Syndicated
Gaming News
Borderlands 3 Lets You Buy Cosmetics With Real Money
Borderlands 3, like many other big games, will let you pay money to buy extra content beyond the initial purchase price. Speaking today during the Borderlands 3 reveal event, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford stressed that Borderlands 3 will steer away from the “microtransaction-y, free-to-play kind of stuff,” according to PCGamer.
That being said, the game will let you pay extra money to buy cosmetics, like skins and heads, that do not affect gameplay, Pitchford added. This could be considered a form of microtransaction, but Pitchford said again that Borderlands 3 aims to steer clear of “that free-to-play junk” when it comes to microtransactions. “We’re not doing any of that free-to-play junk. There’s not going to be any microtransactions, there’s not going to be any of that nonsense,” he said.
Borderlands 3 creative director Paul Sage said skins, heads, and other cosmetic items can be purchased with real money but they won’t lead to a pay-to-win situation and that Borderlands 3 overall is not designed as a games-as-a-service title.
Sage told Game Informer, “We’re selling cosmetic items, but we’re not going to nickel and dime players. DLC will come down the line, but the game won’t have anything excessive.”
A spokesperson for Borderlands 3 publisher 2K Games told USGamer about the game’s microtransactions, “Players will have the option to purchase certain cosmetic items like character, vehicle, and weapon skins, but none of these purchases would be considered pay-to-win or impacting on the gameplay, like weapons or actual gear.”
Additionally, Borderlands 3 will receive multiple expansion packs over time that will also be paid, just like Borderlands 2. At least four story campaign add-ons with new missions and other extras are included with the Borderlands 3 season pass. We also learned today that Borderlands 3 has no loot boxes.
Borderlands 3 launches on September 13 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Read next: Borderlands 3: You Can Totally Play Solo, And It’s Pretty Great
from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/borderlands-3-lets-you-buy-cosmetics-with-real-mon/1100-6466610/
AMD Boss Teases PS5’s “Special Sauce”
The PlayStation 5 is coming. While it hasn’t been officially announced by Sony as of yet, system architect Mark Cerny recently began talking about it.
One of the first things we learned is that the next-generation console will feature an AMD chip. AMD CEO Lisa Su recently discussed the company’s partnership with Sony, saying the chip will help power the PlayStation 5’s “special sauce.”
“We are so honoured and proud to be part of Sony’s next-generation PlayStation,” Su told Jim Cramer. “This has been a really long-term partnership with them. We love gaming. We think gaming is a really good secular growth market. What we have done with Sony is really architect something for their application, for their special sauce. It’s a great honor for us. We’re really excited about what the next generation PlayStation will do. And happy to be a part of it.”
The AMD chip in the PS5 that has a CPU based on the third-generation Ryzen. It has eight cores of the seven-nanometer Zen 2 microchip. Additionally, the AMD chip in the PS5 enabled 3D audio, a key part of helping players become more immersed, according to Cerny.
AMD is also working with Google on their new streaming service, Stadia, while Su also previously spoke about working with Microsoft on a new console. This may be one of the new Xbox consoles Microsoft has in the works that could be announced at E3 this year.
The PlayStation 5 will have an “appealing” price point for its specs, according to Cerny, but there is no word on specifics as of yet. The console will also support backwards compatibility for PS4 games. Other features include a solid-state drive, and the potential to support 8K resolution. You can read up on all of the technical specs we know so far.
As for a release date, the PlayStation 5 is not launching during Sony’s current fiscal year, which means it will not arrive until after March 2020.
from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/amd-boss-teases-ps5s-special-sauce/1100-6466609/
Microsoft Provides Examples Of “Acceptable Trash Talk” For Xbox Live
Microsoft recently updated its “Community Standards for Xbox,” and it is good to see a company as big as Microsoft take a hard line against nasty behaviour online. One section of the document pertains to “acceptable trash talk,” and Microsoft provides some funny-sounding examples.
But before we get to that, Microsoft wants to make clear that hate and harassment have no home on Xbox. “To make Xbox Live a place where everyone can hang out, and to prevent people from feeling uncomfortable or unwelcome, we all need to be stewards,” Microsoft says. “This means more than just not harassing other players–it means embracing them. It means saving those unsavory jokes for people you know will enjoy them. It means taking particular care for others while you play, keeping in mind how they might interpret your content.”
Microsoft said it understands that gaming competition is at the heart of many online experiences, and some multiplayer matches can “get heated.” Some “trash talk” is acceptable on Xbox Live, Microsoft says, but it becomes a problem when it transitions to harassment.
Microsoft officially describes trash talk as: “Any lighthearted banter or bragging that focuses on the game at hand and encourages healthy competition.”
Harassment, meanwhile, is defined by Microsoft as: “Any negative behavior that’s personalized, disruptive, or likely to make someone feel unwelcome or unsafe. To qualify as harassment, the behavior doesn’t have to be drawn-out or persistent. Even a single abusive message could harm someone’s experience. Know when to draw the line, when to back off. Know and respect the other player.”
To make its point clearer, Microsoft provided examples. Here they are, as written by Microsoft (via Kotaku AU):
Acceptable trash talk includes
- Get destroyed. Can’t believe you thought you were on my level.
- That was some serious potato aim. Get wrecked.
- Only reason you went positive was you spent all game camping. Try again, kid.
- Cheap win. Come at me when you can actually drive without running cars off the road.
- That sucked. Get good and then come back when your k/d’s over 1.
Going too far looks like
- Get <sexual threat>. Can’t believe you thought you were on my level.
- Hey <profanity>, that was some serious potato aim. Get wrecked, trash.
- Only reason you went positive was you spent all game camping. KYS, kid.
- Cheap win. Totally expected from a <racial slur>.
- You suck. Get out of my country–maybe they’ll let you back in when your k/d’s over 1.
In terms of enforcement and consequences, Microsoft says it will temporarily suspend people in many cases. “We know people make mistakes, and we believe lapses in judgment can be significant opportunities for growth,” the company said.
Players who are found to have violated the Xbox Community Stands may face temporary suspension of access to “features that are most closely associated with the problematic behavior.” For example, you may be temporarily restricted from playing games online, sending messages, communicating over voice, or broadcasting gameplay, among other things.
People who repeatedly behave badly may be permanently suspended, with access to all game licenses and other content revoked forever. It sounds like you’d have to be a huge jerk to get banned. “We may permanently suspend a profile or device if we can no longer trust it due to a severe violation, or if our attempts to correct repeated negative behaviors are unsuccessful,” Microsoft says.
You can read the full Community Standards For Xbox document here.
from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/microsoft-provides-examples-of-acceptable-trash-ta/1100-6466608/
