Withywarlock

I'm surprised they're going with this given how the first one came out with little to no fanfare and I picked it up for like £3 shortly after release. Either they've got enough money to burn (and Frontier Developments don't seem like the sort to do so) with this license, or I was woefully mistaken. But hey, if it interests you, I hope it turns out to be as good as you expect!

Warner Bros. being tone deaf is nothing new. I recall one time, and I apologise for sensationalising it but it's a reflex when talking of WB Games at this point, when they tried to monetise the death of one of their employees. The idea was to immortalise Michael Forgey who had passed away from cancer by adding a half-uruk character that would aid the players in Middle-Earth: Shadow of War.... at a cost. The funds were supposed to go to charity but only those in the US (or most US states) would send the money to charity. Those outside of those US areas would be putting money directly into WB's pockets. The family offered a fundraiser which many (myself included) went to donate. It was nice to see donations greater than the DLC was asking for. And after all that the DLC was made free in the end. Like that disaster I could believe this is more incompetence than malice, but that doesn't really absolve them of anything. Malice takes intelligence, for one thing.

Mulligan Guard: "Another victory like this and our money's gone!" is one approach I like to have. In multiplayer I like to guide the enemy as far away from my teammates as possible, or sacrifice myself so a sniper going for an easy kill is revealed and killed. I have no difficulty with saying I'm not a valuable team member, so I'm fine with offing myself if it means pulling away more meaningful players from the enemy team. Every second they spend chasing me is a second away from securing or defending an objective. Every bullet expended is one closer to needing to reload and put themselves in a position where they're totally vulnerable. Death & Taxes: Going out in a blaze of glory is another favourite coping mechanism, focusing more on the 'blaze'. Cooking a grenade to the point of it exploding in my hand is one way of getting some close quarter kills without the risk of said grenade being thrown at my allies. If I'm going to die, I might as well do so expending all my ammo in the enemy's general direction. It keeps them hunkered down and allows teammates to advance. No plan of action survives contact with the enemy, after all.

Keep saying "it's too hot" and "it's boiling in here," though it's not guaranteed to work. Back when I played consoles I'd point my fan at it, or at least have it rotate so it could better circulate the air in the room.

My answer is two-fold. I think it's as you say: it's when it's good. The question then becomes, what's the difference between a bad and a good innovation, or can an innovation perceived as bad be made to be good? The other response I have is is it necessary? Do you really need me to play this game with motion controls? Is this means of progression required versus more conventional means? Do you have to use combat calculations that aren't based on D&D which, y'know, work? And can you get away with it if turns out to be cumbersome? If you can, great, it'll be looked back on in 5-15 years as a good idea that more games should do. If not, you won't be able to live it down.

Hands down, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. It couldn't have happened at a better time, during that awkward sub-cultural transition between the late 90s and the early 00s. Neo-gothic rock, architecture, and clothing abound, the pretention and angst in Vampire's L.A make for a great hiding place for the Kindred for both the Camarilla and the Anarchs. Even the Sabbat might get away with their usual antics by turning the City of Angels into a gigantic moshpit with their Gangrel, and the extreme body horror as just another type of modification sought out by the rich and vain. That's of course provided you're talking about goths as in the black clothing and makeup, and not the ancient Goths and Visigoths.

I absolutely loved Shadow of Mordor, more so than War, as it was of adequate length and breadth. I strongly recommend it for the Nemesis system alone; the movement, the assassination, and collectable goodies are all bonuses. For that price you can't go wrong.

Their statement in full. Some choice highlights below: >Alpha >Storefront Pick one. You've already cancelled Crucible and the Lord of the Rings MMO, there's no need to give me further evidence this will be the third game in 12 months before it's even released. And that's precisely the problem. When you give players the option to pay for something, they'll pay for it. This has had demonstrably poor results in the past. In addition to what boosting levels has done to World of Warcraft, a substitute for fixing the poor levelling experience, the wonderment of gear has gone out of the window thanks to transmogrification (cosmetic changes to items with stats) has not been helped by the store, which also charges for automated services. Blizzard also remove pets from the store to create a fear of missing out, or FOMO for short. Introducing such things before the game is even out is one way to completely undermine the massively multiplayer component of the game. No plan survives contact with the enemy. You are guilty of doing this by omission, because that's what selling something is all about. Nobody has ever sold anything by saying it's something someone doesn't want or need, except when it's unpopular. So where's the option to play the game that doesn't have a store available? Where's the option to play with people who haven't (or cannot) use the store? If that doesn't exist, you're wrong. Cosmetics are just as important to me as statted items. I saw this when I was part of the Heroes of the Storm Alpha (full disclosure: invited due to MVP status on Blizzard's EU forums). I'll tell you now, the cost will start high and never go down, hence why I call it "the rich man's free-to-play game." "Looking towards the future" is optimistic. And why do people need this if it isn't a subscription based game? Time is not money in this instance. Except those who aren't at, or don't enjoy, endgame. Again, this is the mentality that ruins games like WoW, except here it's the studio director Rich Lawrence telling us the game begins at endgame. I'm here to tell you it doesn't. It has to be fun the moment players begin wherever they are, otherwise they will use boosts to get past your boring parts or quit. Someone levelling faster because they paid to do so is an imbalance. How great an imbalance is entirely up to the individual to decide. I'm rather glad that Blizzard have virtually no convictions any more because it means bad ideas get changed. So far Amazon have done right by cancelling several of their games, and I feel New World will be another added to their charnel list.

I was this way with Paladins: Champions of the Realm before they added Viktor, a twitch-shooter character in a game with really high time-to-kill (TTK.) Rather than adjust him to suit the game, Paladins instead changed to suit him. I've not played much since because the TTK is so critically low, and at that moment just became another hero shooter. There's not many betas that impress me much these days because the ones I get involved in tend to be stress tests. The last 'proper' beta I played was for Crowfall. I waited years to get into that only for it to be the most underwhelming MMO experience I'd ever had the displeasure of experiencing. I say MMO, the only massive aspect to it was the waste of time it turned out to be.

Slight correction, Toys for Bob aren't the creators of the Crash Bandicoot games. That honour goes to Naughty Dog, and he's had numerous developers since (Travellers' Tales, Vicarious Visions, and others). They are however responsible for Skylanders, interchanging with Vicarious Visions each year so it could be a yearly-released franchise, and the latest Crash game. I imagine with Toys for Bob helping with Warzone, VV will be making the next Crash Bandicoot game. This is quite common for the two studios (and recently Beenox, which used to be a porting house) - one is at the helm and the other supervises. Even then I still prefer Toys for Bob; the last good Crash game Vicarious Visions did was on the Game Boy Advance (unless you count the Toys for Bob made Skylanders: Imaginators' adventure pack, Thumpin' Wumpa Islands, made by VV.)

Sometimes. In Total War you have the ability to play out a battle manually on a field/in a siege, but alternatively you can instantly resolve the conflict via auto-resolve. The latter's not the most reliable at calculating unit strength, health, numbers and other factors that can change dramatically on the field, but it's an easy way of avoiding ~10-20 minutes that might end up having a negligable or otherwise boring outcome. Three cheers for savescumming, eh? It depends on the mood I'm in. I'm reminded of a political cartoon named The Pyrrhic Victory of the Mulligan Guards: "Another victory like this, and our money's gone!"

Speed. The reason why I loved doing Insane in the Membrane for World of Warcraft is because I was quickly killing quickly respawning enemies. It took me ~21 days from about 6AM to 9PM to do because the requirements were so great and I was courteous enough to leave some mobs for anyone questing, but I enjoyed it because it wasn't difficult. Meanwhile I can get more reputation for a faction in Revendreth per kill, but the kills take longer because it's newer, higher level content. I do not enjoy the rep grind in Revendreth as much. That, and being autistic and having ADHD helps thanks to hyperfocus. And being unemployed allowed me to spend as long as I could during that time.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if it's digital only does that make it incomplete because there's already a version that allows physical media? Don't get me wrong, if I had to go for a PS5 I'd probably end up going for the digital because I don't care enough about consoles to go through the physical rigmarole they have today, but I would still argue it's not the "full" package. Even then with how the envelope's been pushed with multiple editions of consoles such as the Pro ones, I'd rather wait until I know for certain the system's at the end of its life before getting the not-Pro one.

It's a Nintendo console with Nintendo games. That's it for me. None of its other unique selling points (USP) like its portability, cartridge format, subscription bonuses and so forth really appealed to me while I had it. The area I live in is too unsafe to be carrying around a Switch, and it's not like I like Super Mario Odyssee enough to go a few hours without it to and from home, so it remained hooked up to the TV save for the few occassions I wanted the feeling of playing a handheld device. The JoyCons were OK for the little time I used them; not great, not terrible. Just about the only thing I felt was truly great was its rumble features, but indie devs didn't take advantage of it which made Fast RMX a much worse experience. I decided to stick with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe because I was spoilt for that rumble.

It's not so much sexualised as impractical armour that bothers me, and even then I can suspend my disbelief a little. Dark Souls has it right with its fantastical but also believable (if debunked by martial artists and historians) armour, whereas World of Warcraft (see above with femme Arthas Menethil) I'm as 'bothered' with the armourkini as I am the hulking spaulders that crush characters' skulls each time they run. Whether it's a power fantasy or sexual fantasy I don't mind. At the end of the day it's a display of creativity. ^^

The Elder Scrolls games, prior to Skyrim at least, had overwhelming balance issues. But then, RPGs are at their best when they're not balanced and sterile, but feel as organic as ES and the like do. "Clever use of game mechanics" appears to be a problem with the Soulslike genre, including ARPGs that play pretend and call themselves Soulslike, but healing-over-time mechanics make the game significantly easier. Lords of the Fallen could be cheesed with a spell that could heal more damage than enemies could deal over its duration, and heavy armour combined with the endurance to wear it also prevented enemies from doing any damage at all in some instances. Remnant: From the Ashes has healing over time cooldowns and consumable items, but are much harder to manage so kudos to the devs for that I guess. And in Dark Souls II the ability to move while consuming a cumulative (not to mention cheap and in infinite supply) healing item makes the deliberate, emphasised moveset of the bosses and enemies all the more noticeable, and avoidable.

In addition to what others have said, do take advantage of any armourer trainers that may be available for your skill level. It'll be worth buying as many ranks as you can the moment you level up to stave off the tedium.

I can't quite put it as nearly as succinctly as others here have done, but I'll offer my usual dose of pedantry all the same: if art can be, quote, "a variety of things", can it not also be entertainment by that virtue? And you say entertainment exists to serve an audience, usually to make money.... what about the other times there's no monetary incentive? I'm not ragging on your point, it's a question well worth asking! I just sort of think you've answered the question yourself, the answer being yes with the arguments you provide.

World of Warcraft, and probably all MMOs, are a great case study for this. There's what's called the "holy trinity", which is essentially a team composition of Tanks (who draw enemy attacks from squishier players), Healers, and Damage Dealers (both self-explanatory) in Player-versus-Environment (PvE) content. The most popular role is the Damage Dealer, mostly because it's all you're really taught from the beginning to the end of the game, and the other two roles require initiative and a lot of patience because of the abuse they can receive for causing a group to collapse. A lot of players make excuses for not trying the new roles, saying it's too hard, too complicated, they can't get a group together, when really it's just a simple matter of finding a good group to play with consistently. That's how I went from wanting to quit the game for being abused as a Healer, to now being in a guild that is always short of a damage dealer for group activities because we've all supported one-another doing different, less popular roles. Another thing is what Preach Gaming said one time, that the best players aren't in the best guilds of the game. The fact of the matter is there's someone out there who doesn't know how good they are, or truly can be. I'm not saying I'm one of those players, and I don't want to be either, but there's not much holding people back from being better than they already are if they know what to look for. ^^

Now you bring it up, it really pisses me off that I can't play Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes, the MOBA-offshoot of the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning MMORPG. It was 6v6v6 PvP which was intended to capitalise on the greatness of the flailing MMO, which is still to this day considered to have some of - if not the ultimate - best PvP in an MMO. It had some cracking faction representation (save for the Wood Elves, I think), even having Legendary Hero Malus Darkblade of the Dark Elves available only for in-game currency. Sadly it was killed by Electronic Arts with a hastily conjured reason of "it did not meet our financial expectations." I was lucky enough to catch that in time before they gave it an arty-farty response on their FAQ. A shame, because I remember pumping approximately £40/month into that game, and loved every minute of it.

If there's one advantage consoles should have, it's that they're their own ecosystem. Unlike with PC, where emulation and support is becoming increasingly difficult for those behind such things, consoles are beholden only to their own exclusive operating system and hardware. They don't have to worry so much about compatibility compared to, say, Windows, and all the changes to the parts that go into a case. They do however have to contend with the used games market and the graphical arms race publishers want to push, meaning whether they want to support a console or not is at odds with the money they'll make from it as time goes on. What doesn't help, and as far as I'm concerned is inexcusable, is the online requirements for patching firmware such as internet connections during first-time setups or after formatting. I'd be fine with them cutting support for a console the moment the next one comes out if it weren't for that; otherwise I'm just waiting in the rafters to say "another blow against digital ownership", and move on to the next thing I'll get mad about.

Last I heard about Brazil's gaming scene it was difficult for all parties involved to break into, but when the country generates over a billion USD in revenue from this industry, I have to wonder if they're going to lose a significant amount by banning loot boxes. Perhaps this is going to be the first step to Brazil embracing video games better than it had before? Still, kudos to them all the same! ^^

Hogs of War is often called "Worms with Pigs", which is not exactly the most flattering mental image, but was nonetheless an excellent turn-based tactics game with third person shooter mechanics (akin to Valkyria Chronicles). Taking the piss out of World War I & II factions and fervour, the late great Rik Mayall (The Young Ones, Drop Dead Fred) delivers all the politically incorrect dialogue with the charisma and bawdiness one comes to expect of him. It was quite difficult at times, and the AI was fairly limited meaning the obvious pattern recognition could easily be countered with a few turns, but preventing people soldering on was permadeath. Your forces could be promoted and lose their levels upon dying, replaced with fresh grunts who would put you at a severe disadvantage much later down the line. This was my most sought after game on the Playstation One, and it taught me the swear word "ariss", much to my mum's displeasure. When I finally got a copy for my birthday, I was over the moon. Talk about pigs flying. Since then, the video game went on to have a card and board game, and a (fan?) remaster named "Hogs of War: Reheated" is in the works. Trotters crossed for a release date soon!

I've never really been into these sorts of game, but this may well be the first. Wishlisted and followed on Steam! ^^

Spoilers for Mass Effect 3 The law of Roberts' Trident dictates that whenever a video game offers a third choice, the third choice is always going to be the best and/or a copout. I coined this term when finishing Mass Effect 3, because the developers didn't want the ~92% Paragon players to go with the logical choice of the Renegade option which would destroy the Reapers, even if it would mean killing the newly liberated Geth (and if you did as I did, it didn't come at the cost of the Quarians). The Paragon version was to take control of the Reapers, to make them move far away. I chose the cop-out, which was Synthesis. This ending allows you to merge artificial and organic life to create an unending (to our knowledge) peace and amass all knowledge in the universe. Evolution had hit its peak. That is logical, but it ignores the emotional and philosophical truth of the matter, which the game doesn't show (they say ignorance is bliss). As Lorerunner once said, imagine if you were a Husk, and were given this newfound sense of life. Imagine tasting the chrome and ash in your mouth, or smelling the heat from the circuitry that made you. Imagine the agony that comes with movement, a sensation you didn't before your senses were robbed by Indoctrination. And what have you achieved, besides doing what Saren Arterius wanted to? The Paragon option is also as disastrous, as we'd stopped The Illusive Man achieving this end also. The fact of the matter is, we've spent three games trying to reach the ending that makes things go red, and I didn't do that. Spoilers for Mass Effect 3 End That's not really a decision though, unless we count not playing the game we've put 40 big ones down on is a choice. There's other choices in The Line that exist, which put you between a rock and a hard place, but they're not quite as remarkable as that moment.