Gamer's Outpost Press (archived)

by Rashid Sayed

Ever since the release of Xbox One’s June SDK update, more and more developers have been able to run their games at 1080p. For developers who have not been able to ramp up the resolution, they were able to add more visual effects. The SDK update has bought nothing but good news for game developers so one can be hopeful that things will further improve in the next year or so.

Ever since the launch of the first wave of new games, there has been some sort of a consensus that achieving 1080p/60fps is easier on the PlayStation 4 compared to the Xbox One. After all, several games have ran better on the PlayStation 4. However, that is not the case for all the developers out there. Zen Studios who have worked on Pinball FX 2 for the Xbox One and Zen Pinball 2 for the PlayStation 4, have been able to achieve the golden standard for both of their titles.

Granted that their games are not resource intensive but its intriguing to know their opinion on the new consoles, specifically which hardware made it easier for them to achieve 1080p and 60fps.

“It was just as much work on both PS4 and Xbox One to get the desired result,” Mel Kirk, Vice President of Publishing at Zen Studios told us.

Mel did however acknowledged that there are nuances and challenges with each consoles but they were ready for it. “The tables feel fresh, have a new level of polish, and play better than ever before. There are nuances and challenges with development on each console, but this is our third console generation and we are pretty accustomed to these challenges.”

What do you think about Mel’s comments? Let us know below.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net/

by Damian Seeto

Respawn Entertainment released Titanfall earlier this year and it was well received by most people at the time. Now the developer will be “moving on”.

Titanfall released in March for the PC and Xbox One. The game came out a few weeks later for the Xbox 360 as well. Since its release, Respawn Entertainment released three DLC packs and supported the game for a good six months. However, things are winding down for the game as the developer will be moving on to bigger things soon.

OXM had a chance to speak with Titanfall’s Community Manager Abbie Heppe recently. She explained some cool new modes are coming to the game very soon. She also promised the game won’t be entirely abandoned, but there is a “certain point” where you need to step back and move on to “do other things”.

There had been some concern with gamers that Titanfall had already been abandoned by its own players. People have expressed on NeoGAF and other forums that they’re having a hard time finding other players online. The game’s community is okay on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, but the PC community has been quiet so far.

With Respawn Entertainment now moving on to possibly develop Titanfall 2, it will be interesting to see how many players are left still enjoying the original game.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net

by Kyle Hanson

While Respawn may be moving on from Titanfall soon, they are still making some amazing additions and changes through their constant game updates. The latest, Update 6, adds a very interesting new game mode along with Burn Card improvements and some more stuff just for fun. Let’s take a look at everything that is changed in Titanfall Update 6.

First up is the new Featured Game Mode, Pilot Skirmish. This mode ups the maximum number of players from 12 to 16, creating an 8-on-8 match that is Pilots only. No Titans, no AI drones, just humans killing other humans. This takes away some of the more interesting and unique elements of Titanfall, but for those seeking a more familiar experience it will be a godsend. And for those of us who enjoy Titanfall’s current gameplay, it can serve as a nice diversion when we grow weary of duking it out in our Titans. Due to the special elements of Pilot Skirmish it will not be included when playing in the Variety Pack playlist, you will have to choose it specifically in order to play.

The last Featured Game Mode, Marked For Death, was such a hit that it will now be its own permanent option. This mode had you hunting down one particular player on the opposing team, while defending your own “marked” player. The first team to eliminate the other’s “marked” player scored. You can choose Marked For Death specifically via its own playlist, or wait for it to come up during Variety Pack games.

The last Featured Game Mode, Marked For Death, was such a hit that it will now be its own permanent option. This mode had you hunting down one particular player on the opposing team, while defending your own “marked” player. The first team to eliminate the other’s “marked” player scored. You can choose Marked For Death specifically via its own playlist, or wait for it to come up during Variety Pack games.

Other smaller features have been added which include new colorblind options for “protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia”. Burn Cards received heavy focus giving you the ability to purchase individual Burn Cards from a limited and ever changing stock, along with a new ultra-rare Burn Card called “Roll the Dice” which lets you choose cards from your main deck during a match. You will also be able to select a Burn Card Auto Fill option which will make sure you never go into a match with an empty hand again. Finally, there is no longer a penalty for joining a game late. “If you join a match that is more than half way over and your team is not winning, a loss will not be counted on your record. If the match is a win for your team, we’ll count it as one.”

A few other changes, such as bug fixes and gameplay alterations are included as well. To see the full list click here or check out the full list below.

Improvements include:
◾FX Optimizations – Optimizing effects processing and moving more effects rendering work onto additional CPU cores is a good thing. So we did that.
◾Matchmaking – Faster searching, improved team balancing, increasing the likelihood of being in full games, and drastically lowering the chance of having lopsided (e.g. 6v3) matches.
◾The score is now shown in the center of the screen at the end of each Last Titan Standing round.
◾New HUD Icons for team Titan counts and players using Burn Cards have been added. Last Titan Standing now shows the number of Pilots left alive on each team.
◾New voiceover for Round Won and Round Lost events as well as noting whether the gap between the teams’ scores is increasing or decreasing.

Bug fixes on all platforms:
◾For the Black Market we slightly reduced the chance to get rare cards in the Standard Pack, and increased the number of rare cards in the Premium Pack from 4 to 5.
◾The Auto-Titan vortex effect should no longer orient incorrectly.
◾Fixed the shotgun, vortex fireback, and arc cannon bypassing Titan shields when used against a Pilot doing a friendly rodeo.
◾The map Export no longer contains areas where you can shoot through covered windows.
◾Grenades should now be better at predicting their movement at high frame rates.
◾Fixed a rare crash bug on Demeter in Campaign mode.

Bug fixes on Xbox One:
◾Fixed issue where a user couldn’t sign in to Titanfall if there is a second account on the system which has access to Titanfall DLC content which the first user doesn’t.
◾Fixed incorrect leave game dialog behavior when in a party.
◾Connecting a SmartGlass device to the X1 while Titanfall is running should no longer cause a crash.
◾You should no longer be able to get behind walls when rodeoing a Titan that is ejecting on Relic.
◾Titan OS no longer says that you are being attacked by an Enemy Pilot when you are inside an enemy Dome Shield.

Bug fixes on PC:
◾Fixed incorrect leave game dialog behavior when in a party.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net

by William Usher

Two of gaming’s biggest websites have decided to alter their policies about how writers and journalists are allowed to interact with developers within the gaming industry field. The change follows from a very strong outburst from the gaming community for more transparency.

A Reddit moderator in the /r/Games section was contacted and asked if a very neutral, informative piece could be published regarding what the gaming community felt was a conflict of interests being exhibited by Kotaku and Polygon. The moderator, going by the handle of Piemonkey, acquiesced after a back and forth discussion with user F1renze. Eventually, this thread was allowed to go up, causing a lot of gamers to react very strongly to the information, as it helped add some concrete evidence to a far larger and more salacious incident taking place within the industry.

Following the Reddit post, as well as lots, and lots, and lots of feedback from gamers demanding explanations from Polygon and Kotaku, both sites decided to post public messages about how they will handle disclosure between the relationships of journalists and developers from now on.

Kotaku’s editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo posted the following blog post on Kotaku, stating…

“The last week has been, if nothing else, a good warning to all of us about the pitfalls of cliquishness in the indie dev scene and among the reporters who cover it. We’ve absorbed those lessons and assure you that, moving ahead, we’ll err on the side of consistent transparency on that front, too.”

“We’ve also agreed that funding any developers through services such as Patreon introduce needless potential conflicts of interest and are therefore nixing any such contributions by our writers.”

Patreon is a service that enables users to support creators across the creative art field, from writing to music to video games to comic books and everything else in between.

Editor-in-chief Christopher Grant also made a post on Polygon, making it clear where his writers stand on the issues of supporting developers through charities, crowd-funding or other means, noting that…

“While I disagree that contributing to a game developer without holding an actual financial stake in their success is a violation of the spirit of that principle, I also think that disclosure is the best medicine in these circumstances. So starting immediately, I’ve asked everyone on staff to disclose on their staff pages any outstanding Patreon contributions and, additionally, to disclose the same on any coverage related to those contributions under that staff member’s byline. We’ll retroactively update any stories published in the duration of that support to reflect that, and I’ll note those updates here.”

Opposite of Kotaku, Polygon will not be shutting down their writers’ ability to contribute financially to those working within the gaming industry while also writing about their projects.

Gamers, at the very least, saw this as a very small step and a very small victory, given the media blackout surrounding the larger issue at hand.

In fact, the blackout includes another charity that suffered at the hands of a far more vicious scandal, The Fine Young Capitalists.

The game jam is all about helping bring more games to the industry and games made or created by female game designers. Unfortunately, major gaming media outlets refuse to report on The Fine Young Capitalists, why their were doxxed, why 4chan had to help revive the campaign (and donated $5,000 the first day the campaign started) or how The Fine Young Capitalists and 4chan came up with Vivian James, a new female protagonist for the gaming industry to celebrate. All I can do is point you to their IndieGoGo campaign here.

Inquiring minds would be keen to follow the rabbit hole on Google by searching up The Fine Young Capitalists and the ties that bind larger gaming websites from doing a full story on the incident.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net/

by Ashley King

Earlier this week we told you that Edge Magazine would have a big feature on Miyamoto in next month’s issue, discussing several of the franchises he helped create, as well as his opinions on the current game industry. It’s not surprising to see a few of these quotes leak from the magazine and one that is particularly fascinating is one in which Miyamoto says that he finds the passive attitude of casual gamers as “pathetic.” Here’s the full quote:

“[These are] the sort of people who, for example, might want to watch a movie. They might want to go to Disneyland

Their attitude is, ‘okay, I am the customer. You are supposed to entertain me.’ It’s kind of a passive attitude they’re taking, and to me it’s kind of a pathetic thing. They do not know how interesting it is if you move one step further and try to challenge yourself [with more advanced games].”

Of course, the magazine does make mention that this is the first time any Nintendo executive has stated their thoughts on the casual gamer and it could potentially hint at a shift from pleasing casual gamers to the more well-rounded gaming audience. Nintendo has always gotten flak for being perceived as casual-friendly, when really their image is more about maintaining a family-friendly vibe. Anyone who has played Donkey Kong Country Returns or Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze can tell you just how hardcore some of those levels can be.

The interview in the magazine goes further, with Miyamoto stating that smartphone gaming has taken some of the pressure off of Nintendo to create games that appeal to a mass audience:

“In the days of DS and Wii, Nintendo tried its best to expand the gaming population.”

“Fortunately, because of the spread of smart devices, people take games for granted now. It’s a good thing for us, because we do not have to worry about making games something that are relevant to general people’s daily lives.”

Does this mark a turning point for Nintendo? Will we see more games that are focused on the experience, rather than accessibility as in the past? We certainly hope so, since it could mean the return of games like Fatal Frame to the West.

http://www.gamersoutpost.net/