Tag: update

thelizardrock daily news tuesday

Tuesday 12-26-17: Ubisoft AI, Super Mario ROMs, Switch’s Golf Game Gone, and ARMS’ Final Update

By

On December 26, 2017

In daily update, News

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you had a good gift-giving season and will have fun on New Years. Heres some news from the last few days.

  • Ubisoft starts up an AI research facility
  • Super Mario Land 2 DX releases
  • The Golf game hidden in the Switch is removed
  • ARMS updates for the last time

La Forge, Ubisoft’s AI Facility
Ubisoft is looking to merge together the gap between gaming AI research, and scientific AI research with their new facility, La Forge. The gimmick here is that Ubisoft staff and academics will work together to help make advancements in AI. some of which will be used on their games, some of which that will be released academically. This is supposed to be mutually beneficial, though it’s too soon to know how well it works.

Super Mario Land 2 DX
Super Mario Land 2 was considered much better than the more popular predecessor, but it was still flawed. Fans have banded together to create a ROM hack of the game that has some notable changes. The biggest one being that it has been converted into full color. They also fixed the input lag and even added Luigi as a playable character. I always love seeing passion projects completed. You can see the ROM for yourself here.
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3784/

NES Gone
A while back, gamers discovered that by performing certain actions, a motion control version of the classic NES Golf could be played within the Nintendo Switch’s software. Many believed this to be a homage to the late Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata. In a recent firmware update, that easter egg has now been removed. The removal as equally unknown as its inclusion.
I actually have a copy of NES Golf, its one of my favorite NES games. After Iwata’s passing, I wrote his name and dates on the back as a tribute. Rest in Peace Iwata, you are missed.

ARMS update
The popular Switch fighting game, ARMS, had updated to version 5.0. This new version includes a new character, the Scientific CEO madwoman, Dr. Coyle (she’s my favorite for sure). Unfortunately alongside this update is the announcement that from here on out, ARMS would only receive balance patches and no more additional content. This is a shame for ARMS players, what few there are.

Thanks for reading again! no news yesterday because its Christmas, the same can be assumed for next Monday on New Years, depends on how free I am.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more of the latest and greatest in gaming news. Until then, have a great night!

thelizardrock daily news thursday

Thursday 12-21-17: iOS Loot Boxes, Stardew Valley Update, and Psychonauts 2 Delays

By

On December 21, 2017

In daily update, News

Thursday.
That’s it. I tried to think of a funny quip, came up with nothing. Here’s the news!

  • Apple Changes iOS Guidelines for Lootboxes
  • Stardew Valley Dev Lists Upcoming Changes
  • Psychonauts 2 is Delayed

Apple Guidelines
In a recent change to the iOS guidelines, app developers are required to display the odds of loot boxes if they are purchasable with microtransactions. Odds are this is to comply with Chinese regulations, something Valve and many other developers have had to conform to in order to have their games in China. The downside to this is that it only pertains to direct purchase loot boxes, so any randomized crate like items purchased via premium currency are not required to follow this rule.

Stardew Valley Updates
Developer ConcernedApe recently tweeted out some details about what to expect with the upcoming update to Stardew Valley. They are as follows:

The game has been received warmly on the Switch, but regardless what you’re playing on, expect these changes soon.

Psychonauts 2 Delay
Double Fine Productions announced in a backer update post that the scope of the game has exceeded what previously expected and that the game will not be ready by 2018. They don’t have a solid release timeframe, but we know it isn’t next year. In the same update, they detail some of the protagonist’s family. You can see all of this here.

Thanks for reading, everyone! It makes me happy that I can write about the things I’m passionate about, and I’m glad that you all can share in that with me. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the last post of the week. Odds are there won’t be a post Monday since its Christmas. I might, if I have time. Otherwise, Have a great night!

thelizardrock daily news tuesday

Tuesday 12-5-17: Cuphead, UFC Stream, Mega Man 11, FNaF 6, Darkest Dungeon DLC, A Hat Early in Time.

By

On December 5, 2017

In daily update, News

It’s Tuesday! That means I accidentally forgot to post on Monday again. once again, I’m sorry. the new FNaF game caught me by surprise, but more on that later. here’s the news from the last 3 days:

  • Cuphead Updates
  • Twitch Streamer broadcast a UFC fight
  • Mega Man 11?!
  • A new Five Nights at Freddy’s game??
  • Darkest Dungeon DLC
  • A Hat in Time released early

The Cupdate
Studio MDHR has recently released a new major update for their hit game, Cuphead. This update will include a number of changes to the game. This will include improvements to the game engine, as well as some gameplay modifications for fairness sake. This will cause some big uprooting to the Speedrunning scene. You can read the full list of changes at the Changelog posted on the developer’s website.

UFC Live Broadcast
Saturday night was the UFC 218 fight. To view this event, you had to purchase it via Pay Per View. One clever Twitch streamer decided to broadcast the fight on the video game oriented streaming service, Twitch. How did he not get stricken down for copyright claims? He held a controller and pretended to be playing the recently released, EA UFC 3. This allowed him to go under the radar from admins, by the time news of his exploits went nationwide, the fight was over, and his archived footage deleted. When asked if he is worried about repercussions, he stated that he doesn’t think Twitch will do anything. So far he’s right, no action has been taken by Twitch, UFC, or EA regarding the event. The streamer is called Lester_Gaming and can be found here.

Mega Man 11
That’s no joke, Mega Man 11 has been announced. Capcom recently released a trailer premiering the next in the line of Mega Man games for next year. The last game having released 7 years ago, was a retro homage to the classic series of NES games. Now they are taking is in a modern direction with updated graphics, sound, and design, while keeping the style true to the originals. More details will be released next year, for now, you can see the trailer for yourself here.

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator
The next in the line of Five Nights at Freddy’s titles have been released. Creator of the series, Scott Cawthorn, had teased this previously, stating that he wouldn’t go an entire year without releasing something new. The game initially appears to be an 8-bit arcade game, where the player throws pizzas at kids. It doesn’t take long to discover what this really is. I played about 30 minutes of the game, which you can watch here. It’s an interesting combination of classic FNaF and a new creative spin, and I’m all for it. Best of all, its free! You can download the game at no cost on Steam.

Darkest Dungeon: Color of Madness
The dark and gritty RPG will be receiving another DLC pack after the vampiric success of their previous one, The Crimson Court. The Color of Madness is an HP Lovecraft style campaign where the player deals with a comet having fallen to earth. Full of cosmic horrors, the DLC will include a new wave-based mode, a new enemy faction, and a collection of new monsters, items, and powerful trinkets. You can see the announcement post for yourself here.

A Hat Earlier in Time
The Console release of the cute platformer was scheduled for December 6, tomorrow. In a surprise turn of events, the game has released tonight for the NA Playstation 4 Market. You can get the game now on American Playstation 4s for $29.99, and tomorrow for EU PS4 and Xbox One for the same price. What a fun little surprise.

Phew, lot’s of news. I’m excited about a fair bit of it. Thanks for reading, everyone. Check back tomorrow for the latest and greatest in video game news. otherwise, Have a great night!

thelizardrock daily news tuesday

Tuesday 11-21-17: Neverwinter Nights, Endless Space 2 Scam, and Splatoon 2 Major Updates

By

On November 21, 2017

In daily update, News

Another Tuesday, another news day. Heres whats on the wire:

  • Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition
  • Endless Space 2 and their questionable free weekend
  • Splatoon 2 has a major announcement

Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition
The well-known fantasy RPG from 2002 will be receiving a special “enhanced edition.” What this really means is the game will now support 4K UI and add in some new post-processing effects. You can buy this version of the game, which comes with the base game, and all DLC (plus 2 soundtracks) for $20. Old save files will still be compatible, thankfully. Check out the trailer for it below

 

Endless Space 2 Being Sneaky?
The Space Opera style game recently had a free to play weekend on Steam. To further encourage new players, the developers announced a special event in which the more new players they get to try Endless Space 2 during this weekend, the more new content they will release for said game. There were 6 tiers of new content that could be unlocked.
Why did this strike me as odd? The free weekend was a massive success. The daily player count prior was around 300-500 players. During its peak, the daily player count hit as high as 16,000. One would expect the event goals to be hit very early on, yet they were gradually “reached” over the span of the entire weekend. The final goal was achieved right at the end of the final day of the event. This is when I noticed that they do not actually say any player numbers. these goals were undefined and entirely arbitrary. My theory: they never made goal marks and planned on posting the “success” at a predetermined rate in an effort to create artificial popularity, and in turn hyping up players and gaining attention.
Its clever, but I’m not falling for it.
Check out their Twitter to see what I mean.

Splatoon 2 Update
Nintendo recently announced that some major updates will be coming to Splatoon 2. These changes will be added over a span of time between now and mid-December and will include the following:

  • 4 New Battle Stages (MakoMart, Shellendorf Institute, Walleye Warehouse, and Arowana Mall)
  • 1 New Salmon Run Stage (Salmonid Smokeyard)
  • 140 New Pieces of Gear
  • 4 New Hair Styles
  • Level Cap Raised to 99
  • Prestige Option
  • New Game Mode, Clam Blitz

You can read more about at this news post I wrote.

That’s all for today folks. Thanks for reading, it’s always appreciated. Let me know what you think of my Endless Space 2 con theory. Be sure to check back tomorrow for more news about games and stuff. Otherwise, have a great night!

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén