wildcat_kickz

@DennisReynolds Yeah I upgraded to the Deluxe after a while, since I felt Embark had earned a little extra. The player base can actually be pretty ruthless, but the matchmaking tailors to your playstyle, which is nice. The more friendly you are, the more friendly lobbies you'll be placed into.

I tend to be pretty friendly when I'm solo queueing, but am very aggressive when playing in teams. Each time I move back to solo queues, it takes a few rounds before it stops placing me in suckerpunch lobbies.

@PuppetMaster I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's a reboot. I don't have much history with the games prior to MachineGames. There are references to the 2009 Raven game and the main character is still BJ, but I think the MG titles are broadly-speaking self-contained. There are definitely fun nods to the older games, including some optional mini sequences where you play in retro, 90s style levels.

This new version is more sci-fi than anything else, though The Old Blood does have some fantastical elements to it.

Edit: I just did a little digging and there are some elements of RTCW and 2009 that they chose to canonize, but not everything.

Edit Edit: It seems like The Old Blood is almost like a remix of RTCW to fit the new chronology.

@PuppetMaster The story in New Order, Old Blood, and New Colossus is pretty great, honestly, and totally batsh*t crazy. If CoD is the video game version of a Michael Bay movie, then the new Wolfenstein games are Tarantino flicks.

If you were to jump in, I'd recommend starting with New Order. The gameplay and visuals still hold up, in my opinion, but New Colossus has a good enough recap if you wanted to start there.

I really loved The New Order, The Old Blood, and The New Colossus, so this is music to my ears!

I always got the impression that Youngblood was more of an Arkane production, so I don't really hold that against MachineGames.

While I adore Indiana Jones, I don't really think the 1st person perspective worked, so I'm genuinely happy with the prospect of returning to an actual shooter.

I really hope a remaster of 3 and New Vegas do a lot to improve the gameplay. I know people hold both in high regard, but I don't think the gameplay holds up particularly well. Shooting should feel like 4 at the bare minimum.

This game may well be bad, but we honestly don't know. The art direction, like Concord, does nothing for me.

That said, it's saddening, frustrating, and downright lame how quick people are to wholistically judge a game before they've even gotten hands on it.

Maybe it's a generational thing, but the fact that so many people think it's cool to dogpile and hate on others is straight up depressing.

@Oram77 Assuming it actually comes out in 2026, GTA6 will be a tough game to beat!

@MasterChiefWiggum I don't know if that's true anymore. Switch 2 can comfortably run many 3rd party titles and Sony will likely be venturing into hybrid consoles next generation. Seems like they're directly competing, to me.

I would love this, but am curious how they'd deal with the ending of Blood and Wine. Would we play as Geralt or Ciri? If Ciri, will they use the original actor or use the Witcher 4 actor? Will there be a new region or will this layer missions on top of the existing maps? Questions upon questions...

Not a great month, but to be fair, they did give us 5 games last month.

While the RAM shortages and OpenAI's greed are infuriating, I would not be upset with a longer PS5 generation at all, especially if the PSSR improvements next year actually bear fruit.

I never really got into Like a Dragon due to it's more campy, comedic nature, but this seems to be hitting all the right notes. Seems a little closer to Sleeping Dogs, so I'm very curious to see more!

@Czar_Khastik Right back atcha!

@SMJ I honestly haven't seen it, but @Czar_Khastik is right - I would never dream of infringing on his sacred duties.

@SMJ Lol. And what a remake it was!

@SMJ Yeah that's a good example too! Would you consider that a remake or something else? I'd consider it a remake, even though the product is largely the same.

@SMJ I think I get what you're saying. For me, I'm looking at it at a more technical level. A remaster would take the existing title and up-res, maybe improve lighting, etc. Essentially, build off the same game code to take advantage of more powerful hardware.

TLOU Part 1 instead took the structure of the game, but rebuilt it using a newer engine, essentially writing the game code all over again (re-making the game).

Take this film analogy: In 1934, Alfred Hitchcock released The Man Who Knew Too Much. This version of the film has since been remastered, released on VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, etc. These rereleases took advantage of techniques to clean up the film to make it look and sound more presentable on modern hardware.

However, in 1956, Hitchcock released a remake of the exact same script. The movies are largely the same (same story, same characters, same beats, etc.), but was completely reshot.

I liken this to TLOU Part 1. The beats are the same, the story is unchanged, but the game was actually remade, rather than just spiffed up.

TLOU even has a legitimate remaster that released on PS4. While the story and flow of the game are the same in the PS5 remake, animations are different, the environments have been redone and AI has been reworked.

Even if the differences aren't as stark as RE2 or FF7, I think it still constitutes a remake.

@SMJ I honestly didn't even see that dates of the comments! PS must have bumped the article 😂

@SMJ By that logic, you could rule out most remakes. There are not too many "remakes" that are actually reinterpretations, which seems to be what you want out of a remake (i.e. Final Fantasy 7). This isn't a dig, since there aren't any standards for what constitutes a remaster, remake, reboot, etc.

For me, I would liken a video game remake to a song rerecording. It's the same song, just done again. It doesn't need to be different from a structural standpoint.

It's not like there's a dearth of games, so whenever they're ready to release, I'll be ready to play. James Bond is a really special series for me, so whatever they need to do to get it right, I'm all for it.

If we're talking mandatory 80 hour weeks, than that's a problem. If we're talking mandatory 50 hour weeks, then people complaining are in places of incredible privilege. Almost every other industry, especially in the US, has elements of crunch imbedded into the annual cycle. I regularly work between 40 and 50 hours a week throughout the year and I know plenty of people who work even more (for much less than devs at Naughty Dog make, I might add).

Would I prefer to work 35 hour weeks and never have to work overtime? Absolutely. Do I live in the real world where that's not likely? Also, absolutely.

I have sympathy for people being overworked. If it's robbing you of a personal life, than that balance needs to be adjusted, but sometimes people are asked to step up and if you don't want to make that sacrifice, there are plenty of lucrative, less glamorous programming jobs at non-creative corporations. I'm sure they pay very well, too.

@themaladroit yeah, Division 2 has been 60fps for a few years now. there's no native ps5 version, but the ps4 version runs basically flawlessly on ps5. the "neutral lighting" setting is pretty awesome too, since it gets rid of non-diegetic lighting. makes for a much more "realistic" look

It's so funny. I had reinstalled this just last week, but had a hard time with the 30fps, so I switched to Division 2. While the gameplay of Division 2 is superior in just about every way, the winter/Christmas New York setting is just unmatched. Sounds like I need to reinstall!

Edit: Ubisoft, please update these games next:

AC Unity
Ghost Recon Wildlands
Watch Dogs

Well deserved! As someone who grew up with the books and movies (I'm the same age as the three main actors), Harry Potter was such a huge part of my childhood. This game did a just phenomenal job of capturing the atmosphere and magic of that universe.

@Korgon I think that's fair as well, but while I think we can all be wishy-washy with definitions in normal conversation, there should be strict rules when it pertains to an award category. Having nebulous criteria for an award just makes it easier to abuse.

@Korgon I understand what you're saying, but disagree. The award was "Best Independent Game," not "Best Independent Developer." The game was published through a third party publisher, so the game is not independent, even if the studio is.

I think not having a publishing partner is key, but it's not the whole story. For the purpose of an award, I think being self-published is the first criteria, but a maximum game budget should also be a factor. Maybe a maximum of $1M, but I think you could make an argument for much less.

To me, the "Best Indie Game" category should be populated by games I largely haven't heard of. Isn't the point to raise awareness of lesser-known titles/devs?

I think folks need to start being much more specific in how they use the term "A.I." It's gotten so loaded that anyone addicted to rage and negativity will crash out as soon as the word passes their eyeballs.

I really don't see any problem with developers using LLMs and Gen A.I. as long as the drafts that A.I. create aren't the final products.

@get2sammyb I know you guys are just doing your job, reporting on the news of the day, but you must also realize that A.I. isn't going anywhere. Ever.

I'd be much more interested in articles talking about what developers themselves are saying about A.I., not rage-baited randos on Reddit.

I mean, Bloodborne kinda got mentioned in the form of Badgerborne: the parody we didn't know we needed, but very clearly actually do.

It wasn't on the list, but I'd like to give a special shoutout to The Sinking City 2! According to the devs, release is scheduled for the 1st half of 2026.

Very much interested in this one. I think the art style looks super cool and marrying Bungie gunplay with an extraction shooter sounds great.

That said, they'll need an open beta to get as many players hands-on to convince them to buy it. This is not a "sight unseen" type of game.

These look cool for kids, but definitely not for my 30-something-year-old ass.

@DennisReynolds I think that guy is trolling - I wouldn't engage. Funnily enough, I'm playing TR Anniversary right now and I think the graphics, while dated, still look amazing. Probably my favorite TR game before the most recent trilogy.

@KendoHead @BrownOwl @IamJT Yeah, seems like the general consensus is it's pretty great. I don't have Netflix, but I definitely want to see it and I'm sure I will, sooner or later. I know del Toro has been on record saying that Frankenstein was one of two passion projects that he wanted to make, the other being At the Mountains of Madness. As a huge Lovecraft fan, I would absolutely fall over myself if he made that. It seems nobody makes Lovecraft movies and he definitely has the aesthetic eye to make it work.

A fantastic game that should be a benchmark for first-person open-world RPGs going forward.

I would have loved it much more if it were third-person, but you can't deny the intense attention to detail. It should put BGS and similar devs on notice, but I don't think 2077 is CDPR's best work. For me, nothing has touched Witcher 3.

@Frmknst really? i've heard really good things about it

2025 was pretty light for me, at least in terms of new games released. 2026 looks much more stacked. Halo, 007, Crimson Desert, and Dawnwalker are all on my short list.

@Enuo There were a few trailers and one was, in my view, a pretty substantial gameplay blowout, including the release date. I'm not saying it's Outer Worlds 2 levels of saturation, but I've definitely seen enough.

I get that Sony wants to keep Saros in the public consciousness and TGA will have more eyeballs than any other event that Sony could do, but I think we're seeing this game way too much.

I don't think it is, but if this ends up being that carving that Geoff teased, I'm gonna lol the most Millennial lol as people crash out.

Honestly, I'll be getting this day 1. I adore AC4 and will gladly dive back in for a remake. That said, "Resynced?" Yikes... Each new remaster or remake we've seen over the last few years have had worse and worse names. It's like these games are being named by the same people who name K-Pop bands...

@Jedihillis I will comply. 😉

Get hyped. "TANVI, WAIT!!!!"

@Slayer25c Nice to hear, but I don't trust anything corporations say, so I interpret that as "we don't currently have plans to get rid of HBO Max."

This looks fantastic! I feel like I've said the same thing multiple times over the last few days, but I love Starship Troopers, so if this is appropriately priced, I'll probably be picking this up.

@Quintumply Man, you love triggering people with your article titles 😂

This is not even close to who I thought would buy them. Goodbye HBO Max.

@StitchJones That's fair. I'm loving the game, personally. I've done all the quests and finished the deck, so I'm definitely playing less than before, but once another content update drops, I'm sure I'll be right back into it.

@AtlasLivesAgain But Lin says he doesn't play video games. You ever tried to get a parent to play a game? I don't see how having him fumble around with controls serves anybody. There are more ways than playing the game to get acquainted with it and at no time did Lin say that he wasn't going to do any research for the movie. He just doesn't play games. I'm sure he'll watch some gameplay and get incredible insight from the development team. He's not going in blind.

@StitchJones ChatGPT will save you a whole lot of time with those quests.

No Muppets, no hype.