Marketing games in 2023: "We're very excited to announce that we have an announcement to make next month!"
More seriously, not the biggest GTA fan, but I hope it lives up to expectations. People have been waiting a decade at this point. Also looking forward to seeing how many times Rockstar will be able to re-release GTA 6 over the next decade.
The unionization drive among testers, developers, and others has been one of the few good trends in the gaming industry this year. Hopefully, we'll see more unions form in 2024 and beyond.
Looks interesting. Not the biggest fan of survival mechanics, but they do specify that it will just be "like" a survival game so who knows what will look like. The fact that they are promising it won't be pay-to-win upfront is a good start. Of course, these are all just promises and there's no telling what the actual game will be like, but at least they seem to have a clear idea of the game they want to make.
The more I read about this the more baffling the move seems. It's not going to end cheating. It might inconvenience cheaters, if even that and it's only going to create negative PR for Microsoft, especially since this is impacting people who use modified controllers for accessibility issues. It's especially weird given how carefully Microsoft has tried to craft an image of being "pro-consumer" this console generation. Then again I imagine the executives who make these decisions rarely think these things through. At the very least it is a good reminder that there is no such thing as a pro-consumer for-profit corporation.
I've been expecting this to be a trainwreck for a while now, but I was really expecting that to be from the Twitch Plays style of gameplay, not the fact that the game had pay-to-win mechanics. It's impressive how they managed to stumble right out of the gate.
The main announcer sounds like he is just phoning this in for the paycheck and stumbles over stuff like he can't believe he has to read this. Wow. AI is so authentic these days.
More seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if more games with announcers started replacing them with AI. In a lot of those games, it's easy to tune it out and not really pay attention to it. I'm not sure if someone casually playing would even realize it's AI. I'm curious how long it will take until a publisher tries to put AI voice-acting in a game where players would actually notice the dialogue sounding unnatural.
Lots of good recommendations here. I'll just leave some +1s for a few I've seen here that I've enjoyed.
Blacktongue Thief: A thief tries to rob the wrong warrior and gets wrapped up in a quest to a distant land besieged by giants. The first of a trilogy, but the ending gives you enough closure to be a standalone read while also setting up where the story will go. Personally, I enjoyed the first-person narration which gives you a colorful look at a somewhat non-conventional fantasy world, although it's still fantasy. If you liked Abercrombie then you might like this. There's a similar focus on flawed characters trying to do the best they can. There is some war and politics but they are firmly in the background and far from the main focus.
Legends and Lattes: A retired adventurer opens up a coffee shop in a land that has never heard of coffee. I'm not sure if "cozy fantasy" was a thing before this book, but it's been held up as an archetypal example. The plot is low-stakes and focuses on the characters and the difficulties of running a small business. Makes a good palate-cleanser between denser reads. No war or politics.
Kings of the Wyld: A retired group of adventurers has to come together for one last job after their leader's daughter ends up trapped in a city besieged by monsters. Admittedly how much you enjoy this one depends on how novel you find the idea of adventuring groups being treated as rock and roll groups. Like literally being a stand-in for rock and roll bands with groupies, managers, and all of that. I've seen some criticism that the book doesn't have much going for it beyond that which is a bit unfair. Following a bunch of middle-aged heroes past their prime was refreshing and I think the author did some interesting things with the main character who only uses a shield in combat and whose main motivation is to make it back to his wife and daughter in one piece. Very little war and politics.
Also, I don't think he's been recommended but you might want to check out Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy. Admittedly it's not typical high fantasy and it is somewhat heavy on war and politics, but if you liked the grittier, grounded feel of Abercrombie then you might like it. It is arguably darker though and the main character straddles the line between dark anti-hero and outright villain protagonist for at least the first book. But it might be worth checking out if you really liked the First Law trilogy.
This was great. It's kind of bizarre to realize that Netflix is actually older than Wikipedia.
Who is saying this? Halloween is almost over. We only have one week left before every store starts playing Christmas music until January.
Not the biggest fan of extraction shooters, but the permadeath mechanic sounds interesting. Although I'm not sure how common that is in this kind of game.
Honestly, this is about what I expect from Google nowadays. It's surprising when they manage to live up to the "Don't be Evil" motto they used to have.
Elon Musk being hypocritical and petty? Shockingly Unprecedented. Then again it does give everyone another reason to just stop using Twitter.