After Months Of Silence, Hello Games Speaks About The Future Of ‘No Man’s Sky’

by Derek KraneveldtNovember 26, 2016

Briefly: It’s finally happened.

Nope. Still no work on Half-Life 3, but something equally overdue: Hello Games has finally spoken up about No Man’s Sky.

Sure, it’s at a point when everyone has let go of that $80 purchase and long moved on from the game, but… better late than never? I know that the game is still sitting on my shelf, and if something drastic happened to its foundations, I could definitely see myself popping that disc in again.

In the company’s first blog post since early September, Hello Games has teased that a ‘Foundation Update’ is incoming. Here’s the post in full:

Hello,

This week Hello Games will be releasing an update to No Man’s Sky. We’re calling it The Foundation Update, because we have added the foundations of base building, and also because this is putting in place a foundation for things to come.

Detailed patch notes will follow, and release will be soon.

Coming from five years of intense development, immediately after No Man’s Sky released the team spent six weeks updating the game with 7 patches across both platforms (the last of these was 1.09 on Sept 24th which you can read about here http://www.no-mans-sky.com/log/). These fixed many of the most common or critical bugs and issues post-release.

In the nine weeks since then our small team has been hard at work on development, testing and certification for the Foundation Update. It won’t be our biggest update, but it is the start of something.

The discussion around No Man’s Sky since release has been intense and dramatic. We have been quiet, but we are listening and focusing on improving the game that our team loves and feels so passionately about.

Positive or negative feedback, you have been heard and that will truly help to make this a better game for everyone.

This update will be the first small step in a longer journey. We hope you can join us.

Thank you,

Hello Games

“It is the start of something.” Let’s hope so.

When’s the last time you played No Man’s Sky? What would it take to bring you back to its procedurally generated world?

‘No Man’s Sky’ Could See Paid DLC In The Future

by Derek KraneveldtAugust 16, 2016

Briefly: In the short week since Hello Games’ highly anticipated No Man’s Sky hit store shelves, it’s quickly become one of the most talked about, loved, and hated properties across the entire internet.

Hello Games’ lead Sean Murray said that he expected the game to be divisive, but I don’t know it’d have been possible to guess just how divisive it’s become. Our own Emily is in love with the game, and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time in the universe thus far. That said, Reddit is filled with countless links and breakdowns explaining all of the ways that NMS disappoints, and all of the promises that Hello Games’ have broken along the way.

No Man’s Sky was always a game that was set to receive a myriad of updates, as Murray wants the game to be viewed similar to Minecraft or Don’t Starve in that manner. In a new interview with DailyStar, Murray notes that he was “perhaps naive” for thinking that all of No Man’s Sky‘s DLC would be free.

While the next update will add “the ability to build bases and own giant space freighters”, Murray and company are already looking forward, and on the topic of paid DLC, he noted that “Maybe in the future there’s some reason why we just couldn’t possibly afford to do a certain feature without charging for it”.

The interview goes on about the possibility about seeing the game on Xbox One, how the PS4 Neo could change the experience entirely, and more, and it’s definitely worth a read.

Are you enjoying your time in No Man’s Sky‘s expansive universe? Be sure to sound out in the comments below.

Geekscape Games Reviews: No Man’s Sky (PS4)

by PandageddonnnAugust 15, 2016

So what’s all this talk about No Man’s Sky?

Developed by Hello Games, No Man’s Sky was released on August 9th for the Playstation 4 (with a delayed release to Windows PC’s via Steam.) No Man’s Sky is an exploration survival game, set in a (basically) infinite procedurally generated galaxy, each planet with their own unique habitat set with fauna, flora, minerals, and other resources. Your goal is to reach to the center of the universe, by request of a mysterious force called Atlas, though if you don’t want to sit through playing the story, you are more than welcome to pave your own path and explore the universe as you please.

When I first heard about this game during their announcement in the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), I was awed and excited. A space exploration game where you could endlessly traverse through countless planets? Where you can play with millions of people and still make discoveries no one else has made, discover planets that are yet undiscovered by the other players? Yes, sign me up!

As the release date came closer, more announcements were made. Naming planets, along with their respective flora and fauna. Space battles. Other sentient life forms, and learning their languages. Oh man, this game was going to be insane!

Finally, the release came. I bought it immediately. I popped out the disk and started the game up on my Playstation.

The first thing I saw was a vast terrain of unusual plants, minerals and creatures. As my camera turned, I saw my space ship, damaged and broken.

My first task was to gather resources to rebuild my ship.

After roaming around the planet searching for materials, I finally rebuilt my ship to working condition. I had to tread wearily, as planets can have hostile life forms. Sentinels act as security guards on each planet, keeping a watchful eye on me as I mined for ore. Sometimes they would attack me if they deemed me hostile. I can attack them for titanium but sometimes it was best to run away before reinforcements were called in.

Eventually, I was led on a journey to rebuild my ship well enough to warp to farther planets, and along the way, I found alien monoliths. I learned words for certain alien races, and even interacted with a few aliens, though I had a hard time understanding what they said, I only knew so many words of their language. And while I don’t know what Atlas is (yet), I’m sent on a mission by Atlas to travel to the center of the universe, with the aid of aliens, technology, and black holes.

Entrance to a black hole.

As you continue exploring the game, you’ll find upgrades for your exosuit, gun (called a Multitool), and ship. You will even come across distress signals where you may find another ship you can rebuild. You can even buy ships from traders and sellers.

Buying and selling with other life forms, such as the Vy’keen.

So how do I like this game? It was everything I expected (and almost everything that Hello Games said it was going to be). Smooth controls, simple interface, insanely gorgeous graphics, and a wonderfully vast map of planets to explore. This game ended up to be much more realistic than I expected. Without a pulse engine and booster, some spots on the map might take you days (in real real-time) to walk or fly to. You have to constantly mine for energy materials to charge your life support system and blasters and fuel your ship. You could get attacked by hostile creatures that want to eat you or even befriend a friendly creature that will help you find rare resources on the planet you are on. Make friends with sentient species, or defend a ship sending out a distress signal within a battle in space. All these little things make this game so much more interactive, it truly draws you in.

I have yet to encounter any other players yet, though it has been confirmed that two players have managed to meet, a mind-boggling feat.

No Man’s Sky scores a cool 4.5/5. It’s a masterpiece, a game with a strong (yet subtle) story, yet versatile enough to where players can choose their own path and carve out their own story. With gorgeous scenery and immersive gameplay, this is easily one of the best games I’ve played to date (and I cannot wait to keep playing).

Let me know what you think! Do you like this game or not? And why?

‘No Man’s Sky’ Will Be “Super Divisive” According To Developer

by Derek KraneveldtAugust 8, 2016

Briefly: No Man’s Sky is finally, finally here.

The years in the making, incredibly ambitious, and unbelievably anticipated space exploration sandbox releases tonight, and today, following a massive patch that all but targets early player’s gripes with the hot new title, Hello Games’ Sean Murray took to the game’s official blog to ‘splain a few things.

I’ve really enjoyed the transparency that Murray and company have kept with fans over the course of the game’s development, and today’s blog post is no different. Murray touchingly notes that five years ago, when the first lines of code for this ambitions project were written, he had “such a clear picture in my mind of an emotion I wanted you to feel. To wander around an alien planet, and to feel you had discovered it.”

Now, the game is here, and “the game looks and plays just as we aimed to.”

A burning question that many gamers (who apparently aren’t too keen on watching the hours of gameplay videos that have been posted throughout the game’s development) is, well, what exactly do you do in the game? Here’s what Murray notes that No Man’s Sky definitely is:

-Exploring a universe of pretty procedurally generated worlds, with beautiful creatures
-Trading with NPCs
-Combat against robots/mechs and cool space battles
-Survival/crafting in a universe sized sandbox
-An awesome procedural soundtrack from my genuine favourite band (check the NMS album out here)
-For one small moment, you might feel like you’ve stepped into a sci-fi book cover

There’s plenty of additional interesting, fascinating notes on the game and its development in the official blog post, but one of the the most stand-out comments (and another transparent thought from Murray) is that the team knows that this won’t be a game for everyone, stating that “This game might not be for everyone, I expect it to be super divisive, but I’m sat here watching playtesters right now who weren’t supposed to be in, but just wanted to play and chill out. I can’t wait for you to experience that for yourselves.”

That said, as reviews start to hit, and scores start to vary, it’s all going to be dependent on the personal experiences and tastes of the player. A game like this has never existed before; No Man’s Sky is literally its own universe, for you to explore and do whatever you want in, and I can’t imagine how tough it will be to form an opinion on that.

For me? When the game was first announced, I saw a title that looked cool, but I had no idea why I would play it. As more and more videos debuted, my excitement for No Man’s Sky grew and grew, and on the eve of release I realize that this game looks like everything a young me wanted to do in some facet: explore, wonder what lay beyond what the eye can see, and have curiosity guide me to my next destination.

Will you be playing? Sound out in the comments below!

‘No Man’s Sky’ Finally Goes Gold!

by The_aczJuly 7, 2016

It’s been a long 4 years for Sean Murray and the team at Hello Games, but all of their hard work is about to finally pay off.

Earlier this morning, Murray took to the internet to break the exciting news that the highly anticipated sci-fi first person adventure game No Man’s Sky has finally gone gold. It’s been a very emotional ride as the game had to be delayed numerous times, but the team is very excited for people to finally get their hands on the game for PS4 and PC come August 9th. Are you excited about the game going gold? Are you still thinking about picking the game up? Tell us below in the comments!

It's happened. No Man's Sky just went gold. I'm so incredibly proud of this tiny team. 4 years of emotions pic.twitter.com/YJoI6JVgxq

— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) July 7, 2016

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 78 – ‘Blame It On The Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Parkinsons!’

by Shane O'HareJune 4, 2016

Join Josh and Shane as they discuss the last week in video games!

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This Week:

Blizzard bans a huge number of Overwatch hackers, a lot from China.

New Destiny DLC to be Live Streamed and sequel date announced.

Street Fighter V DLC woes.

Professional Street Fighter player banned from tournaments for sexual harassment.

New Pokemon Legendaries and gameplay released.

Nintendo E3 presence.

Starbreeze buys PayDay rights, removes micro-transactions and announced PayDay 3.

Minecraft sells over 100,000,000.

No Man’s Sky gets delayed, developer receives death threats.

Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst.

One Piece: Burning Blood.

Senran Kagura Estival Versus.

Mission Objective

“What is your favorite boxing game?”

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 73 – ‘If John Cena Wear’s Camouflage, CAN You See Him?’

by GeekscapeStaffApril 29, 2016

Join Carlos, Josh, Juan and Shane as they discuss the last week in video games! There is even a special guest!

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This Week:

Nintendo reduces their E3 prescence.

Nintendo NX releases March 2017.

Alicia Vikander is Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider movie reboot.

King of Fighters XIV get’s a release date.

EVO get’s 4,000 entrants for Street Fighter V.

Trials of The Blood Dragon leaked.

Borderlands movie gets screenwriter and producer.

Borderlands movie exists.

From Software not making another Dark Souls game and working on new IP.

No Man Sky has no story, but it does have lore!

Asura’s Wrath devs working on new game.

Retro Studios working on Nintendo NX game, NOT Metroid, Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong Racing.

Nintendo reports 61% profit loss.

Pokemon re-releases sell 1.5 Million copies.

Miitomo get’s Splatoon gear.

Xbox One gets seven backwards compatible games this week!

Rocksmith 2014.

Quantum Break.

Nioh Demo.

Dark Souls 3.

Mickey Magical Quest GBA.

Bravely Second.

Street Fighter V.

Valkyria Chronicles.

MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune Vs. Zombies.

StarFox Zero.

VHS Player’s Guide.

Mission Objective:

“What game did you get so stuck on that you were forced to get a walkthrough for, and why?”

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 71 – ‘I Fucking Hate Electricity, And Kites, And Bald Headed Bespectacled Mother Fuckers, And All Routers Are Wizards!’

by Shane O'HareApril 15, 2016

Join Lee, Josh, Juan and Shane as they discuss the last week in video games!

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This Week:

Gears of War 4 trailer released.

Titanfall 2 teaser trailer released.

Dark Souls is getting a board game and it’s being crowd-funded?

No Mans Sky gets an in depth demo from the developer.

Consortium: The Tower.

Nintendo NX rumoured to have Wii U remix collection.

Former head of Rockstar North suing Rockstar for 150 million.

Spongebob VS. Patrick splatfest announced.

Atlus To Publish King Of Fighters XIV In The West.

MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune + Zombies Moved Back To May 10th.

Superdimension Neptunia Vs. Sega Hard Girls Announced!

Turok PC.

Trial by Viking.

Quantum Break.

Ratchet & Clank.

Bravely Second.

Pokken Tournament.

Hyrule Warriors Legends.

The Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exodus.

Mission Objective:

“What game do you want to see remade in VR?”

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Incredibly Ambitious ‘No Man’s Sky’ Finally Gets A Release Window, New Trailer!

by Derek KraneveldtOctober 27, 2015

Briefly: We finally know just when we’ll finally be able to play the holy-crap inducing No Man’s Sky, and it’s still quite a ways away.

Being that the game is likely to take eons to actually complete (well, if completing it is even possible), I’m actually kind of glad that the just-announced release window is pretty far out. It’ll give me a chance to almost finish Fallout 4 (and not make a dent on a single other game in my backlog)

Paris Games Week is now in full swing, and today Hello Games and Sony debuted a brand new, breathtaking look at the still-mysterious game, and also revealed that it will launch in June of 2016.

It would be pretty hard not to be blown away with everything that we’ve seen so far. Somehow, every look at the title has looked substantially different from the last, and it’s simply crazy to imagine what’s in store for us when we finally begin to explore.

The big question, is whether or not that insane ambitiousness will result in a fun-to-play game. We sure hope so! In any case, take a look at the new trailer below, and be sure to let us know if you’re looking forward to No Man’s Sky!

E3 2014: ‘No Man’s Sky’ Wows At Sony’s E3 Press Conference

by Josh JacksonJune 14, 2014

If you followed our live blog, (and honesty, why wouldn’t you have?), it’s no surprise that we weren’t particularly wowed by Sony’s E3 conference. While it seems like the widespread reaction to their showing was generally tepid, one game shined as one of the definite standouts of the show. One that promised infinite possibilities in a living, breathing online world, giving us an endless amount of space to explore. That title was No Man’s Sky.
Watching the game’s E3 trailer showed off the incredible concepts that can be conceived by a group of passionate developers like the ones at Hello Games. Much of that passion spilled out through the words that were spoken as the game was unveiled to the world, showing off large, lush planets to explore. With a seemingly infinite space that we’ll be able to fly in and out of with seamless ease, the fact that every player will start with their own planet and can potentially interact with thousands of people as they travel through this growing universe means what we were left with was one of the most ambitious games of the entire show. See, who says you need a multimillion dollar budget, Hollywood voice actors or immature amounts of violence that tries too hard to be edgy to get gamers interested.
The only blemish that No Man’s Sky created on the conference as a whole was like the majority of Sony’s release list, this would only be a temporary PS4 exclusive, potentially coming to other platforms on a later date. Regardless, the scope, ambition and innovation the title is planning to bring is something that has to be seen. Watch Sony’s trailer from E3 and let us know if you’re as impressed as we are, then come back and let us know if you’re hitting the download button when No Man’s Sky releases in the near future.

I Don’t Know What ‘No Man’s Sky’ Is, But It Looks Absolutely Incredible!

by Derek KraneveldtDecember 8, 2013

Briefly: What game stole this year’s VGX awards? Some folks are saying that it was Telltale’s confirmation of a Game of Thrones game, but most are looking towards Hello Games and their newly announced No Man’s Sky.

Very little was revealed about the title, aside from the fact that almost the entire this is procedurally generated, and that it looks absolutely gorgeous. This mean’s that, similarly to titles like Minecraft, the game’s world is not set, but instead algorithmically created by the game itself.

The title looks to feature a ton of exploration. From checking out wildlife at the bottom of the ocean, to blasting asteroids (and other ships) in the middle of space, No Man’s Sky has got it all.

Take a look at the game’s first trailer below, and let us know what you think. We’ll be sure to share more No Man’s Sky info as soon as it’s released!