Massive MOBA League of Legends is currently offline in North America for maintenance, and it will remain that way for many more hours. Riot Games writes on its website that the “extended downtime” began this morning at 12:01 AM Pacific and will run for 12 hours.
“For about 12 hours, you won’t be able to log into the client or play League on the NA sever,” Riot explained. “During this downtime, you also won’t be able to refer a friend, sign up for a new account, change your password, update your email address, or modify your account.”
Maintenance periods for major online games are nothing new, though Riot didn’t explain exactly what it’s hoping to fix or change with the maintenance.
Following Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Morhaime, PlayStation gaming executive Shawn Layden, who heads up all of SCEA, has spoken out to say harassment is “completely unacceptable.”
“I’ll be very clear about my view of harassment or bullying: It’s completely unacceptable,” Layden told GamesBeat. “Completely unacceptable. I will not be vague or equivocate about that.”
Layden went on to say Sony is “best in class,” or at least close to it, when it comes to women in the gaming industry. He pointed out that Shannon Studstill runs God of War developer Sony Santa Monica, while Connie Booth heads up the team in San Mateo.
“Women executives up and down the [organization chart], and in the production teams,” Layden said. “We make our statement just by executing to that plan.”
Layden also explained that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have already spoken out about harassment in gaming, through the Entertainment Software Association’s statement released in October. At the time, the group said harassment needs to stop, and that “there is no place in the video game community–or our society–for personal attacks and threats.”
The ESA is the group that represents the video game industry’s interests and puts on the annual E3 show. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and many others are members.
Layden’s comments come not long after Morhaime, during a keynote address at Blizzcon earlier this month, denounced harassment and hate in gaming. His comments on the subject are below.
“Over the past couple of months, there’s been a small group of people who have been doing really awful things. They have been making some people’s lives miserable, and they are tarnishing our reputation as gamers. It’s not right.”
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Microsoft has announced this week’s Xbox Live deals for Gold members, and they include markdowns on a variety of Tomb Raider games across Xbox One and Xbox 360.
You can see a full roundup of this week’s deals below. According to a post on Major Nelson’s website, this week’s deals are valid through September 8, 2014. That’s probably a misprint, however.
One of Sony’s top PlayStation gaming executives has now responded to the server issues facing PlayStation 4 racing game, Driveclub. SCEA president Shawn Layden told IGN in a new interview that while Sony’s stance on pre-release quality assurance is to test for “every possibility,” it was not possible to test for hundreds of thousands of users coming online at once at launch in October.
“In the development cycle, we try to do all things. In the development cycle, we try to test against every possibility,” he explained. “We have a [Quality Assurance] team, we have a QA plan. You do a beta test, you scope against that. But now, in a connected world, you can’t effectively test in your house or in your beta group what it means to have 50,000, 100,000, 200,000 users hit your service. And the guys [at the studio] are struggling with that. It’s throwing up things they had not anticipated.”
“You know, they tried to do the best, newest, greatest thing ever to happen in the driving genre and they hit a hiccup” — Shawn Layden
Layden went on to say that he receives reports about the status of Driveclub’s server issues “every day.” He said things are moving forward, though he admitted it is “going slowly.” All the same, Layden said the team at Evolution Studios had a grand vision in mind for Driveclub, and he would rather take risks than tread familiar ground.
“You know, they tried to do the best, newest, greatest thing ever to happen in the driving genre and they hit a hiccup,” Layden said. “I prefer people to have the ambition to try that, though. It’s no fun being safe all the time.”
Layden is not the first PlayStation executive to address Driveclub’s server woes. In October, PlayStation worldwide studios president Shuhei Yoshida apologized for the issues in an open letter to fans, where he said he is “truly sorry” for the game’s problems.
As a result of Driveclub’s technical hiccups, Sony has put the free PlayStation Plus version of the game on-hold indefinitely. Driveclub was originally targeted as a PS4 launch title, though it was delayed several times before finally releasing in October.
To make it up to fans affected by Driveclub’s widespread server troubles, Evolution recently announced that the game’s November DLC will be free for everyone. This was previously included with the Driveclub DLC pass, which has now been extended through July 2015.
A United Kingdom-based artist has announced his intention to spend 28 days wearing virtual reality goggles so that he can “experience life through another person’s eyes and ears.”
Mark Farid calls the project Seeing-I, and labels it a “social-artistic experiment” that seeks to find out how much of a person is their own personality and how much is cultural identity.
Farid “will attempt to engage with a broader spectrum of experiences by entirely immersing himself in the life of another person, whilst also looking at the implications of digital technologies,” he explains.
Farid has launched a Kickstarter campaign asking for £150,000 ($234,761) to get Seeing-I off the ground. The project went live today and has attracted only £152 ($238). The campaign ends December 18, 2014.
If successful, Farid will wear a VR headset for 24 hours a day for 28 days. The person whose life he will experience will be referred to as “the Other.” Farid knows only that this person is a heterosexual male who is in a relationship; Farid has never had previous contact with this man.
The Other will wear a pair of glasses that can capture audio and video, which will then be transmitted to Farid. He will conduct this experiment in a space consisting only of a bed, a toilet, and a shower area. Farid will be on display for an audience for the full 28 days.
Farid will see footage from the Other that stems from six days prior. This is to allow Farid’s team to prepare food and drink for him that matches what the Other consumed. As for why he chose 28 days for the duration of this experiment, Farid said it’s been shown (but not proven) that people lose and develop habits after three weeks.
Farid is taking medical precautions for this project, enlisting the help of a psychologist with special training in neuroscience. When the Other goes to sleep, the audience will be asked to leave for a period of one hour so this doctor can check up on Farid. He also assures people that the project is not an endurance test. If his team concludes at any point in the process that things have gone “too far,” or if Farid might be in danger of facing long-term or lasting effects, he will be instructed to end the experiment.
More from the Seeing-I description:
“During the 28 days, Mark will have no actual interact with any human; no one will react to him, he will not be touched; he will be a silent spectator–he will, however, be under constant inspection. Mark will eat what the Other eats, drink what the Other drinks, shower when the Other showers, and go to the toilet when the Other goes to the toilet, at the same moment. Otherwise, Mark is left to experience the life of the Other by himself, but will Mark embrace this life as if its his own?”
As the Seeing-I experiment moves forward, Farid hopes to discover the point at which he will lose his own identity and “inhabit the reality of the Other,” if that ever happens. “With no one to talk to, and no one to validate any of Mark’s thoughts, will his only source of validation–the Other’s life–become the life which makes sense to Mark? Equally, this may not happen: he may entirely retain his sense of self and exist in a strange no man’s land between his own identity and the Other’s.”
The findings of the Seeing-I experiment will be put together into a documentary that will feature input from academics, psychiatrists, psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers, and artists.
You can read more about Seeing-I, and contribute to the campaign, at the Kickstarter page. The actual event is scheduled to take place in fall 2015. Farid has already done a 24-hour test of being fully immersed in another person’s life through VR. You can see footage from the test here.
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Not everyone is happy with the way in which Ubisoft’s recently released action game Assassin’s Creed Unity depicts the French revolution. Former French minister and presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon recently denounced the game during an appearance on French radio.
He slammed Unity, labeling it “propaganda” that presents historical figures such as the “cretin” Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI as upstanding people while simultaneously showing the French masses as savages, according to a transcription of his talk by the Daily Telegraph (via Polygon).
Jean-Luc Melenchon
Melenchon added that Unity depicts Robespierre as a monster when the truth of the matter, according to Melenchon, was that he was a hero of the French revolution.
“It is propaganda against the people, the people who are (portrayed as) barbarians, bloodthirsty savages,” Melenchon said. “In 1789 there were the poor aristocrats, and they are presented as fine upstanding people.”
Overall, Melenchon described Unity as a game that “presents an image of hatred of the Revolution, hatred of the people, hatred of the republic which is rampant in the far-right milieux (of today).”
We have reached out to Ubisoft for comment and will update this post with anything we hear back.
Since Microsoft implemented a temporary $50 Xbox One price cut earlier this month, the console has outsold the rival PlayStation 4 in the United States. However, Sony isn’t shaking in its boots just yet. SCEA president Shawn Layden says in a new interview that he is unfazed by Microsoft’s recent Xbox One pricing moves, and maintains that PS4 will be competitive this holiday season.
Asked if he feels any pressure from Microsoft’s recent Xbox One price cut, Layden told GamesBeat: “No, not at all. It’s going to be a very competitive holiday season. Everyone’s going to move their numbers the best way they can. We’re going to be fully engaged in that battle.”
According to Layden, the PS4 is dominating the Xbox One in terms of units sold-through to consumers. Asked if it would be accurate to say Sony has a 2:1 advantage over Xbox One in terms of units sold, the executive replied: “The math seems to look like that.”
The PS4 recently celebrated its first birthday, and GameSpot marked the occasion with an in-depth analysis of every key aspect of the console. We will publish similar reports for the Wii U (later today) and the Xbox One next week.
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Battlefield 4‘s final expansion, the appropriately titled “Final Stand,” is available today on consoles and PC for Battlefield Premium members. It will be released for everyone else in two weeks on December 3.
Final Stand is the fifth expansion for Battlefield 4, following China Rising, Second Assault, Naval Strike, and Dragon’s Teeth. All expansions are included with a $50 Battlefield Premium membership, and can be purchased individually for $15. Buying Premium will save you $10 if you want all five add-ons.
Included with Final Stand are four maps (Operation Whiteout, Hammerhead, Hangar 21, and Giants of Karelia), all of which take place in wintry environments. Another focus of Final Stand is its near-future weapons and gadgets such as a DS-3 DECOY gun attachment that emits false blips on enemies’ mini-maps and the XD-1 Accipiter, a remote-controlled, LMG-equipped drone.
There’s also snowmobiles and hovertanks to ride and a railgun to shoot. Check out the trailer above to see the Final Stand content in action.
For more on Final Stand, check out the image gallery below. GameSpot recently caught up with DICE LA–the team behind Final Stand–for an in-depth interview about the state of Battlefield 4.
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BioWare’s latest RPG, Dragon Age: Inquisition, is released today, but gamers in India will not be able to buy a copy in the country. Publisher Electronic Arts has elected to remove the game from sale in the region due to “local obscenity laws,” a representative for the company confirmed.
“In order to avoid a breach of local content laws, EA has withdrawn Dragon Age: Inquisition from sale in India and the game is no longer available for preorder,” a company spokesperson told Kotaku. “Customers who preordered the game will be contacted directly and will be fully refunded.”
The EA representative also clarified that the company’s decision to remove the game from sale in India is not related to Dragon Age: Inquisition’s same-gender romance options or gay characters, as some reports have suggested.
“The decision here is in relation to local obscenity laws, but not specific to same-gender romance,” the spokesperson explained.
The EA representative further clarified that the game’s same-sex romance options and gay characters are “irrelevant” to the company’s decision to pull the game from India.
Asked which obscenity laws EA was attempting to avoid breaking, the EA representative pointed Kotaku to the country’s penal code, which is reportedly very vague. The publisher added that looking at Dragon Age: Inquisition’s ESRB content description would give you a good idea as to why EA feels it might be running a risk of breaking India’s obscenity laws. Below is the game’s description, in full.
“This is a role-playing game in which players assume the role of a warrior battling evil forces in different dimensions. Characters use swords, axes, hammers, and magic attacks to kill fantastical creatures (e.g., demons, monsters, dwarfs) and humans in melee-style combat. Cutscenes sometimes depict characters impaled or getting their throats slit. Violent sequences are often highlighted by cries of pain, gurgling/gushing sounds, and large blood-splatter effects; blood remains on the ground in several environments. The game includes some sexual material: a female character briefly depicted in front of a man’s torso (fellatio is implied); characters depicted topless or with exposed buttocks while lying in bed or after sex; some dialogue referencing sex/sexuality (e.g., “’I will bring myself sexual pleasure later, while thinking about this with great respect’” and “The way your t*ts bounce when I pin your arms and take you on the side of the bed…”). The words “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “a*shole” appear in dialogue.”
Kotaku also points out that potentially contentious games are often edited for release in certain countries; Australia is one example. However, EA has chosen not to do that in this case.
Driveclub developer Evolution Studios today released a new update for the troubled PlayStation 4 racing game, which, among other things, introduces a Photo Mode and various bug fixes. Update 1.07 is available now, and the full patch notes, via Evolution Studios, are featured below.
Evolution Studios also assures fans that it continues to “keep improving all aspects of online play and server capacity.” Today’s update made no mention of when the long-awaited PlayStation Plus version of Driveclub will be released. Officially, it is on-hold indefinitely.
As an apology to fans affected by Driveclub’s widespread server troubles, Evolution recently announced that the game’s November DLC (listed below) will be free for everyone. This was previously included with the Driveclub DLC pass, which has now been extended through July 2015.
Driveclub Update 1.07:
Adds Photo Mode to the game. You can enable Photo Mode during gameplay by pressing the right side of the Touch Pad and share your favourite pictures with the Share button.
Adds three new tracks – all including reverse variants: Yedapalli in India, Los Pelambres in Chile and Wester Ross in Scotland.
Adds support for the Renault DeZir DRIVECLUB Edition and BMW M5, 2013 to PlayStation Store (available as free download to full game owners from Nov 25-SCEA, 26-SCEE, 27-SCEJ).
Adds support for the Ignition Expansion Pack, which includes the Ignition Car Pack and Ignition Tour Pack, to PlayStation Store (free download available from Nov 25-SCEA, 26-SCEE, 27-SCEJ).
The Ignition Car Pack includes five new cars: W Motors Lykan Hypersport, Caterham SP/ 300.R, KTM X-Bow R, BMW M4, and Renault Twin’Run Concept
Adds support for the Photo-Finish Tour Pack to PlayStation Store (free download available from Nov 25-SCEA, 26-SCEE, 27-SCEJ). Includes 11 new events and five new trophies.
Adds support for two new livery packs to PlayStation Store (free download available from Nov 25-SCEA, 26-SCEE, 27-SCEJ). Each comes with five new livery patterns.
Changes have be made to corner cutting, corner penalties & collision penalties for balancing purposes.
Improves the Server Announcements functionality and implements a restyled screen.
Adds the ability to manually trigger reset-to-track by pressing the left side of the Touch Pad.
Adds the ability to view a Club’s current unlocks (Vehicles, Paint Jobs, Club Badge Shapes and Accolade Stickers).
Integrates Player and Club Cards into various option menus.
Adds the option to hide and unhide the results screen in order to view the post-race cameras.
Adds Newest Clubs to the list of potential recipients when sending a Club Challenge.
Adds the ability to search for a Club by name when sending a Club Challenge.
Plus a number of minor bug fixes, performance improvements and usability tweaks.
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