Since 2013

Search

Search

Luke Smith Talks Destiny: TTK Raid, King’s Fall with GameInformer

Game Informer sat down with The Taken King’s creative director and lead designer of the Vault of Glass, Luke Smith to discuss King’s Fall, the new raid coming to us on with TTK. King’s fall should be Destiny’s most complex and biggest raid to date. When asked about raids in general, Luke Smith explained that franchise director, Jason Jones was the one to want raids in Destiny early on, stating that Jones “felt it was really important that players have a cooperative activity that requires coordination and communication.” With strikes, they want them to be less cooperative heavy, but raids are meant to challenge the player and require teamwork and coordination. They always seemed pretty set on six players for raids, but Smith admits that Bungie is still learning what raids can be as far as game play goes. They want every raid to be a different experience through the mechanics and styles and are constantly experimenting with new ideas. Smith talks about TTK raid as the culminating moment of the story that players will experience throughout the DLC. When asked about what they learned from designing Vault of Glass and Crota’s End that helped with designing King’s Fall, Smith explains that players always surprise them. Players come up with intelligent, unique ways to manipulate the environment and mechanics to their favor in ways that Bungie never expects. The players have taught the developers and testers new ways to look at and test the experiences within raids better. Smith alluded to Prison of Elders in a possibly hint dropping and interesting way when he said, “I think Prison of Elders had some cool mechanics that evoke feelings of raiding, and we’re trying to build this journey for players where the game is preparing you for what the raids will ask you to do later on.” On the topic of gear and drops in raids, the devs took it hard when people were getting stuck at level 29 because one piece of raid gear just wouldn’t drop for them. They want all of your slots on your character to matter and that your experience with leveling doesn’t rely on a raid loot drop happening for you or not so they split light and character levels from each other. They want highest-level gear to be a little bit less important, hoping, “that players see their light level as a tool that allows them to climb the mountain they want to climb in the way that’s most interesting to them.” Bungie wants players to look how they want to look and chase progression. For the full interview visit GameInformer. Let us know in the comments below what you want to see different in King’s Fall compared to previous raids.

Bungie Weekly Update – The Taken King, Pax Prime, and System Requirements

From the latest Weekly Update by Bungie, we get more details on what to expect after completing the main story of The Taken King, a schedule event at Pax Prime, and details on how much storage you need for your preferred platform.  The update kicks off with a recap of what Bungie showed off this week during a stream, and if you want to avoid any potential spoilers, be sure to skip the video below.   Skip this video to avoid any potential spoilers!  Of course, that is not all Bungie will be showing at this point, but in the next stream, we’ll be getting more details on the Court of Oryx next.  So be sure to check it out when it goes live at http://www.twitch.tv/bungie.   Nightfall Moving on, when you finish the story mode in The Taken King, there will be a variety of activities to do when it comes to doing patrol missions, Strikes, PvP, and Nightfall.  With the second year of Destiny closing in, Weekly Nightfalls will be more than just Strikes for players to complete once a week, it will also include PvP as well.  Along with this aspect coming, Bungie will also be placing “a buff” which will do as follows Requirement to be at level 40 wiping no longer returns fireteams to Orbit Raids will now use a 30 second time-out penalty on down players (just like in the Raid missions on Normal)   Weekly Heroic Strike This Fall, the dedicated Weekly Heroic Strike will be removed from Destiny.  In result, it will be replaced with a new playlist called “the Vanguard Heroic Playlist.” From the Weekly Heroic Playlist, players will receive bonus Legendary Marks, and these rewards will be earned from account level instead of character level.  Of course, this change has been made so that way, players won’t feel pressured to focus on more than one character, so that way it will be more convenient for them to focus on one character they prefer to play as.     Weekly PVP Ritual In this mode, players will receive a weekly bounty from Lord Shaxx called “The True meaning of War” which requires completing pvp weeklies, and will grant players tier rewards on doing so.     Pax Prime Speaking of all this Destiny content that has been thrown at us from this Weekly, it looks like Bungie will also be present at Pax Prime in Seattle this weekend for a community meeting at Guardian regalia.  It will be located outside near the sculpture garden on the upper decks of the convention center at 3:00 PM on Saturday.     Change Agents As Update 2.0 approaches along with The Taken King, players will be required to download and apply the update, even though if they do not plan to purchase The Taken King.  As shown below are important details on how to prepare for the update when it goes live on September 8, 2015. Playstation 4 and Xbox One requirements 18 GB of free storage needed For those who are planing to play as soon as possible, be sure to turn on automatic downloading of game updates on consoles Playstation 4 owners should look here for details Xbox One owners should look here for details   Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 requirements Xbox 360 owners need 10 GB free for update Playstation 3 owners need 20 GB of free storage, and once installed, you’ll need 10 GB free If you’re one of the limited number of players playing Destiny on a 20GB PS3 or Xbox 360 and have not already upgraded your storage space, you will run into storage limitations on your console when you attempt to install the update.  Here are steps you can take to continue playing Destiny:   – Here are some solutions Playstation 3 Xbox 360 You can also upgrade your Playstation 3 to your Playstation 4, and your Xbox 360 to Xbox One (data transfer from Playstation 3 to Xbox One or Xbox 360 to Playstation 4 won’t work).   That is all from the Weekly Update, and Destiny: The Taken King is set to launch on September 15, 2015.  Are you excited?  Feel free to let us know in the comments below.   Source: Deej https://www.bungie.net/7_Bungie-Weekly-Update—08272015/en/News/News?aid=13430 

Uncovered Leaks: Black Ops 3 Zombie Theater Mode + MORE

The Black Ops 3 BETA is out in the wild and looks that on the PC version someone has found files referencing to unknown parts of the Black Ops 3 full release coming November 6th, 2015. Reddit user Mage3873 has uncovered some new leaks: Please note, this is not confirmed by Treyarch or Activision but has been found in the official files from the Black Ops 3 BETA on PC. Theater Mode to be available in zombies mode Campaign + Story for Zombies Zombies Character Customisation The code suggests Black Ops 3 checks your progress on Easter Eggs from Black Ops 2 zombies Possibility that players can also play as a zombie instead Hidden theme music for the Zombies Menu and Shadows of Evil has leaked Ranks in Zombies mode (Activision already confirmed XP progression system) + Prestige Mode What are your thoughts? Rumors, or do you think Theater Mode is actually coming to ZOMBIE COD?  Get talking about it!

Ears Only Account: Bungie TTK Twitch Reveal Strike The Dreadnaught

This is a firsthand account of the latest Bungie Twitch Reveal from a NO SPOILERS ears ONLY perspective. I am a player that likes to keep my eyes clear of any major spoils that could happen during events like this.  Showing levels, strikes, or even worse, raid portions or elements are something I feel very strongly against. Designers in my opinion today give out too much actual game play before a title release. At times it feels like it’s the main points of the game that are (or could have been) so exciting when experiencing them for the very first time in a first person hands on impression. It’s like they are trying so hard to sell the movie that they basically show you the ending. I’m sure we can all relate with how many summer flicks have been spoiled even before you could make it in to see the movie by just the commercials trying to remind you to go see it. With this in mind, I have wanted to deliver this type of spoiler free perspective for some time. It’s my pleasure to bring you a very EARS ONLY recollection of the latest Bungie Twitch Reveal events. Please remember that I am attempting to do something “out of the box” here, so I could get things wrong, or simply not be able to cover all the info to its fullest as if I had images to write directly about. Thanks for your understanding and hopefully if you made it this far you too are a player that can appreciate this type of journalistic perspective. Enough of that.. Let’s talk about the goods! Today’s Destiny stream was abruptly interrupted just short of its starting by what the team later called “a power hit”. Deej, Bungie’s Head Community Manager, that we know and love, was quick to joke as the stream came back up, blaming the little fiasco on a Tunderlord replica. He was claiming it had something to do with its experimental power source. I personally think they love being tweeted funny puns like how the stream had been weaseled or possibly something to do with dinkle bots revenge. Joining DeeJ at the caster station was James Tsai, a design/strikes lead on Destiny the game. After a quick dialogue between the two they told us about what we had all anticipated on seeing.. errr, hearing today, a new strike entitled Shield Brothers and set in the heart of the Dreadnaught its self.  The lucky players for the day were Mr. Fruit, a casual YouTube content producer, Claude Jerome (a sand box designer for Destiny) and Cozmo, the recently announced Assistant Community Manager for Bungie. The players took turns talking a little about each new class/ subclass that they would be playing as in the activity. I’m not going to talk allot here about the breakdown of each out of respect to time of the reader. The factual builds of each character are not anything that I feel falls into the “spoiler free” zone of this presentation. If you’re interested in these I will highlight a source article that you can go back and enjoy at your leisure. Moving on… the team jumped into orbit, ready to ascend on the mission before them. At this point I will provide a descriptive play-by-play of sorts. Keep in mind that I wrote these notes while listening to the presentation, choosing to save my eyes for the actual launch day events. Claude is tasked with leading the way at first. Setting in on the mission, it is clear that the Cabal has made their place in this area. Seems heavy fighting breaks out rather quickly as the players make light of Mr. Fruit asking, “what is this thing” and steps into something that seems to have exploded. Laughter is exchanged and the phrase, “that went off with a bang”, is said with a smile. The players seem to continue fighting what is described by one of them as “allot of centurions” for a period of time but uncharacteristically for this type of encounter seem to stop, and without much climax, move on to a new area that is soon described as the hull of the ship. Upon entering the hull area, DeeJ & James break back in giving a brief description of the section to come and what can be expected. The team goes on to talk about how strikes have changed from the vanilla experience of Destiny. – Guardians are to expect a revolving type of strike experience. Gone are the days of playing the same thing over and over. Instead, they claim players will see rooms spawned with different enemies at differing points throughout the experience.  Not every strike will be the same. Though the experience is set in the same area(s) no one encounter should be the same as the next. The next section is described by DeeJ as “the first encounter”. While moving into position, Psions are spotted to the right and up ahead. One of the players use this as a chance to try out the new Titan super ability which gives the Guardian a flaming hammer or sorts. Tossing around fire, one of the players says, “these supers are so good! So, lovely, so so.. warm and tingly!” Banter is exchanged as the team is becoming comfortable playing together in this new environment. “Whoa! Oh god! Watch out! FIRE” Is exclaimed, as a player says, “we must have stepped into the kitchen”. Just after that another player calls out TANK!! Which really surprises me as the team seems to have been playing inside the hull of the ship at this stage. This lends one to believe that the area is very large if it can support a tank in play. The Dreadnaught interior is either very large at this point or the areas open up to larger spaces. Can’t tell exactly which as the fireteam isn’t being very descriptive as to the surroundings and how they

Huge Update for Neverwinter on Xbox One with Free Elemental Evil Expansion

September 8th an update for Neverwinter on Xbox One will go live combining the Elemental Evil, Fury of the Feywild, Shadowmantle, and Curse of Icewind Dale expansions. Included will also be an increased level cap,  new adventure zones four end-game campaigns, high level player dungeons and Oathbound Paladin will be added as a playable class. Check out the trailer below, curtesy of GameInformer and let us know what you think.

Street Fighter V New Beta Dates Revealed

On Wednesday Capcom announced new dates for the Beta Test for Street Fighter V. The worldwide Beta will be held August 28th starting at 4:00pm PDT and will end September 2nd at 7:00am PDT. Capcom reminds everyone that it is a Beta so players may encounter some connectivity issues, but that they, “expect everything to run continuously throughout the entire five day beta period”. Capcom also left players with some suggestions to help ensure the best experience possible during the beta:   Wired internet connections provide more stable speeds than Wi-Fi, so use a wired connection if you can. Avoid downloading files in the background while playing, as it takes up bandwidth and slows your connection. Let us know in the comments below if you plan to participate in the beta testing.  

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Turok 2 Getting Digital Re-Release

Dinosaur enthusiasts, rejoice! Night Dive Studios has announced today that they are developing a digital re-release of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil for PC. The Nintendo 64 classics, released in 1997 and 1998, respectively, are coming to PC for the first time thanks to the studio whose “mission is to bring lost and forgotten gaming treasures back from the depths.” Night Dive Studios is also responsible for remastering other classics for re-release such as System Shock 2 and Sid Meier’s Colonization. Stephen Kick, CEO of Night Dive Studios, said of the titles, “no game had ever offered the combination of graphics and an open world environment that Turok featured. We are very excited to have the opportunity to bring this great franchise back to life.” A release date for the re-release has yet to be announced.

Forza Motorsport 6 Has Gone Gold! Demo Arrives Sept. 1

Forza Motorsport 6’s launch has arrived: It’s gone gold! In two weeks, Forza Motorsport 6 will be available to play via early access for owners of the Ultimate Edition. Five days later, Forza 6 will be unleashed to everyone! Before the full game launches, however, fans will have the chance to experience the thrills of Forza Motorsport 6 in the official free demo for the game, which launches on September 1. The Forza Motorsport 6 demo will let players experience the most beautiful and comprehensive racing game of this generation, named “Best Racing Game” and “Best Simulation Game” of gamescom 2015. Just think – 460 Forzavista cars, all with working cockpits and full damage. 26 world-famous locales, including wet weather and night racing, all at a stunning 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second! As a bonus, everyone who plays the Forza Motorsport 6 demo will automatically get the new Ford GT delivered to their garage in Forza Motorsport 6 for no additional cost. See below for more details on the cars released this week, and the full post on ForzaMotorsport.net for new screenshots and details on the tracks that will include night and wet racing options. Brand New Cars Led by the awesome power of the 2015 Mercedes-AMG GT S, these ten newly-announced cars bring the total car count to Forza Motorsport 6 to 460 cars, the largest number of cars ever seen at the launch of a Forza game! The rest of the car revile today includes: 2015 Mercedes-AMG GT S 1979 BMW #6 BMW Motorsport M1 Procar 2015 Volvo S60 Polestar 2014 Audi #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports R8 LMS ultra 2014 BMW #5 Ebay Motors 125i M Sport 2014 Chevrolet #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R 2015 Jaguar XKR-S GT 1976 Lotus #5 Team Lotus 77 1969 Lola #10 Simoniz Special T163 2014 Ferrari California T The full 460 car list including all previously announced vehicles is available on Forzamotorsport.net. Planning on checking this one out for yourself? Big Forza fan?! So are we! Talk about it with us on the forums.