Nuclear Monster


  • It’s difficult to write about today’s Battlefield 1 announcement. What DICE showed today was a completely computer-generated trailer. It does promise new biplanes, airships, sea ships, horses, multi-position bombers, flamethrowers, swords, and slap flights with shovels. But without any gameplay footage, it’s hard to say what we can actually expect from the finished product when it arrives this October 21st for Playstation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.

    That said, I enjoyed watching this trailer more than the new Call of Duty trailer.

  • The Graphite iMac in Profile

    Stephen Hackett has this incredible collection of every color of iMac G3 in photo and video. Above is my favorite, the graphite color. I had the Bondi blue version and it was my first Mac. Great computer.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIG_QjoUooo

    Burnout was an amazing series, I recently went back and tried some of the older games on Playstation 2. They’re still so good and it’s surprising that Burnout: Paradise was missing one of the best modes, crash mode. That was where you would attempt to cause as much vehicular damage as possible by driving your car into a busy intersection. You could cause a chain reaction by slamming your sedan into a van that hits a bus and so on. Super fun, the sequels added crash breakers (small explosions to cause more destruction) and other additions to spice up the gameplay.

    The creators of Burnout are back as Three Fields Entertainment, and while I wish they had the rights to make another Burnout (with crash mode) they’ve gone ahead and basically made the exact same crash mode except indoors and with golf balls destroying palatial estates, kitchens, gas stations and more. Crash breakers are now smash breakers, and you now tee off instead of getting your motor running.

    All this destruction on June 3rd for Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Steam. Most likely just for Windows but I’ve asked the developers if there is any hope for Mac and SteamOS/Linux and will let you know if that changes.

  • Austin Walker has the scoop on the recent rumors regarding a new half-step Playstation 4 upgrade console:

    The NEO will feature a higher clock speed than the original PS4, an improved GPU, and higher bandwidth on the memory. The documents we’ve received note that the HDD in the NEO is the same as that in the original PlayStation 4, but it’s not clear if that means in terms of capacity or connection speed. Starting in October, every PS4 game is required to ship with both a “Base Mode” which will run on the currently available PS4 and a “NEO Mode” for use on the new console.

    The article has many more details regarding the upgraded console and what Sony will require of developers, but it really doesn’t read like a huge upgrade to me, and it certainly won’t be true 4K. Even a high-end gaming computer can’t hit 4K at a good framerate for big 3D games.

    For now, original PS4 purchasers are good, but I would be surprised if a year into the release of this new console the original “base” PS4 isn’t discontinued in favor of the NEO, and then soon after the requirement that developers target both consoles is dropped as well. Either way, don’t buy a Playstation 4 until you hear Sony give plans publicly at E3.

  • While I was working for the defunct social network, hi5, a new CEO took over, Alex St. John. He’s written this article for Venture Beat about his feelings on game developers complaining about their poor working conditions.

    I won’t speak ill of his article here. Instead, this is what everyone else is saying about this article:

    Steven Hansen for Destructoid:

    In it, St. John hand waves away deplorable industry conditions like 80-hour work weeks with a bullshit argument: developing video games isn’t a real job. If you agree with the premise, then the industry gets away with side-stepping workers’ rights that your parents (or grandparents) fought for (like the 40-hour work week). Suddenly the labor standards held at other jobs don’t “count,” because those are real jobs, and video games are a wonderful fantasy land where some poor asshole has to spend 16 hours a day, 5 days a week over at EA modelling the taint of GoldenEye: Rogue Agent’s protagonist until it’s just right.

    Jason Schreier for Kotaku:

    Some have called on game developers to unionize; others argue that smart scheduling and good project management can help protect the quality of game-makers’ lives. St. John, on the other hand, says it’s all part of the fun, writing that he tells people who are unhappy with crunch to go make their own games.

    “To my great shock and disappointment, they never respond to this feedback with any sort of enlightenment or gratitude for my generous attempt at setting them free – usually, I just get rage,” he writes, in a paragraph that might read like satire if it weren’t written with such candor.

    Actual game developer, Rami Ismail from Vlambeer:

    Don’t listen to this person. Please be in the games industry if you want to make games and care. I don’t care if you want to make games for 2 hours every night after work, or for 40 hours for a paycheck, or for 80 hours as an entrepreneur. Just don’t make others pay with their health for your shitty scheduling.