Video Games...Discuss Them

[Morris Schæffer]

I'm totally down for some more Gears.

I also really, really want a new Dead Space game.

Yes!! To the 2nd one.

[Ezee E]

Any new scary games coming out soon for PS4?

[Dukefrukem]

Any new scary games coming out soon for PS4?

Outlast 2. I'm gonna play it at PAX East next weekend.

[Morris Schæffer]

Decided to finally give Grand Theft Auto V a show even though I didn't like GTA IV much. I just don't think these games are for me. They just feel so repetitive, clunky, and poorly written.

I get that gaming criticism is barely a real profession but it's baffling that these games aren't more divisive.

They're fun, but possibly the biggest paradox in the history of videogames. How can such a game with its vast open world feel so restricted? So pre-ordained? So mechanical?

The answer is of course obvious. Because Rockstar wants to tell a Hollywood-style story and that means shit needs to be heavily scripted, and I suspect that as soon as they step away from that that the actual games will really be deserving of all the 10's they've already gotten.

Take the heists for example. Wouldn't it be great if that went like this: "There's this object in a building, get it." How? You figure it out hotshot!"

[Ezee E]

They're fun, but possibly the biggest paradox in the history of videogames. How can such a game with its vast open world feel so restricted? So pre-ordained? So mechanical?

The answer is of course obvious. Because Rockstar wants to tell a Hollywood-style story and that means shit needs to be heavily scripted, and I suspect that as soon as they step away from that that the actual games will really be deserving of all the 10's they've already gotten.

Take the heists for example. Wouldn't it be great if that went like this: "There's this object in a building, get it." How? You figure it out hotshot!"

Yeah, that's how I wish it went too. I suppose it'd be a little too difficult to actually have that occur.

[megladon8]

I recently tried replaying GTA V (this time on PS4, having played it on 360 originally).

I just wasn't very taken with it. I enjoy the characters and story, but much of the gameplay is frustrating and kind of a slog. The shooting lacks the intensity and precision of Max Payne 3, the driving feels bland an unexciting, and there just wasn't much there in the world that made me want to spend another 60+ hours exploring.

I understand that the world is full of secrets and tidbits to be found and decoded, but I don't find the world interesting enough to want to.

I miss the days of GTA worlds being more cartoonish. In the pursuit of some sort of realism, they lost a lot of the fun.

[Stay Puft]

Red Faction: Guerrilla is the game y'all are looking for. Open world, fully destructible environment and total freedom.

Case in point, I remember one mission where you had to rescue RF hostages from a prison complex, and literally the only thing the game tells you for the mission is the location of the prison complex. The rest is totally up to you. Sneak in on foot and take out the guards in third person shooter style? Cool. Hijack a transport truck and back that fucker up straight through the prison wall, load up the hostages, and high tail it out of there? Cool.

RFG is fucking rad.

[Skitch]

Love love love RFG!

Sometimes I would just arm my pickax and go wreck shit. Oh theres a wall? Not any more!

It gets a little obnoxiously difficult in the third act, but the design as a whole is phenomenal. The RF game that followed had some interesting ideas (reconstruction) but ultimately I was so disappointed I got rid of it after one play through.

[megladon8]

I tried it and couldn't get into it at all.

[Morris Schæffer]

Red Faction: Guerrilla is the game y'all are looking for. Open world, fully destructible environment and total freedom.

Case in point, I remember one mission where you had to rescue RF hostages from a prison complex, and literally the only thing the game tells you for the mission is the location of the prison complex. The rest is totally up to you. Sneak in on foot and take out the guards in third person shooter style? Cool. Hijack a transport truck and back that fucker up straight through the prison wall, load up the hostages, and high tail it out of there? Cool.

RFG is fucking rad.

The destruction in that game was sheer madness, the chain reactions of detonations taking down huge structures stupendous. But really Puft, why would Just Cause 3 not be the game we're looking for?

[Dukefrukem]

RFG is amazing.

[bac0n]

I played one of the Red Faction games, couldn't remember each one. I set it as a personal goal to never leave any mission location with a single structure standing.

[Morris Schæffer]

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/so...-ne/1100-5437/

New details about the PS4 Neo.

[Dukefrukem]

Microsoft has stopped making the Xbox 360

[megladon8]

Damn. What a run it had.

My second favorite console ever (just a very short distance behind the SNES).

[Dukefrukem]

Dukefrukem reporting live at PAXEast. Wow @ PSVR.

[Idioteque Stalker]

Any idea whether or not they're running psvr on neo or is it just the regular ps4?


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[Morris Schæffer]

Dukefrukem reporting live at PAXEast. Wow @ PSVR.

so now suddenly vr is awesome? Tell us more!

[Dukefrukem]

More to come in a bit.

[Irish]

Dukefrukem reporting live at PAXEast. Wow @ PSVR.

DUDE, LOTS OF POSTS ON THIS PLEASE!

[Dukefrukem]

Okay here's the rundown. First, I was hugely skeptical of VR in general. There needs to be a killer app for me to throw down $400 for the VR, $50 for the camera, $60+ per game on top of a $400 PS4. What's a killer app? No Man's Sky? Maybe. BUt what else on the horizon? THere doesn't seem to be anything else anyone is talking about.

At PAX, Sony has done this so right in both marketing and execution. I ran to the booth as soon as the doors opened on Friday morning to find out that they make you download a Playstation App. Sign in using your PSN and book your appointment like you would at Disney World fastpass. Pick your time... so I booked 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00 on Friday and the same on Sat.

These are the games I played.

Rez Infinite- You fly around in a TRON-like world and shoot stuff. No premise. Simple concept. THe graphics won't blow you away by this screenshot, but when youre in the world, you feel like you're flying sans the wind in your face. This was the most impressive part of the experience. It doesn't matter how good or bad the graphics are. When you're playing, none of that matters. It feels real.


Job Simulator- FUcking hilarous. It's Surgon Simulator in a cubical and you can interact with everything on your desk. I was laughing through most of the time playing this.


Headmaster- A VR game using the Sony motion thingies. You're playing soccer and trying to head them into the goal. Fun.


Gnog- My second favorite game I played. The screenshot does not do justice. This is a puzzle game. Something DD would love. Use the VR trying to solve the puzzles of each level. Each area is in a 3D world that you can flip and search and pull levers and spin. Again it doesn't matter how good the graphics are. Things don't look close to your eyes because the screen is close to your eyes. They can look miles away or right in front of you.


Harmonix Music VR- The worst thing Sony showed off. You sit there, do nothing and music plays and graphical images show up in front of you.

RIGS: Mechanized Combat League- Think Titanfall or Mechwarrior. You're in a mech suit, FPS style, shooting stuff. Super fun.


VR Worlds- My favorite experience. THe first was a shark tank experience that was immersive as fuck. The second was a Matrix styled highway chase shooting guys on motorcycles. You can open the door, look behind the car, look to your passenger.



Sony actually came out and said that the Rift was better technology. If they are right, it doens't even matter. Putting headphones on and playing these games totally immerses you. You don't notice anyone around you. As for the tech, you don't even notice or feel the glasses on your face. It's crazy fun experience and I can see it really taking off. It comes down to whether the cost doesn't outweigh the fun. Will I continue to laugh my ass off playing Job Simulator in my home? Probably not. This was the first time I played VR anything. The novelty would probably wear off. So right now, Sony has me thinking, do I drop this cash on the hardware and will I play these games? I'm trying to determine if I would sit down and play Rez Infinite in my own house or should I just wait for the killer app? It really needs to come down to taste. Kids will love this shit. I'm convinced on the technology, I just need to figure out of it's worth it time and cost wise.

[bac0n]

Holy crap - VR Rez? Take my money, please.


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[Stay Puft]

Rez in VR is pretty much the whole reason I want to experience PSVR. Nothing else matters.

[Morris Schæffer]

Duke, thanks for the thoughts on that. You mention graphics a few times and said we shouldn't worry about them, basically saying it's not about that. Except I think it is also about that. Even today folks are still saying that graphics are less important than gameplay, and that is not untrue, but in an ideal world, and especially with you talking about killer apps, the VR experience should be married to state of the art graphics. What's the point of total immersion if the visual side of the equation lets it down?

And with that, my question. Are the graphics for Rez Infinite inferior to the Xbox 360 iteration that was released a few years ago on XBLA? The screenshot does look less than full HD resolution.

[Dukefrukem]

I think your statement is what I meant; "VR experience should be married to state of the art" and that's what these games reflect. Not every game needs to be Far Cry 4 realistic.

I'm not even sure that Rez screenshot was from the game I played. I just googled it in case people weren't familiar.