Category: Video Games

The Electronic Wireless Show podcast S2 Ep 8: what the hap is heckening at Studio ZA/UM?

podcast we bite off more than we can chew by trying to make sense of the timeline of the Studio ZA/UM firings, lawsuits, and alleged fraud/toxicity, an ongoing and complicate mess that, as of this week, shows no signs of ungoing. We kind of end up on an “who tf knows?” but do manage to boil it down into a cowboy metaphor that helps us get a grip on things.

We talk about all that stuff for so long that we end up overrunning and don’t have time for A Good Day To Ware Hard, or Nate’s Tower Of Jocularity – although he promises a titanic one next week. We do get in our what games we’ve been playing this week, and it’s a varied selection.

Read more

Bloodborne Is Like Parenting… No Wait Hear Me Out

It’s difficult, but deeply rewarding. It’s a lot easier when you have help. You can’t pause it. And at some point, you WILL ask, “wait, what am I supposed to do with the umbilical cord?” Am I describing Bloodborne… or parenting? Or both?

We’ve all heard something difficult described as “The Dark Souls of ____” – but hear me out: the first thing you do in Bloodborne AND as a parent is stumble out of a hospital terrified at what happens next and with no clear instructions about how to approach it. In both cases, this terrifying new scenario is the result of some reckless behavior involving bodily fluids.

Early on, it’s not easy – it can be frustrating, confusing, scary – and everybody’s talked it up so much that you might feel like there’s something wrong with you personally for not immediately loving it… and if we’re being honest, a lot of people DO give up and just walk away.

However, a special camaraderie is formed among those who have overcome the many challenges surviving the hunt and/or raising a kid, and complete strangers are often quick to help each other out, whether they’re being summoned to help beat The Blood Starved Beast, or coming to the rescue when another parent ran out of wipes.

For some, going through the whole ordeal once is enough, while others are immediately ready to do it again. Whether you’re starting a new game plus or having a second kid, there’s an increased challenge on a strictly mathematical level; in Bloodborne, the enemies have more HP and do more damage; with a second kid, that’s twice as many mouths to feed. However, some find the second go much easier, since this time around you know exactly what to do. Plus, all your experience and most of your equipment carries over. Y’know, unless you sold your Kirkhamer or donated those swaddles.

Don’t brag about your accomplishments; saying it’s easy benefits no one and makes you sound like a jerk

Maybe through some combination of skill or luck, you found this infamously harrowing challenge to be a walk in the park. That’s great! By all means, share your tips and tricks with newcomers. Even better, offer some assistance. Whatever you do, don’t brag about your accomplishments; saying it’s easy benefits no one and makes you sound like a jerk. If you really insist on making it a contest, that comes later. In Bloodborne, it’s PVP. In parenting, it’s pumping points into your kid’s insight and enrolling them in AP classes and extracurriculars. Either way, it involves sinister bells ringing.

In any case, whether you’re a hunter braving the cosmic horrors of that great nightmare frontier, or a parent running on three hours of sleep, may you find your worth in the waking world. Don’t give up! A hunter is never alone! …Er, parent. Whichever.

Elden Ring Gets Ray Tracing on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC

Elden Ring now has a ray tracing graphics option for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC versions of the game, courtesy of patch v1.09.

The update was pushed out earlier today, March 23, to all versions of the game, though the new ray tracing feature won’t be available on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.

Ray tracing can be toggled on and off via the game options menu on console and via the graphics menu on PC. Bandai Namco also cautioned in a post on its website that both frame rate and resolution “may be impacted while playing with ray tracing on”.

Along with the new ray tracing option, the v1.09 patch brought a slew of bug fixes and balance adjustments to the game that affect everything from attribute scaling and buffs, to attack speeds and Ashes of War.

A number of PvP specific nerfs have also been introduced, as has an invincibility window for players respawning in the colosseum. The full patch notes are available below.

Last month saw the reveal of the upcoming DLC expansion Shadow of the Erdtree, which followed the announcement that Elden Ring has officially sold over 20 million copies since its February 2022 launch.

IGN gave Elden Ring a 10/10 in our review, describing it as “FromSoftware’s largest and most ambitious game yet” that we’ll be looking back on as a title “that moved a genre forward”.

Elden Ring v1.09 Patch Notes

New feature

  • Ray Tracing support has been added for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC versions
  • Ray Tracing can be activated in the settings menu:
    • PS5 / XSX: Game Options > Ray Tracing
    • PC: Graphics > Ray Tracing Quality

Please note that performance – such as frame rate and resolution – may be impacted while playing with Ray Tracing on. The minimum and recommended technical specifications to use Ray Tracing can be found at the end of the patch notes.

PvP-exclusive balance adjustments

The adjustments in this section do not affect single-player or cooperative play.

  • The Inescapable Frenzy incantation power and grab angle have been increased.
  • The Lifesteal Fist skill power, range and grab angle have been increased.
  • Decreased the power of two-handed jumping attacks.
  • Decreased the power of heavy and heavy running attacks of Fist and Claw weapon types.
  • Decreased the power of the Founding Rain of Stars spell.
  • Decreased the spell enhancement effect of the Terra Magica spell.
  • Decreased the damage and poise damage of the Wave of Gold skill when hitting an opponent over a certain distance.
  • Decreased the effectiveness of the Determination and Royal Knight’s Resolve skills.
  • Decreased the effects of the Contagious Fury skill of the Jellyfish Shield.
  • Decreased the effectiveness of the Claw Talisman.
  • Decreased the effectiveness of the Lord of Blood’s Exultation Talisman.
  • Decreased the attack power buff granted by the White Mask head armor.
  • Decreased the jumping attack damage buff granted by the Raptor’s Black Feathers armor.
  • Decreased the damage buff granted by Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear, Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear, Lightning-Shrouding Cracked Tear, and Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear when activated with the Flask of Wondrous Physick.

General balance adjustments

  • Added an invincibility window when respawning in the colosseum.
  • Increased the scaling of the following attributes when infusing weapons with certain Ashes of War:
    • Magic / Fire / Flame Art / Lightning / Sacred
  • Increased the attribute scaling of the following weapon types:
    • Colossal Sword / Great Axe / Hammer / Flail / Great Hammer / Colossal Weapon
  • Increased the speed, range and recovery time of some attacks for the following weapon types:
    • Great Hammer / Great Axe / Great Sword / Curved Greatsword
  • Flail weapons changes:
    • Increased the speed of some attacks.
    • Reduced attack recovery time.
    • Increased poise when using two-handed attacks.
  • Increased running attacks speed and reduced attack recovery time for the following weapon types:
    • Straight Sword / Curved Sword / Katana / Twinblade Sword / Axe / Hammer / Halberd
  • Increased the first attack speed for the following weapon types:
    • Straight Sword / Curved Sword / Whip
  • Increased the speed of guard counters for the following weapon types:
    • Straight Sword / Great Sword / Colossal Sword / Great Curved Sword / Katana / Twinblade Sword / Axe / Great Axe / Flail / Great Hammer / Spear / Great Spear / Halberd
  • Reduced the attack recovery time for Whip weapons.
  • Increased the damage of Claw weapons.
  • Added Holy damage and Faith scaling to the Great Club.
  • Increased damage negation when blocking Holy damage and decreased damage negation when blocking damage from other affinities.
  • Increased the effectiveness of the Twinblade Talisman.
  • Slightly reduced rolling travel distance for light equipment weights.
  • Decreased the hitbox size for some attacks of the following weapon types:
    • Thrusting Sword / Heavy thrusting Sword / Spear / Great Spear / Halberd

Ashes of War adjustments

  • Lifesteal Fist
    • Increased target grab range.
  • Surge of Faith
    • Increased projectile generation speed.
  • Flame Spit
    • Increased the guard speed and blocking amount of the skill.
    • Adjusted the angle of the fireball.
  • Tongues of Fire
    • Increased the guard speed and blocking amount of the skill.
  • Great Oracular Bubble
    • Increased projectile generation speed and reduced the recovery time.
  • Viper Bite
    • Reduced the time before rolling is possible after using the skill.
  • Shriek of Milos
    • Increased close range poise damage.
  • Spearcall Ritual
    • Increased projectile generation speed.
  • Cursed-Blood Slash
    • Increased projectile generation speed and reduced the recovery time.
  • Gold Breaker
    • Reduced the recovery time.
  • I Command Thee, Kneel!
    • Increased attack generation speed.
  • Starcaller Cry
    • Increased the speed of follow-up attacks.
  • Spinning Wheel
    • Increased attack generation speed.
    • Added a roll & heavy attack cancel timing while using the skill.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug where the Scarlet rot status buildup was not properly reflected when giving the Antspur Rapier a Cold affinity.
  • Fixed a bug where the Scarlet rot status buildup was not properly reflected when giving the Rotten Greataxe a Blood affinity.
  • Fixed a bug where some attacks of the Partisan, Death Ritual Spear, and Lucerne had unexpected Physical attack scaling.
  • Fixed a bug where the Nightrider Glaive did not increase the damage of horseback attacks.
  • Fixed a bug where the Duelist Greataxe and Rotten Greataxe did not increase the damage of charged attacks.
  • Fixed a bug where the Roar Medallion Talisman effect didn’t increase the power of some incantations.
  • Fixed a bug that reduced the power of some skills while under the Golden Vow effect.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the effects the Determination and Royal Knight’s Resolve skills when casted from a left-handed weapon to be added to other skills casted with a right-handed weapon.
  • Fixed a bug that reduced the critical hit power of right-handed weapons while having Determination or Royal Knight’s Resolve active on a left-handed weapon.
  • Fixed a bug where status build-ups were unintentionally added to some Weapon Skills
  • Fixed a bug where the power and special effects of a left-handed weapon could be added to a skill cast with a right-handed weapon.
  • Fixed a bug that caused an equipped Sacrificial Twig to be consumed when a player died in the Colosseum.
  • Fixed the camera positioning when respawning in the Colosseum.
  • Fixed a bug where a player could receive credit for a kill in the Colosseum when dying due to the Death status effect, instead of the player who inflicted that status effect.
  • Improved stability in Colosseum matchmaking.
  • Fixed a bug related to level correction when an invader used the Phantom Bloody Finger.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause disconnections with other players in certain locations during multiplayer.
  • Improved online multiplayer stability.
  • [PS4] Fixed a bug that occurred when using the Finger Severer on summoned NPCs while offline that could cause the game to crash.
  • Fixed a bug related to some enemies not rendering or behaving as expected.
  • Several performance improvements and other bug fixes.

Ray Tracing Technical Specifications

Minimum:

  • OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS 10
  • PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT
  • MEMORY: 16 GB RAM
  • GRAPHIC CARD: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, 12 GB
  • RECOMMENDED GRAPHICS SETTING: 1080p – Low quality – Low Ray Tracing

Recommended:

  • OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS 11
  • PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
  • MEMORY: 16 GB RAM
  • GRAPHIC CARD: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, 16 GB
  • RECOMMENDED GRAPHICS SETTING: 1080p – High quality – High Ray Tracing

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Dredge review: spooky ocean thrills that reel you in for more

Dredge. Actually, scratch that. There are a lot of terrible things that call the oceans of The Marrows home in this melancholy fishing adventure, but what they are, I couldn’t possibly tell you. In all my hours sailing these cursed waters, I’ve only ever seen brief flashes of them – their ungodly, slippery masses, long spiny fins, and a dozen different combinations of glowing eyes, teeth and tentacles. They’re forever fading in and out of view, cloaked by the thick fog that blankets the sea every evening. Sometimes your ship lights will catch them for a split second before they slip away, or maybe you’ll only hear them hurtling toward you, with a scream of a jet engine and a maw that’s white hot, ready for gnashing your flimsy wooden carcass into sawdust.

It’s unnerving, being out at sea after dark, but that’s the time when the rarest and most vile catches raise their scaly heads. So the question becomes: are you willing to risk your own sanity for the sake of a quick buck? Or are you too afraid of what you’ll find in Davy Jones’ locker? In Dredge, the answer is always yes. Yes, you will be frightened of what’s out there, whether it’s real or born from your own fearful imaginings, but you’ll sputter out into the darkness regardless, because the allure of this supernatural fishing sim is just too good to resist.

Read more

Random: Amazon Is Turning Delivery Boxes Into Mario Question Mark Blocks

Promotion for the upcoming movie.

Nintendo and Illumination are currently ramping up the Super Mario Bros. Movie marketing campaign significantly, with the movie set to launch on April 5th, 2023. It looks like Amazon is getting in on the action too with a rather ingenious alteration to some of its delivery boxes.

Yes, as spotted by the folks over at VGC, it looks like some Amazon delivery boxes have been given the Super Mario treatment and have turned into yellow question mark blocks, an iconic object found within the Mario universe.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Lords of the Fallen, Sequel to Lords of the Fallen, Renamed Lords of the Fallen

The Lords of the Fallen, the long-awaited sequel to 2014 Souls-like Lords of the Fallen, has now been renamed… Lords of the Fallen.

As reported by PC Gamer, the name change was subtly baked into a technical showcase released on March 22 (below). This means the sequel now shares the exact same name with the original game despite only being released around a decade apart.

A similar naming debacle happened in February with Layers of Fear, as a remastered collection of the series was originally called Layers of Fears before the second S was also dropped.

The Lords of the Fallen sequel was re-revealed at Gamescom 2022 after years of troubled development spread across several different studios.

It’s back on track, however, and a first look at its gameplay was released in December last year. Developed in Unreal Engine 5, the RPG promises tough as nails combat in a dark fantasy world, taking place 1,000 years after the events of the original game.

The new Lords of the Fallen doesn’t have a release date yet, but is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.

In our 7/10 review of the original, IGN said: “Lords of the Fallen has fun combat and a good spin on Dark Souls’ skill system, but its hero is overpowered.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Atari is Acquiring System Shock Developer Night Dive Studios

Atari has entered an agreement to acquire Night Dive Studios. This agreement would support Atari’s retro-focused growth strategy and provide access to Night Dive’s IP, which includes System Shock, as well as utilize the studio’s proprietary KEX engine and publishing capabilities.

Chairman and CEO of Atari Wade Rosen said in a statement: “Night Dive’s proven expertise and successful track record in commercializing retro IP are well-aligned with Atari’s strategy and I am confident that their combined talent, technology, and IP portfolio will contribute to Atari’s future success.

“Night Dive and Atari have a long history together and we know that Atari shares our passion for retro games and our focus on producing high-quality new and remastered games that do justice to the original IP,” added Stephen Kick and Larry Kuperman of Night Dive. “As we look to grow our business and expand our capabilities, we could think of no better long-term partner than Atari.”

The acquisition is expected to close in April 2023. Night Dive Studios is currently working on a remake of System Shock, which was delayed from its original release date in March to now May 30 on PC. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions will follow after its launch on PC, but no date has been solidified yet. The game’s Kickstarter page first launched back in 2016.

In IGN’s System Shock remake preview, we said: “With the short time I had with System Shock Remake, I could see that Citadel Station feels like a character unto itself, and I’m looking forward to taking a deep dive into and learning the mysteries that lurk within.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey