Category: Share

The Agony and Ecstasy of PlayStation Trophy Hunting – Inverse

The agony and ecstasy of PlayStation trophy hunting: “It’s a huge drop of serotonin” by Joseph Yaden for Inverse

The gratification that comes with improving one’s skills is equally important. For podcaster Max Roberts and avid gaming completionist Niki (who did not wish to share her last name), trophy hunting is about mastering something that once felt impossible.

“Good trophies feel just out of reach, but obtainable with good practice,” says Roberts. “When I truly love a game, it becomes more enticing to chase the Platinum to keep the experience going.”

Look Ma! I made it on Inverse!

Joseph sent out a call on Twitter for folks that enjoy hunting down trophies on PlayStation. It sounded like a fun article, so I reached out. I shared about trophy design and the pain of being one task away from the Plat in Hades. It still hurts to talk about. Stupid Achilles. 

“Trophies have tainted Hades for me,” Roberts says. “I have all but two trophies tied to the same event: Achilles’ Chthonic Companion. After 50 hours and no progression in that storyline, I had to give up.”

I realized after Joseph published that I totally should have shared my Hotline Miami platinum story. I lost my save data while trying to earn an A+ rating on the chapters. I only had three trophies to go. Eight months later I picked my Vita back up and replayed the entire game – essentially earning all of the trophies twice – to finally earn the platinum. It’s definitely one in my personal Platinum Hall of Fame.

Someday I’ll earn the Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number platinum.

Starfield Delayed to 2023

Speaking of Xbox, Bethesda announced the delay of Starfield today on Twitter.

“We’ve made the decision to delay the launches of Redfall and Starfield to the first half of 2023.

Yours truly in my annual predictions:

I’m sorry to be so negative with Xbox. I just don’t believe that Starfield could have a date before Halo Infinite and them stick to said date, especially in these remote work times. Throw in the fact that Halo Infinite is incomplete, I just don’t see Starfield hitting their date and if they do, it being a buggy or incomplete mess. Mind you, I personally don’t think it will be a big delay, but a delay nonetheless.

Halo Infinite still does not have campaign co-op, just started season 2 of their free-to-play (but you’ll pay for the battlepass and armor) multiplayer.

There was no way Starfield was hitting this year. Wonder if we will see it at E3 (RIP) in 2023 as well. Late June is still the first half of 2023…

Xbox lost its digital-only battle, but still won the war – Digital Trends

Xbox lost its digital-only battle, but still won the war | Digital Trends by Tomas Franzese for Digital Trends

Tomas’s piece on how Microsoft still got the future they wanted through the lens of the major Xbox outage last weekend pulls back the Game Pass curtain. Last weekend, Microsoft was caught behind the curtain asking for no one to pay attention.

Microsoft’s servers are so intrinsic to the Xbox Series systems that server issues can lock players out of single-player digital games they bought with their own money. That implies there is hidden DRM for any digital game purchased or redeemed through Game Pass on Xbox, even if the game itself is a single-player adventure. Access is one of the biggest red flags in the age of digital ownership, and the temporary Xbox outage highlights why many people see it as a problem.

I am surprised locally downloaded, purchased games were not playable. This needs to be rectified by Microsoft immediately. It should also work with downloaded Game Pass games. The console should have the pertinent information/key about the users subscription. If my Nintendo Switch can let me play NSO games offline, my Xbox should too.

This is why I chose both new consoles with disc drives. I wonder if those worked over the weekend.

As a small bit of irony, I like how the complaints stemmed about being always online came from people online.

Obviously, this confrontational approach did not go over well with hardcore gaming fans, especially in 2013 when casual online gaming wasn’t as ubiquitous, and we didn’t necessarily connect every device we owned to the internet. Vocal gamers on the internet just weren’t interested in a platform that restricts what the player can do via an online connection…

A Touching Goodbye for iPod – Daring Fireball

Daring Fireball: A Touching Goodbye for iPod by John Gruber for Daring Fireball

Apple, today, announcing that the last remaining iPod model — the iPod Touch — is now discontinued and available only while supplies last…

The iPod was the first Apple product I owned. I suspect many folks share that experience. I remember using my friend’s first-generation iPod Nano to showcase why I should be allowed to get an iPod. I totally misunderstood what turning the playhead into a diamond meant. I figured it was a style choice rather than the UI design for scrubbing. 😬

Later I would get a blue second-generation iPod Nano that I rocked through high school, until I was given an iPod Classic for Christmas. I remember watching Avatar: The Last Airbender at driver’s ed and listening to a leaked rip of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories in the stock room of Kmart. Lately, I’ve missed having a device solely dedicated to music/media.

One more bit from John, before his own memories:

I suspect most people reading this news will experience two thoughts, simultaneously:

That’s a shame, I loved the iPod.

Wait, they were still selling the iPod Touch?

John’s suspicion was spot on when I told my dad that the iPod line was discontinued. He had no idea one was even for sale.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Revisited at 4K 60FPS – Digital Foundry

Metal Gear Solid 4 Revisited at 4K 60FPS! Today’s Emulation, Tomorrow’s Remaster? by John Linneman for Digital Foundry 

John has been on fire lately with DF Retro. The Gran Turismo two parter and now a look at PS3 emulation through the lens of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It wasn’t so long ago that I replayed the first four MGS games. I have to admit I don’t remember these technical hitches that the game has on PS3. I was so immersed in replaying the series that I was riding the Kojima narrative high. It’s the kind of storytelling I savor. I was quite positive on MGS4 both times I have played it. Who knows how I’ll feel next time around? 

The emulation scene is impressive and John’s breakdown of its current successes and shortcomings is educational on the status of PS3 emulation. even with one game as the focus. Perhaps someday Sony will crack official emulation of the PS3 and offer it to consumers. I hope so.

Knotwords “Book talk” and reveal – Zach Gage & Jack Schesinger

Knotwords “Book talk” and reveal by Zach and Jack on YouTube

Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger’s new game is out this Thursday—Knotwords. To reveal the game, the pair did a live stream exploring prototypes and explaining their new word game. An insightful stream for undoubtedly another grand slam for the duo.

A real interesting bit is that there are three tiers/versions: a free version with no ads, a subscription version with more puzzles, or a one-time payment of $12 with the same range of puzzles. On PC, solely the paid version is available. The barrier to entry is so low without the incessant nature of ads.

I love it when developers are open about their creative process and iteration. You know I will be downloading it immediately.

LG C2 OLED Reviewed for Modern & Retro Gaming – My Life in Gaming

LG C2 OLED Reviewed for Modern & Retro Gaming – 2022 C2 vs. 2021 C1 vs. 2017 C7 by My Life in Gaming on YouTube

I haven’t written about it here yet, but I recently did buy an LG C1 thanks to a 5-year-warranty and a few dead pixels on my LG C9 OLED. It turns out that I bought the LG C1 right before the LG C2 went on sale. I chalked it up to off timing, but have mostly been happy with the C1. It does have a couple of quirks that my C9 did not have, like slower timing to show the image when watching TV/movies and the insistent need to dim the picture even further when in a dark scene for more than 30 seconds (yes, all the auto / AI dimming is off. This is something baked into the OS and only alterable from a service menu it seems).

Turns out I may have dodged a bullet though with the C2. Try over at My Life in Gaming went through the wringer with the C2, which has whacky input-lag issues and other issues. He produced a deep dive into comparing his five-year-old C7, the C2, and the C1. OLED TVs promise a great future for newer games and consoles, but they handle some older aspect ratios poorly. I wish TV manufacturers would let their televisions just be a TV, instead of cramming it with what they think people want and bloated “AI.”