Tag: bungie

thelizardrock daily news monday

Monday 11-27-17: Demon’s Souls Online Servers and Destiny 2 EXP Grind Controversy

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On November 27, 2017

In News

So begins another week in the wild world of video games. Not much today since I posted on Saturday. Let’s dig in.

  • Demon’s Souls will be shutting down their online servers
  • Bungie upsets community with experience gain changes

Demon’s Souls Online Stuff
That’s right, the online functionality of Demon’s Souls is shutting down. The first game in the famous “souls” series will be losing summoning, bloodstains, and messages. The shut down will happen February 28 of next year. Specifically at 3 AM ET in America. The Dark Souls Twitter account even gave it a goodbye. Originally this was going to happen in 2012, but some developments allowed it to stay. If you haven’t played, don’t worry. You can still play and complete the game just fine offline, albeit it’s less fun. I have a deep respect for the souls games, and I’m sorry to see this part of it go.

Destiny 2 EXP Gain
A few days ago, Destiny 2 players were upset at the discovery of diminishing experience returns from repeatable events in game. After you hit max level, the EXP works towards unlocking Bright Engrams, which are the game’s loot box like item, giving the player a randomly chosen cosmetic item. Aside from the EXP system, the other way to get Bright Engrams is to purchase them via microtransaction. With the heat of Star Wars Battlefront II still there, many grew angry at what they believed to be an attempt to further encourage microtransactions by restricting gameplay rewards. Bungie later apologized, and disabled the diminishing returns system in place.

Happily ever after, right? Later on, the Destiny 2 help Twitter made a post saying that the EXP cost for the Bright Engrams will be changing to 160,000 XP

The Destiny 2 API has yet to be adjusted to reflect the recent in game change to earned XP. We are working on an API update to address the discrepancy. The correct value to earn an additional level is 160,000 XP.

That’s nearly double what it once was. Again players were outraged. With this change, the time it takes to unlock a new Bright Engram is dangerously close to what it was when the diminishing returns system was still in place. Now players felt cheated, insulted even that Bungie would think they wouldn’t realize this change. This is all that has happened so far and ill be sure to report any updates that come in the later days.

That’s it for today. It seems to have generally been a negative news day. that’s no fun. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the latest and greatest in video game news, maybe it’ll be a more positive one. Otherwise, have a great night!

Saturday 11-25-17: Namco Bandai’s Egg, Black Mesa Delays

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On November 25, 2017

In daily update, News

Let me start off by apologizing. It was a busy few days and I may have missed a few posts. My bad, I’ll keep that to a minimum. While I don’t normally make weekend posts, this is to make up for missing Friday. Here’s whats new:

  • Bandai Namco confuses me with an egg
  • Black Mesa is being delayed more
  • Destiny 2 is changing their XP Grind

Bandai Namco’s Microwaved Egg
The Japanese publisher is causing some confusion when they put up a webpage. The only thing of notice on this page is a stylized microwave that, when clicked, will cook for a moment, open up, and reveal an egg. The screen then says “_ days left” with however many days until December 4th (today it says “9 days left”). What does this mean? I have no clue. It is counting down to something, but if it’s in reference to a game series, it’s not one I know. You can check out the website here.

Black Mesa Delay
The popular remake of the original Half-Life, Black Mesa, was originally supposed to update to include the Xen this December. In an announcement on the Steam Community, they tell us that the Xen will not be coming in that update. They apologize for having to delay further. They will, however, be releasing an engine update in its place. Mostly lighting based, this update will improve the graphical aspects of the game. More details about Xen will come with that update. You can see the details here.

Destiny 2’s XP Changes
Fans were upset when it was discovered that repeating events would yield a diminishing return on XP. Since you can get Bright Engrams either with XP or real-world money, people feared that this action was in an effort to encourage more microtransactions. Bungie has recently made a statement saying that they were concerned about how repeatable events would impact the internal economy. They have removed the diminishing system in place and said that they will be watching how XP is made for now so that it can be fair and balanced while still being enjoyable. You can read the full post here.

Thanks for your understanding, I’ll be back on Monday to bring you the rest of the weekend’s news. Be sure to check back then. Otherwise, have a great night!

thelizardrock daily news wednesday

Wednesday 11-15-17: Call of Duty Servers, Resident Evil Motion Controls, Marvel Heroes is Closing, and Destiny 2 DLC Live Stream

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On November 15, 2017

In daily update, News

It’s Wednesday my, dudes. (I’m sorry)
Today is another one of those “some good, some bad” news days. Here’s what we have:

  • Call of Duty: WWII fixed their dedicated servers
  • Resident Evil Revelations on Nintendo Switch has motion controls
  • Marvel Heroes will be shutting down
  • Destiny 2 live stream shows off details about their first expansion

Call of Duty Gets Dedicated
When Call of Duty: WWII launched, it was a slew of technical problems. Dedicated servers were failing, Headquarters wasn’t working, unreliable network connections. It was rough. Sledgehammer Games, the developers of CoD: WWII, shut down the dedicated servers and disabled the multiplayer aspect to Headquarters, the game’s social lobby, so that they could minimize unpleasant gameplay. These issues even led them to decide to delay the implementation of microtransactions until they were confident it could be fixed (as reported in yesterday’s post). Now Sledgehammer Games is pleased to announce that with a patch to PC, dedicated multiplayer servers are back again. They have been working hard this last week trying to resolve these issues, and its great to see them making progress in the name of fixing the game.

Resident Evil Motion Controls
Resident Evil: Revelations was originally released on Nintendo 3DS in 2012. It was a decent game that struggled to stand out in the crowd of handheld hits. Capcom had announced that Revelations 1 and 2 will both be coming to the Nintendo Switch on November 28. In a video (seen on the left) released by Capcom, its revealed that the Switch port will have a collection of motion controls added. While motion controls are definitely Nintendo’s thing, nearly all cases before this were gimmicky and quickly tiresome. I can’t help but believe this would be the same.

Rest in Peace Marvel Heroes
The free-to-play RPG, Marvel Heroes, will be shutting down in the near future according to a Disney representative. A statement made in an email to Kotaku from a Disney rep says that business with the game’s developer has come to an end and that the game itself will be closing as a result. No date was given as to when this will happen. My sympathies to the players.

Destiny 2 Livestream
Bungie ran a live stream showing off some of the details of their upcoming expansion for Destiny 2, Curse of Osiris. Here the player explores the decaying planet of Mercury. Some changes include a new power cap of 330, a new experience cap of 25 and the return of heroic strike playlist. While that’s the only details revealed so far, 2 more live streams will be taking place before the expansion launches of December 5th for console and PC. You can watch the video of the live stream on their Twitch.

Thanks for reading everyone. It’s been a busy day personally, but as newsworthy as any other. Feel free to leave a comment about today’s news down below. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the latest and greatest in video game news. Until then, have a great night, everyone!

Thursday 8-31-17: Jackbox, Bungie Bonus, Digital Extremes, and ChuckleWitch

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On September 1, 2017

In daily update, News

Thursday 8-31-17

That’s not a typo in the title. Today Jackbox Party Pack 4 was announced, Bungie is offering Destiny 2 bonus content to hurricane Harvey relief supporters, Digital Extremes announces a new game, and Chucklefish reveal a new game. Find out more about all of these fascinating things below!

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