gamescom-2014
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Everything is 'OP' in Hearthstone and how Blizzard counters perceptions
Blizzard's collectible card game Hearthstone is rapidly building an audience, but it's also common for fans of the game to say "X is overpowered, when are they going to fix it?" We discussed with Senior Game Producer Yong Woo at Gamescom when they're finally going to nerf priests and give hunters back the full power of "Unleash the Hounds." "One of the advantages of [Hearthstone] being a digital card game is we get to see everything. How people are playing, how people are winning. What's interesting and fun for us to watch is sometimes the gap between the reality of what's happening and perception," said Woo.
Super Joystiq Podcast Special: Gamescom 2014 Day 5
We promised we'd be back. We promised a show every day from Gamescom 2014, and here we are. Come join us for the final hoorah from Germany. For the grand finale we are joined by Humble Bundle's John Graham to discuss the origins of the company, why it works, and the good that has been done by treating developers, publishers, and players well. Also, tune in to hear about the crew's personal favorite games from the show. Thank you so much for tuning into the week's worth of shows, and if you somehow missed one here or there, they are waiting for you in the archive. We'll see you back here next week as things return to normal. Listen to the Super Joystiq Podcast: Subscribe to the Super Joystiq Podcast in iTunes Add the Super Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator Download the MP3 directly Relevant links are available after the break.
Gamescom 2014: Star Citizen gets racing, FPS, hangar, and Connie teasers
Star Citizen fans, we hope you're sitting down, because Cloud Imperium released not one, not two, not three, but four separate trailers during its Gamescom livestream. Let's see, there's one about racing, one about the upcoming hangar update, a commercial for the Constellation, and oh yeah, how about some FPS combat footage? Feast your eyes after the cut! [Thanks Cardboard!]
PS4's Share Play limited to one hour increments
When Sony unveiled its upcoming PS4 Share Play feature during its Gamescom 2014 press conference on Tuesday, a few questions remained as to how it would operate. The "virtual couch" feature allows PlayStation Plus members to play any PS4 game of choice with a friend that doesn't own the game over PSN. As Sony explained to GameSpot, Share Play is limited to 60-minute play sessions, though there's no limit on the number of times friends can play the game. Planned to launch this fall as part of system software update 2.0 for the console, Share Play will be an inherent feature for any PS4 game, as "there is no need for developers to do anything for their games to be compatible with Share Play," Sony's Shuhei Yoshida told Famitsu (as translated by Kotaku). However, a Sony representative said that the "visitor" that doesn't own the game technically "takes over the host's account," so a friend that's getting a taste of your gaming library is not able to save their play data to their own account. Rather, save files will stay with the hosting player.
Smaller games 'great candidates' for Xbox Games with Gold
Above: Goat Simulator, coming to Xbox One When mind-bender Braid came to Xbox Live Arcade in 2008, it felt emblematic of a curated platform: a boutique in which unique concepts and independent developers could gain exposure. Now the boutique is long gone and independent games are plentiful, mingling with AAA games right there in the living room, for better or worse. Games like the time-stopping shooter, Super Hot, are now regularly shown beneath lit-up Xbox and PlayStation logos at major press briefings, though they're not typically explored in depth. Instead, the presentation format seems to be cramming every confirmed game into a montage and shotgunning them into the audience. In the years since Braid, independent creations have gone from oddities to commodities, and they're "coming to our console first" – that's how the line goes.
Motions, emotions and decisions in cinematic horror Until Dawn
This post contains minor spoilers for events in Until Dawn. You may think it's brand new, but teen horror Until Dawn has been lurking in the shadows since its Gamescom 2012 reveal. Sony re-revealed it at this year's Gamescom with one key difference: It's now on the PS4, and that means you'll be using the DualShock 4 instead of the Move. Now we've spent half an hour in the game's bloody clutches, we can shine more light on what to expect from Until Dawn on PS4.
Gamescom 2014: WildStar reveals new dungeons and raid tweaks
WildStar is on the ground at Gamescom 2014, and it's got something new for players to explore. Specifically, it's got the game's newest dungeons. The Protostar Academy and the Ultimate Protogames are intended for level 10 and level 50, respectively; the former is meant to help introduce players to mechanics found throughout group content, whilst the latter will provide a new top-level experience with heretofore unseen mechanics and content. And, of course, plenty of bosses that tested very well in marketing, because this is Protostar we're talking about. You can see the dungeon in action on this archived Twitch stream, starting at 4:45:00. But what about players looking into getting into the raiding scene? Will this help bridge the gap? According to the latest dispatch from the developers via the Nexus Report, while there are no content nerfs incoming, attunement processes are being eased. Silver medal requirements are being lowered to bronze, rune slots are being added as definite additions to both crafted and dungeon gear, and attunement item requirements are being tuned down as well to make life just a little bit easier. [Thanks to Syphaed for the tip!]
Small games go big, really big, at Gamescom
The Indie Megabooth is now an international star with its premiere exhibition at Gamescom 2014 in Cologne, Germany. The booth is bigger than ever and surrounded by the largest crowd of any gaming convention, traditionally topping out at more than 300,000 visitors. Indie Megabooth's Gamescom lineup comprises 34 developers and their games, including Capy's Below and Super Time Force, League of Geeks' Armello, Bedtime Digital Games' Back to Bed, QCF Design's Desktop Dungeons, Amplitude Studios' Dungeon of the Endless and Endless Legend, Abbey Games' Renowned Explorers, Two Tribes' Rive, Croteam's The Talos Principle, Rocketcat's Wayward Souls and Schulenberg Software UG's Where is My Heart? The Megabooth is surrounded by people, but also other, louder booths – apologies for the scratchiness of the audio (and the yelling) in our overview video from the show floor. The area surrounding the Megabooth is covered in DJ booths playing the sounds of 100 trash compactors on full, bumping blast. Or so it seems. Check out a super cool view of the Gamescom Indie Megabooth at 0:17 in our video.
Discussing Destiny's first DLC: 'It's got its own story'
Downloadable content in Destiny is built to interact with the main game's existing worlds, not create separate, isolated universes of story or action. To this end, when playing something like The Dark Below, Destiny's first DLC pack due out in December, players will still run into characters going through the full campaign. "The Dark Below is actually a really interesting expansion; it's got its own story," Bungie Director of Production Jonty Barnes told Joystiq at Gamescom. "We call it an expansion because it has one of all the activity types from Destiny, so it's story, strike and beyond – and competitive and cooperative experiences in there. As well as new gear, new armor, new weapons and everything else. Some of that attaches to existing places that you're familiar to, so you might find that as you're going through new areas, that you actually collide with players who are just playing the existing Destiny content. You'll have those collisions. We always want to create spaces where people can get together and cooperate, and we feel like that is a big innovation in Destiny."
Remember Me creative director: 'It was misunderstood'
Remember Me launched in June 2013 to mostly mediocre reviews. Our own critique called its animations "stilted and poorly portrayed," and found the overall experience disappointing. That following January, French developer DONTNOD entered "judicial reorganization," meaning the studio wasn't keeping up with its debts. "First of all, we're extremely proud of Remember Me," Creative Director Jean Maxime Moris told Joystiq at Gamescom. "I think it was not perfect by any means, but to some level it was misunderstood. It was our first game. We got totally buried under the hype for a very big game that came out directly after. These are not excuses because it was not perfect, it had flaws. But people are still writing about it today. Every once in a while we see a piece popping up and people actually showing the game some love."
Being a part of Lara Croft and the Temple of Griefing
Griefing is a tricky art; it can be problematic to give teammates the freedom to sabotage each other, and there are plenty of games where I've found that freedom an irritating barrier to progress and fun. After playing Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris with two devs who constantly undermined each other to hilarious effect, I'm hopeful the four-player isometric Tomb Raider will prove an example of good griefing rather than bad. Its predecessor, Guardian of Light, allowed for griefing with things like dropping the rope while your partner was mid-climb. In our Temple of Osiris session at Gamescom, dropping the grapple hook rope was just about the first thing Crystal Dynamics' Christopher Johnston did to producer Robert Siwiak, sending his character helplessly into the abyss. You could tell the grief wasn't going to stop there. "Oh, oh oops. Sorry. Sorry, Robert," Johnston chuckled, "It was a total accident..."
Super Joystiq Podcast Special: Gamescom 2014 Day 4
Another day, more independent developers and publishers spill their secrets from Gamescom 2014. On today's show, DR Albright of Signal Studios, Sean Velasco of Yacht Club Games, and Jordi DePaco and Jorge Plaza of Deconstructeam talk Toy Soldiers, Shovel Knight, and Gods Will be Watching. From differences in approach to growing a studio, to how to handle merchandising, there's plenty of insight to be had. We will have one more episode out of Germany tomorrow. So see you back here for the grand finale! Listen to the Super Joystiq Podcast: Subscribe to the Super Joystiq Podcast in iTunes Add the Super Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator Download the MP3 directly Relevant links are available after the break.
Quantum Break turning time and television
Remedy Creative Director Sam Lake took a moment at Gamescom 2014 to discuss the manipulation of time in the developer's upcoming adventure, Quantum Break. The studio that created Alan Wake is now tackling what amounts to a "superhero origin story" in the Xbox One exclusive that gives players the ability to stop time, using that unnatural skill to set up tactics during firefights. Lake noted that decisions made in the game will also impact the live action TV series that accompanies Quantum Break, which includes alternate scenes that appear based on how players react within the game. Lake also commented on the heavier concepts that arise in the game as a result of protagonist Jack Joyce's decisions, such as that of destiny versus free will. Quantum Break will launch in 2015, and was first announced during Microsoft's Xbox One reveal event in May 2013. Those looking for more videos ironically to stop and start about Quantum Break should find Remedy's entry in the myriad of trailers from Microsoft's Gamescom press event. [Image: Remedy Entertainment]
Life is Strange: Ambiguous young love among leading ladies
Life is Strange is DONTNOD's second game ever – it's also the studio's second game starring a woman, following 2013's Remember Me. "That's not us trying to be different for the sake of being different," Creative Director Jean-Maxime Moris said during a demo at Gamescom. "It's not as if we're trying to 'fix the industry.'" And Life is Strange is so much more than "a game with a girl in it."
Motorhead stars in Victor Vran expansion
Haemimont Games is still working on its Diablo-style platforming dungeon crawler Victor Vran, but the game's first expansion is looking metal... heavy metal. Inspired by the album covers of yore, the studio is creating an expansion featuring an aesthetic and sound inspired by the band Motörhead. Haemimont CEO Gabriel Dobrev showed us some early footage of the add-on, which will have all new environments, sounds, enemies and style. The character of Victor Vran will be replaced by another character and the game will stand with its own story.
Giving the fans what they want in Might & Magic: Heroes 7
In the newly unveiled Might & Magic: Heroes 7, fans can vote on two of the six factions to be included. In other words, they get to have a direct say on what is certainly an important component of a turn-based strategy game. As creative director Erwan Le Breton told me at Gamescom, Ubisoft and developer Limbic Entertainment are concentrating on giving the fans, many of them longstanding, a quality entry in this venerable series. According to Le Breton, fans on the series' VIP forum were unanimous about particular key changes they wanted from Heroes 6, such as the separation of spells from other skills, the revamping of the skill system, and the move from five factions to six. Le Breton said his studio's goal with Heroes 7 was twofold: make sure the higher-ups internally at Ubisoft are happy with the game, and make sure the fans are happy, too.
You booze, you snooze in Sunset Overdrive
There's little time for rest in Sunset Overdrive, a ridiculous game that whizzes by like a rock star drinking espresso on a skateboard. You must, must remain in motion – bouncing, sliding, flipping, grinding, hurtling and weaving through a rain of rockets and a gauntlet of gnarled mutants. And that's ignoring the visual chaos of your outfit: red pants, a blue flannel jacket, a tall white bearskin on your head and ... is that a tail?
Project Morpheus dev gives tips for overcoming the 'uncanny VR-alley'
You may be familiar with the Uncanny Valley, the idea that photorealistic human images can cause discomfort because they're the little bit off from the real thing. At GDC Europe, Sony Immersive Technology designer Jed Ashforth put forward what he called the "uncanny VR-alley," the thinking that there's a point where virtual reality becomes so immersive that the things that are slightly off are more likely to bring players out of the experience. It's an issue designers, like those on Sony's Project Morpheus team, are working out how to overcome as VR continues to gather steam at great pace. As you'd suspect, given the youthful state of VR development, there are a lot of problems still to be found as well as still to be solved. With that in mind, below the break you'll find Ashforth's six game design principles for VR development, including thoughts on how to avoid the uncanny VR-alley.
See the pretty pixels sprouting in Devolver's indie garden
Devolver Digital's indie garden at Gamescom features a lineup of games that the publisher has curated over a few years for mass-market consumption, including three that we're particularly excited about: Not a Hero, Titan Souls and The Talos Principle. Each one is wildly different, but they all carry a similar theme. Not to bring the mood down or anything, but that theme is death. Not a Hero stars a bearded dude with no special powers, but he does have a gun. The problem is, everyone else has a gun, too. It's a twist on the classic pixelated platformer in that the environments have depth, allowing players to sink behind outcroppings in the walls to hide from flying bullets. It's lighthearted, fast-paced action featuring a humanoid blue bunny gang lord. Not a Hero comes from OlliOlli studio Roll7, and it's due out on PC in early 2015, with PS4 and Vita versions in the summer. Titan Souls has been a favorite of ours since E3, when it was awarded one of the coveted Joystiq E3 Selection stickers. It's all about one – you have one arrow, one life and you fight one giant, punishing enemy at a time. The only thing more than one in this game is the number of times you'll die. Titan Souls is by Claw and it's due out on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 and Vita in Q1 2015. The Talos Principle is a slower burn than its companions, offering a serene, 3D puzzle experience similar to Portal or what we've seen of The Witness. Between the shape and light-manipulation puzzles, it approaches death, religion and other deeply introspective topics from a philosophical angle, offering a mix of narrative and riddle. The Talos Principle is in development at The Swapper studio, Croteam, for PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and PS4.
Hotline Miami 2 takes a spin on vinyl [Update]
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is coming to a new format: vinyl. Of course, vinyl is technically an old format for storing data, but you get the idea. Devolver Digital's developer herder, Graeme Struthers, let slip the new Hotline Miami 2 format on episode three of the Super Joystiq Podcast Special: Gamescom 2014, recorded on Wednesday night. Struthers didn't mention what a game on vinyl actually entails because he immediately realized this was supposed to remain a secret for a while longer and was then too occupied with banging his head against a cabinet to say anything more. While vinyl may be odd in a high-tech industry, consider this Devolver's version of a boxed product; a digital-only game making its way into the physical world. It's a symbol of the discerning publisher's dedication to its games. Besides, this could be the next big thing – so start liking it now before it becomes cool.
