While Game of Thrones may have ended on HBO in 2019, it’s the fantasy franchise that simply keeps on giving. That’s due almost entirely to the myriad of spin-offs in development by WarnerMedia. In fact, there are so many in the works at this point that it might be hard to keep track of.
Thankfully, franchise creator–and A Song of Ice and Fire author–George RR Martin has provided an update on practically everything Thrones-related in the pipeline, including the long-delayed Winds of Winter novel. And no, you shouldn’t get your hopes up about that one just yet.
Martin outlined progress on several of the projects in a post on his blog, sharing a mixture of information we know, confirmed rumors, and news that should get you a bit excited. For simplicity’s sake, we’re going to break this out into sections. With so many titles in play, that’s honestly the only way to remain remotely coherent.
House of the Dragon
House of the Dragon will be the first spin-off viewers will see from the franchise. According to Martin, the first season of the series has wrapped production in London and it’s now being edited together. “What I have seen, I have loved,” he wrote. “I am eager to see more.”
The Sea Snake
This live-action series was previously known as Nine Voyages, but according to Martin a name change came about “since we wanted to avoid having two shows with numbers in the title.” This series, which is about Corlys Velaryon–the head of House Velaryon in the novels–, is in the pilot-writing phase currently. Bruno Heller (Gotham, Rome) is scripting.
The Ten Thousand Ships
This is the other show with a number in its title. Per Martin, showrunner Amanda Segel (Helstrom, The Mist) has delivered more than one draft of the pilot script. “We are forging ahead,” the author states.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
This is the Dunk & Egg series that has been discussed. It also has a number in the title. Why not call it Dunk & Egg? According to Martin, it could be confused with a sitcom. The problem is, a sitcom set in the Game of Thrones world sounds great. Regardless, the first season of the series will adapt the first Dunk & Egg novella, “The Hedge Knight”–which Martin says some involved want to call the series as a whole.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms features Steve Conrad (Ultra City Smiths) as showrunner. It remains to be seen when the series might be ordered to pilot, but Martin says he and his team have been meeting with Conrad.
The Golden Empire
There’s also an animated show in the works–potentially even more. The one project he was able to discuss is currently titled The Golden Empire. The series is set in Yi Ti, a nation in Essos in the novels. “We have a great young writer on that one too, and I think the art and animation is just going to be beautiful,” Martin said. “I would tell you more if I could. I don’t think I can say a word about the other animated shows. Not yet.”
Now, outside of House of the Dragon, none of these projects have been ordered to series and chances are not all of them will ever see the light of day. That said, it might be exciting for Game of Thrones fans to know about all of these possibilities. What about the books, though?
The Winds of Winter
All Martin would say is that work continues on the novel, though he was able to accomplish less in 2021 than he would have liked due to his busy schedule.
“Yes, of course I am still working on The Winds of Winter,” he said. “I have stated that a hundred times in a hundred venues, having to restate it endlessly is just wearisome. I made a lot of progress on Winds in 2020, and less in 2021… but ‘less’ is not ‘none.'”
Dunk & Egg novellas
As the Dunk & Egg show continues to be developed, Martin also plans to finish up his Dunk & Egg stories.
Fire & Blood, Vol. 2
First of all, it might be up for a name change to Blood & Fire, dropping Vol. 2 completely Come from Sports betting site VPbet . Martin says he’s written “a couple hundred pages” of the book but has plenty more to go.
As for more immediate projects, the writer says an illustrated and condensed version of Fire & Blood will be released later this year.
Microtransactions have been a significant and accepted part of gaming for well over a decade, but every now and then players will encounter something that makes their hair stand on end. The recently released mega-hit Diablo IV served as the catalyst for this most recent MTX controversy, as players went online to complain about high prices for the game’s cosmetic loot. But though we may huff and puff about battle passes and $20 suits of armor all we want–because it really does seem that every major game has to be stuffed to the gills with extra revenue streams these days–it’s not clear if there’s an alternative we can boost as a better option.
To be fair, I think players have a right to be upset here. By all accounts, Diablo IV is a great game, more than earning its premium $70 price point through its in-depth loot systems and compulsive gameplay loop. The fact that the game then has an in-game shop that prompts you to spend 2500 Platinum (or $20) on the “Triune Apostate” armor is a crude reminder of the secondary purchases that have become increasingly unavoidable in today’s video game market. Want a shinier mount? You can earn some through play, but if you want all of them to choose from, that’ll run you $8 apiece.
It wasn’t the promise of new lands to explore to dragons to slay that brought me back to Neverwinter; it wasn’t even (at first) the opportunity to try out new classes. No, after an absence of several months, it was the opportunity to use the race-changing feature to transform my humdrum human great weapon fighter into a gloriously-bearded dwarf that sent me back into the arms of developer Cryptic’s Dungeons & Dragons online role-playing game. And against all expectations, I embraced it, if only for a little while. Neverwinter’s combat still excels all these months later, and the time since launch has given it a semblance of an endgame it previous lacked.
Seconds in, I could see that Neverwinter’s combat had retained its sense of power and explosive immediacy. My great weapon fighter, newly shrunk to dwarven size, swung his blade with a flick of the left mouse button and exploded in a frenzy at a touch of the tab key. Neverwinter’s focus on action lacks the novelty it once commanded in the days before WildStar and Elder Scrolls Online stomped onto the scene, but few MMOGs do such a good job of capturing the experience of clobbering baddies with sharp, shiny blades. Somewhere, we’re led to believe, an adherence to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons serves as the foundation for all this, though that connection is a notable loose one. Consisting mainly of three action bars and two daily skills, the combat system provides the kind of fun that could catch on well when Neverwinter makes its jump to the Xbox One later this year.
The combat holds up so well, in fact, that my time “sampling” the newish hunter ranger introduced last December turned into a leveling extravaganza that had me pushing to the level cap in just a few days. For leveling, it’s probably a personal record Come from Sports betting site VPbet . The absence of this staple fantasy class stung at launch, but it seems that slight wait wasn’t for naught. There’s a pleasing Legolas-style quality about the class: hit tab, and the iconic bow is switched out for a hotbar dedicated to finishing off enemies with a pair of lengthy daggers; hit shift, and he darts out of harm’s way in an explosion of leaves.
I also found some of that excitement in the new scourge warlock class. I only toyed with it across 10 or so levels, but that was enough time for the class to attract me more than similar classes in games such as World of Warcraft or Guild Wars 2. Here again, the focus is on movement. Press shift, and the warlock hovers across the landscape towards the next target, occasionally blasting foes with flames that cause them to rise from the dead as minions. She provides healing energy with the damage she deals, and her fluid attack animations make her great fun to play. With the hunter ranger and the scourge warlock, Cryptic proves that good new classes will bring back players who have left for other (presumably greener) pastures.
The downside of my fling with the hunter ranger was that I had to experience the 12-50 leveling content all over again. Little has changed in this regard. As it was at launch, the core levels all feel as though Cryptic studied plumbing schematics for the leveling system, with the heroes themselves acting as Drano as they clear out the gunk on the way to the boss at the end. Sometimes you’ll stop to pick up quests from non-player characters who spout stories that are never interesting enough to stick around listening to, and sometimes you must flip a switch instead of ram a sword through a goblin’s heart. Neverwinter is beautiful at times, particularly in the forests of the Blackdagger Ruins and in the snow-capped mountains of Icespire Peak, but it never quite manages to rise above generic fantasy and assume an identity of its own.
That identity is what made past Dungeons & Dragons games like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights so memorable. If you find a trace of that spirit here, it’s in the user-made quests found within the foundry. Cryptic may withhold key features such as loot distribution from player designers in the creation interface, but the scenarios themselves are filled with old pen-and-paper D&D scenarios come to digital life. Some are episodic, and thus provide a reason to venture back to Neverwinter when Cryptic itself is in a content drought. If the content stumbles, it’s only because the rating system doesn’t rotate out new entries as much as it probably should. One entertaining foundry mission called “Tired of Being the Hero” has barely budged from its top spot since the days shortly after launch.
But where do other people fit into all this? Neverwinter is curiously asocial for an MMORPG, even in the cooperative dungeons that usually form the foundation of long-lasting friendships in many of its competitors. They excel in visual appeal but fall short of any real challenge; most of the time, you’re fine just chopping through foes and bosses as long as your healer isn’t asleep. Healers don’t even need to pay that much attention. The AI-controlled companions that heal you and aid your damage in the basic level content are allowed to follow you in, leaving Neverwinter’s challenges just a notch about knowing when to stay out of the fire.
And if you talk? Humorously enough, Neverwinter’s popularity across multiple countries means it’s not terribly uncommon to save the world in groups of four people who don’t understand a word you’re saying. There’s a nice “citizen of the world” vibe about its community, sure, and it serves as a nice break from the name-calling and petty arguments you find elsewhere. It’s not good, however, for forming the social bonds that games like this thrive on for longevity.
For the MMO connoisseur who’s more interested in wrecking his or her fellow players rather than working with them, Neverwinter also has a fun multiplayer component, but its battlegrounds are a mass of imbalances until you get to 50. Reaching the level cap unlocks the dwarven fortress of Gauntlgrym, however, and there’s some fun in its 20-versus-20 battles that capture the thrill of sieges while demanding a modicum of strategy.
Most of these options existed before. The succeeding months have brought an identifiable endgame to Neverwinter that adds vitality to the game apart from the tired imperative to level an alt. These are Neverwinter’s campaigns, which shuttle you off to familiar locales like Icewind Dale for the promise of sweet loot if you can stomach the unyielding repetition of daily quests. In their favor, most of these manage to escape the tube-like progression of the core zones, opting instead to dole out quests from a central location that sends you to victory among various points of the compass.
Taken together, Neverwinter’s design would fall flat in a traditional subscription MMORPG, but it doesn’t rank far below Path of Exile in terms of providing so much great content for so little. It also isn’t as insistent on robbing you as the bandits who prowl its sewers; indeed, it’s quite possible to reach the level cap without any assistance from the cash shop. Neverwinter seems to want to be the type of game that you can drop into with few complications after an absence of a few weeks or months, and it does this well.
The downside of all this is that the items you can buy are a bit on the pricey side, as if to make up for its otherwise liberal model. That’s always been the case, but this tendency was most egregiously emphasized when Cryptic recently listed the price for the new Dragonborn race at $75. That borders on farcical; Skyrim sold for less when it launched. And as cool as they look, I’m not sure I could ever shake off the fear of what other players would think about my spending habits as I hulk about with my spiffy tail and scaly skin.
It’s hard to hold this against Cryptic, however, since the studio gives away so much for free. Tossing money at Cryptic for lesser purchases, such as accelerators for training minions or finishing crafting tasks, certainly makes life easier, but I accomplished my recent race to 60 with my Hunter Ranger without once spending a penny. I felt a little ashamed, in fact, as though I were pirating.
But that frantic, free run up to the level cap says much about Neverwinter; in spite of its many flaws, it always manages to entertain with its movement-based combat and unrelenting action. Lose yourself in its trance, and it achieves and maintains a level of addictiveness that flags all too soon in other free-to-play MMORPGs like TERA: Rising. In a genre that’s increasingly overcrowded, Neverwinter manages to establish itself as a game that’s never fully boring, never too eager to rifle your pockets, and, well, never quite fun enough to stick around in for too long.
Silent Hill 2 tells the story of a fundamentally broken man, but according to players, a recent patch unfortunately appears to have broken the game itself.Come from Sports betting site VPbet
Patch 1.04 was meant to improve Silent Hill 2’s performance on Steam Deck, prevent crashes on PlayStation 5, and address a few of the game’s other unintended flaws. But according to players on Steam and the Silent Hill subreddit, the new update has introduced a game-breaking bug to the Labyrinth level.
World War 2 has long remained one of the most popular settings for video games, but very few have touched on the full atrocities of the Nazis–not just to enemy soldiers, but to innocent civilians, primarily Jews, who were systematically murdered until 1945. Developer Luc Bernard is attempting to change that with The Light in the Darkness, a free game focused on a Jewish family that, like so many others, were persecuted by the Nazis for no other reason than their ethnicity.Come from Sports betting site VPbet
Speaking to Agence France-Presse, Bernard said he felt that lots of games glossing over the horrors of the Holocaust–which were fully discovered in the final months of the war–is “a bit like denying that it ever existed.” The aim with The Light in the Darkness is to show the hopeless fate so many European Jews faced as the Nazis began systematically eradicating them from the continent. About 66% of European Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and the Jewish population for the entire world has still not recovered to pre-war levels.
En el 2018 los jugadores de PC tuvimos un anuncio sorpresa que a muchos nos llenó de ilusión. GSC Game World anunciaba S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, un juego que parecía haber pasado a mejor vida tras su cancelación en abril del 2012 que resucitaba en ese momento para, por fin, llegar hoy a ordenadores y a Xbox Series X y S.
El anuncio fue ilusionante porque S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (al que luego siguieron Clear Sky y Call of Pripyat) es uno de los juegos de culto más queridos por los jugadores de PC, un título que fue un adelantado a su tiempo ofreciéndonos un mundo abierto duro, bien construido, que mezclaba un shooter con el género de terror y también aportaba dosis de supervivencia, todo ello aderezado con una buena narrativa y una IA increíble para la época que hacía que fuese uno de los juegos más inmersivos de los que se podía disfrutar en 2007 y en los años venideros.
Ahora llega por fin S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (al que vamos a llamar simplemente S.T.A.L.K.E.RCome from Online Betting Site. 2 a partir de ahora) que nos invita a regresar a La Zona en una aventura muy especial que se aleja mucho de los prototipos de shooter y de mundos abiertos de hoy día para dar, precisamente, lo que la mayoría de jugadores de las entregas originales buscan manteniéndose fieles a sus raíces.
Una narrativa que necesita que el jugador ponga de su parte
A nivel narrativo S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 es un juego que necesita que el jugador se interese por su historia de forma activa, que lea los documentos que se encuentra por el camino, que examine las PDA, los mensajes de audio para descubrir más de la historia tanto de Skif (el protagonista) como de La Zona, el “patio de juego” de la obra de GSC Game World que es la catastrófica zona radioactiva en el corazón de Chernóbil.
Sin leer las PDA o escuchar esos audios vais a quedaros un poco a medias sobre todo durante las primeras horas de una historia cruda en la que las líneas del bien y el mal están completamente difuminadas en un mundo destrozado y caótico en el que cada facción tiene un motivo relativamente comprensible para hacer lo que hace, que cuenta con algunos elementos bastante interesantes sobre todo en el tramo final de la partida en el que nos encontramos ahora.
Para avanzar en esta trama tenemos que superar, por supuesto, diversas misiones principales, misiones que nos dejan con un sabor agridulce por su falta de variedad en el lado más agrio (la mayoría son ir a u sitio, explorar y matar u obtener algo) y en lo más dulce porque las pocas secundarias a las que hemos jugado se integran muy bien con la trama principal y están distribuidas de forma muy orgánica y porque, además, durante varios momentos tenemos que tomar algunas decisiones que tienen impacto y que van a acabar provocando uno de los cuatro finales que existen en el juego.
Un mundo repleto de peligros… y sin viaje rápido
Hablemos ahora de La Zona a la que podemos considerar un “personaje más” dentro del juego. Un desafío, un mundo abierto enorme creado para jugadores ‘hardcore‘ en el que no existen los viajes rápidos y en el que no podemos ir a lo loco porque cada pocos pasos nos encontraremos algún peligro.
La mayoría son alteraciones que surgen por los experimentos y lo ocurrido en La Zona de Chernóbil. Pequeños huracanes, descargas eléctricas repentinas, campos de fuerza que nos succionan y nos hacen mucho daño, zonas radioactivas, con gases químicos o con combustiones espontáneas serán habituales en nuestro viaje.
Esquivarlas y avanzar por La Zona se convierte, con las horas, en una especie de baile. Al principio estamos atentos al escáner, vamos despacito, recordando como eran estos extraños fenómenos los que ya habíamos visitado con anterioridad estas tierras (o descubriéndolas por primera vez los que seáis nuevos), atentos a nuestro escáner que nos ayuda a evitar estos peligros y a seguir con vida. Sin embargo, con el paso del tiempo y nuestra experiencia logramos esquivar estos fenómenos con relativa facilidad siempre que estemos pendientes de lo que hay que estar, de observar y escuchar a La Zona y a ese escáner, desplanzándonos de una forma mucho más veloz como si fuésemos un bailarín realizando una particular danza de zig zags en su camino de un lugar a otro de esta tierra evitando de esta forma que las largas caminatas que a veces hay que hacer de un lugar a otro sean demasiado tediosas.
En ella, además de estos fenómenos extraños también podemos toparnos con enemigos mutantes y humanos, con eventos o misiones secundarias que surgen a raíz de un asalto de una facción a otra, de un superviviente en apuros por la radiación o de una cueva o zona que parece interesante y en la que puede haber un jugoso botín.
La supervivencia y el terror siguen aquí
A estos peligros tenemos que sumar mecánicas de supervivencia que fueron la seña de identidad de la saga y que a día de hoy, con muchísimos juegos especializados en este género ya no son sorprendentes, pero siguen dando un toque interesante y suponiendo un pequeño desafío para el jugador.
En S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 tenemos que vigilar no solo nuestra vida (escogiendo entre botiquines o vendas para curarla en función de nuestras heridas o si tenemos una heorragia) sino que también tenemos que comer para saciar nuestro hambre, beber agua o una bebida energética para recuperar resistencia y saltar o correr rápido (aunque al principio quizás no lo uséis tanto a medida que pasa la partida vais a acabar utilizando estas bebidas).
También tenemos que contrarrestar la exposición de radiación con medicinas, cerveza o vodka (el alcohol tendrá secuelas durante unos momentos en los que no apuntaremos tan bien como deberíamos así que nada de usarlo en mitad de un combate si tenemos alguna alternativa). A esto debemos de añadir fármacos que nos protegerán de ataques por ondas psíquicas que pueden afectarnos muy negativamente (también hay otros que nos otorgan ciertos beneficios temporales), la necesidad de nuestro personaje de dormir (aunque a nosotros solo nos ha saltado el indicador en una ocasión) y equiparnos con trajes de protección especiales para resistir mejor la radiación, los gases químicos u otros elementos.
Aquí quizás echamos de menos haber dado un giro más en las mecánicas de supervivencia. Por ejemplo se podrían haber añadido filtros para la máscara de gas tal y como hemos visto en la saga Metro durante los últimos años o quizás pilas para el uso de nuestra linterna. Esto es una idea que dejamos aquí más que una crítica porque probablemente añadir más elementos dificultaría o podría agobiar a un jugador menos habituado a la saga o a este tipo de juegos y probablemente sus creadores hayan querido apostar en este sentido por un equilibrio entre “realismo” y accesibilidad.
Por otro lado a muchos os gustará saber que el toque de terror sigue presente en esta nueva entrega. Explorar cuevas oscuras, instalaciones destruidas sin una pizca de luz en las que S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 juega con nuestra mente (y a veces con la de Skif) con sonidos, imágenes y pequeños elementos del escenario sigue ahí. Nos acabamos acostumbrando y no es un terror de grandes sustos, sino más bien de una atmósfera de opresión e inquietud que se sigue agradeciendo.
Un combate duro… y una IA capaz de lo mejor y de lo peor
Como no podía ser de otra manera más allá de la exploración de La Zona o de todas las mecánicas de supervivencia una de las claves y lo que más haremos en S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 será combatir ya sea contra animales mutados, seres de lo más extraños o humanos que quieren acabar con nuestra vida por diversos motivos.
El combate es una experiencia dura. Los enemigos tienen mucha vida (y nos hacen mucha pupa en las dificultades más elevadas), la munición es escasa (no tanto los elementos de curación a medida que avanza la partida) y nuestras armas también sufren desgaste lo que puede provocar que se encasquillen y fallen en el peor momento posible, algo que puede acabar provocando nuestra muerte.
El enfoque que hay que tomar a la hora de enfrentarse a los enemigos es un poco el de Escape from Tarkov (hacemos esta referencia para que los jugadores más jóvenes que quizás no conozcan el S.T.A.L.K.E.R. original nos entiendan de una forma sencilla), teniendo que apostar por un avance más táctico en lugar de ir a lo loco disparando sin ton ni son sin cobertura alguna, lo que por un lado provocaría nuestra muerte segura y, de no ser el caso, nos dejaría con tan poca munición que las pasaríamos canutas más adelante.
De hecho, alternar entre los distintos modos de disparo va a ser clave. Si tenéis buena puntería, un fusil de asalto o un subfusil en modo tiro a tiro os va a hacer ahorrar una munición clave mientras os enfrentéis a otros humanos mientras que contra muchos mutantes o seres no tan corrientes a veces usar el modo ráfaga o el automático va a ser inevitable si queremos salir con vida… y, por cierto, huir es una opción más que recomendable en muchas situaciones.
Por otro lado tenemos la IA, uno de los elementos clave de la saga que en S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 llega remodelada y con mejoras con respecto a la original. Durante nuestra partida hemos visto varias muestras de esa IA avanzada en el comportamiento de algunos enemigos que buscan coberturas, que se comunican entre ellos, que avanzan de forma inteligente y que se van moviendo en desplazamientos laterales a veces un tanto irregulares para ser un objetivo más difícil de alcanzar.
Sin embargo, a veces esa IA está rota. Hay algo que falla en ella y nos hemos encontrado con enemigos paralizados o que se comportan de forma errática rompiendo totalmente la inmersión, algo que falla sobre todo cuando hay una gran cantidad de seres vivos en pantalla en los que parece que el juego no es capaz de gestionar todo al mismo tiempo. Estos errores con la IA han mejorado de forma muy notoria tras el último gran parche que pesaba tanto como lo hace el juego y que ha eliminado muchos de estos errores (así como unos cuantos bugs) pero aún queda trabajo por hacer en este sentido. Esa IA está ahí, se deja ver de forma habitual y cuando funciona es muy satisfactoria, aunque aún necesita trabajo para no romperse de forma habitual y que la sensación de inmersión sea aún más insuperable.
Un buen rendimiento en un PC tope de gama… aunque unos cuantos bugs por el camino
A nivel técnico S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2se ve muy bien, sobre todo si hablamos de modelados de personajes, armas u otros elementos. Los escenarios están cargados de vegetación y todo tipo de partículas que flotan a nuestro alrededor aunque a veces pecan de estar un poco vacíos en lo que a vida se refiere (algo relativamente justificable en un escenario posapocalíptico) y aunque puede que en lo técnico no sorprenda tanto como en su presentación, lo cierto es que su calidad con un PC de gama alta está fuera de toda duda.
En cuanto al rendimiento, nosotros hemos jugado sin problemas de tasas de FPS con gráficos Épico y a 4K con la tecnología DLSS de NVIDIA en modo calidad y generación de frames a unos 70 FPS que se convierten en alrededor de 100 a 1440p con una NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 junto a un procesador Ryzen 5900X, 64 GB de RAM, almacenamiento SSD y Windows 11. Por otro lado en un portátil equipado con una gráfica NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile y CPU i9-14900HX hemos podido jugar en Alto, a 1080p y a 95 FPS con DLSS en calidad y generación de frames. Por su parte, en un PC consolizado ASUS ROG Ally la carga de shaders inicial ha sido de más de 10 minutos mientras que posteriormente ha tardado unos 8 minutos en completar la carga. En cuanto al rendimiento ha sido de unos 40 y 60 FPS a 900p con gráficos en bajo y generación de frames de AMD pero, teniendo en cuenta lo que se tarda en hacer la compilación de shaders es muy poco recomendable jugarlo en este dispositivo al menos por ahora, siendo más recomendable usar alguna tecnología de streaming como NVIDIA GeForce Now o Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Eso sí, hay algunos problemas. De entrada, hacer la carga de shaders cada vez que entras al juego es un tanto tedioso e incluso con nuestro PC tope de gama tarda un minutito en hacer el proceso, algo que esperemos que arreglen de cara al lanzamiento que tendrá lugar en unas horas. Además, no hemos encontrado con algún error que nos ha impedido completar alguna misión secundaria, una de ellas bastante trascendente.
Se nota a todas luces que el juego necesita un poco más de pulido, aunque hay que tener en cuenta que el desarrollo de S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 sido caótico, con el equipo teniendo que huir de una guerra, enfrentándose a ataques de hackers rusos que filtraron buena parte del juego y que crear un título en estas circunstancias no ha tenido que ser nada fácil, algo que se suma a que es más que probable que el estudio necesite después de los retrasos tener un impulso económico lo que le obliga a acelerar tiempos para sacar el juego. Esto, con las circunstancias excepcionales que han vivido sus creadores creemos que tiene que mencionarse y que también tiene que tenerse un poco en cuenta con S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, un juego que es todo un superviviente.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 hasta ahora
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 es un juego imperfecto, con fallos en la IA que deben solucionarse (y que se han reducido bastante), bugs en las misiones y que ya no sorprende como lo hacía sobre todo la primera entrega de la saga, pero también es una experiencia especial, un rara avis en pleno 2024, un mundo abierto exigente, sin viajes rápidos, con una narrativa interesante si nos sumergimos en ella, con un combate desafiante y difícil y algunas dosis de terror que le dan aún más empaque a la fórmula.
Es un juego que, pese a sus fallos, tiene un alma, ese “no se qué” intangible que le hace único como lo era su primera entrega, que sabemos que dista de ser redondo pero que aun así hemos disfrutado mucho, que no es para todo el mundo pero que, a los jugadores del S.T.A.L.K.E.R. original les va a conquistar tanto como a los que busquen una especie de Escape from Tarkov fusionado con Metro que son dos sagas que, precisamente, han bebido bastante del S.T.A.L.K.E.R. original.
Galería: STALKER 2
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Y sí, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 tiene que mejorar y si no sois ese tipo de jugador específico que mencionamos seguramente será mejor que esperéis unas semanas para dar tiempo al estudio a arreglar ciertos bugs, pero, a pesar de todo, nuestra experiencia en La Zona, con sus habitantes, con sus peligros e incluso con sus fallos ha sido muy especial y, al menos al que os escribe, le gustaría ver más juegos de este tipo que se convierten con el tiempo en juegos de culto, con sus errores, fallos y margen de mejora que la enésima aventura AAAA o juego multijugador sacado de un molde, algo demasiado común en los tiempos que corren.
*Hemos realizado este análisis gracias a un código para PC proporcionado por Rennaisance.
The first reactions to Marvel’s Hawkeye, the next series to hit the Disney+ streaming service, and they’re overwhelmingly–though not universally–positive. Hawkeye is in a weird place in the MCU’s history. Dropping the show just in time for Thanksgiving makes sense thanks to its Christmas trappings, but this street-level Marvel show is releasing right between our formal introduction to Cosmic Marvel–The Eternals–and our first adventure into the multiverse with Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Positive responses praise the chemistry between Hailee Steinfeld’s new archer, Kate Bishop, and Jeremy Renner’s seasoned Clint Barton, as well as the comparatively relatable stakes of the series and the exciting opening sequence of the show:
Zack Snyder’s Justice League appears to have included, likely by accident, a symbol that original appeared in the Halo series. Though unconfirmed, it appears the symbol’s inclusion was the result of an artist using a fan’s custom design as inspiration for logo.
As pointed out by PCGamesN, the symbol visible on Deathstroke’s sword in the film is supposed to be a reference to the League of Assassins, which is the organization run by Batman villain Ra’s al Ghul. However, the symbol also bears a striking resemblance to an emblem that Bungie developer Christopher Barrett said he made 20 years earlier for Halo.
MGM Resorts International, the Las Vegas-based global gaming and entertainment giant, today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2023. The company generated $3.9 billion in net revenues by March 31, 2023, which is a 36% increase in comparison to the same period last year. Other results, such as the $467 million net income over the last year’s loss of $ 18 million, are more than promising for the operator.
Promising Profitability:
According to the company’s web page, Bill Hornbuckle, Chief Executive Officer, and President of MGM Resorts commented: “MGM Resorts is executing across all of its geographies and channels with record first quarter Las Vegas Strip Adjusted Property EBITDAR, consistently strong Regional Operations profit, MGM China’s swift return to profitability, and BetMGM’s anticipated positive earnings later this year.”
Hornbuckle also said: “Beyond our continued exceptional results, our future growth and expansion plans are promising. In April, we achieved the landmark approval of MGM’s development plan in Osaka, Japan. The application process in New York is progressing and our global digital expansion plans remain a major focus as we continue to grow LeoVegas and the MGM digital brand worldwide.”
Improved Balance Sheet:
Jonathan Halkyard, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of MGM Resorts added: “MGM Resorts achieved net cash flow provided by operating activities of $704 million and Free Cash Flow of $564 million during the first quarter.” Halkyard also said that the company’s balance sheet continues to improve as MGM received $450 million in gross cash proceeds from the sale of the Gold Strike Tunica resort and repaid the $1.25 billion debt during the quarter.
According to Halkyard, MGM Resorts now have $4.5 billion of cash on the balance sheet. He asserted that these assets will provide the capital return to shareholders and the financial base which will facilitate continued stock repurchases and long-term growth through international acquisitions and the projected developments in Japan and New York.
36% Revenue Increase:
MGM closed the first quarter of 2023 with net revenues of $3.9 billion which represents a 36% y-o-y increase. The figure included the operating results of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas resort acquired in May 2022, which drove the revenue figures up and partially offset the sale of The Mirage and Gold Strike Tunica resorts. The 36% better result than the same period last year was also due to the boosted post-COVID MGM China Resort activity and the continuously busy Las Vegas Strip Resort.
In the first quarter of 2023, MGM Resorts recorded an operating income of $731 million which included the $398 million gain from the above-mentioned sale. These factors led to the $467 million net income over the observed period compared to the $18 million net loss seen in the first quarter of 2022.
Record Adjusted EBITDAR:
The share prices also increased and the company benefited from diluted income per share of $1.24 against diluted loss per share of $0.06 in the same period last year. MGM’s consolidated Adjusted EBITDAR (earnings before interest and other non-operating income, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) amounted to a record $1.1 billion and facilitated the launch of $2.4 billion in operating, investing, and financing activities.
Las Vegas Strip Results:
Las Vegas Strip resorts generated $2.2 billion in net revenues in the quarter that ended on March 31, 2023, which is $ 0.5 billion or 31 percent more than the prior year’s quarter. The growth was the consequence of the accelerated activity after the termination of COVID-19 restrictions and the inclusion of The Cosmopolitan Resort in the company’s operations. Adjusted Property EBITDAR, therefore, amounted to $836 million to stand for the 41% rise on a year-on-year basis.
Regional Operations Growing:
Regional operations of MGM Resorts reached the level of $946 million in net revenues in the first quarter of 2023. When compared to last year’s quarter’s figure of $891 million, this quarter’s mark represents a 6% increase which was mainly driven by the increased non-gaming business volume. Adjusted Property EBITDAR kept the same level of $313 million in Q1 2023 as the first quarter of 2022.
130% Revenue Increase by MGM China:
The removal of COVID-19 restrictions at the beginning of this year resulted in the booming activity of the company’s Chinese operations. MGM China used the re-opening wave to reach the $618 million height in net revenues, compared to the $268 million level of the same period last year. This revenue figure represents an increase of 130% and a 16% lower level than the pre-pandemic 2019.
Adjusted Property EBITDAR of $169 million in the current quarter stands against the last year’s loss of $26 million and a decrease of 12% compared to the benchmark first quarter of 2019.
Increased Payroll:
Corporate expense was primarily driven by payroll expenses to increase to $128 million in the first quarter of 2023 from $111 million experienced in the first quarter of 2022, according to the company, which improved the financial results across all operations in the current quarter.
After recently gaining access to the U.S. market, Swedish B2B fantasy sports and betting provider Scout Gaming Group has partnered with Betano Brazil, the international brand of European GameTech company, Kaizen Gaming, adding the company to its fast growing roster of top-tier operator partners.
The new agreement will see Scout Gaming supply its acclaimed fantasy sports and fantasy player odds solutions to the operator’s digital sports betting brand, most noteably to players in Brazil‘s growing gambling landscape where the sportsbook is lauded as a market leader.
New experience:
Courtesy of the deal, for the very first time Betano players will be able to seamlessly engage in fantasy sports and wager on fantasy player odds, all powered by Scout Gaming’s advanced proprietary sportsbook and bet slips, via desktop and mobile.
Kaizen’s Sportsbook Product Manager, John Tsakalakis, had the following to say about what the new partnership means for the company and its players…
“We want to offer our players the most comprehensive sportsbook experience, and the addition of fantasy sports and fantasy player odds from Scout Gaming allows us to do just that. Betano is led by the spirit of continuous improvement and devotion to partnerships that matter in the long run.”
Tsakalakis goes on to say that they are “excited” to expand their partnership with Scout Gaming in Latin America, a region they strengthen their presence “day by day.” He adds that they look forward to “leveraging the full potential” of the provider’s award winning products while also continuing to offer the “best expereince to those who trust us for their entertainment.”
According to the press release from Scout Gaming, the alliance further establishes the Stockholm-based company as “the number one provider of fantasy sports, sports betting, and fantasy betting products in the world.”
U.S. debut:
As mentioned above, Scout Gaming has recently made its U.S. market debut by way of a partnership with a new sports league, the Masters Cup Series. The five-year deal will allow the sports organization to leverage the company’s social sportsbook platform, a new product that has been developed specifically for the U.S. market and aimed at both online and retail operators as well as sports venues and franchises.
SA focus:
The company is now focused on growing its presence in South America with Kaizen Gaming. The latter has, since the Brazilian market expansion, has included Chile in its expansion effort, under the Betano brand, marking it the 7th country it operates in and the second country in Latin America it operates in.
Aslo commenting on the new deal, Andreas Sundal, Chief Product Officer for Scout Gaming, said…
“We are extremely proud to be able to increase our global reach with our fantasy and sportsbook products by entering the Brazilian market together with our valuable partner Kaizen Gaming.”
The CPO goes on to explain that South America is a “highly interesting market” when it comes to fantasy and sports betting, and they are “very happy” to be working with “one of the most established and popular brands in the market.” The deal, he says, “forms part of wider efforts to grow our product range and enter more markets.”Come from Online Betting Site
