Retrospectiva săptămânii 27 ianuarie - 2 februarie 2019

Epic Store face din nou valuri, de data aceasta asigurându-și exclusivitatea pentru Metro Exodus, un joc până acum disponibil la vânzare și pe Steam. EA cedează până la urmă și renunță la loot boxes în Belgia, s-a închis Wii Shop Channel, în China există de acum meseria de gamer profesionist și avem și multe (poate prea multe) articole bune de citit.

Ştiri

Metro Exodus

• Epic Store continuă seria exclusivităților cu Metro Exodus, cu care marchează și o premieră. Deoarece jocul era deja disponibil pentru precomenzi pe Steam, a fost retras de la vânzare, iar acum se poate precomanda doar prin Epic. ^{(DSOGaming, GamesIndustry.biz, TechRaptor, PC Gamer)}
• Tot în această săptămână a fost anunțată o altă exclusivitate, pentru viitorul joc Operencia: The Stolen Sun, dar care a trecut aproape neobservată în valul de reacții de după anunțul privind noul Metro. ^{(DSOGaming , TechRaptor)}
• Precomenzile de Metro Exodus de pe Steam vor fi onorate, iar exclusivitatea va dura doar un an, dar reacțiile publicului nu au fost deloc pozitive - utilizatorii au lansat un val de review-uri negative pentru precedentele jocuri din seria Metro ^{(Kotaku, PC Gamer, GameDaily.biz, Shacknews, PCGamesN, VG247)} și, tot pentru prima dată, Valve reacționează vizibil față de mutările celor de la Epic și afișează un mesaj pe pagina jocului prin care își cere scuze clienților săi pentru această schimbare, pe care o numește „nedreaptă”. ^{(RPS, Destructoid, GameDaily.biz, VG247)}
• THQ Nordic a dat o declarație prin care clarifică cine și cum a luat decizia, respectiv subsidiara Koch Media, cea care deține efectiv drepturile asupra francizei Metro, și publisherul Deep Silver ^{(Variety, DSOGaming , GamesIndustry.biz, Gamasutra, Wccf tech, PC Gamer)}, iar de partea cealaltă Tim Sweeney apără poziția Epic spunând că exclusivitățile reprezintă o „modalitate legitimă de a face concurență Steam-ului”, suținând că e unul dintre puținele mijloace care pot eroda dominația Steam. ^{(Wccf tech, Reddit thread)}

Alte știri

• EA renunță până la urmă la vânzarea loot box-urilor în Belgia. ^{(Eurogamer, Destructoid, DSOGaming , PCGamesInsider.biz, Ars Technica)}
• S-a închis definitiv Wii Shop Channel, magazinul Nintendo pentru jocuri Wii. ^{(Shacknews, Gamasutra)}
• China adaugă meseria de „gamer” în nomenclatorul profesiilor recunoscute oficial. ^(Variety)
• O săptămână proastă pentru Denuvo: sistemul de protecție a fost scos din Resident Evil 7 ^{(DSOGaming )}, Hitman 2 ^{(DSOGaming , PC Invasion, PCGamesN)}, iar ultima versiune, Denuvo 5.5, folosită pentru a proteja Resident Evil 2 Remake, a fost spartă. ^{(DSOGaming )}
• Fortnite renunță la loot boxes cu conținut necunoscut în modul de joc Save the World. V-Bucks Llama devin X-Ray Llama și vor afișa conținutul înaintea achiziției. ^{(Ars Technica)}

Articole (critică, dev, design)

• Bandersnatch Is Like An Old-School Adventure Game, And That's Not A Good Thing ^{(Games Informer)}
• Top Smash Bros. Commentator Is No Longer Accepting Feedback On Her Speaking Voice ^(Kotaku)
• The Thrill Of Non-Lethal Runs In Games ^{(Games Informer)}
• Keep your damn minigames off my damn adventure game lawn ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Why your favorite devs (probably) don’t want to make a Star Wars game ^(Polygon)
• The Truck Simulator radio stations making waves in the real world ^(Eurogamer)
• My Dad Got Me Into Gaming, Now I’m Repaying The Favor ^{(Games Informer)}
• I Have No Time and I Must Play ^{(Haywire Magazine)}
• Packed up and nowhere to go, where’s the perfect road trip game? ^{(Destructoid)}
• How can you be an expert at a game when you’ve only put a measly 700 hours in? ^{(A.V. Club)}
• GIT GUD — The Argument for Difficulty Settings in Video Games ^(Medium)
• Development of the Modern Platformer Movement ^{(Ethan Chen/Medium)}

Actualitate

Exclusivități Epic Store

• Epic declared war on Steam today ^{(PC Gamer)}
• The Dawn of PC Store Exclusivities ^{(Gamereactor)}
• Epic vs Steam: Exclusives raise the stakes ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Epic Games wants to convince you exclusives are great for PC gaming ^(Polygon)
• It’s great that Epic is trying to compete with Steam, but they’re going about it in the worst way ^(RPS)

Închiderea Wii Shop Channel

• The Wii Shop Channel’s closure marks the death of a piece of Nintendo magic ^(Eurogamer)
• Nintendo Makes It Clear that Piracy Is the Only Way to Preserve Video Game History ^{(Motherboard)}
• Only Pirates Will Save Us ^{(Matthew Koester/Medium)}

Google AlphaStar A.I.

• An AI crushed two human pros at StarCraft—but it wasn’t a fair fight ^{(Ars Technica)}
• Is Alphastar really impressive? ^{(Stefano Solimito/Medium)}
• The Evolution of AlphaStar ^(ITNEXT)

Altele

• Gamedev.world hopes to bring down language barriers that keep creative teams apart ^(Polygon)
• Anthem demo illustrates the challenge of messaging pre-launch play ^{(GameDaily.biz)}
• Why a Farming Simulator esports league isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• Opinion: The latest Assassin’s Creed Odyssey controversy was easily avoidable ^(Gamasutra)

Not-a-review

• Fortnite Save The World Is A Weird, But Fun Co-op Game ^(Kotaku)
• The Joy Of Tacoma’s recorded conversations ^(RPS)
• Elite Dangerous pilots are crossing a dangerous galaxy, and I’m going with them ^(RPS)
• The Brilliant Narrative Design of Subnautica ^{(Outside Your Heaven)} (câteva spoilere)
• There's Something Weirdly Comforting About Playing Games That Are Just 'Okay' ^(Kotaku)
• I’m still playing Artifact, despite the hate – here’s why ^(RPS)
• When collection sparks joy in Red Dead Redemption 2 ^(Polygon)
• 'The Colonists' Is a Cute, Rewarding, and Dystopian Space Exploration Game ^(Waypoint)
• I Wish 'Resident Evil 2' Let Me Be a More Compassionate Hero ^(Waypoint)
• Due Diligence: Not One Forgotten ^{(Haywire Magazine)}
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Sea Shanties Are Actual Greek Poems ^(Kotaku)
• Going Hollow: The Importance of Playing Online in Souls Games ^{(Paste Magazine)}

Industrie

• Video Games’ 2019: Lawsuits, Streaming, Child Safety, Dying Retail ^(Variety)
• The State of the Algorithm: What’s Happening to Indies on Steam? ^(Gamasutra)
• The long decline of the "narrative paramedic" in games writing ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}
• The Artistry, Engineering of Bringing PS4, Xbox One Games to Nintendo’s Switch ^(Variety)

Istorie, retrospectivă

• The fall of Starbreeze ^(Eurogamer)
• Designing the game console of the future (in 1997) ^(Polygon)
• Game over, or not: what became of Steam’s first Early Access games? ^{(The Guardian)}
• A series of ambitious mods continued System Shock 2’s story years after its release ^{(PC Gamer)}
• The Real Story Behind Pioneer, The Troubled Sci-Fi Game Teased In Watch Dogs 2 ^(Kotaku)
• The story behind the Oblivion mod Terry Pratchett worked on ^(Eurogamer)
• The rise and fall of a super-intelligent, self-aware Facebook game ^{(The Verge)}
• The AI video game character that influenced an industry ^{(The Verge)}
• MSX History: The Platform Microsoft Forgot ^(Tedium)
• Piracy helped Earthbound become a cult classic ^(Polygon)
• Esports: From Humble Beginnings To Potential Olympic Sport ^(Medium)
• Forking Hell: A Decade of Devolver Digital ^(Kotaku)
• (Silent Hill 20 ani) From Super Fan to Producer: An Insider's Perspective on Silent Hill ^(USgamer)
• (Silent Hill 20 ani) Silent Hill at 20: the game that taught us to fear ourselves ^{(The Guardian)}
• The Great Console Wars: A Brief History of Consoles and How Competition Birthed the Consoles We… ^(Medium)
• Gaming on the Web: The Rise and Fall of Browser Games ^(Medium)
• Civilization? ^{(Tristan Cliff / Medium)}

Dev, making of

• How making a new strategy game nearly destroyed Civ 5 designer Jon Shafer’s life ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Why Creeper World’s decade-long evolution keeps getting harder ^(RPS)
• Video: How Obsidian built Pillars of Eternity by looking back while moving forward ^(Gamasutra)
• The Moral of the Story: Designing Moral Decisions in Games ^{(Rempton Games)}

Design, world-building, artă

• Fake Maps Are The Best Maps ^(Kotaku)
• A Very Studio Ghibli Road Trip ^(Kotaku)

Made în România

• Jocul PC Building Simulator a ieșit din early access. ^{(PC Gamer)}

Anunţuri şi lansări de jocuri

• American McGee is working on ‘design, art, and story’ for a new Alice game ^{(PC Gamer)}

Anunţate

• Project Z un action RPG în universul Dragon Ball ^(Eurogamer)
• Inmost ^{(Games Informer)}

Acum cu dată de lansare

• Fear the Wolves: 6 februarie ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Jumpgrid: 12 februarie ^(RPS)
• Batalj: 21 februarie ^{(Gamereactor)}
• Galaxy Trucker: 7 martie ^(RPS)
• Windscape 27 martie ^(Shacknews)
• Steel Division 2: 4 aprilie ^{(PC Gamer)}

Amânate

• Ape Out: 28 februarie în loc de 7 februarie ^{(Destructoid)}

Anulate

• 20,000 Leagues Above the Clouds ^(Eurogamer)

Lansate

• 29 ianuarie: Kingdom Hearts III ^{(PlayStation Store, Xbox Store)}
• 29 ianuarie: PC Building Simulator (iese din early access) ^(Steam)
• 29 ianuarie: Volcanoids ^(Steam)
• 29 ianuarie: Genesis Alpha One ^{(Epic Store)}
• 30 ianuarie: Subnautica: Below Zero (early access) ^{(Steam, Discord, Epic Store)}
• 30 ianuarie: Mage’s Initiation: Reign of the Elements ^{(Steam, gog.com)}
• 31 ianuarie: Sunless Skies ^{(Steam, gog.com)}
• 31 ianuarie: Re-Legion ^(Steam)
• 31 ianuarie: Praey for the Gods (early access) ^(Steam)
• 31 ianuarie: Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times ^(Steam)
• 31 ianuarie: Lovecraft’s Untold Stories ^{(Steam, gog.com)}
• 1 februarie: Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown ^(Steam)
• 1 februarie: Spinnortality | cyberpunk management sim ^(Steam)
• 1 februarie: Foundation (early access) ^{(Steam, gog.com)}
• 1 februarie: Rainswept ^(gog.com)
• 1 februarie: Wargroove ^(Steam)

Prăvălii de jocuri

• What the Epic Store is missing right now ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Should PC games cost less on Epic’s Games Store? ^{(Ars Technica)}

Știri

• 500+ Games Are Backwards Compatible On Xbox One And More Interesting Stats ^(Kotaku)
• Guardians of Ember, delisted from Steam last year for review manipulation, is coming back ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Dauntless is joining the Epic Games Store ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Opt-in review system in the works for Epic Games Store ^{(GamesIndustry.biz)}

Jocuri noi în catalog

• Here's February 2019's Xbox Live Games With Gold Lineup ^(Kotaku)
• PlayStation Plus offers Hitman, For Honor, 100 GB cloud storage in February ^(Polygon)
• Twitch Prime’s free games for February include Downwell, Dear Esther ^(Eurogamer)

Jocuri gratis și free weekend

• Betray your friends in the Project Winter open beta this weekend ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Anthem jets into a free-for-all open demo weekend ^(RPS)
• Ubisoft Celebrates Lunar New Year With Free Game ^{(Games Informer)}
• Kholat, the Sean Bean-narrated game about dead Russian hikers, is free on Steam ^{(PC Gamer)}

Reduceri și promoții

• New Humble Bundle includes over $200 worth of indie PS4 games for $15 ^(Polygon)
• The PS Plus Specials sale has deals on Astro Bot, WipEout, and Resident Evil 7 ^{(Destructoid)}
• The Fanatical Deluxe Mystery Game returns for $4 ^{(PC Gamer)}
• The Sims 4 Anniversary Sale is live, get the base game and expansions for 20-75% off ^{(PC Gamer)}
• Best PC gaming deals of the week – 1st February 2019 ^(RPS)
• Weekend Console Download Deals for Feb. 1: The Big Game edition ^(Shacknews)
• Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Earth Defense Force 4.1, and Cultist Simulator added to Humble Monthly ^(Polygon)
• Weekend PC Download Deals for Feb 1: Are you ready for some football? ^(Shacknews)

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