Nintendo’s Triumph: The Legend of Zelda Steals the Show

Nintendo proved once again why it’s a titan in the gaming industry, scooping up a staggering five awards. Four of these prestigious accolades were claimed by ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’. The epic journey of Zelda secured victories in the categories of Best Nintendo Switch Game, Best Gameplay, Best Audio, and Most Epic. Additionally, ‘Pikmin 4’ added to Nintendo’s haul by securing the Most Wholesome game award.

Bandai Namco’s Triumph and Payday 3’s Double Win

Bandai Namco had reasons to celebrate as well, clinching three notable awards. ‘Tekken 8’ exhibited its fighting prowess by winning the Best Sony PlayStation Game award, while ‘Little Nightmares 3’ took home the Best Announcement title. Bandai Namco also shone as the Best of Show Floor, showcasing the depth and variety of their lineup. On the other hand, ‘Payday 3’ demonstrated its versatility by walking away with two awards – the Best PC Game and Most Entertaining categories.

Impactful Games: Sky and Games for Impact Category

In the realm of meaningful gaming experiences, ‘Sky: Children of the Light’ by Thatgamecompany stood out, claiming two awards. This heartwarming title secured the titles of Best Mobile Game and Games for Impact. This particular category is reserved for games that leave a significant impact by conveying social, political, or cultural messages, ultimately contributing to positive changes in society.

Awards Reflecting Excellence and Innovation

The diverse array of winners clearly demonstrates the range and innovation within the gaming industry. ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ showcased its stunning visuals, earning the Best Visuals award. Meanwhile, ‘Mortal Kombat 1’ fought its way to victory as the Best Microsoft Xbox Game. ‘Xbox’ itself stood out by receiving Gamescom’s Green Studio of the Year Award, a commendation for its commitment to sustainable values.

As Gamescom 2023 bids us farewell, the Awards Night proved to be the perfect crescendo for the event. From Nintendo’s triumphant success to the unexpected victories, the awards celebrated the diversity and creativity of the gaming landscape. With titles like ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’, ‘Pikmin 4’, and ‘Sky: Children of the Light’ taking center stage, it’s clear that gaming enthusiasts have a lot to look forward to.

As we close the chapter on Gamescom 2023, our anticipation grows for what the future holds in the realm of gaming. With exciting announcements, thrilling gameplay reveals, and the heartwarming recognition of impactful games, we can’t help but look ahead to next year’s Gamescom with eager anticipation.

The post Gamescom 2023 – Day 3: Awards Galore appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

The Problem of Archival

The problem of game archival is not a new one. Gamers have always been concerned about how to preserve games for future generations. In the past, gamers would buy physical copies of games, and as long as they had the game and the console, they could play it. However, with the advent of online-only games, the rules have changed. When a game’s servers are shut down, the game becomes inaccessible, and gamers are left with nothing more than memories of the game.

Current Methods of Game Archival

There are several methods of game archival currently available. One of the most common is ROMs, which are digital copies of games that can be played on emulators. While ROMs are a viable option for preserving games, they are illegal in most cases, as they infringe on copyright laws. Another option is game collectors and museums. These organizations collect physical copies of games and consoles, preserving them for future generations. However, this method is limited to games that have physical copies and is not applicable to online-only games.

The Challenges of Game Archival for Online-Only Games

Online-only games present unique challenges when it comes to game archival. Since these games rely on servers to function, once the servers are shut down, the game becomes unplayable. While game developers have attempted to mitigate this issue by providing offline modes or allowing players to host their servers, this is not always feasible. Moreover, even if these options are available, they may not provide the same level of gameplay as the original online version.

The Future of Online-Only Games

As the gaming industry continues to shift towards online-only games, the issue of game archival will become more pressing. The inability to preserve games for future generations may lead to the loss of valuable cultural artifacts. Additionally, it may impact the ability of future gamers to understand the history and evolution of the gaming industry.

The issue of game archival is a significant challenge faced by gamers and the gaming industry as a whole. While several methods of game archival are available, they are not always viable options for online-only games. As the industry continues to evolve, it is important that developers and gamers work together to find solutions to this problem. Whether it is through the creation of offline modes or the development of new archival methods, it is essential that we preserve these games for future generations.

The post Archival, the Biggest Problem of Online-Only Games appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

According to Statista, In February 2023, GTA V sold over 175 million copies worldwide, making it the second-best-selling video game of all time, only behind Minecraft. Despite being released back in 2013, the game continues to receive regular updates and additions. But with GTA 6 now 18 months, I wanted to look at how the latest iteration of the game and how has changed for the latest gen consoles.

The Los Santos Drug Wars

One of the standout features of the new Los Santos Drug Wars update is the addition of the Freakshop, a new social space that allows you to play the new First Dose Story Missions, store and upgrade your new Acid Lab Business, buy and update weapons, as well as various other activities. This update also includes six additional 1-4 player story missions and five new Fooligan tasks that you can unlock through “Dax” after finishing First Dose – Welcome to the Troupe.

The Acid Lab is a new business that players can manage once they complete the First Dose and steal the necessary lab equipment. They can install it in the rear of the new MTL Brickade 6×6 vehicle and unlock access to the Acid Lab business. Players can drive their Acid Lab while in Freemode and can launch source missions to gain supplies that will be turned into Acid products for players to sell. Acid Labs can also be given custom names, which adds a personalized touch to the gameplay.

The Los Santos Drug Wars update also brings eight new vehicles to the game, including the Mobile Acid Lab, Overflod Entity MT, muscle cars such as the Declasse Tulip M-100 and the Declasse Tahoma, Vans such as the Zirconium Journey II and BF Surfer Custom as well as the very cool Manchez Scout C Motorcycle. The Overflod Entity also comes with an HSW Upgrade that is only available on consoles.

In addition to the new vehicles (now at a massive 708 different vehicle types), the update includes hundreds of new pieces of male and female clothing and accessories, a new female hairstyle, and 39 unisex tattoos. The update also features several experience improvements, including visual, economy, and creator updates.

As a long-time fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, I have to say that the Los Santos Drug Wars update has been one of my favorites. The addition of the Acid Lab business adds a whole new level of depth to the game, and the new vehicles and customization options allow for even more creative gameplay. I also appreciate the regular updates and attention to detail that Rockstar Games continues to provide, even ten years after the initial release of the game.

Last year, Rockstar Games continued to release regular updates for Grand Theft Auto V, including the introduction of the Stunt Race Creator and the Casino Heist update. The Stunt Race Creator allows players to create and share custom stunt races, adding even more creativity and customization to the game. The Casino Heist update adds a new heist for players to complete, as well as several new vehicles, weapons, and customization options.

Grand Theft Auto V – Premium Edition | The Next Gen Facelift

Grand Theft Auto V – Premium Edition came with the promise of hardware-accelerated ray tracing features that were too good to ignore, and I couldn’t wait to experience the game’s third generation of gaming hardware. With the new features added, I was curious about what the new version offers over existing versions of the game.

Improved User Experience

From the initial load the game jumps straight into the introductory videos and from there into the 60fps menus. The full frame-rate menus might not sound like a big deal, but they’re running at 30fps on last-gen consoles and even the PC version. Moving from the menu to the story mode takes around 20 seconds – far faster than previously when the same process takes two minutes and eight seconds.

Rendering Modes

Three rendering modes are on offer: fidelity at 4K30, performance at 1440p60, and performance RT, also at 1440p60. These high frame-rate modes are a huge improvement over the previous gen versions that were capped at 30fps instead. Whilst the older GTA V did suffer from a high input lag, the updated frame rate helps to fix this legacy issue.

Improved Image Processing

In the last generation of the game, motion blur was limited to camera-based effects with occasional per-object blur used in first-person mode. However, the newer version of the game now features per-object motion blur that is applied throughout the game. The effect is subtle at 60fps, but definitely more noticeable when playing in the 30fps fidelity mode, which massively improves the overall look of the game when compared to the last-gen version running at the same frame rate.

Along with improved motion blur, the new version of the game also features enhancements in image quality. When the game was released, it ran at about 1080p and used a basic FXAA-like post-process anti-aliasing effect that was common at the time. However, this then resulted in shimmering, dithering, and other stability issues. The updated versions of the game now include a temporal anti-aliasing solution that is more in line with today’s technology stack, similar to what was used in Red Dead 2. This has significantly reduced shimmering, dithering, and noise to the point where, in some ways, GTA5 at 1440p on consoles looks better than on a PC with native 4K resolution.

Ray Tracing

Of the two performance offerings, the ray tracing mode is an absolute must. Ray tracing is now used on all the shadows, and more specifically shadows cast by the sun. You may only notice it when it’s pointed out but the Ray tracing shadows significantly reduce graphical issues and mimics the properties of shadows in real life are more accurately. The ray-traced shadows also have this lovely softening so when the shadow the further an object, the more diffuse the effect.

Grand Theft Auto V is a high point in gaming history and its longevity is testament to its high quality. Its open-world design, engaging story, and plethora of activities have kept players (including me) coming back for more over the past ten years. The addition of Grand Theft Auto Online, with its constant updates and expansions, has only further cemented the game’s status as a cultural phenomenon.

Grand Theft Auto V – Premium Edition offers improved graphics, image processing, and user experience compared to the last-gen console version. The game’s higher frame-rate modes, image quality improvements, and ray tracing features make the game a whole new experience.

Looking back on the past ten years of Grand Theft Auto V, it’s clear that the game has had a significant impact on the video game industry and popular culture as a whole. Its legacy is sure to endure for many years to come, and even when GTA 6 is released, it will have big shoes to fill as it’s predecessor made history and earned a place in the record books.

The post Grand Theft Auto V – 10 Years On appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Lootboxes are secret presents in video games that contain random prizes in the form of bonus equipment, points, weapons, or other things that are important in a particular game. Players can purchase loot boxes for real money with no possibility of real gain. So they can be compared to a casino, but not to the full extent. For example, if you carefully read www.twinspinca.com, you can see that many of the bonuses in the casino are free, and the players do not need to pay for them.

Since the player does not know beforehand what the secret box contains, some governments have decided that loot boxes can be considered a kind of gambling, which means they need to be regulated properly, including the prohibition of their use by minors.

At the beginning of February, the European Parliament voted for a report on tougher control over the Loot Boxes: 577 for, 56 against, and 15 abstentions.

In addition to tougher measures against loot boxes, the report also states that the accumulation of in-game currency for sale or exchange can often be used to launder money, including from major fraud schemes. Therefore, such a move by the European Parliament also aims to determine whether there is any connection between video games and human rights violations.

If the report is adopted, major developers and publishers will be obliged to cooperate with the European Union to implement special mechanisms to combat money laundering and gaming disorders. In addition, developers will be required to avoid manipulative game design, which could result in addiction among players.

The report is not without its positives. The report states that the games industry as a whole provides a good platform and basis for the creation of works of art of a certain cultural value.

The European Parliament is already thinking about holding its annual video game awards ceremony at its headquarters in Brussels. If such a decision is made, it would not be the first such ceremony and would hardly eclipse the scope of The Game Awards, held since 2014.

The post The European Union may ban loot boxes in video games appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

In the early days of gaming, graphics were limited by the technology available at the time. Pixels were large and blocky, and textures were simple and often repeated. The ZX Spectrum for example, released in 1982, was a popular 8-bit home computer that featured a unique graphics system. The machine used a custom-designed video display processor (VDP) called the ULA (Uncommitted Logic Array) to generate its graphics.

The ULA was capable of displaying a maximum resolution of 256×192 pixels in 15 colors, although in practice, many games used lower resolutions to achieve better performance. The ULA could display two colors per 8×8 pixel block, and each block could be assigned its own color attributes, allowing for some basic graphical effects like shading and color gradients.

One limitation of the ULA was that it could only display a limited number of colors on screen at any given time, meaning that many games had to resort to color clash – a visual artifact where different colors would bleed into each other – to achieve more complex graphics. Despite this limitation, the ZX Spectrum was capable of producing some impressive visuals for its time, and its unique graphical style is still fondly remembered by retro gamers today.

As home computers got bigger and better, so did the number of colour and the resolution. However, as technology progressed, so did the capabilities of gaming graphics. The introduction of 3D graphics in the 1990s allowed for more realistic characters and environments, and the development of more powerful hardware allowed for even greater detail and realism.

The Nintendo 64, released in 1996, was a groundbreaking console that was one of the first to feature fully realized 3D graphics. The console used a custom-designed graphics processing unit (GPU) to render its 3D graphics.

The N64’s GPU was capable of rendering polygons, which are the building blocks of 3D graphics. The console could display up to 80,000 polygons per second, which was a significant improvement over previous consoles. The N64’s GPU also had the ability to apply texture mapping to polygons, which added detail and realism to the game’s environments and characters.

One of the most impressive features of the N64’s graphics system was its ability to smoothly render 3D environments without any slowdown or graphical glitches. The console achieved this by using a technique called z-buffering, which ensured that objects were rendered in the correct order, so there were no visual glitches or clipping issues.

The N64’s graphics system also supported advanced lighting effects, such as dynamic lighting, which allowed for realistic lighting effects that could change based on the game’s environment and time of day. Additionally, the console featured a built-in anti-aliasing filter that helped to smooth out jagged edges and make the graphics appear more polished.

The Nintendo 64’s 3D graphics system was a major breakthrough for its time and laid the foundation for the 3D graphics going forward.

With the advent of the 21st century, gaming graphics reached new heights with the introduction of high-definition (HD) graphics and the use of advanced techniques such as motion capture, real-time rendering, and physics-based simulations. These advancements allowed for games to feature hyper-realistic characters and environments, as well as more dynamic and engaging gameplay.

Recent years have seen the introduction of 4K and 8K resolution, ray tracing and other real-time rendering techniques like physically-based rendering, which enhance the realism of the games, the lighting, and the shadows. This makes the game world more believable and closer to the real world. This is also coupled with the use of VR technology which makes the gaming experience more immersive than ever before.

One of the earliest video games to use ray tracing, real-time rendering, and enhanced lighting features was Quake II, released by id Software in 1997.

Quake II was a first-person shooter game that used ray tracing technology to create more realistic lighting and shadow effects. The game’s engine, known as the id Tech 2 engine, was capable of rendering real-time dynamic lighting and shadowing, which created a more immersive and realistic gameplay experience.

The game’s engine also supported advanced features such as colored lighting, which allowed for more complex and dynamic lighting effects. The use of these advanced lighting features was a significant leap forward for 3D gaming at the time, as they helped to create a more realistic and immersive gameplay experience.

It was also one of the first games to use hardware acceleration to achieve real-time rendering, which allowed for smoother gameplay and faster graphics performance. This made it possible for the game to run at higher resolutions and with more complex graphics than previous games.

Quake II was a major technological breakthrough for its time, and it paved the way for many of the advanced graphics technologies used in modern games.

As technology continues to advance and Gaming PCs get more powerful, we can expect to see even more incredible advancements in gaming graphics in the future. From virtual and augmented reality to photorealistic graphics, the possibilities are endless. As developers, we must continue to push the boundaries of what is possible, and strive to create the most immersive and realistic gaming experiences for players.

The evolution of gaming graphics has been an exciting journey, one that has brought us from simple, pixelated graphics to highly realistic and immersive worlds. As technology continues to evolve, we can look forward to even more incredible advancements in the future, and the opportunity to create truly breathtaking gaming experiences for players.

The post The Evolution of Gaming Graphics appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

• The combination of high-speed internet and the increasing use of smartphones has increased the demand for various games across the globe.
• Mobile gaming is the most favoured form of entertainment among gamers today. Accessibility and technological advancements like AR and VR are some of the reasons why mobile gaming has taken precedence over PC and console gaming.
• The Asia-pacific region is slowly inching towards gaining a dominant share in the gaming landscape.
• Between 2021-26, the Middle East and Africa will have the highest CAGR levels.
• Today, major players in the gaming industry are Sony Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, and Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. etc.

Considering the above, we can say that the gaming industry is the perfect place to start a career and if you have the right aptitude and skills you can join this exciting and cutting-edge industry quite easily. A good starting place is to see whether you have a basic degree in your hands. Even if you don’t have a specialised degree, you can easily join institutions that offer game development courses.

The most impressive part about being in the gaming industry is the interesting choice of careers that you have here. For example, from game designers to writers and producers, several people put in hours of effort before a game is released to the public. The other roles in the industry are animator, lead designer, gaming tester, software developer, game developer, computer programmer, game artist etc.

To get a better understanding of these roles let us look at them in detail:

Game Design

When you take on the role of a designer, you are presented with the opportunity of creating a style that could become a benchmark for others. Designing is the most fundamental concept of gaming.

Eligibility

Since the role has many sub-fields, it is impossible to describe the set criteria for it. But the essentials include:

• Bachelors/Diploma in game design
• Or a degree in computer science engineering or a related field

It is beneficial if you have these certain traits:

• Creativity
• Ability to tell engaging stories
• Artistic vision

Video Game Writing

This area is best suited for those who have the flair for putting imaginative ideas on paper. Writing is not a stand-alone job, it is a shared vision that gets fulfilled with the help of others. It is an immersive job where you will have to create detailed backstories and maybe thousands of lines (think of RPGs-Role Playing Games).

Eligibility

• Bachelor’s in scriptwriting/creative writing
• A portfolio of published stories and even a sample game can impress the employer
• Entry-level experience in other departments of gaming like production or marketing can also make your resume stand out.
• Editing is an added advantage.

Some of the other skills that are beneficial for this job are:

• Ability to follow deadlines
• Ability to think creatively

Game Programming

The innovative virtual world of adventures you enjoy in games is the work of programmers. Just like design, you can find a role that suits your interests from the many sub-categories available here.

Eligibility

A candidate needs the following skills:

• A computer science degree or something related to the field.
• Understanding of different programming languages like C++ or Java
• Knowledge of design and design techniques

Some of the personal traits you may need are:

• Patience to sit through revisions and corrections
• Creative problem-solving skills

Game Developer

In simple terms, a game developer converts the ideas of the design team into a concrete game. They have many responsibilities including translating visual ideas into codes, monitoring the stability of games across platforms, porting games or elements from one system to another etc. You have the option of becoming a second-party developer, third-party developer or an indie developer.  You can also opt for specialisations based on different criteria

• Types of systems- A system-based game developer can work either on a computer, mobile or console
• Game type-role-playing, simulation, strategy etc.
• Game element-in-game systems, user interface, level design etc.

Eligibility

• A Computer Science or a related degree

Some beneficial personality traits include:

• Ability to incorporate others’ views
• Ability to create a balance between creativity and budget

Game Sound Designer/Audio Engineer

The story of a game comes alive when it is accompanied by realistic sounds. A sound designer or an audio engineer helps in creating a thrilling experience by combining the plot with dynamic sounds (e.g. car’s vroom), ambient sounds (e.g. traffic noise, birds chirping) and background music.

Eligibility

• Bachelor’s in Sound Engineering/Audiography

Some of the personal traits you may need for this role are:

• Ability to work well with other teams
• A thirst for knowledge-updating oneself with all the latest developments in the field.

DevOps Engineer

Since more and more games are becoming online-focused, the need for a DevOps engineer is increasing. They are responsible for the smooth running and security of the servers on which the players are connected. The role combines the responsibilities of the development and operations teams. They need to have coding skills and the ability to handle the operation of the networking infrastructure.

Eligibility

• Tech/B.E in computer science engineering.

Some of the personal traits beneficial for this role are:

• Flexibility
• Seeks quality

Game Tester/Quality Assessment

A quality assessment person or a ‘game tester’ is responsible for catching the flaws in a game early on. They collaborate with  game developers  to identify and manage any glitches or trouble spots thus helping end users have a seamless gaming experience.

Eligibility

• Sufficient gaming knowledge
• Proficiency in written English
• Language skills like Python, Java and Bash
• Technical skills like Prometheus, Jenkins etc.
• Tech, BCA or software diploma is desirable
• Knowledge of the software testing process is also a plus

Some of the personal traits that can help you in this role are:

• A methodical approach
• Ability to work under pressure
• Perseverance
• Problem-solving

Video Game Marketer

This role is an umbrella term that includes everything from marketing to customer service and PR. They are responsible for creating demand for a game among users using a variety of methods.

Eligibility

You can have a Bachelor’s in media relations, marketing, advertising or other related fields.

Some of the personal traits beneficial for this role are:

• Fluent communication
• Creativity i.e. thinking outside the box

Game Journalist/Critic

This role is a combination of a writer and a gamer. Just like a movie critic, a game critic breaks down the positives and negatives of a newly released game in simple language for the benefit of the end user.

Eligibility

• Bachelor’s in Journalism/Mass Communication

A game journalist needs good analytical and persuasive writing skills to attract gamers to their reviews. Having a pre-existing gaming blog will help to showcase your work as well as your passion.

How to Hone Your Passion for a Gaming Job?

There are several ways in which you can prepare yourself for the workforce of the future i.e. gaming:

Start as an intern

Before directly applying for a job, it is always a good idea to start as an intern. This way you will get root-level knowledge about various aspects of gaming which you can use later on.

Choose an entry-level job

Before aiming for the big shot firms, you can always start your career as a game tester or programmer at game studios.

Networking

There are a lot of digital game communities and discussion forums that you can join. Participation can help you get in touch with the experts in the field and also open up various opportunities.

Technological literacy is required for a career in gaming but what can you do next? Dave Mathew, Studio Head at Cauldron Studios says “I would suggest building strength in your core discipline, finding the elements within that discipline that truly speak to you and honing your skills in that direction.” You must stay updated with the latest technological changes and feel the pulse of gamers. This strategy can help you go a long way in this field. The industry is immersive, inclusive, entertaining and expansive and to get a job here is a ‘game-changing’ move. So here’s hoping that the above post will help you through the process of getting your dream job.

About the Author

Asha works as a freelance blogger and designer in UAE. She is a passionate blogger who specializes in web design and development. She is also a speaker and technologist who has a love for music. She writes technical articles, journals, and non-fiction for everyone of all ages. She currently focuses on blog design for online publications.

The post How to Make a Career in the Gaming Industry? appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Game developers are storytellers and want players to have a controlled experience in order to ensure you can play out their vision for the game. This means AI needs to be tempered and controlled. Sure, a level layout can randomised to a certain extent, but the core gameplay loop and narrative structure are maintained.

True AI in Video Games

So let’s go down the rabbit hole and predict what games might be like with true AI as the suggestions are the stuff of true science fiction. Firstly, we need to clarify the two types of AI in gaming. One type is Real World AI and the second is Human-like AI, Real World AI is when the various systems of a game overlap to give the player real-world experiences in the digital world. In a funny clip from Red Dead Redemption, the player shoots a warning shot into the air and a second later a bird drops dead next to him. The moment was very funny but was not scripted or planned, the bird was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Similarly, in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Link can bake apples whilst they are still on the tree when standing under them with a flaming torch. These overlapping systems mean that the game world can act and react like real-world elements.

No Man’s Sky was famous for its universe of procedurally generated planets. Thousands of worlds with different flora and fauna to explore. Essentially, the game created worlds for the players. In the future, we expect AI to take this one further and create the world around you as you are playing. Imagine a game that learns your play style and creates a world and story that works for that style. If you like to play the sniper, then various vantage points are generated, unwitting enemies scattered, and various missions require a skilled assassin. Similarly, what if the game knows how long you generally play and keeps quests, missions, or chapters to that length. The dark side to this is shown in the Film ‘Her’ in which the AI video game taunts and tempts the player to play more. If the AI in the game knows you give up at certain points, could it give you a better weapon, a loot box, or a reason to continue playing? Will parental control be needed to stop AI from encouraging play after two hours? The idea of AI becoming the game director is both exciting and scary. If the game is able to react to you and create levels, characters, and missions based on your preferences, we will see many games becoming more of a service (similar to Destiny, Fortnight, or League of Legends).

The Holy Grail of Video Game AI

The Holy Grail of video game AI is the ability to create a character in-game with true AI. Elizebeth Comstock from Bioshock Infinite is a fantastic example that is going in the right direction. Designed and built by a team of 12 people known as ‘The Liz Squad‘. Their goal was to create a nonplayer character that felt real and responsive, whilst having its own ability to navigate the game world. The motion capture was fantastic and the facial expressions were taken directly from the voice actor during her recordings. Elizebeth is not a subordinate under your control, but a partner in the game that you enjoy spending time with and ultimately come to care for. The more you interact with her throughout the game, the more she changes to match your interaction. With characters like Alyx in Half-Life and Ellie in Last of Us growing beyond their actions, we are seeing some emergent gameplay, but nowhere near the limits of what is possible.

The big breakthrough in AI gaming is suspected to come from a smaller studio or an AI game app development company, rather than one of the bigger studios as they have more freedom to experiment. When this happens, gaming will enter a new era of game development.

The post Real AI in Gaming Will Change The Industry appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

But first, let’s address the ever-interesting question of ‘How much does a video game developer make a year?’.

How much does a game developer make on average?

Along with other tech job roles, game development is also a lucrative career path with decent salaries and employee benefits. So how much does a game developer make? The game developer average salary differs widely depending on the country, as well as the type of game that is being developed.

According to popular job platforms such as Glassdoor, the most common salary range for a game developer in North America is between $61,000 per year with a maximum of $123,000. This makes sense considering that this region accounts for the widest tech job market, including video game development.

Now let’s see what it takes to forge a career path in this field and how to become a game developer at home.

Hard skills

There are many skills to build when you start your journey in web development. The good news is that some of these skills are fairly easy to pick up and others will take a lot longer. Hard ones fall into the second category of time-intensive endeavors.

Game Engine

A game engine is a software framework designed for the creation and development of video games, just like an IDE for software developers. It won’t do all the art of creating a video game for you, but it can accelerate your development process by providing a suite of visual development tools and reusable software components. This gives game developers more time to focus on the unique game elements. 

Unity, Unreal, and CryEngine are some of the most popular game engines cited in a majority of job requirements. Moreover, Unreal and Unity are also iterating at a fast pace, meaning that you need to keep up with the latest updates to stay current.

Programming Language

Although there is a wide range of programming languages for game development, budding developers will be well-served by mastering core technologies like C++, C#, Python, and Java. C++, for example, is the scripting language used by Godot and Unreal Engine. At the same time, C# and Unity are a popular duo to start with for most beginners. If you’re aiming for mobile, you can also look into Kotlin, Swift, and other native mobile technologies.

Game Testing

All games should pass quality control before being released to the player. That’s why you also should have an understanding of the software development life cycle and how testing applies to game products. This skill can help you polish your code and understand the issues that typically occur in game programming.  

QA testing validates the gameplay from a tech standpoint, making sure it doesn’t have any glitches or crashes. Game developers can also set up playtesting sessions (or do it on their own) to gather the feedback of other players and refine a game.

Game visualization

Visualization skills, including prototyping, are one of the most critical skills a game developer can cultivate. A game coder worth their salt should be equally able to discern prototypes made by their colleagues and articulate game concepts by forging their own prototypes. Game mechanics, for example, can be expressed through paper (you sketch your ideas on paper) or code prototyping. These ideas can then be put to playtest to define the core game mechanics.

Soft Skills

But how to become a video game developer when you have already mastered the tech fundamentals? You can work your way up by nurturing soft skills. The latter goes hand in hand with technical acumen and can significantly ease the strain.

Time management

Every game developer has been in a situation where they have fallen behind on a project or deadline. Whether this is due to unforeseen circumstances, procrastination, or just not being organized enough, poor time management skills can result in missed deadlines and strained relationships with colleagues. To avoid it, you should set attainable and measurable goals for the day, keep away distractions and take regular breaks to boost your productivity.

Problem-solving

The very branch of game development is a perpetual cycle of issues and their effective resolution. Therefore, the ability to tackle problems and stand up to challenges is essential for anyone engaged in game creation. Alongside solid programming skills, you should foster analytical thinking to brainstorm the right solution. This skill can be promoted by solving basic programming questions or participating in contests and hackathons.

Creativity

Out-of-the-box mindset is also a salient component in a code-dominated field. When it comes to forging innovative game concepts or programming the game’s terrain, game developers must have an open mind and be able to think outside the box. Thus, according to a study by Microsoft Research and North Carolina State University, game developer success hinges on creativity and interpersonal communication skills more than on traditional programming skills.

Positive attitude

Positive thinking helps you land emotional balance in the workplace, which, in turn, makes your brain perform at its peak. With a bright outlook, you have more chances to remain calm and concentrated and as a result, you can make effective decisions in challenging situations. Therefore, instead of focusing on negative reinforcements and a horde of tasks, keep the scope small and preach positivity to remain productive.

Wrapping Up

Game developers are core team members that vitalize game concepts and turn prototypes and sketches into playable experiences. So how to become a professional game developer in 2022? A powerful combination of hard and soft skills can trail the blaze in the gaming career. As a beginner, you should commit to mastering game engine fundamentals and look into core gaming technologies like C++ or C#. Time management and creativity will also become valuable assets to your game developer persona.

Bio:

Yuriy Denisyuk is Game Production Lead at Pingle Studio. He’s responsible for successfully managing the Game Production pipeline. Yuriy is this lucky person who plays the best games for work in order to keep up with trends and creating new ones. He likes writing, reading Manga, fantasy and professional literature in his free time.

The post How to become a game developer in 2022 appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

The EA Rumors and Denial

Recent rumors suggested that EA had agreed to start using an engine called playerWON that would add in-play advertising to their console and PC games. This was described as being TV-style advertising that would make the playing of these games closer to what users of free mobile games are familiar with.

The company quickly came out and denied this, claiming that the reports are “incorrect” and that it isn’t something they are currently looking at. The EA spokesperson went a step further by stating that their “priority focus” remains in creating the best experience for their players that they can.

Yet, doubts remain about exactly how much truth was in the original story, which named Simulmedia as the tech firm that had created an ads engine allowing gamers to choose a 15 or 30-second video in return for being given rewards such as access to exclusive content, currency, or other features.

The initial reports suggested that Simulmedia had reached agreements with various companies aside from EA, with Hi-Rez Studios another big name mentioned. Their EVP, Gaming and OTT, Dave Madden, provided the story and said that they had been spent more than a year testing console ads and gathering brands to work with.  

According to the information provided, developers could use the new technology to add the code for ads into their games, choosing what they want to reward gamers with. Simulmedia would then set the rewards to be unlocked once the video content has been viewed.

If this story sounds familiar, it might be because you remember Sony attempting to introduce ad content in 2009. Back then, their deal was with Double Fusion, who wanted to put high-resolution dynamic video ads into the loading screens on Wipeout HD. In the end, Sony backtracked but it seems that games developers are still interested in this idea.

Why Would They Want to Add Advertising to Games?

It may seem strange that games creators are looking to add advertising to their games, since the price of many video games has recently increased following the switch to powerful new generation consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox X.

In terms of revenue, EA generated a net figure of over $5.6 billion in the latest fiscal year, continuing the trend for rising revenues in the last few years. According to this report, the gaming industry recorded $130 billion in revenue in 2020, with the leading name being Sony with $25 billion in gaming revenue, followed by Tencent with close to $14 billion, and Nintendo with just over $12 billion.

It may be worth considering why other sectors of the entertainment industry offer free services and an ad-free experience. A good example here is Spotify, which follows the mobile game freemium strategy, offering a basic service for free without ads. Users who pay for the premium service then get extra functions and the ads are removed, so there is an incentive to move to a paid subscription.

YouTube also offers a premium service that allows viewers to see their videos without any of the ads. For $12 a month currently, you also get access to YouTube originals and YouTube Music. Netflix lets you take a short trial before joining, and there are no ads. However, the streaming company trialed skippable ads for their own shows in 2018 before giving it up due to poor customer reaction.

You can play free versions of popular Vegas slots such as Book of Dead, Starburst, and Rainbow Riches with no ads. These games offer an experience similar to playing in Las Vegas but with dummy cash used as stakes. You are taken to a real-money casino to open and fund an account if you click on the button to play for real money, but there are still no ads shown during the game.  

What Might Happen Next?

These differing approaches suggest that many parts of the entertainment industry need to find a way of generating revenue through ads, while others can find alternative ways of earning money without needing to use ads. The big question is whether video games creators feel the need to change their existing model to add some form of advertising to their games and, if so, how they will do it.

Games creators might consider this as a way of adding an extra level of monetization in exchange for an enhanced experience. However, they are likely to be wary of the reaction of gamers who may see this as being a blatant way of taking more money from them rather than a genuine attempt to improve the overall gaming experience.

It is worth keeping an eye on this situation, as the subject of ads in video gaming is almost certain to hit the headlines again before too long. For the moment, gamers can only wait to see what happens next and how it affects them.

The post Why the Idea of Putting Ads in Video Games Is Big News appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

This is the first time that The O2 has ever appeared in a videogame and O2 customers have the chance to win exclusive rewards in the Priority app, including tickets to future easy life shows at O2 venues. Players and fans will later this week be able to enjoy tracks from easy life’s debut album ‘life’s a beach’, with the alt-pop quintet performing a unique interactive musical experience inside The O2 in Fortnite Creative.

Constructed entirely from scratch by an incredibly talented team of Fortnite creators – KKslider, DolphinDom and Team Cre8 – The O2 and musical experience has been brought to life inside Fortnite Creative. Within Fortnite Creative, the O2 x easy life partnership will provide players and music lovers with a range of unique and interactive musical experiences.

First is the recreation of The O2 and while from the outside the iconic London landmark is instantly recognisable, users will enjoy several exciting gameplay additions inside the virtual venue, including exploring a vast new space packed with hidden rooms, backstage areas and the O2 Blueroom, where they can unlock the Squeezy Life Spray and a Lobby Track created by Fortnite and easy life just by playing through the experiences.

The interactive music experience itself is much more than just a gig, with the band’s music and lyrics influencing the world around players during the performance. During the show, attendees will be transported to six unique areas, each inspired by a different track from ‘life’s a beach’, pulled straight from the imagination of easy life themselves.

With much of easy life’s headline tour of O2 Academy and other UK venues this coming November already sold out, their performance at The O2 in Fortnite Creative presents music lovers with an early chance to enjoy an exclusive set from the UK’s top up-and-coming band. Beyond their performance in-game, easy life and Fortnite have also created a brand new, in-game-only lobby track that anyone can listen to within Fortnite after attending the experience.

The unmissable mainstage performance itself starts this Thursday, 24^th June at 20:30 BST. Fortnite’s global audience of millions will be able to access and enjoy the gig with friends until 23.59 BST, this Sunday, 27th June, with the full performance posted exclusively to easy life’s YouTube channel from Monday, 28^th June too.

Simon Valcarcel, Head of Brand and Consumer Marcomms at O2, said: “We couldn’t be prouder to work with Epic Games to bring such an incredible experience to O2 customers and music fans all over the world via Fortnite Creative. O2 has a rich heritage in music and we’re committed to providing music fans with unique experiences so it’s only fitting that we’re bringing the world’s most popular entertainment venue into the world’s biggest game. We know how much everyone – us included – has missed going to gigs so we’re excited to bring the UK’s hottest up-and-coming band to gamers globally through Fortnite Creative.”

Nate Nanzer, Head of Global Partnerships at Epic Games, said: “We were thrilled when we were approached with the idea to bring The O2, one of the most iconic entertainment venues on the planet, to Fortnite Creative. We’re always looking for exciting and authentic experiences to bring to our players, and we can’t wait for them to get hands-on with this interactive musical journey. We’re excited to have the UK’s breakout band easy life perform in the game, and we think our players are really going to love exploring all that The O2 has to offer in Fortnite Creative over the next week.”

Murray Matravers, easy life frontman, said: “Being the first UK act to ever perform in Fortnite Creative, and for that performance to take place inside a venue as iconic as The O2, is truly humbling. We’re all huge gamers in the band so getting the chance to appear in a game this popular is a childhood dream come true. We’re so excited for people to experience our music in the game – it promises to be a lot of fun and is just a taste of things to come ahead of our UK tour of O2 Academy venues later this year.”

Wertandrew, Lead Community Creator at Team Cre8 said: “Music was always a passion alongside level design and we are absolutely thrilled to have been involved in a project that combines both. This is the first time that an experience features an iconic venue and interactive show, both built from the ground up by Fortnite creators for players and music fans all around the world to enjoy.”

The post The O2 Comes to Fortnite Creative appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

The rise of video game journalism itself has brought forward mountains of ethical problems. Mainly due to there being no guiding principles on which those employed in this sector operate. Within a decade, gaming journalism became the voice of two billion people in an industry that pulls in annual revenues of $180 billion. In the past, it was understandable that game and media companies would have a close relationship. One would provide the other with content for exposure. The iGaming sector implemented the same model concerning online slot reviews. Nevertheless, video game’s rapid evolution has done little to cut this relationship and has seemingly only strengthened it.

A Crash Course on Videogame Journalism

In 1981, Computer Video Games magazine published its first issue and launched video game journalism. It had photo reviews and a news section. The first featured instructions on how to play games redressed as editorials and the latter contained brief descriptions of the industry’s latest products. Seven years later, Nintendo Power came out. It went out in a staggering 3.6 million copies and focused on previews from upcoming releases, reviews, and game strategy.

Before the original PlayStation console hit electronic stores, publishers saw an opportune moment to expand in this magazine genre. In 1994, Game Informer, first published in 1991, switched over to a monthly issue, and Britain’s PC Gamer made its US debut that same year. However, many will say that it wasn’t until 1999 when IGN stepped onto the scene that this sector began to develop into what it is today.  

IGN was the first medium to move away from technical breakdowns and focus more on contextual relevance, emotional impact, and storyline. Though they still stuck with the tried-and-tested formula of providing numerical values to arbitrarily designated aspects of titles.

Video Game Review Scandals

High-end games cost as much as the blockbuster movies you watch at the cinema. They not only have massive production budgets, but an enormous amount of funds gets allocated towards their marketing. Thus, publishers take huge gambles each time they release a game. Initial bad press or word-of-mouth can cripple their bottom line, as games produce most of their revenues in the first few weeks following their release. That is why reviews are so crucial. They help players make informed decisions on whether to spend $60 on a game now or wait for something else coming down the pipe.

Though, as mentioned, high-profile scandals have de-legitimized these articles. In mid-2004, rumors began flying that publisher Atari had provided advanced copies of Driver 3 to outlets operated by PSM2, Xbox World, and Future Plc in exchange for positive scores. While most sites/magazines gave Driver 3 an average review, two under this umbrella gave it a 9/10 rating. Fans dubbed the incident – Drive3rgate.

Another instance of a publisher meddling in the work of a media company transpired in late-2007. In November of that year, GameSpot’s editorial director Jeff Gersmann got fired due to his review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Its publisher Eidos Interactive pressured for Gersmann’s termination on account of him rating their product as fair. At this time, Eidos was heavily advertising on GameSpot’s website and had enough leverage to pressure them into this firing, which sent shockwaves throughout the gaming sector.

Can Videogame Journalism Go Legitimate?

There is no doubt that video game journalists have failed everyone, including themselves. Being first is essential in any field, and initial reviews draw the most traffic. However, when this comes at the price of credibility, the trade is not worth it.

In 2016, Bethesda, the publisher behind massive games such as Fallout 4, DOOM, and Skyrim, announced that it is out of the review business. Yet, they sent out copies of Skyrim’s Special Edition, a day before its release to media outlets and a week before to YouTube/Twitch streamers. Also, many publishers host what they call review events. For example, prior to Konami debuting Metal Gear Solid V, they brought over several journalists at their facility, where they let them play the game for four days. Naturally, anyone with a history of slamming Konami games would not get such an invite.

Sadly, it seems like nothing will cut the symbiotic relationship between these two parties, as they heavily rely on each other. What gamers can do is visit niche sites that provide objective reviews and stay away from most mainstream video game journalists. 

The post Is Videogame Journalism Fair and Balanced? appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

However, there are some characters that just stand head and shoulders above the rest. These are characters with moments that resonate throughout gaming culture for years. Characters with stories, performances, and personalities that earn them a place in the hall of fame.

The characters that strike a chord with audiences are what this piece is all about. It is dedicated to some of the most iconic performances in gaming, and an exploration of the voice actors who breathed life into them.

SOLID SNAKE/NAKED SNAKE: DAVID HAYTER
– METAL GEAR SOLID

“Metal… Gear?!”  

We are kicking this off with an obvious one. There are very few video game characters as memorable as David Hayter as Snake. The rugged, coarse voice that David Hayter applies to the character set the standard of what a video game action protagonist should be.

He is competent, cool and an all-around badass… Although, he does ask a lot of questions…

Metal Gear Solid, released in 1998, was one of the titles that propelled gaming into the realm of cinematic quality. Before this game, there were hardly any instances wherein character performances could be considered to rival a Hollywood blockbuster.

From the mind of Legendary Japanese game developer Hideo Kojima, Solid Snake and Metal Gear Solid was born. Kojima, the cinephile that he is, emulated action heroes of the time to craft the character of Snake. The character is more than a little similar to Kurt Russell’s character from Escape from New York.

But the character of Snake has been carved into his own icon, in and of himself. David Hayter has since departed from the role of Snake in Metal Gear Solid V, recast as Kiefer Sutherland. A decision that levied no small amount of controversy.

Regardless, it is David Hayter’s performance that stands the test of time. This interpretation of Snake is the mainstay across the vast majority of the character’s appearances. It is safe to say David Hayter is the voice that made Snake an iconic figure in gaming culture.

David Hayter has a relatively modest history in voice acting, outside of his performance as Snake. But it is important to recognise that Hayter is a highly esteemed writer and had his work featured in the famous X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003).

A man of many talents!

ANDREW RYAN: ARMIN SHIMMERMAN
– BIOSHOCK

“A man chooses; a slave obeys” 

A man born from an unrelenting dream for a utopia wherein men can be “free”. Andrew Ryan was a man unyielding in his dream to see the freest of markets; capitalism incarnate.

At least… That was the idea…

Whilst Andrew Ryan conceived of a land where no man would be bound by censure or taxation, the outcome was anything but. A nightmare created of scientific exploitation and monetary greed, the underwater city of Rapture degenerated into Hell on Earth. With Andrew Ryan holding the keys.

Regardless of how things panned out, the charisma, class and imagination of the man Andrew Ryan is a standout element that makes the first Bioshock into something special.

While Ryan is locked away in his penthouse for the majority of Bioshock, through audio logs and announcements his presence is made known. Armin Shimerman truly captures the essence of Andrew Ryan in his performance.

Shimerman sells Ryan as a man who has slowly lost his mind, as his dream slips from his grasp. Slowly, it is unveiled that Andrew Ryan would sooner destroy Rapture than let it fall to others. Even betraying his own vision in the process.

His misguided ideology can be heard firsthand in the propaganda material, in-game. His charisma and madness are intertwined perfectly in these books.

DUKE NUKEM – JOHN ST. JOHN
– DUKE NUKEM

“It’s time to kick ass and chew bubble gum… and I’m all outta gum” 

Duke Nukem is something special. The character is the type that is as likely to shoot you as they are to laugh at you… or maybe both…

While Duke Nukem is far from a story-driven experience, the character of Duke is certainly one of the main draws of the franchise. Every line that comes out of his mouth is wacky, hilarious, or some kind of quote from a well-known film franchise.

It is Duke’s style and demeanor that made this character an icon of the 90s gaming world. Duke’s style is given form through the performance of John St. John. Duke has worked in video game voice acting for decades, so has certainly become synonymous with the Duke name.

COMMANDER SHEPARD – JENNIFER HALE/ MARK MEER
– MASS EFFECT

“The Council can kiss my ass!”                                           

How could we get through a list of memorable characters and voice actors without turning attention to this entry?

To call Commander Shepard one of gaming’s most recognisable characters would be an understatement. Shepard is a career soldier, turned Spectre – the galaxy’s most formidable combatants. At every turn, Shepard defies what is possible; Ilos, suicide mission, defeating the Reapers.

While the player is in control of Commander Shepard’s actions, Shepard still feels like a distinctive character. This is doubtlessly an effect of the incredible vocal performances that Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale provided for the Commander. Each voice giving Shepard an exclusive feeling.

Both voice actors have extensive portfolios of voice work, however, Jennifer Hale’s work history is next level. I guarantee that Jennifer Hale has been in something you have played or watched, without question. She is one of the voice acting world’s major players – which is why it is no wonder she appeared on this list somewhere.

Hale’s tenure as Commander Shepard’s female variant “Fem Shep” was so well-received that Fem Shep even had a trailer made with her at the helm. Bioware made sure that a female Shepard was not a mere afterthought.

GLaDOS – ELLEN MCLAIN
– PORTAL

“Well done. Here come the test results: you are a horrible person. That’s what it says: a horrible person. We weren’t even testing for that.” 

GLaDOS may be the most passive-aggressive, sarcastic villain in all of gaming history. GLaDOS is an AI who just wants to test all day. She has one single test subject, Chell, who serves the role of GLaDOS’ human guinea pig.

While Portal is majorly a puzzle game, featuring a mute protagonist, this does not stop its character shining through. The comedy is front and centre in this game, especially whenever GLaDOS decides to jump in and insult the player.

Throughout the course of the games, GLaDOS will fire underhanded compliments and use dry wit to make sure that the player feels emotionally hurt in some way, to hilarious result.

The performance by Ellen McClain is seminal. Her voice captures the woe-is-me, evil computer demeanor masterfully. Ellen demonstrates the process that her voice underwent when working on Portal:

EZIO AUDITORE DA FIRENZE – ROGER CRAIG SMITH
– ASSASSIN’S CREED

“I Have Seen Enough For One Life…” 

Ezio Auditore da Firenze was a master assassin of the creed. The main protagonist of 3 main Assassin’s Creed entries – Ezio is a fan favourite. He is an iconic action protagonist in gaming culture. He is charming, suave, talented and grows to become wise. His flawed behaviour helped build him into a multifaceted character that people really connect with.

Each game covers a large swath of Ezio’s life as an assassin. Assassin’s Creed 2 introduces Ezio and follows him through a story of revenge for his family’s murder. His final outing, Revelations features Ezio as an old man, as he learns to let go of the endless questions that have driven him to the brink of civilisation.

Roger Craig Smith gave Ezio his signature voice. Roger Craig Smith’s performance as Ezio was unique, to say the least. As the games featured Ezio throughout many stages of his life, Smith had to alter his voice for each stage.

NATHAN DRAKE – NOLAN NORTH
– UNCHARTED

“I didn’t think that far ahead!”

Nathan Drake. A thief, an adventurer, a rogue; the list goes on. Drake is absolutely one of gaming’s most notable protagonists. He is well known for his one-liners, quips, and generally being a smart ass.

This character captured the hearts of millions after the hit that was Uncharted 2, which sent the franchise soaring to popularity. The success was in no small part down to the story and characters – both of which were extremely memorable.

Drake would always have something clever to say, which gets him into a lot of trouble throughout the Uncharted franchise. His charisma is undeniable, his charm irrefutable.

Nathan Drake was given his voice by none other than Nolan North. It was a guarantee that Nolan North would show up somewhere on this list. He is one of the most well-known voice actors in the industry by a large margin. In fact, he voices so many characters that in Saints Row: The Third there is a voice option named “Nolan North”.

GERALT OF RIVIA – DOUG COCKLE
– THE WITCHER

“If I’m to choose between one evil and another; I’d rather not choose at all”

A unique entry among our list is Geralt of Rivia, from The Witcher. Geralt is not a game character per-se as he originated in the Polish Novel series by Andrzej Sapkowski.

However, his appearance in video games is the vision of game studio CD Projekt Red, and his stories are all original. So it wouldn’t be right to snub him from this list.

Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, a group of bounty hunters for hire, specialising in killing monsters. While Geralt is certainly competent, it is his distinctive voice that sets him apart from the crowd.

Doug Cockle’s version of Geralt of Rivia is the standard by which all other interpretations are measured. The rough, gravelly, dry wit that Cockle instills into Geralt is his signature demeanour.

These are even traits that Henry Cavil folds into his own version of Geralt of Rivia, as part of the ongoing Netflix original series. You can hear the inspiration when you hear them side by side.

That is our list of the most iconic performances in video game voice acting history!

There are so many more out there, so we would love to hear your thoughts. Who did we miss? Do you have a favourite?

The post Iconic Voices in Gaming appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

It’s been a “Fortnite” since the new Xbox launched, and the stocks are depleted everywhere due to high demand. And why wouldn’t that be? The Xbox Series X is the fastest and the most powerful Xbox ever! 

With bang-on visuals, high frame rates, and massive storage, Xbox witnessed their largest-ever launch. And talking about history, this next-gen console can play from an extended catalog of Xbox games dating back to the 2001’s Xbox Original games. 

Let’s have a look at this pre-Christmas gift “box” full of surprises. 

Technical Specs: Crunching the Numbers

Microsoft’s fourth-gen consoles have arrived with the Xbox Series X being the flagship console and Series S – the all-digital, best value gaming console.

Xbox says that the Xbox Series X is 4-times faster than the previous Xbox One X. This is because it packs an absolute powerhouse with an eight-core 3.8GHz AMD Zen 2 processor, 12 Teraflops of GPU, whopping 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD storage. 

And the result? You get to game in a scrumptious 120fps environment that supports 8K HDR resolution (with a nominal target of 4K resolution at 60 frames per second). 

Interestingly, the Xbox Series S is a digital-only console with no optical drive, so no more physical edition of games. In comparison to the Series X, this smaller Xbox is also a processing beast with it’s eight-core 3.6GHz AMD Zen 2 processor, 4 Teraflops of processing power, 10GB of GDDR6 RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD storage allowing the console to render at 1440p at up-to 120 fps and can upscale the resolution to up-to 4K. 

The super-fast NVMe SSD is part of the console’s new Velocity Architecture that provides faster I/O performance and texture streaming. As a result, you can suspend multiple games in the background and switch from one to another in a snap using Quick Resume. 

Besides the visual and performance, Xbox has also enhanced the sound by introducing the 3-D Spatial Sound, including Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. 

Introducing an Epic Digital Games Package 

Microsoft has a secret weapon that can change the shape of the Xbox’s gaming future. Xbox Game Pass (now combined with Project xCloud) is essentially a subscription service that allows users to access hundreds of games to download and play. What’s sweet is that this collection isn’t just limited to your new consoles but also available on the previous Xbox platforms. 

This new play-anywhere platform service will expand the gaming horizons along with the Smart Delivery system, which will always keep your games up-to-date for free. 

And the all-digital Xbox Series S with no disk drive features the digital game packages available online to purchase and play. Also, by taking advantage of Project xCloud, you can save your storage and stream games without having to download them at all. 

The gaming industry has indeed come a long way from video game cassettes to nothing physical. 

Game Launch

Even though there won’t be any purely exclusive Xbox Series X/S releases from the first-party studios anytime soon, there are still some confirmed games that we can wait and look up to. 

This wait will be rewarding since the newer games will enable utilizing the console at its maximum potential as developers are working on games optimized for the Xbox Series X and S, which will have heightened visuals of 4K Ultra HD, matchless loading time, and steadier frame rates at up-to 120fps. 

While some games are still under development, like the much-awaited Halo Infinite, there are many games which already are available in the market, such as Assassin’s Creed – Valhalla running at 60fps, Watch Dogs: Legion with ray tracing, DIRT 5 running at a whopping 120fps and all of these in 4K Ultra HD resolution!

Key Takeaways

With everything being discussed, Microsoft’s all new Xbox Series X has become mightier than its rival, Sony’s Playstation 5. The PS5 happens to have a less powerful GPU and SSD than the Series X, which sums up the performance on paper. 

The real game-changer is the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription that lets you download more than a hundred games of different genres and play them on your Xbox Series X, S, One, PC, even your android device now, unlike the PS5. to take advantage of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you’ll need a fast broadband speed to download as many games as possible while you have the subscription. Use a broadband checker to see what speeds are available in your area if your current internet is too slow 

And not to forget the backward compatibility feature, which helps you reach further back into Microsoft’s library – to help you reignite the nostalgic spark of legacy game titles. 

Microsoft did think this one through, and by launching not one but two consoles, it has raised the bar by providing the best performing and valuable console. With the new-gen of Xbox consoles, consumers can enter the Xbox ecosystem by either choosing the premium flagship console – The Xbox Series X, or- The Xbox Series S – that’s available at a highly attractive price.

The post The Mighty Xbox Series X and S appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Even as games moved away from being sold in big cardboard boxes in physical stores, to online retailers, and then to digital downloads, this model of cash upfront remained consistent. However, in the last five years or so, the prevalence of a new revenue model has increased exponentially.

What Are Microtransactions?

Microtransactions are typically monetary transactions for small amounts. They could be as small as a couple of dollars, though many games do have the option for players to spend significantly more than this too.  

They first appeared in mobile and social games in the late 2000s where users were not charged to buy the game upfront but were given the option to buy additional in-game items instead. 

Today, microtransactions are present in many free-to-play games with two main mechanics. The first is the ability for users to skip waiting times. This is where players are given a finite amount of lives or in-game currency to play with every so many hours. When they use this up, they can either wait for the next refresh point or pay for more. Prominent examples of this include PokerStars, Candy Crush Saga, and Farmville. 

The second type of microtransaction is buying additional in-game items that let players personalize their character or give them new features or skills. 

For the most part, players were happy with the trade-off. They understood that they got to play a game for free, but if they wanted to enjoy it more they could pay a fee to the developers. 

Microtransactions in Larger Games

This all changed in more recent years, as developers have begun adding microtransactions to their larger games. This didn’t mean players would no longer have to pay for games like NBA 2K20 or FIFA. Instead, they’d have to do both to get the full content. 

Microsoft actually first discussed the prospect of microtransactions back in 2006, but it took a lot longer to implement the model. The first Electronic Arts game to feature a form of microtransactions was Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. Users who bought a second-hand game would have to pay an additional $10 to gain access to online play. 

These were incredibly unpopular among gamers, so the practice was phased out and replaced with “season passes”, letting players pay for new downloadable content to extend their games. This was popular with games like Call of Duty, which let players download new maps.

Other forms of microtransaction have been added to the arsenal used by developers. The first is the loot box. This is a pack of in-game items that the user can buy, though they usually don’t know what’s inside until after they’ve paid for it. The other is character and weapon customization that they can be bought from a menu of options.

Huge Profits

Video game publishers will argue that the reason for microtransactions is to cover the increasing costs of developing large games, while the upfront cost has remained steady for the best part of 20 years. 

They also point to the fact that games like CS:GO actually saw huge increases in popularity after microtransactions were added to the game. Fans enjoyed the ability to personalize and upgrade their characters without it becoming a “pay to win” model. 

Critics argue that some of the rationale behind the move is to find a revenue stream from gamers who rent or buy games second-hand. 

Regardless of the motive, microtransactions are a huge earner for publishers. For example, Take-Two Interactive, the company that publishes Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, generates more than 50% of its money from in-game purchases. To put this into perspective, the company generated $857.8 million of profit in just the second quarter of 2020, meaning more than $425 million of their revenue came from microtransactions. 

Here to Stay

Given the fact that publishers make significant sums of money from microtransactions, and that the payment model provides revenue streams that continue on way past the initial sales of the games themselves, it’s safe to say that they’re here to stay. 

While many fans lament them, particularly the nagging messages asking them to buy more items or the unfairness of “pay to win” systems, there are clearly many people out there willing to hand over their cash. 

While these factors remain the same, microtransactions won’t be going anywhere. 

The post Will We Ever See an End to Microtransactions in Gaming? appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

It brings forth creativity and professionalism freedom

Going indie is an excellent chance for game developers to toss their creativity hat in the ring. It’s a unique chance for any game enthusiast developer to bringing their ideas to existence. Indie video gaming is a chance for one to work using their stipulated schedule to meet each milestone. Thus, one has an excellent opportunity to boost their skill set as a programmer in all the gaming aspects.

It’s a significant art form.

Game making is a great art form that brings out a fantastic narrative as well as expression. It’s an opportunity where one gets to combine several art forms ranging from designing, scriptwriting, programming as well as music production, among other essential disciplines. As one gets to make indie games, they get to showcase their talent as well as much-needed effort in coming up with the indie games. The result is often a freer artistic form in the creation process to offer players a unique encounter.

Work representation 

Indie video game development is a social gamin affair that enables one to represent their work. While working in the game development frontier, there is a risk of encountering budgetary constraints. However, it can also be a positive input as one gets to work with a smaller team. Thus, each team member has a great chance to represent the game in a broader perspective due to the inclusivity.

Better communication 

The indie game often calls for a smaller operation scale to utilize the resources. Working on a short-range is a chance to deploy direct communication in a much desirable state. Thus, each person has significant input in the outcome of the indie game. Various people often have a stylistic preference for multiple games. That’s why various people desire to choose various gaming sites such as Lottopark.com to suit their taste. Coming up with indie games is no different as developers strive to offer a vast array of video games that their players can immerse themselves with at any time. 

An easy startup basics 

If you have a deep passion for game creation, you can smoothly go about creating an indie video game. It’s a time where you can work during your spare time and get to release the game titles for free. When developing your game, you ought to be extra patient to be able to see your game make its way to the digital distribution platforms. Thus, with time they can get picked up by any suitable mobile or console publication. 

Make an impact 

If you are right to your indie video game developing, you can get to struck gold within some time. You can also make it into the big leagues and attain an international critical acclamation. You ought to find your niche and come up with an indie game that can reach a vast range of audiences. 

In as much as blockbusters titles continue to reign supreme, one can’t fail to note the rising record-breaking success of the indie games. As you strive to game in different sites including lottopark.com you can also take a try at any indie game. 

Get a chance to diversify you diversify your online video gaming experience by trying out various game genres such as games at Rezultate Loto among others. 

The post Reasons Why Indie Video Games development is Important appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

However, you’d be surprised at the impact that COVID-19 is having on the online gaming industry from a complete stop of sportsbook betting to postponing video game launches until after the crisis. It seems that no industry is truly safe.

Biggest Hit: Sports Betting

Nearly all sports around the globe have been canceled, rescheduled or postponed until further notice. Whether you are an NFL fanatic, eager for Euro 2020s, or waiting for the Tokyo Olympics, COVID-19 has ruined everything. OddsUSA.com is a great place to bet online and since the outbreak, they have created a thorough post outlining when future sporting events are due to restart. At the time of writing, there were a handful of sports still happening in Australia and with Sweden bucking the trend and continuing as normal, you could probably bet on a number of sports events there. But it’s slim pickings, to say the least.

Unchanged: Online Casinos

Whilst the online casino industry recorded a marginal increase during the lockdown, this is common with the time of year and so not an increase of note. It seems that those gamers interested in online casinos continued their daily/weekly routines unchanged. However, it is suspected that as people are furloughed and incomes become reduced, the amount of time and money spent on online casinos may reduce in the coming months.

Gowing: Online Poker

Reports suggest that online poker is actually enjoying a significant increase since the lockdown. As such, many of the online portals are leaning heavily on Poker to support their online services. This could be where many of the sports bettors have moved to during the Coronavirus outbreak.

Increasing: E-Sports

Whilst e-sport has been growing month-on-month, the recent lockdown has shone a spotlight on the e-sport industry, as it can be played in isolation or at a safe distance. The Berlin League of Legends tournament was originally planned to take up a 56,000 seat stadium in Shanghai, but despite the outbreak, it took place as planned but enjoyed a fully online presence.

Similarly, F1 Drivers are (both current and retired) are trying to create online F1 tournaments whilst premiership players who are also huge game fans are eager to promote online football games by well-known players.

Smashing It: Video Gaming

Verizon reported a massive 75% increase in online gaming in recent months whilst Roblox announced that it had 4 million concurrent players in March 2020, up from 2.5 million at the start of 2020. As expected, during a difficult time in which millions are forced into isolation, the ability to co-experience games from a safe distance becomes particularly important. 

Overall, three months into the COVID-19 and the world has changed forever. After the pandemic, the world will be a changed place. Digital realms are now more accessible and more commonplace than ever before. Gamers are at the forefront of the digital engagement revolution and the entertainment world is looking towards the online gaming industry to support the people of the world.

The post The Impact of COVID-19 on Online Gaming appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Fans of ‘The Terminator’ and ‘T2: Judgment Day’ can expect to see many familiar faces in this first-person video game from – something that has built up murmurs of excitement throughout the gaming community.

What do we know about Terminator Resistance so far?

The official trailer in itself is an immersive experience, inviting you into the shoes of Jacob Rivers. Gamers didn’t expect to see such high-quality graphics and an exciting gaming experience before the trailer was released. Much to the community’s delight, Teyon (the developers) decided to keep the original enemy lore of Skynet from The Terminator franchise, which gamers will expect to battle against throughout their journey.

Said journey takes place in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, 31 years after the Judgement Day we were all gripped by in ‘T2: Judgement Day’. It is a catastrophic picture of destruction, doom and debris- lots and lots of debris. You and the group you are a part of have been targeted by Skynet to be terminated. It is up to you, an ordinary private, to lead the human resistance against the powerful machine enemy. The real deal that Termination Resistance has to offer is not from the storyline, but from the first-person shooting experience. You will be in an unforgiving world, where you must fend for yourself using any means possible, and build up an effective arsenal for the offensive.  The anticipation of good weaponry and epic shootings is something we all look forward to eagerly. Even more interesting are the life-like, three-dimensional characters that you will meet and interact in a unique way. Everyone will have a different script and ending, as each of the characters bring significant contribution and plot into the gameplay with their own motivations and backstories.

The action scenes and special effects are absolutely mind-blowing. Not a single detail has been left out in the crazy-fast sequences. From embers of the fire to sparks of laser guns and every single speck of smoke and dust, the gameplay gives a deeply immersive experience. The T-800 in the game is a picture of pure terror, with the way it has been designed to look and move. Fans reveled in this chilling aspect of the gameplay, making horror part of the focus in the gaming experience and not just action and shooting. Along with a soundtrack that reminisces the old movies, bringing us a gush of nostalgia, and an expansive map that allows some visual stimulation and exploration, the newest addition to The Terminator franchise truly is a full package.

Some setbacks that the public pointed out were an apparent low quality of voice acting and awkward character movement. These minor down-points, however, barely took away from the overall excellent experience. Terminator Resistance retails at decent prices, cheaper than fan-favorites ‘Red Dead Redemption: 2’ and ‘Mortal Kombat: 11’. It will be available at Gamivo, Amazon, Argos, GameStop, CoolShop and many more retailers all over the world.

The post Terminator: Resistance appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Last month, Apple launched its new premium gaming subscription service Apple Arcade, that lets users download and enjoy included games for a $4.99 monthly fee with no additional costs.

This curated collection of ‘proper’ games, developed by well-known studios such as Capcom, as well as popular indie studios like Capy means that users have access to over 100 titles right from launch. And these games are not just over-simplified mobile games. There are fully imagined adventure games, branded kart racing games and re-imaginings of classic arcade titles. These games can also be downloaded to your device and played offline.

Whilst it originally met with some hesitation, I can wholeheartedly say that it is just what the platform needed. One subscription gives up to six family members access to the service (if the same credit card is used). From then on, you and the family can enjoy an ad free experience with having to worry about time limits on the playtime, having to collect endless streams of diamond to progress and ultimately shelling out more money to progress in the game.

I hated the direction that mobile game development was moving in and having to discuss how to monetize your game during the game design process was taking away much of the magic that game development held for me. Game design was about creating an experience for the player and not about paywalls, upgrades and online shops. When you can download fully fledged casino games like SCR888 .apk, there was no need to add loot boxes to my mini-games.

Apple is now working with an array of developers such as Annapurna Interactive, Bossa Studios, Cartoon Network, Finji, Giant Squid, Klei Entertainment, Konami, LEGO, Mistwalker Corporation, and even SEGA. All of which are passionate about delivering amazing gaming experiences across Apple TV, iPads and iPhones.

What are Some of the Best Games

Whilst there are so many to choose from, out of the current crop of titles, my top ten have to be:

• Where Cards Fall | Snowman 
• Sayonara Wild Hearts | Annapurna 
• LEGO Brawls | LEGO
• Grindstone | Capybara
• Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm | Cornfox
• Jenny LeClue – Detectivu | Mografi
• The Enchanted World | Noodlecake 
• Dead End Job | Ant Workshop
• Frogger in Toy Town | Konami
• What The Golf | Triband

Whilst it’s only a month in, my family and I have enjoyed the myriad titles on offer and look forward to mobile gaming becoming more about the games and less about the ad revenue and monetization.

What has been your experience of Apple Arcade, do you approve? What are your favourite games and what games would you like to see on the platform? Let me know if the comments.

The post Apple Arcade One Month In – A Success appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Back in October 2013, Battlefield 4 boasted destructible environments using ‘the power of the cloud’ which at the time didn’t seem all that impressive, as clouds weren’t commonly known for their awesome power. But life was simpler back then, movies and music could be easily downloaded for free and you could Download SCR 918 and enjoy a variety of online games. Later, in 2015, Crackdown 3 announced that it will “deliver Microsoft’s cloud-backed, fully destructive terrain and environmental damage” which peaked my interest, but never really delivered on its promises. PC’s and consoles were the place to place high definition, action packed games and phones was the place you played your simple puzzle games or watered down mobile versions of ‘real games’.

However, over the past couple of months Microsoft has kicked off its Xbox Project xCloud Preview, allowing early access to its game-streaming service. Delivering Xbox One titles via a low-latency cloud infrastructure, Microsoft aims to deliver a console-like experience on mobile or tablet device. Whilst the final product is going to span a huge library of titles, a select few have been made available for free during the test phase.

What Games Are On Project xCloud?

Initially announced last month, Microsoft will trial the service with a preliminary library of only four Microsoft Game Studio titles. Each of these titles were specifically chose in order to test our different genres and gameplay experiences in order to deliver a spectrum of remote experiences.

• Gears 5 – Frantic run and gun action in both single and multiplayer game types
• Halo 5: Guardians – First person action shooter with additional level building functionality
• Killer Instinct – Online brawler with a huge roster of 26 playable characters
• Sea of Thieves – Sprawling online pirate adventure upon the high seas.

All of these titles are by no means small and showcase the platform’s capabilities across both single-player and multiplayer gaming.

Google Stadia Arrives November 19th

With the birth of a new platform come new players to the market and many were shocked to hear that Google’s own gaming service was going to be at the forefront of cloud gaming, as they seemed at a natural disadvantage due to not having any previous gaming offering.

And yet, Google’s game streaming service, Stadia, will arrive next Tuesday, 19th November, and the corporate behemoth has announced the full line-up of titles coming to their platform on launch day. The launch line up will consist of 12 games that will be available to buy and play through Stadia from day one. These games include:

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Destiny 2
• GYLT
• Just Dance 2020
• Kine
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Samurai Shodown
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
• Thumper
• Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

This heady mix of blockbusters, indie games, brawlers, multiplayer shooters and dance games means there’s a little something for everyone.

With both platforms hitting the gaming public this month, I couldn’t be more excited for the future of gaming and I look forward to being able to enjoy my gaming library untethered from my console.

The post Game Streaming Has Arrived – xCloud Vs Stadia appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

The first stage challenges the entire developer community to submit their idea in a Game Design Doc, and pitch it in a short video. Six entries will be chosen by a panel of expert judges. Stage two will see a select few invited to an exclusive VIP Mentorship Summit to work with visionaries, engineers, and spokespeople from Universal, Microsoft, Intel and Unity to help them make the most of their project (along with the Unity Asset Store).

The final few will be tasked with creating a vertical slice of their game using Unity, and submit for the ultimate goal: a consultancy agreement with Universal and the chance to make their game a reality.

Every contestant gets the opportunity of a lifetime to design a game for an iconic world.

Stage One Deliverables:

• One Game Design Document (up to 13 pages)
• One pitch video introducing yourself, your team, your experience, and your idea
• Optional: Supplementary content such as concept art, videos, models, or story.
• All deliverables must remain private

Contest Judges

• Lauren Montgomery: Co-executive Producer at DreamWorks TV and Showrunner for Voltron Legendary Defender
• Dean Takahashi: Lead writer for GamesBeat of VentureBeat Magazine
• Bob Gale: Oscar-nominated screenwriter-producer-director, best known as co-creator, co-writer and co-producer of the Back to the Future films
• Kate Edwards: Kate Edwards is the CEO and principal consultant of Geogrify, a consultancy for content culturalization, the Executive Director of Take This, and is the former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).

For more information about the contest visit the official competition page on the Unity.

The post The Universal GameDev Challenge by Unity appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

• What is a Unity Educational Evangelist?
• How can game developers embrace the Unity community?
• Where are the best Unity tools and resources?
• Is Unity in schools?
• What is The Playground Project?
• Game Development and Unity certification tips?
• Unity VR Development

And so much more. Whilst I would love to give you all the answers right here, you have to watch the video to find out. If you would like more information on some of the topics we discuss, we see the links below.

Useful links:

• Follow Liz Mercuri on Twitter (@FragFox)
• Download Unity 3D
• Meet and collaborate at Unity Connect
• Unity Learn Channel
• The Playground Project
• Best Unity Assets Right Now

The post The Power of Unity | Liz Mercuri Interview appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

If 2017 has taught me anything, it’s simply to do what you enjoy. If you love it, then eventually it will find an audience that loves it too. As I spent more time gaming, my passion for game development reared up and before I knew it I was back in the fold. During 2017, I joined the local ‘game dev meetup’ and enjoyed chewing the fat with like-minded developers which eventually led to being on the organising team for Game Anglia, the regions biggest game developer conference. Whilst event management wasn’t on my CV before, it is now. Game Anglia gave me the opportunity to meet many gaming legends such as John and Brenda Romero, as well as inspiring people from around the industry such as Liz Mercuri and Ben Tristem.

The event was well received and we already have speakers looking for slots in the 2018 event.

Outside of the event, I struggled to keep up with my game development and went back to basics to learn Blender 3D. A self-imposed 30-day challenge helped families myself with the program and once Game Anglia was over I was able to return to both blogging and game development (as well as my full-time job).

Being away from blogging (on Gaming Debugged anyway), helped me realise how much I missed it and prompted me to come back stronger. I re-entered the UK Blog Awards for 2018 and knuckled down to create some award-winning content.

With 2017 coming to a close, I’m looking back over a hugely positive year. Whilst my focus did shift away from blogging in order to organise the event, the subsequent content helps lift my gaming blog far above where it was twelve months ago. Bring on 2018.

The post 2017: A Year In Review appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Choose the Networks That Complement Your Content

There are so many social networks to choose from. The big six of TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest may have the user base, but new and emerging channels such as Periscope or LikeMind might be more suited to your niche. Once joined, don’t expect amazing results overnight, as growing an audience takes time. Some of the more popular channels with gamers are Reddit, Discord, Steam, and Twitch. However, forums such as Neogaf and apps like Leaping Tiger are also worth looking at. Similarly, if you have gone to the effort of writing a blog post, it can be straightforward to make it into a video for YouTube.

Scheduling Posts to Support Your Natural Stream

Social media management and community building can be a full-time job, so it’s wise to automate and schedule some of your social media activity. Software such as Later, Buffer amd Social Sprout allows you to pre-prepare a series of tweets and posts and schedule them to go out when your audience is online. The analytics on Buffer also allows you to see which posts are most popular so can reschedule them for later dates. Similarly, live posts can be sent all various social media channels using IFTTT (if that, then this) which will take your Instagram post and post it as a native Twitter photo and tweet. IFTTT has a multitude of recipes that link all sorts of apps together allowing you to auto-respond to new followers to adding photos to a Google Drive.

For those with deeper pockets, you can try software such as Edgar that actually selects and posts to your social media channels for you. Edgar not only allows you to schedule specific posts, but can actively pick previous posts, and re-post tweets from designated accounts giving you a great mix of self-promotion and industry aggregation.

Timing is Everything

Due to having a large proportion of my audience in the US, I schedule posts that will go out when they are up and checking their phone. Look at your audience and see how your social media can align with their browsing habits.

Don’t Forget to be Natural 

Scheduling is great to re-post your best content, posting at key times (see #IndieDevHour later) and ensuring that you are constantly active, but don’t forget to post naturally as well to be sure that you are responding to comments, likes and questions. If people believe there is a real person behind the avatar, they are more likely to engage with you.

Grow Your Own Community

Email newsletters are a fantastic way to get eyes on your content as soon as it’s published. Email marketing companies such as Campaign Monitor make it simple to add sign up forms to your website that are fully GDPR compliant. Forms can be customised and divide the subscribers into lists that might include their console of choice or game genre.

Join The Club – Join Groups

Facebook (and Google+) groups are a great source of niche audiences from indie gamers to other game bloggers. Not only can you share your posts with an engaged target audience but you can see the direct feedback in the comments allowing you to improve. However, it’s worth growing a thick skin and letting any negativity wash over you. Getting into arguments or using unsuitable language will either get you banned from the group or upset your target audience. Do not feed the trolls.

Use Hashtags 

On Instagram (and to a certain extend Twitter), hashtags are vitally important in getting your content found. Find out what hashtags resonate with your audience and be sure to include #videogames #gaming #indiegames and many of the other ‘common-sense’ terms. #IndieDevHour is on Tuesday between 7pm-8pm GMT and enjoys a huge following so if you blog is related to indie games, this is essential. For more general posts you could always try the daly tags such as #MondayMotivation #TuesdayTips #WednesdayWisdom #ThrowbackThursday, #FridayFun and #ScreenshotSaturday.

Follower Apps

As you share your content, you’ll find your follower figures grow and whilst it is the decent thing to follow them back, you also need to make sure they are not ‘bots’ that unfollow you days later. Use Unfollower apps to see who has recently unfollowed you and if you are not interested in their content, then cut your ties as there is no point following 5000 people and have 50 people follow you. Your feed will become useless and uninteresting. Ultimately, you want your social feeds to show you content that actually interests and inspires you.

Follow and Engage

Social channels are meant to be just that ‘social’, so if you don’t engage with your audience (or potential audience), you will be doomed to be alone. Use FollowerWonk and Twitter Lists to find people to that are relevant and follow them. Like their posts, comment on there updates and when people start to reply, make sure you keep the conversation going. If people think you are approachable, they will approach you, support you and eventually sing your praises.

Social Bookmarking

Use Reddit, StumbleUpon, Bloglovin and blogger Facebook groups to highlight your content, who knows, you might go viral.

So now you are sharing your content on social media and enjoying an increase in visitors, now what?

Make money or get free games from your blog

Or

Take me back to Part 2: Creating Content

The post Video Game Blogging Guide | Part 3: Sharing Your Content appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Do It For You

First and foremost, do it for yourself. Write about topics you are interested in as you will need to produce A LOT of content before you grow your audience, as well as gain the attention of any brands or marketing companies. Writing about things you enjoy and are passionate about is much easier than tackling obscure topics you are unfamiliar with and might find boring.

Try To Specialise (a little)

Later down the line, write for your audience. Whilst this may sound like it contradicts the first point, it means writing for your audience whilst staying within your passion. One of the reasons a lot of bloggers struggle to publish content regularly is because they haven’t taken the time to identify their audience. I’ve made this mistake with several blogs and know the frustrating feeling all too well. My gaming blog mixes children’s games with sexy game characters, which makes it hard to readers to know where I sit when it comes to content. After realising that my Xbox One content was more popular than my Mac gaming, I shifted my focused to appeal to my audience.

Understand Your Audience

Once you have defined who you are writing for, its useful to research what they like, who they identify with, interests and hobbies they enjoy and the kind of content they might enjoy. Artists may want step-by-step instructions, certain gamers might want content on specific games or genres and developers might want simple guide articles for use on the go. Creativity loves constraints, so by identifying your audience and writing just for them, your blog will start to look focused and professional.

Over 400 Words

Whilst you should mix long and short form posts depending on the article, for search engines to properly index your content you should aim for 400 words or more. Less than that and you run the risk of Google bypassing your post on the grounds that it is ‘light content’. Similarly, I would recommend that you ‘go deep and not wide’. Having detailed content about a specific topic is sometimes more useful than having a light overview of lots of topics.

Images

When adding images to your blog posts be sure to add names, descriptions and alt tags as these count towards your keyword density and help you appear in Google images. Most video game studios have a press page that has an array of game images and videos that they prefer you to use. If you do not have a suitable image (such as one on game blogging) you can check for royalty free images on Flickr (but most require a credit link) or use allthefreestock.com, pexels.com or Unsplash.com as they list lots of places where you can get free photography. If you have some art software skills, I would also recommend adding one image with text on for social media. When you or others share you post it has an image with more text on your draw people in. For those with no art skills try Canva.com

Proof Your Work

This is one that I am terrible at. I tend to write and then post immediately and my articles are full of problems. Thankfully, when producing videos I am forced to read out my articles. This highlights many of the errors, so I can correct them in the written post. Try and re-read what you have written (aloud helps), or ask a friend to look at it before you post. This way your work will be easier to read and people will come back for more. If the idea of going back to previous posts to check for errors sounds daunting, use Google Analytics to see a list of your most popular posts and start there. See Part 4: Review and Renew.

Frequency

If you want to build an audience then the frequency is key. No one will check back if you post erratically. By staying consistent then your audience know when to expect the next instalment even if it’s a monthly post. It also helps you plan a content calendar and brainstorm ideas for the future. Similarly, if you are suddenly hit with inspiration and knock out four articles in an afternoon, try and hold some back in order to cover times when you can’t post on a schedule. Whether it’s daily, weekly or monthly, consistency is good for you, good for your readers and good for Google.

Takeaways:

Content

• Do it for you, first and foremost
• Try to specialise (a little)
• Understand your audience
• Alt tag your images
• create images with titles (for social media)
• Over 400 words (but mix long and short posts)
• Proof your work

Frequency

• Scheduling
• Hold some back
• Be consistent

So now you have started producing lots of lovely content on your website it’s time to share it.

Tune in for Part 3: Sharing Your Content

or

Take me back to Part 1: The Set up

The post Video Game Blogging Guide | Part 2: Creating Content appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Quick Plug: If you need to set up a WordPress blog then please get in touch with me as I can help you set up and give you some free hosting to get you started.

WordPress has a tonne of features, additional themes or skins, and more plugins than you can shake a stick at. Features include being able to create pages and posts, scheduling, categorising, tagging, image galleries and so much more. It’s easy to use and can be upgraded easily.

Themes are templates that can be added to WordPress easily in order to change the look and feel of it. If you are a fashion blogger you might like a more photo-focused theme whereas others may prefer more text, video support etc.

Plugins refer to add-ons that can give your blog more functionality; these can include comment systems, payment gateways, SEO tools, and social media sharing.

Themes and Skins

Changing the look of your website is easy when using themes. There are a lot of free themes out there, but I would recommend buying one. Free themes are an easy way to add malicious code to your website. Hackers can create free themes with backdoors in so they can steal user details from your website and insert backlinks to sites of their choosing. If you visit woothemes.com or my favourite ThemeForest.net then you can pick up a fantastic theme for $75 which usually has premium plugins included. Here is a list of video game related themes to start you search.

Essential Plugins

I have added a list of plugins below that are the basics that nearly all blogs should have (at the time of writing, these were good):

Plugins

• SEO by Yoast (Yoast)
• Media Library Alt Fields (Jarret Cade)
• Shareaholic Share Buttons (Shareaholic)
• WP To Buffer (WP Cube)
• Disqus Comment System
• Rel NoFollow Checkbox (Fabio Santos)
• Schema Data

SEO by Yoast

This is a powerful SEO plugin that allows you to customise the page title, description and social sharing information on each and every post. If you want your content to be found in search engines then this is a good starter tool. It also has a traffic light system so if you want your article to be found for ‘New Halo Maps’ then you simply add it to the plugin and it tells you whether it is in your title, description and copy. If it is not present then it’s a red light, whereas if your post is littered with that term then you get the green light.

Media Library Alt Fields

As a matter of course you should be adding alt tags to all images when you upload them but life doesn’t always work out that way. This plugin adds a handy field next to images in the media library where you can quickly add and save alt tags for all your images. This again, is great for search engines.

Shareaholic Share Buttons

Social Media is one of the best ways to get your content out into the wild and this plugin gives you a plethora of social media options so people can Tweet, Pin, Reddit, Yammer or Heart it (there are almost 100 options to choose from). The share bar can be styled to your liking and you can show up around 10 main networks and a pop up for the other 90.

WP To Buffer (WP Cube)

Buffer is a social media scheduling tool that allows you to add lots of posts into a ‘buffer’ and at pre-set times of the day they are posted meaning you don’t have to spend the day looking and social networks. WP To Buffer allows you to compose you social post at the same time as writing the article and once published it send the social post to your buffer for posting which is useful if you are writing at midnight like me.

Disqus Comment System

Disqus is a third-party comment system. The WordPress one is ok but it can be abused easily. Disqus allows people to sign in with their social media profiles in order to post a comment. It’s more secure, easier to manage and makes it easier for users to comment on your posts.

Rel NoFollow Checkbox

Once you have a small following you might get approached to do sponsored content. This is when a brand wants to feature on your website. Google guidelines state that links from such content such be ‘nofollowed’, which stops Google link equity being passed from your site to theirs. This plugin adds a checkbox to the ‘add link’ function to it adds the necessary code to the links you add.

Schema Data

Basically, Schema data is code to help Google better define content on your website. It can be wrapped around brand names, contain addresses and let Google know that your latest post is a review article, written by you and given 5 stars. This plugin helps you add this data to each post you write.

EWWW Optimizer

The EWWW Image Optimizer plugin will increase your page speeds by optimising your images as you upload them. EWWW can also optimise all the images that you have already uploaded, and optionally convert your images to the best file format. You can choose pixel perfect compression or high compression options that are visually lossless. Very handy.

AMP For WP

AMP for WP automatically adds Accelerated Mobile Pages (Google AMP Project) functionality to your WordPress site. AMP makes your website faster for Mobile visitors. It strips away some design elements (including ads) but means you content is easier to access on mobile devices.

Special mention to Wordfence if you are having trouble with spam traffic.

Once you have your theme and plugins installed, you can start adding pages, menus and images. With these in place, you can start blogging…

So let’s recap these five steps

• Get some hosting with a domain name
• Install WordPress
• Apply a theme
• Install your plugins
• Setup pages, menus and any background images

Now you are ready for Part 2: Creating Content

See you there!

The post Video Game Blogging Guide | Part 1: The Set Up appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Part of this rise in gaming’s popularity is due to innovations brought about by technology that has meant that many more people are taking up the pastime. As such, trends in the industry are now watched by all and sundry, as many of these have massive implications not only for gaming and entertainment but a variety of other sectors as well.

With that in mind, see below for some of the biggest gaming trends to look out for in 2017:

Virtual and Augmented Reality

As unbelievable as it may seem, virtual reality is already well on its way to being an established part of gaming thanks to a number of VR headsets already available on the market.

However, the trend is still a relatively young one and the reason why it will remain a major topic in gaming is due to the shift in focus from the hardware to the production of more virtual reality gaming content and experiences. In the same way, augmented reality is set for a big year in 2017 following the success of the Pokémon Go mobile game. Look out for more AR-based games to come out this year.

Mobile Gaming and Gambling

Another gaming trend that is already firmly established but which we will continue to see and hear more about in 2017 is mobile gaming and gambling. Online-based casual and casino games sites and apps have increasingly become popular thanks to mobile devices and improved internet connectivity. Sites such as Play Cosmo are also optimised for mobile to maximise user experiences, and with more and more of these sites appearing, we should continue to see mobile gambling and casual games dominate the gaming conversation in this and the following years.

Console Becoming More like Gaming PC’s

While gaming on the go, escaping into a virtual reality game, or augmenting the real world with digital content may already seem like massive shifts in gaming culture, this may just be the biggest of them all. Consoles have been a constant fixture in our living rooms for many years but as the hardware has become more powerful, modern machines are beginning to resemble gaming PC’s more and more. Sony’s PlayStation 4 and PS4 Pro consoles are good examples of this but Microsoft’s upcoming Project Scorpio is the biggest indication of this phenomenon yet.

Perhaps with the versatility of PC gaming as well as advances in graphics and processing power, such a shift was inevitable, but future gamers will certainly start to enjoy the benefits that computer gamers have long taken for granted.

There may yet be a groundbreaking trend that explodes onto the gaming scene before this year is out but the three video games trends mentioned above are sure to be among those dominating the conversation in the industry in 2017. In fact, virtual and augmented reality, mobile gambling and casual games, as well as more powerful PC-like consoles are set to be the biggest trends for many years to come.

The post The Biggest Gaming Trends To lookout for in the Rest Of 2017 appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Donovan came up with the idea for Gunman Taco Truck at the age of 9 and after two years of development and some help from the Romero Games Ltd. team, Donovan has released his game on Steam and Google Play. The game was built using the Corona SDK engine and can be played on Google Play for free with in-app purchases or bought in its entirety for $11.99 / £8.99 on Steam.

In Gunman Taco Truck, the aim is to drive across a post-apocalypse United States to reach the safe haven of Winnipeg, Canada. As there no taco trucks in Winnipeg, your family’s taco business is sure to thrive.

Gunman Taco Truck enjoys a multitude of weaponry including an M-16, AK-47, RPG, Tommygun, Bazooka, Thompson, Shotgun, Uzi, Grenade Launcher, and Super Shotgun! This armoury offers an increasing level of firepower to clear the mutant-filled road ahead.

The art style looks fantastic and the array of characters and enemies gives the game more depth than the standard fare. Taco making and slot machines help break up the shooting and overall the game looks like a lot of fun.

Gaming Debugged offers Donovan the best of luck with his first game and eagerly look forward to seeing future titles.

The post Son of Doom Creator Releases Gunman Taco Truck appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

1997 was a crazy year full of highs and lows. Princess Diana and Mother Teresa died, Woolworths closed it’s doors, the stock market crashed and Mike Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield’s ear. Couple that with fact that we had to sit through Titanic and the horrendous Batman and Robin, I’m surprised we made it through the year. However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom; the Kyoto protocol was agreed by 150 countries, Steve Jobs returned to Apple, we first met young Harry Potter and Pathfinder landed on the surface of Mars.

For online gaming, 1997 was the birth of online casinos. PCs were becoming more popular, the internet was becoming common place and the dot com boom was growing exponentially. 1997 saw the launch of the 888.com and gambling.com websites to name a few.

When it comes to video games, 1997 was the pinnacle of a golden age of gaming. During this tremendous year, we saw some of the greatest games ever made making their digital debut. I wanted to cover 12 memorable games that came out in 1997, that have not only spawned sequels, but also enjoyed more recent updates on the Xbox One and Playstation 4.

Metal Slug

Growing up near an arcade gave me great insight into the latest games to hit the circuit. In 1997 I was not only playing Top Skater and Tekken, but also loving Metal Slug. In 1997 it came to PlayStation and re-energized the side-scrolling shooter genre with frantic gameplay, multiple routes and comedy gold. The cartoon visuals and oversized boss battles ensured that both arcade gamers and home gamers kept coming back for more.

MDK

MDK was an incredible third-person shooter by Shiny Entertainment. The art style was dark and metallic and bared many similarities to H.R Giger’s Alien. The game tells the story of Kurt Hectic, a janitor who reluctantly must attempt to save Earth from an alien invasion of gigantic strip mining vehicles named “Minecrawlers”. The game was praised for its technical prowess running at 30fps and introducing the first highly competent sniper sight that is now commonplace in all modern day shooters.

GoldenEye

I lost so much of my life to this game. GoldenEye was a first-person shooter developed by Rare and based on the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. It was only released on the Nintendo 64 and won a multitude of awards. Looking back, GoldenEye is considered a pivotal game in the history of video game shooters. In many ways, it was the game that made consoles the place for first person shooters and signalled the transition from the then-standard Doom-like approach to a more realistic style. GoldenEye pioneered features such as atmospheric single-player missions, stealth elements, and a console multiplayer deathmatch mode. Even now, the game is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time.

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII was a masterpiece. The story follows Cloud Strife, a mercenary who joins an eco-terrorist rebel organization to stop the world-controlling megacorporation Shinra from draining the planet’s life essence as an energy source. It was initially intended for the Super NES, but was delayed to take advantage of the CD Rom technology. Final Fantasy VII won various game of the year awards and was credited with significantly boosting the sales of Playstations in 1997. Final Fantasy VII has continuously been identified by critics and fans as a landmark title, and one of the greatest RPG’s of all time.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night may have been the sequel to Rondo of Blood, but Symphony was a very different experience to the previous games in the series. Symphony of the Night featured more emphasis on exploration, non-linear level design, and role-playing elements. The story follows Alucard four years after Richter Belmont has vanquished Dracula. In short, Alucard is stripped of his weapons and discovers a plot to resurrect Dracula and ultimately has to stop it.

The game has since been re-released on several gaming consoles and is now considered a sleeper hit, a cult classic, and one of the best video games ever made.

The Curse of Monkey Island

The Curse of Monkey Island was the third game in the Monkey Island series and the first to be done without Ron Gilbert, the original creator of the series. This point and click adventure by LucasArts introduced voice acting to the series whilst changing to a more cartoon art style. The plot follows the ongoing adventures of Guybrush Threepwood who proposes to Elaine Marley with a cursed ring, turning her into a gold statue that is subsequently stolen by marauders.

The Curse of Monkey Island received a slew of positive reviews, despite having a rather abrupt ending. This eventually spurred the original games to be remade in a similar style for the special editions.

Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey

When it comes to visual style and fantastical worlds to get lost in, you can’t get better than Oddworld.

You play Abe, a Mudokon slave at the ‘RuptureFarms’ meat processing factory. After discovering that he and his fellow Mudokons are to be slaughtered, Abe decides to escape and liberate as many enslaved Mudokons as he can.

This stunning 2D platformer was all rendered in a 3D engine and enjoyed some of the best CGI cutscenes of its time. The story was engaging, the characters loveable and world beautifully realised. The inhabitants of Oddworld went on to appear in four other games until an all-new Abe’s Odyssey, retitled ‘New & Tasty’ was created in 2014 and released on Xbox in 2016.

Grand Theft Auto: GTA

GTA wasn’t always the gaming behemoth it is today. It started life as a top-down run and gun crime game, that was originally intended to be called Race’n’Chase. There was three cities to explore and despite most missions having a fixed destination, the player was free to choose their own route.  This level of freedom set Grand Theft Auto apart from other action based computer games at the time.

Gran Turismo

Gran Turismo is the granddaddy of driving games holding seven Guinness World Records and selling over 10 million copies worldwide.

Gran Turismo appealed to a wide-ranging audience from casual gamers to fans of realistic racing sims. The launch game enjoyed 11 tracks and 140 cars to choose from. It redefined the genre and merged real-world driving with arcade action. It spawned a multitude of sequels and achieved over 76 million units sold by 2015. The game is currently the highest-selling PlayStation franchise of all time.

Dungeon Keeper

Designed by the legend that is Peter Molyneux, Dungeon Keeper sees the player build and manage a dungeon, protecting it from invading heroes intent on stealing your accumulated treasures, killing your army of monsters, and ultimately trying to kill you.

Molyneux wanted to create “the coolest game ever” and poured his heart into the development of this title, despite coming to blows with the management team throughout the development process. Once released Dungeon Keeper received critical acclaim and won a Codie award for the ‘best strategy game’ and has since appeared at #4 on PC Gamer’s list of top 100 games.

Carmageddon

In the world of video games where shooting is commonplace, blood and guts are standard and morals are generally flexible, it takes a special kind of game to make the front page due to violence and general debauchery. Carmageddon was one such game. This vehicular combat game saw tripped-out death wagons drive around arenas and race tracks killing hordes of innocent pedestrians.

Some countries replace pedestrians with zombies or robots, others refused to classify it and some, such as Brazil, banned the game completely.

All of this media attention raised up what was actually a pretty ‘mediocre’ game to the heights of stardom and placed it on every kids wish list.

Surprisingly, the game became a series and in 2016, a successful Kickstarter campaign helped bring the long dead classic back to life on the Xbox One.

Fallout

In 1997, gamers were introduced to Fallout, a post-apocalyptic role-playing game set in an alternative future that mixed 60’s sensibilities into a 22nd-century world. Fallout won the “RPG of the Year” award and the “RPG of the Year” by Computer Gaming World. Over the course of the last two decades, it have danced around the top 10 greatest games of all time.

The beauty of Fallout was in the gameplay, which centred around visiting locations and interacting with the local inhabitants. These troubled inhabitants usually had a dilemma that the player could choose to solve, in order to acquire karma and experience points. Players could complete the missions in a variety of ways and work their way through the world killing mutants, gangs or innocent NPCs. The combat is turn-based and used a system called SPECIAL (an acronym for “Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck”), designed specifically for Fallout and has since been used in the other games in the series.

For those still to play the original Fallout, it has one of the best (and most satisfying) video game endings I have ever seen.

This list demonstrates just how important 1997 was for the gaming industry. Many of the video game franchises that inject millions into the gaming industry started life twenty years ago. These games shaped a generation and inspired many people to learn how to code and continue on their legacy. When the first online gaming sites were launched back in 1997, I don’t think either of them expected to be merging together 20 two decades later.

 Thank you 1997!

The post Gaming Review: A Look Back at 1997 appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

However, gaming is an industry that relies on reinventing itself regularly. Gamers get bored quickly with the same mechanics and same genres. Amazing graphics are considered a standard now instead of a feature. This leads to a culture of experimentation and renewal to a certain degree, and while some aspects of gaming are cemented, some of the biggest releases of the year speak otherwise.

Let’s look at some of this year’s biggest successes (and failures) and see what we can determine:

Walking Simulators Moving Forward

Few people would have predicted the success of the walking simulator. On paper, most people would consider them boring, but the quality and success of games such as Firewatch and the console version of Gone Home speak otherwise. Gamers responded well to the rich worlds and the idea of being in a unique version of an interactive storybook.

Will the rise of the walking simulator signal to developers that gamers are demanding more crafted worlds and enriching stories from their games? Will the pacing of games change as a result? The industry will certainly keep making walking simulators, but a main point of interest will be in seeing how aspects of these games bleed into other genres.

The Rise of the Hero Shooter

As far as direct market competition stories went, there was no larger industry competition than that between Battleborn and Overwatch, with Blizzard’s Titan clearly proving itself to be the victor in the eyes of the general gamer, for good or for ill. While we can’t say for certain how many people still play Overwatch regularly to this date, over 20 million people registered to play as of October, and the community is holding strong.

While the Hero Shooter isn’t necessarily a new concept (Team Fortress 2 was popular years before Overwatch was even heard of), Overwatch brought it up to date and put its massive marketing team behind it. Players likely enjoy the pick-up-and-play nature of the title as well as the shift from the more traditional shooters, such as Call of Duty or Battlefield. We are likely to see imitators in the future, although how they’ll expand upon the genre remains to be seen.

A Huge Multiplayer Focus

While multiplayer gaming has always been a huge part of the gaming industry, this year has seen an uptrend in the popularity of online multiplayer gaming and the number of AAA multiplayer-focused titles, such as Overwatch, Battlefield One and Titanfall 2. Multiplayer shooters have always been a staple of gaming, but with games such as Minecraft laying down the path years ago and games such as Ark: Survival Evolved or Rust providing survival multiplayer elements, there is now a multiplayer shooter for everyone’s speed.

With a larger player base, the expanding gaming market and easier internet access worldwide, the success of these games could simply be the continued result of increasing demand for multiplayer gaming. That being said, without a strong release and constant updates, multiplayer games in the future are at the constant risk of irrelevancy. Gamers will be all too happy to move to a new release should they get bored with their current choice.

The Rise of Pokémon Go and the Future of AR 

Pokemon Go, around its release, was effectively synonymous with AR gaming. There were literally stampedes in the streets over catching a rare Pokemon. It was downloaded at least 100 million times on the Google Play store alone. It raked in millions of dollars in purchasables despite being a “free” game.

We are starting to see the expected drop in Pokemon Go users now that the fad has passed. But the release of the game proved itself as a large-scale proof of concept for AR games, and while the consumer viability of VR is still in question, nearly everyone has a smartphone capable of some level of AR gaming. It’s doubtful that it will remain a gimmick in the coming years. We just need to see exactly how it will be integrated into the newest hardware and games.

The Success of Mid-Tier Gaming

The market is also lending itself to mid-tier gaming, allowing studios with a strong development team but not an AAA budget to create amazing, focused games. Think of the previously mentioned Rocket League or ReCore. Other games such as Necropolis and Thumper are also successes, with the latter receiving more accolades than I can count.

The successes of these titles pave the way for other studios to take similar risks and for the companies who are succeeding to expand on their success, creating some much-needed variety in major offerings. As game development becomes relatively easier and the tools available become more universally available, we could very well see a huge variety of small and mid-tier yet still excellent games (think about the absolute success of Stardew Valley) on the way.

The Elimination of Platform Boundaries

Choosing a platform to play your games on used to be a much more difficult choice for consumers; a few decades ago console exclusives were the norm and PC gaming was in its own realm entirely. However now many games are not only a multi-platform release, but cross-platform play is a reality with Rocket League, making us wonder whether other developers and servers will follow suit. How will hardware manufacturers react?

While some PC ports are still disastrous and unplayable (the No Man’s Sky original PC launch comes to mind), we still are seeing simultaneous PC releases of some of the biggest titles. PC ports of older games, such as Final Fantasy X, are becoming a regular occurrence. Indie PC titles, such as The Binding of Isaac or Crypt of the Necrodancer, are getting ports to portable systems. Clearly, the incentives to remaining on a single console are out measured by the expanded audience of being a multi-platform title. This is only a good thing for the general consumer.

Conclusion

The gaming industry is in many ways a fickle and evolving one, but nevertheless, some trends shine through. This year’s developments will surely carry on as the market reacts and development continues for next year’s titles. Will we see more multiplayer components like those placed in games like DOOM? Will game designers continue to find ways to keep walking simulators fresh? What mid-tier and indie successes can we look forward to? We look forward to seeing the answers to these questions.

Do you have any thoughts on the future of the gaming industry based on these insights? Do you have any different opinions on where gaming is headed over the next few years? There is a lot to consider, so please leave a comment and tell us your thoughts.

About the Author: Cassie is an entertainment and technology blogger who enjoys playing video games and contemplating their future in our cultural landscape. Check out more of Cassie’s articles at Culture Coverage and Secure Thoughts.

The post What the Biggest Games of 2016 Tell Us About the Industry appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

History

I don’t want to dwell on history too long but lets look at the lifecycle of previous consoles quickly.

• Dreamcast: 3 Years

• Gamecube and original Xbox: 5 years

• NES, SNES, N64 and Playstation: 6 Years

• Wii, PS2: 7 Years

• PS3: 8  Years

• Xbox 360: 9 Years

The last generation of gaming was substantially longer than previous generations. Technology moves on very quickly and expecting your standard console to last another 10 years is unrealistic. Mac and PC’s are renewed and updated on a much more regular basis.

Right Now

Right out of the gate the Xbox One has been constantly compared to the PS4. From a technical perspective, the PS4 is a bit better. Since then, every game that is released has been surrounded by technical propaganda. It’s 900p, its 1080p, it’s only 30fps and so on. YouTube is littered with comparison videos and the only thing Xbox can do is ask developers to further optimise their games to balance it on the two consoles.

As optimisation can take a lot of time, developers are more included to lock certain aspects of the game in order for it to run properly on Xbox. If Xbox want to fix the constant bombardment of technical spin then they need to take action. What better way to sort this out but to up all of the technical specs of the system whilst retaining the fact that Xbox 360 and Xbox One games will still run on the updated consoles, but new games on the horizon will be free of all the negative press.

The Hardware

Both PS4 and Xbox One were not built to a very high specification. Xbox One more so than PS4. Many have commented that both consoles have the same spec as mid-range PC. In its most basic terms, the current Xbox currently runs the following. I have also compared it with what is readily available today.

CPU

Both the Xbox One and PS4 run Octo-core processors with a core clock speed of around 1.75Ghz. Currently you can buy an AMD FX 9590 with a speed of 5Ghz for $200 and get nearly three times the speed.

RAM

The Xbox One comes with 8GB of DDR3 memory, and 32MB of high-bandwidth ESRAM, which is widely used for caching purposes. The operating system of Microsoft’s console also eats about 3GB memory and brings down the usable amount of RAM to 5GB.

In the world of PC’s 8GB is the minimum requirement and many gamers prefer 16GB if they plan on running multiple applications. As the Xbox One celebrates the fact you can run different apps simultaneously then 16GB should be considered. 32BG is available but may be overkill at this time.

Memory

500GB may have sounded a lot a few years ago, but with more games weighing in at 50GB+ this space suddenly looks a little more cramped. I added a 5TB external drive to my Xbox One and whilst I am happy I would like to see the updated console have 5TB as standard. With digital gaming coming to the fore, I want to have my 360 games, my Xbox One games, movies, music apps and game clips readily available. The Elite increased the size of the hard drive and had a solid state drive to make the console faster when loading and swapping between apps.

Variations are not new!

The Xbox 360 enjoyed five updates in its lifecycle which included:

• The Xbox 360 Core – Entry level console, no hard drive

• The Xbox 360 Arcade – With HDMI output, no hard drive

• The Xbox 360 Pro – 20Gb – 60GB Hard Drive, Backward compatibility, HDMI and 65-nm CPUs

• The Xbox 360 Elite – 120Gb – 250GB Hard Drive, smaller power brick

• The Xbox 360 S or Slim – Redesign using the Valhalla motherboard to make it smaller. additional USBs, integrated hard drive, Wi Fi

Virtual Reality is Coming

With Oculus Rift streaming to Xbox One and Sony VR on the Playstation, virtual reality will change how we play games and if this new trend is here to stay, then the demands on the consoles will increase. It makes sense to upgrade the technology to support it. Whether we are strapped into a cockpit in Elite: Dangerous or sat at a poker table at the royalvegascasino.com the consoles need more power. At present the Sony VR has a mini PS4 that is required to run the VR headset. It makes sense that future consoles might integrate this technology.

Lets Recap

To conclude, the Xbox One is struggling and will continue to be struggle unless it addresses some of the core issues which is affecting it. They have plenty of games, backward compatibility and virtual reality on the Horizon. However, with every game that is released it will compared to a higher spec machine. Playstation were quick to release the news of NEO, but have been suitably vague about it’s specification. My hope is that Microsoft will have learned from their mistake and ensure the new Xbox One is more powerful than Skynet and all gamers can enjoy the fruits of this power.

The post I Want an Updated Xbox One, Here’s Why! appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Warcraft

Due for release in June 2016, this epic fantasy/adventure based on the popular MMORPG looks like it has a decent budget and the trailer looks promising. Starring Paula Patton from ‘Ghost Protocol’ and ‘De Javu’ and Toby Kebbell from ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Prince on Persia’ (another OK video game movie), this could prove to big great way to draw new crowds to the game.

Angry Birds

It was only a matter of time before the birds hit the big screen. After 15 video games, two TV series, books, toys and games our emotionally challenged feathered friends are voiced by Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, and Danny McBride among others. With a budget of over $80 million dollars this looks great and the trailers look promising.

Ratchet and Clank

Ratchet is the last of his kind, a foolhardy lombax who grew up without a family. Clank is a pint-sized robot with more brains than brawn. After stumbling upon a weapon that can destroy entire planets, they join forces with a team of do-gooders known as the Galactic Rangers. Together, they must stop the evil alien Chairman Drek from utilizing this dangerous technology. Due for release at the end of April 2016, many of the voice actors from this much loved action platformer reprise their role alongside John Goodman and Sylvester Stallone.

Assassins Creed

When Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) explores the memories of his ancestor Aguilar and gains the skills of a Master Assassin, he discovers he is a descendant of the secret Assassins society. Armed with a set of deadly skills he must take on a modern day Templar society. Due out in December 2016, this movie already has a potential sequel in the works.

The Witcher

Back in 2001 there was a terrible movie about Geralt of Rivia commonly known as The Witcher. The movie was called ‘The Hexer’ and it bombed. After the huge success of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt where this epic game won over 200 awards talks have resumed about bring Geralt back to the big screen for a new movie to springboard the series out of games an books and open it up to a whole new market.

Hardcore Henry

Finally, there is Hardcore Henry, which is not so much a movie based on a video game but a movie filmed like a video game. Hardcore Henry is the first action movie ever to be shot entirely in a first person perspective. You are Henry, who’s resurrected from death with no memory of his past. Henry must discover his identity and save his wife from a warlord with a plan to bio-engineer soldiers. It looks like like that short bit in the Doom movie when the hero goes crazy and starts blasting hell beasts across the station as a short homage to the video game the movie was sourced from. That was fine for a few minutes but to see a whole movie through that perspective will certainly be interesting.

So there you have it, just some of the video game movies coming out soon. If this article has been useful, please share, comment and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

The post Video Game Movies Coming Out Soon appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

In the early days of YouTube, after a particularly nasty spat with Viacom, the YouTube copyright bot used to scout the videos for copyrighted material and flag it. The ‘Fair Use’ policy used to cover the majority of videos as it stated that

“Fair use is a legal doctrine that says you can reuse copyright-protected material under certain circumstances without getting permission from the copyright owner.”

Source: https://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/fair-use.html

This basically means that you can use clips when talking about a certain subject. For many years, the combination of this policy and channel networks helped protect YouTubers from big corporates. However, these days YouTubers are big business and Ad revenue on videos and channels is increasing every year. Now the companies want a slice of that and YouTube has a really easy way for them to get it. Corporations can either flag content that it thinks breaks copyright or have the copyright bot do it for them. The minute the flag is in place, any monetisation of that video goes straight to the company and away from the creator. If you do nothing then all earning go to them. If you do counter claim then all monetisation is on hold until it is all resolved.

If you want more information, then please check out the Nostalgia Critic’s video which is much more in depth and covers it fantastically.

What I really wanted to add to this discussion is the brand damage this shift in YouTube copyright claims can cause. I am actually thinking of the corporations in this conflict and want to share a story.

I have been hit with a few copyright claims, but due to my channel being relatively small I am generally under the radar. My most recent copyright claim was from LEGO, after one of my videos used 30 seconds of the LEGO Dimensions trailer to recommend it Xbox One users. At this point a HUGE thumbs up goes to LEGO for removing the claim after only two days as it was the YouTube bot that flagged it and not some mean corporate suit scouring YouTube videos hoping to claim my 10p a month for the video. LEGO were very cool about the whole situation and I will continue to sing their praises.

BUT the whole situation got me thinking, I have children and LEGO is a part of my life. I have the toys, games, books, movies and am even planning a trip to Legoland. LEGO was very nearly ruined for me and my family. If the copyright claim had been real then the whole brand would have been soured for me. The toys will have been replaced by a competitor, the games would not have featured in any other video and the trip would have switched to another theme park.

The brand damage that this could have caused for the sake of 10p a month was staggering to me. My lifetime value to than company momentarily fell through the floor. This goes to show how much power creators actually have and counter claiming should be standard just in case it is the bot and not the company.

Similar, content creators need to have a standard ‘brand damage’ letter prepared to send out to claimants. If you feel the claim is unjust then put out another video with the hashtag #BrandDamage in order to collect together and call out all the brands that are taking advantage of this broken system.

However, you have to counter claim first, as if you throw your toys out of the pram right after the initial claim then you do not give the company chance to respond, as it might just have been the bot.

So join me and other content creators fight this unjust system and call out those brands looking to cash in on a system that favours the corporations.

I have added links to some videos that talk about the fair use policy and copyright claims below. Use the hashtag #WTFU for fair use discussion and #BrandDamage to call out the companies abusing the system.

Useful Links:

Nostalgia Critic – Where’s The Fair Use?

Boogie2988 – Response

TotalBuscuit – Where’s The Fair Use

The post YouTube Copyright Claims and Brand Damage #WTFU #BrandDamage appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

I’m not going to let my new found fame go to my head though. I will stay focused and this time next year I hope to be in the mid (to late) twenties. There is a lot of tough competition out there and if I can produce how to guides, sell gaming merchandise, host free flash games and grow my team of one to over 100, I think I could give those other sites a run for their money.

So please share the news that GamingDebugged.com has cracked the top 30 and has its eyes on the prize.

Seriously though… I’m on an infographic! Consider me chuffed!

Source:rebateszone.com

The post The Top 50 Gaming Blogs In The World Ever! Who’s No. 30 appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

For the first month of partnership, we focused on analyzing everything about the game. We looked at the current analytical data and decided on the best form of action. We also played and tested the game as much as we could to find any existing flaws and crush any known bugs. I played the game obsessively and after many hours of Fluff crushing, I can confidently say that I’m the most accomplished Fluff Eaters player in the world at this moment and I dare you to challenge me. (Can you tell I’m a little competitive?)  After much testing and criticism, we crushed the obvious flaws and improved on the game mechanics to make it more enjoyable for users. You can’t fix everything in the game that you would like to. Either you don’t have enough time or you would have to change too much about the game for it to make sense. So, you need to prioritize. We used Trello, a web task management system, to organize and track the progress of improvements for both iOS and Android. When you start working on a game with this much depth, it’s important to find a tool that will help you stay organized.

It was neither building a new world nor fixing flaws that seemed too difficult, but the problems were getting the updates approved by Apple. It was very frustrating. We spent so much time testing, fixing and building a new level that once we finally got everything done and submitted, we got denied from Apple! This was particularly frustrating because Apple was saying that the game was crashing at the menu screen. Neither of our game testers nor us could replicate this issue. After much hair pulling, we resubmitted game again for review and it finally went through. This goes to show you that no matter how hard you work and how well you think your game is running, even if it is ready, there will always be things outside of your control that will slow your progress. This was a really hard blow for us because the update included the seasonal Christmas world, which were approved after a month long delay.

So, we’ve been working months on getting the game up to speed, built a new level and got the update approved and updated by iOS and Android. What now? PAX SOUTH! As a publisher, it is our responsibility to get the game in front of the right audience to gain exposure and start selling it. That’s where we are right now. We’ve spent around $4,500 on marketing for the event; which really isn’t too bad for what we’re getting. A 10’ x 10’ booth at the event with our banner, a full page ad in the brochure, buttons and postcards to hand out to attendees. And now the team is headed to San Antonio Texas on January 28^th. This will be a big opportunity for us to learn as a publisher and hopefully grow as a team. Our goal is to expose Fluff Eaters and discover its target audience. Of course it would be awesome if we could make a million bucks, but our minimum goal is to cover our marketing, travel costs and learn as much as absolutely possible. How will we fair at the end of PAX South? Only time will tell.

Are you an indie Developer or startup Publisher in a new business relationship? What challenges have you had? Or, are you a more established Developer or Publisher with some veteran experience? What advice can you give us???

The post Our Fight and Struggle on our Journey to PAX South 2016 appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Amazon buys Twitch

What started as a rumour of Google buying Twitch came to a crescendo in August when it was Amazon who confirmed they bought the game streaming service.

Twitch has around 55 million unique monthly viewers and Amazon is eager to tap into this market. The all-cash deal is Amazon’s biggest deal to date and further emphasises their commitment to breaking into the gaming industry.

This deal is a fantastic opportunity for Amazon to gain a foothold in the digital games marketplace. Amazon and Twitch have been interacting for some time as Twitch has worked with Amazon affiliates for their partners in order to try to help them get better deals and get Amazon Play stuff on their channel pages.

Going forward Amazon can seamlessly link games played on Twitch to either the physical retail copy or even a digital download. As both the PS4 and Xbox One have Twitch integration, the groundwork is already their ready for retail applications. If a player watches certain game then Amazon could send them offers on that game, or even even crazier still, could part download the game and once the viewer has watch another stream on Call of Duty 2015 they see a message saying ‘Play this Game Right Now’.

Over the next few years we will see a shift in gaming as more and more people move to digital gaming. At present the Xbox One storefront is the only way to make a purchase. If Amazon wants part of this market then they need both an app and a sales channel. Twitch gives them that channel.

Microsoft buys Minecraft

Nine months ago, Markus Persson tweeted that his price was 2 billion dollars. At the time this was met with skepticism, but here we are, 50 million copies later and Microsoft have announced that they paid $2.5 billion for Mojang, the creator of Minecraft.

Not many companies to take on the Minecraft beast as it has grown beyond the game, expanding to toys, Lego and an array of guide books. Similarly, YouTube is packed full of Minecraft players showing their wares and helping aspiring creators take the game further.

This sale was always going to be a PR disaster. Fans of the brand have already started to complain that selling to a big corporation will ruin the independence that made the game a hit. Others have predicted that development on the game will be geared towards the Microsoft platforms such as Xbox One, Microsoft Surface Tablets and the new line of smart phones (after buying Nokia).

Microsoft have since announced that they intend to support all the channels but this doesn’t stop them giving Microsoft platforms additional content.

Lego is over 40 years old and is still one of the most popular toys/brands in the industry. If Minecraft can replicate this success then Microsoft will not only make its money back in 12-24 months but will continue to make money for many years to come. In an article on the Wall Street Journal Microsoft suggested that they hope to make the money back before June 2015 which is optimistic but no impossible.

Like Lego Microsoft can create new packs easily and quickly from recent movie releases to age tailored packed designed to bring players in at a younger stage. Obviously Microsoft will be looking for monetization opportunities which will probably result in a few uproars along the way. Ultimately, there are very few companies with the resources to take Minecraft further and Microsoft is one of the few that has that muscle and I hope to see some fresh ideas and new content injected into the game.

The post Gaming Acquisitions: Amazon/Twitch and Microsoft/Minecraft appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

It was all but confirmed that Google was buying Twitch and yet it turned out to be simple rumors. It sounds like someone must have said in a bar that Twitch was in talks with one of the largest companies on the interenet, to which, the gossip-monger assumed it was Google and ran with the story. As it turns out, it was Amazon that bought Twitch for 9.7 million dollars.

Twitch’s founders recently sent out an email to users reassuring them about the acquisition. Mr Shear wrote:

“We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster,” and went on to say:

“We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster,”
“We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazon’s support we’ll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch.

This bold move indicates Amazon’s commitment to get into the video game market and gives them a service that is set to grow over the coming years. The acquisition would also seem to validate the rise of gaming as a spectator sport. As such, the potential for income from advertisers also increases as advertisers are often willing to spend big bucks to reach audiences lured by live sporting events.

Personally, I am glad that Google did not buy Twitch as they already controlled a huge part of the video streaming services on the Internet. I will be interested to see how Amazon influences the direction of this fledgling company.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below…

The post Amazon Buys Twitch for $9.7 Million Dollars appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Below is a video of my opinion on the Rise of the Tomb Raider announcement:

The post Rise of the Tomb Raider: Timed Exclusive | My Thoughts appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Firstly, Microsoft wanted to get into the phone hardware business so it bought Nokia for over $8 billion dollars.  The company was suffering so layoffs here were inevitable. As such over 12,500 of the jobs are from Nokia and not actually from Microsoft as you know it. Bloomberg reported that the main cuts will come in marketing, engineering and in divisions that overlap the handset business. Obviously Microsoft has some of these skills already as well as the fact that the number of phones they intend to deliver will be significantly smaller than that of the old phone giant.

This leaves around 5000 jobs from other areas of the business that include the tablet division as well as the newly created Xbox Entertainment Studios that was set to create video content such as the Halo TV series and a documentary series base on the crash of the video game company Atari. Whilst these projects will still be going ahead, no further content will be created. It is bad news for us in Europe as an MCV source has said that as many as 75% of full time Xbox EMEA roles are being cut. In the UK 10% of jobs are going and the announcement said,

“We believe that the UK has exceptional games industry talent and we’ll continue to focus on game creation through Microsoft Studios like Rare, Lionhead Studios, Lift London and Soho Productions.”

Chief Executive Satya Nadella recently announced in an open letter that he plans to be “bold and ambitious” as he intends to remake the company and its culture. By streamlining the company and narrowing its focus Nadella hopes that the company will be stronger for it as well as be in a better position in the future.

It is a shame to see yet another visionary Xbox One related decision get canned. Quantum Break was planned as a gameplay/TV experience and if it worked then Xbox Entertainment Studios could have seen itself carve a new niche in the market, as it crossed gaming and TV boundaries. It seems however, that it is not meant to be.

It is always sad it see people lose their jobs and my hopes and prayers go out to all involved.

The post Microsoft’s Big Shake Up – 18,000 Jobs Cut and Xbox Entertainment Closes appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Enter the shop leak

By simply uploading a page and leaking its existence on popular forums like NeoGaf or on Reddit, you can gain inbound links to the page or to the store on a whole, raise brand awareness and get people talking about the game and your brand name. This concoction of links, relationship building (between game name and shop name) means that Google can index the page giving it a better chance of being top of the search listings when it comes time to shell out your hard earned cash.

I know that most of you already understand that its all just a marketing stunt, but it starting to annoy me a little now as it seems like every week, Gamestop, Amazon, Tesco, Wallmart all seem to have these apparent accidental leaks.

A few examples of this tactic over the past couple of months include:

• Gamestop and Uplay revealing details about FarCry 4
• BestBuy announce The Wolf Among Us
• Amazon leak Mortal Kombat X

Even the Xbox store is getting in on the act as they announce the launch date for Batman Arkham Night

This kind of tactic is just the beginning of the long death rattle being made by retail game stores across the world as we move into a more digital world. Personally, I don’t think retail stores will go away, they will simply change into digital hubs that work directly with game developers to create specialist content.

What do you think?

The post The Bug Report | Retail Announcement Slip Ups appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.