I’m not going to lie, writing this today feels like a chore. My relationship with the game is changing, because part of my own particular Ritual Of The Moon involves writing about it afterwards. It takes me significantly longer than a few minutes a day now. And I have a lot to do besides this today!
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 is the latest graphics card in Nvidia’s budget-oriented Turing line-up. Aimed at 1080p gamers looking to get 60fps on either Medium to High settings, it’s a tempting buy for just 139 / $149. But when the 8GB version of AMD’s Radeon RX 570 can be found for practically the same amount of money these days, the battle for which graphics card belongs inside your PC gets a little more complicated. To help you decide, I’ve put both of them head to head via the medium of some lovely bar charts to see which one’s best. Because nothing settles a best graphics card debate like some good, old, lovely graphs.
Horrible Sonic teeth got you feeling blue? Maybe some yellow will help you feel more mellow if you like your 3D platformers hitting the redline. Spark The Electric Jester 2 now has a store page, and a closer release date than I was expecting – May 16th, less than two weeks off. Produced by solo dev Feperd Games, it’s the Sonic Adventure-esque 3D sequel to the 2D, Classic styled Spark The Electric Jester, one of the most underrated speedy platformers this side of Freedom Planet. I’ve been following it since it was announced, and really like what I’ve seen and played of an early demo, which you can snag below.
In the second chapter of Mortal Kombat 11, it’s reasonable to believe the world is going to end. Beloved characters have died. Long-slain demigods are rising from their graves. The fabric of time itself is breaking down, and the greatest problem faced by Johnny Cage in this moment is that his unrepentant asshole of a younger self won’t take his feet off the table.
It s a small portion of a larger scene, an emotive moment of frustration while discussing the fate of the world, but it goes a long way towards expressing why I love the writing in NetherRealm s most recent fighting games, despite the unfortunate work conditions they were produced under. Among just generally good storytelling, the studio s writers seem to focus on a larger idea. In epic struggles of good and evil; light and dark; cool ninjas and other, slightly more edgy ninjas; NetherRealm s writers remember the most important conflicts of all are personal.
Ah, May, the month of sneaky extra bank holidays and glorious long weekends – which is good news for your deals herald as it means there are even more excuses for people to throw big, whopping deals events. There are plenty going on this weekend, especially if you’ve been eyeing up any AMD bits and bobs for your PC. There are also loads of big savings on Assassin’s Creed games, plus lots of tasty discounts for any would-be Foragers, Tomb Raiders, Football Managers and Mortal Kombaters out there as well. To the deals!
Sonic the Hedgehog is to get a redesign for his Hollywood movie, director Jeff Fowler has said following reactions this week to the first trailer. Seems he and Paramount have made the terrible mistake of listening to the Internet. Oh sure, I was there, slapping out cyberposts about my FASCINATION with the sapphire snuffler’s horrifying human teeth but what anthropomorphic animal isn’t eerie? Aren’t all CGI characters wrong? God, what are they going to do – shave his belly? Squish his head? Give him big puffy gloves? Fill his mouth with jagged hedgeteeth? Pssh. Choose your horror and commit to it.
While Warframe‘s next major expansion, Empyrean, is still a way off, players of the free-to-play space-ninja shooter won’t have long to wait for new toys, as the Jovian Concord update hits “very soon”, according to developers Digital Extremes.
Much like April’s remaster of the game’s Plains of Eidolon environment, the Jovian Concord will spruce up the Gas City tileset used for Warframe’s Jupiter maps, providing both a visual touch-up, and larger environments more suited to parkour. Also included will be a new set of baddies: cyber-mutants called Amalgams, who will bother you in regular play, as well as in a new endless survival mode. The update will also introduce a new Warframe, Wisp, with support and stealth chracteristics, as well as a boss fight with an airborne Eidolon known as the Ropalolyst.
I got to have a chat with Ron Davey, art director at Digital Extremes and art lead on the Jovian Concord, about revamping one of Warframe’s oldest environments:
Future Riot Games employees will be able to opt out of forced arbitration to pursue “individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims” against the company, the League Of Legends developers have announced. Riot have faced accusations of widespread workplace harrassment and discrimination over the past year, of building a culture which protected perpetrators. Two female employees are currently trying to sue the company for discrimination, but Riot have tried to block these by saying their contracts forbid it and instead mandate arbitration, a private process of grievance-settling which favours employers. With some staff threatening an employee walkout to protest that, Riot are kinda sorta maybe-ish easing up a little on arbitration.
Let’s call them poppies , the eye-catching, ephemeral moments in 11-11 Memories Retold when you glimpse the brave, powerful game it isn’t but could have been. One of the tallest poppies grows from shell-scarified sod about halfway through this big budget, big name 2018 adventure game. In the skin of Kurt, one of the two protagonists, you find yourself in a sprawling German war cemetery, searching for a particular grave. Accustomed by now to insultingly easy puzzles, you walk to the nearest makeshift cross, and, when a this is clickable icon appears, dab the E key expectantly. No luck – a stranger’s name and unit blazons the screen. You move to the next cross and press E again. The name of another unknown individual appears. After the third or fourth failure, with mounting frustration you pause and survey the sea of crucifixes. A multifaceted thought crosses your mind – I’m going to be here all day. (more…)
