BrainBoxBoy Gaming

A blog about games. Without the personal politics that's so prevalent in it today.

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Just a PSA about DOOM...

Mick Gordon’s OST for the new doom sucks. Hint for the future Micky Gee, A Simon Says game is not an instrument nor does it constitute as metal.

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So About star citizen...

As it seems rumors are growing of a possible mountain sized bump in development if not an out right complete implosion of the project, I’ve gotta say something.

Above is a promotional email that I’ve received stating that announces the “last chance” to purchase the single player campaign and Persistent Universe as one bundle. In other words something that was supposed to be in one package originally is getting the split. While that is fairly innocuous in of itself, it should be noted when H1Z1 did this there was a rather vociferous backlash as a result.  Now though I do have an account with RSI I’ve not put any money towards this game so financially I’ve no need to see this succeed or fail.

However I’d being doing a disservice if I did not say that the modules system seems to be making more issues for development than it should. It almost seems like chris roberts bit off more than he could chew.

As more times passes on it seems like more and more people are starting to become uneasy. Indeed since the polarizing decision to abandon ship on star marine and merge it into the Persistent Universe, the frequency of this dissent has increased dramatically. While I’m not sure what goes into coding this leviathan of a project, a post by ZHIT on the forums really puts into perspective a really worrying thing about it as well as a possible explanation for all dissent and dissatisfaction.

“There is only one reason we didn't get Star Marine as promised.  Getting Star Marine into playable shape was far too difficult a task for the development team we know as Cloud Imperium Games.  We were given week after week of status reports as the developers tried to get the CryEngine mod to work, but in the end--it was a task too difficult for those working at Cloud Imperium.  After a few months, management realized they did not have the talent available to get Star Marine working so the module was canceled. While I wasn't specifically looking forward to playing Star Marine, the realization that CIG couldn't get an FPS working using the CryEngine has me worried about all the other elements of Star Marine.  Star Marine had been worked on for several years before April 2015 and cost a rumored $20million.  After six to eight months of trying to get it working--nothing.  What does this mean for a universe that is supposed to be a living and breathing place--remember the NPCs going about their daily lives?  How long will creating mining gameplay take or will that too be too hard to do?  What about an economy?  Heck--remember how if you lost a spaceship it would need to be rebuilt based on the NPC's moving materials and availability?  If you think Star Marine was rough to get working--wrap your head around all the gameplay elements needing to be added.”

Above you see the funding table by day for the past week as of April 3rd. Now I think there’s alot of confusion on how much Cloud Imperium Games (the Developer of the game) actually has. I’m going to point out the painfully obvious points for posterity.

1. The funds raised section is the total amount of funds raised over the course of ~4 years.

2. This game has very fluid funding and as such the graphs have a tendency to fluctuate wildly.

With those two points out of the way, it’s time to speculate on whether or not this has enough money to be finished. To me the answer is maybe with tendency to lean towards “No”.

Above is another graph from the same night I got the first one (April 3rd) and this shows the the funding on a week by week basis. Now on paper and with an extremely cursory glance a baseline of ~300k a week is not bad in any way and should be enough to sustain this game. I personally don’t think this is the case.

First off This company has ~200+ employees in 5 different locations. They are:

Los Angeles, CA

South Hollywood, CA

Austin, TX

Frankfurt, Germany

Manchester, UK

So It’s gonna cost a pretty penny when one factors in That the Cloud Imperium Games has to not only pay employees, but pay bills, taxes, hardware, Pay for advertising, currency conversion fees, among other things. And that’s not even mention the astronomically high cost of the star power (pun intended. I regret Nothing.) that they hired. So about half a million may, though I cannot assert that it is, not be enough. Well that’s enough for the main part of this piece.

Now for a rather unfortunate comparison of Chris Roberts to Peter Molyneux. to start off I respect CR and PM, or more adequately their legacies. See The issue comes in the similar paths they seem to have taken.

1. they both worked at companies that were eventually purchased and subsequently closed by EA

2. Both moved on from their old studios before the closure to form others.

3. Both seem to have the habit of over promising features that are not possible given the tech at the time.

4. Both have taken the general public’s money for the most recent project to get away from investor’s and publishers (molyneux= godus; Roberts= star citizen)

Now if Molynuex’s current situation is any indicator, If Chris fails to deliver, then his reputation will not only be non existent, but out right irrevocable.

To Leave off, I do not want this game to fail for the most part. But the way I see it, the end result of this saga forked. one path leads to a decent game that people will enjoy and can compete with the likes of EVE online. The other however is a massive implosion of the project that would result in either the death of crowdfunding in general or an alteration to the rules and laws regarding it, perhaps resulting in backer insurance and a better environment for the backer. and that I would like to see, and there is a microscopic part of me that does want to see star citizen or Mighty No. 9 implode for that change to happen.

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A short Opinion

So “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” Is coming out. So why Am I talking about movies on a specifically gaming blog? well that’s because If I learned anything from the trailers is that they finally ended it’s main story arc, and now moved on to ripping off Fatal Frame. I mean come on. I can’t be the only gamer out there who sees that can I?  I mean holy shit ghost photography is nothing new, but the surreal take on the whole thing is a bit ridiculous.

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Space games...

You’re probably wondering why the extremely dry and monotone title. Well That’s because I don’t want to be accused of click bait. And the reason is because this past week so far has been seemingly nothing but drama about space games.

Starting off with No Man’s Sky... Another weekend event, another lack of new news, and another pile of disappointment (Disclaimer: Not Indicative of the community at large) being expressed by one of their bigger communities. Indeed this particular community has (justifiably) descended into nothing more than constant release date speculation (last link is the most recent). Ultimately there’s not much more to say, But I do have to express disappointment at Hello games, as with every new piece of gameplay released covers the same five points. In short they blew all the ammo they had when the game was formally revealed. And given how Sony’s handled the new console generation so far, it’s no wonder why news on a release date so far is damned near non existent. But in the end of it all I think the fans are just thirsty as at time of writing no official announcement regarding release date not being in 2015 exists. so people just want to know if it is or is not coming out this year.

Then there’s Star Citizen...

stemming from a recent article (Archived for the salty) on the escapist magazine that accused the game and Chris Roberts being over ambitious and poor management, among other things. But this backlash is in particular is because the author had done another piece with Derek Smart also criticizing the game and people are not only accusing the author of ethical breaches (which may or may not be true), but of libel.

Now about Derek Smart. Derek smart has been particularly vociferous in his criticism of Star Citizen. As it stands right now his personal blog as of today has four of the five articles on the first page dedicated to criticizing star citizen. Ultimately this has picked up so much that many news outlets including Forbes have spoken about the incident.

Ultimately I can’t really comment on an official front about the star citizen debacle as not enough is known other than the fact that the litigation cannons are being fired. But it is of note that if something is picking up Skyrim Horse levels of traction this fast? then it’s a good idea to at least keep an ear to the ground.

My personal thoughts on CIG and RSI? Well I do agree with Derek Smart on one front, and that is as the people fund his game, the people have become the producers and investors. And like the producers and investors of big companies, the people are who back games are entitled to know the financials of the company they’ve backed. (in a ‘I’ll invest in your shop for x% of the profits’, ‘not a I bought a product so the company gets my money’ kind of way) Indeed it’s unheard of a studio to make a triple A sized budget on preorders alone.

But above all the original release dates of three modules to the game were set to last year, only one was released and the other two seem like they’ll miss their revised mark. What’s more is that it seems not many people play the one module that’s out.... IF the few people who voted was reflective of the entire community. It it is important to note that 1173 people in a poll in nowhere near indicative of the actual size of the community and consumer base.

Having done the math (simple addition & subtraction, so I’m not a genius) I had found that only 11.51% of people who voted are pleased with the module. However when we strike the 7.16% who are unable to play due to hardware or internet limitations and put the 18.07% who voted other or said they don’t have the time to do so in so we’ll classify them as variables, we are then left with a whopping 63.26% who do not play. To be fair however 25.40% of people who voted, voted that they are waiting, But 37.86% of total votes voted that they are displeased. If we add the 18.07% of votes that comprise the variable group other group to the 63.26% of votes who do not play, then you have, on their worst day, 81.33% of people who voted in this poll who do not play the current module. once again I feel that 1173 people in a poll is not indicative of the total size of the community but I do think that it is an important thing to bring up.

At the end of the day I hope these games make it through okay. Heck I own many space games (Space engineers, Evochron Mercenary, Sins of a Solar Empire, and X3 the terran conflict to name a few), So if there was anyone to be excited for spacing out (pun very much intended), it’s me, but it’s time to get off the hype train and demonstrate cautious optimism for the games. lest we have another duke nukem forever incident on our hands.

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Thoughts on the New Battlefront (part 2)

Before I begin Let me cover a few points:

1. Check my original piece on the new battlefront here

2.This piece comes from a neogaf user

3. This author says it’s fundamentally broken though I think he means utterly. if it was fundamentally broken then it would be more like the New thief. in other words the core gameplay mechanics are so bad that it betrays it’s self.

So let’s begin shall we? A new day, A new controversy surrounding EA’s battlefront. I already covered some of it in my original post about the game so go there for more info. But now apparently the game’s alpha is broken... Now the fear that this alpha tester (who may or may not be telling the truth) expresses is that with the game so close to release that the game could, repeat COULD, have a broken launch.

While I’m not one to take something at face value. It could happen. Why? Because all games even before the day’s of console games having patches, always faced that issue. But more importantly EA’s past can also attest to that.

let’s remember Battlefield 4 for a second. That game had glitches happening left and right. That it had patches fixing 200+ issues twenty-eight days short of a year later. Or Simcity 2014, who’s launch was so broken, that EA later had to remove the one of it’s biggest issue’s.

But we also need to get to the fact that this comes from an alpha test which historically have been entirely broken anyway.

In the end IT is Entirely Possible as I’ve detailed in my last post on the subject, but It’s also possible that EA may in fact have a rare moment of alacrity and fix the issues in a timely manner.

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On A new TotalBiscuit of E-Drama and Panels at Cons

So, apparently over the past few days a new shitstorm has been a brewing that is of course centered Total Biscuit. He was recently at a fairly large convention known as dragon con, of which part of his attendance was holding a non age restricted, public, and live version of his Co-Optional Podcast. So this is normally not enough to cause drama. But apparently a 10-11 y/o girl laughing is.

Before I continue, let me summarize the typical Co-Optional Podcast for you. The co-optional podcast entails in these steps

1.Introductions

2. random shit discussed

3. Talk about the sponsor (currently Crunchy roll IIRC)

4. Occasionally video games

That Process last for about 2-3 hours each podcast. And that’s all really needed to continue. I personally do not watch it as I find it incredibly dull and conflicting with my college life at the moment. But other people (some of whom are my friends) really enjoy it so whatever.

So the issue in question Is that a little girl had laughed and later on got loud & restless. People apparently on the Total Biscuit Subreddit Complained about the podcast with many, not all, but many focusing on the girl. I do not know what was said specifically, but I do know that what was said was enough to get both TotalBiscuit and His Wife Genna to officially denounce the Subreddit.

Look I know many people don’t care about it. in fact if the like to dislike ratio on the video is any indication (which it is not reliable), then the people who found the girl obnoxious is in the very vocal minority. I realize that yes It can be Annoying at times. but you need to realize that the girl isn’t at fault here. Having been a 10-11 y/o, helped raise in my youngest sister, and as Both TB and Genna can attest as they are parents as well, Kids are naturally raucous. It’s simple as that.

Add that on top of a live event (which always have lower Production quality than pre recorded stuff), then you get, what you get. If anyone is to blame it would be the parents, and not for the laughing either. but for the reported shouting out repeatedly that happened later in the podcast. But even then that’s ONLY IF the parents made no effort to stop the child.

So, we now move onto panels at conventions. First those are public events, you don’t need an invitation, or reccomendation, as long as you have your convention pass, you can get in. Second the fact that those who where unable to attend the panel itself were able to see it later is a bonus, as panels are primarily for those in attendance( though rumor, I repeat , RUMOR is that the panel room was very small due to a fuck up by the con administration), and not for those who see it on the internet.

One Alternative i’ve heard was put an age restriction to future panels though I have to say that it wouldn’t of helped. you’ll always have that one asshole that’s far louder than he should be.

So. I stand with total biscuit on this one. I wouldn’t go as far as shunning the only place people can actually discuss your content, but ultimately I agree that this situation was really sad and stupid. SO personally If your a person who didn’t like the production value of that particular podcast? Get over it. it’s not like it can kill you, get you fired, or whatever. It just means that a piece of entertainment is having a dry spell.

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Thoughts on the New Battlefront

Look. I’m gonna be Honest but we all need to Pay attention to what EA does with the New Star Wars: Battlefront game. I personally feel that a lot is riding on this series being successful (lets be honest EA will whore it out). I don’t mean that EA will crash forcing Disney to find some other publisher to develop games for the franchise. I mean that for as long as EA Owns the license, Star Wars games will not be made.

It’s no secret that EA has a track record of buying Dev studios then shutting them down after they stop being profitable, but what you don’t know is that they have a tendency to do that that with entire franchises.

FIrst let’s look at a franchise that beyond all reasoning managed to get a second chance. Way Back in 2008 back when Riccitiello’s Second Reign as CEO was in it’s infancy. EA did in fact try to bring some much needed variety to the scene with three franchises being of particular note. They were:

Dead Space 

Mirror’s Edge

Spore

out of the listed. only one didn’t take off as a franchise. Of course I’m talking about Mirror’s Edge, A first person Parkour based Action game that currently setting up it’s second attempt in the form of Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst. Mirror’s eDGE At launch was predicted to sell around three million copies world wide, but only sold 2.5 million copies as of 2013. That means it took half a decade from release to 2013 to sell 500,000 copies under the original prediction. and in that time sequels/prequels to the franchises were non existent until 2013 when catalyst was also revealed.

But even despite that clear anomaly in the EA way of business, Other franchises that were launched or relaunched at least got some longevity were also shuttered. It happened to Medal of Honor. It Happened to Dead Space. And it will happen to the New Battlefront if it under sells it’s targeted 10 MILLION UNITS.

Personally I don’t think that it’s going to sell even half of that. Not to say it won’t sell I think it will sell about 3.5 - 4 million units, but asking a series who’s main branch has been dormant for an entire decade to sell 10 million units? Let alone a game that’s going to have veritably less content than the last game released ten years ago?! Yeah EA should get into the bridge selling market if they think that’s gonna happen.

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The Forgotten Ones Review

For my inaugural review I decided to review the The free Survival Horror game: The Forgotten Ones.

The Forgotten Ones sees you taking the mantle of a Russian Detective named Grobuskna Vladinov. A survivor of WWII Who’s parents were not so lucky. One day Grobuskna, receives a call regarding information of the man who killed his parents... Thus setting the stage for this game and your eventual confrontation with I can’t believe it’s not Dr. Mengele.

To Be completely honest, the story wasn’t very engaging. But If you consider the formulaic main story of the highly influential and highly entertaining Amnesia: the Dark Descent*; the main story doesn’t matter if the backstory is engaging. Unfortunately the game doesn’t have that either. The majority of  the backstory, like amnesia, is explained through notes. But they are ambiguous at best and nonsensical at worst.

As for the actual gameplay? It’s equally as tepid. See the issue with many first person “survival” horror games that dares to have combat is that the you must fight. There is no skirting around a monster, no monitoring your ammunition and making the call whether or not to fight or book it and, and ultimately no tension. Especially so when you regenerate health when above a certain threshold. In other words it plays closer to a first person shooter than anything else. This is punctuated by the fast moving enemies and tight hallways that you constantly find yourself in when fighting these monsters.

I will say this, the art of the puzzle is something that’s been lost on the Horror games of the last decade. So it was refreshing to see The forgotten ones actually have one good one... Actually it was the only puzzle.

Another positive? I personally thought the guns and interiors look really good.  unfortunately my dumb ass forgot to take any good screenshots demonstrating this. Oh well.

So this game doesn’t have the gameplay or story, certainly it should have the atmosphere or scares. well here’s the issue. The scares really don’t work after about the second one. All the scares are sudden jump scares accompanied by a loud noise. While an effective part of any thing horror; it only works when used sparingly. A good horror game comes from both the tension that fighting/running from enemies and the over all atmosphere. Unfortunately the atmosphere lacks in that respect. The background noises are alright but needed to be picked up by something else.  I couldn’t really put my finger but I think it was the perhaps maybe the over abundance of sounds, whether it be knocking, monsters stuck off map to make noises, their were almost no silent breaks. Something that can, if used right can really help set the mood.

when you lack both of the latter and rely entirely on the former then all you have is a severely lacking horror component.

Overall the experience was a fairly run of the mill FPS experience with light horror elements that would’ve earned it’s self a hesitant recommendation as it was free. But it billed itself as a survival horror game that fails so hard one would think that it would have been demoted back down to kindergarten. So you’re better off finding something else.

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Howdy!

So a quick description here. This blog here is yet another gaming blog where I’ll be shooting off my mouth regarding gaming news, My thoughts on the industry, and game reviews.

It Is of particular note that I am not a professional and my opinions should not be regarded as such. Also when i say “my thoughts on the industry” I do not mean political relations on whether or not games influence people among other things. I mean practices and policies (like review embargoes and such)