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An update is coming soon for Battlefield 4, and by the sounds of it, it should be a well received one. There will finally be a way for friends to group up before entering the server as opposed to having to waste time trying to meet up before the action can begin.
DICE seemed to have no plans to ever add private lobbies to the game even a few months ago despite it being part of the previous game Battlefield 3, saying that the feature hadn’t offered quality on par with what they felt the players should be offered; but it seems that player demand and complaints about the system BF4 did have has won out once again and gotten the private lobby system, named ‘Platoons’ added to the game. Platoons will soon enter into a Closed Beta stage with a selected number of people being allowed to test-drive it for a short while and potentially give feedback to catch any bugs before it will be released to the masses, allowing matches to run a little more organised from the get-go.
At least… as organised as FPS games can ever be when you’re running around trying to kill without being killed…
A recent patch has also removed one persistent source of the game freezing; the (as DICE put it) ‘so called sound loop bug’ as well as a glitch that sometimes stopped people in a gunner position on some vehicles from actually shooting and better integrated the game with AMD’s Mantle card.
There’s a new post up on the Starbound site’s blog, in which creator Tiy outlines the future player progression of the game. It’s certainly… interesting.
Tiy talks about planets in the future game becoming inaccessible for players until they have the needed upgrades and technology to land and venture onto them (the example used is one of a planet without a breathable atmosphere), as well as a crucial change to the ship you start in: your fuel hatch will be broken and you won’t be able to visit new worlds until you get enough pixels to make yourself another one. A new quest system will teach the player how to farm, how to find trophies in dungeons and how to begin to build settlements… there will even be small ‘outpost’ settlements on some planets which will be populated by NPCs of all species and should be safe for trading etc.
The biggest change though is the removal of the multiple sectors that have so far been the setting for the game of Starbound, instead trading them for what seems to be just one area filled with planets and stars that you must work your way up to being able to land upon and three different ‘progression’ paths: farming, adventuring and building. There will also be three different seperate ‘sectors’ in the game, one for the survival-esque game, a PvP version of the game and a ‘creative sector’.
In his post Tiy says that they are doing this to make the game less linear, but at the moment this gamer thinks that the new updates sound almost the opposite, taking away a lot of area from the game and forcing the player to do certain tasks before they can progress. Sure there is no time limit or deadline for completing these tasks, but I for one will miss the multiple sectors of galaxy. As always though, nothing can be fully and accurately summed up through words alone, so we shall wait and see how these proposed changes have an affect on the game.
Before Microsoft bought out Nokia’s mobile division, rumours were spreading that Nokia planned to release phones running versions of Android as a new investment in the company’s future. Indeed, pictures released online of a supposed new Nokia phone seemed to show that a prototype was at least being worked on prior to or during the deal taking place. However, with Microsoft having its own, long-established mobile OS in the form of Windows Phone; and with Google, who “owns” Android, being a major rival to Microsoft, it’s fair to say a lot of us saw Microsoft as putting paid to that plan with their buyout.
Last night, at the start of the Mobile World Conference, the new Microsoft-owned Nokia phone division took to the stage… but to our surprise, it WASN’T to promote the existing Lumia range of Nokia-branded Windows Phones. Instead, what was revealed was a new range of smart phones, known simply as “X”, which run… Android?!?
Pictured above: The Nokia XL with the customised Android Build on display. Other phones in the X range have a smaller profile, but all run the same system and have the same choice of colourful backplates to select from.
The announcement comes only a short while after Microsoft announced its willingness to keep Nokia’s legacy alive and allow Windows phones to target lower as well as higher-end markets, following Nokia’s own established business practices. However, there’s no plans for the X range of phones to hit major markets like US, Korea and Japan – the X line is apparently geared more towards the emerging markets of lesser countries, where interest in new technology is high but the economies are low (which probably rules out the UK too, but nothing’s been said there yet).
The phones themselves take a lot of design cues from the pre-existing Nokia Asha 503, consisting of the same matte polycarbonate chassis but without the transparent crystallic case surrounding it. So far three models of the phone have been announced: The X phone – out right now for 89 Euro – is 10.4mm thick and sports a 4-inch LCD screen with 800 x 480 pixel resolution, a 3-megapixel camera, a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 1,500mAh removable battery, 4GB of internal storage, a microSD expansion up to 32GB and 512MB of RAM. For ten Euro more, Nokia will soon release the X+, which bumps up the RAM another 256MB and comes with a 2GB microSD card included, but is otherwise exactly the same. Finally, announced for the second quarter of 2014, the third model is the XL, which sports a five-inch screen, TWO cameras – a 5-megapixel rear snapper and a 2-megapixel front with an LED flash, 768MB of RAM and 4GB of built-in storage along with the microSD support. This has an expected retail price of 109 Euro. All three phones are dual-SIM, so separate SIM cards can be utilised for phone and data plans – a practice common in these emerging markets.
While the new Nokia X phones may run Android, however, they’re far from a pure Android experience – instead, the whole experience has been customised using a mix of Microsoft and Nokia’s own design cues, resulting in an experience that, perhaps unsurprisingly, looks similar to Windows Phone. As you’d also expect, this customised Android experience also ditches all the usual Google services with Microsoft or Nokia-branded alternatives – the sole exception being the internet browser, which is built on a mobile version of Opera. The X launcher consists of a series of neatly lined-up tiles; and unlike Windows Phone, which only recently added folder support via add-ons released by Nokia itself, the X line has folder support built-in for those who like to keep their apps organised. Keeping with the “similar to the Asha” theme, the X phones also have Fastlane; here it takes the form of a side menu which is the X’s version of a notification menu; and logs most-used apps, nearly all of your activities, open apps and background processes on the same page in a neatly organised manner.
The new X phones even have their own App Store, in the Nokia Store. This store contains modified versions of Android apps specifically designed for the X line of phones, but Nokia say a developer needs to add no more than a few extra lines of code to a standard Android app to make it compatible. Nokia then curate the store, deciding if apps go in or need changing. But if the app you’re looking for is nowhere to be found in the Store, a screen pops up with suggestions for other third-party app stores which should feature that particular title. Nokia also claim that as the X phones are built around Android’s OSP, sideloading APKs and apps are also possible, potentially allowing anything to run that would run on a standard Android phone – and I’d put money down on resourceful developers calling their bluff soon enough.
Nokia also state that the system itself; and the individual apps contained within will receive regular updates according to consumer demand, which should act as a reassurance that the phone won’t lag behind current Android releases or end up stuck on the same version forever – a common problem with Android phones – unless it sells badly. Honestly, this is an article I never expected to write and it colours me as quite impressive, but will it come up trumps for Microsoft and Nokia? And if it does, will it be at the expense of Windows Phone itself? Only time will tell.
Gearbox are bringing a lawsuit for violating the Duke Nukem IP against 3D Realms, the original developers of Duke Nukem and another studio, Interceptor. Gearbox bought the IP off of 3D Realms back in 2010, but allege that 3D Realms has been telling other companies that they still own the IP and are free to develop new Duke Nukem games. Oh, and there’s the small matter of the Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction game that Interceptor is due to release in a few days.
Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction is set to release on the Playstation 4 and PC on February 25th, yet communications between all three companies have apparently been open since the 13th of the month, when Gearbox sent a cease and desist letter to 3D Realms asking it to “halt all unauthorized exploitations of Gearbox’s Duke Nukem intellectual property.” Even though 3D Realms replied 3 days later apologising for any violation of the rights, acknowledged that they no longer had the rights to develop new games for the Duke Nukem, that the right now belonged solely to Gearbox to do so and that 3D Realms would ‘refrain from any acts that use of violate the Duke IP’ the game’s release doesn’t seem to have been stopped or even slowed down, which has resulted in Gearbox’s lawsuit.
The suit, which was filed on February 21st, is against both companies although Gearbox seem to be placing most of the blame squarely on the shoulders of the former owner of Duke Nukem’s IP.
“After selling its Duke Nukem IP rights to Gearbox in 2010, 3DR sought to privately convince others that the sale never happened.
Unfortunately for Interceptor.. the 3DR Declaration makes it clear: 3DR no longer owns the unrestricted rights to Duke Nukem IP,and 3DR has no right or ability to make any agreements in violation of Gearbox’s exclusive rights.
The 3DR-Interceptor manoeuvre has left Gearbox with little choice but to bring these claims.”
As I said, it’s an unusual case. Everyone seems pretty sure of who owns the IP and who is in the wrong yet… the game is still being released? Certainly something we’ll be keeping an eye on, especially from Tuesday when the game is released.
Few series have enjoyed the level of success that Ubisoft’s flagship Assassin’s Creed has attained. Each new entry in the series is highly anticipated. Which makes it all the more strange that almost three months after the release of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag the company also released Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD. This remake of the PS Vita title has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, it has almost as many things working against it.
Liberation will be immediately familiar to anyone who has played an Assassin’s Creed game. The free running, high flying, rooftop leaping assassination’s are all still here and for the most part, are just as satisfying as ever. Of course, in Liberation you palys as the only female assassin in the series, Aveline de Grandpré. Daughter of a wealthy family and of mixed French and African heritage, Aveline is a refreshing character. Unfortunately, shortly after you are introduced to the pre-Revolutionary War setting of New Orleans things begin to unravel a bit. The most immediate issues are in the graphics. While this is a port of the Vita game, it is also touted as being an HD remastered version. In actuality, its simply a Vita game with some HD textures slapped on it. And in places, these textures look a bit bland. While free running, everything looks fine. But slow down for a leisurely stroll as Aveline’s Lady Persona and muddy textures and pop-in begin to rear their ugly heads. Some animations appear stiff and stilted, and the voice acting is hit or miss. Still, as with all Assassin’s Creed titles, Liberation does manage to create a believable city filled with life. Which makes the swamp sections all the more disappointing. The game is split between the city and the swamp, and it is the swamp sections that really drag the game down. The swamp is filled with vegetation and wildlife, but it feels lifeless and flat. Nothing ever really seems to happen there outside of scripted events and side missions, and the animals feel as if they are only there for your hunting achievements. Even wrestling an alligator is reduced to a quicktime event – one that responds quite poorly to the timed inputs it demands of you.
Herein lies the main problem with Assassin’s Creed Liberation. It uses the same tree-centric free running system as Assassin’s Creed 3. But, in the case of Liberation, the controls feel stiff and imprecise. More than once, I would find Aveline endlessly running up the side of a tree trunk and plunging to her doom on the swamp floor below rather than sliding gracefully around the trunk to the next branch and continuing on her way. While combat is fast and fluid, I encountered multiple instances where the “Mark And Execute” feature of combat – which lets you select opponents to dispatch in quick succession mid fight – simply refused to function as the onscreen prompts said it should. I expect long dialogue and heavy story when playing an Assassin’s Creed game. What I do not expect are clunky controls, yet Liberation delivers both in equal measure. Things get a bit more bearable if you play with a controller rather than mouse and keyboard, but not much.
Aveline has three main guises, a new gameplay mechanism for the series. her lady guise sees her dressed like the wealthy scion of New Orleans she is, and reduces her to either walking or a modest jog. No free-running is allowed, and the most combat you will engage in will be some bare knuckle fisticuffs or using the dart gun hidden in your parasol. To balance this out, the Lady guise gains notoriety much more slowly than the other two. The Assassin guise, on the other hand, is your typical Assassin’s Creed outfit. Equipped with darts, hidden blades, pistols, and your melee weapon of choice you can run, jump, climb and air assassinate to your bloody little heart’s content. Of course, you pick up notoriety very easily as the Assassin. In between the two is the Slave guise. This guise gains notoriety more slowly than the assassin and is able to sprint and engage in some combat. Switching between the three is as easy as ducking into a convenient shop and selecting them from a radial menu. While the guises do add a refreshing element to the gameplay, to often I found myself stuck in the Lady guise and unable to change so that I could explore the city around me.
Rounding out the game are the usual Assassin’s Creed side activities. Taking random assassination contracts, buying and renovating buildings, and engaging in a bare bones trading game that has you sending ships full of goods throughout the Gulf of Mexico will keep you occupied if you so choose. The most glaring omission from the game is the complete lack of multiplayer. Recent Assassin’s Creed games have incorporated innovative and entertaining multiplayer modes, but the complete lack of them in Liberation is a puzzling decision.
All in all, if you are looking for a good Assassin’s Creed game, you would be better to buy Black Flag or find a copy of Assassin’s Creed 3 on sale. While Liberation isn’t a terrible game, it falls far short of other entries in the series. Muddy textures, pop in, stiff controls. the lack of multiplayer and some laughably bad voice acting all drag down what could have been an excellent port of one of the best Vita out there.
