Reminder that the fourth and final Closed Beta Weekend starts in less than an hour. This time it will only be accessible to Founders and those who have received beta keys from Hero-level founders (ie. not many). If you've played in previous weekends, you can keep playing the same character before he/she gets wiped when the open beta starts later in the month.

In what may be the stupidest article ever written, Explosion.com looks at why Bioshock Infinite is a sexist game

Beware, the level of derp goes to 11 on this one.

Of course, you're completely rewarding their stupidity by linking to them, generating revenue for them and encouraging them to be stupid in the future.

Remember that one guy?  Well he's not with MS anymore:

http://kotaku.com/microsofts-adam-orth-the-always-on-tweeter-no-long-472244698

Sorry dude resign/lost his job but he had to know this wouldn't end well.


Saying that what MO posted is appearing on other sites and I wouldn't be surprised if MS is seeding these stories due to the negative press

Yeah, that's my thought as well. If the new rumor is true, that doesn't mean the others weren't. Microsoft may have changed things and are now trying to control the rumor flow to make it look like the original rumors were wrong all along. Of course, this is all speculation.

Not much that would matter to players. You guys probably wouldn't notice any difference. We've gotten a few new features since the previous beta weekend, but it's mostly just been bugfixes and small improvements to features we already had.

One of the patches since BW3 completely broke one of the maps in my quest though (the forest map). Had to rebuild it from scratch, but it ended up much better in the end. This is what happens in a real beta. My original map was a flat forest surrounded by hills and containing a few clusters of large rocks. The patch suddenly added these large hills under the rocks, which totally destroyed my quest flow.

The biggest new Foundry feature is the addition of music. A Hidden Blade now starts out pretty quiet on the music front, but as the action develops the music follows suit. During climatic battles the music dynamically becomes more intense, and then slows down again afterwards. Sadly though, a bug means that you probably won't hear this music (as well as other sound effects) in BW4 this weekend. I'm still hopeful they'll fix it in time, but it's not looking good. For this reason I've decided to hold back the second quest in the campaign even though it's almost finished.

Among the cooler things I've made recently is an escape sequence where you're chased by a horde of zombies, and a dungeon crawl where an optional objective earlier in the quest will bring in friendly reinforcements to help you in battle. One of my maps takes place in the streets of Neverwinter's Tower District, with burning buildings all around you and thick smoke drifting across the streets as orcs clash with the city guard, giving you the option of interfering if you want, or keep running if you'd rather stick to your mission. I have a scene where you defend a choke point against powerful, attacking enemies while receiving support from the battered soldiers stationed there. There's lots of cool stuff that can be done if you're creative with the tools.

There are different weapons for each class, but don't expect much variety in this regard. The Great Weapon Fighter will always use large, two-handed weapons for example.

Purge, you should actually read the rumors before wasting your time on writing down such pointless speculation. The information isn't based on developers noticing that the dev units are always on. It comes from written information from Microsoft that the final product will be always on, given to these developers so they can prepare their games for this "feature", in the same way that developers had to learn to deal with menus, timed demos, controller switching, and so on when they learned to code for the 360.

I don't know how much backpedaling they could do on the stuff people have complained about(assuming its true). If the system has been designed to operate only with a network/Internet connection you can't just change that in a month or so. That's a fundamental part of how the hardware/OS in the console will work. That ship has sailed from a system design standpoint.

That depends. They may have designed it to be easily changed based on focus testing, in which case backpedaling is simple enough. If they haven't done this with such a controversial feature, then they are truly incompetent.

I religiously use Steam, so the "always on" feature wont bother me....unless it is as sh!tty as Uplay.

The thing is, Steam doesn't force you to be always on. You can use it in offline mode if you want. The rumors about the Xbox say that there will be no such thing there.

Getting all up in arms means people are already invested in the product that isn't out yet - and that seems all kinds of "cart-before-horse" to me.

If there's one time when people should be getting up in arms about this stuff, it's right now. By protesting loudly and often, Microsoft will pay attention, and if the rumors are true they might even reconsider their plans. I think that's what most people hope will happen. It's easier before Microsoft has committed in public to any features. Being silent and not voicing your opinion, even if you're merely commenting on a rumor, makes you powerless against the corporation. You may say that you can vote with your dollars after the fact, but the truth is that this doesn't send a strong signal to companies in most cases. If you don't pay and remain silent, they won't know that you could have paid to begin with. If you complain however, particularly in public, you're suddenly very visible and potentially very harmful to the corporation in question. This makes them pay attention to you.

With the way the press conference seems to keep getting pushed back, I'm starting to think Microsoft is doing some serious backpedaling to change some of these things before they go public. Waiting this long to announce anything at all while letting rumors grow and spread about what may or may not be false information in the end, shows to me that there's probably some hold in what we're hearing and that Microsoft is now analyzing their strategy very thoroughly.

I've deliberately avoided looking into rumours - they are just that.

Fair enough, but you're dismissing the fact that these rumors are popping up from an awful lot of different sources recently, and none of them have differed even slightly in the details they've described (though some have said more than others, none have contradicted each other). You also need to consider that the vast majority of the rumors about the PS4 turned out to be true, or weren't addressed at all (which means they might still be true until we hear more about the areas of the console they were about).

Dismissing rumors is quite okay. Not listening to them even in the slightest is naive. Not saying you're wrong, just that so far it's not looking good.

Basically, you're in a room full of people who are either indifferent or already thinking it probably won't amount to much and crowing loudly how you were the only one.  

Actually, I'm in a room full of enablers.

You referred to it as a failure and a disaster when it absolutely has already not been so.  It is a small console that was not made to compete with the big consoles that has already sold successfully and has potential to sell more.  It promises a certain level of gaming, and is clearly already able to deliver on that. 

Now we have to see if it'll sell.  As I mentioned before, there's every possibility that the response in the marketplace will be a big meh.  Much like the OnLive console experienced.  However, even at this point, terms like "disaster" and "spectacular failure" don't apply.

*sigh*

Am I not making myself clear here? I'm not talking about a disaster in sales. I'm talking about the Ouya being a disaster in itself. Early reviews are absolutely scathing, reinforcing my point. As mentioned yesterday, it's too soon for me to say "told you so" (the early units may not be fully representative of the final product after all), but I sure as hell am going to say it within the near future. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that the Ouya's launch will be received well by the press or the public.

I'm just waiting for the right moment to say "told you so", but we're not quite there yet. Soon.

You were still wrong, so you don't have that right.

You kept referring to it as a disaster and a failure based on the Kickstarter, which was actually quite successful, and the potential for what the unit promised, which is still pretty good.  No one has said it is guaranteed for success once it reaches the marketplace because a new console is always a risky venture.

I've never referred to the Kickstarter itself as a disaster, for obvious reasons. It's the results of that Kickstarter and the travesty that the public let itself be duped that I've protested against, often and loudly. I will continue doing so. The Ouya as a product has been a miserable failure from the moment the creators came up with the idea. It's just taking time for people to notice, and in the meantime they were given the opportunity to pay in advance for it. This is the kind of thing that will hurt Kickstarter in the end, and I hate the Ouya for it.

I'm just waiting for the right moment to say "told you so", but we're not quite there yet. Soon.

So, no news then, right? More rumours and speculation? The term "always on" applies to a lot of things.

My TV, for instance, is always on (otherwise, how do you expect the remote to "power on" a TV with no electricity?

Unless you've been deliberately avoiding information about this issue, you'll know that "always on" is essentially just what the media says to sum up the issue for headlines. The rumors are very specific about this being a requirement for the console to be always connected to Microsoft's servers to work, and that a disconnection longer then 3 minutes will freeze the system and bring up a connection helper.

I've been stauchly saying that there's no way MS would require internet access on their next gen console, but it's getting harder and harder to deny. More and more it's looking like PS4 for me next gen. I still hope it's all just rumor or misinterpretation though.

With several developers having reported, separately, that they've received written information from Microsoft that the new Xbox will require being online at all times, it's probably correct. The real question right now would probably be whether or not Microsoft will change this before their presentation, based on the negative backlash.

This actually fits pretty nicely with Michael Pachter's predictions. If he keeps being right, expect the subscription mentioned to possibly be about more than Xbox Live Gold. It might involve something else, such as Netflix or similar services.

IIRC, the PS4 is supposed to launch with two models as well, one for $400 and one for $500, with the difference being in storage space. This is an unverified rumor of course. I'm not sure if the Xbox' subscription plan will be enough to entice customers, but I guess we'll see. The real issue will be the always on requirement, something at least Sony has clearly said they will not do.

That's an amazingly uninteresting list of releases. Nothing for me this week.

14 hours here.

Better to say something (as long as it's non-offensive) than to say nothing at all.

Like they keep saying nothing about the next-gen console they refuse to acknowledge but are making?

That's different and part of a carefully planned marketing push. This is about getting an unexpected PR problem under control. Showing that they're aware of the issue goes a long way.

There's a marketing push?  They really need to get some info out stat lest Sony continue to get all the next-gen attention?  I mean, in the end I guess I don't care because I'm pretty much done with giving Microsoft my money, but I just sit here and shake my head at how they are handling this next-gen console launch.

I won't pretend to know if Microsoft's strategy is good or bad. There are simply too many unknown factors. I do understand why they're holding back however. There's a very fine line for announcement times, where being too early means your console is "old news" by the time it launches, and being too late means you won't be able to build up enough hype in time. This very discussion is a good example of why they are doing what they do. We're eagerly arguing about Microsoft's console right now, with the PS4 hardly being mentioned in comparison.

Having said that, I sure hope Microsoft has an ace up their sleeve, because right now I can't see anything about the Durango to convince me that I need one in addition to the PS4.

You do. For all practical purposes, open beta is the same as launch for this game.

Edit: Downloading a 3 GB Foundry patch. Oh boy!

Better to say something (as long as it's non-offensive) than to say nothing at all.

Like they keep saying nothing about the next-gen console they refuse to acknowledge but are making?

That's different and part of a carefully planned marketing push. This is about getting an unexpected PR problem under control. Showing that they're aware of the issue goes a long way.

MS responds

http://majornelson.com/2013/04/05/official-statement-on-what-was-said-yesterday/

With that weak statement I'm not sure why they bothered to respond at all.

Better to say something (as long as it's non-offensive) than to say nothing at all.

The whole setting demands things on a epic and grand scale and I can't imagine many publishers wanting to fork out the $ to pull that off.

When the new movies are closer to being released, the Star Wars license will suddenly appear very attractive. I predict that there will be no shortage of offers from those who wish to make games for it.

Yeah, this is nothing new. The EU has always played second fiddle to the movie canon, and George Lucas has happily overridden the EU when he felt like it. The article linked to above seems hysteric and rambling, and makes certain logical mistakes (how does canceling The Clone Wars in any indicate that the EU is being discarded? And what does the Clone Wars cartoon have to do with the EU anyway? It's a step above that in the canon hierarchy). Too long has the EU been all about the characters seen in the previous movies, to the point where the entire thing has become a parody of itself. If some (or all) of it has to go, I certainly won't shed any tears.

They're both perfectly realized characters, exactly how I imagined them from the books.

You can't have been reading very thoroughly then. Particularly Peter Dinklage is very different physically from Tyrion Lannister as described in the books. The book version is ugly, misshaped, and cramps up whenever he has to do anything physical (like walk down a set of stairs). Dinklage on the other hand is a rather attractive, normal man, only different because of his height. He owns the role from an acting point of view though.

It's a result of us being indoctrinated by the publisher method of drip-feeding information about games under development. Because we are told about games so late in their development cycle, most people probably expect that a game takes less than a year to make.

The Foundry Beta NDA was just lifted, so I can talk pretty freely about the Foundry now, as well as post videos and screenshots if I want to. I can't talk about the Alpha though.

If you've got any questions about the Foundry, ask and I'll give you an answer to the best of my ability. I can provide screenshots of specific features too, at least when I'm at home.

Then again, 1313 was using assets from the Star Wars live action series. Maybe that means they've decided to go forward with the series instead of the game.

It will take a miracle for any game to knock this one off 'Game of the Year' for 2013.   

I beg to differ. It takes a miracle for a game released in the early months of the year to even feature in GOTY lists, no matter how good it is. People at large and game journalists have too short attention spans to remember those games, and as the months pass the flaws in these games become more apparent too, something that newer games at that time won't have had a chance to go through yet.

We're going to get all of those, no problem.

This isn't a delay either, since it happens at the design stage.

There was a respectable budget increase for GoT in season 2 compared to season 1, almost exclusively in order to do the Battle of the Blackwater justice. The third season supposedly has roughly the same budget as season 2, but spread over all 10 episodes instead of focused on one of them. The show's creators say they're looking for a budget increase for season 4 since they want to do a battle there that is bigger than the one in season 2. Those of you who've read the books will know what I'm talking about.

That didn't take long. Game of Thrones is renewed for a 4th season.

[MAJOR SPOILERS]

Here is a good explanation of what actually happened in the game. MAJOR SPOILERS obviously, so don't click if you haven't finished the game.

I can only imagine the liability damages you would open yourself up to in other software arenas if you tried something such as this.

It's nothing new. In my company we let important customers use functionality that isn't fully developed yet, making sure they know that they're taking a risk, but also supporting them every step of the way. While we don't use terms like "alpha" and "beta" in my company, it still doesn't change the fact that these features are still being developed and tested, no matter if there are customers out there using them. These aren't just fancy testers either. They're being given this functionality early because they need it, not because we want to test it.

I work in software development too, so I think we both know what we're talking about. However, you're reading too much into the concept of released software. The internal testing and development doesn't have to change just because players have access to the game from alpha stage. As long as development continues in the same way it would have otherwise, perhaps with the difference that they're now getting input from more sources, what does the public's access to the software have to do with anything at all? Minecraft is the perfect example of this kind of thing. It was a very unfinished title when players were first given the option to purchase it, with the caveat that they knew that they were getting into an alpha. Since then the game has gone through tons and tons of development, until it finally was considered final. At what point did the game's public release change its alpha or beta statuses?

Software development has always gone from alpha to beta to release. This is a natural way to do things when you want the public's first impression of your product to be ideal. This natural progression, to someone who's very used to it, would make it seem that one must come after another. This is not the case.

I beg to differ, if you paid for it, and your are playing it, it isnt in alpha, or beta, it is a released product.  Alpha , beta are nothing more than meaningless marketing jargon at that point. Jargon that simply allows companies to distribute half baked products.

You are either contradicting yourself here, or defining "released product" in such a way that it can no longer be under development or tested. When a product reaches alpha stage, letting people buy and play it doesn't make it any less alpha. Yes, it's a released product, but that has nothing to do with alpha/beta states.

Traditionally, Alpha means that the product is feature complete and ready for internal testing, while Beta means that the product is ready for external testing. Just because a company decides to be transparent and give fans a chance to jump in earlier than normal doesn't change that.

Too bad it's for current gen as well. We won't really see the power of the next-gen consoles in games like this until they can tear away from the past. Cross-platform games like these will simply come off in the same way as PC versions of console titles have recently. While that isn't a bad thing, it could have been much better. Oh well.

Yeah, from what I've heard of the comics, they come up with reveals that go against what I expected from the series. Things like Book and the Hands of Blue guys. These things worked better when the show and movie alone covered them. The actual story of Book is far less interesting than what Serenity implies, for example.