Microsoft’s priciest video game acquisition, a $7.5 billion purchase of Bethesda Softworks parent company ZeniMax Media, shocked the industry on Monday. The deal puts Bethesda, one of the industry’s biggest publishers and owners of some of the most successful gaming series, under the Xbox brand.
Does this mean that all future Bethesda titles like Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Wolfenstein are going to be exclusive to only Windows and XBox? There would be a lot of franchises that would become exclusive under one platform… if I were a Playstation gamer I would be a little worried right about now. I know the article makes light of Microsoft not being interested in exclusivity anymore as they used to be… but this is Microsoft, and while I may use their products when needed, it doesn’t mean that I trust them.
Bethesda is partnering up with Amazon to make a TV series based on Fallout:
The Fallout franchise has been home to some of the best storytelling in gaming. The post-nuclear apocalypse series has seen a number of iterations, and is set to receive another soon. It’s been announced that a Fallout TV series is in the works for Amazon Prime Video. The show is being produced by the creators of Westworld.
My only question is if this will be based on the games, or if this will be another reality TV type thing after a nuclear attack?
You know, I do have prime… the question is can I be arsed to watch enough of it to do a write up?
Update: Fallout 76 players who have signed up for Fallout 1st report that Private Worlds have dead NPCs and looted areas in them and can get invaded by other players Also, some say that the Scrapbox has eaten up all their materials, removing them forever
Just think… they could have bought a couple games with that money, ones that actually work properly and don’t have more Fallout 4 content than Fallout 4. :trollface:
I was forced to check my calendar today to see if it was April Fools day, as that would be the only day news like this should ever be allowed to be announced:
There’s never a dull moment in the world of Fallout 76, the online multiplayer game of post-apocalyptic survival and adventuring. Last week, publisher Bethesda announced that the game’s much-requested addition of computer-controlled characters was delayed until next year. Today, the publisher said that it will be selling premium subscriptions that will provide players with access to private servers at a cost of $13 a month or $100 a year.
In such a short time this game and other things surrounding it have garnered quite a bit history! I mean going all the way back to launch they’ve:
Shoved an unfinished multiplayer game out the door for $60 USD
Stiffed fans that purchased the Power Armor Edition of the game with nylon bags instead of promised canvas ones
Put Nuka Dark Rum up for pre-order for $80 and shipped it 4 months later due to delays, eventually receiving a low quality product that didn’t quite live up to the ticket price.
Produced Nuka Cola themed helmets that had to be recalled due to high amounts of mold
Announces they will release it on Steam later on after all
???
PROFIT!
Now you might be wondering “What will the cost of what is essentially two AAA title games net me over the peasants that paid full price? (assuming there’s a store still selling it for anything above $24 at this point).” Well, it gets you:
So not only do they expect you to dump money on the base game, spend money on cosmetics, and essentially pay $100 for a private server that can only fit 8 people on it while being showered with imaginary currency. Oh, and icons and emotes?! That makes it fucking worth it! Alongside the exclusive outfit that tells other users that you’re a tool that spent $100 to rent what is essentially your own dedicated server, which used to be something game developers offered users to make for themselves… For fuck’s sake GTA5 allows you to choose if you want to play in a public/private or friends only mode, and that’s just playing the damned game! What’s next? Super Ultra Premium Servers that offer you 12 slots, two outfits and an autographed love note from Todd Howard? I have to hand it to them, they really know how to make people stretch out their wallets on a game that has essentially been a living clusterfuck.
Despite the nice crisp weather I’ve been feeling under the weather today… I can’t tell if if its allergies or the cold going around… or if I’m just sleep deprived which is a huge possibility I’ll try to sort soon (though I’ve found some nice foolproof sleeping aids if you know what I mean :v: ). But other than feeling a little off I had a nice chill day. Played a little bit more of Fallout 4, and even managed to do a little bit of Quake Champions with Yutram for awhile. We tried out different game modes and ended up annihilating each other other over separation anxiety due to the fact that it kept placing us on separate teams… and not being able to read the damned dark red font over everyone’s head. As usual there is footage involved, but the question “will it ever see the light of day?” looms over it.
Aside from that some of the other modes were fun. I’ve always been an old school style Deathmatch or gone for some TDM, but I did have a bit of fun with Sacrifice, Hot Rocket and the gamemode that spawns you as different people. Oh! Slipgate was fun too. Though chasing that red anus sometimes got confusing, though I guess that depends on the map doesn’t it…
Here’s to me waking up without half my face feeling like its on fire. :happy:
E3 is in session, and already I’ve seen some cool games and concepts that I’m already looking forward to getting my hands on. I’ve decided to compile a list from today’s findings. featuring flashy trailers!
Having played The New Order and Colossus I was filled with extreme hype when I saw them mention Wolfenstein: Youngblood. It features what I’m guessing are the daughters of B.J Blaskowitz, two specifically to represent a coop mode. My only concern being if it’ll be coop only or if it’ll feature a single player campaign like all the other games. I’d also like the idea of a local coop, for playing with someone on the couch. 😛 As another small note I wonder how long it’ll take before someone gets their knickers in a twist over these two characters for having knickers.
Skyrim is one of the most ported games in existence. You can play it on XBox360, PS3, PC Thrice, XBoxOne, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and now Amazon Alexa. No word for how mod support will be rolled out, but I imagine telling Alexa to buy things over Creation Club should be easy peasy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TXuDkGesIc
Available right now for free, some fun looking DLC for Prey that rolls out three new modes: Story Mode, New Game+ Mode, and Survival Mode which looks like it has some elements of Prop Hunt in it. Looks like it could be fun, I’ve been meaning to get back into Prey… Curse my many distractions. :v:
I loved DOOM2016, and when they announced they were going to make a sequel I was pretty hyped. The trailer seems to be set in what I think might be New Jersey. :trollface:
Then there’s Fallout 76. This one I have mixed feelings about; mainly due to the online play. I’m wondering if it will be mainly PvP, or if it will let you just play PvE with friends. They show quite a bit of gameplay, and it does look like fun. But it also looks like it could be a big trollfest if not executed properly.
Then after watching Bethesda’s presentation I ventured to my RSS feeds and found this potential cherry waiting to be plucked:
A new Devil May Cry game, something I’ve been anticipating for awhile now. It follows Dante and Nero, ready to kick all kinds of demon ass with some new friends and even new equipment. I can’t say I like Nero’s Justin Bieber look (I almost mistook him for DmC Dante), but Dante looked pretty swank with facial hair. Though looks aside the gameplay looks like it’ll be hella fun. I can’t wait to fuck some shit up with the mechanical arm.
This is another one I have mixed feelings about. While I had fun playing Tomb Raider, and Rise Of The Tomb Raider, it still didn’t feel like a Tomb Raider game to me… maybe more like Skyrim meets Tomb Raider. They do say though that this will be the game where she becomes the legendary badass heroine she is known the world over for. As usual the graphics do easily impress, and the gameplay looks more or less like the previous two games. I do look forward to it, I just hope for a less whiny Lara this time around. I forgave it in the reboot since this was supposed to be her origin story, but in ROTT there were certain points where it was too annoying for me. Also, Microsoft had better not pull that timed exclusive bullshit again. It didn’t make sense to do that with a game that has been on multiple platforms since the dawn of fucking time. :zorak:
Then of course the lovely Ori is back in Ori and the will of the wisps. Much like its predecessor it features the same graphics with some newer tweaks, and looks to have the same emotional pull as the first game.
I bought DooM during the last winter sale and decided to take it for a spin today, figured it would help me with my aggression. I was a little concerned with how DooM would turn out considering none of the original ID team was involved with it, but it’s a brilliant throwback to my childhood if I ever saw it, so far I’m really impressed! I’ve been running it using the Vulkan API with all eyecandy turned on and haven’t run into any issues. Everything is butter smooth and fun to play.
You had me at Vulkan
I’ve been playing the campaign and did a bit of arcade mode when I wanted to take a break. I figure with a bit more fragging and wandering around in campaign mode I’ll test my mettle in multiplayer. It’s been quite a rush, there’s a lot to go through and replay value seems rather high thus far thanks to hidden secrets, and wanting to play the game on higher difficulties overall. My only complaint is the inability to save whenever I want, and having to rely on checkpoints, but the checkpoints are rather frequent for my gripe to be a minimal one.
I do hope more games start using Vulkan, give DirectX a kick in the pants. 😛
Update: After discussion with Valve, and listening to our community, paid mods are being removed from Steam Workshop. Even though we had the best intentions, the feedback has been clear – this is not a feature you want. Your support means everything to us, and we hear you.
So that’s it. Things go back to the way they are. At least for this particular game. Valve might still do the same thing with their games… I just hope that if any company or indie in the future thinks twice about implementing that type of system. Like I said before, I’m all for people making money on something they love doing, but in the end it all comes down to how you present it. This wasn’t presented very well in the slightest.
So I’ve been following the new Wolfenstein game coming out for quite some time now, if you haven’t heard about it check out this trailer:
Anyway. I was doing my usual rounds of reading during my lunch today and found that Bethesda has a special version you can buy called “Wolfenstein: The New Order Panzerhund Edition “.
It’s excellent, it comes with some maps (not digital ones), an X Ray of something, a robot dog and more. Really cool stuff for $100. One problem though: It doesn’t include the game.
This collector’s edition does not include a copy of the game. Keep your pre-order at your favorite retailer and we’ll send you these goodies separately—this way we can ship these boxes worldwide and you’re not stuck waiting for your game to come along with an oversized, expensively shipped box.
Uh huh… Why have an expensively giant box to ship when you can just fork over 100 clams PLUS the amount to preorder the game? How thoughtful.
