X-Box, Playstation, and Wii Game News

Well my point is that even when given ample warning, companies seem hard pressed to actually thwart these attacks. Maybe due to what happened last year they'll take these threats more seriously, but this new group is also taking credit for taking Reddit down last night. I do hope that these services don't go down. Even though I likely won't be affected, there will be lots of people with new systems/games that will require big updates, and not being able to get a "working" copy due to the update systems being down won't be fun. Just the fact that they'll be likely 1 million+ new users on these systems logging in within a 48 hour period will put enough strain on PSN/XBL, and a DDoS attack isn't going to help things.
 
Well my point is that even when given ample warning, companies seem hard pressed to actually thwart these attacks. Maybe due to what happened last year they'll take these threats more seriously, but this new group is also taking credit for taking Reddit down last night. I do hope that these services don't go down. Even though I likely won't be affected, there will be lots of people with new systems/games that will require big updates, and not being able to get a "working" copy due to the update systems being down won't be fun. Just the fact that they'll be likely 1 million+ new users on these systems logging in within a 48 hour period will put enough strain on PSN/XBL, and a DDoS attack isn't going to help things.

Yeah, it's ridiculous. I'm not sure what they think they are accomplishing by ruining people's day. They say it's because Sony and Microsoft have poor security and they want to send them a message. In reality they are just making it so people can't enjoy their new Christmas presents.
 
Looks like the bitter divorce between Konami and Hideo Kojima is finally over. According to the Nikkei, Kojima is done as of December 15th and will be opening up his own studio and is in talks with Sony.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/15/10220372/hideo-kojima-new-studio-leaves-konami

It's great that Hideo can now go back to making games, but I'd prefer that he not do it with Sony. His work should not be limited to just Playstation owners.

Well, it's official:



Again, I'm glad he's free to make more games and with the backing of Sony it should be helpful, but again it's sad that only Playstation 4 players will get to experience it. In this age, exclusives feel less like competitive advantage and instead just feel like methods that screw over the consumers. What would REALLY be cool would be if Sony could use its stroke and power to get the rights to Snatcher and Policenauts from Konami and remake the games so more people can play them. In this day and age of interactive narratives and light adventure games, these games would do VERY well. From the way this video looked though it appears more like a whole new series will be worked on. If it turns out good then I won't be complaining, as I can still go back and play the originals. Just a shame that more people can't easily do so. It's a lot easier to just have a game out there to download, as opposed to getting an emulator, getting the right BIOS, getting the disc/ROM file, configuring the emulator properly and then running it on your computer. Also the games haven't really aged too well from an aesthetic standpoint, as they are hand drawn animation games on Sega CD & PSX, which had limited hardware resources at the time.

TotalBiscuit summed up the exclusivity thing quite well.

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Then again, with Sony backing them then maybe we'll FINALLY get Silent Hills. A name change should be sufficient enough to get this thing around legal, not to mention that one could DEFINITELY argue that Silent Hill in its current state at Konami is NOTHING like what Silent Hills was going to be.
 
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From an outsider's perspective all of this Kojima stuff has been interesting but since I've never played a Kojima game I don't really care about most of it. That being said, I'm glad he is somewhere where he can continue to make big budget, AAA games instead of turning to Kickstarter like others have when they leave a big publisher. It's not like good stuff doesn't come out of Kickstarter but nothing has ever been close to the kind of budget his games require.

Also, I'm kind of glad he can't make any more Metal Gear. That series was always intimidating to me because I'm not one to jump into a story based series near the end if I haven't played any of the other games before it. Since I don't have the time to play all the Metal Gear games back to the PS1 days I just avoid the new ones too. Now that he has moved on I will finally be able to play one of his games and see what all the fuss is about.
 
According to a Q&A, the game will be funded by Sony but Sony won't be involved in the development, and Kojima Productions will remain an independent studio. Also, it is a timed PS4 exclusive with an eventual PC release, and will be something completely new (no Silent Hills or Metal Gear.)

I'm not posting a link yet because all the news sites are sourcing another link that when you click on it states that the author took it down, so I'm a little suspicious of that.

In other news, Kojima Productions already has their website up, AND they're hiring!

http://www.kojimaproductions.jp/
 
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'Phantom Squad' threatens Xbox Live and PSN outages over Christmas

http://www.neowin.net/news/phantom-squad-threatens-xbox-live-and-psn-outages-over-christmas

A newly-formed hacking group calling themselves ‘Phantom Squad’ has claimed it will take down Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network over the holiday period through sustained DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks. This will mimic successful attacks that occurred last year, where servers for online game services were forced offline for multiple days.

The group has previously proven its abilities, by sparking issues with both Xbox Live and Playstation Network connectivity. The group has also claimed responsibility for yesterday's short outage suffered by Reddit.

Phantom Squad appears to be rivaling Lizard Squad, who coordinated the infamous outages of many online gaming services towards the end of last year. Since these attacks, individuals have been arrested in relation to various cyber-crime incidents, but the group has still delivered similar attacks throughout the year.
 
'Phantom Squad' threatens Xbox Live and PSN outages over Christmas

http://www.neowin.net/news/phantom-squad-threatens-xbox-live-and-psn-outages-over-christmas

A newly-formed hacking group calling themselves ‘Phantom Squad’ has claimed it will take down Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network over the holiday period through sustained DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks. This will mimic successful attacks that occurred last year, where servers for online game services were forced offline for multiple days.

The group has previously proven its abilities, by sparking issues with both Xbox Live and Playstation Network connectivity. The group has also claimed responsibility for yesterday's short outage suffered by Reddit.

Phantom Squad appears to be rivaling Lizard Squad, who coordinated the infamous outages of many online gaming services towards the end of last year. Since these attacks, individuals have been arrested in relation to various cyber-crime incidents, but the group has still delivered similar attacks throughout the year.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/posts/3784587/
 
Ubisoft's much delayed The Division has/had a closed Alpha. Looks like someone broke the NDA and posted video footage. Links in the thread (It was posted to YouTube and DailyMotion but Ubisoft put a quick stop to that.)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1160162

Aparently game companies take those NDAs seriously. When I was in the Battleborn beta a couple months back I basically had to sign a digital contract saying that not only would I not post video, I also was not allowed not talk about the beta on the internet. They then reminded us of those rules every single time we launched the beta.

It all felt pretty weird to me. Many publishers treat their betas as a marketing tool more than anything else. Then you have cases like Battleborn and The Division where they are so worried about what people will say about their games that they prohibit us from talking about them.
 
I like how this guy didn't bother to censor his gamertag. Either he doesn't give a F or he's amazingly dumb. Probably a bit of both.
 
The first DLC pack for Black Ops 3 is coming on Groundhog day for the PS4, and other consoles later. Well, later except for the 360 and PS3, which, although they are multiplayer ONLY games, WON'T be getting this pack (no word on future ones but I could see this setting a precedent.) I know this doesn't affect me at all but it just seems so mean to these last gen players. First they don't get the full game. Then the version they do get looks absolutely horrible. And now they can't even play any additional maps. Activision has a really unsubtle way of trying to push players to current gen. Not that I entirely blame them, but stripping away features feels like a dirty way to do it IMO.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/21/10637126/call-of-duty-black-ops-3-awakening-dlc-ps4
 
The first DLC pack for Black Ops 3 is coming on Groundhog day for the PS4, and other consoles later. Well, later except for the 360 and PS3, which, although they are multiplayer ONLY games, WON'T be getting this pack (no word on future ones but I could see this setting a precedent.) I know this doesn't affect me at all but it just seems so mean to these last gen players. First they don't get the full game. Then the version they do get looks absolutely horrible. And now they can't even play any additional maps. Activision has a really unsubtle way of trying to push players to current gen. Not that I entirely blame them, but stripping away features feels like a dirty way to do it IMO.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/21/10637126/call-of-duty-black-ops-3-awakening-dlc-ps4

I think I said something similar to this before but if they aren't going to properly support the last gen versions they shouldn't be selling them. I think it's understandable that they wouldn't want to work on 5 platforms for everything they do but if that's the case they had no business selling on all those platforms to begin with.
 
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EA has done the same thing with their annual sports franchises. Last year when I bought Madden 15, there was absolutely no indication in the advance marketing and publicity that the game would be nerfed on older systems and not include many of the new advertised features (features that don't necessarily require the greater power of a PS4/XboxOne to run); same thing happened for NHL from what I saw at the time. Reading some reviews for Madden 16 for PS3 on Amazon, it seems to be a similar case this year. Here's one snippet:

Finally arrived and was super excited to play the new franchise mode with new scouting features. Only to find out that it is only available for next gen. Played less than 1 hour and putting it up on eBay.... Like others have posted if you are on PS3 and enjoyed last years game, this is the same game just updated rosters.. I did just purchased a PS4 and will be buying Madden 16 for that system. For me bad timing and misleading title, but I wouldn't waste your money unless you are on next gen.

At least, it sounds like Activision was pretty clear about what CoD would be lacking on older gen, though maybe folks still expected the new maps.
 
Well they're trying to have the best of both worlds. They don't want to spend a lot of money developing for all these systems, but they also don't want to ignore the MASSIVE install base of last gen. And since at this point it's insanely easy to pump these games out, they probably crunched the numbers and figured it was better to try and get some more money instead of leaving it all on the table. The WWE games are also still releasing on last gen, but 2K were up front about what wouldn't be included, and last gen is also getting all the DLC of current gen (to be fair DLC is just added moves and characters, not whole new levels.) I really can't imagine any high profile releases having last gen ports in 2016. I mean I realize money can be tight and getting a new console isn't the most fun thing in the world, but 3 years out you need to move on if you want to keep playing the new things, and games are getting more sophisticated to the point that forcing developers to tailor to last gen just isn't fair and isn't a good use of time and resources. We may also find the One picking up more momentum if they have a significantly larger BC catalog, as then they can advertise "You can even bring your old 360 games with you for free!" as opposed to Sony's "Your old games won't work and if you want to play them you need to pay us and have REALLY good internet!"
 
The other factor there is that people who aren't willing to upgrade to new consoles may also be less likely to spend $60 on a new release game than the people who did upgrade. Most people who actually care about playing the latest games and have the financial ability to do so probably already have a new console.
 

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