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Starbound is a game that’s been coming for a long time, so when it finally became available in Beta form last Wednesday loads of people (who had pre-ordered) were immediately in-game testing and reporting back all the bugs of the early Beta. Although I’d only known about the game since August, when I saw it played at the Insomnia 49 event, I too was eagerly joining the crowds as we began out journey into this game…
First things first, Starbound has been called ‘Terraria in space’ and that’s actually a pretty accurate description, as the mechanics of the game are similar and it is also a singleplayer/multiplayer game. The game sees your character, chosen from six different species and customised to your liking, having fled your homeworld and coming to a stop above a planet in your now fuelless spacecraft. You beam down and begin to mine for and craft resources to allow yourself to survive and eventually refuel your ship so you can go to other places in your solar system and eventually other systems and even galaxies. Each planet/moon’s creatures are also customly generated with random body parts and colour palates and most will try to attack you. Fortunately among the items you are given for starting (stored in your ship’s locker) you will get a sword of some kind so you can at least fight back. The other main item you get is a matter manipulator which can do pretty much all mining and tree chopping you need done, but at a much slower speed than if you were using a tool made for that purpose. Your character has a decently sized inventory and a hotbar with 10 slots plus a bonus two L and R slots in the middle for your most important and often-used tools, and survival depends on keeping a ‘body temperature’ bar and a hunger meter topped up to avoid death.
Having played Terraria many times before I must say that I find Starbound’s crafting system somewhat easier, because if you know what you want to make you can search for the item and discover exactly what you need to build the item. This does however depend on if you’re highlighting the relevant item to craft it, if it needs such an item (e.g. iron anvil, crafting table etc.). Interaction with most items and NPCs is done this way, highlighting the item or NPC in question and then using the E button to interact with it/them. Z will switch between whatever two items you have placed into the L and R (I’d recommend the matter manipulator and whatever weapon you prefer using) and X will switch from number inventory items to the LR slot items and back again quickly. Shift will also allow for more precise mining, switching from the 2×2/3×3 block your mining tool does by default to a single block wide each way.
Right now the game is, as mentioned at the beginning, in an early Beta to all pre-orderers. This means that developer Chucklefish are releasing new patches often and already there’s been one ‘wipe’ update, the latest one: Annoyed Koala which has been called ‘the first balance patch’. With this new patch a lot of bugs have already been fixed, including reprogrammed monster AI to make them ‘smarter’ and stop them getting stuck so often, a total overhaul of the levelling system, the beginnings of ‘creature capture’ (you have three pet slots on your character screen and these I look forward to filling one day), a new galaxy sector, added plenty of new items, among them a Grappling Hook (which makes me very happy as it was such a useful item in Terraria) and plenty more.
Starbound is available for PC, Mac and Linux and the full version of the game will be coming in 2014.
Starbound is available right now to buy as a pre-order from Chucklefish’s site:
A retailer in the UK has accidentally sent some customers a free PlayStation Vita. And is now resorting to some heavy methods in an attempt to get them back.
According to a report on Eurogamer, “a number” of people who had preordered Vita game Tearaway were instead sent a Tearaway PlayStation Vita bundle, which included the game and the hardware.
Upon realising its error, the retailer – Zavvi – asked for the bundles to be sent back. And that’s where things get messy.
British customer rights website What Consumer says “if you’ve been sent unsolicited goods, you are entitled to treat them as an unconditional gift and do with them as you choose.”
Understandably, some of those affected have done just that, leading Zavvi to send out further letters, including a “final notice” that reads:
This is our final notice to politely remind you that you did not order, or pay for, a PS Vita and if you fail to contact us by 5pm (UK time) on 10th December 2013 to arrange a convenient time for the PS Vita to be collected we reserve the right to enforce any and/or all legal remedies available to us.
Normally in these circumstances, the retailer would admit the mistake and simply take the hit. It’s rare a company would try and engage in a move like this; the PR backlash will probably make them wish they’d never bothered.
The first trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has swung in.
And it’s a corker, with action, villains and fanboy/girl easter eggs galore.
The two minute trailer builds on the web-slinging action seen in the first, and ramps up not only the special effects, but the villains too, with our first proper glimpse at The Rhino, Electro and even the Green Goblin (and it us, or is that Dane DeHaan’s Harry Osborn rocking the glider?!).
Throw in some cute Pete and Gwen romance-asizing, some ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ easter eggs (spot the Doctor Octopus/Vulture paraphenalia), and a ton of action, and there’s more than enough to get you excited for next summer’s big superhero flick.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is set for release in cinemas 18 April 2014.
Looking forward to Amazing Spider-Man 2? Let us know below…
While the PS4 might be setting records for the rapid pace in which each console is being bought in the UK, over in America it appears it’s a whole ‘nother story entirely. According to research by market research firm InfoScout, which surveyed purchases of consoles in several retail outlets across USA up to and including Black Friday, Microsoft consoles are being overwhelmingly favoured by the American gamer:
According to their survey, both Xbox consoles dominated sales on Friday, jointly accounting for 61% of the console market. The PlayStation 4, meanwhile, achieves a creditable third place with exactly half the XBox One sales – 15% compared to 31% – although it should be noted that the PS4 came in much more limited supplies compared to the XBox One.
A perhaps more interesting statistic from the survey is that so far, sales of both new generation consoles are keeping pace with their predecessors, with the PS3 just outselling the PS4 by a very small margin; while the XBox One only manages a 1% margin above the older 360. Continued sales of the older consoles are to be expected early in a new console’s launch, but the closeness of the statistics suggest there are still a lot of people seeing life in the now-older generation consoles yet; and feel like giving them a chance over their younger, so far less established successors…
…Though, with 80% of the surveyed claiming that they bought the console with the intention to “gift” it, it could also be that some Americans just wanted to save cash on what should still be viewed as a powerful, exciting present for the young (or young at heart) ones.
As expected, today it’s been confirmed that the PlayStation 4 has become the fastest-selling console in the UK history.
Chart-Track has announced that PS4 surpassed PSP’s sales record of 185,000 units sold at launch, although no concrete figures for the PS4 have been announced.
We expect that we may hear of a few more broken records for PS4 before the day is out.
