video games – Page 41 – The Gaming News Corner

Should Companies give Players more for Achievements/Trophies?

Since the Xbox, in-game rewards/achievements have become integrated parts of games. Players can earn them by beating portions of the video games, finding secrets, or completing the entire game. The main appeal is the ability to share your “score” on your game profile and compare it with others. Whether it be Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or Steam, achievements are generally well received and a standard feature in games. However, they provide no value to players besides a score number until recently.

Recently, Sony announced changes to Sony Rewards program that would reward players for earning trophies from PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 games. Silver trophies are worth 1 point, Gold is worth 25, and Platinum is 100. To earn points, you must create a Sony Rewards Profile that connects to your PlayStation Network account. Sony Rewards program offers members points for purchasing games, movies, or other entertainment to earn concerts, merchandise, video games, and gain access to unique sales and deals. Members can only start earning points for their trophies after connecting the Sony Rewards profile to their PlayStation account. All previous trophies earned will not give players anything.

Often, gamers have questioned the value of achievements. They have become so common in games that they become almost an afterthought in players minds rather than a goal. It can be argued that the score recognition is no longer as interesting to players. Whoever owns more games will usually have more points or trophies than others so the comparison to friends loses luster. While there are communities of gamers interested in achievement hunting and increasing their gamerscore, the number of people interested overall has decreased.

Business Opinion:

Providing a small monetary value to trophies is a good movie by Sony. It incentivises more players to earn more trophies which means they must buy more games. It adds a point value into purchases similar to restaurants for trophies. By connecting it to Sony Reward Program, users feel a stronger connection to Sony and creates a more rewarding feeling for buying certain products from them. It creates a brand community connected around purchasing Sony related products. I wouldn’t surprised if Microsoft uses a similar model in the feature.

Sources:

Polygon

IGN

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