Contrast
Latest
Samsung reveals the first-ever 15.6-inch 4K OLED display
We've been waiting impatiently for high-resolution 4K OLED displays to come to laptops, and that finally happened at CES 2019 with models from HP and Dell. Now we know one likely source for those, as Samsung has unveiled what it says is the first-ever 15.6-inch 4K OLED display. The screens will offer "HDR, excellent color reproduction and high outdoor visibility," said Samsung Display's marketing director Yoon Jae-nam.
Survival in 'We Happy Few' starts next week
We Happy Few was one of my coworker Jess Conditt's favorite games from E3 this year, and for good reason: its alt-history, drug-and-paranoia fueled take on a dystopia is unlike anything we've ever seen. But how did it all begin? With a question, according to an Xbox Wire post by developer Compulsion Games' Sam Abbott. The team was trying to figure out how to make a bigger game than its first (Contrast, which made its debut with the PlayStation 4) but wanted to keep its staff size from ballooning. That's why Compulsion turned to procedural generation -- akin to No Man's Sky -- for its 1964 English city.
BioShock shakes hands with Stepford in 'We Happy Few'
Smile for the camera -- and for the TV, and during the walk to the store, and while you're sitting in the living room, in the dark, all alone. Smile, because if you don't, they will come for you. That's the story behind the first trailer for We Happy Few, the new game from Compulsion Studios, maker of PlayStation 4 launch game Contrast. We Happy Few features a "drug-fueled, retrofuturistic city in an alternative 1960s England," filled with citizens with permanent smiles literally affixed to their faces. It's creepy, unsettling and cheerful all at the same time. Think BioShock with a splash of V for Vendetta and a smattering of picture-perfect Stepford. "I will say that Bioshock wasn't a direct inspiration, it's just that our interests have kind of always aligned with Irrational's games (people made the same comparison with Contrast)," Compulsion marketing director Sam Abbott says. "It's a pretty daunting comparison, given that we're less than one-tenth their size."
ID@Xbox games Contrast, Another World roll onto Xbox One
Classic platformer Another World and noir puzzler Contrast are two of four new ID@Xbox entrants to graduate onto the Xbox One store. The two other self-published games, Zombie Driver and RBI Baseball, were released earlier in the week. If you've seen Another World pop up a whole lot recently, that's because the cinematic 1991 adventure is celebrating turning 23 by bringing its 20th anniversary edition (yup) to every new system in town. Well, not quite every system... the PS4 port was due this week, then Sony amended its announcement, stating the game doesn't yet have a release date in North America [Thanks, Josh]. The PS4 game is out in Europe, though. Anyway, back to the Xbox One where Another World is available now for $8/£6.39. Contrast is due to drop sometime today, priced at $15/£12. [Image: Microsoft]
.jpg.cf.jpg)
Contrast gets much-needed patch in time for Christmas
Contrast has a lot of things going for it: It's beautiful, has an intriguing core concept of "a girl and a friend thriving in shadow," and it's free with a PS Plus membership. Unfortunately, upon release it was also rife with glitches that, among other things, tended to leave players stuck in walls, the ground, and other bits of game geometry. A new patch, available now, should fix all of that. "Good news! The Contrast PS4 patch has gone live in North America, just in time for Christmas," tweeted @ContrastGame. The patch fixes all manner of tech sins, including loading problems, various ways you could get stuck, and my personal favorite, "Fix for the box falling on the player's head and floating in space." The patch will hopefully remedy the "technical instability" we called out in our review, which often made it difficult to parse if you hadn't found the solution to a puzzle, or if you simply couldn't do what you were trying to do.
PSN Tuesday: Need for Speed Rivals, NBA Live 14, Contrast
This week's PlayStation Network offerings are marked by NBA Live 14's arrival on PS4, the only game to launch on PS4 through PSN for the week. Additionally, the PS Vita's lone addition is The Amazing Spider Man. Need for Speed: Rivals headlines the list of new, digitally distributed PS3 games – though it already launched on PS4 – and it's joined by a number of other PS3 games: Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know, Air Conflicts: Vietnam, AquaPazza, Arcania The Complete Tale, Blood Knights, Contrast, Dynasty Warriors 6, Farming Simulator, SoulCalibur 2 HD Online, Stick It to the Man and Young Justice: Legacy. Like Need for Speed: Rivals, Contrast also previously launched on PS4 in addition to Xbox 360 and PC, the PS4 version being free for PlayStation Plus subscribers. As we noted yesterday, said PS Plus members can download Binary Domain and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD for free and Worms 2: Armageddon for $4.50 this week. Sony also opened up pre-orders on PSN for The Last of Us' single-player Left Behind DLC, which will launch in early 2014.
Cast a silhouette from the light of this Contrast trailer
There's something lurking in the shadows of this Contrast trailer, and it smells like secrets. Well, and a fire-breathing shadow dragon, but we're not sure how to best describe that scent. Contrast is on Steam, Xbox Live Marketplace, PS3 and is currently free for PS4 owners with PlayStation Plus.
GRID 2, Guacamelee heading to PS Plus in Europe this month
Sony announced December's PlayStation Plus lineup for Europe, revealing that Codemasters' racing game GRID 2 and Drinkbox Studios' luchador-themed platformer Guacamelee will be free for subscribers to download starting later this month. PlayStation Plus members will also get free access to the PlayStation Vita version of Sega's kart racer Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, along with Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP. PlayStation 4 early adopters who subscribe to PlayStation Plus can download free copies of Housemarque's Defender-like Resogun and Compulsion Games' light-and-shadow platformer Contrast starting on November 29. December's PlayStation 3, Vita, and PSP program inductees will be available in Europe on November 27.
Contrast review: Fleeting shapes in shadow (PS4)
We're rolling out PlayStation 4 review coverage all the way through the launch on Nov. 15. Check out more coverage here! Contrast is a short, sweet game about a girl and a friend thriving in shadow. You play as Dawn, an elegant, exceptionally elongated woman visible only to Didi, a girl growing up in what appears to be a city from the 1920s. It's hard to say precisely, because the city you inhabit is a crooked, vaudevillian variant where the streets are always wet and a wrong turn terminates in a bottomless limbo. The shadows on the wall tell stories of the real world, projected into your dimension of shadow. How the raven-haired, provocatively dressed Dawn came to inhabit this place is a story best left for play, where it unfurls in snippets of dialog, posters and notes that find their way to your world. It's an earnest and mostly successful attempt by Compulsion Studios to explain something that need not be explained – the game's noir-ish embellishment and jazzy heartbeat are enough to draw you in. Didi's story is more personal, painting her as a loving daughter helping a bumbling dad, who makes one bad deal after another with unsavory types and suspicious magicians. As Didi wanders the streets, helping her father solve problems and reconnect with his songstress wife, we see that it's Dawn that makes the magic happen.
PS Plus adds Resogun, Contrast and Ibb and Obb this week
This week's PS Plus goodies, a mixture of freebies for subscribers on both PS3 and PS4, have been posted. Ibb & Obb, a gravity-based co-op puzzle game, will be offered on the PS3 side, while PS Plus members who grab a PS4 at launch on Friday can download both Resogun and Contrast gratis. Resogun is Housemarque's voxel-based shmup where players, navigating a closed 2D plane, attempt to save citizens from the clutches of evil invading aliens. Contrast, from Compulsion Games, centers around two main characters: an older girl named Dawn that players control and Didi, a younger girl who has just lost her mother. In addition to the free games, PS Plus members can also indulge in a special starter pack for free-to-play shooter Warframe. The pack includes both premium and free currency, a weapon mod pack and three-day boosts for both experience and credits. Finally, tomorrow will yield its annual slew of discounts for PS Plus and base PSN users alike. Beyond Good & Evil HD, Divekick, Street Fighter X Tekken and Outland are just a few of the games up for sale. You can peruse the full list over on the PlayStation Blog.
There'll be a short interval before Contrast performs on the PS3
Burlesque platformer Contrast will take to the stage on PS3 just a few days after it shows up on other platforms. The news comes as publisher Focus Home Interactive announced the game's final release dates, confirming it for November 15 arrivals on PS4, Xbox 360, and PC, and then November 19 on PS3. The shadow-orientated puzzler inadvertently took the limelight last month, when it replaced the delayed Driveclub as one of the PS Plus launch games on PS4. That means it'll be free to Plus subscribers along with Housemarque's Resogun, when the console dances its way onto retail shelves later this week.
PS Plus delivers Dragon's Dogma, Soul Sacrifice, free PS4 games in November
Sony unveiled next month's PlayStation Plus lineup, announcing that subscribers will receive a slate of free games for the PlayStation 3, PS Vita, and PlayStation 4 in time for International Turkey Day. Sony's subscription service hosts its first batch of PlayStation 4 freebies in November, as early adopters will receive free downloadable copies of Compulsion Games' shadowy puzzle-platformer Contrast and Housemarque's Defender-like shoot-'em-up Resogun. Contrast serves as a last-minute replacement for Driveclub, which was originally scheduled to take part in next month's PlayStation Plus lineup before its recent delay. Capcom's Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen and Sega's Binary Domain headline November's PlayStation 3 offerings, joining Sparpweed's co-op action game Ibb and Obb. PlayStation Vita owners can expect to see Sony's Monster Hunter-inspired action-RPG Soul Sacrifice, along with an upgraded HD version of Just Add Water's Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. PlayStation Plus members in Europe receive Konami's Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in next month's package, along with Remember Me, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD, and MotorStorm RC.
Driveclub delayed to early 2014
Sony confirmed the rumored last-minute delay to PS4 launch game Driveclub, pushing back the Evolution Studios racer to "early 2014." Vaudevillian puzzle-platformer Contrast will take Driveclub's place as one of the two PS Plus games available at the PS4's launch, the other being Resogun. Sony Worldwide Studios chief Shuhei Yoshida assured fans a PS Plus version of Driveclub will still be available when the game is eventually released. Writing on the PS Blog, Yoshida said Driveclub requires more development time before it can deliver on Evolution Studios and Sony's vision: "We understand that the delay is disappointing news, but can assure you that the reason we have made this decision is to ensure that when Driveclub launches, it will realize the next-gen racing vision." Driveclub is the second PS4 launch game to be delayed this week, although Ubisoft's Watch Dogs is multiplatform in contrast. Yoshida moved to allay fears over the dwindling line-up, name-checking Killzone Shadow Fall, Knack, Assassin's Creed 4, FIFA 14, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Battlefield 4 as some of the remaining PS4 launch games. "A broad portfolio of games will be available on PS4 before the end of the year," Yoshida added, "And with games such Infamous Second Son, The Order 1886, Destiny, Watch Dogs and now Driveclub coming next year, the strength of the software line-up on PS4 is unprecedented."
WildStar implores Dominion citizens to go space-west in a new arkship
Do you feel the lure of the frontier? WildStar's Dominion certainly hopes you do. But as a citizen of the most powerful organization in the known galaxy, you won't be heading out into the frontier with nothing more than a spacesuit and a poorly written star chart. No, you'll be cruising to Nexus in the finest vessel ever built by the Dominion shipyards, the arkship Destiny! Assuming you pass the tests to be sent out there in the first place. The Dominion can't just send the rabble, after all. The latest installment of WildStar Wednesday details the luxurious amenities in all their glory, ranging from VIP lounges and ample recreational space to training simulations and a fully functional church. Those selected for the journey will be given every opportunity to excel once they touch down on the planet's surface, with experienced travelers given the option of bypassing most of the tutorial experience for a trip straight to Nexus. Take a look at the full rundown to get a better idea of how the Dominion travels in style, which will likely be contrasted by the Exiles arriving in a spacesuit with a poorly written star chart.
Shadowy platformer Contrast coming November 15, says Steam
Contrast is now available to pre-purchase on Steam, which says the game will arrive on November 15. Compulsion Games tells Joystiq that the November launch date is "to be confirmed," and may change as it draws near. The game is 25 percent off ($14.99) until it launches. Contrast has players controlling a young woman named Dawn that can traverse shadows cast by all objects in the game. At the center of the 1920's noir universe is Didi, a nine-year-old and sole friend of Dawn, who unravels a story surrounding Didi's mother and absent father. Our time with the game at PAX East was pleasant, though there were a few rough spots on the puzzle-platforming side of things with Dawn's character model getting caught on the edges of shadows at times. Contrast will also come to PSN and XBLA in Q4 2013, though no solid release date has been determined for those platforms yet.
In-app purchases may [not] be the way of the future
iOS app developer Jeremy Olson of Tapity has written an interesting article on how developers can survive selling apps and yep, paid apps are dead. (Tapity wrote Languages, Grades 3 and Hours, all available in the App Store.) Olson cites anecdotal evidence that people are not buying apps in the quantities today as they did even a year ago. App downloads are healthy, but the ability to survive as an independent developer is in flux. In-app purchases make up one revenue stream that has worked well for some, but there's still no guarantee of success. Olson cites a tweet from David Barnard of Contrast that lists "the four main factors that work together in a good IAP strategy: massive download numbers, high conversion rates, high prices and [recurring] revenue." Olson goes on to cite sales figures for Barnard's and his own apps. Olson continues that he doesn't think IAPs (in-app purchases) are the answer for his company. ...we might need to think bigger and more creatively about how our apps generate revenue. It means we might need to start thinking about business models that go beyond charging users for the app. He ponders the model of selling his apps to companies who might purchase them for corporate use, or include web and Mac integration. That, of course, means he needs a sales force and marketing, a whole 'nother can of worms in this writer's opinion. Olson thinks that if he thinks bigger, then he has a better chance of survival as an app developer. Maybe he's just falling into Apple's adage, Think Different...
Perfect Weather for iPhone offers great-looking reports
David Barnard explains that he made Perfect Weather for iPhone (US$2.99 and new from Contrast), because he's a Texan. "Most weather apps cater to the idyllic climate in Silicon Valley," he says. "In places like Texas, where big thunderstorms and surprise rain showers are common, the current temperature is often immaterial." Here on Cape Cod, MA we're preparing for hurricane season, so I can understand where he's coming from. What's it like outside? Perfect Weather combines three things that I love: real-time forecasts, a live radar and good looks. First, let's look at setup. I live in the middle of nowhere and apps that pull data from location-specific sources often struggle to info that's relevant to me. I was happy when Perfect Weather had no trouble. It's always going to find the weather for your current location, so you needn't worry about that. You can also track what's happening on other locations. To add a new spot, tap the "Edit" button and then the "+" icon. You can then search by city name or zip code. Once that's done, each location your'e tracking is represented by a colorful title bar. These can be re-ordered to suit your needs. Tap any one to see the latest weather information. Here's where it gets good. The weather screen features three components: Drop-down forecast and real-time information, a map and radar controls. "Drop-down" isn't entirely accurate, because this information center really "folds" four times to reveal more or less information. When totally unfurled, Perfect Weather shares all it has, including temp. highs and lows (Fahrenheit only), chance of precipitation (percentage) and six-day forecast. There's also a really cool slider that you can swipe across to see the temperature at any point over the last 24 hours. The high and low temperatures are clearly marked. Swipe that slider out of the way to gain even more info, like a humidity reading, visibility, wind speed and direction, sunrise/set and dew point. Now, start "folding." After the first fold, you see the high, low, precipitation and six-day forecast. One more hides the forecast and the final fold reduces that whole panel to a handle, providing a great view of the map. Speaking of the map, you can watch an animated satellite image of your area that reveals either rain or cloud cover over the last 20 minutes. Finally, a slider lets you increase or decrease the opaticy of the cloud/rain animation. Looking good This app is pretty. It's flatter than a pancake and is completely at home on iOS 7. Everything's legible and feels very lightweight. The colors are pretty and look nice in the background when you're using Siri, for example. Alert! Perfect Weather also tracks and reports on weather alerts. You'll find a lightning icon next to the name of each city you're tracking. When it becomes more pronounced, there's an alert. Tap it to pull up the Alert Report screen, which lets you read about what's going on. This is a nice weather app. It manages to provide a whole lot of information in a neat, organized layout that looks great. I definitely recommend it.
Contrast comes out of the shadows on PSN, XBLA, PC in Q4 2013
Contrast, the shadow-shifting puzzle platformer from Compulsion Games, will not be released in May as previously planned. After being Greenlit on Steam, the game has since been picked up by Focus Home Interactive for a wider release. Contrast will now be released on XBLA, PSN and PC in Q4 2013. We think Constrast could be pretty cool. Here's a new trailer to help you endure the longer wait.
Contrast takes a gameplay video out of the shadows
If the clever gameplay in this clip of shadow-shifting puzzler Contrast intrigues you, be sure to check out our recent preview. Contrast received the Greenlight from Steam and will be available for $15 in May.
Contrast preview: Shadow puppet theater
Once upon a time there was a young girl with a troubled home life who took solace in the imaginary universe she dreamed up when she was alone. We've heard this story before, told in variant forms by Guillermo del Toro, Lewis Carroll and Zack Snyder, but Compulsion Studios puts a new twist on the tale with Contrast.Didi, an inquisitive 9-year-old living with her mother in a 1920s noir world, manufactures a landscape of shadows populated by her lone, best friend, Dawn. Dawn is a young woman, more mature and powerful than Didi, and has the ability to shift between the real and shadow worlds. In Didi's reality, Dawn can climb shadows as if they were solid ground, allowing her to scale areas unreachable by flesh characters. She interacts with few real-world objects, and people, aside from Didi, are invisible to her -- only their silhouettes exist.Contrast is a puzzle platformer, starring Dawn as she shifts between shade and density, helping Didi as she follows her mother through the dark city streets. The game is infused with jazz and tainted innocence: Didi's mom, the cabaret singer; her dad, absent; and a decrepit circus, just rolling into town.%Gallery-183660%
