Random video game news... Games are Randomly News Worthy

[HoonDing]

Guess the Hundred Years War was woke.

[MrBrown]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/todd-howard-reckons-he-knows-why-starfield-was-so-divisive-it-was-too-different-than-youve-seen-from-us-in-past/

[Mamoulian War]

Well, I would not say it was much different from other Beth games. Same engine, same bugs, just in space They should have put it into Starship Troopers universe, at least the bugs would fit into the lore

[MrBrown]

Yeah, that's sort of the joke about it. It's so similar to their previous games, it feels like it was made 10 years ago.

[Hurlshort]

I enjoyed the Starfield lore. It was rough, but I saw some good potential for storytelling. I played Arena and Daggerfall when they came out, and it's not like they were well developed either. It was very generic fantasy from the beginning. Further titles helped focus it (Morrowind, Redguard, and Skyrim being some high points.) Starfield is pretty generic space fantasy too, but I'd like to see them continue to develop it.

Ship building also has the potential to be way cooler. There aren't a lot of games that really give you that freedom while also delivering a decent narrative experience. Anyways, I see Starfield as a good first step, but they still have work to do to make it an epic IP. 

[melkathi]

I just wish they had gone more StarTreky in their scifi with colorful aliens. If I am going to hop from planet to planet I want to experience the illusion of experiencing something exotic.

[Gorth]

I wonder how Starfield compares to the X games, especially X4

[Hawke64]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/spooky-open-world-elder-scrolls-em-up-dread-delusion-leaves-early-access-in-may

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14th May, when Dread Delusion leaves early access.

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https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/sky-of-tides-is-the-anti-disco-elysium-in-which-balance-is-queen

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Created by Ontario-based Lofty Sky Entertainment, the game takes place in the sci-fantasy realm of Numen, which has been shattered into nine planetoids floating within the titular sky of tides, and is contested by two groups: the Syndicate, who run a monopoly on ancient magical tech, and the Sovereign, a rebel faction dedicated to the lost ways enshrined in the banned Numen Tomes. Rin is called upon to mend this ruptured civilisation while searching for her missing father. You'll do this not just by following the plot to its conclusion or levelling up, but by keeping Rin balanced as a character. For Rin, you see, has a peculiar gift of currently unexplained provenance: she's a mirror for everything else. Or perhaps, everything else is a mirror for Rin.

...

Won't there be times, I ask Cheung, where players find it much more satisfying to end up out of balance - flipping to the dark side and all that? "There will be some choices that give you like, access to different people and information about themselves. But in terms of like wanting to become unbalanced, I don't think we built that into the game - I think we are emphasising the balance."

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A different flavour of min-maxing, but min-maxing still, while the One Truest and Bestest Ending (possibly, just 1 ending in total, with a bunch of softlocks) ensures that the "incorrect" player's choices will be punished. Sounds like an adventure game with some stats on top, not an RPG. Though, I am still curious how it plays out and whether the developers will reverse the course 2-3 months post-release (because releasing complete games or even tagging them explicitly as WIP/EA is too hard).

[uuuhhii]

 

Sins of a Solar Empire sequel soon

[Bartimaeus]

  On 5/4/2024 at 6:58 AM, Hawke64 said:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/spooky-open-world-elder-scrolls-em-up-dread-delusion-leaves-early-access-in-may

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Steam says it's been on my wishlist since 2021/09/08. I don't know if I'll actually like it, but the screenshots have always seemed very attractive to me.

[Hawke64]

For those of us who in the UK: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/659071

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Require publishers to leave videogames (and related game assets / features) they have sold to customers in a reasonably working state when support ends, so that no further intervention whatsoever is necessary for the game to function, as a statutory consumer right.

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Unlikely to work, but I like the idea.

[MrBrown]

How can this whole debacle be worth it for Sony?

[Azdeus]

  On 5/5/2024 at 2:15 PM, MrBrown said:

How can this whole debacle be worth it for Sony?

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Now, if only equally as many ****s could have been given about the rootkit you're forced to install aswell.

[Hawke64]

  On 5/5/2024 at 2:15 PM, MrBrown said:

How can this whole debacle be worth it for Sony?

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It is indeed interesting to watch. Either the account requirement should have been enforced from the start (with the purchases being limited to the regions with PSN) or not at all. Curious if the digital distribution platforms are going to refund it.

Edit. I've checked SteamDB. The game is no longer available for several regions.

  On 5/5/2024 at 2:23 PM, Azdeus said:

Now, if only equally as many ****s could have been given about the rootkit you're forced to install aswell.

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True, but the rootkit is less noticeable for an average user, while the game, as I understand, is online-only either way.

Edited May 5, 2024 by Hawke64

[Azdeus]

  On 5/5/2024 at 3:37 PM, Hawke64 said:

True, but the rootkit is less noticeable for an average user, while the game, as I understand, is online-only either way.

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It's very much so, I'm just extra grumpy because my friends went and bought the game even though I told them about the rootkit, but now all of a sudden they care about security breaches and inconveniences.

[Sarex]

  On 5/4/2024 at 8:29 AM, uuuhhii said:

 

Sins of a Solar Empire sequel soon

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And Homeworld 3 is out in a couple of days. Although I will probably wait for the gog version.

[MrBrown]

Turns out it was not worth it:

 

[BruceVC]

  On 5/5/2024 at 12:50 PM, Hawke64 said:

For those of us who in the UK: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/659071

Unlikely to work, but I like the idea.

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Im not sure I understand the objective? What are people expecting, what  do they mean by " in a reasonably working state when support ends" 

Do they mean official patches and fixes and does this include community patches or mods, is that support?

Because you can have a bug specific to your PC or mods you loaded and  if you dont fix it then you cant finish the game. Its unrealistic to hold the original  developers legally responsible for that?

They must be talking about a specific game or games that was the foundation of this petition so I wonder what they mean?

 

 

[Lexx]

This petition is so dumb. How is that supposed to be enforced? A company can be broke or pretty much dissolved, who is supposed to do the work of maintaining the games? What if for whatever reasons the source code got lost? Should the government fine the company that doesn't exist anymore, or jail the studio heads?

[BruceVC]

  On 5/6/2024 at 7:06 AM, Lexx said:

This petition is so dumb. How is that supposed to be enforced? A company can be broke or pretty much dissolved, who is supposed to do the work of maintaining the games? What if for whatever reasons the source code got lost? Should the government fine the company that doesn't exist anymore, or jail the studio heads?

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Yes it makes no sense. It must be because of  a specific example and that would be why this petition was created

But the UK is famous for these types of well-meaning but mostly pointless examples of outrage, they dont lead to much real change around implementation

[Zoraptor]

Can't believe it needs to be said, but it is Bruce: mods are always use at your own risk.

  On 5/6/2024 at 7:06 AM, Lexx said:

This petition is so dumb. How is that supposed to be enforced? A company can be broke or pretty much dissolved, who is supposed to do the work of maintaining the games? What if for whatever reasons the source code got lost? Should the government fine the company that doesn't exist anymore, or jail the studio heads?

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Eh, that's a massive non sequitor. If a company goes bust it also can't repay its debts, doesn't mean the laws saying it has to repay its debts are stupid because there are circumstances where they can't and don't. Gift cards, warrantees, obligations for items to be in reasonable working order and more all can- and usually do- go poof if the company does.

You're not going to have lost the source code yet still be supporting a game, you need the source code for that, and the summary specifies reasonable working state when support ends. For physical goods that's a usual requirement under consumer guarantee legislation, no real reason for it not to be for digital goods*. So no trying to sue Looking Glass Systems or Paul Neurath personally for an old copy of System Shock 2 not working due to SafeDisc: it worked fine, when support ended in 2000.

*indeed, the guarantee of reasonable working order for a reasonable timeframe already applies to software here as digital delivery is not excluded from the Fair Trading nor Consumer Guarantees Acts- and it cannot be contracted out via EULA. Even used to be mentioned specifically in the Steam Subscriber Agreement. And now that I check, still is:

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FOR NEW ZEALAND SUBSCRIBERS, THIS SECTION 7 DOES NOT EXCLUDE, RESTRICT OR MODIFY THE APPLICATION OF ANY RIGHT OR REMEDY THAT CANNOT BE SO EXCLUDED, RESTRICTED OR MODIFIED INCLUDING THOSE CONFERRED BY THE NEW ZEALAND CONSUMER GUARANTEES ACT 1993. UNDER THIS ACT ARE GUARANTEES WHICH INCLUDE THAT GOODS AND SERVICES ARE OF ACCEPTABLE QUALITY. IF THIS GUARANTEE IS NOT MET THERE ARE ENTITLEMENTS TO HAVE THE SOFTWARE REMEDIED (WHICH MAY INCLUDE REPAIR, REPLACEMENT OR REFUND). IF A REMEDY CANNOT BE PROVIDED OR THE FAILURE IS OF A SUBSTANTIAL CHARACTER, THE ACT PROVIDES FOR A REFUND.

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Edited May 6, 2024 by Zoraptor

[Azdeus]

  On 5/6/2024 at 6:24 AM, MrBrown said:

Turns out it was not worth it:

 

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It's really depressing to see how people defend the megacorps for free.

[BruceVC]

  On 5/6/2024 at 10:49 AM, Zoraptor said:

Can't believe it needs to be said, but it is Bruce: mods are always use at your own risk.

Eh, that's a massive non sequitor. If a company goes bust it also can't repay its debts, doesn't mean the laws saying it has to repay its debts are stupid because there are circumstances where they can't and don't. Gift cards, warrantees, obligations for items to be in reasonable working order and more all can- and usually do- go poof if the company does.

You're not going to have lost the source code yet still be supporting a game, you need the source code for that, and the summary specifies reasonable working state when support ends. For physical goods that's a usual requirement under consumer guarantee legislation, no real reason for it not to be for digital goods*. So no trying to sue Looking Glass Systems or Paul Neurath personally for an old copy of System Shock 2 not working due to SafeDisc: it worked fine, when support ended in 2000.

*indeed, the guarantee of reasonable working order for a reasonable timeframe already applies to software here as digital delivery is not excluded from the Fair Trading nor Consumer Guarantees Acts- and it cannot be contracted out via EULA. Even used to be mentioned specifically in the Steam Subscriber Agreement. And now that I check, still is:

 

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I still dont understand what the petition is suppose to achieve, this what the petition website  says 

" Many videogames rely on servers. When these are shut down, games can be left unplayable where no action is taken to remove this dependency. We believe this is effectively robbing customers, leaving them with no recourse to retain their purchases. We have concerns that existing laws and agencies do not effectively solve this problem. Thus we believe government intervention is needed to stop this practice."

What if a company goes under, then the online servers will also be shutdown. But whats more relevant is what is an example of what they talking about ?

Specifically around what they mean by " When these are shut down, games can be left unplayable" 

 

[melkathi]

Darkspore when EA shut down the server. It was always online even when playing single player. Yes, it wasn't a great game, but because co-op didn't do well, people couldn't relax in single player anymore?

Any Microsoft Xbox live game when Microsoft decides to stop the live service on PC back in... Can't remember when.

 

City of Heroes on the other hand proves that if the company is willing, it can allow the community to create the means to enjoy the game, even when the company has no more financial interest.

[BruceVC]

  On 5/7/2024 at 7:04 AM, melkathi said:

Darkspore when EA shut down the server. It was always online even when playing single player. Yes, it wasn't a great game, but because co-op didn't do well, people couldn't relax in single player anymore?

Any Microsoft Xbox live game when Microsoft decides to stop the live service on PC back in... Can't remember when.

 

City of Heroes on the other hand proves that if the company is willing, it can allow the community to create the means to enjoy the game, even when the company has no more financial interest.

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And these are all valid examples but what is the petition expecting to change legally 

In other words if there is  an online gaming service that is losing money is the legislation going to say " you cant shutdown the gaming servers " ?

And thats fine but then who is going to pay for the servers to be maintained? Maybe the idea is where the community maintains it like City of Heroes

I just think trying to get the state to legislate this type of thing is problematic