2015 Video Games Thread

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Crap. Well there goes one of the few games I was gonna get for my PS4.

It will release on PS4 in about a year.

[Kodos]

Yep. Just having a hard time finding something I want now. Maybe Battlefront.

[SirFozzie]

My hits of 2015 posts are now up. Probably going to do a sports sim post next (we are really in the golden age for the sports simmer, aren't we? Especially with the genre branching out to steam and getting more attention)

[cartman]

Latest update has dropped for FIFA 16

FIFA 16 Title Update

• Improvements to the Rules and Physics systems to have better referee decisions and help address penalty decisions.
• Behavioral changes in ‘Secondary Contain’ and ‘Interceptions’ to help balance high-pressure situations.
• Improvements in how quickly fatigue effects occur for players using ‘Aggressive Interceptions’ and ‘Secondary Contain’. This could, in turn, have an impact on your ability to apply high pressure as the game progresses and your players become increasingly fatigued.
• Instances where no auto tackle launched even when positioned properly.
• Improvements in the positioning system to allow for better attacking runs and support.

[Julio Riddols]

OOTP 16 in the humble weekly bundle for 10 bucks...

[Balldog]

Crazy amount of updates this week!

[mckerney]

To go along with SirFozzie's hits of the year, my in progress top 2015 games that I've managed to play through so far.

1. Undertale - Manages to be both one of the funniest and most touching games I've played, instantly became one of my all time favorites.
2. Life is Strange - Probably the best game in the Telltale style formula so far. It's time rewind mechanic took inspiration from the memory remixing which was the strongest but most underused part of Dontnod's previous game Remember Me. Loved the story and characters (except for that creep Warren).
3. Ori and the Blind Forest - The best looking game to come out this year and best platformer I've played since Super Mario 3D World
4. Rocket League - I can't remember the last time I had this much fun with a sports game. Fast and insane multiplayer that's an absolute blase to play.
5. Yoshi's Woolly World - This has adorably looking yarn Yoshis with the typical excellence in level design for a platformer from Nintendo.
6. Persona 4: Dancing All Night - The Investigation Team is back and dancing! Probably not for anyone who hasn't played Persona 4, but I loved it despite not really playing rhythm games and being terrible at them.
7. Her Story - An outstanding method of story telling that's unlike any other game I've played before where you search through short video clips
8. Shadowrun: Hong Kong - I'm a huge fan of Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun games. This edition had my favorite cast of characters and wasn't too far behind Dragonfall in terms of story.
9. Transformers: Devastation - Character action game that's not quite Platinum Games at their best but still some of the best combat systems in gaming, the G1 Transformers look is perfectly captured as well.
10. SOMA - It did well as a horror game, but I came away appreciating that it had a much better story and characters than I was expecting.
11. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse - Much like with yarn Yoshi, Nintendo nailed the look of claymation Kirby. Stylus controlled gameplay doesn't quite live up to Woolly World but it's still tons of fun.
12. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - As an expandalone doesn't have quite the campaign of The New Order but still has it's fantastic gun play and action.
13. SquareCells - Not quite as addictive as HexCells, but a good Picross inspired puzzle game.
14. Mad Max - A pretty fun open world game, capturing the feel of the Mad Max wasteland is what it did best.
15. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - Still a fun and violent experience, but the larger level design than the original didn't fit the gameplay as well.

Games released this year I still need to get to or finish, in no particular order:
Bloodborne - More Souls-like gameplay that looks amazing, but I have no PS4 yet.
Splatoon - Still haven't picked up this yet, but probably should soon as it looks like loads of fun.
Pillars of Eternity - I'm about 40 hours in and love the game so far, but after the DLC announcement I put off finishing it until it's released since it sounds like it's best played in the middle of a campaign. I'd rather wait than have to do another 70 hour playthrough for it.
The Witcher 3 - Same situation as Pillars, I'm waiting for the last expansion to release before I dive into it. To be honest I've been feeling like most big RPGs aren't really worth playing right when they come out anymore between expansions that take place during a playthrough or an enhanced edition coming out within a year or so of release.
Metal Gear Solid V - Kind of have a love/hate relationship with the Metal Gear Solid series with how it manages some great ideas behind story telling and gameplay while also being completely terrible at times. Still need to finish Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes before I get to this one.
Axiom Verge - Supposed to be a great metroidvania game so I need to get to this before too long.
Invisible Inc. - Played a little bit of this right when it came out of early access and liked what it showed then, still need to jump into the full release though.
Sunless Sea - Have meant to play this for a while, with all the great things I've read about it I'm not sure why I haven't. I am terrible at actually getting around to playing games though.
Grow Home - Supposed to be an adorable platformer from someone other than Nintendo which should make it worth checking out.

[Peregrine]

Anyone played Renowned Explorers? I picked it up on sale on GOG - it's from the people that made Reus and is a fun little game - you pick a team of three explorers and explore the world looking for artifacts and fame. The cool part is you have three different ways to deal with the combat in the game - aggressive (basically physical attacks,) devious (mind-affecting like trying to sadden or enrage,) and friendly (win people over.) Which you use when depends on what strategy the enemy is using.

â–º WTF Is... - Renowned Explorers: International Society ? - YouTube

[SirFozzie]

So, we have a new Coleco system (the Chameleon), and a new Dreamcast system.. what's left, a new Atari system? (That's NOT a suggestion by the way)

https://www.an8bitmind.com/index.php...-is-confirmed/

[Abe Sargent]

How about a new Vectrex System? I'd love to see a new take on that!!!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex

[SirFozzie]

So much rage.

Parents buy "PS4" at Target. 9 year old shrieks in joy. Then they open the box, and inside is a wooden block with crudely drawn genitalia on it.

Family opens fake, wooden PS4 Christmas morning | FOX25

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Anyone played Renowned Explorers? I picked it up on sale on GOG - it's from the people that made Reus and is a fun little game - you pick a team of three explorers and explore the world looking for artifacts and fame. The cool part is you have three different ways to deal with the combat in the game - aggressive (basically physical attacks,) devious (mind-affecting like trying to sadden or enrage,) and friendly (win people over.) Which you use when depends on what strategy the enemy is using.

â–º WTF Is... - Renowned Explorers: International Society ? - YouTube

Snagged it in the Steam sale and tinkered with it a bit. This one might have some legs for me.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So much rage.

Parents buy "PS4" at Target. 9 year old shrieks in joy. Then they open the box, and inside is a wooden block with crudely drawn genitalia on it.

Family opens fake, wooden PS4 Christmas morning | FOX25

Had a dude try to return a PS2 with textbooks in it back in the day when I worked at target.

[SirFozzie]

yeah, it's apparently happened enough at Target to have them tell the family it happens "occasionally" and that they're not the only person to return a wooden block in a PS4 box.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

yeah, it's apparently happened enough at Target to have them tell the family it happens "occasionally" and that they're not the only person to return a wooden block in a PS4 box.

I bet the others had expertly drawn genitalia on it, though ...

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So much rage.

Parents buy "PS4" at Target. 9 year old shrieks in joy. Then they open the box, and inside is a wooden block with crudely drawn genitalia on it.

Family opens fake, wooden PS4 Christmas morning | FOX25

I always tell people to buy from Gamestop or Amazon for that reason. The retail chains have unqualified employees who often don't think to check console or game returns.

Edit: Or buy online if a retailer has a good deal just to avoid getting a returned item.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So much rage.

Parents buy "PS4" at Target. 9 year old shrieks in joy. Then they open the box, and inside is a wooden block with crudely drawn genitalia on it.

Family opens fake, wooden PS4 Christmas morning | FOX25

Normally I'm against the death penalty but for this kind of douchebagginess I can let my values slide.

[BillJasper]

I think Mad Max is one of my favorite games of the year. A little bit Grand Theft Auto, a little bit Fallout 4.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Took advantage of the B2G1 used games deal at Gamestop. Got Fallout 4, Until Dawn, and GTA5 for $100.

[stevew]

Any deals on Plus out there? The kiddo wanted a PS4 and I got BO3 and Fallout 4.

[CraigSca]

NHL and NBA are on sale on Plus.

[stevew]

I meant the subscription.

[SirFozzie]

So, there's a persistent rumor out there, that Microsoft is planning a "Lightweight" Xbox One-model that will only be able to play Windows Store games (ala Apple TV).

Let me put on my MBBF cap here (although these are honest feelings)

If true, horrible decision by microsoft or ploy to claim victory in the numbers game that is the console war?

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So, there's a persistent rumor out there, that Microsoft is planning a "Lightweight" Xbox One-model that will only be able to play Windows Store games (ala Apple TV).

Let me put on my MBBF cap here (although these are honest feelings)

If true, horrible decision by microsoft or ploy to claim victory in the numbers game that is the console war?

While not of interest to me (I like having a disc player), it would probably be worth the gamble.

[jeff061]

It would just be them trying to extend their OS penetration, I expect they will make a huge push for phones (again) . Same reason they forced windows 10 on everyone. I'm not sure it's just a ploy to win the console war. More strategic than the that.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by jeff061

Same reason they forced windows 10 on everyone.

I always figured the reason for that was so that they would only have one OS to update instead of sending out patches for 3 or 4 different version of Windows.

Just my opinion however.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So, there's a persistent rumor out there, that Microsoft is planning a "Lightweight" Xbox One-model that will only be able to play Windows Store games (ala Apple TV).

Let me put on my MBBF cap here (although these are honest feelings)

If true, horrible decision by microsoft or ploy to claim victory in the numbers game that is the console war?

This probably should have been posted in the console thread since the whole purpose of that thread was to avoid muddying up this thread with this kind of talk.

But since we can blame you for putting it here , it actually is a horrible decision. MS needs to focus on finding a niche where they do some things very well, because right now, they're casting a ridiculously wide net with their product offerings and not doing well in any of them. Windows 10 is the only product they've released of late that really was a big improvement and that's only because they screwed up their previous few offerings so badly did it seem like such an improvement.

Apple TV will whip them if they go for that market.
Their tablet offerings are losing.
Their phones are almost non-existent in the market.
Their console is being outsold by a 2-to-1 margin.

They continue to be second or third best in everything. I can't imagine that's really where they want to be, but the innovation simply isn't there.

[CraigSca]

Isn't the Surface doing really well?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Isn't the Surface doing really well?

MS likes to tout that Surface sales are up over 100% this year, but it still ignores the reality that they're still being outsold at somewhere between a 4-to-1 and 5-to-1 margin by the iPad, their primary competitor.

[jeff061]

Surface is the reason the pc has viable macbook alternatives and this cheap living room pc is not a gaming play. Probably more tivo, which is ripe and overdue for the picking, or roku.

And if we are talking what a company is bringing to market as a whole, Sony is one of the absolute most useless tech companies out there and can't hold Microsofts jock.