Dark Souls Gets Even Tougher in Dark Souls II - Preview

If you were worried about Dark Souls II being too easy compared to its predecessors, you can lay your worries to rest. If the demo is representative of early parts of the game, it is considerably harder. To put this into context, you could win a free t-shirt if you defeated the final boss. One of the developers informed me that 18 of the roughly 400 people who had tried the demo had managed to do that. I was not one of them.

In the demo, you could choose from four classes: the Warrior (who uses a sword and shield), the Sorcerer (who uses the same spell system as he did in Dark Souls; unfortunately I floundered with him, gave up and switched to the warrior), the Temple Knight (who uses miracles and melee combat) and a new class called the Dual Swordsman who, as his name might suggest, dual-wields swords but cannot block.

Enemies take a lot of punishment, and all attack at once. You will need a great deal of proficiency with blocking and dodging to survive, and you won’t survive every time. The death system seems to have changed a bit, though this could just have been for the purposes of the demo: dying knocks you back to the last checkpoint, but hollow form doesn’t seem to exist anymore, and you can’t reclaim lost souls (not that there’s anything to buy within the demo). One new mechanic involved carrying a lit torch so that I could see in a pitch-black alleyway, and having to sprint back and re-equip a shield when an enormous enemy attacked.

The final boss was called Mirror Knight. Defeating him involved dodging/blocking his melee attacks and dodging his ranged lightning attack, and dealing enormous amounts of damage. I’m not sure what was particularly mirror-like about him, but it may well have made him easier to defeat if I'd known, so it looks like some research may well be required before fighting bosses in the full game.

Rest assured, however, that this game follows the “challenging but fair” mantra every bit as much as its predecessors, so fans of the series have a lot to look forward to when it launches on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC on 11th March 2014 in North America and 14th March 2014 in Europe.

Can video games achieve immortality?

There are plenty of video games that captive gamers for a brief shining moment before fading back into the shadows, lost for all time. A lucky few never seem to go out of style. For example, Mario, our favorite Italian plumber, has been in over 300 titles since he jumped his first barrel in 1981. Although most of his missions consist of rescuing Princess Peach, Mario has been known to cut loose with his pals from the Mushroom Kingdom in order to race some karts, compete in the Olympics, and play some rather interesting party games. But how long can Mario’s star power last?

Just as certain pieces of literature become an integral part of our culture and never fade from the public’s view, video games have the same potential to last forever.

At the very core of the most popular video games lies a hero’s journey centered around a character who we can stand behind, who represents some facet of ourselves. The journey that matters isn’t one that the character takes per say. It is the player who grows with each completed level. We must overcome incredible odds, we are tempted to quit, obtain new powers in order to defeat the enemy, and become a master of two worlds. Each new title, no matter how repetitive the main task might be, feels like a fresh adventure.

No matter where Mario goes, we willingly follow. Whether it’s the depths of space or out on the tennis courts we eagerly accept another chance to prove our skills. Over time Mario’s fame has spread from one generation to the next. He’s become a modern legend who is celebrated, parodied, and consumed by gamers everywhere.

Mario isn’t the only one on the road to immortality. Link and Sonic, Mario’s eternal rival, are also prominent characters in the gaming world who thrive from turning players into heroes.

Today new characters are joining the gaming world everyday, facing a longer road to immortality. They must not only provide gamers with a journey, but they must also jostle their way to the top of the best sellers list, and be playable on multiple devices.

There are a few series that appear to be making the run for immortality. Angry Birds and Pokemon prime examples of modern games who have placed gamers in the hero’s seat. Yes, even if it is just flinging birds and fighting monsters. We fling those birds with all your might to defeat those evil pigs and save the eggs. As a Pokemon trainer, we build up our own personal team of pocket monsters and battle who ever we come across in order to become the Pokemon Master. Both games have also become deeply entrenched in popular culture, so their place amongst the gaming gods is basically locked into place.

Grand Theft Auto (GTA), another wildly popular game, is on its fifteenth game and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, GTA seems to be gaining traction amongst gamers who happily play hookey on release day. It’s not hard to figure out why either. Rather than playing the squeaky clean hero who saves the day, we become the anti-hero. We cause problems and perform actions that make the hero in us cringe. Ever expanding worlds and colorful characters play a part in making GTA hard to resist as well. Only time will tell just how far GTA’s reach will extend.

Video games can definitely become immortal beings under the right circumstances. Answering the call to adventure is something we never grow tired of because although a basic formula exists for the hero’s journey, there are no rules that bind us to that formula. After all, being the hero of the story is a matter perspective. Once a game has established a solid journey for gamers to take half the battle is over. The real challenge is becoming part of pop culture, and here is where a lot of games fail. Those select few who charm their way into every corner of our lives will be the games that are played for generations to come.

- Elizabeth Rico

By Elizabeth Rico

Elizabeth is a part-time gamer from the Golden State who believes that the best games have the best stories. She loves coffee, and used to be fond of cake until she learned that it was a lie. Elizabeth is full prepared for the zombie apocalypse, a talented dragon rider, and a keyblade master
.

A Heartfelt Hate Letter to Sonic the Hedgehog

Dear Sonic,

I have finally reached the point where I never want to see you again. You drove me to this point and while I should have done this years ago, you kept teasing me, promising that things would get better and then tearing my hopes and dreams away while punching me in the metaphorical junk. I no longer trust our old memories. Did we ever have fun together or did I just think you were so cool that I thought this could work?

We used to have such a great time hanging out and collecting rings, but then you decided that two dimensions was enough. You invited me on your first Adventure and, at the time, I put up with your shit and forced myself to have a good time. I even tried to befriend your awful group of friends and the fact that I did so still sends shivers down my spine.

Then you invited me on another Adventure and, stupid me, I went along. If pretending you were a Super Saiyan wasn’t enough, you invited me to board game night with all your shitty friends and I started doubting that we could last much longer. I thought things couldn’t get much worse, but oh how wrong I was. The next few years should have been the dark before the dawn, but everything was just black.

You tried to mix things up by giving your dark and edgy clone a gun. You thought grouping everyone into teams of three would be fun. Guess what? It wasn’t. You can run at supersonic speeds and you through that riding a hoverboard would be a grand old time for reasons I can’t comprehend. Even through this constant wave of shit, you still sprinkled in periodic smaller adventures that harkened back to your old days, but they couldn’t outweigh your increasingly bad decisions.

Perhaps the worst blows of all were that, after promising a return to what made me, all of us, love you so much, you made us realize why the switch to 3D was the best time to leave you behind, even though none of us did. Then, in the worst move of all, you attempted to capitalize on the Twilight movement and became a werehog, which doesn’t even make sense. What made less sense was your target audience and who you thought would actually enjoy your stupid, stretchy arms.

Oh how you tried with Generations and 4, but it was too little too late. I was moving on, you had done too much to fracture our relationship to such a degree that I figured it was time to make you a permanent part of my past. Cameos aside, you would be someone that I used to know, but would be forever gone. Perhaps it was just out of nostalgia’s sake or some small part of me that didn’t want to see you go, I decided to give your latest adventure a spin.

Fuck You, Sonic The Hedgehog.

At least when you became a moronic werehog, you were at least trying something. Ripping off Mario is not what made you the cool blue hedgehog with attitude and it won’t work now. Not only that, but if you’re going to just copy Mario Galaxy, at least do it right. Running into the screen on abstract shapes with gravity that sort of pulls you straight down and sort of pulls you to a nonexistent core does not make for easy or fun platforming.

I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, though you should be, but you are no fun to play with when you slow down. Precision and frustration were never supposed to be your defining factors, speed and fun were. Not that your gravity barely works, there is no fun to be had and speed only sends you careening to your death. While that might give me some twisted satisfaction, it’s not enough to accompany you on this adventure.

You’ve finally gone too far. Enjoy exploring your Lost Worlds on your own. I’ve been miserable hanging out with you before, but nothing you’ve had me do has ever tried so hard to make me like it, yet fail so miserably in every single regard. I fear for the children who may be caught in your maniacal grip as you bait them with bright colors and interesting gameplay mechanics. If only they knew that you ran your course before they were even born.

Sincerely,

David “Your former fan who actually played hours of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle multiplayer for some reason” Rhinehart

P.S. Seriously, Sonic The Lost Worlds is the worst playing Sonic game yet, I don’t know what Team Sonic is doing, but it’s nothing good. Stay far, far away from this particular ‘gem.’ It’s not even worth seeing why it’s so bad, it should just be taken out back and put down.

By David Rhinehart

Thundercat Hoes

Nerdy Girl's Priorities

Super Mario 3D World Shows Us Why We Still Love Mario

After my brief gameplay session with Super Mario 3D World at E3 this year, I came away having enjoyed my time, but not blown away by the presentation. It seemed like another typical entry to the series, one that would likely garner high critic scores while still feeling like a rehash of old features. Now that I've seen the incredible new trailer for the game 

showcased in the most recent Nintendo Direct, I have thrown that preconception right out the window. Yes, it may look like a conglomeration of past Mario platformers, but there's enough new features, as well as tweaks to old conventions, that I'll go out on a limb and forecast Super Mario 3D World as the best game of the longstanding series.

The only doubt I have with that prediction is that it's not revolutionary like past titles. Super Mario 64 ushered in the age of 3D gaming. Super Mario Galaxy took the series out of this world and became the new standard for modern platforming. With Super Mario 3D World, there is a very familiar appearance that some would say lacks originality. Like Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS, the home-console version is filled with bite-sized levels that are navigated in a 3D environment; most of which are suspended in midair, with the ultimate goal being to reach the flag pole at the end of the stage. A glance at the two-and-a-half minute long trailer, however, shows just how many new obstacles will hinder your progress.

Giant ostriches in a half-shell try to beat you down with their beaks as you pass by them, and lava blobs fly out of the magma and slowly give chase, trying to sear your rear. Then there are familiar foes like the Piranha Plant, although manipulated in new ways. For example, certain encounters with these man-eating plants have them hidden in the shadows or slithering around with elongated, thorny stems. Goombas are still casually loafing about, but you may also find them lounging in spiky water tubes, or pretending to be Pokey by creating a pillar of several Goombas standing on each other's head. Bullet Bills will blast from their cannons and home in on your location, but some of them are sporting mouse ears to play off of the game's signature new power-up, the Cat Suit.

This brings me to the upgrades that, after watching the trailer, substantiate how absolutely packed Super Mario 3D World is with them. Old favorites like the Fire Flower, Tanooki Suit, and Boomerang Flower are present, with the Cat Suit providing new ways to tackle each board. Donned in the feline duds, you can glide through the air to cross large gaps and kamikaze opponents, scurry quickly up wall faces, and even scale to the top of the goal pole for maximum points. This also marks the first time in a Mario platformer where you can attack with your hands, well paws and claws in this case.

But there are so many more pickups, such as all the boxes that can be put over your head. The Propeller Box gives you an extra jump and floats you back to the ground. A cannon-like box (official name yet to be announced) lets you shoot out cannonballs to your heart's content. A Coin Box spits out coins every step you take, awesome for racking up 1-Ups. Finally, there's a rather disturbing decapitated Goomba head that you can wear to sneak by enemies. Then there are all the items you can hold onto and use, such as baseballs and soccer balls that can be launched at enemies, bombs that can be hurled for major destruction, and best of all, a portable Piranha Plant that will devour any unfortunate enemy you approach. Oh, and remember the Goomba Shoe? Well how about strapping on a giant ice skate and tearing up the frozen levels?

But the most exciting power-up by far has to be the Double Cherry. Picking up one of these beauties will create a clone of your character, who mimics your every move. But why stop at two? Pick up another Double Cherry and poof, three Marios. How about four, or five? Yup, it can happen. Imagine having five clones with a Fire Flower, tossing fireballs out like it's Armageddon.

Another nod to a previous title can be found at the character-selection screen. Instead of just taking the role of Mario, you can choose between the well-balanced portly plumber, Luigi and his high-jumping acrobatics, Peach and her extended hang time, or the small but speedy Toad.

And if you want to test each character's abilities against each other, that's a piece of cake with the game's multiplayer mode. This is actually the first 3D Mario platformer to allow multiplayer action in every stage. Unlike the New Super Mario Bros. multiplayer that was too chaotic within the confines of the 2D plane, Super Mario 3D World gives each player some breathing room to attack each course a different way. The action is limited to one screen, however, so dawdlers will find themselves off-screen, and carried back to the action via a bubble. Each player's score is tallied individually, based on the coins collected, monsters defeated, and first to the goal pole. The winner then gets crowned for the next board, giving them bragging rights but also making them the target for the other players. It's fast-paced and full of cheap shots, but creates a wonderful distinction between the methodical exploration in the single-player mode.

Speaking of exploration, the world map has crushed the barriers of linear progression. Though the overworld may look like Super Mario World or New Super Mario Bros. U, you are not confined to a set path to the next stage. Instead, you can free roam, tackling stages as you see fit. Plus, there are plenty of secrets for those eager to go off the beaten path.

The newest trailer for Super Mario 3D World is absolutely brimming with teases on the depth of content in Super Mario 3D World. It showcases not only a plethora of exciting power-ups, but also snippets of the flawless level design that Mario platformers are famous for. There are plenty of Mario naysayers out there who are baffled by why Mario hasn't hung up his hat. This trailer is the perfect argument for that negative perception. It shows that although Mario games follow certain gameplay conventions, they are always rethinking how to approach them. What new innovations can be integrated? How can the experience be enhanced? And most importantly, how can it be made more fun? Nintendo thinks about all these questions when creating a new Mario masterpiece, and that is why Mario will always have a place in the gaming world, and always be welcomed by faithful fans

Half-Life 3 might be confirmed

 

Throughout Valve’s living room announcements last week—in which the company revealed SteamOS, Steam Machines, and the Steam Controller—many on the Internet joked that, really, all this was confirmation that Half-Life 3 was on the way.

 

But then yesterday, the Verge reported that on September 29, Valve had registered a trademark for Half-Life 3. In Europe.

 

Then, today a post on Eurogamer points back to Reddit, where users took screengrabs of the internal roster of employees working in the Half-Life 3 development group.

HALF-LIFE 3 CONFIRMED?

 

Or perhaps just a very subtle and well-timed troll on the part of Valve? The company seems to endlessly love taunting its fans with clues and non-clues. At the same time, it seems unreasonable that a company would to go such lengths just to make its fans seize up and go insane. But that’s Valve for you, I guess.

 

As of now, there’s been nothing official from the company whatsoever, so your guess is as good as mine. We have fun saying “Half-Life 3 confirmed” as often as we can. Running jokes are the Internet’s bread and butter, and there are few jokes as breadly and buttery as the ol’ Half-Life 3 routine.

 

But, on the other hand, it’s been a long time coming. And now Valve has made it clear that it’s bringing a big new hunk of hardware to market. Most new consoles need launch games, and many have speculated that Half-Life 3 may have been held back to be that launch game, that killer app, that sets the Steam Machine apart, no matter what form it winds up taking. Can you think of a better piece of software to sell users on a brand new hardware product from a company that has never actually sold hardware?

 

Microsoft had Halo on the original Xbox. Valve may have Half-Life 3 for the Steam Machine.

What do you think? Crazy? Or just crazy enough to work? At this point, until we actually hear anything from Valve, this is all just fun and games. But Valve fans live in hope

Halo her, lol

4 games made harder by the players

 

When the Xbox 360 launched in 2005 in brought with it a lot of innovative features that weren't commonplace until it came along. The widespread adoption of online or multiplaying gaming can arguably be directly laid at the feet of Microsoft's Xbox 360. But one of it's smaller ideas has had just as big, though more subtle impact, on how we play our games. I speak, obviously, about Achievements. The introduction of the Achievement system - and the PS3's equivalent Trophy system - added longevity to many games and gave gamers an extra layer of goals to aim for, beyond just finishing the game.

And depending on the Achievement in question, it was a way of really showing how tough of a gamer you really were. Completing COD 4: Modern Warfare's Mile High Club level on Veteran difficulty, for example. Or more recently getting the 'The Shadows Rushed Me' Achievement in Max Payne 3, which required finishing the game on the hardest difficulty, from beginning to end, against the clock, in a single sitting, without dying even once. Yep, some of those are tough asks.

But even with those difficulty boosting Achievements in place, they pale in comparison to some of the self-imposed restrictions that gamers can, and have, placed on themselves to really crank up the challenge.

The Pokemon Series - The Nuzlocke Challenge

If we're honest with ourselves, the Pokémon games aren't really brimming with difficulty. Powered with persistence, anyone can finish a Pokémon game. The Nuzlocke Challenge adds a new layer of depth to the game, that will really alter a players approach. According to the Bulbapedia article on the challenge, the rules of the Nuzlocke Challenge go like this:

If a Pokémon faints it is considered dead, and must be released.

If a Pokémon flees, the player must do without it.

Players may only use the first Pokémon they capture in a new area.

With those three simple rules, player are forced to use Pokémon that they wouldn't ordinarily use and learn to adopt strategies that may go against their chosen style. Those reasons alone boost the difficulty, but having to deal with the 'death' of Pokémon really changes how you play the game.

Metal Gear Solid Series - Big Boss Ranking

At the end of every Metal Gear Solid game, player's are given a rank indicating how well they've performed in the game. It's usually an animal of some kind, like Leopard, Flying Squirrel or Alligator. The exception to the animal naming convention, is the Big Boss Rank. And getting the Big Boss ranking is effen hard. Like really, really hard. Each of the Metal Gear Solid games have slightly different criteria for achieving a Big Boss status, but they're all basically variations on this: Do not get captured. Do not get spotted. Do not kill anyone. Do not use healing items. And do all of that on the game's highest difficulty settings and within a ridiculous time limit. No easy feat, that.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - The Chuck Norris Challenge

If nothing else, the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim offers its players choice. From race, nationality, weapons, skills, spells and clothes. And that's just the personal stuff that make up your character, there's still all the choices to be made regarding the adventure itself. But if you want to make a really interesting choice while traversing Tamriel try taking up the Chuck Norris Challenge. The Chuck Norris Challenge can be summed up with this one sentence: Real men sort things out with their fists. If that's unclear, the Challenge asks players to complete the game without the use of any weapons or spells. All combat needs to be solved with your knuckles scrapping against some ones jawbone. Sounds doable until you have to punch a dragon.

Ninja Gaiden - No Damage Challenge

The Ninja Gaiden games have a well deserved reputation for being hard. Like really hard. Like really, really hard. Just go read a review for any one of the games in the series, the word 'hard' probably appears like million times. The entire experience is one long sadistic brawl that players get through via attrition more than anything else. The series infamous producer, Tomonobu Itagaki, famously said that in the other games, the enemies are there for the player to kill, in Ninja Gaiden, the enemies are there to kill the player. Truer words were never spoken. So we know the game is hard, so what could you possibly do to make it harder? Try playing it without taking any damage, at all. Honestly, of all the challenges listed here, I feel like this one is some kind of unattainable myth. Like it's one of the signs that will reveal the video game messiah and it can only be accomplished by him. I mean really now. Who can play a Ninja Gaiden game and not get hit?

by Zaid Kriel (Zaid) 

Sometimes you have to be you own hero

Yoshi-Hulk

The Console War Has Made Digital Content More

When the dust settles on the console war, what will really determine a winner?

The console war is one of those “conflicts” that seemingly will rage on forever. In that regard, shouldn’t it really be considered more of a feud? I mean, the word “war” denotes that there will be a definitive victor and looser left licking their wounds. Lately, it seems that console wars don’t end in winners and losers at all.

In an article regarding how financial ploys and marketing tactics often influence the launch of a gaming console, I touch on how the first few weeks and months after a console’s release typically plays out. While this goes a long way to shaping people’s first impressions, eventually the new wears off and we all fall into a kind of comfort zone. It’s this period where the fanboy frenzy seems to calm a bit, and we can start examining the systems more objectively, seeing how they perform in the real world vs. all the press kits and hype we’re indoctrinated with, telling us what we should expect.

There used to be one X-factor that would make or break a console. It’s not that simple anymore. With all the extra frills being offered by companies like Sony and Microsoft, it’s clear that this is their attempt to pacify the growing “digital” crowd, who need constant access to everything at once. In the past, it all came down to one thing: games. The games library of a console, often times, determined that system’s success over the years. At one point in time, exclusive releases were big factors. Many may not remember, but it wasn’t all that long ago that titles like WWE SmackDown (now WWE 2K14) and Grand Theft Auto were exclusives on the PlayStation. And lest we forget, many feel Microsoft’s place in the current- and next-gen console war was handed to it on a silver platter with the success of an exclusive title featuring a certain Master Chief.

Now, although it’s not uncommon to find things like exclusive DLC for each console (the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins features skins for the PS3 that are not available on the 360), it’s increasingly uncommon to find titles that are not available for both systems. With developers wanting to move away from exclusivity and offer their titles on a wider range of platforms, this has forced companies like Sony and Microsoft to start expanding beyond the traditional approach. In an interview with Eurogamer, Fergal Gara (head of Sony UK) touches on this fact by stating: “You've got to start good and keep on your toes. PS4 is a platform that can and will evolve.”

But what does an evolution like that look like?

Both Microsoft and Sony have made distinct efforts to expand the uses of their consoles beyond just gaming. If the war can no longer be won on the merits of each console’s game library alone, there must be some other measuring stick. This has led to things such as “dashboards” providing access to apps for other uses, apps such as watching movies and even browsing the Internet with your controller. However, in the context of the digital world, the trend of having access to your entire collection at the touch of a button is ever growing. This is where a service like cloud gaming can be a defining feature, giving a company the edge when trying to inch ahead in the next-gen landscape. Allowing gamers to download a title to their console and then have access to the same content at a friend’s house or even on a mobile device is the kind of feature that speaks to the always-on mentality of the digital world we find ourselves in.

Sony seems to be ahead of the curve on this particular issue, making it clear that this feature will be available with the PS4 at launch via Gaikai. Microsoft, after a negative reaction from the gaming community, had to reverse course on a decision that initially gave impressions it didn’t see the cloud concept as a huge priority for its console. In an article featured on The Verge, Microsoft seemingly wants gamers to know just how seriously it takes the idea now, prompting a demonstration of Halo 4 streaming to Windows and Windows Phones via its cloud service (currently in development). It seems this was reactionary to Sony hitting the nail on the head. This continues to be a feature that seems very important to gamers, and no doubt will be another one of those little +1s that eventually add up to a W in the win column.

It’s hard to say if there’s any one thing that can determine a clear winner these days. It’s not just the innovations in how consoles integrate into your gaming lives, but also how they function as the nucleus of your entertainment center even when a game disc isn’t in the drive. Not to mention, with companies like Valve trying to carve out a spot in your living room with its Steam Machines (running its own operating system no less), it will be interesting to see just where this ride takes us by the time of the PS5 and Xbox Two releases.

One thing is for sure. If we continually get this much cool stuff thrown at us as a result of this ongoing “war”…then I say peace is overrated

By 
Jason Messer

Contributing Writer

Grand Theft Auto V Online launches, crashes

 

 

Since the launch of Grand Theft Auto V, fans have been eagerly waiting to start exploring the game's new multiplayer mode. Early Tuesday morning, that mode launched -- but most players are still waiting to play it.

 

As seems to happen with so many major online game launches, Rockstar and Take Two were unprepared for the massive influx of players, causing the game's servers to be overwhelmed and preventing most players from being able to log in and explore the compelling new mode.

 

To access GTA Online, players must first download and install a 59MB update. But when most relaunch the game, they're seeing the message "The Rockstar cloud servers are unavailable right now." That means that while players can create a temporary character, they can't create a permanent one and most likely can't get into the game.

 

"We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this," Rockstar announced on its support page, which is keeping a running list of the online game's errors.

 

Not surprisingly, fans were quick to voice their displeasure, with GTA Online becoming a trending topic on Twitter.

 

"Shame that no one can jump into GTA Online, surely rockstar [sic] would have expected high strains on their servers due to the $1billion sales," wrote user Carl360.

 

GTA Online is nothing if not ambitious. If they can make it in, players will enter a persistent online world where they can join gangs, pull off heists, and race races with up to 16 other players. While it isn't quite a massively-multiplayer game, the entire project is connected with its own dynamically changing economy -- and the whole shebang is provided free of charge.

 

While annual franchises like Call of Duty and semi-annual ones like Battlefield generally have a good estimate of the number of players who will be piling onto their servers, GTA V joins a long line of disappointing online launches for games that should have known better.

 

Diablo III fans had to wait days before they could play after Blizzard woefully misjudged fan demand. EA found itself in the same boat with the awful launch of SimCity and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

 

Already a critical and commercial smash, GTA V has faced some problems in its single-player game, too. A bug causing cars to vanish from player-controlled garages marred the experience for many gamers, though Rockstar is currently working on a fix.

And to be fair, Rockstar did see the multiplayer issues coming. In a post last week, the developers acknowledged that the launch might not go very smoothly.

"One thing we are already aware of, and are trying to alleviate as fast as we can, is the unanticipated additional pressure on the servers due to a significantly higher number of players than we were anticipating at this point," they wrote. "We are working around the clock to buy and add more servers, but this increased scale is only going to make the first few days even more temperamental than such things usually are. "

 

While the delays are frustrating, at least GTA V’s single-player mode is big enough to keep most players busy while they wait. Odds are there are plenty of activities in the single-player that you haven't experienced yet. If nothing else, that might distract you for a while until the issues are resolved.

 

By Chris Morris

War has Changed, and So has Metal Gear

Creativity and relentless self-promotion often go hand-in-hand. Nowhere in video games is that fact more evident than in the Metal Gear series, which have probably done more to insinuate auteur theory into games criticism than any other work.

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has never been shy about using the series to promote his personal brand, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. For a while, his insistence on putting his own name on the box ("A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME") inspired publisher Konami to follow suit on a number of unrelated titles for a while, briefly making a statement that video games are interesting, meaningful, creative works that should be treated as the result of individual imaginations rather than of production committees. Regardless of what you personally may think of Kojima or his games, he's played an instrumental role in positioning video games as creations rather than products -- a mindset that seems all the more crucial as exploding budgets make big-name games feel ever more impersonal.

Metal Gear Solid V definitely looks to continue the series' trend of reflecting Kojima's personal tastes and obsessions, which makes it a marked contrast to other big-name blockbuster titles of late. Besides (arguably) BioShock Infinite, how many recent AAA games can you think of that so clearly spoke of a single personality? Publisher-mandated checklists tend to steamroll the personal passion individuals invest into AAA games, which leads to many of them looking and playing much the same.

Case in point: Nearly every big title shown at E3 this year was an open-world game. Including this one.

Even MGSV isn't immune to this trend. The game represents, to some degree, a forsaking of the franchise's history; its opening chapter, Ground Zeroes, represents a sort of transition from the older games to the more open, contemporary format of its second portion, The Phantom Pain. It shoehorns plenty of modern game design conventions into the series: Protagonist Big Boss now has regenerating health, a minimized heads-up display where damage is conveyed as those industry-standard on-screen blood spatters, and greatly streamlined controls. Not everyone is happy about these changes; yet for those for whom change represents a terrifying and unwelcome fact of life, everything else about MGSV should be comfort food for the soul.

Beneath the HUD-free design and regenerating health, MSGV clearly speaks to the tastes of the same guy who broke the fourth wall in Metal Gear Solid by feigning a broken console video signal via a blank screen emblazoned with his own name. More to the point, MGSV speaks to Kojima's obsession with Hollywood -- a fixation that perhaps reached its zenith just a few weeks ago when he hosted an open house for his studio's new Los Angeles office, located specifically for maximum synergy with the film industry.

For starters, MGSV makes a major step toward bringing the series in line with potential Hollywood collaborations by replacing long-time voice actor David Hayter with 24 star Kiefer Sutherland. One rumor suggests that Sutherland is favored to play Big Boss or Solid Snake in an eventual silver screen rendition of the games, and Hayter was dropped to allow for consistent motion capture between mediums; another, however, suggests that Hayter priced himself out of the job, not unlike Alec Baldwin is said to have done with the Hunt for Red October's sequels. Metal Gear just can't escape the shadow of Tom Clancy, it seems.

Featuring a cameo by the Lich King.

Sutherland's involvement in the game hasn't gone down well for many fans, and even as someone completely neutral about the change I haven't been impressed by what I've seen so far. Sutherland's performance so far comes off less as acting and more like recitation, and his reading of Snake's introductory trademark line in particular ("Kept you waiting, huh?") feels like a lifeless obligatory reference rather than a savvy callback to previous games. In fairness, that's not entirely Sutherland's fault; sure, it would have been nice if he had put even a ounce of enthusiasm into it, but the line itself doesn't make a lot of sense in context. It's just there because that's what the leads of Metal Gear games say at the beginning of every game.

And that's Kojima's Metal Gear conundrum: Dealing with the weight of history and continuity versus his reputation for always doing something new; for unfailingly coming up with fresh ideas that make gamers do a double take while dragging around 25 years of fan service. In a lot of senses, Metal Gear Solid 4 repudiated these expectations, handwaving massive portions of the series' convoluted lore ("nanomachines did it") while taking tremendous liberties with the game design. Yet with MGSV, Kojima has waded right back into the thick of continuity and all the complications it entails by returning to the 1970s and '80s.

Then again, maybe he's not too worried about the fine details. "I believe that [the story] I'm creating is like a series of dots," Kojima told me in an interview at Tokyo Game Show. "One dot here, one dot there. The ones who draw the lines between those dots are the players. They're the ones that fill in the gaps. So I don't quite have an idea of how to fill in those spaces and draw the whole circle around. But rather, I'd like to have the fans connect those dots."

Even if Kojima would prefer to leave the reconciliation between the Big Boss of the prequel games and the one we know from the original Metal Gear -- a noble champion of soldiers' rights versus a cackling terrorist mastermind -- in players' hands, there's still the question of what new game mechanics and concepts MGSV will bring to the table. The early Metal Gear games invented new ways of playing one after the other, but that innovation has grown harder to come by as the series has aged and other developers have adopted Kojima's tricks and techniques as their own. Where once Metal Gear led the way through its blending of movie-like storytelling and envelope-pushing play, MGSV and its open-world design instead fall into step with the industry's macro trends. Can a derivative Metal Gear still be true to its heritage?

"I'm not sure if I feel pressure [to innovate]," Kojima said, "but there's always this feeling, this need to create something new -- something that'll make people say, 'What the hell is this?' At the same time that I want to create something new, though, I have this mission to expand Metal Gear Solid and have it remain for future generations.

"That's part of why I took this challenge of making Metal Gear Solid into an open world game. I know that it looks like something that's already been done – open world stealth isn't completely new – but beyond that, there's new gameplay and a new experience for players."

Certainly MGSV looks to have plenty of those moments that will inspire people to ask, "What the hell is this?" -- among other things, Ground Zeroes features a character who has a headphone jack built into his own chest -- but Kojima seems less concerned with doing something never before seen in video games than with ensuring innovation within the franchise itself. He declines to call MGSV entirely open-world, explaining instead that it's less about total freedom and more a means of completing concrete goals in a variety of ways.

"More than an open world game where you can do whatever you want, this is a stealth simulator where you can take any approach that you want and that you think is possible," he said. "In previous Metal Gear games, you'd start here, you'd go through here and here, and you'd get over here and clear the mission.

"Now that we've made it an open world," Kojima said, gesturing to the table we were sitting at, "let's say that this whole table here is the game world. You just have to get over here. How you get here is up to you. You could go here to achieve the mission and get back to the helicopter here, or you could take a risk and call the helicopter over here. That's up to you.

For the first time in a Metal Gear game, driving a vehicle is just a thing you do as opposed to something that launches you into an on-rails shooting sequence. And you said change was a bad thing.

"Story-wise, we've also made a very big change here. Since the game isn't completely linear, depending on what information the player picks up, they'll follow certain parts of the story. During the missions, you'll come upon story elements that might give you more or less of the experience, or add different elements. It won't be like prior games, where you just watch the cutscenes and encounter all the elements of the story."

I'm curious to see just how mutable the story in MGSV turns out to be. Plot has always been the driving force behind Metal Gear, and again, this latest entry sits firmly in the middle of the franchise's timeline, with events in its future clearly defined by older games. Metal Gear Solid 3 even forced a non-standard game over screen on players when they strayed too far from established continuity, citing a time paradox. I can't help but wonder if the new sense of freedom in the game is meant to differentiate MGSV from whatever film projects Kojima devises as a tie-in. His games, after all, have always suffered from film envy; now that the prospect of a true Hollywood Metal Gear venture seems certain, perhaps there's more room for the games to be, well, games. The L.A. Studio could be the best thing to ever happen to the Metal Gear games.

But of course, for Kojima it isn't enough to simply have an office a stone's throw away from Burbank; he went the extra step and built it in one of Howard Hughes' former homes. When his staff led a contingent of press on a tour of the place during the studio's open house, the tour guide brought us to a sitting room on the top floor, which evidently served as Hughes' television room. Once, we were told, he didn't like what he saw on television, so he called the network and complained. Within minutes, something else was playing on-air instead.

I'm not sure it's a coincidence that this single anecdote of the studio's former resident was the only one we heard during our entire tour. It seems like the kind of story that would hold some fascination for a known media-manipulator as Kojima -- to have such influence! -- and perhaps he fancies something of himself in an eccentric genius like Hughes. Of course, no one mentioned the part about Hughes refusing to leave his home for months at a time, letting his hair and fingernails grow wildly out of control, or walking around with tissue boxes for shoes. That wouldn't be very aspirational, would it?

Self-promotion at its finest.

Rather than doing the standard gameplay demo, Kojima created a custom demo of MGSV: Ground Zeroes which involved protagonist Big Boss sneaking into a military facility in search of a special patch promoting the L.A. studio. This was seamlessly spun out of the cutscene Kojima showed off last year at PAX Prime to announce Ground Zeroes: At one point in the introductory cinematic, the apparent villain of the piece tosses a handful of FOX Unit patches into the night in a seeming attempt to implicate Big Boss' team in a false-flag incident. For the demo, one of these patches was recolored from amber to red, making it resemble the Kojima Productions L.A. Studio logo (Kojima Productions' logo is the same as the FOX Unit logo that appears throughout the games). It's a clever twist and self-promotion all at once -- the essence of Metal Gear, really.

Metal Gear Solid V wouldn't be Metal Gear without that touch of personal obsession and hint of self-involvement. But even those trademarks aren't without their complications these days, as seen in the recent controversy over Quiet, MGSV's female sniper. Earlier this month, Kojima tweeted a render of the character's full costume along with some remarks about the design's sexiness and suitability for cosplay. Many people found the whole thing distasteful, mostly because Quiet's outfit consists of a bikini, torn fishnet stockings, and a light assortment of webgear -- quite the contrast to the game's male characters, who wear functional, head-to-toe fatigues and combat gear. This is compounded by the fact that Quiet, as her name implies, doesn't speak, which seems very much to support the outmoded adage "women should be seen, not heard."

"To be honest, I regret it a little bit," Kojima admitted of the incident. "In this very specific case, [I tweeted the image for the benefit of] a cosplayer that I know personally and that I get along with. She wanted to do this costume for TGS, and she didn't have all the details. I couldn't give her official data just like that, though, because it's something in development. I was thinking about how to do it for the L.A. event we had, where [Quiet actress Stefanie Joosten] came along.

The battle bikini that launched a million blog posts

"As I said on Twitter, it's the most fair way that I could give her the details of the costume for Quiet without infringing any rules. But like I say, I kind of regret it, mainly because I learned – I didn't know this at the time – that per the rules of TGS, swimsuits can't be used as costumes, so she couldn't do this cosplay in the end."

Even Joosten admitted at the L.A. event that she was surprised to see the character that her face and performance had been attached to. Joosten's response hinted at a touch of discomfort with the entire situation; thankfully, Kojima didn't follow through on his idea to have her meet the press in costume. Both actor and director have repeatedly stated that Quiet has her "reasons" for dressing the way she does, and that the development team is well aware that her revealing apparel is deeply incongruous with the idea of a desert sniper. Whether or not they'll manage to justify the design remains to be see, but at least they're conscious of the gaming community's response.

In fact, Kojima claims he keeps a finger on the pulse of gamers' feedback at all times. "I pay close attention to the opinions that fans have," he told me, "but it's not like I'm cooking a dish and letting everybody taste it – 'Oh, you should make it like this, you should change it like this.' I have my philosophies and my original ideas about how I want to create things. But when it comes to specifics of things like how the game controls or the user interface, I always want to know what people want and what people think should be fixed."

In other words, Kojima welcomes feedback... but he's still Hideo Kojima, dammit, and he's going to do it his own way in the end. For better or for worse, that's a big part of what makes a Metal Gear game Metal Gear. Whatever compromises it appears to make, whatever trends it appears to jump on, the auteur mindset remains the engine that powers Metal Gear Solid V.

by Jeremy Parish, usgamer