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EA Canada hopes next Xbox and PlayStation will be ‘always online’
There have been a fair bit of rumours about the next Xbox and PlayStation consoles being ‘always online’, requiring an active internet connection to operate. Fortunately, this is unlikely to happen.
Why bring it up, then? Well, Creative director William Ho from EA Canada, developer of NHL 20, was having a nice chat with Electric Playground Network about PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett. He mentions shorter loading times and improved graphics as obvious improvements – but also mentioned ‘always online’. Could that imply support for ‘always online’ games?
“…I think something I alluded to earlier is how can we let people have their personal experience whenever they want it? That’s something I think next-gen is probably going to facilitate: greater power, more storage, always connected online, insanely short load times, so we’ll see about that,” William Ho said.
You could probably argue that both PlayStation 5 and Xbox One are pretty close to being ‘always online’ already, since they require continuous operating system and many games depend on patches, updates and downloadable content.
On the other hand, making consoles completely dependent on internet connections seems risky, since not everyone has consistently available broadband. Neither Microsoft nor Sony have revealed anything about their next-gen online services.
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
Which of these fast-food chains have NOT made an advertising videogame?
- McDonalds
- Burger King
- Pizza Hut
- KFC
The answer will be revealed at the end of this issue!
News Bits
KFC dating simulator coming soon
Finally, videogames are art, on par with the Mona Lisa, The Birth of Venus and The Starry Night. How did the medium suddenly reach these lofty heights? Well, you are soon going to be able to win the heart of KFC mascot Colonel Sanders in a brand new dating simulator. That’s right, you can finally make romantic advances at the dude on the chicken bucket.
I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator is set in a culinary school where your innermost desires can come true, and launches on September 24th.
A Knight’s Quest on Switch this Fall
Remember A Knight’s Quest, the Zelda-inspired adventure featuring the daft, clumsy and cowardly Rusty? Well, it’s almost here in any case! Rusty accidentally sets in motion events that will end everything, and now you’ve got to help him explore an open world full of enemies, bosses and puzzles to find a way to stop them.
Daily Fact
Far Cry 3’s Jason Brody almost worked at Sarif Industries
Actor Elias Toufexis who played Adam Jensen in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, was supposed to star in Far Cry 3 as player character Jason Brody. However, Ubisoft eventually got nervous about his involvement during development.
He had been involved with Far Cry 3 for two years when he was replaced by actor Gianpaolo Venuta. The Far Cry team didn’t want people thinking about Square Enix’s Deus Ex revival when they were supposed to concentrate on bringing their tattooed frat boy home safe from an island holiday gone bad. While Elias Toufexis understood their dilemma and took his dismissal from the project in stride, it is safe so say he ‘Never asked for this.’
First Look Hands-on Preview
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
(Frozenbyte – PC)
Release Date: October 8th 2019
Trine and its three heroes are returning this October in Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince, a 2.5D adventure in a world full of danger and magic, riddled with puzzles that you can work out with the help of up to three friends. That’s right, 4 players and 3 characters! Like the previous Trine games, the fourth chapter follows Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight and Zoya the Thief.
Three is a company
Amadeus can create and move a large cube that allows the adventurers to reach high places, prop open doors and activate pressure plates. His power also allows him to move other objects as well. Pontius is a heavily armored melee character, featuring a shield that can reflect light, a ground-pound that can propel himself or others into the air – and of course a sword. Last but not least, Zoya can fire arrows, climb certain structures and tie ropes to objects.
There are two ways to play through the game: Classic mode means each player picks a character and sticks with that one, while Unlimited mode allows players to change characters on the fly, even if that means a party full of wizards or thieves. Many puzzles require multiple characters’ abilities to solve, and while it’s most fun to figure them out with friends, solo play is perfectly enjoyable.
Versatile puzzle solving
The Trine series has always been designed with cooperative play in mind, and we played most of the game in Unlimited mode so everyone could switch between characters on a whim. By comparison solo play was considerably more difficult, since you might need to switch between several characters and abilities in a very short time.
The story follows the three main characters as they search for Prince Selius, who has managed to bring monsters from his terrible nightmares into the real world – which means you have to defeat them. The combat and boss fights provide a bit of excitement and variation in between the puzzles.
We’ve only played through the early parts of Trine 4, but we’re already excited to see what the rest of the game has to offer – the upgrade system is particularly interesting. Collect vials in each level to eventually unlock new skills you can use to solve puzzles and defeat enemies.
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince launches for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch on October 8th. You can buy the game by itself, or as part of the Ultimate Collection Bundle which includes the first three games as well.
