Noob Shelter Podcast: Episode 11

NS-0011-2019-08-19-Final.mp3
SHOW INFORMATION:
  Show Notes for August 19, 2019
  Episode: 0011
  Show Title: Dumpster Fire
  Run Time: 1h 09m 57s
Credits
  Executive Producers: None
  Hosted By: Matt Fugitive & John Rythone
  Special Thanks to the following:
  Dave Jones: Freedom Controller
  Adam Curry: Sound Clips
  John Fletcher: Sound Clips
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  Caster.FM: Our stream/icecast provider
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  Please Donate To The Noob Shelter Podcast!!
TOP 5 GAMING NEWS STORIES:
  5: Cross-Console Play Coming To PUBG This Fall
    Link to Article
    Source: Game Informer News
    Mon, 19 Aug 2019 16:29
    Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players will finally get to play against each other in PUBG, as cross-console play is coming to the game in early October. Before then the feature will be available on the game's public test server in late September.
    Furthermore, PUBG Corp. says that with the Season 4 update on August 27, the company wants to deliver content to console players quicker, so console updates will occur two weeks after they come out on PC.
    For more on the game's Season 4 content '' including a trailer '' click here.
    [Source: Microsoft]
  4: Minecraft will get ray tracing for Nvidia RTX graphics cards
    Link to Article
    Source: The Verge - Gamings
    Mon, 19 Aug 2019 16:32
    Minecraft is about to get a major graphics overhaul, thanks to real-time ray-tracing support for any player using an Nvidia RTX card. Microsoft and Nvidia made the joint announcement at industry trade show Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, early on Monday morning. Ray-tracing support will arrive as a free update for all PC Minecraft users.
    ''Ray tracing sits at the center of what we think is next for Minecraft,'' Saxs Persson, head creative director for Minecraft at Microsoft, said in a statement. ''GeForce RTX gives the Minecraft world a brand-new feel to it. In normal Minecraft, a block of gold just appears yellow, but with ray tracing turned on, you really get to see the specular highlight, you get to see the reflection, you can even see a mob reflected in it.''
    Ray tracing generally improves the realism of a virtual scene by rendering in finer detail the different ways light operates in a scene and interacts with other objects, resulting in more realistic shadows and reflections.
    In this case, Microsoft and Nvidia say they're performing a specific ray-tracing technique known as path tracing. ''Path tracing simulates the way light is transported throughout a scene. It presents a unified model for lighting calculations for many different types of effects that have traditionally been implemented separately using rasterized or hybrid renderers,'' the companies explain in a joint press release.
    ''Ray tracing sits at the center of what we think is next for Minecraft.''
    Some other graphical improvements coming to Minecraft, thanks to ray tracing, include direct lighting from the sun, more realistic shadows, and transparent materials like stained glass and water with reflection and refraction effects. Microsoft and Nvidia haven't locked down a release date for the ray-tracing update, but it will be available to anyone using one of Nvidia's 2060, 2070, or 2080 cards as well as the Super and Ti variants of those cards. Nvidia also has a line of RTX cards for gaming laptops that also enable ray tracing for certain titles.
    Notably, this ray-tracing update is being announced just a week after Microsoft and Minecraft developer Mojang announced the cancellation of a planned graphical upgrade to the game, officially called the ''Super Duper Graphics Pack.'' The update involved improving the realism of lighting and shadows, more reflective surfaces, and other graphical upgrades that coincidentally appear to be achievable through ray tracing. (The update was also scheduled to bring 4K resolution to some devices, including the Xbox One X, so that's no longer on the table.)
    But Mojang said the pack ''proved too technically demanding to implement,'' mainly due to the performance hits across multiple platforms and device types, which is understandable given the vast amount of ways you can play Minecraft today. Thankfully, with ray tracing, players will get at least some comparable upgrades to the visual realism of Minecraft.
  3: Sony buys Spider-Man, Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games - VG247
    Link to Article
    Mon, 19 Aug 2019 20:40
    By Matt Martin,Monday, 19 August 2019 20:10 GMT
    Sony is all set to acquire Insomniac Games, developer of Marvel's Spider-Man, the Ratchet & Clank series, Resistance and Spyro.
    ''Insomniac Games is one of the most highly-acclaimed development studios in the industry and their legacy of best-in class storytelling and gameplay is unparalleled,'' said Shawn Layden, Chairman, SIE WWS.
    ''We have enjoyed a strong collaborative partnership with the studio for many years, and are thrilled to officially welcome them to the Worldwide Studios family. The addition of Insomniac Games to SIE WWS reiterates our commitment to developing world class gaming experiences that can only be found on the PlayStation platform.''
    Insomniac becomes Sony's 14th World Wide Studios team. Its latest release, Marvel's Spider-Man, has sold over 13 million units on PlayStation 4. Blimey.
    ''Joining the WWS family gives Insomniac even greater opportunities to achieve our studio vision of making positive and lasting impressions on people's lives,'' said Ted Price, Insomniac Games founder and CEO.
    ''We've enjoyed a special relationship with PlayStation practically since our inception. Our partnership amplifies our potential, and Marvel's Spider-Man was a testament to this. We're excited to take the next step in our growth alongside our longtime WWS partners. Most of all, we look forward to delivering fresh, new experiences for our fans.''
    Insomniac also made Sunset Overdrive for Xbox One and Fuse, but the less said about that, the better.
  2: Video Game Violence Redux
    Walmart denies report that it's taking violent video games off shelves - The Verge
      Link to Article
      Mon, 19 Aug 2019 17:40
      IGN reported this afternoon that Walmart is pulling violent video games from shelves, but the retailer confirmed to The Verge that it has not directed stores to remove them or halt sales. Instead, the company is removing signage, advertisements, and demos for some video games featuring violence and firearms in the wake of the El Paso mass shooting this past weekend.
      ''We've taken this action out of respect for the incidents of the past week, and it does not reflect a long-term change in our video game assortment,'' a company spokesperson told The Verge. ''We are focused on assisting our associates and their families, as well as supporting the community, as we continue a thoughtful and thorough review of our policies.''
      The spokesperson reiterated that this does not pertain to removing games from shelves; games, including violent, M-rated titles featuring firearms, are still available. The Verge was able to confirm that one store, located in Berlin, Vermont, was still selling games like Call of Duty, Red Dead Redemption II, and other titles featuring violence and firearms.
      Walmart is removing signage and other advertisements for some games
      The removals of violent video game imagery at some Walmart locations comes after a mass shooting at a Walmart superstore in El Paso, Texas that left 22 people dead and 24 others injured. The shooting has revived calls to blame such violence on video games and other media, with President Donald Trump saying in a press conference earlier this week, ''We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace.''
      On Wednesday, freelance writer Kenneth Shepard shared an internal Walmart memo on Twitter that told Walmart employees to remove any signage or displays that contain ''violent images or aggressive behavior'' for video games, movies, or hunting videos. That resulted in inspired headlines, like this one from Vice proclaiming, ''Walmart Removes Violent Video Game Signage, Still Sells Guns.''
      In a tweet on Friday, however, user Erik Tyler Louden posted a picture showing a nearly empty aisle at his local Walmart, the first indication that the sale of violent video games might have been part of Walmart's new policy, too. This may have been the actions of one store, although it's not clear at the moment whether Walmart locations have any discretion to set individual store policy regarding product availability.
  1: APEX Debacle
    Apex Legends forum furious as devs call players 'ass-hats' and 'freeloaders' - Polygon
      Link to Article
      Mon, 19 Aug 2019 16:02
      Developers of Apex Legends tried on Reddit to apologize for and explain a snafu involving cosmetic items in the game's current Iron Crown event. It did not go well. At all.
      The thread devolved into an eye-popping series of insults and grievances '-- from Respawn Entertainment developers '-- that magnified players' bad will toward the studio and the game. The result is an outraged Apex Legends subreddit this morning reposting screenshots of the most inflammatory comments and boiling with resentment at those who wrote them.
      To recap what kicked this off, the Iron Crown event introduced new skins when it launched earlier this week, but players could only get them by grinding against a difficult and expensive loot box mechanism. Fans immediately pushed back, feeling that Respawn had gone too far in its monetization of the free-to-play game this time.
      Late Friday, Respawn announced changes to Iron Crown cosmetics, making them available for direct purchase with the game's in-world currency (which also can be bought for real money). The official blog post announcing the changes made an apology, saying the studio ''need[s] to be better at letting our players know what to expect,'' and that the situation ''has been a huge learning experience for us.'' A post made to the Apex Legends subreddit on Friday night attempted to say the same thing.
      It got ugly, and even uglier when fed-up Respawn developers hauled off on angry players. Many of the developers' comments, particularly those from one by the handle dk05, have been deleted. This seems to be the one making everyone the angriest:
      Screenshot via Medium That was followed by:
      Screenshot via Medium Another:
      Screenshot via Medium Still another, where players are called ''freeloaders.''
      Screenshot via Medium The community manager even got into it:
      Screenshot via Medium This morning, posts about the flame war dominate the subreddit's front page, led by an open letter to Respawn from the community. In it, redditor cooloats says the studio ''committed the ultimate cardinal sin, you got personal.
      ''We won't forget this,'' they wrote. ''You've set a new tone for the kind of interaction we'll be having with you. It's a cold one.''
      We've reached out to representatives of Respawn and Electronic Arts to ask for additional comment on this mess, but being a Sunday morning, that may not be coming until more senior types can get in, triage this situation, and try to explain it.
    https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/
Gamescon:
  Gamescon announcements thus far:
  > GOW 5
  > Commanchie (returning/new game) - helicopter fighting game
  > DCL The Game
  > Need for speed heat?
  > Kerbal Space Program 2
  > Little NIghtmares 2
  > Predator Hunting Grounds
  > Monster Hunter World ICEBORN
  > The Cycle /new pve game
  > Life is Strange 2
  > Humankind // dirty ass caveman playing a synth in space
  > Borderlands 3
  > Everspace 2
  > WItcher 3 Switch
  > FIfa 20
  > Disintergration
  > Darksiders Genesis
  > Destiny 2 Shadowkeep
  > Remothered
  > Playstation eats insomniac
  > Erica - Interactive thriller
  > Anno 1800 - F2P till 8/25 UPlay
  > Iron Harvest 1920
MORE GAMER STUFF:
  Intellivision Amico Trailer Offers A Taste Of Family Friendly Gaming - Game Informer
    Link to Article
    Mon, 19 Aug 2019 20:52
    Intellivision's new family-friendly console seems like a bit of an oddball in today's market, but it hopes to offer some good, clean fun and possibly fill a hidden niche in the market. We can't argue with that premise.
    During Gamescom, Intellivision dropped a new trailer for the system that offered an incredilby brief look at some of the games headed to the system '' nothing as big as Earthword Jim yet '' but many of these exclusives look like updates to arcade classics that will never go out of fashion.
    LINK DROP - https://www.intellivisionentertainment.com/
  Nvidia is bringing its GeForce Now cloud gaming service to Android phones
    Link to Article
    Source: The Verge - Gamings
    Mon, 19 Aug 2019 20:42
    See the photo above? That's not Nvidia '-- it's Microsoft's xCloud, streaming Halo to an Android phone from remote internet servers powered by AMD GPUs. Google will also be bringing its Stadia cloud gaming service to Google Pixel phones from AMD-powered servers, and you'll be able to try both this fall.
    That's probably why AMD rival Nvidia isn't sitting still. The graphics giant just announced it will ''soon extend'' its existing GeForce Now cloud gaming service to Android phones, including flagship devices from LG and Samsung.
    Unfortunately, we don't have details like ''when exactly?'' and ''how much?'' except that you won't have to pay to try Nvidia's service at first. Like the current GeForce Now for Mac, PC, and Nvidia's Shield TV set-top box, it'll be in beta when it starts out.
    Like other mobile cloud gaming offerings, Nvidia says you'll need a gamepad to take full advantage:
    To take full advantage of the mobile experience, we're recommending gaming with a Bluetooth gamepad, such as SHIELD controller, Razer Raiju Mobile, Steelseries Stratus Duo or Glap Gamepad (in Korea), as some games will be unplayable on an Android phone without a gamepad.
    It's not much of a stretch for Nvidia to bring the service to Android phones, by the way. In another life, Nvidia's GeForce Grid first came to the Android-based Nvidia Shield portable gaming console, and it's been running on the Nvidia Shield TV, which runs Android TV, for years. On Mac and PC, the invite-only beta of GeForce Now has proven to be pretty impressive at streaming games over the internet, at least if you've got an excellent Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection and live relatively near a server '-- I've been beating bosses in the downright masochistic Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice using GeForce Now, syncing progress to Steam as I go.
    Whether it'll work over LTE or 5G cellular connections is another question, though. And I'm curious how Nvidia might make the economics work if it tries to actually make money from the service and not just, you know, run betas forever.
    Recently, Nvidia partnered with Softbank and LG's U+ to bring GeForce Now to Japan and Korea '-- it was previously available in North America and Europe '-- and it's been rolling out newer servers powered by its RTX graphics cards in California and Germany to add additional performance.
  Destiny 2 will get a major PvP overhaul when the New Light free-to-play version drops
    Link to Article
    Source: VG247
    Mon, 19 Aug 2019 16:34
    By James O'Connor,Sunday, 18 August 2019 23:52 GMT
    Bungie has addressed the need for a significant overhaul in Destiny 2's PvP modes, and is promising major changes.
    The new Shadowkeep expansion and New Light F2P version of the game will both launch on October 1, and they should bring with them some major changes to how Destiny 2's player versus player combat works.
    These changes have been detailed in a 'Director's Cut' message on Bungie's official site from Luke Smith, the game's director. The full thing is worth a read if you want a full lowdown of everything happening with Destiny 2, but we're focused on his comments about PvP play, which he acknowledges isn't everything that it could be.
    In the most, Smith says that things are not where Bungie would like them to be: ''We haven't released a new permanent game mode, many game modes from Destiny 1 are nowhere to be seen, there isn't a public-facing PvP team, and the last real thing we said was Trials is staying on hiatus indefinitely.''
    He also believes that they ''made too many changes'' to the formula with Trials of the Nine, and that it is now on indefinite hiatus. He acknowledges that the team has not discussed PVP much because they ''didn't have a lot to say'', and that it is '' need of some quality-of-life improvements and restructuring.''
    To this end, Smith has listed a series of changes being made:
    We've removed the Quickplay and Competitive nodes from the Director.If you're looking for an experience like Quickplay, we've added Classic Mix (a connection-based playlist [like Quickplay today]). Classic Mix includes Control, Clash, and Supremacy.Competitive is replaced by 3v3 Survival (which now awards Glory).We've also added a Survival Solo Queue playlist that also awards Glory.We've added 6v6 Control as its own playlist.With the potential influx of new players this Fall, we want to have a playlist that signals to new players that this is where to start.We feel like 6v6 Control is the right starting place when introducing new friends to Destiny.We've added a weekly 6v6 rotator and a weekly 4v4 rotator.These rotator playlists are where modes like Clash, Supremacy, Mayhem, Lockdown, and Countdown will appear.We've removed some underperforming maps from matchmaking, too.Matchmaking is being changed too, to seperate new players for more experiences Guardians more effectively, since many new players are expected once the game goes F2P.
    There are more details listed, but these are the most important once. Smith says that once the changes are up, the team will be monitoring to see how they impact the game, and to measure their effectiveness. Hopefully this will all leave Destiny 2's PVP modes in a good place.
QUICK SHOTS:
  Witcher 3 Mod Replaces Geralt With Henry Cavill
    Link to Article
    Source: Game Informer News
    Mon, 19 Aug 2019 16:35
    Excited for The Witcher Netflix series? If you're impatient for it to arrive, or you know, you just really like its star Henry Cavill, you can swap out Geralt's face for his instead in The Witcher 3.
    Now, you can chop off monsters' heads, play Gwent in a tavern, and romance Triss or Yennefer all while looking like Cavill. This is possible thanks to a mod created by Adnan4444 that replaces Geralt's face with the actor's.
    Doug Cockle, the voice actor of Geralt, gave his humorous take on Twitter about what he thinks of the recent mod.
    Let's just get this straight... I don't give a rats hairy buttocks about the Henry Cavill face mod on game Geralt. They left my glorious performance captured biceps and pecs alone thank goodness and that's all I care about. ðŸ† @HenryCavillNews #witcher https://t.co/VLjdq50hpW
    '-- Doug Cockle ðŸº'š--¸ðŸ§¸ (@DCockle) August 15, 2019The Witcher Netflix series releases later this year. Read about how it is going to be based off Andrzej Sapkowski's novels rather than the games. Watch a trailer for the upcoming series here.
End of Show Mix:
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