That looks really nice.
I've just installed Autumn Aurora for a play through of SoC.
I don't have to eat everyday, do I?
Seriously though, I'll probably grab the Ultimate digital version. Good thing it's coming to Steam because that was my number one concern, that it'd be an EGS exclusive. Would have prefered it on GOG but oh well. I mean it's stalker, one of the last few AAA games I'm interested in, might as well go for the pre-order right away as I'll not skip it even if the reviews are awful.
That looks really nice.
I've just installed Autumn Aurora for a play through of SoC.
Latest news about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is that it will use NFTs.
My interest in something has rarely plummeted this fast.
And they already walked it back, thank goodness. NFTs are a scourge and should be opposed at every turn.
Glad to hear it, although the sleazy feeling lingers. Fan backlash is one thing, but Valve has also banned NFTs on Steam and Phil Spencer is on record for not being a fan either, although it seems he makes a distinction between "exploitative" NFTs and NFTs that presumably aren't. Maybe they figured they'd go Epic exclusive if they couldn't argue with Valve that they're not selling NFTs within the game itself so it should be fine, but their Microsoft partnership made that more complicated?
Apparently right before canceling the plans they posted and then immediately deleted a defense of the thing:
https://i.ibb.co/zPFXchh/image.png
I love the "Do NFT Right" and "To Get Into" the game quote marks, straight out of their board meeting NFT hype presentation.DEAR STALKERS,
WE WANT OT GIVE A DETAILED COMMENT ON YESTERDAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF NTF-BONUSES FOR S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.
GSC GAME WORLD IS AN INDEPENDENT GAME DEVELOPMENT STUDIO. WE HAVE NO PUBLISHER, BUT WE DO HAVE WONDERFUL PARTNERS, AN INCREDIBLE TEAM, AND A DREAM OF A GAME THAT YOU WILL SINCERELY LOVE. JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER DEVS, WE NEED TWO MAIN RESOURCES: TIME AND MONEY.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: HEART OF CHERNOBYL IS TRUELY THE BIGGEST AND THE MOST COMPLEX GAME WE HAVE EVER CREATED. ALL THE FUNDS THAT WE EARN DURING THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (INCLUDING THE POTENTIAL INCOME FROM NFT) WILL BE SPENT ON IMPROVING THE LONG-AWAITED GAME TO MAKE IT EVEN BETTER.
WHY DID WE CHOOSE NFT? TI'S A NEW TECHNOLOGY, AND WE ARE EAGER TO «DO NFT RIGHT»: GIVE CERTAIN FANS AN OPPORTUNITY «TO GET INTO» THE GAME WITHOUT INTERFERING WITH OTHER PLAYERS' EXPERIENCE. THAT'S WHY THE TOKENS ARE ENTIRELY OPTIONAL AND HAVE NO IMPACT ON GAMEPLAY OR STORY (NO WEAPONS, QUETS, LOCATIONS, ETC.) AND CAN BE ACTIVATED ONLY BEFORE THE GAME RELEASE.
YESTERDAY WE ANNOUNCED THE FIRST TOKENS — THE FACES OF SEVERAL NPCS. THEY AREN'T EVEN INVOLVED IN THE STORY. BUT SOME OF YOU THOUGHT WE WOULD GO A BIT TOO FAR FROM HERE. THAT'S WHY WE WANT TO TRANSPARENTLY DISCLOSE OUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE NFTS. WE ARE GOING TO IMPLEMENT (NICK)NAMES OF THE OWNERS ON SOME IN-GAME DESKS/WALLS/ETC, (PLEASE REMEMBER IT'S A LARGE OPEN WORLD WE'RE TALKING ABOUT), GLOVES/TATTOOS, SKINS/BADGES FOR THE MULTIPLAYER MODE (RELEASING AS A FREE UPDATE AFTER THE STORY CAMPAIGN) AND COLLECTIBLE CARDS (DMARKET PLATFORM ONLY, NO INTEGRATION IN S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2).
DMARKET WAS CHOSEN AS A PARTNER AS A VIDEOGAME-ONLY BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORM. THEY LOVE GAMES, AND THEY WERE EAGER TO WORK WITH US ON THIS KIND OF SOFT NFT REALIZATION. DMARKET WORKS ON A PRIVATE BLOCKCHAIN SYSTEM WITH BRIDGES INTO OTHER NETWORKS (SUCH AS POLYGON AND SOLANA) WITH PRIORITY TO PROVIDE LOW ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND MINIMIZE CO2-EMMISSIONS AND OTHER NEGATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.
IN THIS STATEMENT, WE ARE AS HONEST WITH YOU AS WE CAN. WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR SUUPPORT, BUT AT LEAST WE HOPE YOU CAN HEAR US AND UNDERSTAND OUR REASONS.
THE TEXT TURNED OUT TO BE VERY BIG: THANK YOU FOR READING IT TILL THE END. PELASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES FOR YESTERDAY'S MISCOMMUNICATION AND ALL THE FEELSINGS IT CAUSED. WE KNOW THAT YOU WISH ONLY THE BEST FOR OUR GAME, AND WE APPRECIATE IT.
WITH LOVE
GSC GAME WORLD TEAM.
Game might get cancelled because of Russian invasion into the Ukraine. Oh well.
GSC Game World is a Ukrainian video game developer based in Kyiv.
...
Headline: Russian troops approach Kyiv as explosions heard across the Ukrainian capital
Last edited by EvaUnit02; 25th Feb 2022 at 14:08.
They literally fought a battle in Chernobyl. Hopefully they'll survive and maybe even have new inspiration.
It's a pity, I hope the war will end soon, peaceful people are not to blame for the fact that the governments of the two countries do not understand each other. I've been waiting for this game for a year now but compared to human lives, the game is not important at all.
Russian soldiers are being treated for acute radiation sickness (and many have already died from same) after following orders to dig trenches in the area of the Exclusion Zone called the Red Forest. The soldiers had no idea that area was one of the most highly contaminated from the 1986 Chernobyl incident, in fact, many of them had no idea of how dangerous the Exclusion Zone still is.
'Digging trenches in the forest—considered the most contaminated area of the site—drew widespread ridicule from Ukrainians who work at the site.'
Ignorance is obviously not bliss.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-t...083839177.html
I've been wondering about GSC (their HQ is in Kyiv) and how the company and its staff are faring during these last few months. After doing a search found a recent update to Wiki's article on that company: 'In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, GSC posted a tweet urging fans and game journalists to donate to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and provided special accounts for donations.'
Just like everyone else in the free world, I am horrified by Russia's war against the Ukraine and I know it seems so trivial to worry about one company and its employees, yet I needed to know. I pray for a quick resolution in which Ukraine is the victor!
P.S. Sorry for the double post.
Delayed to 2023.
They also released a dev diary regarding the Russia-Ukraine invasion.
A quick update posted yesterday (8 Sept. 2023):
That studio has had a bad run of luck, from delays, hackers, a war & relocation, and now this fire. I hope they can weather the storm and that their work hasn't been lost.The GSC Game World studio suffered a fire that destroyed one of the floors used by the company.
The authors of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl from the studio GSC Game World moved largely to Prague after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to our information, there was a fire in the team offices last night.
We received the report from two independent trusted sources who wish to remain anonymous.
An electrical installation fire broke out in a high-rise building in Na Pankráci Street. Five fire units responded to the scene. Several dozen people were evacuated.
According to the Prague municipality website, there were 30 people, according to the Požary.cz website, 20 people.
Fortunately, there were no injuries in the fire and the damage was tentatively estimated at 1.5 million crowns.
One of the three floors of the GSC Game World studio was said to have been affected by the fire.
We have a photo from the scene which indicates that the fire devastated the office equipment and the interior itself.
However, we cannot publish it.
It was said to be the most important floor with backup servers.
The other two were not affected by the fire.
We have no information at this time as to whether this event may affect the completion of the game in any way.
We are investigating further details. If we learn something new, we will update the article.
Translation is via Google Translate
Source: Vortex-CZ
I thought the Czech would have switched over to the euro by now, but apparently not. Anyways, that's about 60 000 euros / 65 000 US dollars. Must have had some expensive equipment in there, unless this is the estimate for the whole building.Fortunately, there were no injuries in the fire and the damage was tentatively estimated at 1.5 million crowns.
I hope that all of this scripted cutscene, casual audience + game journalist bait horseshit is largely avoidable + minimal. I want to spend most of my time utilising gameplay systems to survive while exploring an atmospheric sandbox, stumbling upon cool handcrafted content.
EDIT: Just occurred to me that it'll be a blessing that this will be Day 1 in Game Pass. Will give me an opportunity to rent it. If they've gone largely "interactive movie" then it'll be firmly be deep discount sale fodder.
Last edited by EvaUnit02; 1st Dec 2023 at 01:37.