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MP1st Reader Blog: The Transition to PS4 – A PS3 Retrospective

by MP1st

May 28, 2013 12:18 am in Features

The MP1st reader blog is an open discussion lead by MP1st readers about the multiplayer titles and topics we cover. To learn how to have your voice heard, check out the Blog section on the MP1st Forums in the Multiplayer’s Lounge.

Preface: Allow me to start by saying that I am somewhat of a Sony fanboy. I have only played an Xbox once, but I research and know enough people to say I am well-versed in the topic. The main course of this post is tailored to PS3 users, but several games could overlap with 360 users. I will provide my personal experiences that define this generation in large-scale and really make it personal to me. Hopefully, you find it quite an enjoyable read and learn something or two that can help you make the most of the PS3’s closing months.

Without further ado…

In honor of the emergence of XboxOne and PS4 and the end of my school year, I have become quite reflective over the past few years of my life which were coincidentally made up of PS3 and schoolwork. That being said, allow me to elaborate on my history with the PS3. I saved up for years to by one of the first $600 PS3s all on my own (as a middle schooler, this was a daunting task). I didn’t start online gaming until two years later with MW2. My first PS3 blew up two years later; I got a refurbished one from Sony after sending in the dead one and paying $200. This refurbished one bit the dust ten months later, and I repaired it. Then it too was nothing more than a technological door stop. I capitulated into buying a PS3 slim, of which I still have now.

Now onto the most memorable parts of the PS3 experience—the games! This is a comprehensive list of all the games of this generation that have been in my disk tray the most. Not only are these some of the best games out there, but they also are top games YOU should PLAY before moving onto the next generation. I’ve tried to cover all the bases on this one (bar racing games—none have impacted me greatly this time ).

1. UNCHARTED

As the flagship PS3 exclusive, no surprise here. Great story, graphics, cooperative modes, everything. I’d recommend #2 for it’s superior campaign and multiplayer, however it is more mature in terms of expletives.

2. THE LAST OF US

Naughty Dog hopes to strike again with the spiritual successor to Uncharted with TLoU. This game is a definite pick-up here soon. It has some of the best emotion-filled, realistic dialogue and environments.

3. INFAMOUS

Another exclusive Sony title that also has a great story and atmosphere. This game is undoubtedly the best superhero adventure game currently. The morality choices really make it feel like the power is yours. #1 is slightly greater than #2, but be prepared for Second Son coming out soon on PS4

4. GOD OF WAR

And yet another exclusive brought to you by Sony Santa Monica. The graphics in these games are AMAZING. And of course the raging epic of Kratos is unforgettable in terms of scale and EPICNESS. Ascension has an interesting take on multiplayer that compromises the story slightly but is equally unique and rewarding. #3 is definitely a greatest hit.

5. JOURNEY

One of the few PSN titles that make this list. This game is short, about 3 hours, and I encourage a full playthrough because of its powerful, captivating, emotional, and simple. A minor cost for a really moving game.

6. MASS EFFECT

Undoubtedly the greatest sci-fi RPG series of the decade. Tough choices, tons of customization options, and of course RPG elements made me love this game. The story is really gripping and combat with the biotic powers makes it more than just another squad/cover shooter. #3 has a cooperative mode that should serve as the model for any future games. I recommend getting the trilogy collection, as your character can transfer between games!

7. THE WALKING DEAD

This episodic narrative is the MOST BEST AWESOME PSN game of my life. Not only is the story-telling superb, but the quick MORALITY choices are SPECTACULAR. Tough decisions all over the place. The only downside is that it costs nearly the same amount as a retail game.

8. RED DEAD REDEMPTION

Possibly the best open-world western game ever. The sheer scale and realism does much justice in the lawless lands around the Mexican border. John Marston is a likable but yet conflicted protagonist that sells the whole game. The story may drag on a bit at times; multiplayer isn’t half bad either. I’m currently finishing this game up.

9. LORD OF THE RINGS CONQUEST

This might be the “worst” game on this list but it is the spiritual successor to Pandemic’s Star Wars Battlefront series. This is a game I really wish was more popular because the class-based multiplayer battles are gorgeous, epic, and full of checks-and-balances. Unfortunately, the servers are dead. But if you barely like LoTR, you can enjoy this game a ton still.

10. DYNASTY WARRIORS 6/SENGOKU BASARA SAMURAI HEROES

Both of these games are considered to be Japanese-focused hack’n’slash, however they are GREAT historically and strategically. Also, DW6:Empires is even better if you like custom characters. These games are great time-holes and great for killing a ton of things after a rough day rather easily. SB:SH is based of an anime which is based of the epitome of feudal Japan. Both are great local coop games, and I highly encourage you to try both as they play differently.

11. STREET FIGHTER IV/MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3/ MORTAL KOMBAT

Many great reboot games came out on the PS3, and there is enough here to satisfy any fighting game fanatic. Mortal Kombat has never looked as gory-ly beautiful, and the other two have unique art styles as well. These are some of the best competitive games out there and are played at EVO consistently. They are great fun especially with friends.

12. GUITAR HERO 3/ROCK BAND 3

The golden age of the music genre was really early in the PS3’s cycle. Guitar Hero 3 is significant in part by its set list which contains the most challenging songs of all time by Dragonforce. Rock Band introduced the world to vocals, drums, and keyboard which allow for an even larger scale fun time. RB3 also has the largest online library of songs ever; you will find something you like. I honestly cannot count the amount of GH3/RB3 parties I’ve been to. One time I even hit 92% on Through the Fire and the Flames. I used to play Rock Band with my whole family. Unfortunately, music games have taken a downward turn.

13. BATTLEFIELD BAD COMPANY 3/ BATTLEFIELD 3

The only competition to the Call of Duty machine. These games provide better graphics, gameplay, connection, and realism. Destructibility, vehicles, expansive DLC, and set classes really set it apart. The downsides might be longer battles and glitchiness. Basically this is the alternative to CoD. Bad Company 2, I hope, should get a sequel on PS4 as will BF3. Remember to bring some friends into your squad because tactics and communication are paramount. Story modes on these are nothing more than a B-movie though.

14. CALL OF DUTY: MW series/ Treyarch series

Undoubtedly, the game that brought MLG to the limelight on consoles was CoD:4. This game has been the singular reason why we have soooooo many modern shooters out today. MW2 further accentuated this by becoming the greatest release in entertainment history (until its successors). I spent over 16 days on MW2, and I have to say that it is better than the more recent titles in terms of graphics and connectivity. I could go on a CoD rant for hours, but I will limit my scope here to positives. Campaigns on these games are rather linear however the MWs are more typical action movies and Treyarchs are moving thrillers, both quite short. The MW series feels more complete to me in terms of online modes; Treyarch series always falls short whether it be graphics, glitches, connectivity, etc. The one thing I recommend over MWs is Treyarch’s zombies until BO2. If you could only buy 3 CoDs, I’d say MW1, MW2, and Black Ops 1. All games were central to MLG, have stellar stories, and boast better multiplayer modes. Someday I might devote an entire entry into my reasoning here.

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that all these great games are actually NOT new, bar TLoU. To get the optimal last legs out of your PS3, I HIGHLY suggest you look into this list of games.

Honorable Mentions: SKYRIM, BORDERLANDS 2, ASSASSIN’S CREED, CRYSIS, LITTLE BIG PLANET, DJ HERO, 2k SPORTS, BATMAN ARKHAM series, and whatever else I can’t remember at this time.

To wrap things up, I believe the PS4 will surpass the XboxOne in terms of games. By looking at the console presentations, already XboxOne has marketed itself as a “TV replacer” and PS4 as an “imagination” center. With E3 only days away, I have a few predictions to make that would be practical and awesome as a GAMER.

Wii U should unveil the next SMASH BROS. This is the only way to really garner any support left for the system. Sony should unveil KINGDOM HEARTS 3, STREET FIGHTER V, BF4, and more on DESTINY and what was already shown in their conference. Microsoft needs to come out HUGE with their first-party studios to make up for the lackluster CoD: Ghosts reveal. I really want a pricepoint and much more details on specs and system functions just so I can preorder the system already.

Annnnnndddd that’s a wrap! I hope you all enjoyed this!

Author: Palkiabros

Check out the original blog post on the MP1st forums right here.

Tags: PS3 PS4 Sony

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MP1st Reader Blog: Is An Always Online Console Really That Bad?

by MP1st

12:18 am in Features

With recent rumors heating up about the next Xbox being “Always-Online”, it seems to many that it’s the worst idea to ever face a console; Because who in their right gaming mind would want that? But, is it really that bad? Read on, and let the discussion begin.

First off, to honestly get the most out of your game, you need to be connected to the internet. Not only does being connected give you access to things like bonus content, multiplayer, and patches that fix game breaking bugs, but it also lets you play online with friends who have the same game. With no internet, you get none of those things, and while single player games seem like the route to go, they are becoming the minority of gaming. So many publishers and developers are finding that multiplayer expands the time of playing the game, increases profit, and cuts down the need for a story.

The rumor that surrounds the next Xbox is like a red ring of death(first pun, whaddup) and a lot of people wonder “What happens if Xbox Live goes down?”. Well the thing is, Xbox Live has only been down twice, once for an overload of new members during the holiday season, and a second time for sign-in issues that were fixed within the hour. Xbox Live is very reliable when it comes to staying online for the millions of users who are subscribed to their services, so rest assured that if it does go down again, it won’t be the end of your gaming career.

One thing that I think we all hate, is coming home from work or school after the release of new maps or updates and having to download them, and wait. With the console being always online, it could feature automatic background updates for the games you play, and the add-ons you pre-purchase. No need to wait anymore on the edge of your seat to play the new maps or use the new weapons everyone has been talking about, just power up and jump right into it.

Now, no good argument is ever without flaws, so here are some of the most prominent ones to the points made above.

Slow internet speeds are really the main problem people have with an always online console. If it is implemented, then even navigating the dashboard can be a slow annoyance, and those wishing to play their single player games now have to deal with lag.

Those of us who are soldiers, travelers, or just outdoorsmen who enjoy gaming on the go really get jipped. If you don’t have an internet connection, then you can’t play, and after a long day of shooting, driving, or fishing you just want to relax; But if this happens, then more stress shall follow.

If Xbox Live does crash, then we are all honestly screwed out of our day of play, and not only will it make gamers across the globe angry, it might even convince them to switch over to the PlayStation side.

In the end, we’ve gone over the best and worst of this debacle. Is an always online console really that bad after reading what you’ve read? Let us know in the comment section below.

Author: Pieky

Check out the original blog post on the MP1st forums right here.

Tags: Always Online Microsoft Xbox Xbox One

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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Lets Players Police Others With New “Overwatch” Feature

by David Veselka

May 27, 2013 11:28 pm in News

Valve has introduced a new feature to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that will allow members of the community to police problematic behavior.

The program, called “Overwatch,” will designate “qualified and experienced members of the community” as “investigators” who will be given the option to review reports of disruptive behavior, determine the legitimacy of each report, and even issue bans, if necessary.

If they so choose, investigators will be able to review pending cases by examining eight rounds worth of randomly selected gameplay from a reported player, known as “the suspect.” The investigator will then need to determine if the suspect’s actions are “majorly disruptive,” “minorly disruptive,” or if there is “insufficient evidence.” If investigators collectively agree that an offense is severe enough, bans may be issued.

There are a number of factors that determine eligibility to become an investigator, including competitive wins, account age, hours played, Skill Group, low report count, etc. There are also many ways in which investigators are “scored.”

You can catch more specific details on the official CS:GO page.

Valve writes, “during the beta, the system will issue fewer cases and the results will be reviewed and analyzed before any bans go into effect. The system will be adjusted for reliability and accuracy. As the system is tuned, more cases will be made available to more prospective investigators, and eventually the system will become community-driven.”

Thanks, Joystiq.

Tags: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive CS:GO Featured PC Valve

David Veselka

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Is Crysis 3’s Rumored DLC Set In The Tropics?

by David Veselka

12:37 pm in News

Last week, a list of additional Crysis 3 Xbox Live Achievements were outed, suggesting Crytek’s latest FPS would be receiving it’s first set of downloadable content in the near future.

To add fuel to the speculative fire, Crytek has recently been publishing a number of images on their social media channels, suggeting that new content is indeed on its way.

However, rather than teasing never-before-seen images of unannounced Crysis 3 content, the studio has been going back in time, releasing screens that show off some of the tropical scenery that predominantly made up the setting of the original Crysis.

It all started with this desktop wallpaper, showing off what seems to be a location from the first game, but with something else: some sort of (new?) weapon in the bottom right-hand corner.

The studio went on to publish these images, also of what seem like locations from the original Crysis.

In this last image (below), we noticed something rather interesting. Check out the lens flare in the top right-hand corner, a visual effect that was not present in the first two numbered Crysis games. This might suggest that the location below was built as a location for Crysis 3.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, Crytek recently outed this image (thanks, Pixel Enemy) of a brand new weapon, the CLAW, with the caption, “One of these weapons is very different to the other. COMMENT on which one you would most like to carry into combat?”

While new content for Crysis 3 sounds exciting, some of you may remember what that did to Crysis 2. Hopefully, Crytek doesn’t split an already dwindling Crysis 3 community by releasing paid multiplayer DLC that only half of us will purchase.

Regardless, we can be sure something is coming. After all Crytek did outline “big” plans to support Crysis 3 post-launch, which they said ‘might differ from the expected map pack or new game modes like additional campaign or co-op experiences.’

We want to know, would you play Crysis 3 DLC – single player or multiplayer – set in the tropics?

Tags: Crysis 3 DLC Featured PC PS3 Xbox 360

David Veselka

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DayZ Standalone Testing Underway, Will Adopt a Minecraft-Like Pricing Model For Alpha, Beta, and Final Release

by David Veselka

11:47 am in News

DayZ creator talks about the studio’s upcoming plans as they prepare for the impending release of the game’s standalone version.

Speaking to Gamasturtra, Dean “Rocket” Hall reveals that DayZ Standalone will adopt a Minecraft-like model when it comes to pricing. “So what we’re doing at the moment is, we gave free keys as a gift to the forum moderators, the Reddit moderators, people who helped out with DayZ development, and stuff like that,” said Hall. “I guess there’s about 30-100 people involved with that.”

“From here, once we’ve finished our server/client architecture — because we’re moving it an MMO model — we’re reviewing the situation of that in June, and then we do an alpha, just like Minecraft. People pay X amount of dollars and they get early, cheap access to it, and then once it’s beta, price goes up, maybe, say, $10, and once it goes retail, the price goes up $10.”

When asked about Alpha testing and when it will actually commence, Hall mentioned that testers are “…already in. They’re already playing it. It’s good… We’re only running one server. We are doing content updates all the time.”

He expressed gratitude toward Valve and their involvement in the testing process. “The Steam model is really working well for us,” he explained.” Valve approached us and they said, ‘What do you guys want, to make things easier?’ and we said, ‘Well, we want delta patching.’ Luckily they were just about to bring that out. That’s where, instead of downloading the whole file when it updates, it just downloads the part [that has changed.]

“And it’s already built into our build process. So the artists, they download the game via Steam, and our internal development process uses Steam to patch their stuff. So when people join the alpha, we have a little dropdown box, which is two builds — this is once we go paying — you can choose the stable, or the experimental. The experimental one is literally what is on the developer’s desktop. And so people will be able to choose which one they want to play on. If they want to see what the developers were working on today, they can choose the experimental build.

“We don’t necessarily know how it’s going to go. A lot of this is an experiment. But I think it’s a cool experiment, and we’re lucky that we can do that, because of the success of DayZ and the sales of Arma 2, it’s kind of given us carte blanche to experiment. And we’re going to make a lot of mistakes, and we do, but I think that’s good. It’s good for the title and it’s good for us to do.”

Source: Gamasutra

Tags: Alpha Testing Bohemia Interactive DayZ DayZ Standalone Featured

David Veselka

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TAKEDOWN Devs Mock Call of Duty: Ghosts Dog In Humorous Video Response

by David Veselka

May 26, 2013 9:45 pm in News

That Call of Duty: Ghosts will include a dog as an important member of your squad throughout the game’s single player campaign has a number of fans, and even other game developers scratching their heads.

Developers of the upcoming tactical shooter TAKEDOWN: Red Sabre, Serellan studios, have joined in on the mockery and have even gone as far as making a rather funny video response to IW head Mark Rubin’s presentation in a recent COD: Ghosts behind the scenes video.

Check out Serellan’s parody below:

[youtube id=”Bt89rHCjC_M” width=”618″ height=”378″]

What do you guys think? Does the COD Dog have the potential to add some more emotion to Ghosts’ story line, or do you take it to be a simple gimmick?

Thanks, DualShockers

Tags: Call of Duty: Ghosts Featured Infinity Ward PC PS3 PS4 Serellan Takedown: Red Sabre Xbox 360 Xbox One

David Veselka

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List of Confirmed Xbox One and PlayStation 4 Games So Far

by David Veselka

11:27 am in News

We’ve got a list of next-generation games that are currently confirmed to launch on Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4.

From Battlefield 4 to Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Destiny to Killzone: Shadow Fall, there are a number of titles to look forward to in the coming months.

We’ve employed the help of IGN’s wiki, but if you guys see any titles that are missing (that you can confirm are 100% showing up on any of these platforms), we’ll be happy to add it. Just let us know in the comments.

Take a look and let us know which games have you most excited!

Confirmed Xbox One Games

Assassin’s Creed 4 \ Ubisoft Montreal \ October 29, 2013 (current-gen)
Battlefield 4 \ Digital Illusions CE \ October 29, 2013 (current-gen)
Call of Duty: Ghosts \ Infinity Ward \ November 5, 2013 (current-gen)
Destiny \ Bungie \ TBD
Dying Light \ Techland \ TBD
EA Sports UFC \ EA Sports \ TBD
The Evil Within \ Bethesda \ TBD
FIFA Soccer 14 \ EA Sports \ TBD
Forza Motorsport 5 \ Turn 10 \ TBD
Madden 25 \ EA Sports \ TBD
NBA Live 14 \ EA Sports \ TBD
Need for Speed Rivals \ Ghost Games \ TBD
Quantum Break \ Remedy Entertainment \ TBD
Ryse \ Crytek \ TBD
Thief \ Eidos Montreal \ TBD
Watch Dogs \ Ubisoft Montreal \ November 19, 2013 (current-gen)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt \ CD Projekt RED \ 2014
Wolfenstein: The New Order \ Machine Games \ TBD

Note: Microsoft has also claimed that they will launch 15 Xbox One exclusives in the first year of launch, 8 of which are brand new franchises.

Confirms PlayStation 4 Games

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag \ Ubisoft \ October 29, 2013 (current-gen)
Battlefield 4 \ Digital Illusions CE \ October 29, 2013 (current-gen)
Beyond Good & Evil 2 \ Ubisoft Montpellier \ TBD
Blacklight: Retribution \ Zombie Studios \ TBD
Call of Duty: Ghosts \ Infinity Ward \ November 05, 2013 (current-gen)
Deep Down \ Capcom \ TBD
Destiny \ Bungie \ TBD
Diablo III \ Blizzard Entertainment \ TBD
DriveClub \ Evolution Studios \ TBD
Dying Light \ Techland \ TBD
EA Sports UFC \ EA Sports \ TBD
The Evil Within \ Tango Games \ 2014
FIFA Soccer 14 \ EA Sports \ TBD
Final Fantasty (PS4) \ Square Enix \ TBD
Infamous: Second Sun \ Sucker Punch \ TBD
Knack \ Studio Japan \ TBD
Killzone: Shadow Fall \ Guerrilla Games \ TBD
Madden 25 \ EA Sports \ TBD
NBA Live 14 \ EA Sports \ TBD
Need for Speed \ Ghost Games \ TBD
Primal Carnage: Genisis \ Lukewarm Media \ TBD
Sniper Elite 3 \ 505 Games \ TBD
Thief \ Eidos Montreal \ TBD
War Thunder \ Gaijin Entertainment \ Fall 2013
Watch Dogs \ Ubisoft Montreal \ November 19, 2013 (current-gen)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt \ CD Projekt RED \ 2014
The Witness \ Thekla, Inc \ TBD
Wolfenstein: The New Order \ Machine Games \ TBD

Games “Coming to Next-Gen”

Star Wars Game \ Visceral Games
Dragon Age III: Inquisition \ BioWare
Human Element \ Robotaki
Spec Ops \ Yager

Tags: Featured List of Next-Gen Games Microsoft Next-Gen PS4 Sony Xbox One

David Veselka

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Home > Features

Call of Duty: Ghosts – Next-Gen or Not?

by MP1st Staff

May 25, 2013 1:01 pm in Features

In recent articles here on MP1st, there seems to be a lot of controversy about what makes a new game engine and what doesn’t. Is the engine of Call of Duty: Ghosts new, or is it a copy/paste job from the last generation of console hardware? In a very strict sense, no. It is not a brand new engine. But that in itself is not a bad thing. The actual answer is, as usual, a lot more nuanced.

Before you can judge whether an engine is worthy of being called “next-gen”, you need to know what a game engine does. A game engine doesn’t just draw the picture on the screen. A game engine does literally everything. I probably didn’t make that clear enough. Everything.

Everything?

So, what exactly does everything mean? I can’t go into details or even just mention everything that goes on, but I can give a simplified view. First of all, an engine checks the available hardware. This goes from processor speed to available RAM to whether the internet is connected, USB accessories are attached and more. This is quite an extensive process on PC, but even on consoles, this happens to a lesser extent. Once that is done you can launch your graphical interface. But that’s not the end of the line. A game also needs to load data and all that data needs to be represented inside the memory somehow. Just how to load, store, and retrieve big amounts of data is a science on its own. The engine is constantly using caches, dozens of different data structures, and is managing and keeping track of where everything is, and making sure you don’t run out of memory. This is not something you think about when you run a game, but it is extremely critical and very complex for modern day games, even on current-gen consoles.

But once again, it doesn’t stop there. If all this works as it should, you can now start loading your intro videos. So, what’s next? You need to show the main menu. Menus are another data structure you need to be able to display at different depths. It is not as complicated as most of the other parts of a game, but a game needs to have a system that allows designers to easily change the structure and look of the menu without having to touch the underlying code too often. A game also needs to intercept commands from the user. This can be your controller, but increasingly often, voice commands and gestures as well. What button or command does what at what time is another system that needs to run. Depending on where you are in the menu or game, buttons can do different things, so it’s not as easy as binding a button to a single action. The input manager needs to be context aware. Also, people like sound. Using the detection code the game ran before launch, it knows which audio device to send audio to. For now it will be just a simple .mp3 file or some other format.

Oh, before I forget: If you happen to plug in your headphones, or your controller loses connection, a game needs to handle that as well. There is a system constantly listening to messages from the underlying operating system about changes in hardware. It needs to make sure that at any point in time those changes get resolved as elegantly as possible. Not a simple task.

The main menu

So with all those systems up and running, we made it to the main menu! Awesome. You’re reading this on MP1st, so I’ll assume you’d want to launch multiplayer next. For this, you need internet connectivity. This is usually handled by the OS, but you still need a system that handles all the different requests a game can make. Again, efficiently and correctly transferring data over a network is a science on its own, so what follows is very simplified: The game will send a request to some master server, asking for available servers or lobbies. In a lobby format, the game usually tries to determine which result will provide the best latency. For dedicated servers, it usually just shows you the list and lets you decide. When you connect to a server (dedicated or not), a lot of data goes back and forth so both sides know who’s who and what’s up.

The server accepts your connection and you’re finally about ready to play… after the loading screen. Every single thing the game has to be loaded now using that memory manager system I described above. This will be many gigabytes and tens, if not hundreds of thousands of different files that need to be stored in data structures. With everything loaded, it’s time to start rendering. But what do we have to render? And how? Whether you are in single player or not, on a dedicated server or P2P, your game needs a representation of the game world at all times. This is not the image you see on the screen, but is an abstract representation of the current state of the game. It includes objects with their current state, location, rotation and special properties, but also zones where different sounds have to play, particles like ejected bullets, places where you can do special actions like vaulting a wall and much much much more. In a multiplayer session, every single player has their own unique version of the game world. Keeping those in sync is a very hard problem to solve and that’s where the dreaded “lag compensation” comes in, as one solution. Every frame, time advances, and the whole thing gets updated. Physics, updates from the server, actions by the player… they all get applied in this abstract representation of the game world.

Finally, 3D!

Only now does the 3D renderer kick in. One of the first things it does is decide what objects are in vision of the current view and which parts. This is a very fundamental part of the renderer because if done right, you only render exactly what you need. If done wrong you throw away a lot of performance on things the player doesn’t see. Once it knows what to render, it draws all the objects from the correct angle and position. But it doesn’t do just that. It also makes a representation of the angles of each surface for every pixel, how far away it is from the camera, how reflective it is and much much more. Once it has this data, it can start applying lighting effects. Once the lighting is done (among other things), it all goes through post processing, the UI is drawn on top of it, and that’s what makes it to the screen.

Most of the rendering systems do exactly what they are told to do. If you want to know how far away pixels are from the camera and you have a good algorithm for that, that’s all you’ll ever need for that problem. There is no point in throwing out working systems, only to rewrite them to do exactly the same. Throwing out a whole engine, in general, is a bad idea unless there are some big technological barriers stopping you from improving it. If a developer wants to improve the lighting in their game, all they need to do is improve the lighting step of the renderer. Many of the new features you find in modern engines are building blocks that plug right into the rendering pipeline, as they call it. There are a lot of technical and mathematical challenges to many fancy rendering techniques.

Call of Duty: Ghosts: next-gen or not?

Using the extra horse power, the CoD:Ghosts engine significantly improved many parts of the renderer and added many others. It will probably not be as pretty as Battlefield 4, but then again, it will run at twice the framerate. Both Frostbite 3 and the new CoD engine are “next-gen”, even though neither is completely new. Both will become better as time goes on. As a good example, compare CoD2 with BO2, or the original Bad Company with Battlefield 3. This is just the first wave of games for the new consoles. The best has yet to come. Throwing out perfectly working engines instead of improving on them will only slow that process down.

So next time an engine is “just” an improved version of the previous version. Don’t light your torches or get out the pitch forks. Give it a fair shot. Great software is like great wine. It takes time. Two years of improving will have a much greater effect than two years of doing everything from scratch again.

In the end, we are all winners because we will all get better games built on better engines. As a PC gamer, I can definitely appreciate good graphics, but at the end of the day, the only thing that matters to me when playing games is having fun. Play the game you want to play, and let others do the same. Good times are coming, so let’s just enjoy them instead of fighting about it on the internet!

Tags: Battlefield Battlefield 4 BF4 Call of Duty Call of Duty: Ghosts COD Ghosts Featured Frostbite 3 Next-Gen Next-Gen Engine

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Black Ops 2 – Leaked In-Game Footage of Hidden Weapon Camos [Updated]

by David Veselka

12:15 pm in News

Yesterday, YouTuber TheJaRniBoi gave us an in-game glimpse of some of the upcoming Black Ops 2 DLC weapon camos by searching through some of the Black Ops 2 game files on his PS3.

These are the same four camos that are currently being voted on to see which two will make the cut to become available as in-game, DLC micro-transactions, along with customized weapon reticles and calling cards, all which will become available on May 29.

Through his exploration, TheJaRniBoi was also able to find and unlock a number of hidden Black Ops 2 camos, ones that were never intended for release, but were tucked away somewhere in the game’s files.

Here’s what he found.

Blue Tiger Camo

[youtube id=”TFkgDzjnkAY#!” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Zombies Pap Camo

[youtube id=”GmipDRJGBlU#!” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Ice Blue Camo

[youtube id=”21fSoHAmUno#!” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Dev Camo

[youtube id=”936erWBgbsM#!” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Nevada Camo

[youtube id=”ConNwt0XCak#!” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Swamp Camo

[youtube id=”QrHmOrYcEKE” width=”618″ height=”378″]

UPDATE: More camos

Tiger Camo

[youtube id=”N43cwA3yBZ4″ width=”618″ height=”378″]

Electric Camo

[youtube id=”ltMOw5fE3Zo” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Flora Camo

[youtube id=”4kvj1tCxbAE” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Sahara Camo

[youtube id=”id-YdlWWfJk” width=”618″ height=”378″]

What do you guys think? Any camos you find cool enough that should have made it to the final game?

Source: MP1st Forums

Tags: Black Ops 2 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 DLC Featured PC PS3 Weapon Camos Xbox 360

David Veselka

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Black Ops 2 – Leaked In-Game Footage of New DLC Weapon Camos

by David Veselka

May 24, 2013 10:06 pm in News

This weekend, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 players are in the midst of voting for a new set of weapon camos that will become available for download as an in-game micro-transaction later, on May 29.

When the polls close May 28, the two of the four will be selected as winners, along with a matching set of weapon reticles and player cards.

Other than these images, there’s really no way to see what they will actually look like in-game. That’s why YouTuber TheJaRniBoi, the same reader who first spotted the Call of Duty: Ghosts weapon camo in Black Ops 2’s game files last month, has sent us a set of videos showing off each camo in-game by the same means.

Check them out!

Comic Camo

[youtube id=”QtS-sCyOKvY” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Cyborg Camo

[youtube id=”TLTkRGEGPvQ” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Dragon Camo

[youtube id=”SSZee4vYFWc” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Paladin Camo

[youtube id=”YtmsNnN9mTM” width=”618″ height=”378″]

Tags: Black Ops 2 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 DLC Featured PC PS3 Weapon Camo Xbox 360

David Veselka

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Splinter Cell: Blacklist – Live Action Spies vs. Mercs

by David Veselka

6:42 pm in Videos

Corridor Digital are at it again, this time with a brand new, live-action rendition of Spies vs. Mercs, a classic, competitive multiplayer mode returning in Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist this summer.

[youtube id=”rNm6qGwx5kI#!” width=”618″ height=”378″]

There’s also a pretty cool behind the scenes video worth checking out.

You can learn more about Spies vs. Mercs and even check out some developer commentary in our earlier report. Ubisoft plans to deliver an “intelligent” multiplayer experience with SvM and has recently unveiled the first trailer for the game’s co-op component.

Splinter cell hits the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC this August 20. Check out all your pre-order options, including limited editions, right here.

Thanks, GameInformer

Tags: Blacklist Featured PC PS3 Spies vs. Mercs Splinter Cell Splinter Cell Blacklist Xbox 360

David Veselka

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Xbox One – Internet Connection Required to Authenticate Games Regularly, No Used Game Fees

by David Veselka

4:49 pm in News

Earlier, we reported the possibility of Microsoft’s Xbox One requiring an internet connection, but not all the time.

According to sources speaking to Polygon, we learned today that the system “will require a regular online spot check to verify the authenticity of games being played,” writes author Brian Crecente.

Before getting all up in arms, he also writes that “while an internet connection will be required for the console, the company is also experimenting with special exemption codes that could be given to select people in very particular, internet-free situations, like active-duty soldiers serving in war zones.”

It’s worth noting, however, that the sort of system Microsoft decides to use for used games and authentication is still up for debate within the company and is not finalized. As written by Xbox Live’s Larry “Major Nelzon” Hyrb, Microsoft “will disclose more information in the near future.”

Sources also say that officials have yet to determine the interval of time between checks, though a regular schedule of checks will be required to play games.

These checks will allegedly authenticate games by using an encryption code built into the game’s disc that will be installed to the hard drive. An internet connection will then be required to regularly verify that authentication code tied with that hard drive. If that game is installed to another hard drive on a different Xbox One, it will be deauthenticated on the original machine until re-installed.

Luckily, it is said that Microsoft will not charge gamers to reactivate a used game.

Thanks, Polygon.

Tags: Always Online Featured Microsoft Used Games Xbox Xbox One

David Veselka

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Destiny on PC and Cross-Platform Saves a Possibility

by David Veselka

4:05 pm in News

Bungie is discussing the possibility of their open-world, shared-shooter Destiny getting a PC release, along with the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, including the potential for cross-platform saves.

Speaking to IGN, Bungie senior writer and head of community Eric Osborne explained, “we haven’t said yes, and we haven’t said no,” in response to an inquiry about a PC version of the game. “The more platforms we take on, the more work it ultimately becomes, and what we don’t want is to compromise the core experience on any platforms. We have a lot of people who play on PCs. We have a lot of appetite to build that experience. We haven’t announced it yet, but we’re looking forward to talking more about that kind of stuff in the future.”

On the idea of cross-platform saves, Osborne said, “For us, [platforms] are purely agnostic. Any data on our back-end servers and services, like Bungie.net, are ours. We control it, we can do a bunch of fun stuff on that side. So for us, we want to absolutely do the right things for players. But there are some complexities we have to solve that are outside our control. But we’re absolutely pushing to solve some of those things. We don’t have anything to announce, but hopefully in the future we will.”

Destiny will receive a proper gameplay reveal during this year’s E3 on June 10.

Thanks, IGN.

Tags: Bungie Destiny Featured PC PS3 PS4 Xbox 360 Xbox One

David Veselka

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COD: Ghosts Dev On New Engine: “We’re Not Talking About Throwing It All Away and …Starting From The Ground Up”

by David Veselka

1:07 pm in News

While Infinity Ward’s upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts isn’t necessarily built on an entirely new engine that’s been built from scratch, it is built on an engine that’s been overhauled enough to lose all traces of its former self, according to IW animation lead Zach Volker.

Speaking to OPSMagazine, Volker said that a ‘brand new engine’ built from the ground up simply cannot be done in a two-year development cycle, but that enough modifications have been made to warrant calling it a new engine.

“When we’re talking about a new engine we’re talking about upgrading significant systems within in that engine,” he explained. “We’re not talking about throwing it all away and saying we’re starting from the ground up.

“What we do is we say ‘okay what are the things that are significant and that we would say that are encompassing of the engine or its visual quality? Are those being upgraded in a significant way? Alright then, I think that warrants that we’ve got a new engine on our hands.”

Volker explained that while the Call of Duty engine in use today was originally built from the Quake engine, he’s “…not sure any of it still exists.”

Before and after Ghosts’ official unveiling, the game was touted to run on a brand new, next-generation engine which has certainly generated some additional hype for the title.

Call of Duty: Ghosts launches on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC this November 5, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 releases later on.

Update

MP1st webmaster/author “Niosus” wrote a great piece detailing what a game engine actually does and if CoD: Ghosts’ new engine actually is new. Check it out here!

Tags: Call of Duty: Ghosts Featured Ghosts PC PS3 PS4 Xbox 360 Xbox One

David Veselka

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Borderlands 2 Lead Writer Talks Fourth Campaign DLC, Will Include Magic Spell Grenade Mods and More

by Joel Santana

12:54 pm in News

Update

Recently, the ECHOcasts twitter account, which is used as a viral marketing tool for the upcoming borderlands 2 DLC, has been taken over by Tiny Tina herself who released this pic that solidifies the information that Burch released during the interview:

Anthony Burch, lead writer for Borderlands 2 and all of it’s campaign DLCs, has revealed a bit more information about the upcoming and possible final campaign DLC for Borderlands 2, Tiny Tina’s Assault On Dragon’s Keep.

Speaking with MCM, Burch notes a number of new additions to Borderlands 2 via the upcoming DLC, though what he had to say has been mysteriously been pulled as of this writing.

Tiny Tina’s Assault On Dragon’s Keep is basically the player playing through a Dungeon & Dragon’s type module, with Tiny Tina acting as the Dungeon Master during the whole DLC. The story will have you going on rather cliche fantasy quests, such as saving the queen from the handsome sorcerer. But, while of this is going, during the real world, the original vault hunters from the first Borderlands, Brick, Lilith and Mordecai are all talking to Tina discussing the event’s that happened during the game. Tina herself is in denial of the deaths of her friends, giving this DLC a rather darker feel to it then the previous ones.

Although Tina is in denial of certain things that happened during the main game, it will lead to rather interesting moments, such as pushing the importance of Roland onto her quests during this D&D module the further you progress through it. You’ll also get to meet the Tiny Tina version of Angel, whom she thinks is a monster. Speaking of character cameos, you can be sure to expect a few surprises when you play this add-on, such as the fan-favorite Mr Torgue. As Anthony reveals, he will be included as a quest giver who gives you off-the-wall missions. On top of all the craziness, Tina can can make mistakes like making enemies well past your level, but fixing it on the fly.

Now, no Borderlands 2 DLC wouldn’t be complete without some rather bad-ass weapons added to it. Thankfully, this upcoming add-on is no different, as Anthony reveals that we will see some new weapons that are capable of shooting swords that explodes. There will also be these ‘magic’ grenade mods, that has the character who’s using it shout-out words such as ‘lightning bolt’ and ‘magic missiles’ as if the characters themselves are casting a spell. Some also regenerate ammo over time, in the similar fashion ‘mana’ would work in a traditional RPG game, where you would regenerate your mana over time.

For Borderlands 2 completionist out there, you can expect this DLC to roughly take around 10 hours to finish all of it’s main story and the side quests it will contain. Tiny Tina’s Assault On Dragon’s Keep is slated for a June 25th release and will be available for $9.99 USD/ 800 Microsoft Points. Those who purchased the season pass for Borderlands 2, will receive this DLC add-on at no extra charge when it becomes available.

Tags: Borderlands 2 DLC Featured Mac PC PS3 Tiny Tina's Assault On Dragon's Keep Xbox 360

Joel Santana

Gamer for the past 20 years who loves anything ranging from RPGs, Fighters and of course FPS games. Author

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EA Plans To Utilize Only Two Game Engines For All Future Titles

by David Veselka

12:03 pm in News

EA wants to move to a future where only two game engines are used in the development process of all future games.

As of late, you may have noticed a number of headlines reading something like, ‘EA to power new Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Need for Speed/Battlefield games with the Frostbite 3 engine.’ Even the publisher’s new Star Wars games will be powered by Frostbite 3.

Most recently, Ghost Game’s Need for Speed Rivals was announced to run on the Frostbite 3 engine as well.

During Microsoft’s Xbox One unveiling, EA also announced their brand new sports engine, Ignite, which would power upcoming games like FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, NBA LIVE 14, and EA SPORTS UFC.

Speaking to Polygon, EA Sports’ Andrew Wilson said that the company is looking to power all sports titles with Ignite, while powering all non-sports titles with Frostbite.

Wilson said, ‘the future for EA would likely be a company that creates most of their games using these two engines.’

While the obvious concern is that all EA games become too visually similar, it makes sense from a developmental standpoint to create games under one publisher using fewer engines and to share techniques amongst other developers.

What do you guys think? Does it sound like a good move on EA’s part?

Thanks, Polygon.

Tags: EA EA Sports Featured Frostbite 3 Ignite

David Veselka

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Are Consoles Holding Back The True Potential of Video Games?

by BOSS JEDIZOHAN

11:32 am in Features

The one thing that held CGI in movies back for as long as it was is hardware. Movies like Jurassic Park needed computers that filled warehouses to produce their effects. Then, good hardware starting dropping in price and movies like The Matrix became possible. But of course, though it still looks great, The Matrix’s CGI can hardly compete with Inception’s or Looper’s. Why? Because instead of having to use digital still cameras to capture realtime events from multiple angles, the computers available today can use a 3D scan of a person to create a CGI model of them and place them in a photo-realistic 3D environment without costing three times the production’s budget.

To me, gaming is the same way. GoldenEye blew people’s minds when it came out and is the reason console FPS games are so popular, especially multiplayer FPS games. But the N64 is a dinosaur compared to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Now, because the hardware needed is cheap enough, we have games like Battlefield 3, Crysis 3, Call of Duty, and Halo, to name a few. But this current generation of hardware was starting to show its age 4 years ago. BF3 on console vs PC isn’t even a matter of opinion, it’s a totally different game on PC.

This is where I see consoles beginning to hold back innovation in gaming. The consoles are designed to last for 7-10 years, which is great as far as long term electronics investment is concerned. The only problem is, the hardware market cycles almost every 2 years. While the locked down and uniform nature of a console certainly gives developers a lot of leeway and to push its hardware as far as it can go, it can still only go so far. BF3 serves as probably the most glaring example of a game that’s been held back and tortured into working with console hardware. It’s obvious that even in the PC version of BF3, DICE had to cut corners to make it work on current generation console hardware. An even worse example would be Far Cry 3. (Just Google it. Trust me. It’s not pretty.) And, don’t even get me started on Skyrim.

The problem is that in order for a console to be worth making, it has to last a really long time. For the first few years, I’m sure the Play Station 4 and Xbox One will do a fine job with most games. But once GPUs like Nvidia’s Titan hit the $300-500 price point, you better believe that we’ll be seeing Far Cry 3 all over again. With consoles, there is no room for improvement, there is no way to fix the weaknesses brought on by time. Because of that, game development will always have a major bottleneck so long as the consoles are the biggest distribution platform for games. While first party exclusives might not suffer too much from this bottleneck, multiplatform titles certainly do.

I wish I could share the feeling I had when I played BF3 on PC for the first time after having played it on Xbox 360 for 6 months. All I could think of was “THIS is how the game is SUPPOSED to play.” And it wasn’t just the graphics, it was everything: Player counts, map layout, gameplay – everything in BF3 is better on PC. I realized then just how held back most games are because of consoles. Last month, I sold my Xbox 360, all my games, cancelled my Xbox Live membership and went 100% PC, and I haven’t missed a thing. My gaming experience since has felt much more “full.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “PC isn’t a well optimized platform for gaming as things like driver issues, hardware compatibility and version support are almost always an issue for PC and console has none of those kinds of issues.” And you’re totally correct. Every day I run into a new bug or software issue that takes a Google search to fix. Games like Metro: Last Light get the firing squad from PC gamers for its crashing issues. But considering Last Light was a multiplatform title developed by a bare bones staff on a shoestring budget in a concentration camp, I wonder how much of its issues wouldn’t exist if they hadn’t been stuck porting it to current generation consoles and making sure what they were putting into the game was scaleable. In fact, between hardware becoming cheaper and easier to use, and services like Steam simplifying the gaming experiences, I wonder how long it”ll be before those Google searches stop being an everyday thing.

One of the few positives that console gaming has to offer is UI and controller interface design. The software running today and tomorrow’s consoles is genuinely impressive, intuitive, and incredibly convenient for the end user, albeit littered with ads. The customer satisfaction, though, with the console and smartphone UI experiences over the past few years has inspired companies like Valve to design similar UIs like Big Picture.

For those of you unfamiliar with Big Picture, it is genuinely a fantastic piece of software and, in my opinion, if developed to include more features, will easily compete with and outshine almost any console UI in the near future.

[youtube id=”EFrL6-OhN94″ width=”618″ height=”378″]

Valve is making it clear with their release of Big Picture that they want PC gaming to be simple for the average user. Considering how much clout they carry in the PC gaming community, if anyone can make PC gaming easier, it’s going to be Valve. In fact, it wouldn’t shock me if Big Picture were to receive a big update this summer that greatly expands what it can do.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you should wholly ignore the Xbox One or PS4. They will most likely be great devices for both media playback and gaming. What I am suggesting is that, if you’re really into gaming, keep in mind that 4 years from now, the hardware in the PS4 and Xbox One will be hitting 6 years old. 6 year old hardware, even in a console, is pushing the limits of what developers can scale back their games to in a BIG way. So if you really want the best games possible, maybe we need to trade convenience for power.

Like I said, Steam wants gaming to be easy to do and to be accessible to everyone. If they can implement a standard that makes running games on PC a no-brainer for the average person, or if they change the console market by proving an upgradable console can work for the average Joe, I’d be totally on board to buy a new console from them.

As a gamer, it’s not just about the best graphics or best framerates to me, but when the next-gen consoles fall too far behind PC hardware to run 2K or 4K games (if they even can), the gap in performance will be painfully obvious, just like it is with current generation consoles. This slows down the innovation and graphical advances in gaming that we so desperately want.

As a gamer, I want developers to have the freedom to develop games how they see fit and not have to worry about scaling down or holding back their games so they can run on old hardware that nobody uses anymore. I know that PCs aren’t immune to this issue, but the big difference is you can always upgrade your PC to something that can run any game for the same price as buying the version 2.0 of a given console and on roughly the same timetable too. Unfortunately, because the console market is the biggest gaming market their is, game developers have develop for it. That means engines like the CryEngine, which are capable of nearly total photorealism, won’t ever be used to their full potential.

While it’s clear the next gen consoles will be able to handle newer engines without substantial downscaling, it’s still something that’s required to get them running properly and that developers are having to remove features to make that downscaling possible.

A great example of this is the Unreal Engine 4 running on the PlayStation 4 vs. the PC:

[youtube id=”gtfCWYjOsvI” width=”618″ height=”378″]

The key differentiating factor between last year’s demo and this newer iteration is that the Sparse Voxel Octree Global Illumination (SVOGI) lighting system hasn’t made the cut. Instead, Epic is aiming for very high quality static global illumination with indirect GI sampling for all moving objects, including characters.

‘[SVOGI] was our prototype GI system that we used for Elemental last year. And our targets, given that we’ve had announced hardware from Sony, that’s where we’re going to be using Lightmass as our global illumination solution instead of SVOGI,”‘ senior technical artist and level designer Alan Willard told Eurogamer. (Thanks, Nick Gigante.)

What are your thoughts? Are you excited to finally have a new console in your living room? Or are you worried that despite being decent now, it will show it’s age just like the current-gen consoles and hold back games from their full potential?

Tags: CryEngine Featured Frostbite Next-Gen PC PS3 PS4 Xbox 360 Xbox One

BOSS JEDIZOHAN

I've been a gamer since before most gamers were born. Now a full-fledged member of the PC Master Race, I'm enjoying all the best games from both AAA and Indie developers in glorious 1440p. Praise Gaben and may the Steam deals be ever syphoning funds from your life savings. Subscriber

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DICE Announces One Billion Hours of Battlefield 3 Played To Date

by David Veselka

11:25 am in News

This just in: Battlefield 3 players have no li… I mean, Battlefield 3 players play a lot of Battlefield 3.

The studio behind the Battlefield franchise, Digital Illusions CE, has just announced via Twitter and Facebook that the Battlefield community has accumulatively played over one billion hours of Battlefield 3. That’s a lot of “sh*t buckets.”

“Yesterday, we asked if you could guess how many total hours have been played so far in Battlefield 3,” DICE wrote. “Answer: 1 BILLION hours — That’s 1,000,000,000 hours, or roughly 114 thousand years! You guys are just amazing.”

Presumably, that number is derived from the amount of hours played across all platforms.

As we speak, a lot of hours are being sunk into Battlefield 3 right now, as DICE’s 96-hours double XP event is currently underway for all players.

So, with that in mind, how many hours of Battlefield 3 have you played?

Tags: Battlefield 3 BF3 DICE Featured PC PS3 Xbox 360

David Veselka

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Killzone: Shadow Fall – Behold, Jaw Dropping Screens And Artwork

by James Lara

11:06 am in News

Killzone: Shadow Fall may be monthys away from release, but fret not, as Sony has released some high-resolution screenshots to keep you busy for the time being.

If that’s not quite enough, there’s also a really neat and informative technical presentation of the game put on by developers Guerrilla Game which you can check out here.

Tags: Featured Killzone: Shadow Fall PS4

James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

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Report – Xbox One Will Feature Remote Play Like PS4

by James Lara

10:45 am in News

Similar to the PlayStation 4 remote play, The Xbox One may indeed feature the ability to play another friends game right from the comfort of your own living room.

The Xbox One will also feature the ability to Skype a friend to ask them for help on a game and then allow them to take over gameplay. The feature is designed to allow players to help one another get through sections of a game when they’re stuck.

In a demonstration of the feature, a source told us that a message popped up on their screen asking if it was OK if the player they were Skyping with could take over the game. Once the friend took over, the first player was able to watch them play the game. Either player could end the remote play with a button push.

Sources confirmed to Polygon.

No details were confirmed whether the person would actually need to own the game in order to play it, though it seems unlikely seeing that Skype has always had a screen sharing feature. Along with this, the sources also confirmed that the new model of Kinect will be able to detect people in a room, and if a new person were to enter, it would ask for them to identify themselves, in which it will then store the information on the console.

That’s not creepy at all.

Tags: Featured Microsoft PS4 Xbox Xbox One