A Strategy Guide for your Strategy Guides
The rumor mill is buzzing with talk of what might just be a PlayStation 4 refresh in the midst. If these rumors are true, it means the PlayStation 4 will get a hardware upgrade and a new mode to help games run better and nicer. Keri and I discuss what the updates could mean for gamers and developers. Interesting times are certainly ahead of us now.
Audio:
Video:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
As I start to write this, I’m watching a streamer do an all bosses speedrun in Dark Souls 3. What amazes me is that the streamer was not privy to getting the game early. They stuck it out and bought the game at the official April 12 release. They beat the game day one and are now speedrunning the game on day two. It just blows me away that this streamer already has an understanding of the game mechanics and boss patterns to do a speedrun of a game that really has not even been out a week.
Not crazy enough for ya? Well, how about a new world record in Super Mario Bros. of 4.57.260. That is just a mere half a second faster than the old record of 4.57.427. Add in the fact that Darbian (the speedrunner) was wearing a heart rate monitor so you can see just how amped up he gets by the time he is at world eight and drops the bridge on King Koopa.
The speedrunning community just floors me all around. They work together to come up with new strategies in the name of saving just a few frames and ticking a few seconds off their times. They absolutely destroy games. They find glitches, abuse mechanics, and even import games so they use a specific version.
A few months ago, I spent the weekend watching Awesome Games Done Quick. This is a charity event where all kinds of games are played and beaten in ridiculous short amounts of time. If you missed AGDQ, don’t worry as there is a second chance to catch something like this in the summer. That event is called Summer Games Done Quick.
Maybe it is just because I’m getting older. Maybe it is because I know I just can’t operate at the speed at which speedrunners do. Whatever the reason, I know I will never be able to do a speedrun of anything other than beer drinking. What I do know is that watching people demolish games at breakneck speeds is addicting. I have mad respect for anyone that can speedrun any game. Thankfully, Twitch.TV fills my lust of watching just this type of thing!
After a few weeks of being busy with travel and life, we are finally able to sit down together and record a podcast. Keri and I chat about the new hotness in video games known as multiplayer focused games. With games like LawBreakers, Battleborn, and Overwatch all on the horizon, these all have a focus on putting you online in some form of a multiplayer setting. We even look at how these games are taking genres such as MOBA or looter-shooter, mixing them up, and making some unique experiences for players to enjoy. Needless to say, it’s good to be a gamer.
Oh, yeah. We are so rusty after our little break that SOMEONE forgets to turn off Steam. So we have a small glitch in the system where we are disconnected from one another.
Audio:
Video:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
If you’ve been around this site for any length of time, you know that I enjoy the Souls series a lot. I’ve reviewed all of their strategy guides. I’ve died more times than I even care to remember. I’ve cried at the amount of souls, or Blood Echoes when it comes to Bloodborne, I’ve lost due to a second death on the way to retrieve my bloodstain. It’s a good time. Thus, I was really excited when I saw people streaming press copies of Dark Souls III on Twitch.TV yesterday.
It was all going well until one streamer I was watching went into some of the details of how and what they could play. You see, they received a press copy of the U.S. version of the game. This version is not out for another two weeks. Therefore, he is under an embargo on what he can and can’t show. Essentially, he is free to explore and play the first third of the game.
Now, I’m not saying embargoes are bad. This is also a very common practice with the rise in popularity of Twitch.TV. It is a way to bring on the hype for a game that is releasing soon. It’s why we see high profile streamers getting beta keys for games like Overwatch. Heck, even Bloodborne had this same treatment right before it came out. I embrace this as I often use streams as a way to determine if I am going to preorder a game that is on my radar.
However, the embargo set on Dark Souls III is poorly thought out. While most of the people on Twitch.TV were streaming some form (PS4 or PC) of the U.S. version, there was one person streaming the Japan version. The hitch here is that the game is officially released in Japan. Thus, there is no embargo on the Japanese version. This streamer can stream all they want with no repercussions.
I get that the publishers don’t want to give away too much on this game. However, this is poor planning. This streamer knows enough Japanese to be able to play the game effectively. If they run into something they might not be able to translate, they just turn to their chat. Guess what? Even more people can read it and translate it for them. So publishers acting like U.S. people can’t read another language is just foolish.
To me, this embargo makes no sense. They are restricting one region, but not another. Why not just go no embargo as the game is getting fully streamed on other channels because those streamers can understand both languages? Or better yet, release the game simultaneously in both regions. This planning is almost as bad as Capcom releasing a partially finished Street Fighter V because they wanted it out for tournaments. Note that I said almost. Capcom still set that poor planning bar pretty high.
Time sure does fly when you’re having fun and stupidly busy traveling. When I signed up for the Marvel Collector Corps, I took a gamble and paid for the whole year in one shot. Doing so allowed me to receive a nice little statue at the end of the year as their way of saying thanks. Well, my Founder statue has arrived and it’s time to see what it looks like in person!
I also checked to see if there is a similar reward for people who still pay for the full year (totally worth it), and there is. It is called the Hero Program and at the end of the year you get a medal. Pretty cool! With that, let’s tear into the box and see what this statue looks like!