The
Elite: Dangerous Newsletter #49 that went out a couple of days ago has cause
an uproar among followers and backers, as Frontier Developments announces
Elite: Dangerous will not support an offline mode, even though this feature
was promised, as shown in
this image of a reddit comment on the topic (thanks Joao). There is a
firestorm about this including refund requests on
the game's forums,
including
a post from the game's biggest backer who is demanding his money back: "I
pledged £5,000 for the making of this game and feel deceived. Refund requested
via store." Here's word on the change from the newsletter that's stirred things
up like this:
We have also been able to create a connected experience
which lets you play your own story whilst in a dynamic, ever unfolding galaxy
that is constantly reacting to what you and every other player is doing, be that
trading, combat, exploration or missions. This has become fundamental to the
whole experience.
Going forwards, being online lets us constantly both curate and evolve the
galaxy, with stories unfolding according to the actions of commanders.
Exploration is also a key factor, too, and it is important that what a single
player explores matches what other players explore whether single or multiplayer
– a complex, coherent world – something we have achieved. Galaxy, story,
missions, have to match, and it does mean the single player has to connect to
the server from time to time, but this has the added advantage that everyone can
participate in the activities that can happen in the galaxy. A fully offline
experience would be unacceptably limited and static compared to the dynamic,
ever unfolding experience we are delivering.
The
UbiBlog
now features a bunch of tips on playing
Assassin's Creed Unity. Also, the
Assassin's Creed blog now offers a preview of the upcoming third patch for
the stealth/action sequel, as Ubisoft continues to scramble to address
launch issues. Here's
word:
The list of specific fixes is not yet final, but the categories that
we’re focusing on include:
- Gameplay: this includes bugs like Arno
getting stuck on certain areas of the map (including a few more hay carts),
problems with getting into/out of cover, character animation bugs, and
general camera problems
- AI & Crowd: in this category are problems
with NPC animations, crowd events, and crowd stations, NPC navigation
issues, as well as bugs related to NPCs detecting Arno’s activities in
various situations
- Matchmaking & Connectivity: this covers a
number of issues related to co-op play, including bugs with joining games
in-progress and problems that happen during host migration
- Menus & HUD: fixes in this category will
address missing details in certain menus, problems with some of the mission
objective and co-op update pop-ups, localization inconsistencies, as well as
some of the issues with menus and pop-ups overlapping each other
General Stability: this includes fixes for a number of crash situations
we've identified in both campaign and co-op modes.
Again, while the ultimate list of fixes for Patch 3 isn’t finalized yet, it
will be soon. Part of what we want to do at this point is balance the competing
desires to get as much as we can into the patch with getting it out quickly.
Once we’ve locked down exactly what will be in Patch 3, we will update you again
with a more specific set of patch notes. This next patch won't solve every
problem, but we're expecting that it will dramatically improve your experience.
We are also investigating various performance issues including framerate drops,
and are looking into how we can address them. We’ll tell you more about our
progress on that topic in the coming days.
Steam News announces the
release of
Lords of
Xulima, which carries a 10% discount to celebrate the launch. Here's the
news:
Lords of Xulima is a challenging Role-playing game set on the
mythical continent of Xulima, where Gods and humans once walked side by side.
Experience a genuine RPG featuring over 100 hours of gameplay, and discover one
of the most epic sagas ever told.
Also now available
on Steam
is
Frozen Synapse Prime, the sequel to the turn-based tactics of
Frozen Prime. This is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux, and comes with
a 15% off launch discount. Here's word
from Steam news:
Take
on the role of Tactics, leading a rebel faction to overthrow a powerful
corporation controlling the virtual city of Markov Geist. Control an elite
strike team of futuristic soldiers; plot paths and issue orders to your units,
test your plans and predict your opponent in each turn.
Here's this week's list of last week's bestselling games on
Steam:
- Football Manager 215
- Far Cry Franchise Pack
- Assassin's Creed Unity
- The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
- Valkyria Chronicles
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
- Far Cry 4
- This War of Mine
It was
a decade ago today that
Half-Life
2 was released, so happy 10th birthday to the superb shooter sequel. This
reminds me of the concern at the time over its delays, as opposed to the
perspective from today that the game is a classic. Just a reinforcement of the
game development proverb that a good game is only delayed for a specific period,
but a bad game is bad forever. Here's to good games. Here's to Half-Life 2.
R.I.P.:
Glen A. Larson, Creator of TV’s 'Quincy M.E.,' 'Magnum, P.I.' and 'Battlestar
Galactica,' Dies at 77.
R.I.P.:
Choose Your
Own Adventure - R. A. Montgomery 1936 - 2014. Thanks
Ant via
Slashdot.
Twitter 
