Gaming – Page 62 – The Gaming News Corner

Monster Hunter: World adds Quality of Life Changes for New and Old Players

Monster Hunter: World is finally an mainstream console game for PS4, and Xbox One for the Monster Hunter series since the Nintendo Wii. Many fans have been hoping for a main console version since the recent trends of 3DS releases. Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto is changing the controller layout and adding new game functions to appeal to potential new audiences.

With a hope of breaking further into the Western audience and making it easier for new players, Ryozo Tsujimoto, stated

“We’ve taken a broad look at what we can revise and change and improve in Monster Hunter. Like maybe the bits that were harder to understand or not as smooth. We can improve those things so that players who didn’t get on with the series until now and weren’t able to get past some outer shell of the clunkiness, or difficult-to-process information.”

Fans of the games can keep their controller layout but new controls have been added similar to modern games. Running or dashes can be changed to clicks on the stick rather than R1. Third person shooting in Monster Hunter: World can now be controlled with the thumb-stick similar to third person shooters.

“It’s made the guns so much smoother that even the director was saying he normally only plays a couple of different sword weapons, but this time around, he’s added the guns to his repertoire because they’re just so much easier to get on with and so much more fun,” Tsujimoto said.

With the move to bigger consoles, the map has increased as well. With more vertical space and broader horizons, green clouds of insects will lead players to areas of interest or create trails to follow monsters. Tsujimoto said “it isn’t like a UI GPS marker. It blends in with the world, and yet it functions as something which tells you, ‘This is where you should be going next.”

Monster Hunter: World will also include better starting area. Many players have complained that it takes too long to get into the exciting parts of the game. This often pushed newer players away from enjoying Monster Hunter as you had to find resources for new weapons and armors that often felt dull. Executive Director, Kaname Fujioka, said

“We’ve put a lot more action up front so that even when you’re opening with the story scenes and the tutorial scenes, they’re actually live-action gameplay,” he said. “They get you kicking off playing the game much faster than simply watching cut scenes happen or, you know, talking to people and seeing pages of text.”

Older fans of the series won’t have to worry if Capcom is changing the formula. Tsujimoto stated that “We want to make the game that you love better than ever and bring more people on so it’s got even more fans.” Although there have been complaints that the Monster Hunter series will become too easy, I believe Tsujimoto has the right intentions to improve the game for all types of fans.

Opinion:

Monster Hunter: World seems like a great jumping off point for interested players in the Monster Hunter series. I believe everyone has a common agreement that the game, monsters, weapons, and setting was appealing but the hurdle to climb was too high. I With the new controls change and the promise of improved changes to the intro, I would definitely start playing Monster Hunter games. Monster Hunter: World releases January 26, 2018.

Polygon

ResetEra is born from NeoGaf’s Failures

ResetEra is a new Gaming Forum website that has been developed after the sexual harassment claims against Tyler “Evilore” Malka, the owner of NeoGaf. Many of NeoGaf‘s olde moderators and admins have left to create ResetEra. The site has similar boards to NeoGaf. It allows a user to post topics and other users to respond.

For viewers unfamiliar to NeoGaf, it is an online forum with a focus on video games. The appeal was that many posters were credible sources of potential games, video game developers, people working in the industry and like-minded individuals for games. Inside developers would speak and explain their process or even explain the gaming industry. The site had heavy-handed moderation. A post would be censored if they didn’t follow certain guidelines and trolling and unrelated topics would be deleted or led to account bans.

Recently, many women on social media have been posting #MeToo in regards to speaking about being sexually harassed. Film director, Ima Leupp, spoke about her experience being harassed by Malka at a party when she was in the shower and sick. She pushed him away and he resented her after that. Since she posted it online, many users requested a response from Malka. After lack of response, many people requested to be banned and began posting inappropriate content. This led to the site shutting down for a few days before remerging with Malka‘s statement. He denied the accusations and said, “the individual making the accusation isn’t credible, the story doesn’t reconcile logically with the facts, and there’s plenty of evidence and witnesses to corroborate that.” Despite this, many moderators have stepped down from NeoGaf and have created their own sites like ResetEra. Moderators on NeoGaf are now anonymous and Malka stated:

“The team is diminished at the moment and the folks who stuck around care very much about this community and its future. Be considerate of them. That’s non-negotiable.”

Ima Lepp has not stepped forward on the statement. Whether it is true or not, many users have returned to NeoGaf and proceeded as normal. Although there is permaban request, the site is running but without off-topic boards.

Business Insight

Despite the backlash, NeoGaf will still remain a popular Gaming Forum Board site. Many users don’t mind the harassment claim. ResetEra is reaching high view counts compare to NeoGaf, but it still has a long way to go before reaching the credibility and userbase.

Nintendo Switch 4.00 Updates adds Wireless Headset and GameCube Controller Support

The new Nintendo Switch Updated 4.00 added new features 30-second video capture abilities and save data transfer into other Nintendo Switches. An unannounced feature that was recently added was wireless headset support. Currently, it is USB-C only. Simply plug the USB into the Nintendo Switch and it’ll work.

You can even adjust the audio on the home pause screen. This is may have been a response to the negative feedback Nintendo received from their previous application which forced players to use their smartphone app. This would drain the battery of your phone. It is great to hear Nintendo responding to fan outcry for better functionality on the Switch.

The 4.00 update also added GameCube controller support. If you still own the Wii U adaptor, you can use it on the Switch. However, you can’t access the home menu. All buttons have the same functions as a regular Switch controller but don’t have the ZL or Minus button functions. Whether this means Smash Bros. game is coming remains unknown as Nintendo has not stated a re-release of any of the Smash series games for Nintendo Switch.

Now they just have to produce more Switches and SNES Classics and Holiday 2017 will be a huge success for Nintendo in comparison to Microsoft and Sony.

Sources:

The Verge

Polygon

Patent shows Activision uses Matchmaking to coerce players into Microtransaction

Recently, more and more games have begun adding microtransaction items in AAA games. Games such as MiddleEarth: Shadow of Mordor, Forza Motorsport 7, and Star Wars Battlefront 2 are recent video games that contain loot boxes. Most prizes within usually have cosmetic items that don’t influence the game but their multiplayer games such as Star Wars contain upgrades or improved Star Cards. The inclusion of loot boxes has angered many fans.

This month, Activision‘s patent passed for a system to coerce players into buying in-game items. The system would drive players into buying in-game items based on multiplayer. It would actively place expert or higher ranked players against a junior player.

It would also place players based on interest. “In a particular example, the junior player may wish to become an expert sniper in a game (e.g., as determined from the player profile),” according to the patent. A newer player may want to emulate their guns or gear which could lead to potential purchases.

The system also knew which items to promote based on players preferences. If you’ve already bought an item or weapon, the patent stated “if the player purchased a particular weapon, the microtransaction engine may match the player in a gameplay session in which the particular weapon is highly effective, giving the player an impression that the particular weapon was a good purchase. This may encourage the player to make future purchases to achieve similar gameplay results.”

Activision has stated this method is not in any current games and Bungie has confirmed the method is not in Destiny 2. It was an exploratory patent made in 2015 by the Research and Development team outside of their gaming division said Activision spokesperson to Glixel.

Opinion:

A lot of people are disgusted that Activision would actively create a match-making system that incentives in-game purchases rather than creating fair and balanced matches. Although Activision has stated they have not released this system on any current games, that may change towards the future. We want our games to be pure and be created purely for fun and entertainment but the gaming industry is still a business. Many online stores and sites already cater items, videos, and advertisements based on your searches, likes, or content you viewed. While I don’t have anything against promoting purchases based your interest, I am actively against basing the entire matchmaking system on it. While the system is based for first-person shooters, it can potentially be added into future Activision games. This further ruins their image to gamers.

Source:

Rolling Stones: Glixel