Gaming thread

Apparently one of the worst ever games made.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25137093 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zjGgau3iF8

Quite an amusing glitch but not the only one. Bizarre AI throughout as in this clip where two Australian gamers have some merriment with the game.

[video=youtube;XSzAASTBYA0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSzAASTBYA0[/video]

It does beg the question why the ECB and ACB let a relatively small developer bring the game to market. The graphics are shoddy for a current sporting game and the commentary pretty threadbare. When you look at the efforts of Codemasters with Brian Lara Cricket (which was a pretty enjoyable game even if rather limited) it puts this effort well and truly into the shade and shows what a grubby effort it is.

Aside from football (which is still pretty poorly simulated by FIFA and PES if the truth be told), ice hockey (again not the greatest of representations), F1 (also full of holes) rugby and cricket have been pretty poorly served by games developers. In particular the AI for rugby games has been appallingly bad so it may well take another leap in processing power in the future to assign individual AI to each player on the field to make patterns realistic as rugby union compared to American football is far more dynamic and stochastic.

It does seem more and more developers are rushing games to get them to the market. While this is an extreme example, Alien Colonial Marines was a huge letdown and I'm afraid to say Konami despite the excellent AI (but only in the middle third of the pitch) they have come up with for PES and lighting and animations have left huge chunks of the PES114 game missing from completely absent commentaries in Italian to only now releasing faces for players via a patch.

All these rushed jobs do is alienate the fanbase which feels like it has been taken for a ride and the governing bodies who want to see their sport well represented on hearing feedback like this are most unlikely to use this developer ever again.

 

Saw Skyrim going cheap and bought it, seems good

Any of you played it?

 

[video=youtube;EZRfz6NZJfQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZRfz6NZJfQ[/video]​

A video made by one of my former colleagues from Holland when we were both PES modders. Gameplay wise superior to FIFA. Goalkeepers have improved a great deal. The AI is more intelligent so to speak although it needs to be more aggressive although a lot of the tactical sliders are locked on the demo.

Graphics are very decent. Ball physics are very decent and realistic although crosses and headers and long range shots could be toned down just a tad. An OF inserted via USB on PS4 deals with the issue of licensed kits and leagues. The only disappointment is the lack of stadiums and no real stadium editor and the loss of the Libertadores licence. Animation technology in PES is improving but needs to catch up to FIFA still. No idea about the commentary either although the rumour is Drury and Beglin have done a new more immersive script.

PC gamers are still being treated badly by Konami when modders like myself have done a great deal since the PES2008 debacle to make the game more playable although PES2008-13 were a complete shambles compared to the halcyon days of PES5/6 (of their time though they do now look rather dated).

NHL17 looks like another glorified roster update from EA Sports. It's a shame how they can use their financial power to buy up independent studios and bully their competitors like 2K out of ice hockey and American Football when 2K held the lead in gameplay if not licenses. And this exclusivity nonsense. FIFA has it with several leagues, Konami with the CL,EL and several European clubs like Barcelona and Dortmund. It's not good for sports gamers in the long run.

Both NHL17 and PES2017 for the PS4 are at £42-99 (pre-order) currently. I should think both will run on the new PS4 Neo (but perhaps with the ability to improve textures, resolution and higher fps)expected to come out in October at a similar price to the current PS4. It will have superior processing power , GDDR5 memory and more powerful GPU.

 

Konami managed to get an exclusive license for Euro 2016 and the word is that the World Cup in 2018 will also be exclusive to them. They seem to have a good relationship with FIFA/UEFA in relation to tournaments. Exclusivity is the bane of gamers and studios. PS4 PES2017 is £34-85 at shopto which are a pretty reliable retailer as well. I hope they do sort out the overall attacking AI. It does seem to fluctuate a fair bit. In essence I think both FIFA/PES need to rebuild from the bottom up. The core despite the new Frostbite/Fox animation engeines is based on core algorithms from a decade ago. Given the processing power of consoles and PC's is increasing all the time the AI of individual players should be better. It's easier for games like NBA/NHL with fewer players (EA NHL is still a pretty poor recreation of the sport) and much harder for games that feature sports like rugby where one sees bizarre behaviour all the time from the AI and your own controlled players ie Rugby Challenge.

 

[video=youtube;7mKPxFk_T3o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mKPxFk_T3o[/video]​

Konami for some bizarre have taken down full matches from people who already have the game. From watching those the AI seems more attacking even to the extent of taking long range shots at last. Passing is still too assisted. Even for Barcelona here the pass assistance just turns it into a ping pong festival. Issues with foot planting are still although a minor gripe. And both games FIFA and PES are always too focused on ice hockey type football. Perhaps that is the way the majority of gamers play. I like to pass the ball around. There still seems to be no consistently competitive midfield struggle which occurs in actual football. Perhaps the tactical sliders may change that.

Option files for the PS4 are already out. The bin files are easy to copy from a USB stick unlike the complete mess last year. More stadiums will be added as DLC. Despite it's limitations PES still offers the best gameplay to date in a football game but presentation wise while improved lags behind FIFA.