Category: Games

One of the sacred Unwritten Rules of the Internet is that there must always be “The Show.” The mantle of The Show is passed down from one franchise to another like a postmodern coronation. There’s no formal ceremony, no single agreed-upon source announces the ascendance of a new monarch to the throne of the internet zeitgeist, and yet the current holder of the title is always exceedingly easy to spot. In fact, The Show’s single identifier is the ubiquity and tone with which it is discussed and debated in the cultural feeding frenzy of social media. If you’re even passively online you don’t need to go looking for The Show. The Show will find you. And now The Show is HBO’s Succession.

Continue reading…

One of the most talked-about developments in gaming over the past year has been Fortnite developer Epic establishing a new digital store and its pursuit of exclusives–of which there have been many. In addition to paying for exclusives, Epic’s store gives creators 88 percent of revenue compared to 30 percent on Steam and others. Publisher Ubisoft no longer releases new titles on Steam because they believe the 70/30 revenue split is “unreasonable.”

Now, one of the founders of boutique game publisher Devolver Digital (Hotline Miami, Genital Jousting, Fall Guys) has spoken up to defend Steam and call for a “reset” of the wider conversation that can at times paint Steam as the bad guy.

Devolver is publishing MediaTonic’s wacky battle royale game Fall Guys

“I feel like this conversation needs to be reset,” Graeme Struthers told GameSpot at PAX Aus. “The conversation never really took place properly in my opinion.”

Struthers said the launch of Steam more than a decade ago changed the landscape of PC gaming. Steam was an integral part of the success of Devolver and other studios, he said.

One part of what made Steam appealing then and continues to now is that developers are paid every month, which is not the case with every store.

“Every month we were getting paid, and you were being paid accurately,” he said. “We’ve all got our horror stories about doing audits on our publishers and finding huge discrepancies about what was being reported in sales. Here’s Steam–every month, accurate, straightforward, and transparent.”

Regarding the revenue share model, Struthers pointed out that Steam’s 30 percent cut was a more generous offering than others at the time. The payment scheme that Steam offered allowed publishers to offer more favorable terms to developers, Struthers said.

“To come out of a model [before Steam] where we were, as a games publisher, maybe making 25 percent, and that’s if you were successful. To be in a 70/30 relationship, it was transformative in every sense,” he said. “And that led to realignment with relationships with developers. If there is more money and it’s more frequent, you can have better terms with developers.”

“Steam has invested I don’t know how many hundreds of millions of dollars in their platform; Epic have yet to do that.” — Struthers

With the launch of competing game stores–including Epic’s–developers have more options, and this competition is good overall for the industry, Struthers said. At the same time, Struthers stressed that comparing Steam to Epic directly is not fair or helpful.

Steam has been around for more than a decade; it’s a refined platform with important toolsets and features for developers and consumers alike that make for a better overall experience, Struthers said.

“Competition is going to come along at some point. Epic have taken a view that their way of bringing content to their platform is far more generous revenue share and obviously they’ve been pushing exclusives–that’s great,” he explained. “And it’s giving developers and publishers a choice. You can’t compare the two things however as like for like. Steam has invested I don’t know how many hundreds of millions of dollars in their platform; Epic have yet to do that. I’m not saying they won’t, and hopefully they will. In terms of the features and in terms of the toolsets for developers, there’s a ways to go. But competition is good.”

Finally, Struthers said all the drama and controversy over Epic paying for exclusives “doesn’t really hold up” because exclusivity has been a part of gaming since the beginning.

“The rise about developers and publishers going to Epic and exclusivity, it doesn’t really hold up,” he said. “I play games on PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch, and Devolver–we’ve done console exclusives with Sony, with Microsoft–I think it’s good, but I think we have to respect Steam for what they’ve done. Without them, none of this would have been a conversation in the first place.”

In addition to paying developers a larger share of revenue, Epic gives studios money up front to convince them to make games exclusively for Steam. Games like The Division 2, Metro Exodus, and Borderlands 3 are all currently exclusive to the Epic Games Store (apart from publisher-specific stores), though they will also release on other PC stores at a later date. The next big exclusive for Epic is The Outer Worlds from developer Obsidian; it launches on October 25.

Partner Content by GungHo

 

 

22 years ago (gosh!) saw the games press all abuzz about Game Arts’ JRPG Grandia, calling it Sega Saturn’s answer to Final Fantasy VII. Did it deliver? Its numerous fans sure thought so, and in 2000 IGN itself ranked Grandia’s later Sony PlayStation port as the 17th best PlayStation game of all time.

Continue reading…

Microsoft is introducing new text filtering options on Xbox One consoles, giving players more control over what kinds of messages they receive. The company says this is both to improve parental controls and reduce online harassment and bullying.

According to the announcement, you’ll be able to select a set of new automated text filters soon. Those will start with private messages, and then expand into other areas like profiles, Clubs, and your Activity Feed. The filters come in four settings–Friendly, Medium, Mature, and Unfiltered–but you’ll be able to set those content levels individually for different message types, like those from Friends versus message requests from Internet randos.

“For example, we recognize that while some adults use profanity without any ill intent while gaming, parents with small children likely won’t find this same experience acceptable,” the announcement states. “Similarly, there are differences between the everyday speech you’d use with your friends and harmful insults that could negatively impact anyone. With this in mind, we’ve ensured our safety settings are configurable along a spectrum from most filtered to least filtered so you can choose what is best for you.”

When a message hits the filter, you’ll see a message warning that potentially offensive content was sent, and you can click on the placeholder to change the settings. Adult accounts will be able to see the content that has been filtered out. Child accounts will be set to the highest filtering level by default, but parents can change it as needed.

The text filters are going to Xbox Insiders now, and will begin populating among the larger community later this month. Once the feature is live for you, you can find it under Settings > General > Online safety & family > Message safety.

Harbinger and Pariah are the latest heroes revealed to be taking part in the Arrowverse’s epic Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.

When Disney announced its ambitious plans for a new Star Wars-themed expansion at its Disneyland and Disney World theme parks, it wasn’t necessarily the rides or the merchandise that got fans excited (although, sure, who doesn’t want to pilot the Millennium Falcon or build a lightsaber?) it was the opportunity to immerse ourselves in a galaxy far, far away. (And Disney World’s upcoming Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel promises to take that concept to a whole new level.)

Continue reading…

So, you’ve got the perfect PC gaming setup with a huge monitor, tunable gaming mouse, RGB gaming keyboard, and of course a gaming PC with more cores than an apple farm. As you sit at your throne, you look to your side and your mouse is sitting on top of an old magazine. Don’t…don’t be that person. The best mouse pads for gaming are a huge step up from whatever substitute you’re using right now. While it’s probably one of the least expensive components in your gaming setup, it’s worth investing in a quality mouse pad. Your aim will improve, and so will your K/D ratio.

Continue reading…

Regigigas is finally making its debut in Pokemon Go next month, but before it arrives in EX Raids, you’ll have another chance to catch the other three Legendary titans. Regirock, Regice, and Registeel are returning to standard Raids for a limited time beginning November 1, and this time around, you’ll also have a chance of encountering their Shiny forms.

The three Legendary Pokemon will appear in five-star Raids until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on November 4, giving you only a couple of days to capture them. The three titans are known for their high defense stats, so to help you take them on, Pokemon that are effective against the Legendaries will appear more frequently in the game.

In particular, Geodude, Magnemite, Swinub, Aron, and Spheal will spawn more frequently in the wild. Meanwhile, Aerodactyl, Shuckle, Sneasel, Skarmory, Snorunt, and Beldum will be more likely to hatch from eggs, and incubators will be twice as effective as normal during that three-day span, allowing you to hatch eggs more quickly. You can read more about the titans’ return on the Pokemon Go website.

As previously mentioned, the Legendary Regigigas will appear for the first time in EX Raids later in the month, but if you don’t want to wait until then, you’ll have the option to encounter it early by purchasing an event ticket. This will give you access to a Special Research story event called “A Colossal Discovery.” The event takes place on November 2 from 11 AM to 7 PM local time and culminates in an encounter with Regigigas.

Unlike other in-game items in Pokemon Go, however, the event ticket cannot be purchased with Poke Coins–you’ll need to shell out $8 USD if you’re thinking of picking one up. This is the first time Pokemon Go has locked events behind a paywall; previous Special Research questlines were available for free to all players. If you don’t choose to get a ticket, you can still encounter Regigigas in EX Raids later in November, but you’ll need to receive an invitation to participate in those battles.

In the meantime, Pokemon Go’s Halloween 2019 event kicks off this Thursday, October 17. For a limited time, you’ll be able to encounter costume-wearing starter Pokemon in Raids, while a Pikachu wearing a Mimikyu costume can be found in the wild. The Legendary Dark-type Darkrai will also make its first appearance in Raid Battles as part of the event.