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All right, giddy up. My bum isn’t digging into your shoulders too much, is it? No, sorry other Geralt, I was talking to Yen. How’s she doing at the bottom of this flesh tower we’ve decided to form in The Witcher 3’s multiplayer mod? Ah, I see. Well, I can’t print that sort of language, so I’m just going to write that she’s really enjoying the latest major update to Witcher Online.
Designer Gabe Cuzzillo’s reflections on the literal and meditative walking simulator Baby Steps were a highlight of GDC. In his panel, Cuzzillo discussed how the game’s mountainous open world was curated, made, and tested – and, in some cases, not tested. A moment that stood out to me was a comparison made to Valve’s Half-Life, or rather, comments from designer Greg Coomer in the developer commentary of Half-Life 2: Episode 2.In a section highlighted by Cuzzillo, Coomer examines a section of tunnels: “Before we simplified the path through the Guardian’s Lair, we allowed a right turn at this junction, leading…
Crimson Desert is utterly massive in scope, above and beyond even what’s typical for open-world games. Some players are pouring in dozens of hours, and they’re not outliers. New data suggests that players are averaging over 20 hours a week exploring Crimson Desert.In the week ending March 28 – the first full week after launch – Crimson Desert players in the US averaged 20 hours of playtime on Xbox and 22 hours on PlayStation, according to Mat Piscatella of market analysis firm Circana. That makes it the number one game on Xbox in terms of average playtime, and number two…
These days, AAA publishers seem to be eager to burn it all down, closing studios almost as fast as they’re opening them, ripping game servers offline just barely after they’ve come into existence, and none of the talented developers involved in these condemned projects seem to escape the purgatory of being laid off. Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari thinks he knows why.While speaking to Japanese site 4Gamer about Guilty Gear studio Arc System Works’ new action game Damon and Baby (translation via Automaton), Ishiwatari explains “overspecialization” is the latest problem in big-budget gaming. He worries that development staff are being…
There are fine details, then there’s this. If you stand around after completing the mission to get the wolf statue built in Hernand in Crimson Desert, you can literally witness the monument be chipped into existence in real-time.No, really – there are now clips of it happening. You need to do the Wolf Over Hernand quest, to get things rolling, then just stand back and watch the process unwind. I should warn you, it’s genuinely a bit boring, and even sped up it takes a while.But seeing the result is a staggering testament to the work that’s gone into the…
The official runtime for Dune: Part Three has been revealed… and it’s definitely not the three-hour extravaganza some of us were expecting.According to the official IMAX website, the runtime for Dune: Part 3 is 2 hours 20 minutes. This makes it the shortest installment in Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy, with Dune being 2 hours 35 minutes and Dune: Part Two having a runtime of 2 hours 46 minutes.Contrary to popular belief, Villeneuve’s filmography consists of some pretty short movies… with 2009’s Polytechniques coming in at just 77 minutes. Dune: Part Two stands as the filmmaker’s longest film to date… though I…
The rise of games like Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves, and now Arknights: Endfield has seen gacha game developers venture into more conventional “core” platforms – current-gen consoles and gaming PCs – with larger and more complex games better suited to those audiences.In particular, many developers from countries like Japan and China have said – and some have told me in previous interviews – that they see PC gaming as an increasingly important platform. This also goes for companies like Capcom. Arknights: Endfield lead Ryan of developer Hypergryph is of a similar opinion, as he tells me at GDC.”I think the…
Stephen Spielberg has high praise for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy… and it’s absolutely warranted.”Recently, I’ve loved the Dune movies. They are among my favorite science-fiction movies, not just recently, but of all time. Especially the second film,” Spielberg told Empire. “I think [Part Two] is the best movie Denis has ever made. I cannot wait to see the third one. I’m sure he’ll show it to me early. I’m such a fan of his.”This is pretty high praise given that Spielberg is one of the most prolific directors, not just of sci-fi, but of all time… point blank period. Since…
Earlier today, Atlus announced a new line of merch themed around the first two Persona games. That announcement broke a lot of hearts thanks to some awkward phrasing that made it sound like the OG titles were getting a modern re-release, but those hopes aren’t entirely dead. Atlus has applied some new branding to those PS1 JRPGs that’s almost got me willing to believe something bigger is on the way.”Persona and Persona 2: Innocent Sin / Persona 2: Eternal Punishment are coming to Amazon,” Atlus proudly exclaimed on Twitter. You can probably see why a number of Persona fans were…
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is only 10 days away from making Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Pokemon Pokopia players divide up their free time even more, and there’s a new trailer expanding the series’ viral soap opera-like lore.Tomodachi Life has always been unique among life sims, farming sims, cozy games, what have you, largely because of the way it fosters all sorts of ridiculous situations and drama between Miis. This latest trailer focusing on Crystal and Angie’s friendship is the perfect encapsulation of that design ethos, although it’s unlikely to satisfy Angie stans who’ve been campaigning for her redemption…