J4MES OX4D

Kholat free on Steam for a limited time https://store.steampowered.com/app/343710/Kholat/

I went into this game with an open mind despite a lot of concerns previous but having spent some time with the demo, the game seems even worse than I expected. I take note that this demo is an 'older build' that for some reason the developers have provided us with as a selling point but I can't see substantial enough changes that will improve the game dramatically towards release and beyond. The game is nowhere near on par with the likes of The Division or Destiny so staying with those is a much safer bet. They aren't groundbreaking either but at least they are content-laden and highly established brands. Anthem demo breakdown + Some impressive looking areas visually + Pretty solid combat mechanics - Horrible UI and menu functionality - Long loading screens - Loading screens triggered by other players ahead that interrupt your play - Enemies that stand still and/or disappear - Messy battles - Guns feel a bit tame - Flat atmosphere - Bland environments that are largely empty - Poor up close textures - Uninspired story and characters - Controls are a bit cumbersome off the ground - Fort Tarsis is devoid of things to do - Shallow foundation - Expensive - Endgame content concerns I think this game will probably need a serious amount of support post-release along with some significant content dropped regularly to keep it fresh. I am deeply worried that after seven years of work that this is the end product with such a seemingly limited package marred by fundamental flaws and shortcomings. Even Warframe seems to do a lot better across the board. The Division and Destiny despite their issues were highly immersive and very environmentally impressive but Anthem feels very lackluster and unspectacular.

So this is the one everyone on the XBOX One has been waiting for - 5 years in the making, multiple delays, way over budget and is supposed to push the Xbox One X to the absolute limits......yet it seems to look like a 2007 PS3 game..

RIP Clive Swift who died today

https://www.vg247.com/2019/01/31/ea-taking-a-beating-for-its-anthem-release-date-chart/ I love Jim Sterling's Tweet especially At least it's not as bad as Battlefield 5 where you pay £20 more to play 5 days early for an even more bug-ridden experience!

Well played Bethesda. Well played once again https://www.techradar.com/news/fallout-76s-latest-patch-brings-back-old-bugs

I actually think Publishers are just as dumb these days and they are more out of touch with their audiences than ever. So many iconic brands and so many legendary studios ruined overnight all for the sake of making a quick buck for that year end and to hell with any long-term consequences. Activision, EA, Blizzard and Bethesda have all had a miserable year attributed to quickfire greed and some other terrible business decisions. that will impact their future titles also. Thankfully more and more people are wising up to these miserable practices and finally it's began to hit the companies where it hurts.

Some from Resident Evil 2

I cannot believe this game has been in development since 2012 which is as long as Red Dead Redemption 2. Anthem was also in the works before the original Destiny apparently. The pressure on BioWare and EA for this to succeed has to be monumental. If the game fails to impress either financially or in terms of a media/player reception; it could have significant consequences particularly for the studio especially after Andromeda. It's too early to pass judgement and Anthem by no means looks terrible but it just doesn't look like an outstanding game that'll be played for years and revolutionize the genre or industry in the process. Could be an interesting couple of months for all involved.

Instead of posting from scratch, I'll use a couple of thoughts I had yesterday from a different thread that might be relevant here The fact that $BILLIONS of stock have been wiped off shareholder values just show that even with the lavish revenues the industry has made; all the big publishers have failed and that's purely down to past greed and not being able to keep up growth because of their reliance of previous practices which are now becoming obsolete or illegal like supply drops. I also don't understand why publishers are trying to pay off shareholders at the end of each year or ASAP - if you have a live service for a game or platform, why not make it a long term investment instead of a small annual payoff? GTA V made something like $6bn in 5 years making it the biggest entertainment product in history. It speaks volumes when the only stable AAA publisher left in the industry is UBISOFT of all people - they were lambasted back in 2013-14 for their dishonesty and poor quality products but after many years of brand establishment,. technological improvements and financial growth; they are the only ones who are in a strong position and their business practices aren't half as scummy as others. Rainbow Six Siege has been a tremendous success - under any other publisher, that game would've died after 6 months. When Ubi are the market leaders, that doesn't reflect well on others and companies like EA and Activision are desperately running out of revenue streams and have little to fall back on which could have dire consequences and deservedly so.

Chelsea are fucking shit.

I used to be satisfied with cosmetic items as it didn't affect core gameplay but it's becoming to be very prominent in games to the extent, it makes them look very tacky and with so much pressure on developers to create revenue streams with such content, it's also impacting the end-quality of these games and some are releasing very poorly or even incomplete. It may seem that I'm negative about a lot of these AAA games but it is these games that give me cause for complain. It's not like I'm moaning for the sake of it - I own practically all of them and simply echo the widespread complaints that these games have given their customers whether they are broken, unfinished, poor quality, built on greed etc... I don't think gaming has really evolved that much though - Anthem and The Division 2 don't do anything new we haven't seen since 2014. The only thing that has truly evolved in this industry is income based off of microtransactions which are peddled from live services. For example, Black Ops 4 MP probably has less features than Black Ops 1 yet it seems to have more because its just bloated with in-game purchases. I do think these MP focused live service games can provide value and entertainment but for me, they are not evolved enough and the F2P economies attached to these full priced games are something I find unacceptable and unnecessary greed. Anthem has been in development for 7 years which is as long as Red Dead Redemption 2. If it is anything short of incredible, I'd consider that an absolute disaster.

I just don't want to see a F2P economy in a full price game full stop. It's greedy, looks tacky and just oozes desperation to make money the easy way. Possibly £20 for a skin they could make in an hour which is 40% of the cost of the actual game is just outrageous even if it doesn't affect gameplay. If they have to have such aggressive monetization in play then they must have low projections and expectations for the game.

🤣🤣🤣 I like games that aren't built on pure greed or a just soulless open world games plastered on a shallow live service. I come from an era where we didn't pay £1 for a red dot or £5 for a red gun or £10 for a brown suit or £20 for a helmet or £50 for a rare card or £100 for a legendary pixel. It's 2019 and there are billions of dollars in the AAA gaming industry yet we are getting more mediocre games and weak brands than ever that are built on nothing but greed and below-par quality. There's no reason why we shouldn't be getting quality games like God of War and RDR2 on the monthly in this era yet instead we're still getting the same old guff we got back in 2014 but with even more horrendous business practices. Forgive me for being a bit dismayed but games like Fallout 76 and Diablo Immortal just don't pander to my standards these days😎

Pretty depressing choice - it's like being asked whether you want to be punched or kicked in the bollocks. The Division 2 is at least a proven brand and we know what to expect. Anthem still has a lot of questions that wont be answered til after launch and even then, the game seems to be painfully average at best.

We'll find that one out after the game has launched and the reviews are in.

EA have buckled https://www.vg247.com/2019/01/29/ea-removes-fifa-loot-boxes-in-belgium/

OOF That's a lotta coinage and shardage. Although it's 'not final' and needs to be 'balanced' in the words of BioWank; you can kinda see where this game is going.

Free DLC coming in February https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/resident-evil-2-remake-is-getting-three-free-dlc-stories-starting-in-february/ Also 79% of players started as Leon https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/79-percent-of-resident-evil-2-remake-players-chose-leon-for-their-first-playthrough/

Epic take a 12% cut as opposed to Steam's 30% but surely they'd rather be on a platform with 120m+ active users than one consisting of less users, most of which are kids who are only interested in F2P Fortnite. Even if Epic threw them a lump sum, it can't mitigate anywhere near the returns they would've got selling at £50 on Steam. Most publishers have also moaned about the lack of community features that Epic has yet they still take the bait.

Game is now a 1 year Epic Store exclusive. Steam pre-orders will remain honored. It will release on Steam in 2020. Fuck that then. I'll pick it up for a fiver like I did with the first two. Epic Games are now the Manchester City of Stores.

I've watched quite a bit of gameplay last day or two and the only positive and unique aspect of the game seems to be the vertical movement. Everything else seems painfully bland and nothing we haven't seen before in a variety of games. Also the interface and general back-end systems are supposed to be pretty woeful for a game of this nature. Nobody has came out and said it's an excellent and groundbreaking experience either which is a worry considering this game is £50 and has been in development for as long as Red Dead Redemption 2 apparently. I will give it a go when the demo becomes available to all but this game is to Destiny what Lawbreakers was to Overwatch it seems..

Can't believe West Ham got battered by a tennis tournament😎

Everton really do suck ass.