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505 Games Agrees Control's Upgrade Options Weren't The Best

Control publisher 505 Games recently revealed in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz about how the handling of an upgrade path could have been much better. In the interview, Neil Bralley also mentioned that the publisher would be looking towards better ways to get it right for future games.

As fans might already know, owners of Control's base version weren't entitled to a free upgrade path, and the only way to get those options were to invest again in the game's Ultimate Edition which released post-launch. 505 Games statest that options like Smart Delivery weren't the industry norm previously, and both the developer and publisher made several decisions that made using those features difficult.

"Every transition from one generation to another creates challenges for both development and publishing," Ralley said. "The Smart Delivery option, if I can use that term to generalise, was something we hadn't faced before as an industry."

"For Control, we made certain decisions restricted how we could perform Smart Delivery for the next-gen version of Control. They were the correct decisions at the time, but they created those blockers."

The publisher has already made several improvements to its future games, as titles like Ghostrunner and the upcoming Assetto Corsa would be making use of Smart Delivery features. Developer of Control Remedy Entertainment is already hard at work on CrossfireX, and rumors of a possible Alan Wake sequel have been doing the rounds lately.

Apex Legends Developer Comments On Removal Of Tap-Strafing From The Game

Respawn Entertainment recently took to Twitter to reveal that it would be removing "tap-strafing" from Apex Legends in a future update. Following quite a bit of fan-outrage on the matter, the studio's associate live balance designer John Larson also took to Twitlonger to give an explanation about the whole ordeal.

As mentioned in the original report, tap-strafing is an exploit which is little or no counterplay tactics which by extension makes it overpowered. Furthermore, performing this trick on a controller is near impossible – which unevens the playing field in cross-platform servers.

"A monkey would be a better MnK player than me, but I took some time to experiment with scroll-wheel strafing in particular. I felt the dopamine rush, I thought about the outplay opportunities, and I love tuning into streams to see flashy plays. However, my designer brain started to churn, and the more I saw, the more I felt this mechanic seemed like forbidden fruit," Larson wrote.

Apex Legends might be old, but hasn't lost much of its charm yet. The game received a new legend in the form of Seer, which has allowed for more stealth options for the game. On the other hand, Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall 2 and the original Titanfall have continually been embroiled in a flurry of controversies surrounding hackers within the game's servers.

Gotham Knights Key Art Revealed, New Info To Drop At DC FanDome

A new press release for Gotham Knights has just been well, released and includes new key art for the game. Details on other fronts remain scant for now, but more information is sure to be dropping soon – with a confirmed appearance at DC FanDome this year.

The keyart showcases the key characters of the game – Red Hood, Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl. A gameplay section was shown off last year, however – the game was delayed to 2022 later following that event. This year's DC FanDome wil be streaming live in October 16th, so stay tuned for more details on that front.

In addition to Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will also be making an appearance during the event. Suicide Squad and Gotham Knights are cross-gen titles and will be releasing on PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Marvel also has two confirmed video games in development – Eidos Montreal's Guardians of the Galaxy and Firaxis' Midnight Suns.

Far Cry 6 PC Requirements Revealed

Ubisoft recently outlined the various PC features that Far Cry 6 will have, from ray tracing support to an in-game benchmarking tool. The publisher has since outlined all of the different requirements on PC, whether you're running the game at 1080p/30 FPS with no ray tracing or pushing it to the limit at 4K/30 FPS with DirectX ray tracing enabled.

At the very minimum, however, 8 GB of RAM, a GPU with 4 GB of VRAM and 60 GB of installation space are all required (with an SSD being recommended). Those looking to enjoy the game at 1080/60 FPS with no ray tracing will need a Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz or Core i7-7700 3.6 GHz along with either an RX VEGA 64 8GB or GTX 1080 8GB and 16 GB of RAM. It's worth noting that the optional HD textures pack requires an additional 37 GB of installation space.

Far Cry 6 is out on October 7th for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC and Google Stadia. For more details on its various features, from crafting to the Fangs for Hire, head here. You can also check out some gameplay from the Xbox Series X version here.

The Medium is Out Now for PS5

Bloober Team's psychological horror title The Medium is now available on PS5 as well, over eight months following its launch on the Xbox Series X/S and PC. The Polish developer has also released a new trailer for the game that also highlights its PS5 features to commemorate the release. Check it out below.

The Medium sees Marianne, a medium who can traverse both the real world and the spirit world, traveling to the abandoned Niwa Resort as she seeks to uncover the mysteries of the power, of Niwa Resort, and the terrors that haunt it. The game's PS5 version is largely the same as the Xbox Series X/S release, though it does leverage the DualSense's adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and more. Get more details on that through here.

Bloober Team is currently working on two unannounced projects, both of which are supposedly bigger than The Medium. One of these is strongly rumoured to be a new Silent Hill game, especially with Bloober Team having entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Konami earlier this year.

Death Stranding Director's Cut – Final Trailer Debuts on September 8th

Director Hideo Kojima said it would arrive sometime next week and now Kojima Productions has made it official. The final trailer for Death Stranding Director's Cut will debut on September 8th at 12 AM PST/8 AM BST. As for what it will contain, the tweet simply says that you "won't want to miss it."

As such, Kojima Productions has already detailed many of the features that the Director's Cut will be adding. These include new tools like the Buddy Bot for carrying Sam around; an option to battle bosses again, provided you've beaten them once; a Firing Range to test out weapons and partake in Ranked Drills; races and Time Trials; and much more. New side missions have also been added which provide some secrets to discover.

Death Stranding Director's Cut releases on September 24th for PS5. PS4 owners can upgrade to the Digital Deluxe version on PS5 for an additional $10. For more details on the release, head here.

Splitgate Devs Don't Have Any Plans For A Battle Royale Mode

Splitgate developer 1047 Games have recently took to Twitter to reveal some fan-requested information on the addition of a Battle Royale mode. The official Twitter account mentions that a battle royale mode isn't currently on the cards for the development team, so fans shouldn't be holding their breath just now,

That being said, the team also noted that it might add the mode sometime later in the future which is evident from its "never say never" policy. An interesting point to note is the contention that the community seems to be having on the matter, with many fans expressing their concerns with such a mode.

Splitgate has been a massive hit for 1047 Games in such an unprecedented manner that the team has been continually facing server issues for some time now. The team has a lot of plans for the future, and wants to be available on as many platforms as possible.

Chip Shortages Could Continue Until Next Year, Toshiba Claims – Report

A reent Bloomberg reports details Toshiba's current state of affairs regarding its manufacturing of power-chips that can be found in an array of electronic devices including but not limited to gaming consoles. High ranking officials within the company have claimed that these shortages would easily extend well into 2022, and in certain cases even upto 2023.

Of course, even a seemingly small component as a power-chip can hold huge implications for the production of devices such as consoles. Toshiba is unable to fulfill its orders for customers, and is continually making decisions on how to allocate resources to its litany of clients.

Ranking among the top are of course, game console manufacturers – Sony and Microsoft. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are as hard to come by as last year, and every console manufactured is being instantly sold out. While the situation is marginally better than launch, its best to keep expectations in check for this Holiday season.

Sony is Doubling Down on Cynical PS5 Pricing with Horizon Forbidden West

Since the PS5's launch last year, the conversation around Sony's pricing model for its first party exclusives hasn't really abated. The likes of Demon's Souls, Returnal, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart all received near-universal praise, but their $70 price tag has been a point of contention for many people. Meanwhile, expanded re-releases like the recently released Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut and the Death Stranding Director's Cut don't offer free next-gen upgrades for those who already have those games on the PS4, which, too, has proven to be quite controversial.

More than anything else, it's become clear that Sony intends to fully embrace a costlier pricing model for its premium PS5 releases, where PS5 versions of the game will cost more, and free next-gen upgrades just won't be a thing. Recently it was confirmed that Horizon Forbidden West, which is now set for a February 2022 launch, also will not support free next-gen upgrades for anyone who gets the game on the PS4. To be completely honest, this isn't really a surprise at this point, because there's been more than enough evidence over the last year that would suggest that this is the direction Sony is headed in. Even so, for a number of reasons, it's still a bit disappointing.

It is, of course, disappointing for all the usual reasons, especially as Xbox continues to emphasize and utilize Smart Delivery to great effect. Even when PS5 games do allow for free and seamless next-gen upgrades, in fact, cross-gen save transfers can prove to be a hassle. But that's a different, and frankly, well-worn topic. The bigger reason Horizon Forbidden West's pricing in particular stings a little is that contradicts some of Sony's own past actions and words.

For instance, back before the PS5 launched and Sony made the controversial announcement that Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Horizon Forbidden West would also be releasing for the PS4, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan pretty much flat-out said that those games would also offer a free upgrade path for those who purchase them on the old gen console. He said to The Washington Post: "The PS5 versions of those games are built from the ground up to take advantage of the PS5 feature set, and we have an upgrade path for PS4 users to get the PS5 versions for free."

And yes, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Sackboy: A Big Adventure did offer free next-gen upgrades, which is another why Horizon Forbidden West's pricing seems so cynical, because it represents a shift in strategy for the purposes of getting more money out of players. In fact, not only does the game not offer free next-gen upgrades, its whole pricing strategy seems to be blatantly pushing you to spending more if you do want to have the option of upgrading from PS4 to PS5. The game's Digital Deluxe Edition (which costs $80) does include both versions of the game- but those who get the standard or Special editions of the game on PS4 won't even have the option of paying additional money to upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition. Which, of course, means that if you want the upgrade option – which a lot of people will, given the fact that the PS5 consistently remains and will remain hard to purchase for the foreseeable future – you'll have to buy one of the game's costlier special editions.

horizon forbidden west

So not only does Sony not offer free next-gen upgrades for Horizon Forbidden West – which, as I mentioned earlier, is unsurprising at this point – they also don't offer the option to pay to upgrade, unless you purchase one of four special editions, the cheapest one of which is already $10 costlier even than the standard PS5 release. Even with the context of Sony's recent pricing practices this feels like a regression, because at least Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut and Death Stranding Director's Cut both allow paid upgrades.

It's not unfair to hold a platform holder like Sony to a higher standard than other publishers where pricing and monetization practices are concerned. It's why there's so much backlash against Nintendo for its low-effort full-priced re-releases, or against Microsoft for the monetization in its multiplayer first party games (especially in the earlier years of the Xbox One's life). Sony has shouldered the responsibility of keeping two major consoles afloat at the same time with a steady stream of content, and clearly, this is something that the company intends to keep up for at least the next year, if not more. Whether or not that's something they should be doing is a different conversation– but if they are doing it, they should at least do it right.

Sony selling PS5 exclusives for $70 is still somewhat palatable, seeing as the likes of Returnal and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart were called out relatively less for their pricing than Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut or Horizon Forbidden West have been. But for a cross-gen release to not offer free next-gen upgrades (and even limiting the options for paid upgrades, as Horizon is doing) isn't exactly easy to overlook, no matter what publisher does it. Because really, the DualSense implementation and technical improvements just aren't worth an additional $10 (or $20, in Forbidden West's case). And of course, what's worse is that there's a very good chance other upcoming cross-gen PlayStation games like God of War: Ragnarok (or whatever that ends up being called) and Gran Turismo 7 will follow in Horizon's footsteps as well.

horizon forbidden west

This is not, of course, an indictment of Horizon Forbidden West itself by any means. For all we know, it'll be excellent. In fact, based on what we've seen of it so far, it almost certainly will be. But that's not really the point, is it? Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut was excellent too, and it deserved to be called out for its price just as much as Horizon does. Obviously, it is the consistent quality of Sony's output that has put them in their position- it's just disappointing that they're using that position to squeeze out an extra buck every chance they get.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Bravely Default 2 is Out Now on Steam

After releasing earlier this year for the Nintendo Switch, Square Enix's Bravely Default 2 is now available for PC via Steam. The role-playing game is currently having a launch sale discount with 10 percent off of the asking price. This will be valid until September 13th.

Bravely Default 2 takes place in Excillant and follows the sailor Seth, who washes ashore one day. His travels lead him to meet Gloria, who looks to stop the theft of the Crystals after the destruction of her kingdom. Eventually, they encounter Elvis and Adelle, the former a scholar and the latter a mercenary as they attempt to decipher a mysterious book.

Thus do the Four Heroes of Light travel across the different kingdoms and save Excillant from destruction. For more details, check out our review here. Bravely Default 2 has sold almost a million copies thus far and while the next title is in the "planning phase," it will be another three to four years before it releases.