News Game Tech Review : Rise Of The Tomb Raider

When we last saw Lara Croft, she was growing out of being a victim. A victim of fate, of other people’s aggression, of her own uninspired previous playable incarnations. She’s still growing, but she’s different now.

For most of Rise of the Tomb Raider, the second installment of a rebooted Tomb Raider series, Lara Croft doesn’t go around being scared. She still faces down overwhelming odds, grapples with doubt, and absorbs a ton of trauma. The newest iteration of the iconic video game heroine displays less fumbly panic than she did in 2013’s Tomb Raider. There are more moments of steely determination and fewer moments where she pauses to psych herself up. She knows what she’s capable of—she hasn’t forgotten that one time she wiped out a supernatural army, climbed a mountain, and took down a sun god. It feels like she’s grown.

That feeling of growth is a key factor in this sequel. For Rise of the Tomb Raider to succeed, it needs to convince players that Lara has matured, but that she still has more growing to do. Yet the changes in a new installment can’t be too radical, lest this Lara become unrecognizable to old and new fans.

Rise of the Tomb Raider tells the story of young Lara Croft, alone in a dangerous place, exploring ruins, solving puzzles, and shooting lots of guys with flaming arrows. It combines hunter/gatherer elements—where you need to scavenge for the stuff you need to survive or make weapons—with a mix of melee and ranged combat with pickaxes, guns or a bow and arrow.

Rise opens yet again with Lara searching for proof of a time-lost civilization. This time, however, her motivations come from a deeply personal place. Before he died, Lara’s father was on a quest to find the Divine Source—an artifact said to grant eternal life—and the apocryphal Prophet who performed miracles with its power. Lara’s continuation of his work is directly linked to her desire to restore respectability to the Croft name—her father’s name. Her travels take her to a snow-swept mountain range in Siberia where she comes into conflict with a mysterious organization named Trinity, whose paramilitary goons are also looking for the Divine Source. Hello, cannon fodder.

Crystal Dynamics’ latest effort at a Tomb Raider game benefits from smartly imagining the psychological underpinnings of both its heroes and villains. Just as Lara is trying to contend with her father’s legacy, the main bad guy’s thirst for power is likewise driven by very personal reasons. There are moments that you feel like you’re fighting against a screwed-up worldview and not just a bunch of artificially-intelligent mannequins.

Rise of the Tomb Raider tweaks the gameplay formula established in its 2013 predecessor. There’s a new crafting system that has Lara constantly foraging for resources that she can use to make ammo, equipment or bandages. Once she has enough resources, she can craft what she needs on the go. The player holds down the left bumper and can craft, mid-action. So, collecting deathcap mushrooms lets her make poison arrows that release a fatal gas. Similarly, other new craftable items increase the ability to silently skulk through encounters if you want. If loud, messy combat engagement is your thing, then you can quickly turn bottles and cans into molotovs and hand grenades.

Lara’s newly improved abilities are a direct reflection of how much effort you put into exploring the gameworld. As her skills increase, her ability to spot resources and read the world gets more powerful. Lara buffs her mastery of ancient languages by finding murals and improves her arsenal and equipment by amassing exotic animal hides. Other combat upgrades let you pull off feats like multiple headshots at once with the bow. The way that ROTTR’s mechanics are structured feeds into the overall sense of growing or maturing.

Aside from its opening chapters, Rise of the Tomb Raider is set around the geothermal valley in Siberia where Lara and Trinity have tracked the Divine Source. It’s a gorgeously layered landscape that feels more like an open world than the terrain of the 2013 game. Whether snowy or lushly green, the terrain feels alive, teeming with plant-based resources or animals to stalk (or flee). Aside from scads of posthumous testimonials about the history of its events and fiction, the game also teases players with optional tombs. The entrances to these tombs are secreted away and you’ll need to apply some extra effort to even find them. Once you find these tombs, you’ll be faced with a single physics-based environmental puzzle—familiar to longtime Tomb Raider fans. But you’ll need to navigate through various section of the tombs to trigger various elements necessary to their solution. As a result, they wind up feeling bigger and more significant.

The game’s also got side missions—given to you by actual in-world quest-givers—that grant you new tools/weapons, like a lock pick and crafting tool. You can also use in-game currency to obtain some of these weapons and equipment from the supply shack that opens up in the first third of the game.

This is an enjoyable sequel and the reason it’s very fun is because it feels upgraded in nearly every way. When I tried for stealthier approaches in the 2013 Tomb Raider, the results felt haphazard. In this game, I was able to plan and execute better, thanks to a plethora of options that let you blind or poison enemies from afar. The feeling of being a cunning predator was a welcome change for me, especially after enduring the emotional rawness of the last Tomb Raider. Another thing I liked about Rise of the Tomb Raider is how it constantly rewards your curiosity. If you head to a seemingly innocuous cliff or stop and take in your surroundings with Lara’s survival instinct, you’ll almost always find a resource or collectible waiting for you. I leaned hard on Lara’s survival instinct because Rise of the Tomb Raider is the kind of game where I didn’t want to miss a thing.

I played Rise of the Tomb Raider much like I did its predecessor: almost exclusively with the bow and arrow and as stealthily as my patience would allow. This time around, however, I didn’t feel like a trembly twentysomething, scared of every shadow. I felt more like a hunter and explorer, systematically taking down enemies and challenges. That said, I didn’t like having to unlock the same suite of weapons as in the last game. Lara knew how to counter enemies and perform quick stealth kills in the last game—why should she have to re-learn it now?

Unlike the Tomb Raider game from two years ago, Rise doesn’t have any competitive multiplayer. Instead, it offers another gambit geared to entice players to keep returning to the game. The Expeditions feature lets you play remixed chunks of the story campaign in one of four modes—Chapter Replay, Chapter Replay Elite, Score Attack or Remnant Resistance.

In Remnant Resistance, you can create custom five-part missions by picking specific objectives, loadouts and time of day. Once you finish one of these missions, your friends will be challenged to do the same.

Completing Expeditions missions earns credits and winnings can be increased by using collectible cards as modifiers to increase difficulty, grant buffs and add challenge objectives.

So, a Lobotomy challenge tasks players to notch five headshots with the bow and arrow and using a Big Head card on enemies swells their craniums makes their torsos and limbs more resistant to damage. The credits you earn in Expeditions can be used to buy more card packs for increased variability in the missions you create. I enjoyed the handful of Expeditions missions I took on and the feature feels like a clever way of re-jiggering the work that’s already in the game.

Rise of the Tomb Raider’s greatest success is in how it encourages exploration, which in turn makes you feel more connected to its fictional world. Every hapless corpse in the frozen Russian wastes is a reminder that Lara’s moving through a place that’s killed many others. As I played, she came across as increasingly gifted, with enough spirit and ingenuity to find ways to see herself through to the other side. This Lara isn’t a wide-eyed newcomer, nor is she a flinty veteran. She’s somewhere in between. Rise of the Tomb Raider makes me want to follow her where she goes next.

Additional Thoughts on PC Version :

Sometimes you just want to play a really pretty PC game, and in walks the PC port of Rise of the Tomb Raider. I already played through the enjoyably acronymed “ROTTR” on Xbox One last fall, and at the time was struck by how gorgeous the game could be.

It stands to reason that it’d look even better at a higher resolution and frame-rate, with some extra PC bells and whistles dropped in. Then again, a few messy recent PC ports have demonstrated some of the many ways PC versions can go awry. How does Rise of the Tomb Raider’s stack up?

I’ve played five or six hours, and my verdict: solid port. The porting job was handled by the Dutch studio Nixxes, who usually handle PC porting for most Square Enix-published games (2013’s Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Sleeping Dogs all come to mind). They do fine work, and from what I’ve played ROTTR is no exception.

I recently upgraded my PC, which is worth keeping in mind as I recount my experience: I’m running an i7-4770k with an overclocked 6GB GTX 980Ti, along with that 144Hz G-Sync monitor that I love so much. With that setup, I’m able to run the game at 2560x1440 (1440p) resolution at high or very high settings and, for the most part, it stays north of 60fps, occasionally dipping down to the still-playable mid-40s or 50s. I haven’t had much time with the new optimized Nvidia driver that hit today, but I haven’t seen a big difference between the game before and after I installed the driver.

ROTTR pushes my PC, but I’m actually happy to have a game that pushes my system for the right reasons. Unlike the frustrating PC ports of Just Cause 3, Fallout 4 and Batman: Arkham Knight, I have a good sense of the tradeoffs I’m making and so far haven’t felt like the game is running poorly for no discernible reason.

And it really is incredible looking, particularly in 1440p. Look at this screenshot:

Enhance:

Enhance:

In-engine cutscenes are gorgeous, and I’m regularly impressed by how much this latest version of Lara Croft looks like an actual human being.

I mean, like... enhance:

Jeez.

ROTTR’s PC version offers a variety of graphics settings; you can see mine here:

 

I’ve dropped the Level of Detail setting down from Very High to High and dropped Shadows to Medium, which keeps the game running well aside from some frame-rate drops as I enter some of the bigger open areas and some hitches in the midst of transition animations from one area to another.

Then there’s the hair. Rise of the Tomb Raider is actually the first PC game in which I’ve left the hair tech—called “PureHair” this time around—turned on, rather than turning it off to improve my frame-rate. PureHair does impact performance somewhat, but Lara’s hair looks good enough that I’m fine taking the hit.

Aside from its graphics, Rise of the Tomb Raider is another third-person action/adventure game that plays better with a controller than with a mouse and keyboard. Running, sneaking and shooting all work fine with a mouse and keyboard, and as usual I’m much more accurate when using a mouse. But platforming and puzzle-solving feel odd with a keyboard input. The game has some mechanical interactions—winding winches and breaking down brick walls, etc.—and they feel much more natural on a controller. Similarly, jumping puzzles feel awkward when navigated with a keyboard. Some of that is due to my own comfort level playing this type of game on consoles, so your mileage may vary.

Posted by Unknown Monday, February 01, 2016

News Update On PC Gaming : Call of Duty: Black Ops III Beta Now Open To All On Xbox One And PC

The multiplayer beta test for the next entry to the Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops III is now open to everyone on Xbox One and PC, following an update last night. Previously, the beta has been exclusively accessible via a code, with a majority being handed out alongside pre-orders. Playstation 4 owners were given a week's early access, on August 19, however after three days, the beta was opened to all using the console. The beta release on Xbox One and PC soon followed, and as of today, a code is no longer required to play.

From the onset, the beta offered three maps, hosting seven gamemodes, all within the multiplayer sandbox. Since its initial release, further content has been implemented, including new Specialists and maps. Last night’s update included a new map, Stronghold, alongside the new Reaper Specialist Class, which allows you to play as an experimental war robot, created in a now-abandoned military project. The level cap has also been raised to Level 34.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops III beta can be accessed on Xbox One here, and on PC via Steam, here.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III will release November 6, 2015 on Xbox One, Xbox 360, Playstation 4, Playstation 3 and PC.

Posted by Unknown Sunday, August 30, 2015

News Gaming Review Update : Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare Review – 6 Reasons It’s Awesome (And 4 Reasons It’s Not)

The day is finally here: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is officially now out in the wild, though if you remembered to pre-order the Day Zero edition, you’ve probably been playing for the better part of a day already.

The latest entry into the CoD franchise comes hot on the heels of what’s popularly regarded as the worst entry in the core series, Ghosts, which was pretty much just an uninspired Greatest Hits of the franchise without any invention of its own, and boy, it really, really didn’t feel next-gen at all, did it? 

It’s a pleasure to report, then, that Advanced Warfare is a significant improvement over its competent yet unoriginal predecessor, introducing a number of new elements to breathe fresh life into the franchise, all while course-correcting a number of the complaints people have with the series.

Sure, it’s still at its core the same CoD that sells tens of millions of copies per year, and some will inevitably have their gripes with that, but this latest entry throws down the gauntlet for Treyarch, who will presumably be developing next year’s edition.

It’s a surprisingly great game but far from perfect, so here are 6 reasons why CoD: Advanced Warfare is awesome, and 4 reasons why it’s not.

6 Reasons It’s Awesome…

 

1. Kevin Spacey :
And of course, who can forget the inclusion of one of Hollywood’s greats, Kevin Spacey, as the villainous President of Atlas, Jonathan Irons? Though the CoD series is no stranger to Holllywood talent (Gary Oldman, Kiefer Sutherland and Sam Worthington have all had significant parts in previous games), this is the first game to really harness an actor’s star power and make the most of it.

The photo-realistic visuals are a major plus for Spacey’s appearance, impressively recreating the actor’s facial expressions and, with a spirited vocal performance from the actor himself, help create a thoroughly believable villain. Though Spacey does have the odd ropey line of dialogue to chew through, he does so with admirable enthusiasm, and unlike so many celebrity voice actors in video games, clearly isn’t just phoning it in to pay off a yacht.

Plus, for anyone who watches House of Cards, seeing the video game-addicted Frank Underwood in a game (considering that he and Irons are rather alike) is just too deliciously fun to pass up.

So, that’s why you absolutely should be picking up Advanced Warfare this weekend, but what about the areas where it doesn’t quite measure up? Here are 4 reasons why AW isn’t quite so awesome all the time…

2. Firing Range :

A small but hugely welcome addition to the CoD series comes in the form of the firing range. Say you’re in the lobby waiting for the next match to start and want to try out a new weapon? Just select it, then hit the firing range button, and you’ll be quickly transported (without a single loading screen, impressively) to said range, where you can shoot the weapon to your heart’s content.

This is a huge improvement over having to simply pick a weapon and hope for the best, having to wait to try it out on the battlefield, which can be frustrating if it turns out to be a dud and you’ve made no other custom classes. It may seem like a tiny little fix, yet it says to gamers that Sledgehammer aren’t just interested in the big picture, but also the small things which, when added up, can be either supremely detrimental or complimentary to a game depending on their inclusion or exclusion.

3. Insane Customisation :

Customisation has always been a huge part of the Call of Duty franchise, with Infinity Ward and Treyarch trying to give players as much choice as possible about their load-out and how they head into combat. Sledgehammer have followed ably in their shoes, then, giving players more freedom of choice than the series has ever seen.

It’s fair to say that the game seems inherently more “open” because of the Exosuit and the numerous upgrades (invisibility, health augmentations and so on) that this invites, but even so, the developer has improved upon numerous aspects introduced in earlier games. The Pick 10 system introduced in Black Ops 2, for instance, has now been expanded to Pick 13, ensuring players don’t get frustrated with arbitrary restrictions and can build the set-up they desire.

Though the load-out screen might seem dizzyingly complex to a newcomer (and even for veterans, changing your load-out in between matches requires fast reflexes and a little good luck), it is, like the Exosuit, something you’ll likely adjust to after dealing with it a few times.

4. Vastly Improved Single Player :

Ghosts received a lot of flak for its, to be polite, unoriginal single-player offering. It was nothing more than a collection of the coolest set-pieces from the series re-skinned with a slightly different plot (albeit one you probably won’t remember). Advanced Warfare’s single-player, though still subject to many of the flaws that affect every game in the series, is a significant improvement, and absolutely worth playing through, even if you tend to skip this portion of the game.

For starters, the game is a massive step-up from Ghosts visually (though sadly this doesn’t carry over to the multiplayer), with a great deal of attention paid to particle and lighting details, while facial expressions (particularly Kevin Spacey’s) look more realistic and believable than ever. After so many people complained that Ghosts just didn’t look next-gen, at least the single-player portion of this game measures up to the standard set by last year’s similarly futuristic Killzone: Shadow Fall.

Another frequent issue with the campaign modes in this series is that they’re all woefully short. AW doesn’t break the mold hugely in this area, but it’s nowhere near the embarrassingly short 4-hour blast-a-thon that was Ghosts’ campaign. AW’s story mode will take most players 6-ish hours on regular difficulty, while on harder modes, it can easily take up to 7-8 hours.

Though the plot is still politically immature, there’s plenty of creaky dialogue and a number of familiar missions, it’s nevertheless a massive improvement over Ghosts’ rather pathetic attempt at a campaign.

5. Excellent Multiplayer Maps :

If Ghosts featured a relatively disappointing and forgettable array of maps, this year’s selection more than makes up for it. Sledgehammer have given us some ludicrously entertaining maps that are impeccably well-designed to fit the free-wheeling gameplay style that the Exosuit promotes. Terrace, a night-time, neon-lit hotel, is an instant classic, as is Greenband, a hedge maze-type map that will have you accidentally falling to your death numerous times if you’re not careful about where you boost to.

In fact, it’s hard to pick a bad one out from the bunch: Riot is an intense prison scenario, and Detroit is, well, Detroit (except even more of a mess). Though some are less memorable than others (Ascend, set in an airport, is totally forgettable no matter how many times you play it), but none of the current map selection elicit groans or sneaky lobby exits when they come into rotation.

Though the Exosuit itself inevitably takes a lot of the credit for making these maps work so well, that Sledgehammer had the ingenuity to design them so studiously in the first place shouldn’t be ignored.

6. The Exosuit :

Easily the biggest shake-up this year is the introduction of the Exosuit, a special mechanical exoskeleton which allows players to jump, boost and dodge during combat, adding an entirely new level of verticality and intensity to the typical CoD shooting mechanics. Yes, it’s clearly ripping off Titanfall’s much-praised gameplay (minus the wall-running), but you know what? It’s great.

The exosuit isn’t just a nifty new way to navigate the maps: it completely changes the way you play the game. Playing Kill Confirmed is now more treacherous than ever, because dog tags can be floating around 20 or 30 feet in the air, and Domination can see enemies flying at you from a dozen different directions, all desperate to capture your base.

The increased movement speed that the suit allows makes the already-frantic pace even more breathless, yet it somehow never becomes too overwhelming, and after a few games, most players should have adjusted to this insane new mechanic. Also, though it is only used intermittently throughout the single-player campaign, it certainly helps reinvigorate gunning down hundreds of nameless foes from time to time.

Needless to say, if next year’s game doesn’t feature the Exosuit, it will need to come up with something mightily interesting and innovative to fill the void, because after just a day of play, this feels like something that should remain a vital mainstay of the series from now on. It’s a genius addition by Sledgehammer.

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And 4 Reasons It’s Not

1. Technical & Design Issues :

As previously mentioned, from a technical perspective, the multiplayer aspect of AW just doesn’t seem particularly advanced from Ghosts. While the single-player is a fine-tuned operation and the Exosuit is brilliantly implemented, running smooth as silk, the multi-player still feels stuck in the past from a technical perspective.

On the San Francisco-set Defender map, there’s a huge body of water which will occasionally transform into a tidal wave and spill onto the land. This gives players a chance to get their feet wet in the water, but if you decide to go prone, the game will stutter between its above-water and below-water visuals, which for a brand new game running on the PS4 and Xbox One, is laughable.

From a design perspective, there’s also the frankly bizarre choice to have the names of players talking over comms appear in the middle of the screen in an obnoxiously large font. Who needs to know that kanyewest_fan412 is the guy playing loud, distorted music over his microphone? The idents should be kept to the bottom right-hand corner of the screen where they belong, in a much, much smaller font size.

Have you been playing Advanced Warfare? What do you think so far? Shout it out in the comments!

2. Lack Of Small, Gimmicky Maps :

Though the map selection is on the whole fantastic and the Exosuit doesn’t really invite restrictive maps, the series continues to lack a single tiny, arena-esque map like the classic Shipment (Modern Warfare) or Rust (Modern Warfare 2). These maps (Shipment especially) were so small that you couldn’t go two seconds without seeing an enemy, and though chaotic, were hugely popular with fans (probably because they’re an easy way to level up),

Sadly, recent games haven’t included any similar, gimmicky maps (perhaps because Activision don’t want players leveling too quickly), and though the selection for AW is itself pretty great, the inclusion of just one small, intense map (even if it were an HD remake of Shipment) would make the rotation even better.

This one’s unlikely to come to fruition, sadly, but if it came along in a map pack DLC, it might actually be one worth paying for…

3. “Out Of Bounds” :

One of the more disappointing if not unexpected aspects of the maps is that they’re still as restrictive as ever. This is particularly problematic given the freedom that the Exosuit purports to give players. You likely won’t go a single multiplayer game without seeing that annoying, orange “Out of Bounds” warning sign appear, indicating that you’re flying too high.

But given that the Exosuit mechanic promotes this type of play, doesn’t it seem like a contradiction in terms? Plus, if there’s room in the sky to boost around, why give players the warning in the first place? It should only be used for the edges of the map, which are so poorly disguised you’ll know exactly where they are anyway.

Hopefully Sledgehammer will realise the problematic nature of constantly pointing out the limitations of the maps, and understand that gamers don’t need their hands being held. Above all else, make maps that cater even better to the high-wire thrills of the Exosuit, or at the very least, only warn players that they’re going out of bounds when it really matters (which is basically never).

4. It Still Doesn’t Look Next-Gen :

Though the single-player campaign looks sleek, sexy and shiny, the same can’t really be said for the multiplayer offering, which doesn’t look much better than Ghosts, suffering from the same muddy textures, jagged geometry and glitchy visuals. Is the above image, of a cracked bus windshield taken by us on the map Riot, really acceptable in a 2014 video game?

The excuse that the graphics needed to be toned down for 18-player multiplayer mayhem just doesn’t really wash, because EA have managed two visually stunning Battlefield games with significantly more players than that on the same hardware, so what is it about the CoD games that makes them feel perpetually a few years behind graphically?

Does it ruin the experience? Absolutely not, but it’s a shame the beautifully-designed maps aren’t accompanied by prettier textures, and it does result in the occasional wince-inducing moment when you come up close to an object (anything with writing on it is particularly bad), at which point the illusion of immersion is irreparably broken.

Posted by Unknown Monday, August 10, 2015

News Gaming Update : 10 Things We've Learned About Fallout 4

Fallout 4 is gathering momentum, with just over three months to go until it emerges from the bunker like a drowsy, post-apocalyptic Godzilla.

Bethesda recently used Gamescom 2015 to give journalists a sneak preview of Lexington, one of the game's many desolate towns, in a video that was narrated by Fallout 4 game director Todd Howard. 

Overrun by hordes of raiders and other wastelanders, it demonstrated some of the game's mechanics while introducing new enemies and locations. 

Though tempting, we didn't just sit there gawping like a ghoul: click on to discover what we learned during the brief but action-packed preview.

The preview's opening sequence made a big deal about the role strength will play in Fallout 4. "Keep doing chin-ups and push-ups because there's more that strength can do for you," advised a voice with Fallout's familiar '50s American accent. "Swing for the fences like a pro, wear specialised protective gear and craft weapons to wield." 

We know that some pretty beefy vault suits lie in wait with gatling guns and other weapons attached, and on the basis of this hint, there might be a baseball bat for bashing things in the head too. 

Fallout 4 awards you with perks, skills and abilities as you progress through the game. They're chosen via a perk chart that's organised through seven S.P.E.C.I.A.L abilities: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck.

There are 70 base perks, each with multiple ranks that do new things, providing a total of 275 abilities to pick. According to Howard, it gives you "a ton of choices and many different ways to develop your character over the game". 

There was heavy reliance on V.A.T.S (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) in Fallout 3, which doesn't appear to be the case in its sequel. In the demo, Fallout's 4's protagonist dismembered feral ghouls by blasting off their kneecaps, Dead Space-style, after which they continued to crawl around.

You can still use V.A.T.S, but instead of making the came come to a dead stop it merely slows it down the action. This will invariable speed up the gameplay and force you to swiftly pick a limb for picking off and think on your toes more creatively.

Fallout 4's protagonist (the Sole Survivor) has a canine pal called Dogmeat. You're probably already aware of his canine companion, as a) he attracted more attention than anything else when the initial Fallout 4 trailer due to his slightly blocky appearance and b) Dogmeat has been a fixture of previous games in the series.

It turns out he's more than just a guide dog in Fallout 4 and can be commanded to explore rooms, attack enemies and even growl to alert you when they're nearby. Like Frodo's Sting, only furrier and less blue.

The demo gave a glimpse of the Fat Man in action. One of the most ridiculous(ly satisfying) shoulder-mounted rocket launchers ever. The chunky projectile flinger gets quite some distance on it too, as was demonstrated when our Sole Survivor used the nuke launcher to take out a troublesome enemy on a high up ledge.

Fat Man is a meaty weapon, no doubt about it, but it's not powerful enough to take out all of the game's bigger nasties in a single hit. In an encounter with a troll-like Behemoth, the Sole Survivor used V.AT.S to direct a swift Fat Boy rocket to its face, only for the beast to emerge enraged from the other side of a mini mushroom cloud. 

If you're low on firepower, some of Lexington's locations contain oil barrels that will explode when shot, providing another tactical avenue to take out some of Fallout 4's meaner enemies. 

If you don't the firepower to take out enemies yourself, it's possible to manipulate enemies or other NPCs to do your bidding. While explaining perks, Howard noted: "There's a perk for each special, and each rank of that special goes from one to ten. If you were to come out of the value with a 10 charisma, you can pick the intimidation perk that lets you manipulate and control other people." 

As in Fallout 3, enemies sometimes begin to fight each other if they come too into close contact, and throwing manipulation into the mix should let you start some interesting brawls. 

The vast array of weaponry on offer seemed to equip the Sole Survior with enough power to deal with all enemies on the ground in the video - except one.

Nestled high up in a mountain side, a turret was the only enemy that proved Fallout 4's protagonist real problems in Bethesda's preview video, raining down bullets in a hail of pain. The attack caused enough damage to make the injured Vault Boy icon appear in the top-right hand corner, which indicates that you've been injured. Mark these words: turrets are going to cause you pain. 

About halfway through the demo, we started to notice a running theme: Fallout 4's weapons - from the Fat Man to miniguns and flamethrowers - all sounded meaty and convincing while giving off some great-looking particle effects. A red energy gun called the Laser Musket was top of the pile, spitting out red laser beams that ripped through enemies and ricocheted off walls when indoors, lighting them up like a firecracker.

If it's half as fun to use as it looks, we'll be running around the wastelands doing our best X-Men Cyclops impression, which wouldn't be too difficult in that blue and yellow suit.

Bethesda recently tweeted that there'll be no level cap and you'll be able to keep playing the game once the main story is complete. If you're the kind of player that likes to carry on exploring the open world once you're done, you'll be able to continue growing your character's strengths to theoretically take on increasingly powerful enemies. Whether Bethesda will introduce new ones via DLC remains to be seen.

Posted by Unknown Sunday, August 09, 2015

News Gaming Update : Street Fighter V Will Come With 16 Characters Out Of The Box And Additional DLC Characters

Since the EVO fighting championship is currently on, the hype for the latest Street Fighter is at a record high. Even though fans are going to have to be patient for a little while longer before they get a chance to play Street Fighter V, the developers of the game Capcom released certain details about their latest instalment in the franchise at EVO.

This game is going to launch with sixteen playable characters that is only three characters less than the previous Street Fight IV which came with nineteen characters. You shouldn’t worry too much about this though since Capcom has worked very hard on getting rid of the “clone” characters and have tried to give every character a unique feel which is quite evident from the overhaul Ken has received.

Capcom is going to continue adding characters to the game through the DLC (downloadable content) which can be purchased in-game or even earned while you play. This is wonderful since players who do not want to spend days on the game can still purchase characters and make them usable right away while people who do not want to spend the extra money can rough it out and earn the characters.

Capcom is also going to be getting rid of those stupid re-releases like Ultra & Super which were released by the previous instalment. With Street Fighter V, players are only going to need the original release with every other update coming for free.

Street Fighter V is going to release next year during spring on the PS 4 and the PC. There is also an exclusive PS 4 Beta which is in the making and should be online by the 23rd of July.

Posted by Unknown Sunday, July 19, 2015

News PC Gaming Update : Xbox One Game Streaming To Windows 10 PCs Goes Live For Everyone

Microsoft said late Friday that game streaming from the Xbox One to Windows 10 PCs has come out of preview, opening it up to everyone running the latest build (currently build 10240) of Windows 10.

Microsoft also said it planned several feature updates to the Xbox app over the next few days, including the ability for the app to mine your old PC games and add them to your game collection.

As the name suggests, game streaming relays game play from Microsoft’s Xbox One console to a connected PC, allowing a gamer to play Forza Horizon in the family room, for example, while other family members watch Monday Night Football on the living-room TV.

Why this matters: There’s two ways of looking at this: On the one hand, it ties Microsoft’s ecosystem together, giving bonuses for owning various sets of Microsoft gear, including the Xbox One and a Windows 10 PC. On the other hand, it’s just plain cool.

From preview to public :

Previously, Microsoft had made game streaming a preview application, requiring users to run a special preview version of the Xbox One dashboard to access it. With the update, all users need to do is ensure they’re running the latest Windows 10 build and the latest version of the Xbox app.

Microsoft said Xbox app should automatically update via the Windows Store, but you’ll need to go into the Settings menu of the Xbox app and ensure you have version 7.7.16004.00000 or higher. (You may actually need to search for the app in the Store and download it; I had to.)

Note you’ll have to enable game streaming on both your Xbox One console and your Windows 10 PC. On the One, enter  Settings > Preferences > Allow game streaming to other devices, and make sure streaming is enabled. On your Windows 10 PC, launch the Xbox app, then scroll down the left-hand menu to the Connect icon. You’ll be offered the option to connect to your Xbox One. (You may need to enter the console’s IP address manually.)

Once connected, you can pick a game out of your collection and then select Play from Console, or else just use the Xbox One native menu. Finally, you’ll need to own and connect either an Xbox One or wired Xbox 360 controller to your PC or tablet to make it all work.

Other Xbox app updates :

Throughout July, Microsoft said it would be adding new capabilities to the Xbox app. The updates will include support for older PC games, allowing gamers to show off older titles from their collection. Gamers will also be able to upload game clips and screen shots from Windows Store games to Xbox Live.

Finally, gamers will be able to take a photo of their avatar and use it as their “gamer pic,” or representation of themselves. Users will have access to many more customization options, Microsoft said.

Posted by Unknown Saturday, July 18, 2015

News Gaming Gadget Review: Inno3D GeForce GTX 980 Ti iChill X3 Ultra

Something kind of weird is happening in the graphics world. The high-profile and eagerly anticipated launch of AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X has unwittingly sparked a surge in sales for Nvidia's rival GeForce GTX 980 Ti. Our conversations with retail partners suggest that keeping GTX 980 Ti on the shelves is proving to be a challenge, as said cards are now being snapped up by all those gamers who were, until recently, sat on the fence.

Buoyed by such news, and heartened by the fact that there are currently no custom R9 Fury X cards, Nvidia's partners are doubling down in their efforts to flood the market with an eclectic array of air- and liquid-cooled GTX 980 Ti solutions. Inno3D has both bases covered with five variants to choose from, and we have the mid-range iChill X3 Ultra in for review today.

Priced at around £575 - that's £50 more than the GTX 980 Ti entry point - this, clearly, isn't one for the faint of heart. Inno3D's unusual, almost Goth-like aesthetic design is very much an acquired taste, and you could either love the shroud's intricacy, or it may even give you nightmares.

It's a scary-looking beast, and it definitely doesn't shy away. Measuring 300mm in length and occupying the best part of three expansion slots, the iChill X3 Ultra is one of the meatiest GTX 980 Tis we've seen and tips the scales at 1.2kg. You could argue you're getting more card for your money, and if a compact form factor isn't a priority, you'll like the fact that Inno3D has made good use of the card's dimensions.

There's a full-size backplate, for starters, which shields the PCB and gives the card an extra feel of rigidity. The way in which the backplate extends well beyond the PCB reveals that the card is bigger than it needs to be, though the extra room does allow for three 90mm fans to be squeezed into the gigantic cooler.

Described as a modular design that's "easy to install, easy to clean," the iChill X3's metal cover can be detached using an Allen key, providing simple access to the three removable fans and a 118-fin aluminium heatsink interspersed with five heatpipes of varying widths. The removable parts are a handy way of keeping the card free of dust in the long run, though do be careful during the disassembly as the shroud does feel fragile and plasticky in parts.

A side-on-view gives you a better idea of the iChill X3 Ultra's girth. Such bravado hints at a good dollop of factory overclocking and Inno3D duly obliges by notching-up base and boost frequencies from 1,000MHz and 1,076MHz to a much tastier 1,152MHz and 1,241MHz, respectively. That's on par with Gigabyte's G1 Gaming, but Inno3D goes a step further by elevating memory from a reference 7,012MHz to an effective 7,200MHz. A nice touch, as overclocked memory is something of a rarity on custom GTX 980 Tis.

Inno3D has made all the right tweaks and, just as importantly, knows better than to mess with what already works. Power continues to be sourced by 6+8-pin connectors, two SLI fingers allow for multi-GPU configurations and Nvidia's usual display outputs - dual-link DVI, HDMI 2.0 and a trio of DisplayPort 1.2 - are ever present.

The iChill X3 Ultra's overall aesthetic has divided the crowd here at HEXUS HQ, though one element we all agree on is the black I/O panel - it's a neat little addition that fits in well with most PC enclosures.

Knowing that it lacks the brand power to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte and MSI, Inno3D is relying on a balanced mix of price and factory overclock. The iChill X3 Ultra should be one of the fastest GTX 980 Tis available at the £575 price point - if not the fastest - so let's see if the benchmarks stack up.

Nvidia's partners were all holding their breath a few short weeks ago, but with AMD's Radeon R9 Fury X failing to beat GTX 980 Ti into submission, they can all now rest easy and flex their muscles with a revitalised retail push.

It's almost an unfair battle with a myriad of custom GTX 980 Tis going up against the single-flavoured Radeon, however such choice does provide would-be buyers with a challenge: if you've decided GTX 980 Ti is the right GPU for you, which card should you buy?

EVGA's well-rounded Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ is a firm favourite around these here parts, and is followed closely by Gigabyte's G1 Gaming, but it's good to see a lesser-known brand throwing its hat into the ring and Inno3D has done exactly that with the GTX 980 Ti iChill X3 Ultra.

Built to look formidable, overclocked on core and memory, yet able to remain whisper quiet, Inno3D's £575 solution is full of promise and should be on your list of GTX 980 Tis to consider

Posted by Unknown Thursday, July 09, 2015

News Games Update : Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s Single-Player Campaign Takes You Deep Into A Cybernetic Quandary

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Since it occurs in the year 2060, about 35 years after the previous game’s story, the single-player campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a new story that takes the franchise deeper into military science fiction.

The villain from the last game is a distant memory. And the creators of Black Ops III at Treyarch Studios have had the opportunity to conceive a new set of characters, landscapes, and weaponry to hold the fans of the franchise spellbound. Just about every soldier is going to be cybernetics-enhanced, like the old TV series, The Six Million Dollar Man, or Square Enix’s Deux Ex: Human Revolution video game. You can expect the campaign to fully explore the ethics of enhancing people with computers and other abilities.

Almost 100 million people have played the previous two games in the series, making Black Ops one of the most successful video game franchises of all time. Each of the previous games have generated more than $1 billion at retail, and they have done their part in making Call of Duty into a $10 billion franchise. Activision believes that it can still grow this franchise year after year, and that’s why it has three major studios, each taking their turn at a Call of Duty, working on the games.

Because three studios are working at once instead of the usual two, Treyarch got three years, not two, to make its latest game. The developers of Black Ops III are using that time to up the stakes in the single-player campaign, turning it into an optional one-player or four-player co-op experience. In co-op mode, players can play T-mode, which shares information about threats with other players. I saw the demo on both an Xbox One game console and a Windows PC.

“It”s a passionate fan base,” said studio head Mark Lamia in a presentation at Treyarch’s headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif. “We want to honor these folks, but bring our brand to many more. We had a blank canvas to look at for our next Black Ops game.”
The third time around

The first Black Ops game is set in the 1960s, focusing on the elite group of soldiers with access to secret weapons during the era of the Vietnam War. The second vaults ahead to 2025, when a villain named Raul Menendez hijacked a fleet of American drones and tried to start a world war between the U.S. and China.

That drone war and Menendez are now part of the Black Ops history, but Jason Blundell, the director of the single-player campaign at Treyarch and the game’s senior executive producer, said that the story has moved on. The world sought to prevent another drone war, so it created an umbrella air defense system that could take out unmanned aircraft and essentially neutralized air power among rival nations. The factions include the Winslow Accord and the Common Defense Pact.


“That returned the focus of combat to boots on the ground,” Blundell said.

Two factions are now fighting each other, the Common Defense Pact and the Black Ops soldiers. The Black Ops teams still fight with “full deniability,” tackling wars others cannot, Blundell said. Robotics has become pervasive, and so has “bio augmentation.” Soldiers who lost limbs in battle now have prosthetics, allowing them to return to active combat. Some have even volunteered to shed their arms and legs in exchange for better prosthetic attachments.

These soldiers have access to cutting-edge tech known as the Direct Neural Interface, or DNI, which connects a soldier’s retina and nervous system to their combat armor and weapons systems. This gives them both omnipresent, computer-connected battlefield awareness and instant combat reflexes. They wear body armor that explains why soldiers in Call of Duty can run so fast.

In this specific story, you play a member of a prototype Black Ops unit that has cybernetic enhancements. You are called upon to investigate the disappearance of a CIA team in Singapore, which has fallen off the grid. That disappearance is followed by the largest leak of military information in history, a parallel to the Wikileaks controversy.

“You have to uncover the truth,” Blundell said. “Your team members are off the grid, and that brings us to Cairo.”

The Ramses Station level in Cairo

Treyarch showed us a “prealpha” gameplay session as the team hunts for important assets who have “information on our lost brothers,” Blundell said. They’re in the midst of an attack by a group on Egypt’s military, and they surface at a place called Ramses Station during day four of a battle.

As your team enters the Egyptian military compound underground, an Egyptian soldier lays out the situation. His forces have less than 1,000 troops holding out against enemy robots.

The conversation references Menendez, who is castigated as an “hypocritical maniac” and a “prick who got what he deserved.” But another person notes that the air defense system, DEADS, is the only reason the military is still surviving.

The team goes into an interrogation room, and then it emerges to face the battlefield. Against the backdrop of war-torn Cairo, you see heavily armored enemies on the attack. These rolling balls appear and explode — a new kind of drone to control. You start firing at the enemy forces. You pick up a giant piece of metal and toss it, thanks to your cybernetic-enhanced body suit. Your team is called in to reinforce the Egyptian army’s Eastern checkpoint.

You remotely hijack a drone (yes, these things are still flying despite the aforementioned air defense system) and use it to attack the enemy’s robots from behind. For a time, you see the battle from the air using the drone’s camera, until the enemy takes out the drone. Then it returns to the Black Ops soldier’s view. You continue to shoot at the robots. You set off a huge explosion, and that closes out that section of the battle and you receive an after-action report.

Smarter A.I. and better graphics

For the first time, players can play the full campaign cooperatively with three other players. The levels have been designed with four players in mind. That means that, if you play them as a single player, they may prove to be difficult.

Black Ops III has a new graphics engine and large combat environments. The graphics look great in the Ramses Station scene with all of the special effects such as smoke, fire, shadowy lighting. It definitely makes use of next-generation hardware such as the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and it will look even better on the PC with 4K displays.

Battlefields have multiple paths, allowing you to choose your own route through the mission. It has different ways in which you can fight, and that makes each mission replayable. Under these conditions, the artificial intelligence of the enemies has to be more emergent and flexible, Blundell said. The team at Treyarch completely overhauled its A.I. and created a new animation system, supporting more than 20 different emergent combos that challenge players in a variety of ways.

The A.I has to coordinate with each unit it controls and group its soldiers and robots into formations or columns. This results in a more open-ended Call of Duty, as the developers have taken advantage of more powerful consoles and PCs to create larger landscapes in the game. But it still has what they call “pillars of cinematic intensity.” For instance, one of the playable soldiers may move to defuse a bomb. The other three players will watch that action from the third-person point of view. The main player will see the cinematic from first-person, while at some point, all of the players will see a common cinematic that gives everyone a sense of being at the center of a drama, Blundell said.

Black Ops III has all of the things a Call of Duty game should have, Blundell said, like “soldier customization, cinematic intensity, epic action, gritty narrative, off-the-rails play, open-area battles, and replayability.”

Soldiers can link to each other via the DNI so they can see what another soldier is seeing. A heads-up display tells you about the threats on a battlefield, even if some of those are hidden from your view on the other side of a wall. You can use up to 40 different “cyber-cores and cyber-rigs,” or modifications which you can acquire as special abilities during the campaign. Then you can choose which ones you will use — from remote hacking to chain melee strikes — in any given mission.

The capability to hijack and remotely hack a vehicle like a drone is “level agnostic.” It has new weapons such as fireflies, which you can fire at an enemy and set them on fire.

You’ll be able to return to a safe house in mission areas where you can customize, upgrade, and socialize with other players. You can read information that gives you more backstory to what’s happening. The campaign itself takes place over the course of a week, so it’s a much tighter experience than previous games, Blundell said.

On the PC, you’ll be able to play a game with 4K graphics, while you can play at 1080p and 60 frames per second on the consoles. The game will require at least the 64-bit version of Windows 7, the 64-bit version of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, or Windows 10. It needs an Intel Core i3 or better.

“Overlaying the campaign, you have an online presence in every part of the game,” Lamia said.

I’m waiting to see more about the plot and characters, as Treyarch hasn’t said much about them yet. But the single-player campaign looks very interesting indeed.

Posted by Unknown Monday, April 27, 2015

News Sony PlayStation : Sony - We Fully Believe in Free-To-Play

The controversial business model wasn't originally part of Sony's plan, but now it's big business--and growing.

Today during a 2015 Game Developers Conference presentation, Sony's Sarah Thompson spoke about the rise of free-to-play gaming on PlayStation 4. In short, she said Sony has seen impressive growth in this area, so much so that the model could be a key component of the company's digital business going forward.

"We're really looking at this as a significant part of our digital business," she said about free-to-play. "I think that it's going to be a really a big chunk of our revenues in the next few years; 3-5 years. And it's already growing at amazing rates that are really quite surprising."

Thompson, whose official title is senior account executive for PlayStation's free-to-play business, went on to explain that Sony had no idea the free-to-play model would even exist just 15 years ago. Times have changed, and free-to-play has emerged as a key strategy for Sony.

"So we think that's great news. I think that it is really stabilizing the business. And I think it's future-proofing us. I think that it's really taking us into where we need to be as a company," she said. "As a company, we do fully believe in free-to-play."

Of course, Sony's investment in free-to-play doesn't mean the company will abandon traditional games anytime soon. The company has a number of marquee PlayStation games due this year alone, including Bloodborne and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, among others.

Also sitting on the panel today was Laura Naviaux, who holds the title of senior vice president of sales and marketing for H1Z1 and EverQuest developer Daybreak Game Company, formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment. Naviaux said she foresees a bright future for free-to-play on consoles, and not just on PlayStation systems, but everywhere.

"It's sort of just the first layer of the onion," she said, referencing that free-to-play on consoles is really just getting started. "Every indication is that there is a tremendous amount of opportunity for growth with free-to-play on consoles."

Splitting off from Sony means Daybreak can now support multiplatform development in ways it couldn't before. The company has said it is interested in bringing games to Xbox, though no specific Daybreak games have been announced for Microsoft's console.

Free-to-play often inspires debate and controversy, but Naviaux said players of games such as DC Universe Online and PlanetSide 2 have embraced the new monetization methods Daybreak has rolled out, especially on the PS4. This may come down to Daybreak's consumer-friendly approach to microtransactions, highlighted in a November Eurogamer interview.

In that interview, PlanetSide 2 creative director Matt Higby (who has since left the company) revealed that the developer purposefully went out of its way to prioritize making the game "fair and equitable" even if that meant missing out on a revenue spike.

"In a lot of cases, with the way we have designed our business model, we are leaving money on the table," he said at the time. "We're doing it for a reason. We're doing it because the trade-off in making sure we have a fair and equitable game will lead to more people playing and enjoying it, than if we were selling items we thought might be more powerful--even if that is a good, incremental and temporary revenue boost."

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, March 04, 2015