All posts tagged: gaming culture

‘Hades 2’: Our 8 Best Tips to Get You Started

‘Hades 2’: Our 8 Best Tips to Get You Started

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] Hades II is a witchy roguelike that Supergiant Games somewhat surprise-dropped on Steam earlier this week. Unlike the first Hades, where gamers play as the underworld’s prince, fighting his way out of the depths of hell, Hades II hands the weapons over to the underworld’s princess, Melinoë, who must fight her way further into the depths to defeat Chronos, the Titan of Time. As fans of Hades, we were stoked to play the early access version of this game. Even though the developers are still working to improve Hades II and add more content, it might already be the best game we’ve played so far this year. (And, yes, that even includes Balatro.) While it’s currently just available on PC, the game is expected to be on consoles for Supergiant’s full release, likely sometime in 2025. After playing the opening hours of Hades II, here’s some advice for beginners who are about to embark on their next journey into the underworld. Definitely Use a Controller Even though there’s a giant notice on the opening …

RIP ‘Red vs. Blue.’ Machinima Is Gone—but Its Legacy Is Everywhere

RIP ‘Red vs. Blue.’ Machinima Is Gone—but Its Legacy Is Everywhere

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] Red vs. Blue is officially over. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery released Red vs. Blue: Restoration, the final installment in the long-running saga that was once at the forefront of a whole new form of entertainment: web videos created from in-game footage. Machinima signaled a new world where that footage—of Halo, in Red vs. Blue’s case—could power viral clips. That was 2003. Now it seems as if Restoration might be machinima’s swan song. “Machinima directors use game engines, which allow them to record a scene from any conceivable angle, like a Hollywood director uses a cinematographer,” WIRED wrote in a 2002 piece heralding the potential of this new filmmaking technique. When it launched a year later, Red vs. Blue exemplified those possibilities. The series was created by linking several Xboxes together and recording footage of a Halo multiplayer match, then adding voiceover. The absurdist, existential tone of the dialog was a hilarious counterpoint to (and commentary on) the run-and-gun gameplay of the first-person shooter used to create it. The show’s creators founded a production …

‘Hades II,’ a Sequel to the Horniest Game of 2020, Just Dropped Early

‘Hades II,’ a Sequel to the Horniest Game of 2020, Just Dropped Early

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] Supergiant Games is handing over the keys to the underworld early. Hades II, the sequel to the studios’ critically acclaimed roguelike, is now available to buy for $30 on PC via Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Hades II follows Melinoë, underworld princess and sister to the first game’s hero, Zagreus, on her journey to kill the titan Chronos. The game features a rotating cast of Greek gods, from Aphrodite to Zeus, who assist Melinoë on her journey with powerups and special abilities. Although the version of the game that dropped Monday is not the full, finished title, Supergiant will allow players who purchase it to carry over their progress to the final game. The company expects development to continue “at least through the end of 2024,” with updates coming every few months. On top of its stellar gameplay, the original Hades was also beloved for its hot gods and open sexuality; players could woo both female and male characters, together, for a threesome with the right attitude. The sequel is …

‘Metaphor: ReFantazio’ Steals the Best Ideas From ‘Persona 5’

‘Metaphor: ReFantazio’ Steals the Best Ideas From ‘Persona 5’

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[ad_1] When it came time to make Metaphor: ReFantazio, developer Atlus had a guiding principle: make a video game that was a culmination of all the beloved RPGs the company had made before it. “We decided to challenge the fantasy genre,” director Katsura Hashino said this week during an online demo of the game. Atlus has been making games for some 35 years and it wanted to pull together an all-star team to commemorate the anniversary. Hashino has been instrumental throughout the Persona series; following Persona 5’s release, he moved away from P-Studio—the team working on Persona games—to start Studio Zero, another internal Atlus group. For Metaphor, Studio Zero brought in Persona character artist Shigenori Soejima and longtime composer Shoji Meguro. They also brought in guest developers Koda Kazuma, concept artist for NieR:Automata, and Ikuto Yamashita, one of the artists behind the beloved anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. Metaphor: ReFantazioe, scheduled to hit PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X October 11, will combine many of the social elements of the Persona series with a faster combat …

Delta Is an iOS Game Boy Emulator That (Likely) Won’t Get Taken Down

Delta Is an iOS Game Boy Emulator That (Likely) Won’t Get Taken Down

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[ad_1] Video game emulators are having a tough time. Back in March it was Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, which got shut down following a lawsuit from Nintendo. Pizza Emulators, another Nintendo emulator, disappeared around the same time. Then, over the weekend, after Apple updated its restrictions on retro game emulators to allow them in the App Store, a Game Boy Advance app called iGBA became a fast favorite. iGBA didn’t make it through Monday. The emulator that iGBA resembled, though, is now available on the App Store: Delta, a free, upgraded version of an emulator designed specifically for iOS that supports games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and DS, making games created for those systems playable on iPhone screens. The emulator is “focused on providing a polished, easy-to-use emulation experience, with iOS-specific features like AirPlay,” says its creator, Riley Testut. It supports a variety of controllers, including Nintendo Switch Pro controllers, Joy-Cons, Nintendo Switch Online controllers, and PS5 and Xbox Series X. Apple loosened its …

How ‘Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley’ Hit Its Anti-Authoritarian Stride

How ‘Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley’ Hit Its Anti-Authoritarian Stride

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[ad_1] Snufkin said ACAB. OK, not literally “all cops are bastards.” Rather, the hero of Hyper Games’ Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley says things like, “If you remove all the signs in a park, the police officers leave.” Still, the message remains—and it’s getting noticed. Ever since the game hit Steam and Nintendo Switch, it has been pulling in devotees thanks to Snufkin’s proactive objections to finding his beloved Moominvalley overpoliced, reviving some of the 80-year-old franchise’s long-held philosophies for fans eager to share them on social media. A family-friendly cozy game set in the world of legendary Finnish cartoonist Tove Jansson, Melody follows Snufkin’s iconic return to Moominvalley after a winter spent wandering the world. Moomintroll has disappeared; ever the optimist, he’d tried reasoning with the police, resulting in his indefinite arrest. Snufkin’s main objective is to undermine the Park Keeper, a haughty hemulen who wants to fill the valley with monoculture lawns, manicured hedge mazes, caged animals, a river-destroying dam, and an ocean of signs dictating how nature must be enjoyed. Snufkin’s response to …

The Future of Video Games Is … Reality TV?

The Future of Video Games Is … Reality TV?

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[ad_1] Over by the pool, a slap fight breaks out. Two cast members, no longer content to trade insults, are flailing at each other with the fervor of a schoolyard fight. Camera screen bouncing, the producer sprints over to get footage. It’s 1999, and players are producing the latest season of the hot reality show, The Crush House. That job includes picking the cast, capturing the drama, and above all satisfying the ever-changing audience to keep the show on the air. Fail, and you’re canceled, in the most traditional sense of the word. Until 2024, the role of “reality TV producer” was a largely unexplored video game hero. The Crush House ends that trend. Part satire, part love letter to the indomitable industry of reality TV, the “thirst person shooter,” which is expected to launch later this year, is director Nicole He’s way of exploring the genre in a fun, yet critical way. Crush House is also not the only reality-TV-tinged title to make waves this week. Content Warning, a co-op horror game about filming …

A ‘House of the Dragon’ Star Made a Video Game to Grieve His Father

A ‘House of the Dragon’ Star Made a Video Game to Grieve His Father

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[ad_1] A decade ago, Abubakar Salim lost his father. That grief lives within him. An actor by trade, with credits in Raised by Wolves and House of the Dragon’s upcoming season, he searched for years for the right medium to work through the hurt. A film. A TV show. Nothing did it justice—until he tried to make a video game. “If you’re really depicting grief in a truthful and honest way, it is so open and chaotic that actually, you can kind of gamify it,” he says. Salim is the CEO and creative director of Surgent Studios, the developer behind the upcoming Metroidvania game Tales of Kenzera: Zau. The game, set to launch April 23, follows a young shaman, Zau, who has made a deal with the god of death to bring his father back to life in exchange for three great spirits. Its story is a reflection of coping with loss—even its premise is built on bargaining, a common stage for someone dealing with death. The button-mashing, the mask-switching—these are all, Salim says, representative …

Is AI the Future of NPCs?

Is AI the Future of NPCs?

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[ad_1] Bloom, a non-player character with a face like a potato and a black beanie pulled tight around his ears, wants to know about my strategy and how I fare in combat. “I follow a map and I punch hard,” I reply into the microphone. Text of our conversation flashes across the bottom of my screen. The NPC thinks I’m bragging. He continues to drone on about our place in the resistance and how we need to fight back, his AI-driven voice tinny enough to sound mechanical but not grating. What Bloom doesn’t tell me, at least not directly, is that he’s a “Neo NPC”—a generative AI creation from French video game publisher Ubisoft designed to enable players to hold conversations with characters. Bloom is still very much in his R&D era, but his creation represents one of the many ways game companies are looking to integrate machine learning into their offerings. At last week’s Game Developers Conference, where I got my chance to socialize with Bloom, the industry’s AI boom was in full swing. …

‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder’ Almost Had a Live-Action Mario

‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder’ Almost Had a Live-Action Mario

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[ad_1] Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s titular flowers can make the game Get Weird, whether it’s by changing the game’s stage or turning Mario into something slightly terrifying. One prototype idea in particular, however, would have temporarily turned the game into a live-action one. During the development process of Wonder, the game’s team had an unprecedented amount of time to prototype its most important feature, Wonder Flowers. “At first, there were no rules on what constitutes a good Wonder effect vs. a not-so-good Wonder effect,” director Shiro Mouri said at the Game Developers Conference this week. Some were pretty simple, such as the first-year Nintendo employee who simply wrote “A Wonder Quiz Starts” on a sticky note with nothing else (that later became the game’s trivia flower). Others were more complicated and ambitious, but ultimately didn’t work with the game. Like, for example, sound director Koji Kondo’s idea for a Wonder Flower that would have turned Mario into a live-action version of himself—a regular guy who would hum the background music and make the game’s sound …