Nintendo’s new ‘NX’ console will reportedly run Android
Nintendo has already said that it won’t be talking about its new NX console until 2016, but that hasn’t stopped a few tantalising details from slipping out to the press. Nikkei reports that the new hardware will use the Android operating system, as Nintendo seeks a more open platform that’s already been embraced by third-party developers. We’re firmly in rumors and speculation territory here, but there’s some basis for the claim. Nintendo has hinted that the NX will be positioned alongside the 3DS and the Wii U, rather than as a direct replacement for either system. The Wii U has been a commercial flop, but that doesn’t mean the NX will be a traditional home console competing directly with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It could be something completely different — fans have suggested a hybrid device that gamers could play both at home and on the go.
Portability would play to Android’s strengths, particularly if Nintendo wants to leverage its upcoming phone and tablet games. However, if the company does indeed use the platform, there’s no guarantee that it’ll look like the typical Android experience found on phones and tablets. The Wii U and 3DS suffer from sluggish operating systems, menus and apps — Nintendo could use a heavily modified version of Google’s platform to quietly offload the problem and focus on what it does best, which is making high quality games.
Source: Nikkei
Agar.io brings massively multiplayer games to the petri dish
Most massively multiplayer online games take place in epic fantasy worlds or the distant future, but one of the latest sensations takes place on a much, much smaller scale. Agar.io pits thousands of players against each other in a web-based petri dish, where each gamer represents a cell. Your only real goal is to grow larger than everyone else by swallowing other cells and dodging your bigger rivals. It sounds simple, but it can get very hectic — and it’s a good abstraction of the fierce survival-of-the-fittest competition that you sometimes see on the microscopic level.
Believe it or not, Agar.io is also oddly political for a game that’s all about hungry blobs. As Kotaku notes, the title is already huge enough in Turkey (despite just weeks of availability) that political parties are using it as a symbol of their desires to grow and form alliances. And on the game’s European server, players from multiple nations are known to gang up and fight other teams with rival political values. It’s proof that any large-scale game with room for self-expression is bound to develop a complex culture — in this case, a bacterial culture.
Source: Agar.io
NVIDIA’s GTX 980 Ti has enough power for solid 4K gaming
Who needs a $650 video card? Pretty much anyone who wants to play games in 4K at decent frame rates. That’s the basic pitch for NVIDIA’s new $650 GTX 980 Ti, its latest high-end video card which, naturally, packs in even more power than last year’s GTX 980. The new card sports 2,816 parallel processing CUDA cores and 176 texture units, around 38 percent more than the GTX 980, as well as 2 additional gigabytes of RAM giving it 6GB. It’s also based on NVIDIA’s new GM200 GPU, which is at the heart of the company’s absurdly expensive $1,000 Titan X card. Basically, that means in the instances where its former heavyweight card slows down in 4K — for example, by running Grand Theft Auto V — the 980 Ti should shine. NVIDIA says the new card gets around 60 FPS in GTA V, while many benchmarks of that game with the 980 see between 35 and 45 FPS. The 980 Ti is also good news for anyone waiting for a good deal on the 980, since NVIDIA is also dropping the retail price of that card from $550 to $500.
NVIDIA claims its memory bandwidth is also 50 percent faster than its predecessor, which makes a big difference when throwing huge textures around. Of course, the Titan X is an even faster option than the 980 Ti, but its high price makes it far out of reach for most, even hardcore gamers.
Together with the $200 GTX 960 and the $330 GTX 970, NVIDIA now has powerful new cards for gamers of a wide variety of budgets. It’s just a shame that we didn’t see a slight price drop for the 970, which so far appears to be the best overall value for high-quality 1080p gaming.
14 ingenious hacks for problems you didn’t know you had
People can be crazy, yo. But where there’s a will, there’s a way that can lead to all sorts of fantastic oddities in the gadget world. Today’s community of hackers, makers and DIY fanatics oftentimes work together to find solutions to problems we didn’t know we had. They develop innovative products (without all that Kickstarter/Indiegogo hoopla) and often provide open-source instructions for anyone with more can-do attitude than cash. In honor of these ambitious gadget hackers, we’ve highlighted a few of the more interesting projects from over the years, ranging from the practical to the party starter.
[Image: Ruiz Brothers via Adafruit]
‘Halo 3: ODST’ is rolling out on the Xbox One, check your inbox
From one bug-ridden console game to another — Halo: Master Chief Collection owners should check their Xbox One inbox this morning, as redemption codes for the Halo 3: ODST add-on are rolling out now. Arriving as an apology for problems gamers have reported with the massive Halo bundle since it launched months ago, ODST is a simpler update instead of a remake, with all the original graphics but running at 1080p and 60fps, and without the co-op Firefight mode. There’s also an update, that adds Halo 2: Anniversary map “Remnant” to the bundle and makes a few additional tweaks. Halo Senior Communications Manager Rob Semsey confirmed the rollout on Twitter, so if you played the game between November 11th and December 19th last year expect a message.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
Source: Rob Semsey (Twitter), Halo Waypoint
Sony promises ‘Ultra Street Fighter IV’ PS4 patch next week
The launch of Ultra Street Fighter IV on the PlayStation 4 hasn’t exactly gone as planned, with gamers complaining of input lag, shoddy netcode, glitches, a start screen that refers to a button on the controller that doesn’t exist and other issues. Tonight Sony announced that a patch is “expected to land next week,” but did not provide any other details on exactly what it’s addressing. While some reported the issues waned after the game was fully installed, others still report problems. The PS4 was slotted as the system of choice for the Evo 2015 event in July, but co-founder Joey Cuellar tweeted that the event is “evaluating” what system to use.
Ultra Street Fighter IV update: PS4 patch expected to land next week, we’ll keep you posted on details. Thanks for your patience!
– PlayStation (@PlayStation) May 30, 2015
Highly anticipated horror game ‘SOMA’ hits PC and PS4 in September
Acclaimed developer Frictional Games has fully taken the wraps off SOMA, it’s super-hyped new sci-fi horror title. The company, which built it reputation on terrifying first-person games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Penumbra, that focus on atmosphere, exploration and hiding (a lot of hiding). And you can expect more of the same from SOMA apparently. In the first extensive gameplay trailer released an unnamed protagonist wanders around what appears to be an abandoned factory, talking to a robot that thinks its a person, redirecting power through the crumbing facility and generally avoiding a frightening robot that’s not terribly unlike the Big Daddies from the Bio Shock series. We won’t spoil all the fun though. You can watch the full video after the break and pick up the game on September 22nd for PC and PS4.
Filed under: Gaming
The producer of ‘Splatoon’ on how to make a Nintendo original
If you’re a fan of Nintendo, chances are you’re also a fan of Splatoon producer Hisashi Nogami, although you may not know it. Nogami joined the famed Japanese video game giant in 1994 and has been an essential member of EAD, the first-party development studio responsible for some of Nintendo’s most beloved games, ever since. Early in his career, Nogami worked primarily as an artist at Nintendo, designing some of the iconic imagery in games like Yoshi’s Island and Super Mario 64. But it wasn’t until 2001 that he got his big break with Animal Crossing, an N64 title he co-directed with Katsuya Eguchi.
In recent years, Nogami’s work has focused more on the quiet details that surround the Nintendo game experience, as he’s worked on both the Wii U’s menus and its Mii avatars. Splatoon, his first major AAA work since Animal Crossing: City Folk in 2008, hits Wii U this week with a splash of messy color and an online component. In advance of the game’s release, I spoke with Nogami over the phone (via translator) to discuss the makings of Nintendo’s next, breakout IP.
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Callie and her sister Marie (get it?) remind you to keep your style fresh in Splatoon.
In a recent Iwata Asks interview with the Splatoon team at Nintendo EAD, you explained that after finishing your work on the Wii U, you set out to make a game that didn’t fit into any established genre. You wanted to make something that wasn’t a Super Mario Bros. or Legend of Zelda. What’s the biggest challenge in making something totally new at Nintendo?
Rather than setting out to make something that didn’t fit into any genre, I would say that we didn’t want to get caught up in the idea of genre. In making the game, we started out by reconsidering our experiences making and playing games as well as our experiences in life. The sort of things we enjoyed doing while growing up. We wanted to make something that captured those past experiences.
“In creating a game like Splatoon, we were basically starting from scratch.”
I think it’s true that, with Nintendo, in an established franchise like the Mario series, there are challenges and new things that need to be done with each new title. I think it’s really true that in creating a game like Splatoon, we were basically starting from scratch and there were many more fundamental ideas and decisions that we needed to set in place before we could get going with the rest of development. That was what I considered to be the largest challenge we faced.
You mentioned that your childhood experiences informed making the game. It’s difficult to take something as simple as a child’s game, that energy of a kid playing pretend or just running around and being crazy, and make that into something everyone of any age can play. How do you recognize an idea that can be translated into an all-ages video game? How do you refine that into something that everybody will enjoy?
We wanted to focus on the types of feelings and emotions we had as kids. What was fun in particular about the games and activities we did as children? We wanted to bring those same feelings into the game. So the process consisted of talking about things we enjoyed doing as kids and the feelings that were associated with those experiences, and then picking out the elements from that type of play that we could then carry over into the game.
It wasn’t so much the gameplay itself, but the emotional content the gameplay brought. When we looked back at our childhood we thought, “Wow, this thing really made me excited!” What from those experiences and what from the gameplay can we break down and bring into a game?
Four players laying down a whole lot of ink.
Just the design of the Inklings has that spirit. The T-shirts, the hair, the fashion, the guns themselves; everything is playful. They’re very striking characters. The Inklings are also the very first original characters to come out of EAD since Pikmin in 2001. What’s the secret to making a new Nintendo character?
We didn’t start [with] wanting to create new characters, but rather a new type of play experience. These new characters you see now followed naturally. I feel that no matter how interesting a character you create, if that character isn’t fitting within the context of the gameplay that you’re creating, it’s just not going to have that much lasting appeal.
We knew that we wanted to have gameplay that featured switching back and forth between two forms that have these very different abilities just like the squid and humanoid forms the Inklings have. Their look is more a product of us granting them those abilities and really cementing those things as part of the game that we wanted to create.
This goes back to the points you mentioned with the hair, and fashion, and weapons that the character has. In designing this game, we also knew it was going to be a game that people would play online. In playing games online, when you have a character representing you — and this applies most specifically to the humanoid form the characters have — we thought that players would grow a greater attachment to those characters being able to customize the way you look when you go to face other people in battle.
“When I think about making games and the enjoyable aspect of games, for me it’s really more about the journey than the destination. The interesting parts of a game are those parts in between.”
Something I love about Splatoon is how loud it is. The colors are loud; the music is loud; and everything is just so big and bombastic. Your work tends to be quiet. The Wii U menu you created is quiet. The Animal Crossing games are very quiet. How did it change your creative process to make a game that’s so noisy?
I’m actually someone who enjoys playing games myself! I play a wide variety of games including over-the-top action games. We started this process of making Splatoon from the point of having two teams with two different colors of ink and you need to capture turf with those colors. Once we knew that that two-color separation was our starting point, we thought, “Well, let’s emphasize this!” and really gave those colors that stand-out nature that you see.
To speak to my past experience in designing games that seemed more quiet, I think this returns to the point that when we design games, we start from: “What is the core gameplay element that we’re wanting to create?” So for games that I’ve been associated with in the past, such as Animal Crossing, this is a game in which the core design was to exist and live in a village and look at a variety of things as you experience life. So to achieve that gameplay, the game looks quieter and has a more subtle look.
Using Splatoon Amiibo with the game unlocks new gear in solo missions.
Looking at your games like Animal Crossing and the online player-vs.-player modes in Splatoon, it seems that you tend to make games that can’t be finished in the traditional sense. There’s no final level, no boss. What appeals to you about games that are persistent, that you keep going back to, that you play again and again as opposed to something with a beginning, middle and end?
This may be my own personal taste, but when I think about making games and the enjoyable aspect of games, for me it’s really more about the journey than the destination. So the interesting parts of a game for me are those parts in between. The intermediate processes and things that you do on the way.
In speaking about the types of games we make, it depends largely on who’s going to be playing, and then the different things people of different ages bring to the game. For example, younger children may have difficulty finishing a long game or getting to the end, but it doesn’t matter if they are having fun. For example, someone who can’t finish a Super Mario Bros. will enjoy playing that first level over and over again and getting it just right. But this also holds true for adults. You hear regularly that adults don’t often have time to sink into a game to master it and take it all the way to the end. But if you are able to create something people can enjoy even if they only have a short time, that is a really crucial element to include.
Game players who are in junior high school, though, may have more time on their hands to really focus on taking a game all the way to the end. They want that sense of achievement they get from completing things and ticking off objectives. If we can think about the way to give that type of enjoyable experience to the widest variety of people possible, that’s our aim. I think the way we do that is by making those experiences, no matter what it is you’re doing in the game, so you feel like you’re enjoying yourself and feeling that sense of accomplishment.
So my very last question then is: When are we going to see Animal Crossing on Wii U?
Well, that’s difficult for me to answer at the moment! Yup. That’s pretty much all we can say.
What I will say is that you may have seen an announcement recently about an Animal Crossing product coming out on the 3DS… I can tack that on to the end of my response.
[Image credits: Nintendo]
‘Pillar’ is a personality test and much more in video game form
“When people think you’re dying, they really, really listen to you instead of just — “
“Instead of just waiting for their turn to speak.”
This scene from Fight Club encapsulates one of the driving ideas behind Pillar, a video game starring a series of characters with disparate personalities and quirks, each given mysterious puzzles to solve. Indie developer Michael Hicks is interested in how people communicate and the unique way every human perceives the world. Pillar distills these broad observations into just a few characters running around a wintry town, searching for a secret artifact. Each character is different, but their goal is the same — it’s a lot like real life. Hicks wants his game to inspire conversations; he isn’t looking to start arguments or incite rants. He’d love for people to truly connect with each other and Pillar might make that happen.
“I hope it encourages players to consider other people in real-life conversations, which we rarely do,” Hicks says. “If someone says something we don’t agree with, the knee-jerk reaction is to argue or superimpose our views. I think the world would be a better place if we tried to understand where other people are coming from and accept them for who they are.”
Pillar has roots in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, a personality test that rates people based on four dichotomies: deductive, inductive, subjective and objective. Hicks ran into the Myers-Briggs test during a psychology class and was struck by the mechanical way it approached personality traits — almost like a game would.
“Originally, I made Pillar to express how it felt to be around a girlfriend I had,” Hicks says. “It’s hard to verbalize, but she was strong at things I was weak at, and I was strong at things she was weak at.” Hicks interviewed her and discovered they had two traits in common and two opposite, just as he intuited. “Pillar isn’t a perfect reconstruction of the test, but all of the main traits are there somehow,” he says.
It started with the test, but Pillar doesn’t stop there. Hicks doesn’t see Myers-Briggs as the silver bullet of personality analysis — “It’s clearly not a science, but that doesn’t mean it has no value,” he says. Overall, Hicks has grander thoughts about relativity, morality and the rejection of subtlety in everyday communication. As he discovered with his girlfriend, opposite traits between two people can equalize both parties, but this often requires people to step outside of themselves, recognize their own shortcomings and accept the faults in others.
It’s hard to have constructive conversations when we just preach and don’t listen to the other person.
“The whole concepts of right and wrong, good and evil — I think those are horrible things to subscribe to because they separate people and cause conflict,” Hicks says. “What I think is ‘right’ is a reflection of my environment and upbringing; everyone thinks they’re right. The game explores the idea that maybe there’s a purpose for both extremes we find in life, even things that are detrimental to us. I’m not saying we should be quiet and not speak our mind, but so many do it in a toxic way. It’s hard to have constructive conversations when we just preach and don’t listen to the other person.”
Pillar launched on PlayStation 4 back in February, but Hicks wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of it. He “flubbed” the marketing, he says. For one, he didn’t receive review codes until a few days after launch. “I should’ve announced the release date a month or so ahead of time to avoid things like this,” he says.
“But I’ve been happy with the number of people playing so far,” Hicks continues. “I have a ways until I’m where I’d like to be but I can’t complain. What’s cool is there’s a steady stream of new people playing even after three months; it’s had a very grassroots way of growing so I’m thankful for that.”
And Pillar is still growing. It’s due to launch on Steam on Friday, May 29, and it’s available to play right now on PS4 for $8.
NHL team projects Nintendo-esque ‘Bolts of Steel’ game on ice
We’ve seen 3D projections on basketball courts and arena floors before, but the NHL’s Tampa Lightning just took the game up a notch. Before the team’s Eastern Conference Finals game on Tuesday, it used the playing surface to project a “Bolts of Steel” (get it, lightning bolts) game simulation inspired by the Nintendo classic Blades of Steel. We surmise they opted for another name not just for copyright purposes, but because the franchise didn’t exist until 1992. While the video you’ll see after the break is a render/demo, a Deadspin reader caught the thing on tape during the pregame festivities, so you can have a look at was it was like for those in attendance. Perhaps if the Bolts advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, they’ll let a couple of fans duke it out for some nachos.
Filed under: Gaming
Via: SB Nation
Source: Tampa Bay Ligthning
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