Collection Archives – Giftserviceusa

Halo Master Chief Collection Gets Another Big Update 9 Years In

In an era when it seems games are killed off all the time, it’s impressive to see Microsoft and 343 Industries continuing to support and update Halo: The Master Chief Collection nearly a decade after its initial release. And its next update, out July 12, is huge, adding a ton of new content to the already massive collection of classic Halo games.

Long-Lost Halo Demo Comes To Life

It’s easy to forget in 2023 that The Master Chief Collection didn’t launch to critical acclaim or cheering fans. In fact, its initial release in November 2014 was a giant, embarrassing mess that was criticized heavily for network issues, missing content, poor performance, and other problems. But over the years 343 added more games to the collection, like Halo: Reach, brought back cut content, and ported over maps from Halo Online. Now in 2023, MCC is probably the best way to enjoy the Halo franchise. And this great collection is about to get even bigger and better.

On July 10, 343 revealed all the details about the upcoming update via its official website. And there’s a lot being added to MCC. Here are some of the highlights:

Firefight will now support up to eight players and you’ll be able to find matches via the in-game browser. Firefight in MCC will also support “Join In Progress,” letting players hop in mid-game or return after a disconnect.
343 is also adding options to Firefight that will let you recreate the 3v3 Generator Protection mode that was only available in Halo: Reach’s network beta test.
After the July 12 update, Halo 4’s campaign and Spartan Ops mode will support theater mode. 343 warns that things might be a bit wonky as this feature uses legacy code from an older, pre-release build of Halo 4.
Halo 3 is getting a new mode: Slayer Escalation, aka gun game, aka that mode from Counter-Strike and Call of Duty in which each time you kill someone you get a new gun. 343 had already added this gametype to other Halo games in MCC so it’s nice to see it come to Halo 3.
343 has also added three pieces of equipment—Invincibility, Active Camo, and Auto Turret—from Halo 3’s campaign into its multiplayer sandbox. These will be available in Forge and other Halo 3 custom game modes.
The Acrophobia Skull can now be activated in Halo: Combat Evolved. This in-game modifier, which is already available in other Halo games in MCC, lets players fly around freely in single-player. Perfect for people looking to explore for Easter eggs or wanting to experience the original campaign in a brand-new way.

Cut content from Halo’s past is coming to MCC on PC

Finally, a ton of cut content from Halo and Halo 2 is being added to the MCC on PC via mods. 343 worked alongside modders for the past year to help unearth and reimplement all kinds of cut content from these classic Bunige-era Halo titles, including cut enemies, weapons, vehicles, and maps.

343 published a separate blog post going into more detail about all the cut stuff being added back into the game and how that process worked, which you should definitely check out if you care about this kind of stuff.

A screenshot shows some cut creatures from Halo Combat Evolved. — Just some of the odd creatures modders are adding back to *Halo: Combat Evolved* on PC.

Just remember that all of this cut content is, at least for now, implemented via mods, and so only available on the PC version.

And that’s not even everything this update is adding. It’s wild to see a game that is nearly a decade old continuing to get such fantastic, free support. The Master Chief Collection is an incredible playable archive for Halo fans. I really wish more publishers and devs would copy Microsoft’s work here and create similar, all-encompassing collections for other great video game franchises. Also, where’s my Gears of War: Marcus Fenix Collection, Microsoft?

Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s next big update goes live July 12 on Xbox and PC.

…

by pbnbigesdi Posted on Desember 1, 2023

Some New Metal Gear Solid Collection Games Are Barely HD

The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 is just around the corner and publisher Konami’s dumped a bunch of additional information about the ports and remasters ahead of their October 24 release date. One of the big reveals is that Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater will still only run at 720p, the same as their previous HD versions on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Tears Of The Kingdom’s Newspaper Questline And The State Of Hyrulean Journalism

Update 8/22/2023 9:33 a.m. ET: Konami now says that only the Switch versions run at the lower resolution, with Konami telling IGN that the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC versions all having a “target” of 1080p resolution and 60fps. It’s still not clear if that “target” is a hard committement or simply the maximum performance the games will reach on those platforms.

Original story follows.

It’s not a massive shock but still may come as a surprise to fans who hoped the upcoming five-game Metal Gear collection would add a few new graphical twists to make it a definitive one-stop-shop for the first half of the series. As NintendoLife, IGN, and others report in their previews, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Snake Eater are capped at 30fps on the Nintendo Switch and also appeared to exhibit some slowdown during cutscenes (a Konami rep told IGN the game was still being tweaked). The original HD remasters, which are still available on Xbox Series X/S through backwards compatibility, ran at 60fps.

The games are so unchanged that Konami even provides a content warning about some references that might seem out of place in 2023. “This game contains expressions and themes which may be considered outdated,” it reads, according to GamesRadar. “However, these elements have been included without alteration to preserve the historical context in which the game was made and the creator’s original vision. Player discretion is advised.”

While not mentioning him explicitly, the disclaimer appears to be alluding to original Metal Gear writer and director Hideo Kojima. It’s not immediately clear which content Konami might be referring to, although VGC speculates it could be things like Snake smoking cigarettes to get a buff or Dr. Naomi telling him he can do a “strip search” of her after he completes his next mission.

The collection will, however, include some additional bonus content. In addition to the original MSX versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, there are game manuals, scripts and graphic novels. There’s also Metal Gear Solid: Integral, an expanded version of the PS1 classic that includes a series of VR training missions as well as an alternate tuxedo outfit for Snake.

Originally just set to come to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC, Konami announced the $60 collection will actually come to the PS4 too due to popular demand (and the over 100 million console install base). While not officially revealed yet, the second volume in the collection will reportedly include Metal Gear Solid 4, 5, and Peace Walker when it arrives.

…

by pbnbigesdi Posted on November 20, 2023

Borderlands Collection Includes Every Game For As Low As $30

Loot bandits fire into a crowd. — Image: Gearbox Entertainment

Gearbox Entertainment loves bundles, so naturally it just announced Borderlands Collection: Pandora’s Box, which combines every game in the loot shooter series except for last year’s Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. It’ll be available on every console except Switch, which is getting a separate port of just Borderlands 3 by way of an Ultimate Edition that includes all of the DLC.

Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty DLC Probably Won’t Change V’s Fate

The collection will be available starting September 1 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC. It includes the following six games:

Borderlands 1
Borderlands 2
Borderlands 3
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Tales from the Borderlands
New Tales from the Borderlands

That is a ton of cel-shaded Mad Max-inspired shooting and corny jokes, and it can be yours for the whopping price of $150. But wait, for a “limited time,” the entire collection will run you just $60. It’ll be even cheaper if you already own one of these games digitally. Then the whole bundle is only $30. It’s a great deal and also ridiculously confusing.

A guy shoots giant snow monsters. — Image: Gearbox Entertainment

To break it down by platform, owning any of these Borderlands games digitally on Xbox “automatically” entitles you to the new collection for just $30. Own any of them digitally on Steam and they’ll be subtracted from the total cost. Finally, owning either Borderlands 3, the Handsome Jack Collection, or the Borderlands: Game of the Year edition digitally or physically on PlayStation will let you access a $30 discount by launching one of them and following the in-game instructions.

If you’ve never gotten into Borderlands before, you might as well just get all of them at this point. And if you’ve already played most of them, why not double-down with the definitive edition? For everyone in-between, the new collection is probably way too much Borderlands. Borderlands 2 is still an all-time great and Tales from the Borderlands, an episodic visual novel treatment from the original Telltale studio, is also fantastic. Nothing else, in my opinion at least, is a must-have. But if you own a PS5 you might consider picking up a physical copy of Borderlands 3 for just $8 and grabbing the rest of the collection at the $30 discount.

…

by pbnbigesdi Posted on November 17, 2023

Metal Gear Solid Locked At 30FPS In Master Collection

The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection website shows box art of the first three games. — Screenshot: Konami / Kotaku

Part of the appeal of video game remasters and remakes is the prospect of playing an old game on better hardware that can, ostensibly, run it better than your old console did back in the day. That is the hope, at least. Unfortunately, not every “remaster” is an improvement over its source material—just ask the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy collection. Now, eyes are turning toward Konami’s upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1., with fans hoping it doesn’t run into those same issues. On that front, today saw the emergence of one new slightly disappointing tidbit.

Tears Of The Kingdom’s Newspaper Questline And The State Of Hyrulean Journalism

The original 1998 PlayStation Metal Gear Solid ran at 30 frames per second, and Konami has now confirmed that will still be the case for the newly remastered edition launching in the Collection on October 24. News of this comes from a graph on the compilation’s official website, which says the first MGS adventure will run at 30fps on all platforms, while Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater will run at 60fps on all systems except for the Nintendo Switch.

To be clear, the original Metal Gear Solid ran at 30fps when it launched in 1998, but it being locked to that lower framerate across the board seems odd in 2023, especially when its sequels will apparently have some scaling depending on which platform you buy them on. (For reference, MGS2 originally ran at 60fps, while MGS3 was originally a 30fps game.)

Here’s the full rundown:

A graph shows the resolution and framerate breakdown for the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection. — Screenshot: Konami / Kotaku

There’s been chatter about the games’ graphical resolutions as well. It’s a bummer to see that none of these games will run at 4K resolution, even on PC, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X/S. This lack of 4K support was confirmed back in August.

All of this comes ahead of Konami’s separate, upcoming Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake. That’s titled Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater, presumably so the number doesn’t scare anyone off from playing the game. MGS3 was a prequel in any case, so you didn’t need to know everything going in to understand it.

…

by pbnbigesdi Posted on November 10, 2023

5 Disappointing Things About Metal Gear Solid Master Collection

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 gathers some of the best games ever made and puts them all on modern platforms in one convenient package. Unfortunately, a laundry list of weird caveats and shortcomings at launch make the new anthology hard to celebrate. Why is one of the best franchises in gaming history not pulling out all the stops?

How Alan Wake 2 Builds Upon The ‘Remedy-Verse’

Out October 24 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and Windows PC, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 has been stalked by controversy for months now, with questions about subpar performance on Nintendo Switch and a lack of bells and whistles on “next-gen” platforms like PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The anthology features five main games—Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater—and includes the oddball Snake’s Revenge and the NES and Famicom ports of Metal Gear as bonuses. But now that it’s finally here, it’s hard not to be disappointed by how publisher Konami has gone about assembling it.

An operator badgers Snake about missing features.

First up is the lack of a visual upgrade on new platforms, or parity with the original versions on Switch. As shared prior to release, Metal Gear Solid still only plays at 30fps across all versions (it was never remastered for 2011’s Metal Gear Solid HD Collection by Bluepoint Games). The Switch version of Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 are also locked at 30fps (MGS2 originally ran at 60fps on PlayStation 2). All three games max out at 1080p as well, with no 4K resolution options for the stronger hardware versions.

Read More: Kotaku’s Metal Gear Retrospective Series

Even without any big improvements, Konami notes that the launch versions still suffer from various bugs and performance issues it plans to patch sometime in the future. A full list of the shortcomings was provided to IGN. “Across Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, and 3, bug fixes are also planned, specifically on MGS2,” the site noted. “Konami warned the game may significantly slow down in certain cutscenes, which sounds worrying. A patch to reduce processing load is planned.” Visual options like CRT scanlines and the ability to switch between windowed and full-screen mode in the options menu in the two MSX games are also MIA at the moment.

There’s also the laggy pause button. Konami added the option to pause during cutscenes, a long-requested feature for the story-heavy stealth series. Footage from copies of the game that leaked early, however, showed that it can take up to 10 seconds for the game to register the pause after the button’s pressed, taking some of the shine off the new option. It’s still unclear if that’s intentional or will be patched down the road.

The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is, perhaps less surprisingly, encountering issues on PC as well. Initial Steam reviews are very mixed, with players complaining about unintuitive keybindings, poor UI, and a lack of aspect ratio options. “Take this with a grain of salt, the game literally just launched, but damn the video settings, button mapping, and poor UI/UX for the collection is pretty sour,” wrote one player. “I am sure it will improve over time, but yikes.”

Most galling for me personally are the games altogether missing from the physical Switch version of the collection. In North America at least, only Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and Snake’s Revenge are actually on the game card. The three Metal Gear Solid games, which are the main ones advertised on the front of the box, must be downloaded separately. As someone who treats their Switch like a physical repository for retro remasters and re-issues, it’s frustrating to have to rely on an internet connection and a temporary online storefront to have access to all-time classics. It sounds like the Japanese physical release at least also includes the first Metal Gear Solid on the game card.

Many of the initial reviews for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 have noted these shortcomings while still pointing out that at the end of the day these games still play great and remain some of the most profound meditations on geopolitics, war, and the military industrial complex the medium has ever produced. “I think it’s great that such a huge swathe of Metal Gear history is now readily available and easily playable on modern systems,” writes The Verge’s Jon Porter. “But there’s also a part of me that thinks Konami missed an opportunity to give Metal Gear Solid in particular a fresh coat of paint and update it for a modern audience.”

The video game industry is generally so bad at preserving its past I wish it would go all out when it decides to finally take the opportunity to repackage old games and sell them again. If that means charging more so be it. I’d gladly pay $100 for the definitive edition of all of these games. Maybe we’ll eventually get that one day. In the meantime I hope Konami’s planned post-launch updates give the collection some of the additional love it deserves.

…

by pbnbigesdi Posted on November 2, 2023