The Midagedgamer Report for April 5, 2013
This Week:
Is Doom 4 doomed?, Pretty guns in Black Ops 2, Borderlands 2
patch and more!
I really, really hope you haven't been holding your breath
for the release of Doom 4. Of course if
you did you expired somewhere around Quakecon 2008 anyway. Kotaku reports that after 5 years the
cornerstone franchise of FPS gaming isn't getting anything new anytime
soon.
The wrench in the works is a now confirmed rumor that all development for the game was basically tossed out in 2011. The stated reason was that all the work to that point basically looked like Call of Duty meets demons. In other words just another franchise FPS. ID's failed game RAGE apparently took up all of the developers attention suggesting someone took their eye off the Cacodemon. Mismanagement and attrition of key talent seems to round out the balance of the blame.
The wrench in the works is a now confirmed rumor that all development for the game was basically tossed out in 2011. The stated reason was that all the work to that point basically looked like Call of Duty meets demons. In other words just another franchise FPS. ID's failed game RAGE apparently took up all of the developers attention suggesting someone took their eye off the Cacodemon. Mismanagement and attrition of key talent seems to round out the balance of the blame.
ZeniMax (parent of Id and Bethesda) has apparently just
about had it with Id, making non-specific threats to get the game out "or else". This after the game was again
"re-imagined" to take advantage of next generation consoles.
The real question is, does anyone really care about Doom
anymore?
There is a new trailer for the Black Ops 2 showing the addition of micro-transactions to customize your weapons. It's already out on Xbox 360 and will show up
on PS3 and PC on April 12th. I guess if
they can't fix the multiplayer they can at least let you put a nice paisley
print on your Mac 10.
In related news the next batch of Black Ops 2 DLC is
scheduled for release on April 16th for the Xbox 360 and you can get it for
1200 Microsoft points or $15 US. Yes,
that means it's XBOX only folks. It's
called Uprising, gives you 4 new maps and basically has you fending off, you
guessed it, zombies. The twist on an
otherwise tired zombie theme is that you can play as one of 4 mobsters voiced
by Hollywood icons like Ray Liota, Michael Madsen, Joe Pantoliano and Chazz
Palminteri.
If you don't know who they are just Google their name with the word "mafia" and your questions will be answered. Of the four additional maps one is called, "Encore" which happens to be set in a deserted music festival in London. Sounds like a Left for Dead 2 ripoff to me. I've said it before, I'm sick of zombies and making my character sound like something out of the Sopranos isn't going to make a bit of difference.
If you don't know who they are just Google their name with the word "mafia" and your questions will be answered. Of the four additional maps one is called, "Encore" which happens to be set in a deserted music festival in London. Sounds like a Left for Dead 2 ripoff to me. I've said it before, I'm sick of zombies and making my character sound like something out of the Sopranos isn't going to make a bit of difference.
Speaking of Uprising, Microsoft Studios Creative Director
Adam Orth caused one when he tweeted out that he didn't think requiring an
always-on connection to play a game was a big deal ...
"Sorry, I don't get the drama around having an
'always online' console,...Every device now is 'always on'. That's the world we
live in. #dealwithit."
Is this guy for real? Or is this just a sneaky way to take a
reading on the market for such things. There's been lots or speculation on just how
connected the next Xbox will be lately and this just added fuel to the
fire. Not many statements come from highly placed
Microsofties without being carefully curated.
That or this guy needs to get out in the real world once in awhile. Talk about living in a bubble!
Borderlands 2 has released its latest patch addressing a number of game bugs and enabling the "Ultimate
Vault Hunter" mode. Don't expect
any raise in level caps unless you purchase the "Ultimate Vault Hunter
Upgrade( DLC) pack though, that's reserved for DLC only.
Borderlands 2 is a great game but it's wrong to tie a raise in level cap to the purchase of DLC. The only reason they can get away with it is the lack of an online multiplayer mode. Other than Duels, a higher level character playing along with you in co-op can only benefit you. Strangely, the most curious thing about the new DLC has to do with the raise in level cap.
Borderlands 2 is a great game but it's wrong to tie a raise in level cap to the purchase of DLC. The only reason they can get away with it is the lack of an online multiplayer mode. Other than Duels, a higher level character playing along with you in co-op can only benefit you. Strangely, the most curious thing about the new DLC has to do with the raise in level cap.
In screenshots featuring the new DLC it shows a level 61
player going up against a level 63 opponent! Worse, it's in the early missions of the
game.One of the tweaks from the patch allows you to repeat a playthrough of the original campaign while keeping your stats and weapons. If the game progressively levels like it does your first time through you could be facing level 100+ foes that you have no hope of defeating. Where's the fun in that? Maybe they need to just get rid of level caps period.
From the official release...
Update v1.4.0 (Released 4/2/2013)
General
• Added a new playthrough called Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, unlocked for a character once they have completed the main story missions in True Vault Hunter Mode and reached level 50!
o In this mode, you will always start in Southern Shelf at Cleaning Up the Berg and may reset your playthrough progress as often as you like without losing any items, levels, or stats. All enemies are significantly more difficult in this playthrough, but the loot quality has increased accordingly. Rumor has it there is an entirely new rarity of loot out there for high-level players.
• Added new items to the Black Market:
o One additional ammo upgrade for each ammo type, at 50 Eridium each.
o Two more backpack storage space upgrades, at 50 and 100 Eridium respectively.
o Two more bank storage space upgrades, at 50 and 100 Eridium respectively.
• Increased the maximum amount of Eridium players can hold from 99 to 500.
• Fixed a bug that was causing some users to crash on startup or when loading into a level after choosing their character.
• Fixed a bug that could cause hosts to become invulnerable if they were being revived by a client who disconnected mid-revive.
• Fixed an issue that could cause players to crash or freeze when fighting BNK-3R.
• Fixed a bug that could cause Deathtrap's Robot Rampage audio to not stop playing after killing an enemy until Deathtrap despawned.
• Fixed a bug that could stop the Gunzerker's Keep It Piping Hot skill from functioning as intended.
• Covered an area of the world near Claptrap's ship where the player could fall in and be unable to get out.
• Fixed an issue where a Siren could revive a player and make another player invulnerable under specific circumstances.
• Addressed instances of audio distortion tied to Axton's turret and kill skills.
• (Mr. Torgue DLC) Critical hits against Midgets now register properly.
• (Mr. Torgue DLC) Rat Thief enemies are no longer allowed in Pete’s Bar due to patron concerns regarding excessive theft.
• (Captain Scarlett DLC) Fixed an issue with the "Shady Dealings" challenge where a purchase could sometimes not count toward its completion.
Missions
• Fixed an issue where players could be unable to interact with the menu when a mission that granted experience but not items was completed and not handled by the player before saving and quitting.
• Fixed an issue where players could cause the round to not fail in a Slaughter mission if a surviving player disconnects while all others are out.
• (Sir Hammerlock DLC) Thermitage is now friendlier and will no longer refuse to come play with some players.
• Fixed issues with the following missions that could cause players to get stuck or not be able to complete them:
o Wildlife Preservation
o Medical Mystery
o (Captain Scarlett DLC) Let There Be Light
o (Mr. Torgue DLC) Eat Cookies and Crap Thunder
Equipment
• Fixed a bug where players were able to do far more damage than intended by exploiting a buff from the Evil Smasher.
• Clients are now able to see explosions caused by Norfleets in multiplayer.
• Fixed an issue causing Relics to sometimes not show the Favorite indicator.
• Fixed an issue that caused E-tech weapons to not be able to hit the Mechromancer's 'One Two Boom' orb.
• Seraph Gear from Captain Scarlett and Mr. Torgue DLC re-balanced to be more powerful.
• Fixed class mods that increase the skill grade of Axton's Metal Storm, Onslaught and Quick Charge skills to function as intended.
• Fixed an exploit involving Vladof rocket launchers that could result in having infinite ammo for any weapon.
• Fixed an issue where weapon cards would sometimes not display how many bullets they consumed per shot.
• Mechromancer's Prodigy class mod now correctly increases reload speed.
• Fixed an issue causing impact sounds from users with The Bee shield to not be audible on clients.
• Adjusted Mechromancer’s Sweetheart class mod to correctly increase team health.
• Assassin’s “Slayer of Terramorphous” class mod no longer includes Gunzerker skill bonus.
• (Mr. Torgue DLC) Torgue vending machines can now stock legendary weapons above level 48.
• Chere-amie sniper rifle and transfusion grenades no longer cause audio distortion.
• Assigned price to Anshin 'Evolution' shield so that players can sell it for money if desired.
You may not have noticed but the Steam Cloud service went
down for a few hours this past Monday.
That meant your saved games, screenshots and other Steam public shares
weren't available. That annoyed me so I
did a video on how to find and back up your saved games that you may find
useful. Find it at the link below.
Finally...
Change is a comin' and this will be the last weekly
midagegamer report video. Honestly,
after a year of weekly scheduled YouTube postings rarely breaking 50 views and
YouTube getting increasingly hostile over monetizing them, I think I finally
got the hint.
Nobody really seems to like them no matter what's in them and they're a lot
of work to put together especially when nobody's interested.
I will do a monthly
gaming news wrap-up video, however, but only so long as someone wants to watch
it. Of course I'll continue to post
gaming how-to's and other items of interest on YouTube but only the monthly
report will be on a schedule.
The weekly blog entries, on the other hand, have been
steadily growing so the report will continue in a weekly print format on
http://midagedgamer.blogspot.com
I'd like to say thanks to those of you who regularly viewed
the weekly video reports. It's because of
you that I'm even bothering with a monthly installment.
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