General nonsense gaming edition.

[BFTD]

3 minutes ago, Homer Thompson said:

Hey, there will be no dissing of Shenmue here

You're the one assuming that chasing sailors is a bad thing  

[spud131]

Epic store doing a free game (to keep) everyday till the end of the year.
Neon Abyss is available until 4pm then it looks like it's Remnant: From the Ashes after that.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is today's game, available until 4 pm tomorrow.

[BFTD]

4 hours ago, spud131 said:

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is today's game, available until 4 pm tomorrow.

Thank you, I forgot to check today and the app didn't notify me!

Epic/Tencent is a soulless corporation like any other, but these giveaways are quality. I now have 220 titles on EGS, at least a dozen of which I was planning on buying anyway, and I haven't paid a bean for any of them.

[spud131]

Thank you, I forgot to check today and the app didn't notify me!
Epic/Tencent is a soulless corporation like any other, but these giveaways are quality. I now have 220 titles on EGS, at least a dozen of which I was planning on buying anyway, and I haven't paid a bean for any of them.

No worries, Loop Hero looks like it will be available from 4pm today and Second Extinction will be available tomorrow (21st) from 4pm.

[spud131]

Epic store doing a free game (to keep) everyday till the end of the year.
Neon Abyss is available until 4pm then it looks like it's Remnant: From the Ashes after that.

Vampyr is available until 4pm today then it will be Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition after 4pm.

[BFTD]

3 hours ago, spud131 said:

Vampyr is available until 4pm today then it will be Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition after 4pm.

Vampyr was a fun game; I'd be interested in an expanded sequel, especially if they don't make it quite so easy to do the right thing all the time.

Never finished the final boss fight though, as I somehow managed to choose all the most ineffectual vampire skills  

[54_and_counting]

Need a new game to play, preferably one more focused on single player than MP, i want to be able to rattle loads of hours in it but not feel like i need to play for hours at a time to keep on top of the story

Side quests i dont mind as long as they are generally optional, 

Im on PS5, 

Anyone any suggestions? I know im kinda being specific but ive only really played MP games apart from spiderman in the last few years so kinda out the loop game wise lol

[Miguel Sanchez]

47 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

Need a new game to play, preferably one more focused on single player than MP, i want to be able to rattle loads of hours in it but not feel like i need to play for hours at a time to keep on top of the story

Side quests i dont mind as long as they are generally optional, 

Im on PS5, 

Anyone any suggestions? I know im kinda being specific but ive only really played MP games apart from spiderman in the last few years so kinda out the loop game wise lol

Horizon Zero Dawn fulfils that and is in the PS+ Collection on PS5.

[54_and_counting]

2 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Horizon Zero Dawn fulfils that and is in the PS+ Collection on PS5.

Ive got that in my library, started it but felt it was like rise of the tomb raider and had recently played they games, this was a while ago mind you so might go back to it as i had forgot about it, cheers man

[Miguel Sanchez]

2 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

Ive got that in my library, started it but felt it was like rise of the tomb raider and had recently played they games, this was a while ago mind you so might go back to it as i had forgot about it, cheers man

Rise of the Tomb Raider starts out with the strong independent woman killing animals and picking plants to survive then sort of abandons it, HZD doesn't. It's a solid open world timesink.

[spud131]

Epic store doing a free game (to keep) everyday till the end of the year.
Neon Abyss is available until 4pm then it looks like it's Remnant: From the Ashes after that.

Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider are all available on the epic game store for free until 6th January.

[54_and_counting]

4 hours ago, spud131 said:

On 18/12/2021 at 11:19, spud131 said:

Epic store doing a free game (to keep) everyday till the end of the year.
Neon Abyss is available until 4pm then it looks like it's Remnant: From the Ashes after that.

Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider are all available on the epic game store for free until 6th January.

Played Rise and Shadow, felt rise was decent but shadow was far too much puzzles and barely any action, both absolutely fantastic looking games though 

[Walter]

Morning everyone. I'm looking for a bit of advice if possible. It's my daughter's 21st in a couple of weeks and after months of "what do you want for your birthday?"..."I don't know" she's suddenly said she fancies a games console. I had no idea she had the remotest interest in such things and I don't know where to start when it comes to choosing one.
She says she would likely play games connected to the Resident evil series, Dark pictures anthologies, Minecraft and Dead by daylight. (I've heard of Minecraft[emoji846]). Any advice on the right one to buy would be appreciated. Please bear in mind this may be passing phase so don't want to spend a fortune if I can avoid it.

Thanks.

[NotThePars]

57 minutes ago, Walter said:

Morning everyone. I'm looking for a bit of advice if possible. It's my daughter's 21st in a couple of weeks and after months of "what do you want for your birthday?"..."I don't know" she's suddenly said she fancies a games console. I had no idea she had the remotest interest in such things and I don't know where to start when it comes to choosing one.
She says she would likely play games connected to the Resident evil series, Dark pictures anthologies, Minecraft and Dead by daylight. (I've heard of Minecraft). Any advice on the right one to buy would be appreciated. Please bear in mind this may be passing phase so don't want to spend a fortune if I can avoid it.

Thanks.

Resident Evil 7, Minecraft and Dead by Daylight are all on the Xbox Game Pass Service (basically Netflix for games). I think Dark Pictures was as well when it first came out so future releases might end up doing the same. 

I have both consoles and I think the Game Pass is the big selling point for me on Xbox. I haven't bought a game since April as there's enough new releases popping up on the Game Pass every week for me to play. Depending on availability as well the Series S might be the easiest console to get although it is a weaker console as a trade off so if your daughter is bothered by graphics and performance then it might not be suitable. 

I think the big question might be what console does her friends have if they play games as well. Dead by Daylight especially is a game that encourages you to play with friends so if they're all on Playstation or Xbox then that might be the decider. Or just ask her!

I'm sure there'll be several Playstation enthusiasts as well who'll give good reasons to go for that. I have both and Xbox is my preference for multiple reasons.

I should also say though that Playstation has its own Game Pass called PS Now that is definitely getting better. It doesn't have Minecraft, DBD or the Dark Pictures but it does have a few of the older Resident Evil games up to 6.

[Steve_Wilkos]

I have purchased Disco Elysium again, this time on Stadia for £7. Runs much better than it does on my PS4.

@NotTheParsI have managed to hit an "all time low" with Kim before 13:00 on Day 1, and I'm playing through as a fascist, racist, misogynist this time. 

[NotThePars]

31 minutes ago, Steve_Wilkos said:

I have purchased Disco Elysium again, this time on Stadia for £7. Runs much better than it does on my PS4.

@NotTheParsI have managed to hit an "all time low" with Kim before 13:00 on Day 1, and I'm playing through as a fascist, racist, misogynist this time. 

I can only guess that you've indulged the racist lorry driver a bit too much? Genuinely one of the few games I can't stomach a bad b*****d playthrough in. Shot Cuno as well and triggered an unexpected fail state when I did try to play one!

[Steve_Wilkos]

24 minutes ago, NotThePars said:

I can only guess that you've indulged the racist lorry driver a bit too much? Genuinely one of the few games I can't stomach a bad b*****d playthrough in. Shot Cuno as well and triggered an unexpected fail state when I did try to play one!

Haven't even spoke to the lorry driver yet. I have been rude to him throughout and then brought up the racist mug you find in the trash.

[NotThePars]

Haven't even spoke to the lorry driver yet. I have been rude to him throughout and then brought up the racist mug you find in the trash.

Oh aye I forgot about that. Good luck, I’ve heard it’s a proper miserable run through.

[54_and_counting]

3 hours ago, Walter said:

Morning everyone. I'm looking for a bit of advice if possible. It's my daughter's 21st in a couple of weeks and after months of "what do you want for your birthday?"..."I don't know" she's suddenly said she fancies a games console. I had no idea she had the remotest interest in such things and I don't know where to start when it comes to choosing one.
She says she would likely play games connected to the Resident evil series, Dark pictures anthologies, Minecraft and Dead by daylight. (I've heard of Minecraft). Any advice on the right one to buy would be appreciated. Please bear in mind this may be passing phase so don't want to spend a fortune if I can avoid it.

Thanks.

Pretty much what @NotTheParssaid about online gaming, find out what her pals have as that will swing it most, even if they don't play the game series she was talking about, they might get her into other series and let her make more use of the console

Thats the only reason i chose my ps4 (and now ps5), 

[GNU_Linux]

Delete AAA gaming industry please

I would like to begin by wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

 

The metaverse was a hot topic in 2021, inspiring a lively global conversation first about what the metaverse is and then about what sort of business opportunities it presents. Against this backdrop, Facebook changed its name in October to Meta, serving as evidence that the concept is not a mere buzzword but here to stay. The metaverse garnered so much attention that 2021 was dubbed the “Metaverse Year”

 

I attribute this in large part to advances in extended reality (XR) technology, the increasing prevalence of the cloud and 5G, more sophisticated blockchain technology, and other technological evolutions that have taken place in a variety of fields over the past several years. That is because these advances are giving rise to services that fall under the metaverse umbrella. The metaverse will likely see a meaningful transition to a business phase in 2022, with a wide range of services appearing on the scene. As this abstract concept begins to take concrete shape in the form of product and service offerings, I am hoping that it will bring about changes that have a more substantial impact on our business as well.

 

Another term that gained quick currency in 2021 was “NFT” or “non-fungible token.” The advent of NFTs using blockchain technology significantly increased the liquidity of digital goods, enabling the trading of a variety of such goods at high prices and sparking conversations the world over. I see 2021 not only as “Metaverse: Year One,” but also as “NFTs: Year One” given that it was a year in which NFTs were met with a great deal of enthusiasm by a rapidly expanding user base. However, we do observe examples here and there of overheated trading in NFT-based digital goods with somewhat speculative overtones, regardless of the observed value of the content provided This, obviously, is not an ideal situation, but I expect to see an eventual right-sizing in digital goods deals as they become more commonplace among the general public, with the value of each available content corrected to their true estimated worth, and I look for them to become as familiar as dealings in physical goods.

 

To address these changes in our business environment, the medium-term business strategy that we unveiled in May 2020 identified AI, the cloud, and blockchain games as new domains on which we should focus our investments, and we have subsequently been aggressive in our R&D efforts and investments in those areas.

In the AI space, we established SQUARE ENIX AI & ARTS Alchemy Co., Ltd. (“AI & AA”) in March 2020 to pursue development efforts in the wider field of “entertainment AI” rather than being constrained by traditional concepts of gaming AI. The firm’s R&D efforts focus primarily on natural language processing, world models, and simulation technology. These efforts will help us develop the games that we release into the world and enhance their overall quality, but that is not all. By incorporating the output of these R&D efforts into virtual avatars and elsewhere, we plan to apply that output to a wide variety of content and provide the relevant technology to other companies, with a view to leveraging these R&D efforts across our entire Digital Entertainment business.  

 

We are exploring potential efforts in the cloud space from two primary perspectives, the first being leveraging cloud technologies to distribute content and the second being developing content that offers customers new forms of excitement enabled by the cloud’s attributes. More telecommunications infrastructure is being built, as exemplified by expanding 5G coverage. Devices are also making performance gains. As these trends continue, I believe that the content we provide will become more accessible, making it more likely that our customers will discover enjoyment as we gain new touchpoints with them. Leveraging cloud technologies is extremely effective as a means of making our content and services uniformly available and as a catalyst for creating new forms of excitement that expand upon the content development capabilities for which we are known. As such, we will be making ample investments in the cloud space.   

 

Lastly is blockchain games. Be they single-player or online games, games have traditionally involved a unidirectional flow whereby creators such as ourselves provide a game to the consumers that play them. By contrast, blockchain games, which have emerged from their infancy and are at this very moment entering a growth phase, are built upon the premise of a token economy and therefore hold the potential to enable self-sustaining game growth. The driver that most enables such self-sustaining game growth is diversity, both in how people engage with interactive content like games, and in their motivations for doing so. Advances in token economies will likely add further momentum to this trend of diversification. I see the “play to earn” concept that has people so excited as a prime example of this. 

 

I realize that some people who “play to have fun” and who currently form the majority of players have voiced their reservations toward these new trends, and understandably so. However, I believe that there will be a certain number of people whose motivation is to “play to contribute,” by which I mean to help make the game more exciting. Traditional gaming has offered no explicit incentive to this latter group of people, who were motivated strictly by such inconsistent personal feelings as goodwill and volunteer spirit. This fact is not unrelated to the limitations of existing UGC (user-generated content). UGC has been brought into being solely because of individuals’ desire for self-expression and not because any explicit incentive existed to reward them for their creative efforts. I see this as one reason that there haven’t been as many major game-changing content that were user generated as one would expect.

 

However, with advances in token economies, users will be provided with explicit incentives, thereby resulting not only in greater consistency in their motivation, but also creating a tangible upside to their creative efforts. I believe that this will lead to more people devoting themselves to such efforts and to greater possibilities of games growing in exciting ways. From having fun to earning to contributing, a wide variety of motivations will inspire people to engage with games and connect with one another. It is blockchain-based tokens that will enable this. By designing viable token economies into our games, we will enable self-sustaining game growth. It is precisely this sort of ecosystem that lies at the heart of what I refer to as “decentralized gaming,” and I hope that this becomes a major trend in gaming going forward. If we refer to the one-way relationship where game players and game providers are linked by games that are finished products as “centralized gaming” to contrast it with decentralized gaming, then incorporating decentralized games into our portfolio in addition to centralized games will be a major strategic theme for us starting in 2022. The basic and elemental technologies to enable blockchain games already exist, and there has been an increase in the societal literacy and acceptance of crypto assets in the past few years. We will keep a close eye on societal shifts in this space while listening to the many groups of users that populate it, and ramp up our efforts to develop a business accordingly, with an eye to potentially issuing our own tokens in the future.

 

Our lifestyles have changed, and we are learning to coexist with COVID-19. Against that backdrop, I believe that the new technologies and concepts that I have discussed and the changes that they bring to our business environment will provide us with numerous opportunities to enrich people’s lives through digital entertainment, which is at the core of our business. This at the same time means that we are seeing the beginnings of further leaps forward for our business. We remain committed to creating, developing, and providing world-class content, and we will contribute to the happiness of society and its people by offering new forms of excitement.

 

I wish you all the best for 2022.

 

Yosuke Matsuda
President and Representative Director,
SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD.