the courier
31
Monday 24 February 2020
@Courier_Gaming thecourieronline.co.uk/gaming
gaming culture
best gaming YouTubers DDOS destroys EVE
st sparks of the gaming explosion on the world's no. 1 video platform Carl Smith Valdez details the cyber-attacks on this sci-fi MMO
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Super BunnyHop Alex Darbyshire
eorge Weidman, in my opinion, is one of the most thorough and intelligent video game journalists in the business, or at least on YouTube. With a laser-focused attention to detail, Weidman’s videos are packed with information, joyfully edited and show a level of polish that puts many others working in his industry to shame. I first encountered BunnyHop when he was featured on TotalBiscuit’s Co-Optional Podcast. It’s a long podcast, but Weidman manages to keep things interesting alongside the late John Bain. It was here I discovered Weidman’s trilogy of videos on The Wit cher, which was an excellent analysis of both the games and the novels. Among his body of work are ludological analyses of the entire Metal Gear series, several video essays on the design of Resident Evil, and a deep look into the controversy around Hideo Kojima’s exit from Konami. You don’t see content like this every day. What I appreciate the most about George Weidman’s content is the sheer amount of energy he brings to each project he works on. It’s clear that his content is fueled by his passion for history, game design and pulpy, postmodern narratives. Weidman’s writing has a hyper-detailed, fanatic style that never fails to critique. It’s well-researched, consumerpositive and great watching. BunnyHop is much of what I aspire to be as a writer and critic, and you owe it to yourself to give his videos a try.
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My name is Byf Shawn Khoo
hile other YouTubers in this article may be more hands-on with their content, there are certainly other types of content creators that deserve a mention. To me, Byf immediately springs to mind. Byf caters to a very specific part of the gaming community, dealing mainly with the lore behind Destiny 2, with a touch of Warframe, Borderlands and other assorted goodness. Although the thought of lore may, to some, be the equivalent of a sleeping pill, Byf’s passion for this niche shines through. This is perhaps most evident in some of his multiple-hour-long narrations and expositions about Destiny 2’s guardians and the stories behind them. Even as someone who enjoys Destiny 2 for the grind and for the first-person gunplay, I still leave Byf’s videos on in the background while I play. I must admit, even though I’m no fan of lore-heavy dialogues in games, the supplemental nature of Byf’s content is likely to grow on you as it has for me.
The supplemental nature of Byf's content is likely to grow on you
If you’re playing a game that has a lot of mindless grinding or repetitiveness, it may be worth it to turn down the music and give Byf a go – you may just enjoy the world he weaves with his words.
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layers of space-MMORPG EVE Online continue to be affected by a DDOS attack that has shown no sign of stopping since it began on 31 January. The US is majorly affected, but forums from Africa and Australia have reported broken servers. For players able to log in, the servers for the popular MMO have their chat services disabled to ease the issues. However, many players continue to receive an “unable to login” screen despite multiple attempts to sign in. Gamers have reported the disconnects and lag errors with no timeframe of when it will be resolved. The attack has prevented gamers from playing the game, which includes completing ‘space jobs’ and keeping control of their grounds throughout the EVE universe. Its effects on player progress become difficult to reverse in a virtual game. While many are stuck at logging on, players in unaffected areas of the world are able to use the attack as an opportunity to claim more territory. DDOS attacks raise concerns to the gaming industry, particularly with games-as-a-service experiences like EVE Online - driven by players. Players on Reddit have demanded compensation and threatened to terminate their accounts after being unable to log in for days. ‘Lord’s Servant’, the co-leader of the ‘Forsaken Empire’ expressed on a Reddit thread the impact of the attack on small alliances within the game. He stated: “The hostiles have been able to establish themselves in a week in our region because we’ve been mostly unable to login and contest things like we normally would.” “This is an issue that we have no control over, and no amount of ISK (in-game skill) or mechanics will allow us to do anything if we cannot log in or play the game in a
reasonable state. We’ve tried everything we can in-game.” Regarding the attack, EVE Status advised players to contact their support inbox if they have lost any property during the downtime. As of 17 February, EVE’s support tweeted: “Our Daily Downtime is taking a little longer than usual. We expect TQ to be up and accepting connections in the next couple of minutes. Thank you for your patience.”
Image: IGDB
PS5 website quietly launched
Joe Holloran keeps his eyes open as Sony dripfeed console info
S Image: YouTube (Super Bunnyhop)
Images: Twitter (@MyNameIsByf)
e jump on Nintendo
t even the gaming industry is not safe from the outbreak of coronavirus previously set for both the US and European markets. Moreover, despite New Horizons itself having already been delayed from its original Q4 2019 release, it will continue to be released on 20 March for the Nintendo Switch worldwide. Unfortunately for Nintendo and Switch gamers, the disruption caused by the coronavirus does not end here. Obsidian Entertainment’s latest game, The Outer Worlds, was released on PS4, Xbox and PC on 25 October 2019 to critical acclaim and a slew of award nominations. Although the Switch port had been dated for 6 March 2020, it has now been delayed i n d e f i n i t e l y. This is down to
gaming studio Virtuous, which is overseeing the Switch port, having their main office in Shanghai, China. Both the Switch console productions and delayed Outer Worlds port could hint at the further financial strains on the market due to the latest epidemic. As aforementioned, the movie industry has already been greatly affected by the loss of the Chinese market, second largest only to the United States, with many films seeing box office slumps, such as Birds of Prey and Dolittle; China has previously saved films, such as the adaptation of the eponymous Warcraft. A similar slump may indeed be seen within the gaming industry very shortly as both the production and market of China have been stricken off the record for the foreseeable future.
Image: YouTube (Nintendo Mobile)
ony has quietly launched the official PlayStation for event coverage. 5 website, teasing the reveal of their much anticipated next-gen system. With a tentative PS5 players can again release date set for late 2020 and few official details to go on, here's what we know so far about the PS4 enjoy classic games successor. such as Shadow of the Early last year Sony's Mark Cerny, the man tasked with leading the team to create both the PS4 and Colossus and God of War PS5 , confirmed that the console will retain its disk drive, but also have a feature linked to streaming as well as new storage Fans can also take comfort in the that surpasses typical PC SSD fact that almost all PS4 games specifications.While only a will be backward compatible few games have been for the latest console, confirmed for including VR the console games. So thus far, expect players can the newest again enjoy additions of classics such as Sony's biggest Shadow of the franchises, Colossus & such as God of War Horizon and with the The Last of Us i mp r o v e d to be on their specs of the way. new hardware. In terms O t h e r of design we confirmed may know specs include: more than 3D audio, what’s usually an eight core the case AMD chipset, for console SSD storage & reveals. Back 8K TV support in August, tech capabilities. The website LetsGoDigital controller will also be released what they claimed updated, with the DualShock Image: Twitter (Eurogamer) was the patented design for the 4 rumble tech being replaced PS5. However, this turned out to be instead with haptic feedback. This is all the development kit, and such pieces of supposed to help with player immersion. equipment often bear little resemblance to the The final design has yet to be confirmed by Sony hardware that reaches customers. Nevertheless, the but, if gaming history tells us anything, it's that the build leaked image shows a V-shaped console (possibly a up to the release of a new console is just as important as reference to the Roman numeral for five) that features the console itself. Sony won the last round of the console multiple USB ports and extensive cooling vents, likely wars, and it appears they’re gearing up to do it again. needed to deal with the level of power the new console will consume, and the subsequent heat that will be generated. The Japanese media megacorp has also confirmed it @culture_courier will not be attending the gaming world's biggest tech and marketing event, E3 , this year. However, according to TechRadar, insiders suspect that Sony will release a slew of @thecourieronline information about the console around the same time, on their own terms, so as to avoid competing with Microsoft
