It’s great news because it will now be available in other countries which ban F2P games with « gacha » mechanics. I think I will give it a try in December (but I have to get some info on it first, I like Animal Crossing games but I have no idea how good this mobile version is).
Just to say that the question might not only concern niche games. Any game that you do not buy shortly after its release might have a negative impact on the franchise (because most sales happen in a few weeks, with rare exceptions of course).
And then, they will blame the studio when the game fails :/. There is no point to force a studio specialized in single-player games to develop a multiplayer one. And using an existing IP for that is not very effective imo (it reminds me a lot when, during PS360 era, all single player games had an uninteresting multiplayer mode solely to justify the online membership, like Fable 2 or Mass Effect 3). It’s exactly like the last Crash game no one cared about.
It feels like they are buying lottery tickets, hoping a winning ticket will cover all their expenses.
It’s sad, but I think the only way to preserve video games is through piracy and emulation. The companies do not care, states do not care, and most people do not care until it’s too late (and the games are seen as consumables by most people, which imo explains why they are « happy » to buy the same games again and again).
Just to add some information, what’s innovative here is that they are likely using a traditional machine learning model (eg: neural networks) to identify the corners of the screen and infer the position the gun is aiming at from this.
Sinden is aiming to do the same thing, but using older techniques known as compute vision. It adds a white border around the screen and uses those CV algorithms to find this rectangle. It is not AI at all.
The reason Sinden is doing this is because it is much more easier this way (and so it is fast to compute, and very accurate).
Whatever AI they use, it will likely be either less accurate and/or be very slow (imagine situations with low ambient light and the screen turning black). I have seen a review in japanese from journalists who tried it, and the response time was not great (and the team wants to divide it by 2 before release, which will still be worse than Sinden).
Another possibility could be there is no AI at all, and they exploit specificities of Time Crisis. When you shoot, the screen goes white for 1 or 2 frames. You don’t need AI to spot this frame and do something very similar to Sinden without using any border.
At this point, it might be too late to move the « cursor » to the right location, but emulators nowadays are able to apply inputs in the past, and « replay » internally the last frames in the background so that you cancel the native input lag of some games (which can make them more responsive than games running on real hardware). They could use this option and it’s done. You have a system only working on games like Time Crisis with white frames while shooting, with no white borders nor machine learning model.
TLDR; if they use AI (=machine learning) as they claim, there will be no constraint like existing alternatives (sensors / white borders), but it will likely be less accurate / responsive. For Time Crisis specifically, it’s possible to come up with a solution without those constraints nowadays, so it’s possible they have no AI at all and use the term for marketing purposes.
I heard they sue Pocketpair on copyrighted systems, not on the design of the Pals (eg: using an object like a Pokeball to catch the creatures). They certainly have solid legal arguments, which explains why they took their time to find some flaws they could exploit to sue them.
At the beginning of this generation, I planned to buy a used PS5 when the Pro version was coming. I did not know that the PS5 would have almost no games for me (especially because they released the big ones for me on PC), the base PS5 would cost even more, and most people will not upgrade to the Pro because of its absurd pricing (note because it’s not worth it, but because the market for it is likely very niche).
I guess I will just skip Sony’s platform for this generation.
An amazing controller. I had not the chance to play it at the time, but the first impressions of the controller 10 years ago was incredible. I bought a Dreamcast shortly after :). I just ordered a GDEmu yesterday, can’t wait to get it :D.
Switch Pro controller for its asymmetrical layout + gyroscope (it’s so much better for aiming). I’d love to test a PS5 controller but symmetrical layout tend to hurt my hands (it was already the case for the PS3/PS4 controllers, so I have little hope for the PS5 controller).
Not exactly. It seems it was 30 fps on the map and 60 fps during battle.
Not an excuse, but I believe that’s because they are porting the PS3 version (which already had those limitations if I remember correctly).
Probably one of my all-time favorite RPG. It’s a good classic RPG with good graphics and music. The gameplay is good and unique as well, but I remember from my first playthrough back in the days that it took me some time to get used to it. The game is not easy at all (because 2/3 bosses in the game are very hard).
It’s important not to make a big pause when playing this game. The gameplay starts slow and becomes very fast at some point. It is so unique that, if you stop and play again after a month or so, you will likely have a hard time to become fast enough again (when I played it for the 1st time when I was young, I did this mistake and had to start the game from the beginning).
I can’t comment about the 2nd game because I never played it.
Clair Obscure reminds me a lot Lost Odyssey with its dynamic turn-based gameplay with QTE to alter the outcome. The plot is also quite interesting. Perfect Dark also surprised me. It seems to have Mirror Edge vibes with a bit more infiltration / action phases.
I guess it’s time to invest in a mobile controller 😅.
It’s true for TCG online, but I doubt it will be the case for this one. They announced nothing regarding micro transactions nor how to get extra packs. They can totally make this one free, as it’s marketing value for physical cards is enough by itself.
Yes but if it’s free, I don’t think it’s a big issue. Very different than allowing people to buy lottery tickets (it could be the case, but I don’t think so).
Depends how you see it. TCG is by itself a lootbox game, but with physical cards instead. However, it does not seem that the Pokemon Company wants to turn its TCG game into a digital business, but instead use those apps as promotional products for TCG. Personally, I think it’s a much better model than the one pursued by everyone else. The apps are more a bonus / promotional stuff than a real thing. For this particular app, I won’t be surprised if there is no other way to get packs than waiting for the next day.
It’s normal to be skeptical no worries ;). Pokémon TCG is really a thing of its own, and managed by a separate entity within the Pokemon Company.
I could be wrong, but if it was the case, I am wondering why they did not already do it with their new TCG app that was released last year.
I don’t think so. The TCG online has no micro-transactions. You have to buy real packs to get digital packs in the game.
I believe this new game will just be advertisement for the TCG by itself, without the F2P stuff we are used to in other games. Giving people this app for free, and expect to convert some of them into TCG players who will buy real packs.
I am very excited. I am reading the comics at the moment, it’s a real pleasure to discover a new aspect of the licence I loved during my childhood. If they can keep up with what’s shown in the trailer, the game will be pretty fun :).