VPNs are a hot commodity these days. Short for Virtual Private Network, VPNs offer the promise of privacy online – or just access to another country’s Netflix catalog. But they tend to cause as many problems as they solve when it comes to gaming online.
IGN and its sister site PCMag recently surveyed our readers on VPN usage with PC Gaming. 58% of respondents said they use a VPN to protect their privacy online, while gaming-related uses such as accessing games from another region or to play with people in different countries together accounted for just 15%.
There’s a reason gamers tend to not like VPNs either: of those who do use a VPN while gaming, more than 75% reported performance issues or lag. Not exactly what you want when trying to land headshots in a fast-paced shooter.
This matches with another survey question, which indicates that prospective VPN users care most about speed when choosing a service.
For more insights from the survey, check out PCMag’s analysis as well.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the PC game retailer Green Man Gaming. To celebrate the milestone, the site is running a big sale, but it’s also throwing in a fun bonus. When you purchase select titles, you’ll get to spin the GMG Birthday Wheel, which will reward you with a free mystery game. You can check out the full sale here or read on to see some of the highlights.
The titles that qualify for a free mystery game have a green “X” in the corner of their icons. Each account is limited to receiving 10 free games. Some of these deals go away today, so don’t wait too long to make your purchase.
Purchasing any edition of the above titles qualifies you for a free game, so feel free to pick up the deluxe, gold, or ultimate edition if that suits you better. And these games just scratch the surface of what’s on sale, so check out the full sale for more PC game deals.
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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
Sony has announced that it has created a new umbrella brand, PlayStation Studios, that will unite all its first-party titles and launch alongside PlayStation 5.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, this new branding will only be used on those games that are developed and managed by Sony. A new opening video for PlayStation Studios was also revealed that includes characters from The Last of Us, God of War, Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and LittleBigPlanet.
PlayStation 4 games will also have the PlayStation Studios branding, but such games as The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima will not feature it as it won’t be quite ready for launch.
This branding will also be making the jump to PC, as Sony’s senior vice president and head of global marketing at Sony Interactive Entertainment has said “any future games it releases on other platforms will also carry the branding.” However, it will not be ready by the launch of Horizon Zero Dawn on PC this summer.
“Over the last few years — and even the last decade — the strength of the titles coming out from our studios has been stronger than ever,” Lempel said. “We have been thinking about how we unite all of these great games under one brand, and really the purpose of that is to make the consumer understand that, when they see this brand, they’re getting ready for a robust, innovative, deep experience that they’ve come to expect from games coming from PlayStation. So we came up with PlayStation Studios.”
There will also be variations on the opening video seen above, and although it appears similar to what one would see before a Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Lempel says “the inspiration for the branding came from the games themselves.”
“What we really wanted to do was create a way to bring the consumer into the world,” Lempel says. “When they play our games that’s the nice robust piece that happens, and then you’re transported into an adventure with rich worlds, old characters, and really captivating stories. We’re all huge Marvel fans. One of our biggest games of all time has a Marvel character in it with Spider-Man. But this is really about doing something specific for our games and our industry.
In addition to PlayStation Studios including titles from such studios as Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Santa Monica Studio, Media Molecule, and Guerrilla Games, the brand will also “apply to games made by work-for-hire developers under Sony’s direction.”
It’s funny to think about now, but there was a time when fans had a wide variety of baseball games to choose from. If you didn’t want a complex simulation of the real thing like MLB The Show, you could find baseball games featuring robots, little kids, or even living bobbleheads. Most of those have gone the way of the dodo now, but Super Mega Baseball 3 throws it back, not only by offering a less serious option but by recapturing some old favorite retro-style pick-up-and-play gameplay and features.
Despite the double-superlative name, this isn’t an “extreme” arcade sports game in the vein of the cartoony NFL Blitz or NBA Jam. There are no over-the-top power-ups or zany circus catches. Instead, the Super Mega Baseball series features accessible and grounded gameplay, with hits that come off the bat in authentic ways and fielders who play to their abilities based on their stats. Batters produce a satisfying variety of bloop singles, sinking line drives, and lazy popups, all dependent on the location of the pitch and timing of the swing. Defensively, diving fielders more often than not knock the balls down rather than come up with miracle snags. While the player’s appearances border on the surreal, the baseball is certainly real enough. Super Mega Baseball 3 continues the tradition of realistic and refined baseball gameplay that’s more simulation than arcade, yet with simple controls that even younger players can grasp.
Everything I liked about Super Mega Baseball 2’s gameplay returns in Super Mega Baseball 3, including the ultra-customizable difficulty system and performance-based player confidence. The ability to use power swings and pitches is back with some nice tweaks to increase the risks and rewards of proper timing. During games, the option exists to expertly time a pitch or swing, potentially adding the little extra oomph needed for a home run or strikeout. However, overthrow a power pitch and expect that ball to not go where you want it to. With a power swing, your odds of hitting a home run go up… but your ability to simply make contact goes down. In the past, using the power options during crucial situations created some memorable moments; the increased risk/rewards only serves to sweetly ramp up the tension. I also like that AI batters seem less robotic and more likely to swing at pitches outside of the zone. I was able to generate more strikeouts than in the past by throwing junk in and off the plate.
Super Mega Baseball 3 also takes its best swing at filling in some key baseball elements that were missing in SMB2, and the result is a more realistic baseball experience. In particular, the battle between baserunners and catchers has been intensified. In the past, when you wanted to steal a base you’d give the command and watched as the runner waited until the pitch was thrown. Guessing when to steal – optimally during anticipated off-speed pitches – was the only true decision for the offensive player. On the other side, there was little an opposing pitcher could do other than hope the catcher had time to make a throw. Whether the runner was safe or out was largely dependent on luck.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=I%20love%20the%20way%20it%20puts%20focus%20on%20an%20often-underappreciated%20aspect%20of%20the%20real%20sport.”]In Super Mega Baseball 3, runners leave as soon as the steal button is pressed, creating a fascinating timing mini-game that duplicates the tension of stealing a base in the real sport. Leave too early and the pitcher only needs to step off the rubber and throw to the bag; leave too late, and a good catcher should gun you down every time. Situation and timing now determine stealing success, and this minute change really makes swiping a bag a much more fun and interactive aspect.
To combat this new level of runner control, pitchers can now perform pickoff moves with a simple press on the d-pad – pickoffs aren’t quite as nuanced as stealing. In fact, they feel more like the luck-based decisions of the past. If you try to pick off the runner and he actually is stealing… good job, you got him. But, if the runner isn’t going, he will automatically dive safely back to the bag. It’s disappointing to not be able to catch bad baserunners who are simply slow to react.
Finally, added to this mix are catchers’ fielding abilities. Bad defensive catchers will see passed balls and dropped third strikes get by them, which love for the way it puts focus on an often-underappreciated aspect of the real sport. Collectively, the interplay between baserunners, pitchers, and catchers really elevates the excitement between pitches and inches Super Mega Baseball 3 toward a more complete and authentic baseball simulation.
If stellar gameplay is the first thing I think of when recalling the Super Mega Baseball series, weird-looking players might be the second. Super Mega Baseball 3 brings back the exaggerated cartoony player models, to mixed results. While I appreciate the diversity and range of players, too many look unnaturally Frankensteined together from random parts.
Outside my issues with some of the player models, Super Mega Baseball 3 is a great looking game. Players are full of personality thanks to creative and humorous animations. The 12 whimsical stadiums showcase beautiful new lighting options, including twilight, mist, and summer haze. All of this seems to come at a slight cost of longer-than-expected loading times. Also of note is the very accessible customization tools, including what might be the best logo designer in any sports game. It is so easy to create fun and imaginative logos that look real enough to grace the caps of a minor league team.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=My%20favorite%20new%20feature%20lies%20within%20the%20players%E2%80%99%20internal%20makeup%3A%20situational%20traits.”]Aesthetics aside, my favorite new feature lies within the players’ internal makeup: situational traits. In addition to typical stats, players can now have up to two traits that trigger depending on the circumstances of a game. For instance, the RBI Man trait grants contact and power boosts when batting with runners in scoring position. The K Man trait gives a pitcher better control when facing two-strike counts. Some traits are even negative, such as runners who suffer a speed penalty when trying to steal or batters who wilt under the pressure of an RBI opportunity.
These traits offer a new level of strategy when setting lineups or handling opposing teams. For instance, I chose to start a bench player whose trait gave him an edge against lefty pitching when facing a southpaw. Pitching against a batter who crushes inside pitching made me nibble on the outside corner, producing an untimely walk. These traits also help to differentiate players outside the traditional stat bars (Contact, Power, Speed, etc), breathing life into a roster of fictional players.
Super Mega Baseball 3 not only adds these new traits but makes them easy to see in action. When a trait is triggered, a little audio cue alerts you that someone’s trait is active. Holding the right trigger, whether batting or pitching, brings up a list of active traits and their implications. It’s very handy that these traits not only enhance the gameplay but are so easy to recognize and use to your advantage.
Perhaps the biggest addition is the new multi-year Franchise Mode, which is very welcome after Super Mega Baseball 2 limited us to single seasons. While it won’t compete with the depth found in games like MLB The Show, I like that this streamlined take puts emphasis on finding and developing unique players.
During the course of multiple seasons, various development opportunities pop up that allow managers to spend money for stat increases and/or trait gains. Seemingly simple, these chances lead to some really interesting choices. For instance, putting a batter on a red meat diet may increase their throwing strength significantly, but the added bulk will also slow their running speed. And since most of the development choices have some degree of randomness, any one outcome isn’t guaranteed. Eating all of those steaks might lead to a bigger jump in throwing ability than expected or it could grant the “Bad Jumps” negative trait… or both. I enjoy the coin-flipping animation that communicates what happens after the agonizing decision is finally made.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Small%20descriptions%20help%20tell%20a%20story%20instead%20of%20just%20increasing%20or%20decreasing%20a%20numerical%20stat.”]Even though most of these decisions are simply new numbers, like “+4 to Contact skill,” I love that they are themed with a touch of humor. Players can jazzercise, join a reality show, or explore Black Market Acupuncture. Age-related events are similarly narrated; I had a young player master a yoga pose while my older infielder started suffering leg cramps. These small descriptions help tell a story instead of just increasing or decreasing a numerical stat.
These training options are woven into a fairly light economic model that also includes player salaries – but, disappointingly, no trading. Instead, there is one giant free agent pool that you can use to replace players one for one, paying or gaining the difference in salary. It’s a relatively simple system that sees players move through this free agent pool until they eventually retire. While trading would have been nice, not relying on a heavy economics system puts the focus on the players, not managing mundane details like contracts, roster size, or ticket prices.
Franchise rounds out a healthy set of modes, including exhibition games, single seasons, elimination brackets, and a ranked online “Pennant Chase.”
Like the previous two games in the series, the sound design remains unimpressive. While crowd noise enhances the gameday atmosphere, the background and walkup music is pretty vanilla. I do like the addition of an announcer; hearing the goofy names like “Junior Young Sr.,” “Lacky Luster,” or “Nacho Crisp” makes me smile.
Japanese developer Natsume announced its newest farming sim game today titled Harvest Moon: One World for the Nintendo Switch. The new Harvest Moon game will be released later this year.
Harvest Moon: One World will feature a new world with both new and returning characters, unique villages, and new challenges as you grow your farm. The new game will explore a world where vegetables and fruits don’t exist, and they must venture beyond their towns and into the world bring back produce into the world.
Although Natsume didn’t provide screenshots, the developer promised that Harvest Moon: One World is being developed with a new engine and graphics.
In a press release, Natsume president and CEO Hiro Maekawa say, “Harvest Moon: One World features a brand-new way of exploring Harvest Moon that seasoned players and new generations will both enjoy.”
The last Harvest Moon game, not counting a 2019 runner spinoff, was Harvest Moon: Light of Hope released in 2018 for PS4 and Switch. Considering how popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons proved to be, there might be a market for players hungry for more farm and life sims.
2018’s Remothered: Tormented Fathers was considered to be a modern spiritual successor to iconic survival horror game Clock Tower. But what it had in atmosphere and tension, it lacked in both fundamentals and refinement. Despite some modest success, it largely went under the radar. Remothered: Broken Porcelain is the upcoming sequel, and developer Stormind Games is attempting to polish the formula and invigorate the survival horror genre with a new, terrifying experience.
In Remothered: Broken Porcelain you play as 15 year old Jennifer, a young maid at the Ashmann Inn who’s begun to discover the true horrors that go on behind closed doors. The connection to its predecessor feels extremely loose, although I’m sure more tangible links will be revealed as the story progresses. And while it’s technically a sequel, game director Chris Darril is very insistent that it’s welcoming to new players as well as returning fans. And thanks to it’s significant improvements on the formula – at least from a gameplay standpoint – what I’ve seen so far makes me agree.
Everything that encapsulated the horror experience of Tormented Fathers returns. A creepy, classic horror-inspired location (this time swapping out a mansion for a hotel), terrifying stalkers roaming the hallways, and – perhaps most importantly – strict limitations on the ability to defend yourself. Yes, much like classic survival horror games of the past (and more recently Alien: Isolation), Remothered: Broken Porcelain is a game about avoiding the threat rather than taking it head on. Stealth, hide and seek, and distraction are all returning core mechanics, and the true terror is often the anticipation of threat rather than the danger itself.
The first Remothered had all the right intentions, but didn’t quite stick the landing. The sequel attempts to build upon its predecessor’s excellent scene setting with mechanics that do the atmosphere justice. In Tormented Fathers it could often feel like avoiding the stalkers was a case of luck; often you’d just have to walk around corners and hope they weren’t there to immediately spot you. It seems like Broken Porcelain has taken this failing onboard and adapted not only the general manoeuvrability of the character (such as now being able to vault objects) but also provided a legitimate cover system, something that was shockingly omitted from the first game’s hide-and-seek options.
Protagonist Jennifer also has far more tools in her arsenal than her predecessor Rosemary did, literally so. Remothered allows the player to not only collect general household items to be used for defense or distraction, but has now incorporated crafting. I can’t say right now how deep this system goes, but I can imagine that – in keeping with the genre’s DNA – crafting will be limited to practical items that a 15 year-old scared out of her mind could realistically make. During a gameplay presentation I was shown a bottle being combined with some flour, turning a throwing object that would cause an inconvenience for the stalker into a blinding explosion of flour. It’s a weapon you could legitimately make in this situation, which is a conscious effort from the developers for the game to feel grounded and the threat real.
With these tools also comes the new ability to attack your stalker although this feels like less of an attempt to bring down your enemies and more a new, preemptive distraction technique like the aforementioned flour bottle. That’s assuming, like in the first game, your stalker’s death is something that is exclusively reserved for cutscenes.
Jennifer also comes equipped with a new ability that’s a little more supernatural. Moth Eye – which allows you to pre-emptively scope out areas, gather intel on their pursuers, and even briefly mark their position. New abilities such as this not only serve the function of improving the experience, but are also an attempt to encourage the resourcefulness of a player trying to deal with not just one, but multiple stalkers.
Yes, unlike Tormented Fathers, in Broken Porcelain it’s now possible for several stalkers to be hunting you at once. Not just that, they can even work together in trying to sniff you out. They also have spies in the environment, such as dogs and birds that can announce your whereabouts should you stumble in your attempt to slip by them. The stalkers (such as the hotel’s owner, Mr Ashmann) seem switched on and more in tune with their environment than the previous game’s antagonists, where it felt like they stumbled across you in their predetermined patterns. The enemies this time appear smarter, and will do everything in their power to find and kill you.
Perhaps what will prove to be Remothered’s greatest asset, though, are the environments that promise to make you feel trapped with no escape. In turn, the satisfaction of strategically moving your way through them and discovering an exit will become its own reward. During the presentation I saw the kitchen and restaurant areas that the game’s producer, Antonio Cutrona openly declared were inspired by similar locations in The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. It’s clear not only through this game, but also Tormented Fathers, that Remothered’s horror influences are worn on its sleeve. Game director Chris Darril has made no secret about the similarity of Rosemary Reed to Jodie Foster’s FBI agent Clarice Starling from The Silence of the Lambs, and when I questioned new antagonist Andrea’s similarity to Kathy Bates in Misery, he gleefully responded with “You noticed another reference!”
I’m not quite sure how I feel about Remothered’s heavy-handed approach to horror references. For a genre fan like myself, it’s definitely cool to spot these moments, and playing in environments where you’ve previously experienced scares can add to the experience. But I’d also like to see Stormind Games focus more on building its own staples of horror instead of trying to stand on the shoulders of giants.
I’m excited to see more of Remothered: Broken Porcelain, as what little I’ve seen shows promise. Transparent influences aside, I think the world and environment building is strong. And I’m hopeful that, with all the new core mechanics, the gameplay can be elevated to match its great and terrifying tone.
Dale Driver is a Senior Video Producer for IGN. Be thoroughly bored by following him Twitter at @_daledriver.
The movie is not a film recreation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s famous stage musical, but a recording of the theatrical performance itself, allowing those who have been unable to attend the show in person to view it from home.
Earlier this year it was reported that Disney paid a huge sum of money for the rights for Hamilton, and that the company planned to release the film version in 2021. However, this latest announcement reveals that plans have changed and that we can expect to see the film within a matter of months.
Quarantine restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic have meant many people have been unable to attend theatrical Hamilton performances. This led to John Krasinski bringing together the Hamilton cast for a video call to recreate a number from the show online.
The hotly anticipated Friends reunion special was meant to launch on day one of WarnerMedia’s new streaming service HBO Max, but ended up delayed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, WarnerMedia’s Bob Greenblatt has indicated that the plan is to film the reunion by the end of summer, Variety reported.
Like many companies, TimeWarner hadn’t expected the lockdown situation to last as long as it has, but is now starting to put plans in place for production again. When the Friends reunion is filmed, however, Greenblatt has said they want to do it properly as much as possible. With over 15 years since the cast has filmed an episode together, there’s no wonder this reunion is such a big deal to both TimeWarner and fans.
“We’re holding out for being able to get this special done hopefully by the end of the summer, if the stars align and hopefully we can get back into production,” Greenblatt told Variety. “We do think there’s a value to having a big, raucous live audience to experience these six great friends coming back together and we didn’t want to just suddenly do it on a web call with, you know, six squares and people shooting from their kitchens and bedrooms.”
However, it seems like there is a point where virtual options will be explored, if the reunion is “delayed too long.” “We would have loved to have had it on [HBO Max on] day one, but at the same time, if we can get it launched in the fall, I think it’ll be something that we can have the audience really looking forward to as well,” Greenblat said.
HBO Max is set to launch on May 27, and will feature every episode of the original Friends, meaning you now have time to get caught up before the reunion.
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Devolver Digital’s E3 presentations, the Devolver Direct, have become one of the highlights of E3 each year–but of course, there is no E3 in 2020. Devolver Digital has previously said that they still planned on doing a video, and they’ve now reiterated that–although they cannot make promises for when it will happen.
In a tweet, the official Devolver Digital account said that they were not sure when the Direct would air, due to “uncertain times” (for more on these uncertain times, look out the window of the house you’re likely currently isolating within). It’s still happening, however, which gives us something to look forward to.
Devolver Direct 2020 is happening but we’re not sure when due to THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES.
Should be a good one though.
— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) May 12, 2020
The next Devolver Direct will presumably continue the narrative that has been told over each year’s presser, but it should also include some further insight into the publisher’s slate of upcoming games, including Sludge Life, Carrion, and Fall Guys.
Devolver Digital isn’t the only publisher that is still hosting a showcase in the wake of E3’s cancellation–here’s a list of plans for 2020 reveals.
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In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, via Wccftech, McCoy has talked about the new studio’s top-level game goals, and how it aims to use the new generation of hardware. With Gravity Well’s founding, the focus is on finding new ways to do things–starting with its flexible work structure and going all the way through to how their games will be designed.
“We feel that the AAA space is losing the hunt a bit in terms of finding new things,” McCoy explained in the interview. “When you look back, big explosive growth in a genre or in the industry itself doesn’t usually come from an iteration on a thing that already existed; it comes from a new thing that hasn’t been seen before… It probably means we will fail finding big massive hits sometimes, and that’s okay because you’re not always going to land perfectly.”
When looking to innovate in the AAA space, McCoy is specifically very interested in the possibilities of the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X. “The transition to next-gen, Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 is really exciting,” he said. “It dovetails with our desire to find new spaces that people haven’t explored. I think that things like the amount of CPU power and I/O speed actually opens up opportunities that we haven’t had before. Even when the Xbox One and PS4 were in development, what we were screaming at platforms to do was give us faster I/O, please. I am excited to see where we can get to with it.”
Microsoft has just released more information about the Xbox Series X in the first of its monthly scheduled Xbox 20/20 streams–including all new footage from a bunch of the games that will be released on the next-generation console.
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