A lot happened in the world of gaming over the trailing 12 months that piqued the interest of TechSpot readers. We learned that retro gaming hasn’t lost its appeal, ray tracing is here to stay and fast refresh rates are in. The jury is still out on NFTs and the metaverse, but neither are a sure bet at this stage.
Ubisoft thinks you should pay $120 for Far Cry 6 GOTY Edition even though it didn’t win a GOTY award
Does this mean I can declare myself Employee of the Month?
Far Cry 6 Game of the Year (GOTY) Edition launches on Friday as an inexplicably strange bundle and costs $120. Several things make this version of the game weird, which I will touch on, but the main takeaway should be: Don’t buy it. We don’t want to encourage this type of marketing.
NFT fans lose millions in video game real estate sales
Some users were charged thousands in transaction fees, others were scammed for far more
The creator of the most recognizable NFTs available is again in the news for the wrong reasons. Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs recently made its Otherdeed collection available for purchase. It advertised the NFTs as a way to provide users with the ability to obtain land in its upcoming crypto-based MMORPG. Unfortunately, many fans instead walked away with nothing but disappointment, high transaction fees, and stolen funds.
Nier Automata developer PlatinumGames’ latest RPG drops to 8 concurrent players on Steam
Square Enix probably isn’t pleased
Square Enix is known for making and publishing some pretty fantastic games. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was a surprise gem, and both the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises seem to knock it out of the park with every new release. Unfortunately, even a publisher of Square’s caliber is capable of throwing their weight behind a bad game now and then. The latest Square Enix-published action RPG, Babylon’s Fall, has performed terribly on Steam.
Someone loaded Doom onto a McDonald’s self-order kiosk
We’re lovin’ it
If you’re ever wondering why almost no one likes the McDonald’s self-ordering kiosks, it isn’t because of their inability to take cash payments. One person thought they could find a better use for these devices, so it loaded Doom onto one of them. It’s not the best experience, and it certainly doesn’t make one any less hungry, but it feeds the soul of those who grew up ripping and tearing.
PlayStation 4 emulator can now run dozens of games
A PS4 emulator boots its first 3D game
PlayStation 4 emulation is still in relative infancy and will likely prove a herculean task for developers, but early signs of progress have emerged. Most PS4 emulators currently struggle to boot games with any graphics, but FpPS4 is making headway on actually playing them.
Rockstar adds ray tracing to GTA 5, but it’s almost too much
Say goodbye to the vampire effect
While there have been plenty of “next-gen upgrades” to existing games, very few have provided ray tracing, with most just focusing on higher-resolution assets. So it’s nice to see that Rockstar added RT support to GTA V on the PS5 and XBSX in its latest update. Most of the time it looks great, but in some situations, it almost feels like too much reflecting cheapens the effect.
Palm-sized NES clone plays classic cartridges using the same chips that powered the original Nintendo
Another way to get your NES fix
NES enthusiasts have a couple of viable options to get their fix in 2022 including a brand new console built using the same CPU and PPU from the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Best yet, it’s available to pre-order and should be shipping in a few months.
LG announces the first 1440p 240Hz OLED monitor and it only costs $999
An OLED option for competitive gamers
Monitor aficionados have been salivating at the thought of an affordable (well, relatively) medium-sized OLED monitor with a high refresh rate since LG teased the concept on its roadmap. Now the LG UltraGear 27GR95QE-B has come along and ticked all the boxes. It has: a 2560 x 1440p resolution, a 240Hz refresh rate, and an OLED panel with 0.3 ms (GtG) response times.
Ubisoft will disable online features in 15 games, gamers will lose access to paid DLC
One of the affected games launched only three years ago
Ubisoft will decommission the servers of 15 games in the next two months, including some of the most popular entries in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Most of these titles are about a decade old, so there are likely not that many people still playing the multiplayer components. However, users also won’t be able to download DLCs they previously bought for these games.
Microsoft compares Sony to Blockbuster, confirms 10-year CoD-PlayStation offer
“It’s as excited about this deal as Blockbuster was about the rise of Netflix”
Microsoft’s president and vice-chair Brad Smith says that the FTC suing the company to block its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard would hurt competition, consumers, and thousands of game developers. He also compared Sony’s objections to the deal to Blockbuster complaining about the rise of Netflix.
