Last weekend, PlayStation summoned the press and its most dedicated fans to Anaheim, CA for this years PlayStation Experience Show, highlighting all things PlayStation
Hello Games hinted last week that they would be releasing an update to this generation’s most anticipated game, No Man Sky. Silent for months since the release, Hello Games posted to their blog, news about the first major update, the Foundation Update which added Survival and Creative game modes in addition to numerous tweaks and revamps to the games systems and UI. You can find out more on the Foundation Update and Patch Notes (below) over at the No Man’s Sky website.
FOUNDATION UPDATE
PATCH NOTES
General Gameplay
Fixed technology becoming instantly fully charged when repaired
Fixed ship appearing on incorrect pad in space station after loading
Added interactable objects that required certain tech to collect
Added shootable objects that require certain tech to mine
Rebalanced resource availability and technology charge requirements
Fixed initial game flow – where travelling to space too quickly after visiting the monolith could prevent the first atlas station notification appearing
Prevented player being prompted to scan for buildings before leaving the system after visiting the monolith
Prevented laser and melee attacks while in space from attempting to edit terrain
Improved calculation of resources received when mining terrain
Renamed Signal Scanners to Signal Boosters
Signal booster objects updated to search for playable bases, suit upgrade pods, and mineable resources
Removed signal booster from being distributed on terrain, as player can now build them
Improved accuracy of environment detection, fixing cases where it rained inside caves
Fixed galactic waypoints not loading correctly across saves
Removed atlas pass v1 requirement from doors in stations
Suit upgrade pods are no longer spawned in stations
Suit upgrade pods can now only be used once
Fixed collision in anomaly that was causing issues when exiting larger ships
Increased the number of different NPC character models generated per system
Fixed the game always remaining in day time for players who began their save prior to patch 1.03
Fixed a potential crash in foliage instance renderer
Localisation
Fixed stats page in asian languages
Fixed multiple issues with asian language formatting
Multiple improvements and fixes to localisation text in all languages
UI
Added new icons for specific types of primary resources
Fixed health bars not appearing on some targets
Added hazard and life support drain indicators
Fixed mission messages not appearing in a timely fashion
Beacons now notify the player that they will save the game
Fixed crash when creature IK animations were updated under certain conditions on the discovery screen
Improved navigation in discovery UI
Massive speed improvements to browsing huge discovery lists
Increased size of discovery storage
Added option to load “Earliest” previous save in Options menu
Fixed weapon naming
Added icon to remind players of the reload button when weapon is empty
Multiple fixes for viewing discoveries
PS4
Added photo mode
Large optimisations to the engine to accommodate base building
PC
Added support for up to 8 mouse buttons
Fixed better order position history for mouse smoothing
Fixed bug where setting gamma to zero gave a fully bright rather than fully dark image
Fixed hard-limiting on save sizes, with appropriate warning about free space on boot
Player is now notified when shaders are being loaded
Fixed occasional crash on exit
Fixed performance of trail renderer for some AMD cards
Large optimisations to the engine to accommodate base building
Generation
Added biome specific plants
Adopted new method of distributing resource plants on terrain, for more lifelike clumps of plants
Improved distribution of plant life across all terrain types
Introduced visual differentiation of red, green and blue star systems
Introduced new mineable terrain resources found only in red, green and blue star systems
Reduced average building frequency
Introduced planets with elevated building density
Introduced planets with no buildings or sentient life
Increased the proportion of lush and tropical planets
Decreased the proportion of lifeless planets
Fixed bug where multiple ships could appear, overlapping, at the player’s start scene
Prevented certain building types being incorrectly placed underwater
Prevented multiple buildings occasionally being placed in overlapping positions
Prevented buildings occasionally being placed intersecting with the terrain
Improved and altered per-planet terrain resource generation, improving gameplay and visuals
Creatures
Fixed elevation cache mismatches, causing errors in creature knowledge and pathing
Fixed slow memory leak in creature role allocation
Improved creature animation speeds
Fixed issues where some creatures turns had the incorrect frame count
Fixed occasional crash when interacting with creatures
Atmospherics
Increased proportion of vibrant blue skies
Corrected cloud levels for clear skies
Improved average cloud level settings
Fixed cloud rendering while flying in your ship
Improved atmosphere depth when transitioning to space
Increased fidelity of atmosphere rendering on nearest planet
Improved atmospheric fog as you fly to a planet
Improved fog method for planets seen on the horizon
Terrain
Improved terrain generation algorithms
Improved and extended blend areas between different terrain noise types
Terrains now generate more open spaces
Smaller features now appear at nearer lods to improve visuals in the distance
Fixed objects being placed on incorrect terrain material types
Improved resolution of distant planet terrain
Decreased differences between planet as seen from space and actual planet terrain
Fixed seams on planets when seen from space
Improvements to terrain material selection and terrain material blending
Terrain generation priority and cost calculation improvements
Fixed terrain generation angle calculations, which would previously prevent nearest region being generated first
We now generate caves on lower terrain lods to decrease visual differences in lower detail terrain
Introduced more varied and vibrant colouring to terrain for each biome
Decreased frequency of brown terrain colour selections
Changed texture scales to improve transition between terrain lods
Improved terrain colour combinations to add variety and better match terrain contouring
Improved terrain texture blending method to better retain vibrant colours
Improved settings for hue, saturation and value noise variation on terrain
Fixed a number of issues causing holes to be seen in the planet terrain
Fixed occasional crash when mining terrain
Visuals
Fixed colour of muzzle flashes on player weapons
Added muzzle flashes to ship weapons
Added cockpit lighting for damage and weapon firing
Added debris to freighter explosion effect
Improved freighter cargo explosions
Improved photon cannon hit and space explosion effects
Improved turret explosion effect
Improved grass colour selection
Improved grass colouring method to match underlying terrain colour
Improved grass placement to match gradient of terrain, and rocky terrain slope patches
Improved lighting on grass
Improved alpha cutoffs and blending for grass in the distance
Improved colouring method for on-planet buildings
Fixed “pop” in lighting when flying between planets
Fixed incorrect lighting seen in shadow areas
Improved lighting method when rendering tree leaves
Fixed procedural texturing on objects with multiple overlapping textures
Fixed size of certain texture atlas normal maps
Fixed texture scaling on asteroids
Zinc plant is now more obvious when it has been gathered
Fixed occasional rendering errors due to precision on cockpit during warp
Fixed pulse lines not appearing when pulse driving out from planet atmosphere
Fixed shadowing artefacts on imposters
Space
Improved asteroids to allow much denser fields
Improved explosion effects
Fixed scale of moons on the space map
Added freighter groups to the space map
Changed distribution of resources in asteroids
AI ships will now clear asteroids in their path
Planets are now scannable from space to see their resources
Space Combat
Fixed bounty targets warping out too soon
Improved HUD indicators in space combat
Added damaged ship effect on AI starships
Added formation flying
Improved locking on passive starships
Improved AI combat flight patterns
Added new ship weapon technology
Holding brake whilst turning now activates drift for fast turns
Improved AI ship freighter attacking
Improved freighter targeting code when under attack by enemy ships
Freighters
Fixed pulse drive to prevent travel through freighters
Improved docking code
Added hangar to the lead freighter
Added docking in freighters
Added icon to accessible freighter hangars
Added colouring to cargo drops to identify what is in them
You can now only pick up cargo drops that will fit in your inventory
Added auxiliary freight ships to freighter groups
Added alert lights and alarm audio for when freighters are in combat
Improved turret lights and explosions
Improved muzzle flashes on freighter turrets
Added indicator of cargo contents
Freighter Commanders now give rewards for rescuing them from pirate attack
Fixed collision on freighter cargo containers
Audio
Updated the lush ambience to make the wind sounds less noisy
Ambient background fauna now checks for the presence of creatures
Added rain on foliage
Added rain on ship
Added freighter specific footsteps
When on a dead planet, no music will play
Round table prop now plays an appropriate sound
Added more music to the loading sequence and game start
Added audio to new base building props
Created sounds for new base building props
Added audio to freighter doors and internal freighter ambiences
Added freighter explosions
Added freighter alarm
Added ambient radio comms when approaching a freighter
Fixed missing sounds when in a space station due to the mix settings
Multi-tool upgrades now affect audio
Lots of minor mix changes
Changed some compression settings for PS4 audio to make the sub-channel audio play more reliably
Nintendo has take the wraps of its newest console, the “Nintendo Switch” (Codenamed Nintendo NX). Leaks and rumors have, for months, described the console as a screen with detachable controllers that connects to a cradle, when not mobile. And thats pretty much what we saw in the reveal trailer hit the internet today.
Portable Console
The new console consists of three elements, The Nintendo Switch portable console, the Nintendo Dock and the Joy-Con controllers. When at home, you slip your Switch console into the Dock for a big screen console experience. You would then slide the Joy-Con Controllers off of the console and use it with the Joy-Con Grip accessory or an optional Pro version.
Games
Zelda made the cut in the reveal trailer, as did a Mario Kart game, Skyrim (oddly) and a new Mario game, for which I would buy a Switch simply of the strength of that game alone. In their Press Release, Nintendo gave a nod to some of the developers that are supporting the new console. Third-Party support is something lacking with the last four Nintendo consoles and is a really good sign that Nintendo making changes that with benefit their diehard fans as well as add to their ranks.
When Can I Buy One?
The Nintendo Switch will be release March 2017. This is a good time for Console hardware.
Me and my brother didn’t always get along but we both loved video games. Since the days of the NES forward, my brother was my Player Two. Zachary Antell’s film, Player Two, made me look back at those simpler times when all me and my brother needed was a free TV and an endless supply of AA batteries for our GameBoys. The good old days.
According to an article on TechRadar, an unnamed source has stated that RockStar has started pre-production on Grand Theft Auto 6. Though no location for the next installment in the series was known, the article began describing RockStar’s interest in Tokyo as a locale in the past as well as a few names they previously trademarked, presumably as part of their pre-production process. I would love to see the series revisit Tokyo or even go forward in the timeline for a “Grand Theft Auto: Future”. Here’s hoping!
This week, during a special VR event at this years Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Playstation CEO, Andrew House announce the price and release window for the much-anticipated Playstation VR for the PlayStation 4. At $399 (US), you get everything in the above picture when the headset is released this October. You will need to purchase a PlayStation Camera and Move Controller for game that will utilize them which would bring the cost close to the Oculus Rifts $599 price once you go all in. I can’t wait to preorder. Head over to PlayStation.com for the latest PlayStation VR news and information about how and when to preorder.
Firstly, Grifball is back! As part of their Spring/Summer 2016 content update, 343 Industries releases the Hammer Storm update for Halo 5: Guardians on Xbox One this week. In addition to Grifball, Assault and Fiesta game modes have been added, there’s a new map called “Torque”, a ton of new REQ items and the return of the Halo CE Pistol. The end of the gameplay trailer (above) gives us a glimpse of Warzone Firefight, a welcomed addition since it was added to both Halo ODST and Halo: Reach. Head over to Halo Waypoint for more information on the Hammer Storm update.
I have high hopes for this games. The Uncharted Series was a saving grace during the PS3 rocky years. In the trailer, we get a little glimpse of Drake’s latest adventure and it appear as though this will be his most difficult one yet.
HTC announced that it will release the SteamVR powered Virtual Reality Headset, developed in partnership with Valve, this April. It will compete with the Oculus Rift and yet to be announced for release PlayStation VR Headsets. The device will cost $799.99 (USD) and include the VR Headset, two controller wands and two sensors. Early adopters will be treated to two free VR games Job Simulator and Fantastic Contraption (Both trailers are below). Preorders start on Monday February 29th head over the the VIVE site for more info.
