One of Helldivers 2’s more unique features is the presence of a human Game Master who orchestrates its galaxy-spanning war. However, it seems to be a challenging job, as Arrowhead Game Studios needed to deploy “emergency” assistance to cope with the game’s massive player base.

Helldivers 2 GM “was just not sleeping,” says Arrowhead’s community manager

Last week, Arrowhead revealed that it employs a Game Master named Joel to oversee Helldivers 2’s galactic war. His role resembles a D&D Dungeon Master, crafting the story around the players’ actions. However, DMing for half a million players is a tall order. As GamesRadar reported, Arrowhead’s community manager, Baskinator, said the studio had to dispatch additional personnel to help manage the workload.

“Sounds incredibly daunting when you have to juggle the expectations set by the roadmap/dev studio vs what the 500K+ active players want and do,” said one Discord user. “Yes, absolutely,” Baskinator responded. “That’s why we have done an emergency expansion to the GM’s team. He’s only one guy, and he was just not sleeping. I remember over the launch weekend, he was sending me messages at 4 AM because we were the only ones still awake.”

Helldiver’s 2 was a much bigger hit than either Arrowhead or Sony expected and suffered from overcrowded servers at launch. Given that, it’s unsurprising that the game’s DM was swamped in the days following release.

“Unfortunately, our scope was much narrower at launch,” the community manager explained. “We expected fewer players and easier means and methods of communication.”

As for the specifics of how Helldivers 2’s GM system works, Arrowhead hasn’t gone into too much detail. However, Baskinator said her job includes relaying player feedback to Joel and his team. The community manager also mentioned plans to give “deep dives” into the GM system. This includes letting Joel address the community directly.

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We’re into a new month, and the list of new PS5 and PS4 games due to be released during the week beginning March 4, 2024, has gotten bigger. There are plenty of different genres to occupy all types of gamers, but the highlights of the week are the latest installment in the WWE 2K franchise and the third game in the Outlast series, which finally makes the jump to consoles.

All PS5 and PS4 March 4 to 10, 2024 game release dates

Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently set to be released throughout the week of March 4 to 10, 2024.

PS5 Games

• Classified: France ’44 (March 5)
• Expeditions: A MudRunner Game (March 5)
• Juicy Realm (March 5)
• Mediterranea Inferno (March 5)
• The Outlast Trials (March 5)
• Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition (March 5)
• 10 Seconds to Win! (March 6)
• Cat and Ghostly Road (March 6)
• Hex Gambit: Respawned (March 6)
• Reveil (March 6)
• ABRISS – build to destroy (March 7)
• As Dusk Falls (March 7)
• Manic Maniacs (March 7)
• Mortal Fight: Lethal Revenge (March 7)
• OVRDARK: A Do Not Open Story (March 7)
• Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator (March 7)
• Top Racer Collection (March 7)
• Akka Arrh (March 8)
• Ancient Weapon Holly (March 8)
• DateJournal (March 8)
• Dreamland Solitaire: Dragon’s Fury (March 8)
• In Celebration of Violence (March 8)
• Stilt (March 8)
• System Critical 2 (March 8)
• Unicorn Overlord (March 8)
• WWE 2K24 (March 8)

PS4 Games

• Expeditions: A MudRunner Game (March 5)
• Juicy Realm (March 5)
• Mediterranea Inferno (March 5)
• The Outlast Trials (March 5)
• Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition (March 5)
• 10 Seconds to Win! (March 6)
• Cat and Ghostly Road (March 6)
• Hex Gambit: Respawned (March 6)
• Reveil (March 6)
• As Dusk Falls (March 7)
• Manic Maniacs (March 7)
• Mortal Fight: Lethal Revenge (March 7)
• New Star GP (March 7)
• Top Racer Collection (March 7)
• Ancient Weapon Holly (March 8)
• DateJournal (March 8)
• Unicorn Overlord (March 8)
• WWE 2K24 (March 8)

A total of 26 games are coming to PS5 this week, while PS4 players get a shorter list of 18 titles. The biggest of them all is WWE 2K24, which is available at the end of the week. However, those who purchase the Deluxe or 40 Years of WrestleMania Editions can get access to the game three days earlier on March 5.

The Outlast Trials, the prequel to the first two games, dumps up to four players in the middle of a horrifying Cold War experiment as they fight to survive. If you fancy something a bit more sedate, As Dusk Falls brings the story of two families whose trajectories collide in the Arizona desert to PS5 and PS4. Elsewhere, there is the tactical RPG Unicorn Overlord, or new off-road adventure Expeditions: A MudRunner Game.

The post PS5 and PS4 Releases: Every Game Release Date for Week Beginning March 4, 2024 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is crossing over with the free PS5 game Astro’s Playroom. Earlier today, developer Sumo Digital announced that players can equip the free Astro Bot costume later this week.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure crosses over with Astro’s Playroom

The Astro Bot costume arrives in Sackboy: A Big Adventure as a free DLC on March 8. The studio has only shared one image of the costume so far and has yet to show how it will look in the game. However, unlike some other costumes, which are just Sackboy in a funny outfit, this looks more like a Little Big Planet version of the character. It has a larger, boxier head and a proportionally smaller body. The Astro costume’s antenna is also a lot bigger than the original. This has the side effect of making him look a lot more like the Reddit mascot than the designers probably intended.

Astro’s Playroom is a free 3D platformer that comes pre-loaded in all PS5s. It primarily serves as a tech demo for the console’s DualSence controller. It was also the last original game from Gravity Rush developer Japan Studio before its dissolution in 2021. The timing of this new crossover is interesting given the new Astro Bot game reportedly in development.

Meanwhile, Sumo Digital’s Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a 2020 spinoff of the Little Big Planet series. It follows the titular Sackboy in his quest to save Craftworld from the villainous Vex. The game features hundreds of costumes, with developers frequently more through updates. Many of these outfits are inspired by other Sony properties. Past crossovers include characters from God of War, The Last of Us, Ratchet and Clank, Horizon, and Uncharted.

The post Sackboy: A Big Adventure Getting New Astro Bot Costume appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt has decried Helldivers 2 and Halo comparisons, arguing that they serve no purpose as there’s room for both games to be enjoyed separately. Helldivers 2 is Sony Interactive Entertainment‘s first multiplatform live service game that went on to become a hit, and that’s attracted quite a bit of vitriol by console fanboys. Much of Helldivers 2’s success comes from PC, where it has a far higher number of players.

Arrowhead CEO on Helldivers 2 vs Halo arguments: Let people love and enjoy both

In response to a comparison tweet from a fan account with thousands of followers, Pilestedt said, “Just let gamers love and enjoy both, either or neither.” He’s of the view that there should be “more compassion and union in the world, and less rivalry.”

In a separate tweet, Pilestedt added that healthy competition is good but even from a business standpoint, neither monopolies nor “cut=throat competitions” do any good.

Pilestedt — who’s earned a positive reputation for his social media conduct and fan interaction — was showered with praise for his response.

Recently, Xbox boss Phil Spencer commented on Helldivers 2’s popularity and console exclusivity, arguing that skipping Xbox platforms doesn’t benefit anyone.

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A Digital Foundry analysis has found that PS5 cloud streaming outperforms Microsoft xCloud in a number of aspects. In fact, the only department in which xCloud surpasses PS5 streaming is latency, and that’s because Microsoft’s service is streaming Series S versions of games rather than their superior Series X counterparts.

How PS5 cloud streaming outperforms Microsoft xCloud

Digital Foundry notes that performance wise, games streamed on the PS5 mostly closely represent locally installed games, but that’s not the case when it comes to xCloud. Those streaming games on the Xbox Series X are getting somewhat of a downgraded version that’s more reprentative of the Series S.

Games streamed on the PS5 also offer better resolution and higher bitrate albeit with inferior latency compared to the xCloud. “Between the use of PS5-grade hardware server-side, the higher bitrate and resolution, PlayStation Plus presents its catalogue at a quality level that’s much closer to justifying that Premium label – even if it’s behind Xbox in terms of latency,” Digital Foundry concludes.

Digital Foundry also notes that both PS5 streaming and Microsoft xCloud come with a similar price tag but Sony offers 851 games compared to Microsoft’s 402 games. 201 out of Sony’s 851 games are PS5 titles.

The post PS5 Cloud Streaming Has Visible Advantages Over Microsoft xCloud, Analysis Finds appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

According to a new report, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf publisher Electronic Arts is “pretty confident” about a 2024 release date for the game. This release window has been rumored for a while and was even mentioned on an EA veteran’s LinkedIn profile, but with the company undergoing layoffs last week, fans wondered if Dreadwolf will be pushed out of 2024 or not.

EA confident about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf release date window despite recent layoffs

The aforementioned update comes from journalist and insider Jeff Grubb, who said during his latest Game Mess podcast that although there are no guarentees that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will be out this year, EA thinks developer Bioware will manage a 2024 release window. As for when we’ll actually see the game, Grubb recons that it’ll be shown off sometime in the summer.

“It will be released this year, last I heard,” Grubb said. “They’re pretty confident about that. Doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee; could slip, but right now — internally — they expect to release it later this year.”

Grubb added that the real question is when Bioware will actually show Dreadwolf off, and that there’s no word on that yet.

Announcing its layoffs, EA said that it wants to focus on its own IPs going forward.

The post Dragon Age: Dreadwolf Might Actually Release in 2024 – Report appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi has heard player complaints about the game’s graphics in Performance Mode, and has promised an update to resolve them. Shortly after release, players took issue with the marked visual downgrade when using Performance Mode — a patch for which should be out soon.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth update will fix facial lighting

Speaking to One More Game, Hamaguchi said that he can’t detail the incoming patch just yet, but did say that Square Enix plans to address facial lighting as part of it.

“We’ve received a lot of feedback on whether the graphics in the performance mode will be improved or not,” Hamaguchi said. “We hear you, and we are currently working on an update patch to improve that aspect. I don’t think the release date would be far away from now.”

The facial lighting issue that Hamaguchi is referring to are complaints of character shadows looking “scary” under some conditions. When asked what his personal preference is between Graphics and Performance modes, Hamaguchi chose the former. “I like to play other games in graphics mode as well because I like to see better graphics,” he explained.

We’ll share Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth update patch notes as soon as we have them.

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Rumor has it that Sony Interactive Entertainment is gearing up to announce Ghost of Tsushima for PC. The Sucker Punch Productions-developed hit title released in 2020 but has yet to be officially confirmed for PC unlike Sony’s other first-party single-player hits. And if rumors are to be believed, we’ll hear something as soon as tomorrow, March 5.

When is Ghost of Tsushima expected to release on PC?

Rumor of an announcement of some sort comes from Nick “Shpeshal_Nick” Baker. As of late, Baker has been spot on with his leaks so we wouldn’t be surprised if this one’s accurate as well. Ghost of Tsushima was expected to release on PC at some point, so it’s merely a question of when Sony will announce it.

Back in February, Sony Group executive and interim Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Hiroki Totoki said that he wants PlayStation to “aggressively” pursue a multiplatform release strategy for first-party games, and stressed that he means PC ports.

“In the past, we wanted to popularize consoles and a first-party title’s main purpose was to make the console popular,” he said of Sony’s changing approach to first-party games. “This is true but there’s a synergy to it, so if you have strong first-party content – not only on our console but also other platforms, like computers – first-party can be grown.”

The post Ghost of Tsushima PC Announcement Reportedly Coming Soon appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Arrowhead Game Studios’ CEO Johan Pilestedt recently revealed that stats in Helldivers 2 are a lot more complicated than the interface would lead players to believe. Early versions of the game provided players with much more detailed information on each weapon’s performance. However, developers thought it was too complex for the average player.

Weapons in Helldivers 2 have 46 hidden stats

Weapons in Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 have four visible stats: Damage, Capacity, Recoil, and Fire Rate. However, Pilestedt described these as “guidelines” that don’t give a full picture of the weapon’s performance. He revealed on Twitter that there are actually 50 stats in all. Many of these reflect characteristics of the weapon’s ammunition rather than the gun itself.

In addition to the visible stats, each weapon in Helldivers 2 has a hidden Ergonomics score, which initially appeared alongside the other four. This number represents how unwieldy the gun is and governs things like how long it takes to aim down the sights.

The stats screen also originally had a second page providing additional information. These include Reload Time, Fire Modes, Magazines, and Muzzle Velocity in meters per second. Helldivers 2 also originally had a graphic showing how the weapon’s Recoil affects its bullet spread. Even this was a simplification, with Recoil being a combination of 14 hidden values.

In another tweet, the Helldivers 2 developer explained the mechanics behind Armor Penetration. “Armor pen is a value between 0 and 10,” he clarified. “If the AP is equal to the enemies [sic] armor value the damage is 50% if the AP beats the armor you do 100%. If AP is less than the AV the bullet ricochets.” However, even he doesn’t remember what everything does, saying, “I don’t know what the light AP condition is. I think it might be if AP is 2 or less. But honestly I don’t know either.”

He described how Arrowhead attempted to strike a balance between providing information and overwhelming Helldivers 2 players with too much of it. However, Pilestedt acknowledges they may have gone too far in the other direction. “Yeah,” he wrote, “in retrospect it might have been a bad call.”

The post Helldivers 2 Stats are More Complicated than They Appear appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Just yesterday, Grand Theft Auto 6 developer Rockstar Games informed its employees they would be returning to the office full-time and scrapping remote work. Those employees have responded to the mandate, and they’re not happy. Some GTA 6 devs are even stating they fear a return to the “toxic ‘crunch’ practices” for which Rockstar was known during the development of games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V.

GTA 6 devs accuse Rockstar of broken promises

Rockstar has been trying to encourage its employees to return to the office since last year. When the developer tried to enforce a transition to a three-day office week in 2023, Rockstar claimed “this isn’t our first step to 5 days a week. No one wants to go back to the old way of working.” Now the GTA 6 devs are accusing Rockstar of breaking their promises following yesterday’s mandate that employees return to office full-time.

An anonymous employee told VGC that Rockstar is removing a remote working lifeline that allowed them to “balance care responsibilities, manage disabilities, and relocate as we need.” They continued:

Rockstar is snatching away that lifeline without a second thought for the workers who’ll be impacted most. After so many broken promises we now fear management may even be paving the way for a return to toxic ‘crunch’ practices. Senior leadership need to rethink their reckless decision making and engage with their staff to find an arrangement that works for everyone.

Rockstar had gained quite a reputation for its “toxic crunch practices” during previous games. Many of the accusations against the company involved 100-hour weeks, mandatory overtime, and fear tactics. As such, previous reports had claimed GTA 6 would be delayed until 2025 to avoid those crunch conditions.

However, mandatory overtime was a concern for another anonymous employee who said “just one of my concerns is being forced to work late hours in the office to maintain contact with global teams when before we could log on from home to attend late meetings.” The concerns have meant that the IWGB Game Workers Union has also issued a statement condemning Rockstar’s actions:

The workers in the IWGB Game Workers Union at Rockstar are pushing for transparency over pay and promotions, a healthy and inclusive workplace culture, and work life balance centred around what each worker needs. It is unacceptable that Rockstar leadership have gone back on their word time and time again and have ignored the workers’ requests for basic working conditions.

Workers across the industry are done with letting executives make reckless and harmful decisions and the Rockstar workers are showing us the start of what’s to come if they’re continually ignored. There’s no better time than now to join our union and push for this to be the healthy and sustainable games industry we know it can be.

IWGB Game Workers Union chairman Austin Kelmore

Rockstar is yet to comment.

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