jump to navigation

Microsoft Reversing Policy on Xbox Live Price Hike January 23, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Game News.
add a comment

Less than twelve hours after we published this article, Microsoft has confirmed they are reversing their decision to double the price of Xbox Live service.

Rest easy, gamers. Prices should remain at what they are for the time being.

Cyberpunk 2077 1.1 Patch Notes January 22, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Game News.
add a comment

An important update was just released for Cyberpunk 2077 on every platform (including Stadia). The game’s developers promise it will be an essential building block for all major fixes and improvements going forward with the game.

Here are the official notes straight from the developer:

Stability

Various stability improvements including:

  • Memory usage improvements in various systems within the game: characters, interactions, navigation, in-game videos (news, tv, etc.), foliage, laser effects, minimap, devices, AI, street traffic, environmental damage system, GPU-related, and more.
  • Various crash fixes (related to, among others, loading saves, game opening/closing and Point of No Return).

Quests/Open World

  • Fixed an issue where calls from Delamain would end immediately and seem like they cannot be picked up in Epistrophy.
  • Fixed an issue where players would not receive calls from Delamain when approaching relevant vehicles in Epistrophy.
  • Fixed an issue where the objective could get stuck on “Answer the call from Mr. Hands” in M’ap Tann Pèlen.
  • Fixed an issue where Judy could teleport underground in Pyramid Song.
  • Fixed an issue where it would be impossible to talk to Zen Master in Poem of The Atoms.
  • Fixed an issue where Takemura wouldn’t call in Down on the Street.
  • Fixed an issue where Jackie could disappear in The Pickup.
  • Fixed an issue where it could be impossible to get out of the car in The Beast in Me: The Big Race.
  • Fixed an issue where players could stop receiving calls and messages after moving too far away from A Day In The Life area.
  • Fixed an issue where opening the package wouldn’t update Space Oddity.
  • Retro-fixed the saves affected by a rare issue where speaking to Judy in Automatic Love would be impossible due to an invisible wall. The underlying issue is under investigation.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented players from collecting the reward in Gig: Freedom of the Press. The quest will auto-complete for those who could not collect the reward previously, and the reward will be provided automatically.
  • Fixed an issue where Delamain would remain silent throughout Epistrophy if the player initially refused to help him.

UI

  • Fixed an issue where prompt for exiting braindance could be missing.
  • Removed an invalid item from loot.

Visual

  • Fixed an issue where a grenade’s trajectory could be displayed in photo mode.
  • Fixed particles’ hue appearing pink when viewed close up.
  • Fixed cars spawning incorrectly in Reported Crime: Welcome to Night City.

Achievements

  • Fixed an issue where completing one of theassaults in progress in Santo Domingo would sometimes not contribute towards progression for The Jungleachievement, preventing its completion.

Miscellaneous 

  • Addressed the issue responsible for saves getting oversized (related to the modifier indicating if the item is crafted), and trimmed the excess size from already existing saves (note: this won’t fix PC save files corrupted before 1.06 update). 
  • Fixed an issue where input could stop registering upon opening the weapon wheel and performing an action.
  • Fixed an issue where the “Continue” button in the Main Menu could load an end game save.

PlayStation-specific

  • Performance optimization of crowds on PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation 5.
  • Various crash fixes on PlayStation 4.

Xbox-specific

  • Improved memory usage for character creation, mirrors, scanning, camera remote control, menus (inventory, map) on Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox One S.

PC-specific

  • It will now be possible to obtain achievements while in Steam offline mode. Note: Offline mode needs to be enabled before starting the game. This change does not work retroactively.
  • Addressed the game startup crashes related to loading cache on NVIDIA graphics cards.

Stadia-specific

  • Concert audio should no longer be inaudible in Never Fade Away.
  • Fixed corrupted textures on several melee weapons.
  • Tweaked default deadzone settings to be more responsive. Note: the change will not affect settings unless they’re set to default.

Cyberpunk 2077 is out now for PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Stadia.

Xbox Live Price Doubling Just Because (Update) January 22, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Editorials.
add a comment

Settle down boys and girls, Maniac is going to be getting controversial. Xbox Live first launched in 2002 as a console internet gaming service. For $50US a year, you could play supported games like Unreal Championship online and even use cross platform voice chat, something that the PC didn’t even support at the time. Support for the service exploded in 2004 when one of the best online multiplayer games of all time was released, Halo 2. Despite the fact original Xbox support was discontinued a decade ago and a ten dollar price increase was added some time during the Xbox 360 generation, the service has been moving steady ever since, through three console generations and has likely been a huge moneymaker for Microsoft over the past two decades.

However, Xbox Live is not without its controversy. Over the past year, the service has been plagued by constant downtime and frequent outages, even during the day of the launch of the Xbox Series X and S consoles back in November. Downtimes for paid services aren’t unusual, you may occasionally get a power or phone service outage at your home, but in those cases you would not be required to pay for any outages, or you would be eligible for a refund by your provider. That isn’t the case for Xbox Live. You will pay whether you can play it or not.

Xbox Live is the ONLY way to play Xbox games online, and as I mentioned before, there’s no guarantee of that. Online support for ALL original Xbox games discontinued some time ago, despite an enormous online protest lead by Halo 2 players that has (to this day) led to no noticeable technological improvements with the service whatsoever. Last month, Microsoft announced they will be discontinuing online multiplayer for all of the Xbox 360’s Halo games next year. Quite a shame since those games are still some of the finest multiplayer games ever made.

Not too long ago, retailers were informing gaming websites that Microsoft was phasing out year-long Xbox Live Gold prepaid cards. Since then, rumors have circulated the reason Microsoft is discontinuing those prepaid cards is to hike the price of Live, and now we know those rumors to be true. Microsoft is increasing the price of Xbox Live (without Game Pass) to $120US a year. That is essentially double its current price. Microsoft has said they will continue charging $60US a year for subscribers who have their accounts set to auto-renew before this announcement, but who knows for how long they will continue to honor that price.

Now, Microsoft has offered a Games for Gold service, where they offer Xbox Live subscribers the chance to download a few full games each month. Some would argue since new games are expensive this justifies the price hike. However, this “benefit” is dubious at best, since you haven’t actually been getting these games at no additional charge since Microsoft started offering Xbox One titles. Microsoft’s fine print states access to them is revoked when your subscription lapses, essentially putting them on the same level as Game Pass (which is an entirely separate service we aren’t discussing here).

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s competitors offer their own multiplayer subscriptions at superior value. Online play on the PC is entirely free, except in the case for certain MMOs. PlayStation Plus costs around $50US a year and offers just as consistent if not better online play for PS4 and PS5 games that aren’t free to play. Nintendo Network Online costs $20US a year on the Nintendo Switch and offers online play and access to a suite of classic NES and SNES titles every month you’re a subscriber. While I have heard complaints about latency on the Nintendo Switch, I have personally never experienced any.

I would be fine with any price increases if Microsoft had proven the price was necessary to either providing a stable consistent service or produce some great new benefit or feature to their customers that necessitated the increase. Over the past year Microsoft has shown themselves incapable of providing a stable, consistent service and they have not provided a single new premium feature for Xbox Live users since the Xbox 360 launched in 2005. In short, Microsoft has not proven they are worthy of the increased price they are asking for. I will not be renewing my subscription any time soon.

UPDATE: One day after writing this, online sources are reporting Microsoft is reversing course. Maybe they read this article and discovered how wrong they were.

Resident Evil Village Showcase 2021 Event January 21, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Game News.
add a comment

Capcom is hard at work at the 8th mainline Resident Evil game, Resident Evil: VILLage and today we got a major preview of it streamed online. You can check it out below, but be aware the video starts at the thirty minute mark.

Honestly, the biggest reveals from this event are Capcom’s intentions to release it for the current generation platforms as well as the next generation. The game’s collector’s edition also looks pretty sweet.

Resident Evil: Village is coming to the PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4 and Xbox One.

Tom Holland Reveals Disneyland’s Spider-Man Ride January 19, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Game News.
add a comment

I know this website is not focused on theme parks but if you bear with me for a second you’ll see how it is relevant. Earlier today, Disneyland released this official behind the scenes video of their next major ride for the California Adventure park in Anaheim, California. Check it out!

That’s right, a fully interactive web swinging adventure built inside a real-world Avengers training campus. Sign me up!

Disneyland is currently closed due to the current world events. It is unknown when it will reopen or when this ride will be available but Disney has mentioned they’re aiming for opening this year.

Gaming History You Should Know – The Failure of New Coke January 17, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Gaming History You Should Know, Uncategorized.
add a comment

It’s Sunday, time for a new Gaming History You Should Know, a series where we highlight some of the best independently produced documentaries about the history of gaming. Today, we’re going to be talking about one of the biggest failures in the history of capitalism, which had gone on to serve as a stark reminder to all successful companies ever since. That’s right you guessed it, we’re going to talk about the time New Coke was released.

I know what you’re thinking, New Coke is a soda, it has nothing to do with gaming whatsoever, so why are we highlighting it here? Oh my, you sweet dear. Gamers have been drinking soda while gaming since the dawn of the hobby, and while everyone has their own personal preferences (Bawls, Mountain Dew, Pepsi) we cannot dismiss the ongoing success of the Coca-Cola Company, and their line of products including Coca-Cola Classic, Sprite and Diet Coke. In fact, programming god John Carmack was well known for his love of drinking down Diet Coke while working on his games at id Software, and I’m sure he isn’t alone.

Coca-Cola had been a successful company and known as the US’s favorite soda for nearly a century. However, by the 80s, heavy competition was starting to get distributed nationwide. Pepsi, a rival cola, had increased its market share, and many consumers believed that was due to the fact Pepsi tasted better than Coke. Coke, after doing tons of blind taste testing, believed they found a new beverage formula that tasted better than Pepsi, and that new beverage could wipe Pepsi out.

With this new flavor in mind, The Coca-Cola Company announced they would be changing the taste of Coke to this new focus tested soda, and branded it New Coke. Obviously, it didn’t work, and the company reversed course. After its fall, New Coke would go on to be nearly every comedian’s analogy for failure. Some people even assumed it was some nefarious trick pulled by the company to increase sales in the long term by intentionally releasing a bad product in the short term to trick consumers into thinking they may lose out on restocking their favorite beverage. In fact, most people remember that train of thought being the inspiration for a Futurama joke in the episode where the characters visit the Slurm factory.

Was there more to this story? Was it a conspiracy? YouTube icon Company Man, who has discussed everything from the demise of beloved toy stores to the origins of Dippin Dots, produced a fantastic documentary about the origins and the fallout of New Coke. If you’re a fan of Coca-Cola or not, you should totally give it a watch!

Let’s be honest, this whole fight was over personal taste, and that’s subjective. Every person will have their own personal preferences, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, this seemed to be a rare case of EVERYONE universally agreeing they didn’t want Coke to change, and the company had to bow to their consumers’ will.

Did we ever see New Coke again? Yes, in many forms. For a while, cans of New Coke would share store shelf space next to the (now rebranded) Coca-Cola Classic, until its supply ran out. There was a push to bring it back during the 90s, and people might remember seeing bottles of something called Coke II at their supermarket at that time. Due to its poor label design, I incorrectly assumed it was some kind of store brand knock-off and never purchased it but apparently Coke II was New Coke. More recently, Coca-Cola partnered with Netflix to promote Coke during the launch of Stranger Things season 3. The show, if you’re unfamiliar with it, is a period piece and that specific season happened to take place at the same time New Coke launched. While they couldn’t actually SELL New Coke (maybe there was an issue with it being approved by the FDA for sale) they gave it away during many points of that summer, including to people who visited the Atlanta plant.

I actually still have a can of the stuff hanging around somewhere. If there’s a demand, I could do a taste test video of it down the road.

Tales from IT – Upgrading to the M1 Mac January 15, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Site Videos, Tales from IT.
add a comment

We’ve got a new Tales from IT! Apple has launched their line of custom processors and the computers that have these processors are available for purchase right now. Many friends and peers of mine are finally putting away their 5-10 year old MacBooks for good and upgrading to these new powerful systems.

But what is a Mac user to do with their years and years of files and data, especially if they have not created any backups? Apple will not take any responsibility for your data (unless it’s being stored on the iCloud), so asking a Genius to transfer your files, settings and programs is not an option. You can however, call a different kind of professional.

Watch the video below and find out what it was like to do a complete data transfer to a new M1 Mac. You’ll even get some tips and pointers along the way.

New Pokemon Snap Release Date January 14, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Game News.
add a comment

New Pokémon Snap is coming April 30th, 2021 exclusively to Nintendo Switch.

Cyberpunk 2077 – Commitment Video January 13, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Game News.
add a comment

Ladies and Gentlemen, the co-founder of CD PROJEKT.

Cyberpunk 2077 is out now for PC, Stadia, PS4 and Xbox One. It is coming to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Pokemon 25 Website Launches January 13, 2021

Posted by Maniac in Game News.
add a comment

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the release of the original Pokémon games in Japan, and The Pokémon Company is celebrating this year the right way, with a dedicated website and this cool video:

You can check out the website right here.