With generative AI being a key feature of all its new software and hardware projects, it should be no surprise that Microsoft has been developing its own machine learning models. VASA-1 is one such example, where a single image of a person and an audio track can be converted into a convincing video clip of said person speaking the recording.
Just a few years ago, anything created via generative AI was instantly identifiable, by several factors. With still images, it would be things like the number of fingers on a person’s hand or even just something as simple as having the correct number of legs. AI-generated video was even worse, but at least it was very meme-worthy.
However, a research report from Microsoft shows that the obvious nature of generative AI is rapidly going to disappear. VASA-1 is a machine learning model that turns a single static image of a person’s face into a short, realistic video, through the use of a speech audio track. The model examines the sound’s changes in tone and pace and then creates a sequence of new images where the face is altered to match the speech.
I’m not doing it any justice with that description, because some of the examples posted by Microsoft are startlingly good. Others aren’t so hot, though, and it’s clear that the researchers selected the best examples to showcase what they’ve achieved. In particular, a short video demonstrating the use of the model in real-time highlights that it still has a long way to go before it becomes impossible to distinguish real reality from computer-generated reality.
But even so, the fact that this was all done on a desktop PC, albeit one using an RTX 4090, rather than a massive supercomputer shows that with access to such software, pretty much anyone could use generative AI to create a flawless deepfake. The researchers acknowledge this in the research report.
“It is not intended to create content that is used to mislead or deceive. However, like other related content generation techniques, it could still potentially be misused for impersonating humans. We are opposed to any behavior to create misleading or harmful contents of real persons, and are interested in applying our technique for advancing forgery detection.”
This is probably why Microsoft’s research remains behind closed doors right now. That said, I can’t imagine it will be long before someone manages to not only replicate the work but improve it, and potentially use it for some nefarious purpose. On the other hand, if VASA-1 can be used to detect deepfakes and it could be implemented in the form of a simple desktop application, then this would be a big step forward—or rather, a step away from a world where AI dooms us all. Yay!
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https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1713784520_Microsofts-VASA-1-takes-AI-generated-video-one-step-closer-to-aw.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-04-22 11:26:282024-04-22 11:26:28Microsoft’s VASA-1 takes AI-generated video one step closer to ‘aw hell, we’re all doomed’
A prologue-style demo for an upcoming action platformer has you wielding a magic staff and two-fisted kung fu to battle enemies and explore a metroidvania-style world of myth and magic. Akatori‘s big pitch si that your way of moving depends on a magic staff that can be thrown not just as a weapon, but to hover in midair as a pole to jump off of.
Developer Code Wakers calls Akatori a “blend of classic metroidvania and intense action platformer.” In it you play as Mako, a teenager raised in a temple who must take her magic red bird staff into the land of the gods to solve a crisis.
Akatori’s combat relies on a combination of strikes with Mako’s martial arts skills and staff. Each attacks in its own way, and blending the two styles into a cohesive whole so that you’re getting the most from your moves seems like an interesting pitch for a diverse system of combos and attacks.
We first saw Akatori back in 2021, when it debuted during a Guerilla Collective livestream. It drew PC Gamer writer Tyler Wilde’s attention for its bright layers of flat colors in the style of a Neo Geo game.
“Without considering too deeply whether or not I actually feel like playing a new 2D platformer, I’m a fan of Akatori’s look. The flat layers and color palette are what I associate with Neo Geo arcade games like Samurai Shodown and Metal Slug, which to me are the height of sprite-art (though obviously Akatori’s not so pixely),” he said, and I can’t help but agree with that potent association.
The Akatori: Chapter One demo takes about an hour if you’re moving at top speed and is pretty enjoyable for an in-development snapshot of a game that’s not yet out. I found the visuals pretty but the controls a bit finicky on occasion and unresponsive at others—especially when trying to get the most from leaping off the thrown staff—probably the kind of things the developers want player reaction to from this demo.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1713748440_Toss-perch-on-and-leap-from-your-magic-staff-in.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-04-22 01:25:032024-04-22 01:25:03Toss, perch on, and leap from your magic staff in the demo for action platformer Akatori
There’s a helpful hint for today’s Wordle waiting just below if you need a clue, as well as the answer to the April 21 (1037) game just a little past that if you’re worried about running out of guesses before you find the right word. Whatever you need to win, you’ll find it here.
One yellow letter in two rows? I suppose that meant I’d got plenty of greys to not worry about early on. I did uncover a great string of greens soon after, the only problem was the mysterious letter I needed to find that’d solve today’s Wordle was a slippery one, hiding away until the very end.
Wordle today: A hint
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
Wordle today: A hint for Sunday, April 21
Today’s Wordle needs you to find another way of calling someone happy, or merry. Think of someone with a cheerful, Santa-like disposition and you’ll get there.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
Yes, there is a double letter in today’s puzzle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
Anyone can pick up and play Wordle, but if you want to do it well and make all of your guesses count, these quick tips will help get you started on your Wordle winning streak:
Choose an opener with a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
The answer may contain the same letter, multiple times.
Try not to use guesses that contain letters you’ve already eliminated.
Thankfully, there’s no time limit beyond ensuring it’s done by midnight. So there’s no reason not to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Sometimes stepping away for a while means you can come back with a fresh perspective.
Wordle today: The answer
(Image credit: Future)
What is today’s Wordle answer?
Hey, looking for this? The answer to the April 21 (1037) Wordle is JOLLY.
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Previous Wordle answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated.
Here are some recent Wordle solutions:
April 20: LUCID
April 19: RAISE
April 18: FACET
April 17: TITHE
April 16: SHANK
April 15: EQUIP
April 14: BLIMP
April 13: STEEL
April 12: WHINY
April 11: LOUSE
Learn more about Wordle
(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)
Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and you’ll need to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them to keep up your winning streak.
You should start with a strong word like ARISE, or any other word that contains a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You’ll also want to avoid starting words with repeating letters, as you’re wasting the chance to potentially eliminate or confirm an extra letter. Once you hit Enter, you’ll see which ones you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
You’ll want your next guess to compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you might have missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. After that, it’s simply a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the correct word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words and don’t forget letters can repeat too (eg: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
The next Fallout is so far away it’s not even worth speculating about when it’ll happen. Fortunately, just like in Star Wars, there is another. You can always play a Wasteland instead. The game that directly influenced the original Fallout eventually gave rise to a series that collected the debt by continuing the style of the original, isometric Fallouts, culminating in an under-rated CRPG more people should play.
First, let’s rewind a little. The history of every roleplaying game goes back to Dungeons & Dragons eventually, but Wasteland arrives there via a particularly direct route. When D&D came out in 1974, its rules were more toolkit than game—a messy bundle of ideas that had to be house-ruled into shape. Ken St. Andre decided to put together a simpler alternative, designing Tunnels & Trolls to play with his friends, and publishing it in 1975 so other people could play it with their friends. It was the second tabletop RPG to be professionally published.
Michael Stackpole, who would go on to write a towering stack of BattleTech and Star Wars books, worked on Tunnels & Trolls as well. He also took its basic rules, bolted on a skills system, and turned it into a modern-day tabletop RPG called Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes that came to the attention of Brian Fargo, the founder of Interplay.
At this point Interplay had just released the first two games in The Bard’s Tale series with Electronic Arts. Traditional fantasy RPGs, they’d been successful enough that while EA wanted another RPG, the studio had relatively free reign to make it about whatever they wanted. Fargo, a Mad Max lover, wanted to go post-apocalyptic.
He brought on board a trio of Tunnels & Trolls designers: St. Andre and Stackpole, as well as Liz Danforth, who would go on to become quite well-known as an artist, illustrating Magic: The Gathering cards among many other things. They brought the ruleset from Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes with them, including its skills. The implementation in Wasteland feels clunky today—when a boy tells you there’s a cave hidden by some bushes you have to walk up to every bush in the area selecting the Perception skill and then a bush until you find the right one—but still, building characters by selecting skills rather than race and class was something few other CRPGs of the 1980s offered.
Wasteland cast you as Desert Rangers in post-nuclear Arizona, a squad of troubleshooting wanderers who traveled from town to town dealing with problems. It wasn’t a particularly gritty vision of the post-apocalypse, peopled with mutant molerats and cyborgs as it was, but that random mashing together of sci-fi influences made for a nice contrast with the dry military sf of the Desert Rangers themselves.
Something else brought over from Tunnels & Trolls, which catered for solo play with scenarios in a “choose your own adventure” style, were numbered paragraphs of additional story text in the manual. Shifting a significant amount of the game’s text onto paper had the advantage of reducing the disk requirements, which was a big deal, because Wasteland needed plenty of space for its persistent, open world. Where many other RPGs of the time consisted of dungeons and wilderness locations that reset each time you returned to them, your actions left marks on Wasteland’s post-nuclear Arizona. Not all of your actions, but enough to be notable. The defining memory of Wasteland for a lot of players is killing a rabid dog, then being attacked by the kid who owned that dog, shooting him too, and then having events escalate until they go to war with an entire settlement.
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There was only one save game, so you’d have to live with any outcome you survived. Given that many players didn’t have hard drives when Wasteland was released in 1988, if you didn’t make a copy of the floppies beforehand you’d never be able to replay the pristine version—your save would straight-up overwrite the world data.
(Image credit: InXile)
Wasteland was rereleased in 1993 as part of Interplay’s 10th anniversary anthology collection, and honestly even back then it was too harsh for me. While it shared a deep silliness with the light-hearted Tunnels & Trolls, it was also intensely punishing in the style of the time, and you were likely to be killed by bunnies before uncovering much of the story. There was a slightly improved version released in 2020 called Wasteland Remastered, but it’s the kind of clunker I wish had a full remake rather than a spit-polish remaster.
Wasteland 2: Nuclear-powered Boogaloo
Electronic Arts planned to make its own sequel to Wasteland in-house, without Interplay, though when it was finally released under the name Fountain of Dreams it was no longer billed as a Wasteland game. Which is probably for the best, given that our own Richard Cobbett compared it to “a piece of homework started at 5AM on the day it’s due to be handed in, after three weeks of doing anything else.”
It’s well-known that while EA was sitting on the rights to Wasteland, Interplay made Fallout as a spiritual successor instead. But the desire to make a direct sequel remained, and when Fargo obtained the rights in 2003, he finally had the chance—though it wasn’t until the Kickstarter boom of the early 2010s set off by Double Fine Adventure that he found a way to make it work.
When his studio InXile pitched Wasteland 2 on Kickstarter, it raised $2,933,252—more than three times its $900,000 goal. St. Andre, Danforth, and Stackpole returned to work on it, and all that excess Kickstarter money paid for additional hires including members of Obsidian and composer Mark Morgan, who had worked on the Fallout games.
Where the original Wasteland had the menu combat of The Bard’s tale and an overworld view reminiscent of the Ultima games, Wasteland 2 looked and played a little more like the first two Fallouts, complete with isometric view and tactical combat. It kept plenty of nods to its predecessor though, like the fiddly skill system complete with seemingly useless but actually vital abilities like Toaster Repair. It also nodded at the original’s cast, having one of the first game’s pre-generated party members called “Angela Deth” return as an NPC to act as your Wasteland guide.
It also got a bit bloated, attempting to justify that excess budget with excess scope, and a second half set in Los Angeles that’s not as good as its first half, set in the Arizona desert. Still a good game, but held back from being a great one.
Third time’s the charm
Even though Wasteland 3 was another crowdfunding hit—on Fig this time rather than Kickstarter—the scope was kept in check. It’s a meaty RPG but one that isn’t 100 hours long, which is why it’s the Wasteland game to play if you’ve yet to give the series a chance.
Though you play a squad of Desert Rangers again, this time the setting’s much less arid. Snowy Colorado provides a backdrop for a fish-out-of-water story about outsiders come to clean up local problems and oust corrupt authorities. In some ways it feels more Fallout than ever, giving you a vehicle to cross the overworld map in like the Fallout 3 we might have got if Interplay had kept making them. But it also does things Fallout can’t, thanks to having a pre-apocalypse timeline much closer to our own. That’s most obvious in the questline involving an AI based on Ronald Reagan that’s now worshipped as the God-President.
(Image credit: inXile Entertainment)
Wasteland 3 is the Wasteland game to play today because it’s the culmination of everything good about the Wasteland series, and about the isometric Fallouts. It’s got dynamic combat—unlike Wasteland 2 it has both stealth and called shots, with characters earning “precision strikes” they can unleash to, for instance, target a robot’s AI core and turn it against its allies. It’s got wackiness on the side, like the aforementioned digital Reagan, as well as a love of killer clowns and a set of animal sidekicks to collect, but it’s also got a serious central questline about figuring out which of the competing factions to back. And if you put in all the effort to get the car working in Fallout 2 then were annoyed none of the sequels let you do something similar, well, Wasteland 3 gives you a truck you can upgrade until it’s basically a goddamn tank.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1713712403_If-you-want-more-Fallout-in-these-trying-times-have.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-04-21 03:33:092024-04-21 03:33:09If you want more Fallout in these trying times, have you considered playing Wasteland 3?
First launched on April 12, you still have a little over eight days to take advantage of the Palestinian Relief Bundle on itch.io. The 373 games, comics, soundtracks, and other goodies would usually command $1,657, but are currently selling for a minimum payment of just eight bucks. The proceeds go to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), a nonprofit working to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza.
We previously reported on the Games for Gaza bundle back in October, which managed to raise $365,554.64 for the UK-based charity, Medical Aid for Palestinians. The PCRF has a similar remit, and in addition to distributing immediate humanitarian relief, is looking to rebuild healthcare facilities in Gaza and “allocate resources towards trauma counseling, mental health support, and other initiatives for children affected by the conflict, aiming to foster healing and resilience within the community.”
As for the games themselves, there’s enough arch indie material here to keep you satisfied for a few lifetimes. There are a few things I’ve never heard of that immediately caught my eye, like the rulebook for post apocalyptic mecha TTRPG Apocalypse Frame, but PCG contributor Dominic Tarason has also put together a handy guide to some of the bundle’s gems over on Twitter.
A Short Hike is a real standout, a capital-C Cozy game about being a cute little bird exploring a national park. On the opposite end of the aesthetic spectrum, Brush Burial seems like my type of game: a grungy, low-fi, first person stealther where you’re some kind of sewer thing murdering people. Hill Agency: Purity/Decay, meanwhile, is a stylish black and white noir adventure game with a cyberpunk twist.
The bundle will stay live through April 29, so you still have a little over a week to hop on this deal and get more games than you’ll know what to do with. And if you prefer to enjoy your indie games on Steam Deck (god’s own indie machine) like I do, itch.io has a handy guide on how to make it happen. I’ve often found that less demanding games will work right out of the box on Valve’s handheld, though your mileage may vary.
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https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1713640197_For-8-you-can-get-373-games-digital-comics-and.jpg5851040Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-04-20 19:21:252024-04-20 19:21:25For $8, you can get 373 games, digital comics, and more in a new charity bundle for Palestinian relief
Win your weekend Wordle with ease: now you’re here, you’re only a quick click away from today’s answer. Win today’s game however you like: we’ve got handy tips if you’d like some general advice, as well as a clue for the April 20 (1036) puzzle if you need it.
It took a while for me to find today’s Wordle answer, but it was such a satisfying game I honestly didn’t mind. I eventually reached the point where I’d shuffled my yellow letters around so much there was only one place left for them to go, and seeing them all turn green meant I’d finally slotted everything neatly into place.
Today’s Wordle hint
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
Wordle today: A hint for Saturday, April 20
Clear, coherent, and easily understood—these are the defining traits of today’s answer. This word also applies to a dreamer who is aware they’re currently dreaming.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
There are no double letters in today’s Wordle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
If there’s one thing better than playing Wordle, it’s playing Wordle well, which is why I’m going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:
A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
The solution may contain repeat letters.
There’s no time pressure beyond making sure it’s done by midnight. So there’s no reason not to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank.
Today’s Wordle answer
(Image credit: Future)
What is today’s Wordle answer?
Saturday’s answer, coming up. The answer to the April 20 (1036) Wordle is LUCID.
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Previous answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today’s Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that’s already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.
Here are some recent Wordle solutions:
April 19: RAISE
April 18: FACET
April 17: TITHE
April 16: SHANK
April 15: EQUIP
April 14: BLIMP
April 13: STEEL
April 12: WHINY
April 11: LOUSE
April 10: BROTH
Learn more about Wordle
(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)
Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it’s up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.
You’ll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
You’ll want your second go to compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer.
After that it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
Six months after its 2023 acquisition by Microsoft, it sounds like its business as usual at Blizzard. In an interview with VGC, World of Warcraft executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale said being a part of Microsoft has “just been helpful,” and that so far the new owners are taking a light touch.
“We got time with Helen Chang from Mojang, and we were sharing information, so it’s almost as if we have access to what worked for them,” Longdale said. “We got to speak to the Elder Scrolls Online team and share what we’re up to and what’s been working, it’s almost like we get a benefit.
“There’s no one asking us to do anything. World of Warcraft is doing very well and they’re very proud of what it’s been able to accomplish, so it’s almost like just let it be, and let it keep being awesome. They’ve been tremendously supportive and it’s like, ‘let Blizzard be Blizzard’.”
Longdale’s statement bears echoes of Microsoft’s hands-off approach to Bethesda Softworks, which it acquired in 2021—and which seemingly came to an end a few years later when an Xbox studios reorganization put ZeniMax and its subsidiary studios, including Bethesda, under the direct control of Xbox president of game content and studios Matt Booty. The shift was believed to be driven at least in part by the infamous flop of the co-op shooter Redfall, which Microsoft let slide even though developers at Arkane were reportedly hoping it would either reboot or cancel the project.
A similar scene may be playing out at Destiny studio Bungie, which was acquired by Sony in 2022. Bungie was initially left to operate as “an independent subsidiary,” but Destiny 2’s recent struggles have put the pressure on: PlayStation chairman Hiroki Totoki said in February that he wants to see more “accountability” for development budgets and schedules from Bungie leadership, and there’s a feeling that Bungie could find its operational independence ended if things don’t turn around.
While the proverbial Sword of Damocles may or may not be hanging over Blizzard’s head at this moment, there’s no overlooking the fact that Microsoft has already made some big changes at Blizzard. Activision Blizzard was hammered by layoffs across Microsoft’s gaming division, and even more notably the survival game Blizzard announced with much fanfare in 2022—”a journey to a whole new universe,” Blizzard said at the time, “a place full of heroes we have yet to meet, stories yet to be told, and adventures yet to be lived”—was unceremoniously cancelled, despite having been in development for six years and by all reports had some exciting potential.
Of course, “let Blizzard be Blizzard” is also a statement that could open to different interpretations. As an old-timer I have fond memories of the scrappy studio that had an amazing mid-’90s run with Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft, but the bloom fell off the rose in a big way in more recent years thanks to questionable decisions and allegations of widespread workplace misconduct at the company that led to the departure of several high-profile developers. The ABK Workers Alliance, an organization of employees formed in the wake of a civil rights lawsuit filed against the company, actually thanked Microsoft for not letting Blizzard be Blizzard after it entered into a “labor neutrality agreement” with the Communications Workers of America union in 2022.
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Ultimately, Blizzard is Blizzard to the extent that it has a number of big, valuable games to its name, and I have no doubt that Microsoft will be happy to let them keep ticking as long as they’re printing money—as Phil Spencer himself said earlier this year, after all, it’s his job to ensure Xbox is “a profitable growing business.” I don’t know if it was a Microsoft decision or Bethesda’s call, or if maybe Dinga Bakaba is just a big fan, but as I think about Arkane—the studio responsible for Dark Messiah, Dishonored, Prey, and so much more—working on a licensed Blade game, I strongly suspect that in the end, Blizzard will be whatever Microsoft wants it to be.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1713567992_World-of-Warcraft-boss-says-Microsoft-is-happy-to-let.png6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-04-19 22:59:112024-04-19 22:59:11World of Warcraft boss says Microsoft is happy to ‘let Blizzard be Blizzard,’ but I’m not sure that’s entirely true
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was revealed yesterday, and is set to be a considerably larger and more comprehensive representation of medieval life. As part of this, it’s set to address one of the more controversial elements of the first game, its lack of diversity.
In an interview with IGN, Warhorse was asked directly about its philosophy on historical accuracy in the first game, and whether that philosophy had changed in the second. To this Warhorse responded “Henry is embarking on a journey from the countryside and local quarrels to a relatively cosmopolitan city that is besieged and occupied by the invading king. Naturally, in a place like this, people can expect a wide range of ethnicities and different characters that Henry will meet on his journey.”
For context, the original game was criticised for including no people of colour beyond a handful of Turkic Cumans. In response, Warhorse vociferously defended its position based on the grounds of historical accuracy. In a statement from 2018, Daniel Vávra claimed the nationality of its characters “reflects what we know about Bohemia in 1403” which included “entire family trees and property rights”. Vavra admitted that “the situation at the time looked more heterogeneous in some other countries”, but that, for the specific area of Bohemia the game represented, there were no people of colour around at the time.
This stance became the topic of some debate among historians. Some concurred that the ethnic representation of the area Kingdom Come depicted made sense given its primarily rural nature. Others, such as Sean Miller, felt that absence of proof did not constitute proof of absence. For Eurogamer’s review of the game, Miller stated that “Czech cities Olomouc and Prague were on the famous Silk Road” and that “if you plot a line between them, it runs directly through the area recreated in Kingdom Come.” His point was that there was simply no way to be certain about a total lack of POC in the area Kingdom Come is set. “What if a group of black Africans came through and stayed at an inn and somebody got pregnant? Even one night is enough for a pregnancy.”
With the sequel, Warhorse does not explicitly state that its philosophy has changed. In its response to IGN, the studio explains that “the story and plot of KCD has evolved—it’s darker, deeper and more cinematic, yet also crueller with pivotal decisions and plot twists that challenge the player’s conscience.” More broadly, the studio states it is “trying to depict a realistic, immersive, and believable medieval world that is being reconstructed to the best of our knowledge”.
This largely echoes its position on the first game, only the setting has been expanded to include areas where there is stronger evidence for cosmopolitanism. That said, Warhorse does note that, for its research, the studio is “very closely working together with universities, historians, museums, reenactors, and a group of experts from different ethnicities or religious beliefs” so perhaps the studio is drawing its historically ‘accurate’ representation from a broader pool of research.
Moreover, there is an implication that the game’s diverse characters will play a more than peripheral role in the story. Following its reveal that players will encounter “A wide range of ethnicities”, Warhorse explains that. “In KCD 1, Henry grew from a boy to a man, and now in KCD 2, he is growing from a man to a warrior. However, he can’t do this by himself, and he needs a strong cast of friends to help him on his journey.”
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Whether or not Warhorse’s stance on the knotty issue of historical accuracy has shifted, the upshot is that KCD 2 will be a more diverse game than the original, which is a good thing. It seems like we won’t have long to wait before finding out how exactly Warhorse has approached this issue, as the sequel is apparently due to land later this year.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1713531926_Kingdom-Come-Deliverance-2-isnt-just-bigger-its-more-diverse.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-04-19 13:19:432024-04-19 13:19:43Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 isn’t just bigger, it’s more diverse, with Warhorse adding a ‘wide Range of Ethnicities and Different characters’
As our Tim Clark wrote when he complained about live service games wasting players’ time just to boost phoney player engagement numbers, “almost everyone reading this will be familiar with games that use predatory design in order to keep players logged in, whether that be to juice those all-important Daily Average User numbers so beloved of shareholders, or just in the hope that you might crack and drop some dollars in the MTX store.”
The main example he gave was of Hearthstone’s revised weekly quest system, which tripled the targets players would have to reach to clear those quests while only offering an additional 20% boost in experience points. It was not a popular change, to say the least.
Blizzard responded swiftly with the typical “we’ve heard your feedback” message, saying, “it’s clear that we pushed too far.” But rather than scrap the changes altogether, they’ve simply been revised, and not by that much. As the latest patch notes show, the new weekly quests are things like “Play Battlecry cards 75 times (instead of 100)” and “Win ranked Hearthstone games 10 times (instead of 15)”. While the initial change tripled the difficulty of completing quests, this iteration still doubles them, and for the same piddling increase in rewards.
Unsurprisingly, these adjustments haven’t gone down well with the community either, as you can see on Reddit. “Yeah this is still terrible number wise,” says one player, “100% more work to get like what 20% more exp? Do they even know basic math?” Another suggests that “we should demand full reversion…this is blizzards usually playbook. Make something way worse, then revert a little bit to appease us. Well blizzard I’m not gonna be appeased.” Other players are simply announcing their intent to uninstall. “I hate feeling like some weird corporate retention metric more than I like this game”, says one.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1713495877_Blizzard-backs-down-on-unpopular-Hearthstone-change-so-now-weekly.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-04-19 04:01:252024-04-19 04:01:25Blizzard backs down on unpopular Hearthstone change, so now weekly quests will ‘only’ waste twice as much of your time, rather than triple
As Fallout fans we’ve lived through numerous Reclamation Days. But with the launch of the TV show on Amazon Prime, this might be the busiest yet. New dwellers are flooding out of their vaults, and you may well be among them—warily eyeing 2018’s online multiplayer Fallout 76, wondering whether the kind of Fallout you like is hiding in its cranberry bogs and toxic valleys.
Here’s my guide to what Fallout 76 is and isn’t—and some advice for getting the most out of the Appalachian wasteland, from somebody who knows it like their backyard after half a decade of survival on the surface. To quote the great Mr. Goggins: I’m you, sweetie. You just give it a little time.
Fallout 76 isn’t the game it was at launch
Fallout 76 was a disappointment at release, rife with bugs and missing the colorful NPCs that normally give the Wasteland life. “When that game launched, the litany of issues we had, we let a lot of people down, and, well, there was very little we didn’t screw up honestly,” Bethesda’s Todd Howard reflected later. But things got better: NPCs arrived in the 2020 Wastelanders expansion, and since then Bethesda has continued building on the game, with all of its updates releasing for free. Here are the most significant additions to Fallout 76 since 2018:
Major NPC settlements in the style of Diamond City and Megaton
Relationships with factions who have their own agendas and rivalries
Story-driven questlines involving Vault-Tec and the Brotherhood of Steel
Expeditions to The Pitt for raids in Fallout 3’s old stomping ground
Player-owned underground Shelters where the most ambitious building projects live
An entire off-map hub in Atlantic City, replete with chatty mobsters and musicians
When you log onto a Fallout 76 server today, you’ll be sharing your instance of Appalachia with—at most—two dozen other players. It’s few enough for you to indulge in the lonely exploration of solo Fallout as often as you like, while having the option to visit one of the fancy encampments dotted about the map if you need a break from your questlog.
Loosen up
Survival games might have taught you to shoot first, loot later, and ask questions never. But Fallout 76 is different: it’s not only a mechanically gentle survival experience, but one with an actively welcoming community.
Instead of reaching for your 10mm when you come across another human player, hit the wave emote instead. If you let them, high level players will shower you with purified water and surplus ammo. They’ll feel good about helping out a goofily gesticulating newcomer in a blue jumpsuit, and you’ll have plenty to drink.
Once you’ve laid down a C.A.M.P., the same attitude applies. Rather than constructing your base like a fortress, full of locked doors and laser turrets, it’ll behoove you to build a comfortable homestead and open your doors wide. Visitors tend to come correct, looking to admire your handiwork, or to buy guns and recipes from your vending machine—a helpful passive supply of caps.
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Don’t sweat your build too much
(Image credit: Bethesda, WigglePlays)
Fallout 76 has a flexible Perk system built on cards that you can swap in and out at will. That might sound like an affront to Fallout’s tradition of meaningful decision-making, but when it comes to an MMO that could become part of your life for years, it’s the right choice. There’s no way to muck up your character forever by investing too heavily in cannibalism or damage against insects.
When you reach the high levels and start to hit a ceiling, it makes sense to rejig your Perks situationally—swapping in Gun Nut and Armorer only when you’re peacefully parked at the workbench, or keeping your Hacking skills in the back pocket for a rainy computer day. You can even redistribute your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points to create alt-loadouts, easily accessible between quests. The possibilities will give you plenty of reasons to keep leveling and experimenting even beyond level 50. One day, that rad-boosted Ghoulish build will be mine.
Mix and match your quests
(Image credit: Bethesda)
Fallout 76 infamously launched as a kind of open world System Shock, with every former resident of Appalachia dead or long gone. Understandably that proved a little too hollow and downbeat for many players, and Bethesda have since transformed West Virginia into a full-fledged Fallout game, flush with multiple NPC hubs and conversation-driven stories.
The original questlines now exist in the background. But rather than ignore them, you’re better off engaging in a balanced diet of missions, swapping between zippy new adventures in Atlantic City and more slow-burn exploration of West Virginia’s ruins. It’s like they say: fresh Brahmin steak tastes best when followed by a bowl of expired Sugar Bombs.
Seek out the original Overseer caches, now relegated to side quests, and you’ll discover they’re hotspots for holotapes. These areas of the map are where Bethesda’s environmental storytelling is at its thickest and most satisfying. It’s there you’ll discover the richness baked into Fallout 76’s map: the elite ski resort where the 1% resorted to raiding rather than picking up a spade, and the training camp where the Brotherhood of Steel first adopted their quasi-religious overtones.
The history and worldbuilding buried just beneath the surface of Appalachia is one of Fallout 76’s great strengths over comparable MMOs and survival games, and you’d be surprised how much it can deepen your connection to its land and people.
Know what Fallout 76 can’t give you
(Image credit: Bethesda)
The promise of an online Fallout doesn’t come without compromise, even now. Fallout 76 doesn’t have the simulated world that has ticked along under the hood of Bethesda RPGs for decades. Since NPCs need to be readily available for every player that might come along, not just you, they can’t be turned hostile. That means you’re free to swipe those Mentats off a questgiver’s desk without consequence. And no matter your Sneak stat, you can’t rifle through their pockets, nor stuff those same pockets with dynamite and run for the door. All of which will inevitably dismay some longtime players who reserve the right to abruptly end their relationship with a faction via theft or murder.
There are ways in which Fallout 76’s more traditional RPG adventures come into conflict with co-op, too. In the newer dialogue-driven questlines, additional players take a backseat. Either you’ll have to enter key instances separately, or accept that only one of you will be doing the talking and get to strike the finished mission from your questlog.
It’s a drawback I asked Bethesda about recently and confirmed is a deliberate design decision rather than a technical restriction. The idea is that the team leader alone should have agency to steer the direction of their own quests so that they don’t wind up living with the consequences of choices made by their teammates. The logic checks out, but it’s a frustration nonetheless—and one you’ll need to accept if you’re to get on with 76.
Make the most of what you’re gaining
(Image credit: Bethesda)
Unless they’re packing a Stealth Boy or some other form of cloaking, every player is immediately visible on Fallout 76’s map when you log in. Don’t be afraid to make a beeline for them, and to embrace the emergence that happens when two players cross each others’ singleplayer questlines. Temporary team-ups can be useful and fun—particularly when the other player’s mute, leaving you room to project motivations onto your fellow traveller. A stranger might well lead you to parts of the state you’d never discover on your own. Think of them like Boone in New Vegas: a companion who doesn’t talk much but is handy with a rifle.
If you spot a golden hexagon on the world map, that’s an unfolding Event—a brief and silly group quest in which you’ll be fending off Gulpers, conducting Mothman rituals or playing musical instruments as a band to attract a green-glowing cryptid. These are both a strong source of XP and legendary loot, and an easy way to punctuate your solo escapades with bursts of low-commitment co-op.
Then there’s PvP—for the vast majority of players a rare occurrence, since few in the Wasteland are looking to antagonise. But there are select scenarios where you can seek out conflict by capturing Workshops, which are temporary bases used to farm resources, or hunting down Wanted players who have griefed others, like Walton Goggins on the bounty trail.
Workshop fights in particular can be electric, recasting Red Rocket gas stations and airfields as arenas for creeping cat-and-mouse stealth and chainsaw takedowns. It’s the same heart-in-mouth tension of a Deathloop invasion. You’ll only ever lose a handful of caps and a small bag of junk if you’re killed—but those who want to eliminate even the smallest possibility of player conflict can turn on Pacifist mode in the menu.
Leave your series hang-ups at the vault door
(Image credit: Bethesda)
Any new Fallout game—particularly one as controversial and non-traditional as Fallout 76—comes overencumbered with baggage. The PC community especially is guilty of talking itself out of a good time by lionising earlier entries like New Vegas at the expense of Bethesda Game Studios’ own efforts. Here’s the thing: there’s more New Vegas in 76 than almost any other game out there. Its newer questlines go harder on dialogue skillchecks and branching options than Fallout 4, and the political scuffles between factions on the Atlantic City boardwalk are knotty and inventive.
Fallout 76 is also unexpectedly dedicated to lore from Black Isle’s Fallout games in the ’90s. As a prequel, it’s well placed to dig into the earliest days of the Brotherhood and West Tek’s creation of the super mutants. Meanwhile, West Virginia’s proximity to DC means there’s plenty of Enclave skullduggery to uncover and disapprove of, much of it baked into Appalachia’s real history of congressional escape hatches.
Those who value open-ended RPG decision-making and prose above all else might be better served by turning their back on the Fallout series and embracing the likes of Geneforge 2 instead. But if you’ve ever loved a first-person game in a Bethesda engine with a sprinkling of sardonic humour, then head down what’s left of the Interstate 64. West Virginia welcomes careful drivers.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1713459820_How-to-have-a-good-time-with-Fallout-76-in.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-04-18 17:59:552024-04-18 17:59:55How to have a good time with Fallout 76 in 2024 (or technically speaking, the year 2105)
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