One. I don’t believe this to be game-related but rather due to variations in the controller sticks and buttons/bumpers/triggers. I have the same opinion when playing the NHL 15 demo.

It’s mostly felt in Madden when running the ball as movement tends to be a little more precise. This stood out a lot last year initially but after playing the rest of the time on the PS4 the effects of that faded away as adjustments were made to how the players moved. Only if you were to bounce back and forth between the systems would this become distinctive.

There’s also the vibration in the triggers on XB1 that helps with timing the snap and QBs can draw you offside with it. I do like the way that feels and miss it when I’m playing over on PS4.

The simulation process when having to utilize the hard drive is faster on Xbox. In comparing the simulation time in offline Connected Franchise mode with stock hard drives on both systems it was apparent that the XB1 was moving faster than PS4 so I timed a few stretches. There is no disparity in online franchises.

Offline Sim Preseason: Xbox One (1:04), PS4 (1:34)
Offline Sim to Next Season: Xbox One (7:06), PS4 (10:01)

Graphically the game appears somewhat more dynamic on the Xbox One. Both are believed to be running at 1080p and 60fps but the colors on the XB1 are more vibrant than PS4. That much was the case last year as well but alone doesn’t mean that it is “better”. Some have also seen framerate drops on the PS4 that aren’t there on XB1 though I have not noticed any of that in my time playing yet.

There does seem to be what may be a bug on the PS4 side related to the setting sun (click the images below to view them full size). The shots were taken with the same settings, capture equipment, and circumstances (time of day, direction, field position, camera view). The setting sun just doesn’t seem to shine on the PS4 the way it always shows up on XB1. Interestingly the sun does always appear in PS4 cut scenes and replays, and on a few occasions I’ve noticed it pop in during gameplay, so I wonder if it’s something that might later get fixed in a patch. Keep in mind that there aren’t many outdoor stadiums that face east-west and this is only seen when using the zoomed out camera angle.

Obviously this isn’t something anyone should base a purchase decision on. But for those who are wondering about whether there are any differences in how the two versions look there are things to be found but to most I suspect they would prove inconsequential. On extreme close-ups I would give the edge just barely to the PS4 but pulled back maybe to the XB1. No one is going to notice anything unless the two are side-by-side so, really, don’t stress about any of it.

For those deciding between one or the other there isn’t anything significant enough to make one the obvious choice. Ultimately it will again come down to personal preferences such as the controller and where friends are located if online play is a factor.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net/