Marvel's Avengers: The Undead Pixel

 

When the Marvel's Avengers teaser came out to those that had pre-ordered it, I was eager to see virtual photographer's shots. The game looked lacking graphically and judging from peoples work, in comparison to their normal shots, it seemed the game really was not up to standard when compared with most modern games.

I downloaded the demo when it was free to play for everyone on seeing the work of The Undead Pixel. He made the game look amazing, proving how photo mode is a brilliant marketing platform for any company (I'm looking at you Capcom). 

As you can see from his selection of portraiture selected here that he took from the game, it looks astounding. The colours, the light and shadow even the ambience is strong. Each shot is coated in an atmosphere of emotion. 

Having now played the demo I can say with the up most confidence that this is down to the skills of the photographer. The game doesn't look great, the photo mode was very poor and there were large sections where photos could not be taken. 

With this in mind I implore you to check out the work and gallery of The Undead Pixel. He puts as much effort into the rest of his photography as he does these. You will not be disappointed. Check out his gallery here.

Normally I would only use four photos on the showcase, but due to how awkward the game is and the lack of amazing photography out there of the game, I felt it only just to upload a few extra. These are a stunning example of what happens when you push yourself beyond taking a shot in a game and go that step further to attaining your vision. 

PS5 Games at 60fps

Both Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Spider-Man: Miles Morales will have two different modes, one running in 4k at 30 frames per second and the other mode running in “lower resolution” at 60 frames per second at 4k instead of 8k.

In game customisation is huge now. Tailoring the games to the players desires. Game play over graphics, best modes to stream and even a whole host of options for those with additional barriers when it comes to gaming. The Last of Us Part 2, had a colossal amount of options. Some of which I found incredibly useful when collectable hunting with my shoddy eyesight. 

Hopefully it is something we will see even more of in the future. 

Monster Hunter World's Final Update

 

Fatalis brings into the foreground the main antagonist of Monster Hunter that came out in 2004. Not only is he a huge dragon but is always lurking around in the monster hunter games. Often a secret boss that has to be found instead of stumbled upon Fatalis hates humans with a passion.

The update is set to launch on the 1st of October. Good luck Hunters!

Murder Mystery 12 Minutes Trailer

 

Murder Mystery 12 Minutes re-emerged at Gamescom 2020 with voice actors including Daisy Ridley, James McAvoy, and Willem Dafoe.

The game, an interactive thriller about a man trapped in a 12-minute time loop. It was first revealed back in 2015 but has been in the works since and still has no concrete release date. 

Resident Evil Series will be on Netflix

 

Having been brought into gaming in my mid teens and shown the wealth that was the Resident Evil back catalogue, I was converted pretty early on. No games does B-Movie horror quite as well as Capcom and their Resident Evil franchise. 

With the split between director George Romero and Capcom, they were forced to go another route with the box office movies than originally intended. Love them or hate them there is no denying how far from the cannon lore they actually are. 

We had small CGI films that had straight to DVD release that were alright, but nothing has done the series justice. 

Recently we have seen the news about the Splinter Cell anime and the Beyond Good and Evil series. Now we have news of a new take on Resident Evil, that focuses on the Wesker children. 

An official description from Netflix reads: “When the Wesker kids move to New Raccoon City, the secrets they uncover might just be the end of everything.”

The plot of the series will be spread across two distinct timelines, the first introducing 14-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker as they move in to their new home. They soon discover that their seemingly innocent town is more than it seems and their father is concealing dark secrets that put life on Earth in grave danger.

The second timeline follows in a no so distant future. Jade as a 30-year-old, struggling to survive in a world where only 15 million people are left alive. The rest of humanity has become flesh eating horrors transformed by the T-virus, which Jade must struggle against along with her own past.

The only confirmed details are that the show will run for 8 episodes and each episode will be an hour long each. 

Andrew Dabb who is producing the first two episodes alongside Walking Dead's Bronwen Hughes said: 

“Resident Evil is my favorite game of all time. I’m incredibly excited to tell a new chapter in this amazing story and bring the first ever Resident Evil series to Netflix members around the world.

“For every type of Resident Evil fan, including those joining us for the first time, the series will be complete with a lot of old friends, and some things (bloodthirsty, insane things) people have never seen before.”

Resident Evil 3 x Fall Guys

PC gaming is great and every now and then a game spawns a modding community that really goes above and beyond. The best example of this is Resident Evil 3, that had mods and a free camera on the demos release. It shows a level of dedication I had not seen before. 

A few days ago modder XxCRAZYPOTATOxX released his Jilly Bean Mod Pack. Which puts fall guys style bean costumes on Jill, Carlos and Nemesis. 

As you can see by the mods page it has 147 unique downloads but only 3 endorsements, which shows you what a thankless task being a modder is. If you download it show some love and endorse it at least. 

PS Plus Games for September

 

Coming on the 1st of September we have Street Fighter V and PUBG. The good thing about this bundle is that it will give the online multiplayer of both titles a huge surge, delighting both veterans and newcomers. 

For trophy hunters both are probably a no go. Both needing a predicted 150 hours of playtime and Street Fighter V being one of the few games rated a 10/10 difficulty and also 150 hours. However if you just want some good old fashioned online fun, then you have a lot to look forward to.

Huge Impending Warframe Update

 

With the new Heart of Demios update Warframe players will see possibly the largest amount of changes that have happened at one time in a while.

I have played the game on Xbox, PC and now the Playstation 4, I have never "finished" the game. Really, unless you make the game your life you are unlikely to complete everything. It is a game that really is what the player makes it. 

On the Xbox me and my good friend wandered around blind and had a lot of fun. We didn't even get as far as The Second Dream quest, which kind of flips the game on its head and the real game begins. 

My PC experience was very different, I was guided and educated by more veteran players. I focused on maxing out and formaing two weapons and two frames, essentially making them fairly unbeatable. Nothing was an obstacle between my two choices. 

Now on the PS4 I have taken to exploring as much as possible. I recently hit over twenty warframes and have started preparing some more end game frames for the harder content. Now it is about embracing the beauty of the game, the friends I play it with and just having a good time. 

The wonderful thing about the game is that it is free and you can do all of it for free. Unlock every warframe, weapon and access every mission. There is a grind to get end game abilities and gear but you can do the entire story and enjoy the game without ever attaining it. 

The good news is that with the Heart of Demios release we will see a new opening for new players, hopefully a more player friendly and exciting start to match the later quest arcs. The twists and turns the story takes along the way are suprising and baffling. The Second Dream and the Chains of Harrow really pulled me in like no other free to play game ever has. 

For old and new alike the Heart of Demios will be worth downloading or re-logging into the game. Give it a spin and I promise you you will not be disappointed.

Read Dead Redemption Online: Ghosty Fog Crawler

 

Last week I featured the work of Ghostly Fog Crawler and I thought it would be good to do another showcase before an upcoming VP interview. Here we have her Read Dead Online photography. A truly beautiful work of art, the game allows virtual photographers to capture a real period of history. 

Ghostly Fog Crawler showcases a range of beautifully serene shots with her character Rozella-Ann and horse, moseying across the landscape. Each shot showing the bond between the pair as they venture through the world together.

The lighting and positioning is wonderful for an online game lacking a photo mode. Hopefully one day we will see the Rockstar Editor land for RDR2.  Until that day we have the delights of accounts like Ghostly Fog Crawler to keep us topped up with the beauty of the virtual western world. 

To see more of their work check out Ghostly Fog Crawler here on Instagram.

Metro Exodus: Orbot

Orbot's Instagram gallery is full of wonderful content. His use of light and shadow is as strong as the composition of each virtual photograph. 

These shots from Metro Exodus show just that. All are very different in subject from each other, yet as a group they all show the consistency of his work. 

No matter whether Orbot shoots cars from Need For Speed, landscapes in Red Dead Redemption or monstrous creatures in God of War, his style shines through. I implore you to check out his gallery here.

Crysis Remastered

 

In the line of remasters coming out we finally see the remaster of Crysis. The game will have a number of graphical updates like ray-traced reflections and 8K textures.

Crysis Remastered was supposed to be released in July but the fans reaction to the leaked footage was not what Crytek expected. While the Switch version still was released, the remasters for the other consoles "needed more time".

On the PC this will be an Epic Games store exclusive, but for consoles it should be out in this coming September.

Vanilla Control Will Not Upgrade to Next Gen

505 Games has stated that to upgrade Control for Next Gen is too difficult so they are releasing Control Ultimate Edition, which will have all of the DLC along with the base game for £30. Wonderful news if you haven't already bought the game. This will be up-scaled for the next gen consoles but owners of the original game will not get the upgrade and therefore be stuck with it on the current consoles.

“We spent several months exploring all of our launch options for Control Ultimate Edition and no decision was taken lightly,” the publisher wrote. “While it is challenging bringing any game to next gen platforms, we quickly realised it was even more difficult to upgrade our current user base to next gen with full parity across platforms with our year-old game.”

"Every avenue we pursued, there was some form of blocker and those blockers meant that at least one group of players ended up being left out of the upgrade for various reasons. As of today, we can’t offer an upgrade to everyone, and leaving any one group out feels unfair. We understand that is not what you want to hear."

This news does not bode well for other companies up-scaling their games for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. It also reveals that the power is in the hands of the developers. Companies like Ubisoft have shown their dedication to up-scaling games. If you've played Far Cry 4 or their older titles on a PS4 Pro, they look almost as good as modern games, so let us hope that this is the case with most big names in the business. 

It would be a shame if they all started releasing "Ultimate Editions" in order for us to get the new and beautiful experience. 

Black Myth: Wukong

 

I love the Monkey King aka Sun Wukong (or 孫悟空/孙悟空 in Mandarin Chinese). He is a legendary figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. Now thanks to Chinese developer Game Science Studio we have a 13 minute game play trailer all about the legendary hero's journey.

Despite the game having no concrete release date, it looks very slick, next gen and Dark Souls inspired. 

Check out the full 13 minutes below. 

There Will Be No Delays...

 

There has been no light shed yet on what the PS5 will cost or its exact release date. In a new interview Sony with executive Eric Lempel stated that despite the Covid-19 Pandemic, the company hasn’t changed it's plans to launch the console in November.

“We will launch this year – that will happen – and from my end we will absolutely make sure that we will bring all of the magic and all of the excitement of launches that we have had in the past,” Sony Interactive Entertainment’s SVP of marketing explained. “We are still committed to doing that. It’s more challenging than ever, but our gamers expect a lot from us.”

Even though Microsoft have delayed the launch of Halo Infinite they also have stated that their console will not be held back and has a launch date of November. 

Let us hope we see both the Xbox Series X and the PS5 launch within November.

Control: Titanusgojira

 

Titanusgojira was a new profile to me only last week. One thing I love about Instagram is constantly bumping into new talent and skill sets. Everyone shoots games differently and that is what keeps me there. Inspiration and variation to me are key.

Titanusgojira aka Tom, shows us a wide wealth of vibrant content from a selection of photo mode games. Constantly positing new and varied content he is one to follow. 

I especially like the impact of his Control shots. Turning away from the typical dreamy, Lynchian dreamscapes and moving into brighter pastures. Each shots brings a punch of colour and sheds a different perspective on the Control experience. Frenetic action coupled with immense power. Sheer beauty. 

For more of Titanusgojira's work check out his page here. 

Fallout 76: Ghostly Fog Crawler

Ghostly Fog Crawler is easily one of my favourite Fallout photographers. Fallout 76 was not well received but despite this it has a solid fan base that embrace it with all their heart. 

In her work we can see just how much Ghostly Fog Crawler adores the world and the characters that she has created. 

Each shot brings with it both the grit of the post apocalyptic setting but also juxtaposes this with bright and vibrant colours, giving it a powerful comic book feel.

A lot of virtual photographers shoot the fallout worlds drab and depressing or the opposite and make it totally madcap and silly. Both of course are cool, but what makes Ghostly Fog Crawler stand out is that she turns it into a vibrant and slick world that I would want to be a part of.  

For more of their work check out the Instagram profile here.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - Jet Black Gaming

Jet_black_gaming excels at portraiture. Across their virtual photography gallery you see not only a whole host of photo mode content games, but also an array of amazing characters shot in many different locations, atmospheres and poses. 

Today's feature focuses on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and like many of his followers, I would have to say that Jet Black's shots of Chloe really are the best out there. From treasure hunter to cover model, we see Chloe in a variety of provocative poses drenched in water. For more of Jet Black's work check out their page here.

Call of Duty Warzone Gets an Update

 

Modern Warfare has an update on Friday that fixes some of the graphical issues players have been experiencing. On the Xbox this will set players up to the task of downloading 66GB while PS4 and PC users will content with a mere 2GB. 

Infinity Ward have said that the reason the Xbox update is so huge is due to an issue with the patch delivery system on that platform. The games size should not increase to much but this means a lot of the content already on the system has to be reinstalled.

Sorry Xbox users, looks like you are in for a long haul.

Community, the Internet and Hidden Agendas

This blog to me is about many things, gaming, virtual photography and highlighting points of interest for anyone like myself out there that has a thirst for gaming and creativity. My first rule that I try to abide by is avoiding negativity. The world is full of it. You can visit any game new website and it will be full of click bait and negative posts. Right now in lock down I feel it has nose dived into waffle, allegations and lawsuits. While the latter two are important if I posted the same content it would just be passing on that negativity. It's pointless.

The internet can sometimes be a confusing and dangerous place.

Instead I choose to try and push forward the things to look forward to and the beauty of the hobby and gaming community. The Instagram and Twitter VP communities for many have been a great lift during lock down and long before. As the Gaming is Wonderful posts show, the internet and gaming allow us to pull through harder times. This year it has been a godsend to me personally and many others I have spoken to out there. 

Communities can also be a perfect way to connect and find ourselves.

Being an active member of the community and fairly social I end up chatting with a lot of people online. Over the past two weeks I have spoken to a variety of people about issues they have had within the community. Of course out of confidentiality I won't divulge names or even the more sensitive of issues but I think it is important that I reflect on these matters.

The first was a prominent Instagram member who got involved in a discussion about The Last of Us Part 2, let down his guard and went on a racist tirade about how awful the game is. Not due to the narrative but more due to the fact Ellie and Dina are gay, that it involves a Asian guy and that Dina is of the Jewish faith. In a post last week I briefly covered the outrage against Naughty Dog for The Last of Us Part 2. The game has challenged perceptions and made many of the more ignorant reveal their racism, homophobia and sexism. 

One game, so much divide and hostility.

Along with this another person was targeted by abuse by a follower of mine that I had had for over a year. I talked to them fairly often, they seemed decent. One of my other followers contacted me and showed me screenshots of their conversation. Again this was caused by their views of Kassandra on Assassins' Creed Odyssey in comparison to Bayek in Origins. They did not accept that Ubisoft had given freedom to the player and said that "the company deserve the abuse they get" and went on to say many unpleasant things regarding men and their position in society. 

Kassandra an icon for many.

The third was an artist on Instagram. I approached them regarding an interview about their craft and inspirations. The first thing they wanted was unfiltered shots of my face and body "if possible" (I hadn't asked for artwork to be drawn or indulged the sharing of personal experiences). On my refusal they said they would not do the interview. This set alarm bells off and I shut the conversation down. This week, it turns out the artist, who posed as a young woman, is actually a man from the other side of the world, begging and taking peoples money. 

To end this, today I was tagged in a post along with someone that was also not the person they said they were some time ago. Here lies the problem with anonymity of the internet. It makes us feel safe but also it can be a dangerous place.

Anonymity keeps us safe but also creates danger.

My advice as I have said to people whenever I am approached with issues like these is block them, report them if they have been offensive. Sadly the likely-hood anything will be done by social media companies is slim. They don't seem to care. 

On of my followers said this to me and I think it sums up how most of us feel in this situation:

"The painful part is then seeing these people still operate, getting love they perhaps do not deserve. These people look loving and decent, it is not until you happen to take a glimpse behind the monitor at the real person that the facade falls away."

Squash them, block them and move on.
Try to forget, hate campaigns will not get you anywhere.

Just be careful. We hear it all the time but at some point we all let our guard down to those who we trust. How much can you trust someone you've never met? I like to think you can but many would say that is a naive viewpoint. Be cautious, be careful and always have that healthy segment of doubt in the back of your mind. You come first.

* * *

All shots in this article were taken by me from a variety of games. 

Professional Team

 

Back in 2017 the BBC did a news report on the Ghanaian Pallbearers, a group of guys that lifted the mood at funerals by dancing while carrying the deceased's coffin. It went viral, people put it to different tracks.  Now thanks to Professional Team we have a game under the same name inspired by these dancers. Except now you can dance yourself, with bikini clad anime girls, knights and even sharks. 

The information on Steam is pretty poorly translated but here it is for your interest/amusement:

"The popular global coffin carrying culture is coming. Many different coffin carrying heroes, DIY coffin system. Come and hold an unforgettable funeral for him in your heart!"

"Professional team" is a simulation of coffin culture game, a strong coffin carrying team, a variety of coffins, a number of geomantic treasures for your choice. So that you can hold a funeral for him in your mind.
Professional team

As a professional team, we have different heroes. No matter whether he liked imperial sister or cute sister, or wanted to sleep forever under the ocean. We all have professional coffin carrying heroes to take him off. At present, there are six coffin carrying heroes, including the imperial sister, Laurie, female officer, knight, black man and shark. In the future, we plan to launch more heroes according to the needs of players. Mod function is under development. In the future, players can import external role models to form their own professional teams in the game.

DIY coffin system

There are three different coffins in the game: Chinese classical sandalwood coffin, European cross coffin, and Pharaonic gold coffin. If you are not satisfied with these, you can customize a coffin. DIY system allows you to write and draw with different pigments on the coffin, import pictures from your computer and paste them on the coffin.

Different coffin carrying cultures in different geomantic sites

We know that most people pay great attention to the location of funerals. Our team has traveled all over the world and prepared many geomantic sites for you to choose from. In addition to traditional burial, we have also followed the trend of cremation and sea burial, and will launch celestial burial in the future."