GAMING NEWS PART DEUX

mas wrote:

MS went on about how this is changing digital distribution and so on, also they even said themselves you could sub to a month of Game Pass for £8 play the new Halo single player and enjoy a month of multiplayer then cancel if you wish.

I can definitely see the appeal of this for some people (those who are really busy with work/family etc.) but as Andy points out it may just stop folk buying retail games on xbox altogether, and they'd have to take a bit of loss overall there wouldn't they?

I also see what you are saying about all of the big 3 having a different approach but if this proves to be very popular then like most things in gaming it will be a "oh me too" approach. (I think that goes double for Sony as well)

I don't think they will take a loss, Halo 5 sold 5m copies which is a lot but what if half of the Xbox One installbase all subs to Game Pass for Halo 6, it's about the same amount of money and will some continue to sub etc.

I think others will have a go like now with Disney launching a version of Netflix, and everyone has been banging on for years digital only is coming.

Sure that would like mean Sony would do it, but how they've talked about game as services already and how they want to focus on single player. I think digital only / focus for PlayStation is more like a PS6 thing, but could see it being the main thing behind a Xbox Two.

It's a route I wouldn't be surprised to see go mainstream, but it's not one I like at all. I've always been big on owning my games.

Same and why the Xbox One first showing was dreadful but if gaming goes digital only, I much prefer a monthly subscription then paying £50 per game digitally.

Metacritic has posted the publishers of the year for 2018 (they say 2018 but its based on 2017 games) to see who was the best of the major (more than 12 games) and mid-size (6-11 games) publishers.

Major:

1st Bethesda - who only got in with 12 titles with an avg of 79.9% also 91% of the games had a positive review, with the highest game being Wolfenstein 2 with an 88% and the lowest DOOM VFR with a 69%.

User highest was The Evil Within 2 with 89%.

2nd Nintendo - who go up one place this year with the most games of anyone with 31 games with an avg of 78%, the highest game being BotW 97% and the lowest being Flip Wars 53%.

Nintendo also had 3 games considered great that's 90%+ also if it was done on systems the Switch games would be 80% and the 3DS games 75.5%

User highest was Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon with 90%.

3rd SEGA - had 16 games which have an avg of 75.5 with Bayonetta on PC being the highest at 90% and lowest Valkyria Revolution with 55%.

User highest was Sonic Mania with 89%.

4th Activision Blizzard - had 14 games with an avg of 75.7% which is higher then SEGA but they had one great game and more considered good. The highest game was Destiny 2 with 87% and the lowest Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris with 57%.

If you were to split the two companies then Blizzard would have 80.5% which is actually a bad year for Blizzard and Activision would have 70% which is a great year for them as last year Activision had 45% on their own.

User highest was Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy with 88%

5th Capcom - had 18 games with an avg of 76.6 but not many considered good but they did have one great which was the highest game Okami HD with 92% and the lowest being Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers with 66%.

User highest was also Okami HD with 90%.

Rounding out the table
6th Ubisoft - 16 games with 75.4%, didn't come last this year.
7th Sony - 25 games with 74.9%, dropped down from 4th even though avg score went up along with more good games and one of the best New IP's of the year which just shows how good the rest have been this year.
8th Square Enix - 73.6% with 30 games, lasts years number 2 had a awful year with more just okay then good games
9th Bandai Namco - 73% with 20 games, improvement on last year and did have more good games but did have a bad game.
10th Koei Tecmo - 69.7% with 14 games making it a major publisher.
11th NIS - 68.2% with 20 games which 3 of the games were considered bad.
12th Telltale - 70.9% with 21 games - had the least amount of good games and not a single one was 80% or above.

Mid-Size
1st Nicalis 79.8%
2nd Paradox 80.6%
3rd Devolver 76.5%
4th WB 73.7%
5th EA 73.2%, EA was last years number one major publisher
6th Daedalic 73.0%
7th Plug In Digital  75.3%
8th Hamster 73.6%
9th Take-Two 72.8%
10th Adult Swim 71%
12th Microsoft 72%
15th THQ 68.2%
26th Maximum 45.8%

masofdas wrote:

12th Telltale - 70.9% with 21 games - had the least amount of good games and not a single one was 80% or above.

That says a lot. Telltale need to slow the fuck down.

Telltale is odd as I think each episode is counted as a game as they get reviewed much like the Destiny 2 DLC being the worst thing from Activision Blizzard. That there might be a dodgy episode in a series but all to be considered less than great of a year 12 months period isn't the best.

Also they now publish other games, that I honestly think they've got a bit to big for their boots which they really should have learned from Tales from the Borderlands, sure Muss was right the other day it's great but it was at one point a flop that wasn't going to get finished in-till a small passionate team did (I guess why it did turn out great).

We've also heard of staff cuts, rumours the Wolf season 2 might be cancelled, that I really do think they need to go back to that small passionate team mentality.

CENSORSHIP! What I wouldn't give for an NGamer style review of this game...

It's not aimed at young people though and it should have a Mature rating like it does in the states and in its native Japan.

No, I'm fully behind that one. I'm fairly desensitised to violence but, all joking aside, shit like that makes me skin crawl.

It shouldn't be aimed at anyone. Definitely Doki Doki standard of stuff, this.

Doki Doki is good though. Even though I think the game should be allowed and have a mature rating on, the people who do want to play will import much like I did with DOA Volleyball.

They both condone molestig schoolgirls. Under flimsy pretexts, maybe, but that’s what they do. They give the player a justification to molest schoolgirls. And in Doki Doki, at least, it is non-consensual.

I don’t have a problem with these games existing, not really. I see one benefit to them: if there are people who would otherwise go and molest schoolgirls, I’d rather they did it in fictional form. But like Jay said, they make my skin crawl, and I’d want the developers to be looked at damn closely.

Does Doki Doki have that but I never hear it being brought up or thought about it, where Omega it clearly is something brought up, why is one acclaimed and the other at least looks like it will be banned in most of Europe, really should be the question.

masofdas wrote:

why is one acclaimed

Just to confirm, we're talking about Doki Doki Majo Shinpan here, right? Because I've never heard that being heralded as acclaimed in any stretch or form.

If you're thinking about Doki Doki Literature Club then you're incredibly off the mark as there's nothing untoward about that one at all. And if it's Doki Doki Panic you're referring to, then you're absolutely right. Birdo is terrifying and should be banned. That void where her mouth should be is horrifying.

I was thinking of Doki Doki Literature Club which I was a little confused about but I think they're in school that maybe I missed something, that Balla hadn't.

Yes I was talking about DDMS. Gosh darned Japanese heart-beating onomatopoeia!

Blimey! I wondered what was going on there. One's an indie darling, one got a % score of NO. Phew! I did worry for a second there, mas.

It's like these avatars looking the same, it's so confusing.

This might affect some of you especially up North as Grainger Games have closed 21 stores and the website is now gone.

SEGA with an announcement about an announcement - always my favourite kind of announcement. We have a small window for rampant speculation, guys - go go go!

Skies of Arcadia 2?

Sonic and all-stars racing 3???

Dreamcast 2!

I hope not, Mas would literally explode. Messy.

They've said huge to some replies, to me that only huge thing they can announce is Shenmue HD but I do like the sound of OR's (Hi) first game and reckon it's likely to be his second choice which has been teased but now we get a full reveal.

Dreamcast 2 could have the best first party line up out of all of the systems.

Genesis Mini. You rolled your eyes at this fantasy madness here first.