Concord Dev Strikes Back At Criticism; Calls Haters “Talentless Freaks”

August 24, 2024

Story Highlights

Concord has turned out to be a major flop for PlayStation and Firewalk.
One particular developer has lashed out against the criticism, calling out the current hate around the hero shooter.
This reply has become controversial and has now been deleted.

To nobody’s surprise, Concord has not been the biggest success at release. However, few had expected it to fail as it did, leading to major concerns about the future of Firewalk and PlayStation’s live service endeavours.

The developers have also done little to help the situation. Following an interaction with a fan on Twitter, one of the developers responded quite harshly to Concord’s critics.

Why it matters: This is not the first time a developer has refused to acknowledge criticism after a disappointing release. Such situations highlight the need to remain calm and tackle criticism thoughtfully.

Developer Freegunner recently took to Twitter and congratulated Firewalk on Concord’s release.

He noted that the team had worked hard to deliver an exciting experience for the players and that the hero shooter has been a labour of love for everyone involved in the project.

This tweet was met with various replies that discussed Concord’s launch performance. One particular user acknowledged Firewalk’s effort and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding this release.

Freegunner then replied with a statement that quickly made the rounds on social media and became quite controversial.

Why would I care about a bunch of talentless freaks hating on it?

The tweet was later deleted, but users on Neogaf were quick to discuss this particular statement from the developer. On one hand, the developer was defending a product that hundreds of people worked hard on.

However, audiences have noted that this remark was completely unwarranted and disregarded all criticism of Concord, whether genuine or not.

While it’s unfortunate to see several years of work potentially going to waste, the developer’s response is certainly far from ideal. Following this release, many have expressed concern about the future of the studio and Concord.

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Since PlayStation has been so aggressive with its layoffs, the whole team could become a major target if a new wave of layoffs is decided upon.

Perhaps the best move forward would be to use the criticism and ensure audience feedback is addressed. The game will still receive multiple seasons of post-launch content, so there is some hope for Firewalk turning things around.

What Happened To Nvidia SLI? Let’s Find Out

August 24, 2024

Story Highlight

As games demand more power, gamers often need constant GPU upgrades, yet high-end GPUs still struggle.
Combining two GPUs, a once common feature, has been phased out for the general public.
Many things caused the downfall of SLI, including compatibility issues, performance issues, and cost.

With games becoming more hardware-taxing, many gamers feel the need to upgrade their graphics cards constantly, yet even high-end GPUs sometimes struggle. This makes you wish for the days when you could combine two GPUs into one. This feature has been phased out, and this article will explain why!

What Is SLI?

SLI, or Scalable Link Interface, is a way to connect two Nvidia GPUs and make them work together. SLI comes in a few flavors, like Professional Grade SLI for enterprise-level 3D rendering and Multi-Way SLI, which lets you connect more than two cards together.

SLI requires two cards with the same amount of VRAM and the same GPU die. To do this, you’ll need a motherboard that supports it, as well as a physical bridge to link the two cards together.

Nvidia’s SLI debuted in 2004, and remnants of it still linger to this day. The technology was a marvel when it was released, and it prompted many gamers to buy two of the same card for increased performance.

What Happened To SLI

Brilliant as it might’ve been, SLI is a thing of the past now. The following sections of our discussion will focus on the reasons why this is the case.

Stability Issues

As mentioned before, SLI requires a very careful selection of the two GPUs. Even if you get the same cards from two manufacturers, the difference in the board configuration could throw it off, and even if you get the same card twice, the difference in the graphics BIOS version could create problems.

For these reasons, linking two cards together to get more performance was usually unstable, and buying a higher-end card, if available, could lead to a more enjoyable experience. Making two cards act as one was a very complex task, leaving many points of failure.

Compatibility

Not all games are compatible with SLI out of the box. They have to be tuned to do so, which means that getting two GPUs will not increase your gaming performance throughout every game.

Ever since its inception, fewer and fewer developers have taken the effort needed to make their games compatible with SLI, which made it less of a marketable feature for the average gamer who likes to play a few games.

SLI Wolfenstein — SLI In Wolfenstein Is Not Supported (Image By LTT)

This leaves the feature in a cycle when it’s not popular enough to be integrated, and it’s not integrated enough to be popular. This cycle played a crucial part in making the state of affairs go to where they are today.

Performance Issues

Though chaining two cards together would reliably give you a 70-90% performance boost (given the game supports it), some aspects would make it feel sometimes.

Micro stuttering was one of the biggest issues with SLI. This mainly happened because of the GPUs being slightly out of sync, which would cause frame time issues when AFR (Alternative Frame Rendering) would be implemented and could cause tearing if Split Frame Rendering was implemented.

How Split Frame Rendering Works (Image By Tech4Gamers)

Usually, tinkering with the game settings or restarting could fix this slightly asynchrony, but people don’t want to deal with this issue, understandably. This caused SLI not to be worth all the money you spend on it, which leads us to our next point.

Cost

SLI, for the consumer, was a costly investment. Not only did you have to get two GPUs, maybe even more, but you also had to get a power supply that could support those cards, along with paying a heightened electricity bill that is having two cards incurred.

The cost also acted to keep a lot of people out of the SLI bandwagon, which, again, made it something more or less exclusive to the enthusiast tier of gamers.

Is SLI Gone For Good?

Though SLI is something that card makers and game developers don’t pay attention to anymore, it is still very much in use for professional workloads and server applications. Sometimes, you need the pooled memory of a few graphics cards to get the quickest render or to make your language model work faster.

The RTX 3090 had an NVLink port on the side, and though it got axed with the RTX 4090, it could come back in a better and stronger way, but its very nature will cause a lot of people never to feel its power.

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BG3 Split-Screen Improved, Multiplayer Still Lags

August 24, 2024

Story Highlights

Patch 7 will enhance multiplayer by improving split-screen co-op and party banter.
In multiplayer, each player controls their own party, leading to a disjointed experience that many players find frustrating.
Larian Studios is committed to future updates for Baldur’s Gate 3 while developing two new RPG projects.

In 2023, there were many great game releases, but Baldur’s Gate 3 stood out. It sold over 15 million copies and won the Game of the Year award at nearly every event, making it one of the year’s most successful releases.

Larian Studios has announced Patch 7 for Baldur’s Gate 3, detailing several exciting new features. The update adds official mod support with a toolkit for players to create their own mods. It also introduces dynamic split-screen co-op and includes narrative and cinematic improvements to enhance the game’s storytelling.

However, Patch 7’s release has been unexpectedly delayed due to a bug affecting passive rolls. Larian Studios is working to fix these bugs before releasing the patch. The update is expected to go live in September.

Enhancements For Co-op Play And Party Banter

One of the most promising features in Patch 7 is the split-screen co-op enhancement. This update allows the screen partitions to disappear when characters are near each other, making the game visually cleaner and improving screenshot quality.

BG3 Split-Screen enhancement — Split Screen Enhancement – GIF Credit (Steam Store)

Previously, the split-screen setup often hindered combat and movement, a common issue for players. This change addresses those concerns and fulfills a long-standing request from the split-screen community, making the gameplay experience much more enjoyable.

Further, In Baldur’s Gate 3, players were experiencing issues with party banter, particularly in multiplayer scenarios. Banter, the in-game dialogue between companions, was previously limited to characters controlled by a single player and sometimes inaccessible during certain game parts.

In Patch 7, Larian Studios enhanced party banter by enabling interactions between characters controlled by different players. This update enriches the multiplayer experience, making conversations smoother and more inclusive.

Why Split-Screen Feature Falls Short In Multiplayer

In the BG3 co-op system, each player controls their own party, making everything feel disjointed. When I’m talking to a companion, the others’ companions just stand by, completely unresponsive. Many players have expressed similar frustrations due to this bad co-op system.

Evil Ending in BG3 — Evil Ending – GIF Credit (Steam Store)

Moreover, approval points are split between us, and interactions don’t repeat easily. It’s a slow grind to build relationships with companions. I’m also frustrated because only the player controlling a companion can talk to them, limiting my ability to interact with or influence my friends’ companions.

I get why it’s set up this way. No one wants to be responsible for what others do in their game, and separating parties helps avoid crossover. But for me, the relationships are everything.

Baldur's Gate 3 character customization — Baldur’s Gate 3 Character Customization – Image Credit (Tech4Gamers)

You might manage if you’re okay with focusing on gameplay rather than relationships. But if you want to experience the game’s rich interactions together, multiplayer still misses the mark. I’m hoping for improvements, but for now, it feels lacking.

Future Updates And Ongoing Support For BG3

Despite previous indications from Larian’s CEO, Swen Vincke, that the studio might not continue major updates after Patch 7, the latest Community Update on Twitter has assured fans that more updates are coming.

These future updates will include community-requested features like crossplay and a photo mode, gameplay tweaks, mod supports, bug fixes, and extra cinematics.

Additionally, the studio is ramping up development on its next project, one of two new RPGs in the works that will not feature a Dungeons & Dragons storyline, according to Larian’s studio. Despite moving on to new projects, Larian remains committed to enhancing Baldur’s Gate 3 with more updates.

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Is Fortnite Losing Popularity Among Players?

August 24, 2024

Story Highlights

Fortnite is losing its popularity fast despite being the most popular video game.
The current season’s lack of content and updates has failed to maintain player interest.
Fortnite has lost its touch in modern single-person shooter games due to bad management.
There is hope for the next season with the return of the old map.

We all remember the advent of arguably the most popular battle royale game ‘Fortnite’. This game still dominates the gaming industry with millions of players under its belt. Players enjoy it on mobiles, consoles, and PCs even getting the latest tech such as the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G APU that Runs Fortnite At 1080p.

The Nature of Decline

Technically, it might be true that Fortnite is losing popularity because fewer players are enjoying the game lately however, Fortnite might still have a chance. With the game in a bad state, it’s still one of the most popular video games.

Fortnite without AMFM (Image by Tech4Gamers)

Usually, the claims that Fortnite is dying are subjective to some players feeling like they’re not enjoying the game as much as they were at a previous time. This seems to happen quite often, even though Fortnite does not deserve that much hate.

The last season and the season before seeing the highest viewership ever in Fortnite do not explain why people claim that the game is dying.

Current Player Base

On an average day, 1.1 million users play Fortnite. Even in Chapter 5, they reached peak numbers on basically every single metric last season. Recently, Fortnite had a player count of six million in 2023 after the return of the classic map. While the game is not really in a particularly bad state, it’s not in a good state either.

Reasons Behind the Perceived Decline

The primary reason for Fortnite’s decline is its lack of content. Most of the time we start with a not-so-great season, and then Fortnite, with a few tweaks, makes it more enjoyable throughout the rest of the season. If the player base decreases the developers just whip out a fun event to gain attention.

Fortnite x Travis Scott Concert (Image by Tech4Gamers)

This season we had these crazy new items, and the overall theme of the season was really good but, then lost its steam due to some reason. In my opinion, the reason is fewer updates and less content to fuel the dedicated Fortnite fanbase. In recent times even pro players of the game have suggested that Fortnite is becoming boring and uncompetitive.

Missed Potential This Season

This season saw the most missed potential we’ve ever seen from Fortnite. We’ve had almost nothing updated throughout the season to change anything. Even though this season the players got arguably some pretty good map changes, it just didn’t go anywhere which is why Fortnite is losing popularity, it’s that simple.

Fortnite Reload Battle Royale — Fortnite Map Comparison (Image by Tech4Gamers)

You probably noticed a lot of your favorite content creators like SypherPK slowing down in some of their uploads on the game right now, because what is there to upload? You just can’t keep doing the same videos constantly and be enjoying it.

The Hope for Next Season

Unfortunately, a huge comeback for Fortnite won’t happen anytime soon. I think it will happen next season, with new updates and a new map. Additionally, if they included some events in the next season the game could be all the more enjoyable.

Fortnite is reportedly also launching a first-person mode in the upcoming seasons. We know, because it has already been confirmed at FNCS, and a tweet by their official Twitter.

Ngl the OG season far exceeded our expectations.

So much so that we’d like to bring it back… *opens 2024 roadmap doc*

In the meantime, see you on the Battle Bus 🤙

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) December 2, 2023

But there also is a big pitfall. A big warning to Epic here: this is potentially something that can go catastrophically wrong if they don’t do it right. They need to make sure it feels modern, new, and exciting. It needs to have a lot of that new element to it.

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Final Words

I think once we get to the next season, it’s going to be so much more fun and have a lot of potential there. So, keep your hopes up. Fortnite isn’t losing popularity anytime soon (probably). It’s just in a rough patch and it is going to bounce back. Nonetheless, I’m excited to see what the future holds for the game.

Stalker 2 Will Require 100 Hours To Fully Explore

August 24, 2024

Story Highlights

Stalker 2 boasts a huge map that will take over 100 hours to fully explore.
All the assets in the map have been hand-crafted, and the game doesn’t use procedural generation.
The game has been made in a way that it be a similar experience for both new and returning players.

Stalker 2 has been in development for a long time. Despite the crisis and unfortunate events in their country, GSC Game World has nearly completed its development, and the team has made no compromises.

The developer has also revealed that Stalker 2 has a huge map that will take over 100 hours to explore. The team previously stated that the main story would last about 40 hours.

Why it matters: Stalker 2 is a massive step up from the original game. Its predecessor would take just over 30 hours for completionists. So, this puts the sequel at almost thrice the size, making it a huge game.

Stalker 2 will be a huge game in every way.

In an interview with GamesRadar, Yevhenii Kulyk stated that developing the map was a very challenging task. It is one thing to create a map this huge, and another to keep it memorable and interesting.

Kulyk revealed that they didn’t use procedural generation with the map at all. Procedural generation is a method of game design where you can paste already-made assets into various parts of the map to reduce the development period.

It’s really big (Map), but we still almost didn’t use any procedural generation for the world.

– Yevhenii Kulyk

Instead, all the assets in the game have been hand-made, so no two buildings, rooms, or other things will have similar placements. This is impressive and goes to show the amount of dedication and passion that has been put into the development.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl — Stalker 2 has very unforgiving environments.

Furthermore, Kulyk also revealed that they’ve done a lot of tuning to the game. Even now, they are using the fan feedback from the Gamescom booth to make the experience even better.

The game is also designed in a way that caters to both new and returning players. Even the protagonist, Skif, doesn’t know what’s happening as he is very new to the zone. So, the experience will be the same for new players.

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Moreover, Stalker 2 is very unforgiving. You are bound to die multiple times while attempting something. This has been the major quality of the Stalker franchise, which is also reflected in the sequel.

Stalker 2 is one of the most anticipated releases of the year, and each new piece of information creates more anticipation. Fans should note that it will be released on Game Pass day one, so this entry is likely to be the IP’s biggest to date.

Its Evident That Too Many Features Ruin Video Games

August 24, 2024

Story Highlight

Overloading games with features can degrade the gaming experience.
Focused games with a singular purpose offer a more enjoyable experience.
Indie games succeed by maintaining a clear sense of identity, unlike many feature-heavy AAA titles.

Whether it be graphics, loot boxes, or crafting systems, games these days are obsessed with giving you as much to do as possible, with as many features as possible. Though expansive, these features can often degrade a gaming experience.

How It Came To Be

With how big game studios have become over the years, every release aims to do more than its predecessor. Every new game has to have a bigger map and a couple of new features while still retaining the old ones that their fans have come to expect.

Games Revenue — Revenue Of Games Market (Image By Statista)

These features have been stockpiling over the last few decades, with each studio having a massive arsenal of mechanics they can put into their game. A lot of the time, these mechanics work well with each other, but sometimes they feel disconnected, tedious, and burdenious.

The publishers also take the blame for this flaw with business executes urging developers to put things in games that make them worse, just for them to appear more flashy and marketable.

Less Is More

The following few sections will detail how adding more features can worsen your experience and how more focused games are generally the better experience.

Asking Too Much

Too many features ask too much of the player. If you have a karma system, a hunger system, and a leveling system on top of other features, you divert the player’s attention from one thing to another too much. This either takes away from the enjoyable features or makes gamers ignore many of the systems you put in place.

DS 3 — From Has Almost No Bloat In Their Games (Image By Tech4Gamers)

More focused games have a singular purpose and a singular gimmick, which might or might not be deepened with the playtime, but this allows you to keep your might on the core gameplay loop, and it allows you to sink your teeth into what the game offers.

Diminishing Returns

As someone who has dabbled in game development for school work in the past, even adding a rudimentary feature takes a lot of time and effort, and perfecting it to the point of being satisfying takes even more.

When you have to stack tens of mechanics on top of each other and make them meld together while keeping all of them enjoyable in their own right, you use up a lot of your development time and budget.

Cyberpunk Was So Ambitious That It Failed (Image By Tech4Gamers)

This can cause either of two things. Either you make a game with a ton of features, well polished, and all after a long development window. No one pays attention to the features (or the game, for that matter, if the hype train has run past it), or you cut corners everywhere to implement these mechanics, leading to an all-around worse experience.

Lost Individuality

Indie games have been popping up lately because they all have a sense of identity, and they keep that sense of identity throughout the whole time you play them. Every indie darling, like Hollow Knight, Celeste, or even Goat Simulator, knows what they are, and they don’t dilute their message.

Mafia 3 — All Big Scale Open World Shooters Feel The Same (Image By Tech4Gamers)

If you compare the newer AAA games, a lot of them feel very similar with a different coat of paint. GTA V lets you shoot up people in a realistic and believable modern setting, Red Dead enables you to do that in the Wild West, and Horizon lets you drive robot dinosaurs instead of cars and horses.

When you have many features that the industry has also adopted instead of your fun spin on things, your game can blend into the rest of the landscape. Focused games have a better time setting themselves apart.

Should Games Become More Barebones?

I’ve been playing Elden Ring lately, and while I love it, it feels too spread out. My favorite FromSoftware game is Sekiro because of its focused and complex combat.

I don’t want all games as linear as Sekiro, but I want a stronger sense of direction in the industry. For survival games, I want a good crafting system. For shooters, the focus should be on gunplay. For Souls-like games, there should be no half-baked karma systems. I prefer games to excel in their core elements, even if that means a narrower scope.

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Why I Want Mafia: Definitive Edition To Have Multiplayer

August 24, 2024

Story Highlights

It would be interesting to have an online mode for the Mafia: DE, which should be similar to GTA Online.
The game has all the elements of multiplayer: weapons, vehicles, a huge map, and hideouts.
Fans have expressed their desire to have a multiplayer version since playing online in the 1930s would be fun.

Mafia: Definitive Edition has a rich narrative and a storyline, but unlike Rockstar’s other open-world titles, such as GTA Series and Red Dead Redemption 2, it hasn’t received a multiplayer feature. Let’s see why it should have this feature.

GTA Online But In 1930s

Red Dead Online was set in the 1899s era and GTA Online is set in the 2010s era so it would be interesting to have an online mode or a community mod for the Mafia: Definitive Edition which would take place in the 1930s era.

Huge Potential For Multiplayer

People enjoy playing GTA online because of the freedom to pack so many things into a single game. This could be the same case for the Mafia: Definitive Edition, but the selling point will be in its old-time period.

Rockstar Games Mafia DE — Mafia: Definitive Edtion City View (Tech4Gamers)

The game has a huge map based on Chicago which is already rigged with houses, shops, hideouts, and warehouses – all of which could be used feasibly for many purposes online. There are also a wide variety of weapons to use.

People can form gangs and families by utilizing the weapons, locations, and the character’s skins.

Bank Robberies & Other Missions

Mafia: Definitive Edition consists of one of the most visually appealing interiors, which can be found in its in-game missions. It has a separate mission for bank robbery, which we could use in multiplayer to rob the bank with our friends, similar to that in GTA Online.

Incredible Roleplay Potential

Text RP

The text-based roleplay feature in Mafia: DE could be similar to the one in GTA Online. Here, you could roleplay any character, including a mafia member, a cop, or a shop clerk.

People spend hours roleplaying on these servers because it replicates real life but they can break any rules. Here, you lose your hard-earned weapons or drugs if you die so there are consequences and this element hooks the players due to its high immersion.

Voice RP

It is similar to Text-RP, but it uses a mic to use your voice so you can roleplay. It is the most popular category of a server, and many streamers are still using this feature on GTA Online. Therefore, releasing it on Mafia: DE would have a similar impact.

This, paired with the 1930s atmosphere, classic vehicles, and vintage weapons, would be a game-changer and would certainly hook players to the multiplayer mode.

Other Server Modes

Racing

Mafia: Definitive Edition has a wide range of vehicles and it also has the ability to drive your vehicle in a manual drive mode. It would be fascinating to have racing servers, a few of which could be dedicated to manual driving to see who wins the race.

Derby

Apart from races, community-made obstacles and maps would be interesting to play in. This could also include a derby mode similar to the one GTA Online has, where vehicles drive to stay on course and avoid falling off the created bounds.

Gun Game

With the collections of old-school weapons, we could also have a gun game mode. This way, all the weapons can be progressively increased in size and fire rate after we get a kill against other online players.

The Idea Was One There

Mafia 2 had a multiplayer mod that was similar to GTA San Andreas Multiplayer (SAMP) and had a similar text-based server layout. Players enjoyed a fair share of this multiplayer mod, so Rockstar should implement it in their Definitive Edition as well.

The Idea Was Abandoned

Although there wasn’t any official creation of the online mode, a team of modders were aiming to create a multiplayer mod for the Mafia: Definitive Edition. However, this idea was abandoned for some undisclosed reasons.

Fans Still Want The Multiplayer

Despite this idea being dropped, fans are still eager to get an online option for it. They have expressed their desire to have a multiplayer mod much similar to FiveM or RageMP for GTA V in comments of a fan-made multiplayer project for Mafia: DE.

Mafia 4?

While Rockstar Games hasn’t stated anything, it is reported that Mafia 4 is in the works and is gonna officially be revealed. Unlike the Definitive Edition, the newer Mafia 4 might arrive with a multiplayer mode.

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Concord Launched To 10x Less Players Than Redfall On Steam

August 24, 2024

Story Highlight

Looking at the reception of the beta, Concord was already deemed a flop.
PlayStation has spent 8 years and many resources on this game, but it has launched to under 1000 concurrent Steam players.
For reference, Redfall peaked at over 6,000 players, making this an embarrassingly low player count for PlayStation’s latest launch.

Concord is a PlayStation exclusive in which the gaming giant has heavily invested both resources and time. The game took eight years to develop, yet it failed to make it to the top 30 best-selling titles just before its release.

The game is still nowhere to be found on the top Steam charts because no one is buying it. Redfall, Xbox’s live service failure from last year, saw similar criticism, but it didn’t perform nearly as badly.

Comparing the launch performance on Steam, Redfall saw a 10x higher peak concurrent player count.

Why it matters: Almost everyone criticised Redfall due to its poor launch and the damage it caused to Arkane Austin’s legacy.

Concord Vs Redfall — Comparison of Concord and Redfall’s Peak Concurrent Players On Steam via SteamDB

Redfall peaked at a concurrent player count of 6,124 players 15 months ago. On the other hand, Concord reached a mere 622 players, so the multiplayer mode is practically a ghost town on PC.

It was already expected that this game wouldn’t sell too well since both the betas were extremely underwhelming. Fans also voted not to buy the game in a poll, which might have been an early indication.

Concord was already in a concerning situation way before release but PlayStation didn’t do anything to solve those concerns. Firewalk’s open beta was played by a mere 2,000 players on Steam, and the launch is even worse.

PlayStation has already revealed Concord’s roadmap, so this type of performance is going to hurt the gaming giant. Some have even expressed concerns about long-term changes to Sony’s live-service approach after such a failure.

Multiplayer games are typically released to thousands of players. Concord has also arrived during the weekend, which should’ve given it an edge over other releases.

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For reference, a recent success like Black Myth: Wukong soared to nearly 1 million concurrent players shortly after release. PlayStation has spent a plethora of resources and time on this project, so it likely wanted a similar launch.

While Firewalk might still be hoping to turn things around, the writing is already on the wall. PlayStation seems to have found its biggest failure this year.

Black Myth: Wukong Achieves 10 Million Sales In 3 Days

August 23, 2024

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Black Myth: Wukong was released just three days ago.
The developers have confirmed that the title has already sold over 10 million copies.
This is a massive milestone and puts it in front of titles like Hogwarts Legacy, Elden Ring, and more in terms of initial sales.

Black Myth: Wukong was released recently, and the title has already become the biggest launch of the year. It has seen over 2 million players on Steam, becoming the second-biggest launch on the biggest PC platform.

While it was recently reported that the title had sold around 4.5 million copies just through pre-orders alone, it has now been officially confirmed that Black Myth: Wukong has sold over 10 million copies in just three days.

Why it matters: Although many had expected Black Myth: Wukong to be one of the year’s biggest releases, the title has exceeded everyone’s expectations.

The sales milestone was just confirmed on the official Twitter account.

Thanks to all players worldwide for your support and love.

-Game Science

This sales milestone makes the action RPG one of this industry’s fastest sellers to date. For context, Elden Ring, Hogwarts Legacy, and even Cyberpunk 2077 were unable to achieve this many sales as quickly.

One game that immediately comes to mind is Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It also sold 10 million units in three days. Anyhow, this is a huge milestone for Game Science.

The action RPG has received a remarkably great reception from fans. It has already gathered over 200K reviews on Steam, and nearly all of them have been positive.

Black Myth: Wukong has also become the fastest-selling title this year. Recent releases like Helldivers 2, which became PlayStation’s fastest-selling title, took around three months to sell 12 million copies.

This proves that Game Science has outperformed everyone this year. It is also important to note that this milestone came through PC and PS5 since the Xbox version is still nowhere to be seen.

Latest Updates

Nonetheless, it’s great to see Chinese developers releasing titles like Black Myth: Wukong. The future of the Chinese gaming industry looks better than ever after such a solid AAA offering.

Black Myth Wukong: Low Review Scores Over Diversity Are Pathetic

August 23, 2024

Story Highlight

Black Myth: Wukong received a low score from certain media outlets due to a lack of inclusivity and diversity.
The game is based on a Chinese novel, so this argument doesn’t make sense at all.
Despite those low scores, the action RPG has made history by becoming the biggest single-player release on Steam.

Lately, Sweet Baby Inc. has popped up on many player’s radars. Most people aren’t fond of this company because it makes irrelevant changes to games to cater to modern audiences. Moreover, these changes often come across as forced and unnecessary.

Over the last few months, Sweet Baby Inc. has been involved in its fair share of controversies. However, the group highlights a broader problem in the industry, which has come up once again with the release of Black Myth: Wukong.

After Game Science refused to work with Sweet Baby Inc, the studio was heavily criticized by certain media outlets. Some outlets then proceeded to cut review points for a supposed lack of inclusivity. Needless to say, this is completely unacceptable.

Why it matters: There’s a lot to discuss about Black Myth: Wukong, but a lack of diversity and inclusivity isn’t one of the things that should be taking up everyone’s attention.

A Monkey As A Main Character Is Not Diverse Enough?

First, let’s understand what diversity actually is. Simply put, it means giving equal rights to different types of people, like different genders and races. However, I don’t understand how and why the diversity point stands in this game.

You are playing as a monkey who aims to beat everyone who comes his way. The lore goes deeper, and it gets pretty interesting. The game is inspired by the Chinese novel Journey to the West, so there is no real concept of modern audiences here.

The characters being of different genders wouldn’t make much sense either. Of course, this story involves Asian people, so the game features Asian people. I don’t think that comes across as much of a surprise.

Why is the diversity argument even a thing here? Perhaps this is happening because Game Science refused to work with Sweet Baby Inc., or maybe every game now needs to come with a forced diversity push.

After about 20 hours with the game, I can say that most of the characters you battle or come across aren’t even human. Do we need diversity for monsters and animals now? Also, there are plenty of female characters to meet if that’s a concern.

Sun Wukong himself is a monkey and comes from a whole race of such people. Suffice it to say, there’s plenty of diversity here.

Black Myth: Wukong Proved Them Wrong

It’s no secret that many want Sweet Baby Inc. gone from the industry. The company previously worked on games like Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, and it’s no secret that this particular release has been a disaster.

Warner Bros. still blames this game for major financial losses to this day. All the diversity in the world couldn’t save Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, and perhaps the time spent on this needless endeavor would have been better spent on refining the things that really matter.

Elsewhere, the likes of Palworld and Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t need Sweet Baby Inc. to become some of this industry’s greatest hits in recent memory. Black Myth: Wukong has found itself in a similar position.

Shattering everyone’s expectations, it ended up breaking several records on Steam. Some have tried to argue that this traffic is mostly coming from China, but this is only natural for a national product that is making headlines for its success.

Most fans also love Black Myth: Wukong, which speaks volumes about its quality. This is why I find the whole campaign about this supposed lack of diversity disingenuous in the first place.

Just Enjoy The Game

My biggest issue with the whole controversy is that everyone seems to be ignoring the real strengths and weaknesses of Black Myth: Wukong.

The game is genuinely fun and a huge testament to Game Science’s talents. Yes, it has problems, including the many technical issues other reviews pointed out. However, a lack of diversity isn’t one of these.

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I’m much more interested in nuanced discussions that focus on the genuine flaws and strengths of Black Myth: Wukong. The story borrows from existing source material, so there’s no point critiquing it for something that has been carried over from Journey to the West.

To be honest, I’m glad Game Science didn’t go out of its way to appeal to modern audiences. The game does not suffer for this supposed lack of diversity.

Star Wars Outlaws To Feature 3 Different Graphical Modes On Consoles

August 23, 2024

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Star Wars Outlaws features three display modes: Quality, Favor Quality, and Performance.
In addition to the standard 30FPS and 60FPS offerings, Massive Entertainment is providing a mode for 40FPS on VRR-supported displays.
Each mode targets different resolutions, allowing fans to choose the most comfortable option.

Ubisoft’s ambitious Star Wars game is right around the corner, and the anticipation is building extensively since recent previews look solid, and fans are quite excited.

Although the PC requirements were already made public a while ago, Ubisoft has yet to share official information on console display modes. However, leaks from a recent stream have confirmed that the game includes three display modes.

Why it matters: Upcoming games like Avowed are coming without 60FPS modes on consoles, so fans are always curious to learn about frame rate targets for new releases.

The review codes for Star Wars Outlaws were sent out a few days ago, and it seems the game is being streamed on Kick.

One such stream has revealed information about the display modes, confirming that Massive Entertainment is offering the standard choice between 30FPS(Quality) and 60FPS(Performance). However, the team is also offering a balanced mode that sits in between.

The Favor Quality mode targets 40FPS on displays that support a 120Hz refresh rate. This mode seemingly runs at a dynamic 4K resolution, while performance mode sees the resoltuon dropping to 1440p.

Favor Quality is said to be targeting 4K, but the actual resolutions will likely be lower in practice, as with most games on PS5 and Xbox Series S|X.

All things considered, Star Wars Outlaws should perform similarly to Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Massive Entertainment’s Snowdrop tech is known for being quite impressive, so fans should not be too concerned on this end.

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Star Wars Outlaws arrives on August 30, marking a bold step forward for gaming adaptations of this iconic IP. Massive Entertainment has taken care to ensure it breaks from Ubisoft’s traditional formula, creating palpable excitement ahead of release.

No, Black Myth: Wukong Isn’t Harder Than Elden Ring’s DLC

August 23, 2024

Story Highlight

Black Myth: Wukong has surpassed everyone’s expectations on launch.
However, following the reviews, some fans were concerned it would be harder than the Elden Ring DLC.
Having finished Shadow of the Erdtree twice and played Black Myth: Wukong for over 20 hours, there’s no comparison.

Black Myth: Wukong has just been released and exceeded everyone’s expectations. The game has managed to surpass 2.1 million concurrent players on Steam, and the reviews are nothing short of stellar either.

However, one particular review has led to a discussion. IGN’s reviewer claimed that he found the game harder than Elden Ring’s DLC, but my experience has been completely different.

If the difficulty is a negative for you, I’m here to say that there’s nothing to really worry about.

Why it matters: Shadow of the Erdtree set a high bar for all future releases in terms of difficulty. The DLC was even criticized for its difficult nature.

The Difficulty of Shadow of The Erdtree

Mesmer Best Boss — Shadow of The Erdtree Has Some of the Hardest Bosses In Gaming History | Image via Tech4Gamers

Shadow of the Erdtree was highly criticized for being too difficult as soon as it was released.

The expansion received a lot of negative reviews because fans were frustrated that the game was hard for them to enjoy. Some streamers also stopped playing it on launch since they received a massive skill check.

One of the most famous Twitch Streamers, Kai Cenat, had to hire a therapist mid-game to be able to beat the final boss. As such, the difficulty was clearly cranked to the maximum. I consider myself a Souls veteran, and it took me well over two hours to defeat Radahn, Consort of Miquella.

Having played almost every Soulsborne title, I believe that Shadow of the Erdtree is the hardest. I think the game’s mechanics were misunderstood by many, which is why the hate it received was unjustified. That said, it featured bosses so hard that they made Malenia look like a cakewalk.

Having completed various no-hit runs on Malaria several times, the DLC still proved a real challenge for me. The first boss, Dancing Lion, was a real skill check for many and took me many tries. Then Messmer, The Impaler, Bayle The Dread, Rellana, and Radahn constantly kept on upping the ante.

However, I had a lot of fun and eventually beat every boss after learning their attack patterns. Rellana and Radahn proved to be the most challenging.

Can Black Myth: Wukong Offer The Same Challenge?

Having played 10 hours of Black Myth: Wukong already, I can say it is nowhere near as difficult as Shadow of the Erdtree. I have no idea how the reviewer thought it was harder since there’s a huge difference in the core design philosophy of both games.

Black Myth: Wukong has been a pretty simple game for me so far. The dodge timing has been pretty forgiving, and the large arsenal of abilities at your disposal makes it so you can make short work of most foes as long as you use these abilities correctly.

The large gap between the player and bosses that Elden Ring presents isn’t nearly as prevalent here. In fact, I would argue Black Myth: Wukong is way more of a power fantasy since you actually feel very strong from the beginning.

On the other hand, Elden Ring was challenging from the beginning. Even the Tree Sentinel and Margit were fairly difficult during the first run since they had many delayed attacks and moves that baited out rolls to punish.

Given the choice, I would rank Black Myth: Wukong right next to the Dark Souls 3 base game experience, which wasn’t that difficult either. You might find a few bosses annoying here and there, but once you get the hand of the core mechanics, it’s easy to power through.

This is the same reason Game Science compared the experience to an action RPG like God of War instead of other Souls-likes. Difficulty isn’t the main focus here.

See For Yourself

If you still have doubts, there’s an easy solution. Buy Black Myth: Wukong on Steam, and give it a shot for 2 hours. You can always resort to a refund if things don’t work out, so there isn’t much of a risk.

If, like me, you have any experience with Souls-like, the action RPG is unlikely to pose a major challenge. However, there’s still a lot of fun to be had, even if you won’t get the satisfaction of overcoming an impossibly strong foe here.

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Like rumors suggested, Black Myth: Wukong is basically a boss rush game, but I’m having trouble putting it down for now. Pulling off all the flashy moves and transformations is just too addicting to step away from.