SONY GAMESCOM 2014: E3 PART 2

By Jamaal Ryan

After looking at Sony’s Gamescom show, it felt very much like an extension of their E3 media briefing. Some exciting new titles and system features were announced, which ultimately added up to a satisfying show.

While I gave credit to Microsoft for their indie treatment at their Gamescom stage show, Sony took it a step further and supplemented their service to indies with the notion of reputation. The Tomorrow Children, Volume, Day Z, Papers, Please… we’ve all heard about the Pixel Junk series and Thomas Was Alone along with the other two aforementioned titles. It’s this level of indie pedigree that we’ve come to expect on Sony’s platforms. Throwing Hellblade into the mix was quite jarring however, with Ninja Theory’s previous work very much existing within the realm of AAA titles from helping kick start the PS3’s line up with Heavenly Sword to developing one of 2013’s best action titles in their Devil May Cry remake last year. Perhaps it’s become cool to be “indie” with no one having a definitive explanation of what “indie” actually is (says the guy talking ad nauseum about indies in this write up).

FarCry 4, like many of the big budget titles shown at Sony’s conference, acted more as a reminder rather than unveiling fresh details. Their Playstation exclusive feature of 10 co-op keys was a nice touch from the announcement last year, however Sony seems to be taking that very concept and running with it with SHARE PLAY.

SHARE PLAY is Sony’s “virtual couch”, allowing you to invite any one of your PSN friends into your game cooperatively or competitively regardless of the fact that they own the game. For the longest time, I’ve owned different games than my friends because of the high frequency in which I accumulate them. “Does my buddy own that… Nope”, “Can I invite my friend to play… Nope”. This can also work as a unique marketing tool to incentivize third party support, essentially making it easier for players to spread word of mouth to each other with just a simple virtual invite. Sony has spent the entirety of last generation catching up to Xbox with online features and functionalities. Today, they are leading the charge in some cases with Playstation Plus, and now paving their own path with SHARE PLAY.

In the realm of Sony exclusives, Driveclub still has a lot to prove than being just another racing sim. As the Forza series has refined standards of the genre, and Ubisoft’s The Crew boasts more tangible social elements than any other racing game, Driveclub lacks distinction, merely existing in the shadow of car culture in gaming. Then we’re finally invited to see just what Media Molecule has been working on all this time.

I can’t help but say that I’m a bit disappointed that MM isn’t announcing a new franchise as what we were misled to believe with the number of teasers before this announcement. That same lack of enthusiasm extends to the idea of Tearaway on the Playstation 4. Though I may have been a little down on Tearaway on the Vita, I know I’m not the only one wondering how this game could be as special on PS4 as it was on Sony’s handheld. What made Tearaway so impressive on the Vita was how it was able to incorporate the Vita’s full arsenal of features: front and rear facing camera, front and rear touch surfaces, and the gyroscope. The PS4 doesn’t wield the same number of moving parts as the Vita out of the box, with only the touch pad, motion control, and light bar to play with. It looks damn good on the console for sure, but how Tearaway would be able to charm with a robust feature set remains to be seen.

But god damn Alienation looks so good.

Not even a year out of the PS4 launch and after Resogun’s awesome update earlier this year, we’re already getting to see Housemarque’s next game. From ship combat in Stardust, to on foot gunplay in Dead Nation, to ships again in Resogun, and back to boots on the ground, Alienation looks like an intensified version of Helldivers. I’ve never quite seen Housemarque do co-op like what’s seen in the Alienation trailer with fending off waves of enemies in a defensive stand-off using shields to protect your teammates. Housemarque’s games are some of the few downloadable titles that I go out of my way to purchase, and I’m so happy to see that they’re working on another game so soon. However as much as I’m excited about Alienation, Wild is probably my Gamescom game of show.

Surviving in a hunters and gatherers environment within an open world on both land and in sea as a human is exciting. Holding out and surviving against the elements has become more and more popular in gaming, largely thanks to genres such as rogue-likes. But Wild’s addition of allowing players to take on the role of any living creature extends the concept of survival several fold, potentially offering various forms of replayability. Hopefully playing as animals won’t just be restricted to fighting off predators, but also includes caring for your young and establishing territory. I hate to coin the phrase, but Wild looks to deliver emergent gameplay in ways which we might not have seen before.

Sony’s Gamescom show was fairly strong for the Playstation 4. And much like what they did at E3, they took the time to briefly mention Morpheus and Playstation TV. But unfortunately also like E3, Sony’s talked zip about Vita. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise as Shuhei Yoshida after E3 this year explicitly stated that they are pulling back their first party support for the Vita to allow indie developers provide software for the platform. It’s ostensibly cost effective when you think about it as with such a low number of units sold, indies can benefit from the strong attach rate of the system much more than Sony can if they decided to throw money at it; but Sony’s not helping the problem by neglecting it at trade show stages. You’re so heavily focused on indies? Then talk about the slew of indie titles coming to the platform. Disappointed about the Vita’s sales? Then start talking about it.

But when looking at Gamescom strictly through the lens of the Playstation 4, it was a strong showing. Titles such as Day Z and Papers, Please only further demonstrates Sony’s strong support for indie games, and other upcoming titles such as Alienation and Wild both shows studio’s long time partnership with the Playstation brand and the gravitation of new developers with fresh ideas. The Vita might be absent, Morpheus may still be a work in progress, and Playstation TV may only serve as a supplementary device, but features like SHARE PLAY shows significant growth for the Playstation ecosystem (marketing speech blah, blah, blah).

Image courtesy of BeGeek 

MICROSOFT AT GAMESCOM 2014: SAME S**T, BUT MORE INDIES

By Jamaal Ryan

Despite having the largest number of attendees by hundreds of thousands, Gamescom still lives in the shadows of the E3s of the world when looking at it through the scope of big announcements and surprise reveals. E3 may have a smaller head count, but I can’t imagine still talking about Gamescom announcements weeks after the show this year like we did after E3 just a few months ago.  That much was apparent after watching Microsoft’s conference, however I wouldn’t short change the significance of the show too much.

Microsoft took a lesson from Sony’s E3 press conference by giving indies a lengthy amount of time on stage. In fact, they arguably garnered the most attention at Microsoft’s show. It’s important to note that this can probably be attested to the novelty factor of debuted titles being that the remainder of Microsoft’s show contained mostly repeats from E3.

They ranged from The Escapists, which – in the wake of more hardened titles such as Prison Architect, captures a slightly more light hearted aspect of prison escapes for those who fancied the concept after watching too much Prison Break, to Super Hot, the much talked about first person shooter where time is at the mercy of your movements. The in-between titles deserve mentioning as well: Space Engineers, Blues and Bullets, Cuphead, Dungeon of the Endless, Funk of Titans, Goat Simulator, Gunscape, Massive Chalice, Inside, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, No Time to Explain, Plague Inc, Pneuma: Breath of Life, Threes!, and Volgarr the Viking; they all had me excited just about as much as Devolver’s showcasing at Sony’s E3 media briefing. The first quarter of Microsoft’s Gamescom show was easily Xbox’s best service to indie developers in the company’s history.

Microsoft’s announcement of Smite coming to Xbox One couldn’t have come at a better time. Only mere weeks after the pop culture explosion that was the DOTA 2 Internationals, MOBAs have reached a level of relevance in which it has never existed before. Speaking of e-Sports, though Evolve and Halo: Master Chief Collection didn’t bring a whole hell of a lot new to Gamescom, there was an obvious focus on Twitch and the e-Sports community. Evolve showcased a new map up against the Kraken – disappointingly there was no sight of the final monster – and Halo showed off one of their re-mastered maps in Sanctuary, both given the e-Sports commentary treatment.

Phil Harrison took stage at the middle of the show with a stiff dedication in emphasizing exclusive titles, “I’m gonna be using the word ‘exclusive’ a lot” (eye-roll). They were: Forza 5 and Horizon 2, Sunset Overdrive, Fable Legends, Ori and the Blind Forest – all in which we already knew about – and an all new title, Scream Ride. Filing Rise of the Tomb Raider into that category was certainly unexpected, however the words “coming to our platform in 2015 exclusively” seemed all to convenient and stressed, meaning that the next Tomb Raider is likely a timed exclusive set to find its way to other platforms in 2016. And then we finally got a chance to see Quantum Break.

Leather jacket donning, dark haired marksmen seem to be Remedy’s staple, and time manipulation – whether that may be the dodge mechanic in Alan Wake, or Bullet Time in Max Payne – is embedded in their pedigree. Quantum Break is no different, with sharp looking cover-based gunplay, and overt time wielding abilities such as fast forwarding past enemies and freezing targets in place. But even as anticipated as Quantum Break’s world premier was, I’d have to say that it was a bit underwhelming. In both concept and execution, none of what was shown was particularly novel or awe-inspiring, and Quantum Break’s main hook of being interwoven in a parallel television series is still a mystery.

Looking at The Master Chief Collection at the closing of Microsoft’s show, it’s interesting to see what their treatment is for the Halo 5 Guardians beta. There have been rumors that the classic approach to Master Chief Collection’s multiplayer modes – such as the aforementioned Halo 2 – could be a way to test how Halo 5’s multiplayer design would look like bringing Halo back to the arena styled ‘weapon control’ shooter from its glory days on Xbox and early 360. The Halo 5 beta looks to focus on pre-set classes as well, very much unlike the full customization featured in Halo 4.

While this may be music to the ears of Halo purists, this makes me nervous. Halo 4 modernized the franchise in a way that made it more approachable like the common culture of today’s shooters without compromising the inertia, map traversal, and dynamism that the series is known for. Halo is very capable of existing both in the past and the future; just look at Bungie’s treatment of Destiny’s Crucible as a very clear example. While limited customization in Halo 5 certainly isn’t the end of the world, I just hope that it doesn’t get rid of the ideas introduced in Halo 4.

If I was holding out for Quantum Break as being the only announcement that I was looking forward to, I’d be sorely disappointed. Luckily I kept my anticipation open. I may be anxious to see what 343 is going to do with Halo 5, and Rise of the Tomb Raider’s (likely) timed exclusivity makes me thankful to own an Xbox One, but Microsoft’s indie treatment impressed me most, bringing some truly compelling software to their platform that no longer makes them look like they’re playing catch-up, but instead solidifying relevance in evangelizing the indie scene on home consoles. 

THE DEATH OF A ZELDA FAN: ROBIN WILLIAMS DIES AT 63

By Jamaal Ryan

Breaking news hit today about Robin William’s death, which has been suspected as a suicide.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve mourned the loss of an acclaimed actor by self-destruction; look no further than Phillip Seymore Hoffman earlier this year.

Though Robin Williams hasn’t taken on such critical roles as Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting, and John Keating in Dead Poets Society, he has taken a liking to the gaming community in a series of videos for the releases of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords with his daughter, appropriately named, Zelda.

It saddens me to hear as a social worker who deals with clients who suffer from depression, presenting that overwhelmingly positive front to compensate for their insufferable pain.

With the passing of Robin Williams, this will be one of my last favorite memories:

THERE’S NO RUSH TO PLAY EA ACCESS GAMES (FOLLOW UP OPINION)

By Jamaal Ryan

EA revealed further details about their EA Access program yesterday.

While discussing their early access model, EA clarified that early adopters can expect to play either specific game modes or the full game prior to its release. Better yet, any progress earned during the early access period would be saved for the official game’s release. While this may not make a difference to those that are playing the full game anyway, it would be neat to, say… carry over your progress in Battlefield Hardline’s multiplayer into the full game once it launches.

Though it was safe to assume when EA Access was announced, EA reinforced the point that games in the Vault will stack over time. This is one of the aspects that separates EA Access from Playstation Plus and Games with Gold, and brings it more in line with Playstation Now. At the end of every month, I scramble to connect and hook up my four consoles (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One) to catch any downloads I may have missed throughout the last 30 days. It becomes a bit of a hassle on my part to double back and make sure that I hadn’t missed anything before the month is over. At least with EA Access, I can go back months, probably years down line sifting through a Netflix catalog to see both what’s new, and what’s old.

Now, EA ensures to note that Vault titles can be removed later down the line. However they’ve stated that they’ll make an effort to notify players when titles will be removed from The Vault. While EA is willing to be accommodating about this, it reinforces the hesitancy many gamers withhold about fully committing to digital libraries, services, and market places. Games are becoming less and less of tangible products that are ours to keep, and looking to be more and more gated by the permission of distributers giving us the right to play.

But in the meantime, I can deal with a several month grace period to download a game that’s offered to me for free with a $30 subscription.

Related Write up

EA’s Xbox One exclusive Access program was announced and released yesterday, which will allow gamers full access – ala Netflix – to their Vault of games which will be added to throughout the Access beta and beyond for $5 a month or $30 annually. Currently, that ‘Vault’ is comprised of FIFA 14, Madden 25, Peggle 2, and Battlefield 4. In addition to unlimited access, EA’s program also offers 10% discounts on all digital games and even earlier access (can’t stop saying ‘access’) to new titles. Dragon Age Inquisition will be the first to be available to subscribers 5 days before its official release date.

It’s a model that expands off of their short lived EA Sports Season Ticket program, and further apes the Netflix and Playstation Plus model. But would I be willing to pay for another subscription fee in addition to PSN and Xbox Live?

When looking at it within the context of sheer pricing and numbers, gamers could earn their money back quicker than a Playstation Plus subscription. Of the above 4 games that will be available for the Access beta, altogether, they’re worth more than even an annual subscription price, and rivals the value of a Steam sale if you simply pay for a single month.

EA makes a great case here, even if Sony doesn’t think so; however the library has to speak to me long before I even consider opting in for a 1 month trial. FIFA and Madden cater to a completely different gamer than myself since I don’t give a shit about sports games. Battlefield 4? Hah! Fuck off. That only leaves Peggle 2 which doesn’t stand on its own as being worth it for any level of commitment. As you can tell, discounts and early access doesn’t interest me in the least.

Pigeon holing it into the Xbox One could stymie the appeal of the service with such a limited list of EA releases on the platform. Say if it was also available on Xbox 360 where games like the Mass Effect Trilogy, Dead Spaces 1&2, and Mirrors Edge just to name a few were available in the Vault, and that could garner immediate attraction to a subscription.

Perhaps this may be a bit too early to introduce such a service on a new platform, but what about down the line? Unless EA Access completely tanks, you can bet that such a program would catch on to other publishers just like Games with Gold caught onto Xbox platforms. Imagine if other major publishers such as Ubisoft and 2K created similar models. Even if we’re looking at three different subscriptions ranging around $30 each, and among those subscriptions, Battlefront, Far Cry 4, and Gearbox’s Battleborn become available along with other great games across three different publishers, that alone is an instant return value.

It’s easy to cringe at the thought of EA looking for a financial commitment, especially in the wake of Sony – who leads with the universally favored service – that turned down EA’s offer comparing it to their own free games and discounts service. It’s easy to say that “EA’s just lookin’ for my money!” Well no shit, of course they are. But looking at it within the context of potentially having a large quantity of quality games available for just $30 a year? If both ‘Q’s’ match up – and having more… good games is absolutely essential – then I’m willing to fork over half the cost of a full retail game for multiple. 

TWITCH’S LOOKING MORE LIKE YOUTUBE

By Jamaal Ryan

Winding down towards the end of last year, YouTube’s Content ID was the bane of YouTube broadcasters. Originally, Content ID trolled YouTube auditing videos for copyright material. If certain gameplay footage belonging to a publisher appeared on your video, it was flagged. If licensed music was contained within your video, it was flagged. This was scary for YouTubers because if their videos were flagged, they could cease to receive ad revenue on the upload, syphoning money to the copyright holder instead of the video’s creator. 

Amidst the shit storm, casters looked to Twitch as a haven for producing video game broadcasts which was already hosting streamers that were making a healthy living off of sponsoring viewers. Twitch was relatively free from copyright regulations, at least not to the degree that existed on YouTube.

This “haven” started looking a bit grim when rumors surfaced that Google was looking into picking up Twitch for $1 billion back in May, which was later reported by VentureBeat as confirmed. This sparked an unsurprising uproar, in fear that YouTube’s copyright policies would bleed into Twitch’s service.

Now while neither Google nor Twitch have gone public about the acquisition deal as of yet, Twitch has developed their own copyright policies similar to YouTube. Starting today, Twitch will begin their new form of content id, which will track down third party audio on archived videos (or VODs) and scan in 30 minute blocks. If there are any matches to third party audio within the video – which, as Twitch states, “includes in-game and ambient music”, that entire block will be muted. Twitch warns casters of the potential of inaccurate flagging and muting, and also, like YouTube, offers an appeal process.

This has already taken affect.

Famed American Dota 2 player Fear has had multiple sections of one of his videos muted from what’s assumed to be caused by simply listening to music. Streamer Dansgaming was muted from in-game music that was flagged from Fallout 3, just as Twitch warned.

I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for casters both on YouTube and on Twitch to see such an imperfect and draconian policy operate on what was once viewed as the last resort for video content creators (and when I say content creators, I don’t mean copyright holders). It surrounds them with eggshell ridden platforms that impose a fear of loss in ad revenue and now broken videos with muted audio.

This is also reflective of a larger concern with the all but public Google and Twitch merger. YouTube’s Content ID might have gotten less shitty, and Twitch may be looking towards some much needed improvements under the Google umbrella, but what’s stopping them from imposing further abusive policies without the existence of competition.

It’s like proposed merging for Comcast and Time Warner, there just won’t be much freedom of comfort. 

TRINE 2 REVIEW: A TRICKY TALE

Reviewed by: Jamaal Ryan

It always seems like taking a risk when discussing tough games in fear of cynical criticism about your lack of skill and comprehension, both in which are delivered in the somewhat dismissive "Get better at video games" statement. I've bitched about Ninja Gaiden's terrible camera and God of War: Ascension's unfair Trail of Archimedes, and got flack for doing so.

I didn't like Trine 2 in the beginning, and I still think that its deliberate obfuscation of its puzzle design hurts the experience. But Trine 2 delivers on a sense of accomplishment that's independent from its challenging nature. I can at least recognize that. Read more.

PLAYSTATION NOW HAS MORE GAMES, EA ACCESS HAS BETTER PRICES

By Jamaal Ryan

Two digital game service programs are in beta this week, EA Access and Playstation Now. While Access allows players to play archived EA titles along with offering discounts and pre-release access to upcoming games on the Xbox One for a monthly fee of $5 or $30 annually, Playstation Now delivers Playstation 3 games via streaming on multiple Sony devices – including selected televisions – for as low as $2.99 for four hour rentals (fuckin really?) to as high as $30 for a three month rental.

Wait, $30 for 90 days on a single game that I can get at Gamestop compared to $30 for a full year’s access to a number of archived games?

The juxtaposition is disproportionate and undeniable. Though Sony turned down EA’s offer to support Access on their platform – to be fair, Playstation Plus is a more robust and valued deal by far – EA Access seems to have their pricing right in comparison.

But with both programs being in beta, Playstation Now has the leg up on being the better service right out the gate. First off, there are 122 games currently available on Playstation Now. EA Access has a measly four. Secondly, Playstation Now is available on more platforms and devices than Access. EA’s program is locked into one for now; and a new console for that matter which will take quite some time to build any kind of significant library. Third, despite some positive reception on Playstation Now in private testing, what has remained a criticism is their pricing, and Sony’s listening. Sony has the good will of the gamer community in paying attention to what they have to say. Playstation Now’s pricing model, or just plain pricings in general, are extremely subject to change. Plus it’s also fair to assume that the astronomical pricings are a way for Sony to see just what they can get away with. Now they know.

But it’s difficult to see just how drastic Sony can change the pricing model of Playstation Now. EA’s Access program is so far on the other end of the spectrum with the cost a 90 day rental of a PS Now game that could pay for an entire year of service in Access. Another advantage EA has over Sony’s program is the way in which their titles are distributed. EA’s titles are downloaded. Play it from the hard drive and expect a seamless experience. Playstation Now on the other hand is dependent on Gaikai’s acquired servers for streaming, and there are reports of “varying degrees of success” with Playstation Now. Even several years after On Live, there’s still little confidence on internet infrastructures that can handle exclusive video game streaming.

EA has the correct model, but perhaps the wrong platform with such a limited selection of games. Sticking to Xbox One will only allow for a gradual build of appealing titles available. Playstation Now can simply change their pricing model to make its service more attractive. Can they make a full U-turn from game by game to subscription based? Unlikely, but who knows. However there’s still the concern of having a game that’s being streamed from thousands of miles away.

UPDATE: Reports indicate that Sony is also looking to add a subscription model alongside the individualized pricing on Playstation Now. I missed that point while writing the original post (Updated 8/3/2014).

THE NETFLIX/ PLAYSTATION PLUS-IFICATION OF THE THIRD PARTY

By Jamaal Ryan

EA’s Xbox One exclusive Access program was announced and released yesterday, which will allow gamers full access – ala Netflix – to their Vault of games which will be added to throughout the Access beta and beyond for $5 a month or $30 annually. Currently, that ‘Vault’ is comprised of FIFA 14, Madden 25, Peggle 2, and Battlefield 4. In addition to unlimited access, EA’s program also offers 10% discounts on all digital games and even earlier access (can’t stop saying ‘access’) to new titles. Dragon Age Inquisition will be the first to be available to subscribers 5 days before its official release date.

It’s a model that expands off of their short lived EA Sports Season Ticket program, and further apes the Netflix and Playstation Plus model. But would I be willing to pay for another subscription fee in addition to PSN and Xbox Live?

When looking at it within the context of sheer pricing and numbers, gamers could earn their money back quicker than a Playstation Plus subscription. Of the above 4 games that will be available for the Access beta, altogether, they’re worth more than even an annual subscription price, and rivals the value of a Steam sale if you simply pay for a single month.

EA makes a great case here, even if Sony doesn’t think so; however the library has to speak to me long before I even consider opting in for a 1 month trial. FIFA and Madden cater to a completely different gamer than myself since I don’t give a shit about sports games. Battlefield 4? Hah! Fuck off. That only leaves Peggle 2 which doesn’t stand on its own as being worth it for any level of commitment. As you can tell, discounts and early access doesn’t interest me in the least.

Pigeon holing it into the Xbox One could stymie the appeal of the service with such a limited list of EA releases on the platform. Say if it was also available on Xbox 360 where games like the Mass Effect Trilogy, Dead Spaces 1&2, and Mirrors Edge just to name a few were available in the Vault, and that could garner immediate attraction to a subscription.

Perhaps this may be a bit too early to introduce such a service on a new platform, but what about down the line? Unless EA Access completely tanks, you can bet that such a program would catch on to other publishers just like Games with Gold caught onto Xbox platforms. Imagine if other major publishers such as Ubisoft and 2K created similar models. Even if we’re looking at three different subscriptions ranging around $30 each, and among those subscriptions, Battlefront, Far Cry 4, and Gearbox’s Battleborn become available along with other great games across three different publishers, that alone is an instant return value.

It’s easy to cringe at the thought of EA looking for a financial commitment, especially in the wake of Sony – who leads with the universally favored service – that turned down EA’s offer comparing it to their own free games and discounts service. It’s easy to say that “EA’s just lookin’ for my money!” Well no shit, of course they are. But looking at it within the context of potentially having a large quantity of quality games available for just $30 a year? If both ‘Q’s’ match up – and having more… good games is absolutely essential – then I’m willing to fork over half the cost of a full retail game for multiple. 

DESTINY CRUCIBLE POSTMORTEM TAKEAWAY

By Jamaal Ryan

This week marked the end of the Destiny beta. Millions of players across the four platforms between Sony’s and Microsoft’s home consoles had a chance to enjoy just a taste of Bungie’s new franchise for up to over a week. I’ve shot my way through Strike missions, and danced and bounced beach balls in the tower; but I simply couldn’t get enough of Destiny’s excellent Crucible multiplayer. Read more.

TURNS OUT VOTING FOR DIVERSITY WITH YOUR WALLET ISNT ENOUGH

By Jamaal Ryan

Have you heard anyone recently still complaining about Far Cry 4 being racist? Nah, me neither.

After the confirmation during and after E3 that Far Cry 4 wasn’t the colonialist story of brute force racism everyone accused it for being, the conversation evaporated. We found out that Far Cry 4’s main protagonist, Ajay Ghale, was a native of the fictional Kyrat returning home to spread his mother’s ashes across their home country. Not white. Not a colonialist.

Though the creative direction is being led by Alex Hutchinson, who’s already proven his social taste in being the creative lead on Assassins Creed 3, the writers behind Far Cry 4 were well aware of the criticisms of Far Cry 3. In a recent Playstation event reported by Polygon, script writer C.J. Kershner stated that, "We were aware of the discussions happening about Far Cry 3. People identified some problems."

Far Cry 3 sold tremendously well, well enough for Ubisoft to quickly continue the franchise only two years later. Whereas Jason Brody was a white young male vacationing in a later to be discovered pirate infested tropical island and was then solely responsible for saving these seemingly aboriginals from their other, more savage halves, Far Cry 4 is a story of a native born refugee returning home. The difference in narrative tone wasn’t because sales were underwhelming, it was because a fair minded creative team listened to the public.

I spoke before about the importance of expressing ones opinion within the context of Far Cry 4, highlighting the influence that it can have on the creative process. While the notion of “voting with your wallet” is effective in letting the publishers and developers know that something didn’t work, it’s not enough to pinpoint the problem. Generating a discussion on what doesn’t sit well with you creates context within criticism, giving game makers something tangible to fix and improve.

Seeing a big name publisher title move from a narratively impaired, but mechanically impressive shooter, to (developing into) an even more interesting experience from both a story and gameplay perspective, is a reassuring sign that game makers are listening. So keep talking. 

MY WEEKEND DATE WITH DESTINY

By Jamaal Ryan

With only four days since its launch last Thursday, and after spending an entire weekend in the Destiny Beta, I’ve often forgotten that I wasn’t playing the final build. Bungie has gifted Playstation owners (and will soon do the same for Xbox owners) with a robust demonstration of their latest interstellar franchise. After skipping the alpha post E3, my grasp around what Destiny is has dramatically shifted from a wishy-washy understanding of a “MMO’ish FPS” to a strong conceptualization of a heavily inspired multiplayer experience. Read more.

THE DESTINY BETA IS PROBABLY ACTIVISION'S BEST MARKETING STRATEGY

By Jamaal Ryan

Just a few months ago, Destiny was more of an idea than what you’d expect from a game that was said to have a $500 million dollar budget behind it. Destiny’s relevance was solely based off of the name of the developer behind it rather than tangible footage or press previews that explicitly illustrated what Destiny was all about.

“I don’t know what this game actually is” was a quote I heard over and over again for the past year. Sure its strike mission gameplay reveal was at Sony’s 2013 E3 press conference; sure there was a dev diary on the competitive multiplayer, but neither showed anything all that novel or interesting, which was concerning coming from the studio that’s largely responsible for the shooter genre on home consoles as we know it.

Then came the Destiny alpha which changed many opinions of the press and fans alike. “I don’t know what this game actually is” quickly changed to “I’m a believer”, paralleling their experience to milestones such as Phantasy Star and Guild Wars 2 mixed with Halo and Call of Duty. It was a springboard to begin a real discussion for Destiny.

Today marks the second day of the Sony platform Destiny Beta, and word is all over the gaming community. Getting into the beta might have been a bit bumpy, but Destiny works, it’s deep, and it’s fun.

While gamers look to toil around the Crucible battle grounds and the decrepit Old Russia for the next week, Activision is watching their experiment take its course. Seeing games like Watch Dogs and Wolfenstein do so well on new hardware is a strong indicator that system owners are hungry for games to play. The Destiny Beta couldn’t have hit at a better time, with literally no major game releases in its beta window. In fact, Destiny will be the first major release outside of Metro Redux after the beta closes next week. This helps keep Destiny in the conversation as the beta will be fresh in the minds of many gamers by the time September 9^th rolls around.

The beta also ostensibly clenched many sales of the game through preorders. Gating beta keys behind required preorders, the beta asks for players to buy in before trying. And while it reeks of the preorder bonus nature that the industry has gone in from Alien Isolation’s Crew Expendable to what we might see from GameStop getting involved in game development, what the Destiny Beta has to show off is impressive, perhaps impressive enough to ignore that we’ve fallen right into Activision’s plan.

With no major release between now and September, and likely a high volume of preorders, Activision’s marketing strategy for Destiny is tactful and seemingly effective thus far. Bravo Activision.   

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT ZELDATHON?

By Jamaal Ryan

After our morning meeting at work yesterday, the substance abuse wellness specialist on my team handed me a newspaper with an “Outhouse-Run” as the front page story. “Just so that you know what kind of Red Neck I am” she says.

As I flip through the paper, I picked out another front page story about a “Zeldathon”. Puzzled that I saw something related to gaming in a local newspaper, I continued to read.

The Zeldathon, based in Meadville PA, is your home grown gaming focused fundraiser, this year working with St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Zeldathon, as the name suggests, is comprised of an established group of gamers marathoning through Zelda titles. Starting last Thursday and ending just yesterday, the Zeldathon raised $2,000 within the first two hours, and $18,000 in just its first day. With a goal of $75,000 and a stretch goal of $100,000, Zeldathon surpassed its goals, sitting at $100,890.

But Zeldathon hasn’t only collaborated with St Jude’s Children’s hospital. They’ve also partnered up with American Cancer Society and the American Red Cross, raising over $215,000.

With all the gaming centric charities that are out there, it’s nice to see one that hits so close to home for me.

You can check out Zeldathon’s site here, and you can check out the original story here. 

WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW ORDER REVIEW "MAN VS. MACHINE MONSTROSITY"

Reviewed by: Jamaal Ryan

The name "Wolfenstein" lingers with intangible meaning to many gamers, including myself. Its relevance is encapsulated in an era where shooters only allowed you to look left to right, while future installments revel in mediocrity – with Return to Castle Wolfensein being the stark exception – and are eclipsed by the 1992 classic. Because of this, by name, Wolfenstein means nothing to me. However Machine Games' interpretation of the brand with Wolfenstein: The New Order isn't only capable of associating fond memories to the franchise for me, it's also capable of being recognized as the best single player shooter experience on newer consoles thus far. Read more.

PS PLUS IS LOOKING A LOT MORE LIKE STEAM. AND THAT COULD INCLUDE EARLY ACCESS

By Jamaal Ryan

From free games, to gamedeals, to indie titles, Playstation Plus has pioneered consumer friendly digital distribution for home consoles. Their direction has been so successful that it’s been a selling point for all of Sony’s gaming platforms, and has even pulled Microsoft into the fray, offering free games and game deals of their own.

Now, in spite of previous discussions with the press, and how uncharacteristic it would be for the console space, Sony is looking into Early Access.

Early Access on Steam has been a funny thing, controversial at best. The service allows players to access games while they’re in development for the purpose of providing feedback to the designers for a fee. It benefits the developer as a form of wide spread QA testing while reaping revenue, and it empowers the consumers with insight into what games look like as a work in progress.

But while Early Access best serves as a mutual agreement between developer and consumer, many criticize the model for its “anti art” development process, and “tricking” gamers into buying unfinished products even though disclaimers are provided. Some concerns are justified, as art is traditionally created within the mind of the creator and not its spectators, and some early access games have proven to be too broken to pass for legitimate purchasing.

It’s a model that suits PC gaming so well with its flexible and easy-access nature, and committedly engaged community.

…Something that console doesn’t necessarily share, or at least, not in the way PC does.

And yet, here we are. Speaking with Gamsutra at E3, Playstation’s VP of Publisher and Developer Relations Adam Boyes discusses the possibility of Early Access on Playstation:

“We're figuring out what's ok. We obviously have our tech requirement checklist that people have to adhere to. So we're internally discussing, what does that list look like this? What are the caveats? Stuff like this. So it's still a project that a lot of minds are considering. No details yet, but it's something on the top of my mind every day.”

Ideally, Playstation’s version of Early Access will, as Boyes states, have a set standard of how far in development games will have to be before they appear on the store. Steam’s Wild West nature has let some real shit slip through the cracks. Nonetheless, popular concerns of Early Access fall solely on the responsibility of the consumer. If it’s labeled “Early Access”, then you should know what you’re getting into. It’ll just be up to Sony to ensure that the game meets that expected stage of development.

But how will the developer curate feedback? Early Access existing on a console instead of a PC immediately adds an additional barrier in terms of how consumers will deliver feedback. The expectation can’t be that gamers have keyboards hooked up to their PS4s. So what will you have them do? Run over to their computers and send messages to the developer? The whole notion of console/couch gaming is keeping gamers confined in one comfortable space. Perhaps implement a voting system similar to Assassins Creed IV on the quality of the content? Hmm… I think it needs to be more comprehensive.

This leads up to one of the biggest challenges of Early Access that directly interrupts the meaning of the service. Many consumers of Early Access titles simply dick around, take up space, and offer no meaningful feedback to the developer. Such a phenomenon has forced developers like Derek Smart to gate their Early Access games with high price tags ($99 for a free-to-play game in his case) just to ensure that those who buy in are serious about participating in the true Early Access process.

Much like free-to-play, Early Access is an easy idea to conceptualize, but harder to execute. The system bares its imperfections on PC as is with questionable development processes both artistically and logistically. Let’s just hope that Sony doesn’t screw this one up. 

THANKS TO GAMESTOP, DESTINY WILL PROBABLY BE THE LAST GAME I PRE-ORDER

By Jamaal Ryan

It’s summer time. I’m low on money. My gaming has fed off of Playstation Plus and Games with Gold free-bees as well as trade-ins. On July 17^th, my fiancé will be visiting her mom on Florida for 8 days.

So what’ll keep me company for over a week? The Destiny beta of course.

When picking up Wolfenstein: The New Order last week (look forward to my review early next week), the GameStop representative gave the whole, “Would you like to pre-order anything today?” spiel. Usually the answer is a quick “no” by the time they get to “pre-order”, but knowing that PS4 owners will be treated to a almost 10 days’ worth of the Destiny beta, and pre-ordering would grant a beta key, I couldn’t resist. However, after reading about Gamestop’s rumblings of more intrusive pre-ordering deals, it made me feel a little gross.

Pre-ordering as become more and more irrelevant in the traditional sense as day & date digital versions of retail releases are standardized. Walk in to your brick-and-mortar for shelved copy of Call of Duty/ (Enter popular AAA release hear) upon launch date, chances are that there might still be a few available. Because of this, pre-orders have mutated into a different form of incentivization. They surpass the call of special editions, offering (ideally temporary) exclusive content depending on the retailer as Walmart, GameStop, and Best Buy vie for customers.

But in this multi-way tug of war, GameStop is planning on hiring an Icelandic strong man into the competition. Originally reported by Gamesbeat, the chain has sat down with investment company R.W. Baird to discuss more intrusive methods of pre-ordering. GameStop’s PR spokesperson Jackie Smith has confirmed that:

“We are working with our [development] partners to build in a longer lead time…And we are working with them to get both physical and digital exclusives for our customers.”

In other words, this could very well mean that we’re looking at permanent exclusivity through GameStop purchases only.

This smells like shit.

It almost sounds like the sort of thing that the FTC would investigate as it not only interrupts the battle grounds of retail competition, but it is completely antithetical to consumer choice. As AAA consumption can be completely digital, and the indie market is booming with digital only titles, GameStop is getting desperate, and this is an ugly move on their part.  

Imagine if there were exclusive directors cut versions of films that were only available and AMC theaters, or certain chapters in books were only available at a specific chain of book stores (I know, a bit of a dated example to all you e-readers out there).

Though I can’t imagine that the potential exclusive content would be much more than side missions rather than significant mainline story beats or multiplayer exclusives (because no publisher would agree to anything as fucked up as that, right?), this is still one of the most despicable corporate moves I can imagine in the games industry.

So the next time I’m asked if I want to pre-order anything, my internal reaction would be…

“Fuck off.” 

I PLAYED A GAME ABOUT DATING VIOLENCE

By Jamaal Ryan

On the day after Valentine’s Day in 2006, high school honors student Jennifer Ann Crecente (the niece of Polygon News Editor Brian Crecente) had fallen victim to dating violence and was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. It’s a terrible story, one that hurts for me to hear as my mother was physically abused by my father.

In her memory, Jennifer’s father founded Jennifer Ann’s Group, an organization geared towards building awareness for dating violence and abuse. Since 2008, Jennifer Ann’s Group has held contests for video games that raise dating abuse awareness while avoiding the use of violent gameplay. This year’s winner was The Guardian, which is available for free on Android now. Driven on both a personal and a professional level, I set aside time to play it. Read more.

WELL I GUESS WOMEN CAN STAND TOE-TO-TOE AGAINST MEN IN HEARTHSTONE

By Jamaal Ryan

UPDATE:

And there you have it folks, IGN reader respectedgenius informed me that the IeSF has pulled an Xbox 180 and reversed their stipulations in excluding women from Hearthstone and other tournaments that will be held at Assembly Summer 2014. The IeSF has kept their word in opening up female only brackets, and has opened all tournaments to female gamers. Internet outcry has indeed prevailed, and thus they've stated the following:

On 2^nd of July, 2014, the IeSF’s policy about gender division, which separates the female division and the male division, has been brought into question. The IeSF has listened to the gaming community and has carefully considered their opinions. Upon hearing these concerns, the IeSF convoked an emergency session of the IeSF Board to respond.

As a result, IeSF shall have two event categories: “Open for All” events and events that are reserved for women. The events which were initially set aside as the male division will now be open to all genders, and the events which were initially set as the female division will remain as they were.

The IeSF Board addressed its reason for maintaining events for women, citing the importance of providing female gamers with ample opportunities to compete in e-Sports—currently a male-dominated industry. Female gamers make up half of the world’s gaming population, but only a small percentage of e-Sports competitors are women. The IeSF’s female-only competitions aim to bring more diversity to competitive play by improving the representation of women at these events. Without efforts to improve representation, e-Sports can’t achieve true gender equality.   

In order to apply the new policy with consistency, IeSF has added an “Open for All” Tekken Tag Tournament 2 tournament, which was initially set aside for female-only competition. Therefore, the amended plan for the 6^the-Sports World Championship BAKU 2014 is:

■Open for All

DOTA 2

  - Participating teams may consist of 5 male players, 5 female players, or mixed team.

StarCraft^®II: Heart of the Swarm^®

  - Players of all genders can participate in the event.

Ultra Street Fighter 4

  - Players of all genders can participate in the event.

Hearthstone^™: Heroes of Warcraft^™

  - Players of all genders can participate in the event.

TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2

  - Players of all genders can participate in the event.

■Female Competition

StarCraft^®II: Heart of the Swarm^®

  - Female event is conducted separately, in parallel with “Open for All” event.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

  - Female event is conducted separately, in parallel with “Open for All” event.

BECAUSE YOU KNOW... WOMEN DON’T STAND A CHANCE AGAINST MEN IN HEARTHSTONE

By Jamaal Ryan

As we’ve seen in past controversies concerning gender inequality in gaming, they range from misrepresentation – or no representation at all – to unjustifiable exclusions as well as sexual harassment in the work place. But the Hearthstone tournaments that will be held at the Assembly Summer 2014 by the International e-Sport Federation (IeSF) in November fully excludes female participation, gating it as a “male only competition”.

Initially defending the segregation, Assembly head Markus "Olodyn" Koskivirta issued a statement to PC Gamer, commenting that, “"In accordance with the International e-Sports Federation's (IeSF) tournament regulations, since the main tournament event is open to male players only. This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things."

Before you flip in a what-the-fuck fit, Koskivirta’s statements could have used some elaboration. If women competed in IeSF tournaments, they wouldn’t be eligible for Championship finals. Does it make it any better? Fuck no.

But in defense of their tournament regulations, IeSF attempted to justify them as follows:

"1 - promoting female players. We know that e-Sports is largely dominated by male players and females players are actually a portion of the overall player base. By hosting a female-only competition, we strive to promote female gaming on a global scale.

"2 - International standards. IeSF is very close to get e-Sports recognized as a true sports like it should be. Part of that efforts is to comply with the international sports regulations. For example, chess is also divided into male / female leagues."

These reasons are unsubstantiated, as while there are female only leagues, they don’t exclude female competitors from being matched up against male contestants. In addition, there seems to be an ulterior motive in becoming recognized as an international sport that could churn more funding, better recognition, etc, because all in all, splitting genders in video game competitions makes no sense.

Though there are undoubtedly female athletes that can, and have, outclassed their male counterparts, it’s understandable that if both genders were mixed in the same league, there would be a disproportionate disadvantage when matching up different genders in a physical sport. But Dota 2,  Hearthstone, Ultra Street Fighter IV – each held as male only competitions by the IeSF – and fuckin video games for that matter don’t lend themselves to gender differences like athletic sports do.

In addition, a Facebook commenter highlighted that this decision is seemingly in conflict with Article 5 of their statutes:

Article 5: Non Discrimination and Promoting Female Participation

1.       The Practice of e-Sport is a fundamental right for all.

2.       All parties related to IeSF’s events including its Members and partners shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women, and to promote and elevate the participation of female players in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of women and men, the same rights, in particular, to participate in recreation, leisure and sports activities and all aspects of cultural life.

3.       Discrimination of any kind against lineage, gender, religion, politics, individual, organization or any reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion.

Each of the IeSF’s excuses sink faster than a cinder block strapped to two anvils. Video games aren’t sports in which males have any hormonal advantage over females, other female-only competitions don’t disqualify females from jumping into male dominated competitions, and the IeSF’s decisions look to contradict their very own standards. These segregations look more to be efforts towards international “recognition” rather than table setting for future female representation as they claim. 

In the meantime, I encourage you to begin your own Hearthstone tournaments, or join this one. 

DARK SOULS REVIEW: SKULL AND BONES

Reviewed by: Jamaal Ryan

Dark Souls embodies a teaching method of old, sending students into the wilderness stripped and fully exposed to the elements like the Spartans seen in the movie 300. Dark Souls is a “do it again” instructor, delivering a swift and lethal “thwack” to the back of your head every time you slip.

Not everyone will pass; and like me, some of you will go home.

But I’ve learned that Dark Souls is relentless, it’s brutal, and above all else, it’s intoxicating. Read more.