J4MES OX4D

Desert Map gameplay reveal two days

It's baffling really. You could be the best player in the world but if three of your random team mates suck or quit; you'll get screwed over. The ultimate kick in the teeth is wins counting as defeats which the the purpose of these placement matches and is the whole point of League Play. This was delayed a month so it can be perfected yet the mode is buggered right off the bat in embarrassing circumstances.

When Cologne was going on at the same time Call of Duty had it's eSport event; COD only achieved 8,000 viewers. If COD only achieved 192,000 viewers last year at the World Championshops, that all but proves that the franchise doesn't have a place in the eSport arena any more. People streaming Farming Simulator have had bigger weekly viewership than that. The series just tries to please everyone and ends up failing on all fronts and that's why they should have chose a direction and stuck with it - either casual (99% of their audience) or pure competitive (>1%) Now they are leaning back towards casual because supply drops are raking it in and most competitive teams have either grown up and moved on with their lives or are following the money and playing the current gaming trends such as Battle Royale.

Call of Duty should be casual and the series began to go downhill when they started catering more towards the eSport crowd even after many players and teams turned their back on the franchise. Skill-based matchmaking was the first thing that really impacted the game and then the shoebox sized maps with 3 lanes killed the enjoyment for many along with hefty balancing of core mechanics. COD was at its best when it was purely casual and anyone could pick up and play. The competitive side was always there but largely seperate and very minimal in terms of the overall playerbase - probably under 1% from Black Ops 2 onwards. eSports is still worth a lot to COD but they've lost probably 15m+ players in the last 5 years despite having a far bigger reach than ever before with supply drops being the real money maker now. Many competitive players wont even touch Call of Duty now and Activision could easily knock it on the head as it's not worth the expense. CSGO Cologne had 27,000,000 viewers a while back and at the same time COD was getting about 8,000 on average. Sledgehammer's competitive focus with AW alienated many players and whilst I don't think it's as bad in WW2 as it was back then; I don't think COD is much of a eSport game now and there's not much diversity or skill required in them. Arena and team-based shooters are actually becoming less popular in this domain now as it's quite a saturated and unspectacular genre now.

Titanfall 2 was 2016 which was last year

From what everyone was saying; Destiny 2 feels more like DLC than a new game anyway Although I didn't bother with the original; D2 in comparison certainly doesn't seem to be a step forward and the core game is supposedly even more inferior than the DLC of the original.

Not been a great year for gaming in all honesty but there's been a few gems. PUBG has proved to be a revolution and hugely popular. Divinity Original Sin 2 is an absolute RPG masterpiece. Even Resident Evil 7 from way back in January deserves credit for how well it's thrived and delivered throughout the entire year. I don't own them but Breath of the Wild and Odyseey are in a different league but in terms of a game owned and played I'd probably have to give it to Divinity Original Sin 2 because of how incredibly well-produced it is in every way. Hellblade and Cuphead also deserve huge credit.

(Stupid) people don't seem to realise that most of the supermarket Black Friday TV's have been created for the purpose of that event. They end up spending a couple hundred on a big but absolutely shit 30hz TV and the retailers and manufacturers still walk away with a huge margin. Retailers obtain development plans for low production cost TV's and approach fringe manufactuers to produce them months beforehand. They build a set that costs about £30, ships them to the shops landed at £80 and the shop then sells them at a 250% profit whilst the customer thinks they are getting a steal paying £200 for a 42 inch TV made by a company called Defuct or something If they actually spent fifty quid more they could probably get a decent 32 made by a real company like Samsung. It's also good way for retailers to shift shit and still make a decent return. Most of the deals are just an illusion anyway and retailers usually bump up the price a month before so they can give items more attractive 'discounts' when actually the item has been cheaper plenty of times before. People just don't do their homework and deserve to get burned.

Keeper scores against AC Milan in the last minute for the teams first ever point and to end a run of 14 straight defeats

League Play has began and it is riddled with bugs and fundamental flaws unsurprisingly. Apparently users are seeing their wins being logged as losses - some player had 6 wins out of 10 but it was showing as 10 defeats! Also you cannot play with your friends in this mode so far meaning you are relying on absolute randoms for your individual placement. You also can't earn XP but stats count towards your core ones which is another truly bizarre decision. Bravo Sledgehammer - I swear they are just trolling or spiting the community now. Hard to believe that the only game where league play actually worked well was Black Ops 2.

I absolutely bet that in Battlefield 5 you will have to buy ammunition through microtransactions I can almost envisage it now:- 'Pre-order the Battlefield 5 Deluxe Season Pass Edition and get access to the bonus map plus one free weapon magazine and access to the game 3 days early for just £119.99''

It's pretty much judgement week for Destiny 2 as players will have to decide whether they commit to the upcoming 'expansion' and the game with a long term view, or simply to get out now and not spend another penny and likely never play it again. I played the game for a solid two weeks and had a reasonable time but once I finished the campaign along with completing many other elements such as the adventures; I didn't feel motivated to play it again. Bungie also released a load of generic patch notes of alleged improvements and detailed a brief about the games future in a PR move to try and assure users their medicore game can be salvaged post-DLC once again. A few media domains such as Gamespot even mooted that the DLC wasn't even very good whilst others said it would unlikely improve the core game as the offering wasn't substantial enough. For me; I cannot see myself returning. The focus of Destiny 2's improvements seem to surround loot but for me the problem with the game is more regarding the overly-casual and repetitive nature plus lack of an engrossing narrative. The Curse of Osiris will likely add nothing apart from a few new locations to the current game plus a story strand that will probably go over people's heads. Earning loot is supposed to be the hook that keeps people playing Destiny 2 but irrespective of any changes that Bungie make; earning loot was not satisfying for me in the slightest because the lack of a difficulty and soulless combat just made everything simple and underwhelming. Nobody ever starts COD campaigns on recruit difficulty and no matter how many enemies you faced in D2; your status was never under threat. Even if you did die; there was no real consequence and you were always guranteed spoonfed loot that would slightly bolster your power. Even on the more high-end events that took a shedload of ammo rather than skill; earning higher tier loot just never felt like it was well earned. The story which is coming from the same studio (in name only) that created the Halo brand which has been huge for 15 years thanks to its characters, writing and development plus quality games. We actually got a 'story' in this game but even so; everything seemed so mediocre with only some fine humour from Cayde and Failsafe being memorable. I intertwined the story through as many adventures and events as possible to drag it out so I wasn't lumbered with stacks of meaningless 'side' quests by the end. Even in doing that I found myself doing the same thing over and over against the same enemies over and over. I did a campaign mission on Titan and the very next and only two adventures available were in exactly the same locations! Nobody would play the same Halo mission 3 times in a row on the easiest difficulty and that's exactly how this game felt. Although my desire was almost extinguished last month to care about the future of the game; I was still interested in seeing what Bungie could do to improve things along with the DLC. It already didn't sit well with me that they'd gone two steps backwards after finishing strongly with the original game and a part of me questioned whether they deliberately ommitted aspects which they would then conveniantly add before the DLC to reel people into supporting the game long term with a 'game-changing' update. After the XP scaling drama of last week where Bungie played the usual PR card of 'we are unhappy with this....even though we created it and are just unhappy because we got caught out' plus this seemingly overwhelming patch of generic notes; I just can't see them ever drastically improving the game and I'm not willing to pay up to find out. They just don't deserve my money by virtue of how poor the core game has been IMO. I was hoping to play Destiny 2 for a good two years rather than two weeks and already many players have departed. I was reading that the game lost nearly 80% of players in under two months which didn't bode well for the PC release and I'm now one of those that have felt too underwhelmed to continue. There is also nothing unique about Destiny 2 - it's a 'social' shooter with heavily restricted and dated online elements and very bland features made by a company who are a shell of their former selves and backed by a very smart publisher who are experts in marketing and brand development. It doesn't do anything that Borderlands, Warframe and The Crew don't do. Bungie's name, their engine and wonderful art team is what makes this game look and feel fantastic but everything else is a complete and utter mess. What is everyone elses thoughts on the upcoming material and is it enough to keep you engaged or will you simply walk away?

I LOL'd when I saw that the Xbox One X's centerpiece game was Minecraft. I could probably build a PC out of spare parts and my washing machine and still get 31fps on PUBG. I would love to hear someones justification for buying an XB1X.

Don't speak to soon

Group of death in England terminology is getting drawn against the likes of Costa Rica and Iceland these days.

Dreamcast died because of a distinct lack of software that Sega promised. The machine itself was excellent at the time and by far the most powerful on offer. Sega convinced backers to invest based on the companies they could potentially acquire rather than what was already on their books and they distinctly did it on the cheap. From what I remember they even alienated EA who opted against supporting the platform - a company that Sega absolutely assured backers they would secure. So instead of users playing FIFA 99 as expected; they were left with UEFA Striker. Bad decisions and bad PR can still affect EA today regardless of how much they are bankrolling. I'm familiar with all those companies also. I probably have every Westwood strategy game ever made and also a big box sealed edition of Blade Runner mint which is worth four figures today. EA have already murdered studios to the extent they are really running out of developers and I very much doubt DICE are happy seeing their BF2 creation get torn apart by forced features. If shareholders still want to back EA after their antics this year then good luck to them and it just sums up the state of the indstry now.

Sega weren't just hardware - they were software and it was the software side that sank them. Not the point though - they made billions and less than a decade later they were losing money to that tune because they weren't getting the backing for continued support going forward and many backers turned to rivals such as Sony despite their console being a third as powerful as Sega's at the time. If companies don't have the continued financial support; things can go south out of nowhere regardless of what they gross from sales. I'm going to take a guess that those were the first companies that popped up on a Google search for bankrupt videogame companies over the years or something. Anyway I'm not saying that EA are going to go bankrupt overnight or whether something like this will affect them gravely but it's nice to see them having some bad press and any impact shouldn't be underestimated especially when shareholders can walk to rivals and get a better deal without as much aggro.

I remember when Sega were the biggest electronics brand on the planet and people said they would dominate the indsutry for decades to come. One bad console year and the next minute they are a small-time publisher now living off DLC sales for growth after almost hitting the wall. Even having to whore out their beloved Sonic to arch rivals which nobody in the 90's would have ever envisaged. You never know in this indsutry - the bigger they are the harder they can fall. The chain reaction could be significant if budgets get squeezed and shareholders decide to take their money before the shit really hits the media fan. This period is also supposed to be EA's biggest earner so if they get hit hard now into the quiet time and with sod all games pencilled in for next year; it could impact them worse than people think. EA have received much criticism in the past but nothing on this level which really does question their ethics, morals and business practices. It may not make a difference to the ever-declining quality of the AAA industry and if people want to waste money on it their fair enough but it's nice to see a company not being entirely untouchable and being held to some account before things get really out of hand.

I think they may have some difficulty with growth going forward now as they've been shamed in the media globally that many investors wont want to be associated with them. If regulation is brought in or the concept of gambling is scaled back to avoid major scrutiny; that will certainly blow a chunk of their future earnings. The negative exposure alone is pretty priceless though and their shitty PR is just making it worse for them.

I watched eveything, learned everything and completed the first mission where I was left to it. The next 3 missions I discovered on the map (!) were kill capatain and loot tresure fillers so I could bolser my XP to level 5 so I could participate in the next main mission. I do not like this structure for open world games - I prefer a free-flowing story to compliment the crafted world rather than a backdrop with serveral shallow narrative instances plastered over it. Not even Watch Dogs 2 had to rely on this format. I remember when side missions were an optional extra rather than a necessity and an off the bat stumbling block of progression. I had to make a decision within 2 hours so I was entitled to a refund and after my experience of Shadow of War; I wasn't in the mood for another one of these grind-eligibility games. I couldn't care if Origins then became the best game ever after that; my initial impression wasn't great despite the wonderful backdrop and after reading in the community forums how the game is going forward; I opted to obtain a refund instead as I don't think my experience would have drastically improved. The combat as well was a major turn-off. The Witcher 3 hooked me from the get-go. From the opening sequence, the wonderful script, stunning backdrop and great opening missions; it is in a different league. That game is the benchmark that titles like Origins should aspire to especially considering the price and its budget. There's plenty of reviews out there that are positive and my opinion isn't there to deter people who may be interested. I just don't fancy wasting £40 on a game that I may not enjoy just because I decided to give it another half hour. As soon as I saw the screen with 6 targets as my set missions and all the !!!!!!! dotted around the map which are pre-made missions so I can participate in the main ones before moving on to the next area to do it all again; I felt very underwhelmed and just didn't feel like committing to the game.

LOL https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/28/eas-day-of-reckoning-is-here-after-star-wars-game-uproar.html

What a year Nintendo have had! Not sure how many if any have the console on here but this gem of a machine has impressed me massively in its first year. With AAA gaming sinking to horrible new lows with loot boxes, shady publishers and more shitty games; Nintendo have continued to do what they do best; make great games without the bullshit. Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyseey are the two top contenders for GOTY in the media plus with many more top exclusive titles on their books in the opening year; it's a very encouraging start for the unique console. It's been 20 years since I got my N64 which was a godlike console and with Nintendo back to their best; it's so tempting to do it all again. If I can grab a £300 bundle with Mario and Zelda this Christmas that would be a fantastic deal.

It's great PR to butter people up prior to the first 'expansion' but I can't see it being signifcant enough to keep me interested. I see a lot of 'better, improved and changed' points but I doubt it will translate to anything substantial. Certainly wont bolster the mediocre foundation that is already in place. This could be a good get out of jail for Bungie as a few people will likely overlook the games damning faults now and see these updates and DLC as the second coming of christ with their wallets and pants zippers wide open.

Activision clearly wants as many players as possible to see each other opening supply drops so they will be enticed to buy them too.

It's a solid console but doesn't have anywhere near enough games. The Xbox One S is a far more attractive proposition and you'll be able to pick that up for sub £200 with a couple of games bundled it. Rumours suggest Microsoft are planning a new generation of console in two years time anyway so I'm really not sure how viable it will be going forward. If you have that money to burn; may as well save up a little more and get a mid-range gaming PC which offers so much more. Seeing that you can play many XB1 games on PC through the Windows store anyway, it's even more pointless.