I find Stealth Takedowns and Stealthy Alternatives to be increasingly unwelcome design additions. When I see a trailer and can identify a game that includes them, I involuntarily perceive this as a potential knock against the game. Their prevalence represents a (relatively) recent shift in design sensibilities, because the games I'm talking about are not in the "Stealth Genre" and they don't want to sell themselves that way either. Stealth actions have just become a verb to be thoughtlessly included in other types of games. (The stealth genre itself, however, is perfectly enjoyable and escapes my ire.) Somewhat in jest, I would propose a universal rule: if a game nowadays includes a "stealth option" and a "guns blazing option", then they won't be created equal. The stealthy option is going to be encouraged more, both in terms of actual efficacy and the abstract satisfaction that the game can reward you with. So even though stealth may be optional, it is unwelcome because the game is designed with it in mind. First, all levels and mechanics have to be created so as to allow stealth to take place, perhaps, 50 to 100 percent of the time. Second, the designers have to draw your attention to necessarily details that a stealthy player needs to see/hear at various points. Finally, the combat foundation of the game has to be sufficiently hampered so it doesn't feel "too good" to play that way, where too many players might choose combat exclusively and forget about the stealth. (I'm just being cynical in that last part for my own amusement.)

@happygaming said in Crash Bandicoot 4: it's about time: I wonder if the new one will have any sections where you ride animals. I always dug riding that polar bear! That would be so jolly. Riding a polar bear or something would be perfect for those bigger levels with more exploration that they mentioned during Geoff's interview.

Yeah scratch TLOU2 ff7 and Doom eternal are my front runners.

I haven't even watched the show yet haha @Shoulderguy thanks :^)

1: Will there be any spoken or on-screen appearance of Master Chief's full name, "John-117" during the presentation? Partials such as "John" or "117" do not count. No 2: The words "World Premiere" will appear on screen MORE than 9 times. Yes 3: Will a new Fable be shown? Yes 4: Will the word "Batman" be spoken? Yes 5: There will be a celebrity presenter. (I will count any real life person that does not work for Microsoft that has a wikipedia page, Tim Schafer does not count) No 6: Will the price be revealed? Yes 7: There will be a self deprecating joke about "showing real gameplay this time". It has to be an attempt at a joke and not an apologetic statement. I will consult joke experts if necessary. No 8: Will a demo for any of these games shown off in the 1st showcase be shadow dropped during the second showcase? Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Dirt 5, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Madden NFL 21, Chorus, Scarlet Nexus, Bright Memory Infinite, Call of the Sea, Scorn, Second Extinction, The Ascent, The Medium, and Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines 2. MUST BE SHADOW DROPPED and not made available earlier in the week!!! No 9: "Ray Tracing" will be said more than 4 times. No 10: The game that The Initiative is working on will be announced. Yes 11: Halo, Forza, AND Gears will all be present. (montages count) Yes 12: The Xbox Games Showcase will be longer than 75 minutes. No Tie Breaker: Total number of times the phrase "Game Pass" is spoken aloud. 9

@sheria said in Swimmin in 7s: Why you consider it more so than most games? I don't consider it more ambitious than most games who go out there and try something new but I do think TLOU was ambitious. The big one for me is the seamless gameplay flow between stealth, sprinting, melee, and gunplay. I would argue TLOU has the most free flowing and aggressive combat in a video game up to that point. Every level has a different shape and size, and within every level offers a ton of opportunities to ammo up, heal up, and equip new weapons all the while enemies are trying to kill you. Another part that adds to the emergent gameplay is how there isn't a snap-to-cover system. You're always flowing around the combat area with threats surrounding you. You can pop up for a few shots with your revolver, run out of ammo, Ellie whips a brick at your enemy, and you sprint up to melee him. The camera changes into this dramatic OTS low angle and you horrifically pummel the enemy, then the camera returns to normal and you can go back to your stealth / cover shooting. On-the-fly game play has been attempted before but never executed this well. I think about the Hitman series and how well it does the stealth sandbox, but even in its newest versions, you still feel like you're in a new off balanced mode when your cover is blown. I'd even argue that the only game after TLOU to really nail emergent /aggressive / dynamic combat is Metal Gear Solid V, which released at least 2 years later. It's a tough thing to nail and ND didn't really nail it because the AI had problems, but they still did it better than anybody up to that point.

@el-shmiablo The asinine bullshit is what I'm referring to largely because it's rampant and dumb.

Look Mum No Computer. A synth channel with a lot of ambitious and creative projects. Youtube Video Anton Petrov. Really like this channel of Astronomy/Physics. Mostly because it focuses on recent scientific papers/studies so it's a good way to keep informed about what's going on. Thumbnail and title of the videos are click-bait(ish) but content is good. Youtube Video Numberphile. Gonna be honest, occasionally I just like to have a special cookies and blow my mind with mathematics. Accessible and short videos. Youtube Video Girlfriend Reviews Just funny and we'll written reviews. Youtube Video Boston Dynamics. I like to keep an eye on our future overlords. Youtube Video Nostalgia Nerd. Retro game and technology channel. Youtube Video Chicken Connoisseur. Reviews of UK chicken joints. Just pure gold imo. Youtube Video Vic Berger. Political surrealism clips. Youtube Video

@tokyoslim said in My New PC Gaming Rig: @stealthy said in My New PC Gaming Rig: Been Stealthy since the ps2 days of socom multiplayer. I was just pointing out the irony. RGB is the antithesis of a "stealthy" computer. Ah okay lol and you're totally right. I was never a fan of LED's so this is definitely new to me. @dipset said in My New PC Gaming Rig: @stealthy Hmmm it's like $260 CAD which is a bit much for something I don't need but I really like the idea of a corner desk. Really struggling to map out my office set up for it to be cozy. I want it all sorted out before Cyberpunk 2077 cause I need to be able to sit there for like 100 hours. Well, I can tell you it has lasted with me since 2014 so far. I just removed the corner temporarily to save some space. We are all anticipating Cyberpunk, can't wait. Definitely won't hurt to treat yourself something nice to feel comfortable while gaming.

@hazz3r I was dreaming about how in the modern era they could literally patch new events into the game as updates and tease going to X area to spot something new. I don't know if they're smart enough to do this, but it is now a possibility. I also was fearing how they could lock certain things behind paid DLC, like the endgame Mew encounter from the original.

I have to say, I don't think this could have been a DLC for BF2 without some major reowkring of how space battles work. This is really smacking more of Ace Combat, which makes sense considering they got people from the AC community to focus test.

+1 for CrossCode, it looks like 16-bit heaven! Youtube Video The PC version so far is at 86 OpenCritic.

@el-shmiablo people said they will never do Pokemon Snap 2 as well and they proved us wrong this past week.

@dipset that racing kart mini game was one of the hihglights of the series for me, and I don't know why but it also made me think of the fighter mini game in 4. Those are the things that make me regret not loving these games and not playing them more, hopefully 7 will be easier to digest with it's change to the combat.

@hazz3r I admittedly didn't play it for too long, but I thought Arena of Valor (same developer) was alright. The characters were kind of boring, and that's not going to be an issue with Pokemon, so maybe this will be the console MOBA of choice.

@e_zed_eh_intern said: Will it have local coop playstation.com said: Join up to three friends for online adventures, or bring everyone together around one TV for couch co-op play in your quest to save civilization. The original article on Playstation's site is gone now, but sites reported on it at the time. Unfortunately, we won't be linking Switch Lites to a real Switch with link cables and having our own screen during local play anymore, but I think I remember around announcement hearing they worked on the local multiplayer menus to be more manageable when you play like that. @DIPSET @Oscillator Was still using an old CRT myself until it basically died on me while playing Splatoon. Thing had gotten so bad the screen would randomly green tint everything after playing for awhile, and the only way to fix it was to unplug the tv for an hour or two. It would also overheat and randomly turn off if I played through the green tint. Was pretty funny playing Splatoon of all things in that situation, but I didn't even get to the end of the campaign before I ended up upgrading straight from that to a nice, flat, light 1080p widescreen. What a crazy leap that was.

I'm really glad about the wave of cyberpunk games we have been in recently, don't know if that is just the effect of the hype of CP2077 but I enjoy it nonetheless. It certainly looks a bit clunky and I'm not head over heels with the style, but at least the trailer did make it clear that the game seems to be focused in other aspects, making it look like a metroidvania RPG which doesn't sound bad at all, so yeah my interest is piqued.