Monthly Archives: February 2021
30XX Early Access Review
When you die in 30XX, thus bringing your run to a premature and perhaps permanent end, there's a good chance you will receive a message from the Bureau of Encouragement. In a roguelike platformer where death can feel like a crushing setback or at best wasted time, you would be forgiven for expecting to find comfort in such a message. A consoling pat on the back, some inspiring words, or at least a sliver of hope. You would be wrong. "Ooooh! So close…" says the Bureau of Encouragement. "Just kidding. That was terrible!"
I received a lot of messages from the Bureau of Encouragement because I died a lot in 30XX. But the Bureau was not the only regulatory agency to contact me in the aftermath of my demise. The Failure Board and the Department of Aggravation also got in touch to register their contempt at my performance. "Remember, you can stop whenever you have given up hope," they laughed.
Despite their derision, I pressed on. Much like the classic action platformers from which it draws heavy inspiration, 30XX is a game in which defeat is never an ending but rather an opportunity to start over and try again. A roguelike structure is a smart complement to this life-death cycle and positions 30XX--even in its Early Access state--as an accomplished title, worthy of comparison to its 8- and 16-bit forerunners.
Continue Reading at GameSpot30XX Early Access Review
When you die in 30XX, thus bringing your run to a premature and perhaps permanent end, there's a good chance you will receive a message from the Bureau of Encouragement. In a roguelike platformer where death can feel like a crushing setback or at best wasted time, you would be forgiven for expecting to find comfort in such a message. A consoling pat on the back, some inspiring words, or at least a sliver of hope. You would be wrong. "Ooooh! So close…" says the Bureau of Encouragement. "Just kidding. That was terrible!"
I received a lot of messages from the Bureau of Encouragement because I died a lot in 30XX. But the Bureau was not the only regulatory agency to contact me in the aftermath of my demise. The Failure Board and the Department of Aggravation also got in touch to register their contempt at my performance. "Remember, you can stop whenever you have given up hope," they laughed.
Despite their derision, I pressed on. Much like the classic action platformers from which it draws heavy inspiration, 30XX is a game in which defeat is never an ending but rather an opportunity to start over and try again. A roguelike structure is a smart complement to this life-death cycle and positions 30XX--even in its Early Access state--as an accomplished title, worthy of comparison to its 8- and 16-bit forerunners.
Continue Reading at GameSpotAMD to Announce Its Next Radeon RX 6000 Graphics Card on March 3rd
Anthem Development Ceases, BioWare to Focus on Dragon Age, Mass Effect
After over a year of internal overhaul on Anthem, EA and BioWare have decided to stop development on the 2019 action-RPG, and move on to other projects.
In an announcement today penned by executive producer Christian Dailey, he explains that the decision to quit work on Anthem was motivated by a mixture of the impacts of COVID-19, and a desire to focus on other BioWare projects, like Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
"2020 was a year unlike any other however and while we continue to make progress against all our game projects at BioWare, working from home during the pandemic has had an impact on our productivity and not everything we had planned as a studio before COVID-19 can be accomplished without putting undue stress on our teams," he wrote.
"I know this will be disappointing to the community of Anthem players who have been excited to see the improvements we’ve been working on. It's also disappointing for the team who were doing brilliant work. And for me personally, Anthem is what brought me to BioWare, and the last two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career.
"Game development is hard. Decisions like these are not easy. Moving forward, we need to laser focus our efforts as a studio and strengthen the next Dragon Age, and Mass Effect titles while continuing to provide quality updates to Star Wars: The Old Republic."
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Dailey also notes that Anthem's existing live service will continue running as it is now for the foreseeable future.
Anthem had a rocky launch, plagued with bugs and criticism that while its combat was interesting, its story was a grind and its endgame didn't have the chops to sustain the game long-term. As the game stumbled through 2019, EA ultimately opted to overhaul Anthem in late 2019, taking over a year to completely change the game's core loop and systems like loot, quests, and social elements. Earlier this month, EA reportedly reviewed the state of the game and subsequently made the call to cease development at that time.
In an exclusive interview with IGN, EA chief studios officer Laura Miele offered her thoughts on the shuttering of Anthem development, contrasting the decisions EA had made in regards to the game's overhaul with those it made on Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Battlefront 2 was successfully overhauled post-launch based on community feedback, if not perhaps as dramatically as Anthem was planned to be.
"What’s really important about Battlefront 2 is we said we were going to do something," Miele explained. "We made a commitment to players and we needed to act on what we said we would do, so our teams are clear, if we publicly say we’re going to do something we must deliver. Creating new content for games can also come to a natural conclusion for various reasons and when that happens we try to be as transparent as we can with the community and explain why."
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Miele then pointed to Battlefront 2's community post-launch as an example, saying that even though the game's community had asked for more post-launch content beyond what DICE was going to deliver, the studios were keeping that feedback in mind for future Star Wars games.
In contrast, while Anthem also had a community interested in its overhaul, Miele says that ultimately the best decision based on the resources BioWare has at their disposal was to focus development on its other games instead.
"We’ve believed in Anthem every step of the way, we’ve invested in this game for close to a decade and we’re proud of the work the team has done," Miele said. "Starting with the game’s launch two years ago, the team at BioWare has listened to player feedback and brought updates and improvements to the game.
"However, 2020 and 2021 are unprecedented years when it comes to game development, so we must prioritize both the player experience and what’s best for the people working on these games. We want to make sure BioWare is able to focus on making the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games the best they can be, while also continuing to provide quality updates to [Star Wars: The Old Republic]. That’s ultimately the best way we can be in service to our players, focusing on these fan favorites and delivering on the communities’ expectations.
"Anthem was a creative risk and its challenges have taught us a lot about game design and even how we can improve our development process. This not only benefits developers, but players as well."
Miele talked at length about EA's relationship with its game communities and goals to adapt based on fan feedback in the rest of our interview as well, which you can read here.
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Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.EA Is Putting the Future of its Franchises, Including Titanfall, into its Studios’ Hands
Laura Miele loves working with people who make games -- a love that began to be cultivated around 25 years ago, when she got her start at former EA subsidiary and Command & Conquer creator Westwood Studios.
"Those years working directly with developers forever shaped my understanding of the complexities and sophistication of game development, as well as my appreciation and admiration of game developers," Miele says. Now, she's the chief studios officer for EA, where she works with over 6,000 game developers across the company. Miele tells us she sees EA's internal studios as the "gravitational center" of the company, with the focus of her job being to empower those developers to make the things they want to make, all the while responding to the wants and needs of EA's game communities and fans. "In terms of our game development philosophy, our players are always our north star," Miele says. "As I started this current role, I wanted to strip away some of the preconceived notions about what games we should be investing in and really start listening to players and incorporating their voice into our development process. Since then, we have announced a slate of games that players asked for: a new Skate, College Football, a Command & Conquer remaster, the Mass Effect Trilogy and we developed free content in Battlefront 2 for several years to turn the perception of that game completely around." [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=I%20wanted%20to%20strip%20away%20some%20of%20the%20preconceived%20notions%20about%20what%20games%20we%20should%20be%20investing%20in"] Miele repeatedly emphasizes the importance of keeping players involved in the ongoing development processes of all EA's games, citing as examples EA releasing the Command & Conquer source code, and the recent announcement of a new Skate game by a new EA studio called Full Circle. "We call it Full Circle for a reason -- we want our players’ experience with EA to come full circle. Our players deserve to be part of the process." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/02/07/why-there-are-no-titans-in-apex-legends"] Miele points out that responding to what players are asking for is very rarely something that can happen instantly, pointing to annual franchises like Madden and FIFA which iterate more slowly over each new installment. Major changes to how games like that work, she says, often don't happen until a few years after they're first brought up, simply due to how challenging development of annual installments can be. "We have recently added advanced innovation teams that are heavily focused on tech development and dedicated to long-term game development," Miele says of Madden and FIFA. "These teams explore innovation initiatives that players will get to experience in two to three years." And Miele also wants to make it clear that being player-focused doesn't mean "making everyone happy 100% of the time." Our conversation with her occurred just ahead of the announcement that BioWare would end development on Anthem, a game that BioWare strove to overhaul over the course of a year in response to player feedback. Miele says that ultimately the studio needed to allocate its time and resources to franchises like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and that the COVID-19 pandemic made it especially difficult to make the game into what players wanted. In contrast, Miele points to Star Wars: Battlefront 2, where EA DICE was able to take the time to turn the game around from its original form, which players were unhappy with. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=I%20don%E2%80%99t%20believe%20in%20directing%20or%20telling%20games%20teams%20what%20to%20create"] "When I first took this studios leadership role, players were incredibly unhappy with this game," Miele recalls. "We had made commitments to deliver content to the community, but we didn’t have team members assigned to deliver on these promises. We quickly pulled together a great team of people from our studios in Vancouver, Montreal and Stockholm to immediately get to work on fulfilling our promises. We created free content for players because it was the right thing to do and I felt we owed it to our community of players. "We didn’t expect any accolades or pats on the back for this work, but we actually saw a significant sentiment turn around from players and the game was re-reviewed at much higher scores. Players still love to play Battlefront 2 and I feel we are moving past its history. To hear fan feedback and see players loving this game is deeply gratifying." Another franchise where players may not necessarily feel they've gotten everything they wanted lately is Titanfall. Though Titanfall has a dedicated community of fans, right now, developer Respawn currently appears to be focused on the battle royale taking place in that universe, Apex Legends, rather than on a new main series game. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the end of Titanfall proper, though. Miele confirms that Respawn is fully in control of what happens to the franchise in the future, who will make the decision based on, once again, what players want. "Apex takes place in the Titanfall world and the Respawn team is incredibly proud of that legacy and brand," she says. "That team will determine what the future holds for Apex and Titanfall. I don’t believe in directing or telling games teams what to create, it has to come from the player community, and the inspiration and motivation of developers." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/19/ea-play-2020-reactions-new-skate-game-star-wars-squadrons-more"] So ultimately, what does it mean when EA and its studios say they will listen to its players? Ultimately, EA proper does have the final say on decisions regarding what games get made or updated or ended, Miele acknowledges -- they're all in business together, after all. "There is a lot of creative autonomy within Electronic Arts but there are certain values and principles we have as a company that we just couldn’t allow to be compromised." But there's an overarching understanding across the company, she says, that teams should have the creative license to receive, listen to, and accept or reject feedback from players. The studios are, after all, the creators and entertainers making the art in the first place. As for how the studios actually collect that feedback, Miele points to a number of areas. One of those is social media, which she says played a key role in making Skate 4 happen. "With Skate for example, we knew that every time we posted on Instagram that the first comment no matter what we posted would be #skate4," she says. "But we only want to revisit a series if we’re confident we can build an experience that moves the franchise forward in a contemporary way. " Other sources of feedback include actual game telemetry that shows the developers how players are interacting with the games and what problems they are having as they play, customer support feedback, and the game's community teams. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=We%20knew%20that%20every%20time%20we%20posted%20on%20Instagram%20that%20the%20first%20comment%20no%20matter%20what%20we%20posted%20would%20be%20%23skate4"] "One of the things I did in the first 100 days of my role as head of studios was to spend time with our community leaders for some of our biggest franchises," Miele says. "I asked them to give me their best advice on how we can have a better connection to our players. The biggest theme was - please listen to us about the content players are asking for which resulted in us green lighting Skate, College Football, Command &Conquer and additional content for Battlefront II. "We take all of these inputs and that gives us a sense of what players are loving and not liking- our studio leaders then work with the game teams to determine how we prioritize and address direct player feedback." Ultimately, Miele says, everything is about balance -- EA will step in and make decisions as needed, developers are given agency to make the things they want to make, and players -- hopefully -- eventually feel their needs and wants are met."It’s about working to understand what a player’s motivations are and working to meet those," Miele says. "While at the same time recognizing our game teams are tremendously talented at their craft and will determine where the story and game go."
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Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.NBC’s Debris: Series Premiere Exclusive Clip
Legendary Wrestler The Big Show Swaps WWE for AEW
Wrestling icon Paul Wight AKA The Big Show has signed a new deal that will transition him from the WWE to competitor All Elite Wrestling.
Wight will join AEW both as a wrestler in the ring and a commentator on AEW’s new show AEW Dark: Elevation.
“It’s been amazing to watch what AEW has built in just a couple of years,” Wight said. “AEW Dark is an incredible platform to hone the skills of up-and-coming wrestlers, but I also love that established AEW talent can build out their personalities and showcase themselves in new ways on Dark. It’s no exaggeration when they say that AEW is boundless.”
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/09/07/tnts-aew-all-elite-wrestling-premiere-promo-ign-first"]Wight’s new role will also focus in some capacity on mentoring young talent at AEW with his years of professional wrestling experience, as well as educating fans with his commentary.
AEW Dark: Elevation, which will focus on both established and rising stars in AEW’s roster, will air on Mondays at 7 PM ET on AEW’s YouTube channel.
Wight began his wrestling career decades ago in 1994, signing with WCW in 1995. In 1999, he signed a multi-year contract with WWF (which of course later became WWE), eventually winning numerous championship events. He’s previously won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, two WWF/WWE Championship wins, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship twice, and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, making him the only wrestler to have held all four titles. Wight is also an 11-time World Tag-Team Champion.
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Big Show enters the ring during the WWE Raw event at Rose Garden arena in Portland, Ore., Monday February 27th, 2012. (Photo by Chris Ryan/Corbis via Getty Images)[/caption]
Wight’s star power also catapulted him into Hollywood, with appearances in films like Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger, shows like Burn Notice, and more recently a starring role in the sitcom The Big Show Show.
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-big-show-show-season-1-gallery&captions=true"]AEW was founded in 2019 by Jacksonville Jaguars co-owner Tony Khan, with former WWE wrestlers headlining, including Cody and Brandi Rhodes, Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Chris Jericho, Sting, Hangman Page, and Jon Moxley. Cody Rhodes and Omega also serve as executive producers. Sting signed his deal with AEW as recently as early December last year. AEW has established itself as one of the more serious competitors to WWE’s long standing monopoly on professional wrestling, with financial backing from billionaire Shahid Khan.
[poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/babyface for IGN.