Stray is a game where you control a cat in a city devoid of human life.
You can scratch carpets, curl up on bookshelves, eat food, knock objects on the ground and meow. Our Patrick O’Rouke played the game, and one of the things he mentioned was that when the cat in the game would meow, it would cause his real-life pet cat to check it out.
You can also make the cat meow on command, and the noise comes directly through the PS5 DualSense gamepad’s built-in speaker as well as the television. This caused my real-life pet cat to come barreling into the room, only to leave a few minutes later confused after not finding a feline friend meowing in my office.
And Patrick’s cat is not alone.
Check out those on Twitter sharing their cats’ reactions to the new PlayStation and PC title.
I was literally thinking today that cats watching Stray gameplay is such a cute trend
There’s even a ‘Cats Watching Stray’ Twitter account retweeting all the lovely felines watching Stray. To learn more about Stray, check out Patrick’s full review here.
Lego loves to play off of people’s nostalgia to build up the hype surrounding its products, though in most cases, the sets that fall into this category are undeniably cool.
Its latest video game console recreation is the shockingly detailed Atari 2600 model that even includes the system’s iconic woodgrain finish and a collection of classic cartridges like Asteroids, Adventure and Centipede.
Though this set doesn’t include a TV like the excellent Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Lego set released back in 2020, it does feature a 70s-era basement that pops out of the console’s cartridge slot. There’s also a faux wood shelf and three buildable vignettes based on its included brick-built game cartridges (the Centipede is rather terrifying).
The Atari 2600 was released back in September 1977 and received several redesigns over its lengthy lifecycle.
The 2,532 piece Atari 2600 Lego set isn’t available for pre-order yet, but is set to release on August 1st for $299.99.
It’s amazing to think that Sonic has stuck around to become one of the oldest video game mascots out there.
The hedgehog’s conceptual history is well-documented, but it’s still a fascinating story. Sega originally wanted to create a character as a basis for a marquee series to rival Nintendo’s Mario, which reignited the video game market in the mid-to-late 1980s. The aim was to make a true icon that would charm millions in both design and attitude.
It’s interesting to note that Sega already had Alex Kidd as a mascot. If that’s your first time hearing that name, that’s because Sega abandoned the poor kid and designed an entirely different character.
After a few concept designs, the development team settled on a blue hedgehog with snazzy red shoes, and, in turn, Sonic the Hedgehog was born.
Sega’s entire branding of Sonic the Hedgehog consisted of two traits: fast and brimming with attitude. This was reflected in the gaming giant’s advertisements that constantly mocked Nintendo. For example, one of the most iconic advertisements for the Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive for Europe) was “Genesis does what Nintendon’t.”
However, it’s one thing to declare Nintendo your rival, but it’s another to actually compete with the company. Yet, Sega managed to do just that.
Sonic the Hedgehog was released in 1991 and took the world by storm, selling over two million copies by the end of the year. It’s important to note that Sonic wasn’t actually a Genesis launch title, yet it still helped the console sell extremely well.
Now that Sonic was an established video game character and the overly confident marketing paid off, a sequel was greenlit in late 1991 and released just one year after with the help of current PlayStation designer Mark Cerny.
Sega’s very own “bubble economy”
After the phenomenal success of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (and spending $10 million on marketing), Sega was all-in on the hedgehog fever. The Japanese company would produce various spin-off games and tv shows, each with varying degrees of quality.
This also led to two mainline games being released in a span of five months, Sonic CD (1993) and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994).
The rest, as they say, is history. Sonic the Hedgehog achieved its status as an icon, and Sega raked in the cash.
This was the company’s golden era and almost resembled Japan’s own economic bubble in a sense. From a lucrative McDonald’s partnership to sponsoring an entire Formula 1 Grand Prix race, Sega was spending a lot of money without much thought.
This is in contrast to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise that we know today.
The term “roller coaster” is often used to describe how you felt playing Sonic the Hedgehog games. What once encapsulated Sonic’s gameplay now perfectly describes what the mascot is and has been for the last two decades.
When Sonic games are done right, there have been great highs, but there are also lows that make you wonder why you love the hedgehog in the first place.
Sonic Origins celebrates the hedgehog’s 31st anniversary by offering a collection from that golden era.
For better and for worse, the package is a perfect encapsulation of this franchise’s history.
Celebrating the anniversary by revisiting the past
I don’t have any childhood memories of the “classic” games as I grew up in the 3D Sonic era, starting with Sonic Heroes. The remastered port of Sonic CD was the only classic title that I spent many hours playing as a teenager.
As a result, I was eager to play this collection as it offered a convenient way to play older games in the series with quality-of-life enhancements. It also brings a remaster of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a game rumoured to be mired in licensing issues.
Let’s start with some of the features that Sonic Origins offers. All four classic games offer four modes titled ‘Anniversary,’ ‘Classic,’ ‘Boss Rush,’ and ‘Mission.’
The Anniversary Mode gives Sonic the drop dash ability from Sonic Mania, allowing players to initiate a spin dash in the air. This lets you keep the momentum going through stages and helps make the experience feel fresh if you’ve already played the classic games multiple times.
The backbone of this new mode is Taxman’s (Christian White) and Headcannon’s mobile Sonic remasters, which were built using the former’s own game engine. As a result, Sonic has the spin dash by default in Sonic and there are new options in debug mode. Sonic’s friends, Tails and Knuckles, are also playable throughout the collection, with the exception of the latter in Sonic CD.
Anniversary mode also removes lives entirely and instead introduces a coin system. These coins are collected through many methods, including acquiring points or finding them in levels.
These serve two purposes. One use is to unlock items in the museum that holds concept art and other digital memorabilia. The second allows you to retry special stages.
This is the greatest quality-of-life improvement that Sonic Origins introduces, as I often had trouble collecting the chaos emeralds in the first two titles.
And if you love the life system, it’s still an option through classic mode, which lets you play the various games as it was originally released.
The Boss Rush mode is self-explanatory. If you enjoy beating up Eggman’s contraptions without going through the stages, this mode is for you.
Mission mode also sounds like what it describes. It provides challenges between the four games that will grant you more coins.
Overall, I think Sonic Origins offers the best of both worlds, providing players with the choice to either play the original release or a remastered mode with all of the bells and whistles.
Re-experiencing Sega’s golden era by making new memories
I thoroughly enjoyed playing both Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. These are exceptional games with lots of replayability, especially the latter. If you’re a new fan that enjoyed Sonic Mania or just like 2D platformers, these titles should be on your list.
As previously mentioned, my fondest memories of the 2D era come from Sonic CD. I love this game, from the exceptional soundtrack and special stages to the more adventurous level design. It remains my favourite barring Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and I’ll happily admit that nostalgia plays a huge factor. However, taking off my slightly rose-tinted glasses, Sonic CD offers a different take on the typical Sonic formula that I think those who want a more explorational level layout will enjoy.
Then there’s the original Sonic the Hedgehog. While it’s my least favourite game out of this collection, I did appreciate using the drop dash to progress through stages faster because this game is notoriously known for being a mixed bag in terms of level design (wait until you experience Marble Garden Zone for the first time).
However, if you really want to enjoy Sonic 1, I highly recommend using the debug mode and enabling the elemental shields from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Not only does it make the game more enjoyable, it oddly makes the stage design better. It rewards the player for keeping the elemental shields by breezing through obstacles like lava, but it‘s punishing if you get hit.
This version is also slightly better than the Taxman mobile versions because of the abolishment of lives, making your playthrough worry-free without a game over screen in sight. Just be warned that you won’t be able to save your game.
It’s worth mentioning that each title has its own special animated cutscenes to add a little story element that links the games together. While it’s not much, it’s a very charming way to highlight how much character the Sonic franchise has at its disposal.
As a whole, Sonic Origins does a bang-up job showcasing why classic games are held in high regard. The Anniversary mode adds great features without destroying the essence of classic Sonic gameplay, and if that’s not your forte, there’s still the original version that’s playable.
Sonic Origins’ Bubble Burst
While Sonic Origins offers several improvements, it also has its fair share of issues.
Originally, I meant to review this game on my laptop. While not the strongest computer, it should have been more than enough to run a collection of 2D games from the 1990s.
Instead, I was greeted by immense frame rate drops when the intro cutscene played. For some reason, the default setting is set to a 4K resolution, which causes the game to run at the speed of molasses. However, that was an easy fix.
The deal-breaker that I couldn’t solve was that Sonic Origins would immediately crash right after the first loading screen. This happened frequently, and it was only occasionally that I was able to play any of the Sonic games. Despite trying some remedies from other people that had the same issue on the Steam Community page, I couldn’t fix it and begrudgingly refunded the title.
I still don’t understand the crashing problems, and frankly, it’s unacceptable that this is an issue in the first place.
There are also multiple bugs in the collection. While I never personally ran into any problems on the Xbox Series S, there were enough optimization issues to warrant a patch.
However, this game had problems on the development side and that explains why Sonic Origins is unpolished. The founder of Headcannon, who contributed to the Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 mobile remasters, was “very unhappy” with the final product and documented some of the development hell.
We asked to do major fixes near submission but weren't allowed due to submission and approval rules. We asked about delays early and repeatedly but were told they weren't possible. We offered to come back for post-release fixes and updates- we do not yet know if this is happening
Another issue with this collection actually stems from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Remember when I said earlier about the game having licensing issues? Well, along with the coveted McDonald’s sponsorship that rushed the game’s development, Sega was rumoured to have gotten Michael Jackson to help out with the composition.
However, there were problems behind the scenes that left Michael Jackson uncredited. In the 1997 PC version, some tracks were replaced with the prototype music. This rumour was recently confirmed in a tweet from Yuji Naka, the director of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, 28 years later.
Oh my god, the music for Sonic 3 has changed, even though SEGA Official uses Michael Jackson's music.
As a result, Sonic Origins suffered the same fate as the licensing issues weren’t resolved.
Instead, the prototype tracks were remixed by Jun Senoue and, unfortunately, sound horrible. While I’m indifferent about Casino Night Zone and Launch Base Zone, the dropoff in quality is really felt in Ice Cap Zone.
If you think I’m being a bit overly dramatic, there’s a great meme video that compares the two tracks.
There is one last issue that needs to be addressed. With the release of Sonic Origins, Sega decided to delist all of the classic titles, resulting in this game being the only legal method to play Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic CD and Sonic 3 andKnuckles.
Why is this an issue?
While it’s nice to have this entire collection with the quality of life additions, those that just want to play Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 are forced to buy Sonic Origins instead.
Sega is also charging a considerable amount of money ($50) for what are essentially just ports of existing remasters. To put into perspective, the iOS/Android counterparts, except for Sonic 3, are only $2.79 each, ad-free.
Not only does it make the classic games more inaccessible, but the Sonic modding community is also affected, as you can’t implement any pre-existing mods into the Sonic titles in the collection.
Considering both Sonic Mania lead developer Christian Whitehead and Headcannon were part of the Sonic modding community, this feels like a slap in the face to those who worked hard to keep these classic games alive.
The end of the roller coaster
Overall, if you are a fan of the classic games or want an easier way to access these on consoles, Sonic Origins does a good job of providing improvements while keeping the integrity of the original releases.
Though Sega’s golden era burst after the 90s, the passion and commitment to the blue hedgehog remain strong.
While his career has been a roller coaster, there’s a reason why Sonic the Hedgehog is still loved by many fans, including myself. There’s never a dull moment, whether it’s a fresh take on gameplay, his oozing attitude or the fantastic music that continues to bless this franchise.
Happy 31st birthday Sonic. I hope your next 3D adventure is a great ride.
Stray is extremely good at making you feel like a cat.
Everything from your feline avatar’s detailed animation to the ability to scratch nearly every carpet in the game and curl up on dusty bookshelves gives the impression you’re actually in control of a stray cat traversing a barren post-apocalyptic world.
And, of course, you can also knock objects on the ground for no reason, just like a real cat.
Unfortunately, Stray is far more disappointing when it comes to gameplay. While the title’s puzzles are interesting and, at times, surprisingly challenging, your interaction with the world is primarily limited to pressing ‘X’ to jump or ‘Triangle’ to pick up an item.
While you have full control over your feline, jumping strangely consists of animations controlled entirely by the game, making the action feel far more passive than it would otherwise. You don’t need to worry about lining up your jump with the appropriate amount of speed or ensuring there’s enough space on that tiny side table you want to bound to; just press X and watch as Stray‘s orange tabby protagonist launches themselves skillfully through the air.
That’s not to say that this removes all challenge from the game, though. For example, I often wasn’t entirely sure where I needed to parkour jump to next, especially when tasked with more open-ended goals. Should I climb up to the window to reach that florescent sign? Maybe I could crawl up a nearby pipe to get just a little bit more height? There’s still a level of strategy to Stray‘s beautiful but still canned animations, yet I can’t help but still wish I had direct control over the cat during these sequences.
In a sense, this more story-driven approach to a video game makes sense given publisher Annapurna’s reputation, but I would have liked to see developer BlueTwelve integrate more traditional platforming elements into Stray, especially since its animation is so impressive, and because it would have made for a more engaging overall experience. Thankfully, the game’s overall narrative kept me wanting to continue playing to uncover what happens next, though it’s worth noting that its does drag towards the latter half of the title.
On the positive side of things, if you’re fond of exploration-focused titles, there’s a lot to like about Stray. Without giving too much away, throughout the roughly four to five-hour game, you’ll meet the post-apocalyptic city’s humanoid robot inhabitants and encounter strange bug-like robots called Zurks that seem to only exist to relentlessly chase you around. Eventually, you’ll get your hands on a backpack that houses your drone friend B-12, which lends you a helping hand paw, including storing items for you, translating the world’s alien language and turning on its built-in light to illuminate dark areas.
You can also make the cat meow on command, and the noise comes directly through the PS5 DualSense gamepad’s built-in speaker as well as the television. This caused my real-life pet cat to come barreling into the room, only to leave a few minutes later confused after not finding a feline friend meowing in my office.
Because you’ve taken on the role of a cat in Stray, you can scratch a variety of objects, ranging from bookshelves to carpets, and thanks to the DualSense’s haptic feedback triggers, it feels like you’re scratching a real surface. Minor details like this go a long way towards making you feel like you’re controlling a cat and help make up for Stray‘s lack of what I would consider real platforming controls.
Sequences like this are by far the best and most interesting part of Stray. The number of ways you can passively interact with the environment around you precisely how a real cat would is impressive. There’s the aforementioned scratching and knocking objects over, but you can also drink from puddles (everyone knows water tastes better from dirty puddles) and cuddle up against the various robots populating the city.
At its best, Stray is a love letter to cats, and you can truly tell the affection the title’s development team must feel for the often misunderstood creatures. In an industry that typically places an emphasis on dog companions, it’s great to see felines finally get a chance in the spotlight. And while the experience may lack in the gameplay and length department, Stray manages to still offer a unique experience I haven’t encountered before in a video game.
With Overwatch 2’s second public beta coming to a close in a few days, here are my initial thoughts on the game. While I played a bit of the first beta on my roommate’s PC, the second beta made its way to console players, and with the founder’s pack, I could finally play the game on Sony’s PlayStation 5 and with my friends online.
First off, the Overwatch 2 beta only offers the PVP aspect of the game, which will also be the case when the game finally launches on October 4th. With that in mind, the beta is a great example of what to expect from the free-to-play title.
The beta includes two new characters for console players, Sojourn (a DPS hero) and Junker Queen (a tank hero). It also offers a new map type called Push that works like a tug of war, but instead of pulling a rope back and forth, you’re guiding a robot. With Sojourn and the Push map, ‘New Queen St,’ we finally encounter some Canadian representation in the game. In the original Overwatch, it was discovered through a comic that Pharah’s father is from Canada, but that was all we saw until Overwatch 2.
The new characters in Overwatch 2 are a great and welcome addition to the title. The last time Overwatch fans got to play a new character was Echo back in April of 2020.
I’m a Sojourn one-trick now, as Blizzard gave her a lot of movement and a very fun railgun. It’s also worth noting that Overwatch 2‘s gameplay is 5v5 instead of 6v6, as a tank has been removed from the lineup. Junker Queen, being the new tank in the beta, seems pretty cool (my friends love playing as her), but I wasn’t fond of the fact that she’s only in tank, so I didn’t play as her much.
While I overall enjoyed my time with the Overwatch 2 beta, two significant issues stand out. The first is the queue times (to be fair, the problem improved throughout the beta). However, until the last week of the console beta, queue times for DPS or tank have been ridiculous. Sometimes I’d be waiting for over 20 minutes for a game. Near the end of the beta, a patch dropped that improved queue times, thankfully.
The second issue is the game isn’t very different from its predecessor; it’s still just Overwatch. Overwatch 2 feels more like an update and not an entirely new game. Don’t get me wrong, Blizzard added a couple of new characters, reworked and updated others like Bastion and Doomfist, and added a game mode and new maps, but we’ve been waiting for years, and it’s still pretty much the same title. That said, I’m happy Blizzard is making Overwatch 2 free-to-play and adding a Battle Pass system.
When Overwatch 2 launches in October, the game will offer Mythic skins, new banners, charms, a new support hero (which will hopefully help with queue times), more balance changes, a Battle Pass and more. There may be another beta before the official launch, and even though there might not be a lot to offer, I’ll still definitely spend time playing it.
An early build of the skateboarding game Skate — formerly known as Skate 4 — recently found its way onto the internet.
In a blog post from Vancouver-based Full Circle, the developer thanked fans for the positive response to its “pre-pre-pre-alpha” trailer that was released last June, but also asked players that have gotten their hands on a leaked early version of the title to stop playing it.
This is Skate 4 pre-alpha footage. This is in line with what I've heard about where the game is at from multiple people. They're trying to get the feel right, which is probably the most important aspect of a Skate game. https://t.co/AXNV2Agk6zpic.twitter.com/nUINhghxLg
— Jeff Grubb, No. 3 games journalist (@JeffGrubb) April 20, 2022
An excerpt from Full Circle’s statement can be found below:
“We’re aware of an earlier version of the game that has been distributed without our authorization. This build is from September 2021 and was never intended for external use. While we understand you’re excited to get into the game, we encourage you to be careful when downloading files from unknown sources (and remind you of the potential consequences of breaking EA’s Terms of Service). The best way to get the chance to play is by signing up for skate. insider playtesting here as we continue to invite more and more players into the game throughout the year.”
It’s unclear how an early version of the anticipated title leaked, but it appears it’s been available since roughly April of this year and is tied to a September 2021 build of Skate.
In other Skate related news, Full Circle recently confirmed the game will be free-to-play, but it won’t feature pay-to-win mechanics, areas locked behind a paywall, loot boxes or any paid gameplay advantages. The game’s title is also confirmed to just be Skate and not Skate 4 given the development team is taking a Halo Infinite-like approach and treating it as a platform it intends to continuously build on. Skate will also feature cross-play and cross-progression.
The next entry in EA’s Skate series was announced back in 2020. The game currently doesn’t have a release date. Skate will release on Xbox, PlayStation PC and possibly mobile.
In a world with no Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on the horizon, I’m far more interested in Skate than I was a few months ago. Hopefully, the game is able to live up to expectations.
Thursday morning, PlayStation Indies revealed new trailers, release date reveals, gameplay debuts and more for seven upcoming games coming out for PS4 and PS5.
Inscryption is a creepy roguelike deck-building game developed by Vancouver-based Daniel Mullins Games and published by Devolver Digital. The title was originally released on PC. Sony says that the game will now have PlayStation-exclusive features and is coming to PS5 and PS4.
The game is described as part deck-building roguelike but also part escape-room puzzler and part psychological horror, which is a pretty interesting mixture.
The next is another Canadian game, Sea of Stars, from Quebec’s Sabotage Studio.
This is a retro-inspired turn-based role-playing game with seamless transitions from navigation to combat, no random encounters, no grinding and very interesting combat. This “actual turn-based” fighting has no time bars to reduce pressure when making decisions. It also features timed hits, combo moves, the ability to boost your characters, swapping characters without any penalties and more.
Sea of Stars will also reportedly feature a “sometimes epic, sometimes silly, and other times emotional” story.
That’s it for the Canadian games, but we also got more information about Cult of the Lamb. The title, coming out on August 11th, has players fighting through hordes of monsters and false prophets in order to find new followers and resources to bring back to their cult.
The game has players finding followers, customizing them, building new structures, and performing sermons. In order to run a great cult, you need to have your followers healthy and keep their faith high. Build homes, grow crops, cook meals and more.
Signalis is a survival game with psychological and cosmic horror elements.
The game is set in a retrotech sci-fi world with concrete walls, CRT screens and a totalitarian regime. It’s underlined by a Cold War-inspired setting, and fans of cassette futurism will like handling floppy disks, self-developing photos, and old fashion operating systems.
Signalis is launching on PS4 on October 27th.
The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition is launching in North America on September 7th.
“The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition takes place in an alternate future following a failed experiment to unite the minds of all humanity.” Now, humanity’s hope is in the hands of ‘Projection Clones’ that are capable of going into the Void in search of preserved human survivors.
You can learn more about The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition, here.
Schim, is a game where you play as a shadow creature trying to get back to their person. You’ll travel through Dutch-inspired locations, but only through other shadows. You’ll also meet other shadow creatures and characters that you can interact with.
Schim doesn’t have an exact release date but it’s coming out next year. You can learn more about Schim, here.
Last but not least, Cursed to Golf is landing on PS5 and PS4 on August 18th. Cursed to Golf is a ‘Golf-Like’ 2D side-scrolling golf game with roguelike elements.
You’ll be playing as a would-be golf champion who dies just as he’s about to win a tournament and get sent to Golf Purgatory.
This week, we watched as the makers of two prominent games received significant online abuse from so-called “fans.”
On June 29th, Estelle Tigani, Sony Santa Monica’s cinematics producer, tweeted that she’s received multiple dick pics from people demanding to know the God of War: Ragnarok release date. “Pro tip: sending me dick pics asking for the God of War Ragnarok release date will not, in fact, get me to reveal the release date,” she wrote. “To the people who are doing so, when did that ever work for you?!”
Pro tip: sending me dick pics asking for the God of War Ragnarok release date will not, in fact, get me to reveal the release date.
That same day, we learned via Monkey Island actor Dominic Armato that Ron Gilbert, the series’ creator, has made the decision to no longer publicly talk about his upcoming Return to Monkey Island amid harassment he received on his personal blog. “The joy of sharing has been driven from me,” wrote Gilbert. A quick look at the comments shows some people taking issue with the new game’s art style and calling for a redesign.
In the case of both God of War and Monkey Island, we’ve seen some truly vile behaviour from gamers. There’s this sense of entitlement here that is truly baffling. Seriously: why do you think you’re owed anything from these developers?
With Monkey Island, it’s completely reasonable to not dig the new art style, but throwing abuse at Ron Gilbert isn’t the way to go about it. And the situation with God of War is even more nonsensical. Besides Estelle Tigani having absolutely no control over what people are upset about — a lack of a release date for Ragnarok — fans just feel like they deserve this information immediately. News flash: you don’t. The game will be ready when it’s ready, and no amount of whining will change that.
The quiet part out loud. It isn’t about having the freedom to voice your opinion. It isn’t about constructive criticism. It’s about trying to bully somebody into giving you what you want. pic.twitter.com/CH6lyw1g1S
In response to Tigani’s original tweet, someone mentioned that they blame two industry insiders for suggesting we’d get a God of War: Ragnarok update by the end of June, possibly even June 30th. This, too, shows a drastic misunderstanding of how things work. One of those sources was a journalist simply reporting on what he’d heard; obviously, plans can change. The other was a tipster who, while accurate in previous leaks, is an anonymous person that shouldn’t be blindly trusted. You can’t hear things from people outside of PlayStation about God of War and then get upset when PlayStation and its developers don’t validate your beliefs. It’s not even like PlayStation failed to live up to its own promise about reveal in June.
Plus, God of War creative director Cory Barlog said it best. Replying to the person who said they blamed the insiders, Barlog astutely tweeted: “don’t. the answer is not to find someone to blame or focus hate on. maybe just pay it forward and treat the people that make the things we love with some human decency and respect. this is not a battle, we are not at war. we are just trying to make + enjoy things together.”
don't.
the answer is not to find someone to blame or focus hate on. maybe just pay it forward and treat the people that make the things we love with some human decency and respect.
this is not a battle, we are not at war. we are just trying to make + enjoy things together.❤️ https://t.co/o1X3WBQyKF
That Barlog is able to still be kind about all of this says a lot about his character. Because frankly, this sort of “fan” behaviour is disgusting. And look: I even get the root cause of this, to a degree. I’ll confess that as both a gamer and someone who covers the industry professionally, I’ve been a bit anxious to see more from Ragnarok.
Things can often suck, and we love to have games as escapism. But sad stories like this are a good reminder — for everyone, including me — of the sort of nonsense game developers and creators, in general, put up with in this social media age. My desire to play the game really does mean little compared to the people who are actually making it. And I would certainly never send any abuse to them for any disappointments I may have — unreasonable or legitimate.
So if you find yourself getting impatient about a lack of updates or disappointed by an (inoffensive) creative choice that’s being made, maybe take a minute to remember that it’s just regular people making these games. Walk away from social media. Play one of the many other games out there. Go outside. Do literally anything else. As Barlog says, “they are busting their ass to make some for you to enjoy. Show some fucking respect.”
Nintendo Canada has unveiled its ‘Switch Summer Experience’ tour schedule along with a list of the games available to play at the various events.
The tour will take place in cities across British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario beginning July 9th, with its first city event in Vancouver. The list of cities and tour dates are as listed below. Note that every location with a * requires paid admission.
Registration operates on a first-come, first-serve basis, so you’ll have to sign-up for tickets quickly. For more information on registration, Nintendo’s Switch Summer Experience website.
If you plan to pre-register for ‘Warp Pipe Pass’ for faster access, click the link.
After watching 70,000 hours of YouTube videos of Minecraft gameplay, an AI has learned how to play the popular world-building game.
It took me several stressful and painful hours over a few days to figure out how to play the game, while this AI learned to play Minecraft just by watching footage of the title.
OpenAI tweeted a video of its Minecraft AI chopping down wood to make planks and other wooden materials, creating mining tools, and then finding diamonds (creating diamond tools as well) within the game in a matter of a few minutes.
We trained a neural network to competently play Minecraft by pre-training on a large unlabeled video dataset of human Minecraft play and a small amount of labeled contractor data. https://t.co/a2pyBqvLvgpic.twitter.com/XbqtwQSTwU
In a blog post, OpenAI said “With fine-tuning, our model can learn to craft diamond tools, a task that usually takes proficient humans over 20 minutes.” It’s worth pointing out that this AI was able to do 2.5 percent of what it learned in a 10-minute video.
However, this is where it gets a little scary. The AI was also able to swim, hunt and cook based on observations from human player actions while also performing popular techniques like “pillar jumping.”
That’s not to say that this removes all challenge from the game, though. For example, I often wasn’t entirely sure where I needed to parkour jump to next, especially when tasked with more open-ended goals. Should I climb up to the window to reach that florescent sign? Maybe I could crawl up a nearby pipe to get just a little bit more height? There’s still a level of strategy to Stray‘s beautiful but still canned animations, yet I can’t help but still wish I had direct control over the cat during these sequences.
On the positive side of things, if you’re fond of exploration-focused titles, there’s a lot to like about Stray. Without giving too much away, throughout the roughly four to five-hour game, you’ll meet the post-apocalyptic city’s humanoid robot inhabitants and encounter strange bug-like robots called Zurks that seem to only exist to relentlessly chase you around. Eventually, you’ll get your hands on a backpack that houses your drone friend B-12, which lends you a helping 
Sequences like this are by far the best and most interesting part of Stray. The number of ways you can passively interact with the environment around you precisely how a real cat would is impressive. There’s the aforementioned scratching and knocking objects over, but you can also drink from puddles (everyone knows water tastes better from dirty puddles) and cuddle up against the various robots populating the city.
The second issue is the game isn’t very different from its predecessor; it’s still just Overwatch. Overwatch 2 feels more like an update and not an entirely new game. Don’t get me wrong, Blizzard added a couple of new characters, reworked and updated others like Bastion and Doomfist, and added a game mode and new maps, but we’ve been waiting for years, and it’s still pretty much the same title. That said, I’m happy Blizzard is making Overwatch 2 free-to-play and adding a Battle Pass system.
