One of the biggest complaints that I have heard so far about the beta, is dealing with the graphics on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. So I wanted to take a few moments to address these concerns.

Let us begin by reminding ourselves that this is a beta. It is not a demo of the final build of the game. You are playing an unfinished product. DICE has also said that this is an older build that we are playing of the game. Publishers must go through certification in order to submit content to the consoles. This can take up to a month in some places. So DICE had to submit this build of the game weeks ago.

The goal of the beta is to receive feedback on different elements inside the game. To test the servers – test the weapons etc. It is NOT to impress you with graphics.

The other thing to remember – is Battlefield 3 beta also looked bad! The final version of the game included an HD Texture pack. And it made a HUGE difference.

One thing that I will concede. I think the Shanghai Beta map looks a lot better when the C Tower is still standing. Once levelution has been initiated and the tower falls and covers everything in dust, then the map does have a very bland look to it which looks bad. But if you have ever seen the footage of the 9/11 Twin Towers falling – you’ll know that it isn’t a very pretty sight. The area does turn to dust color – and it is very bland.

Either way – take the beta for what it is. A chance to try out Battlefield 4 before it releases. It is not a preview of the exact game you will be getting on release date. I can assure you, that graphics are the last thing you should be concerned about when it comes to DICE and Battlefield 4. Even though the PC & next gen consoles will look vastly superior – I don’t believe for a second that it will be a complete turd on Xbox 360 & PS3 graphically.
Stay informed with breaking gaming news at VGN.  Also, feel free to check out my youtube channel to watch more videos on Battlefield 4.

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Back to the Basics: Options

I know that you are excited to get on the Battlefield and ready to start going to work on destroying your opponents.  While you can survive by jumping in and smashing buttons to figure everything out, my first bit of advice is to just go to the options menu and have a look.  PC players have the perk of doing a custom key binding, but console players are far more limited.  Console players are also more likely to have trouble figuring out the controls because the default settings have changed.  Spotting and driving vehicles are changed up enough that it will have veterans scratching their heads at first for a min.  Knowing which buttons bring up the right tools at the right time is going to make your experience a lot more enjoyable from the start.

There are also other options including a color blind mode if you are having trouble distinguishing the colors on screen.

Pre-Spawn Gameplan:

The First thing you want to do before you spawn into the game, is be sure you are joined up in a squad.  In Battlefield 4, squad size has been increased to 5.  I recommend that you join a squad that is almost full.  This will give you more spawn choices, and also give you better odds of getting squad perks once you get in game. (I’ll talk about squad perks in another video)

Take a moment and look over the Battlefield.  Pay attention to what bases you have – where your team is located – and what enemy armor is in the area.  The last thing you want to do is spawn on a base with a enemy tank and you have a sniper rifle.  Prepare your loadout for what you will be facing.  If you are spawning in an area with enemy tanks. Bring an engineer with rockets.  The other thing to note is your friendly vehicles that are empty.  If you see that no one is using the tanks on your team. Jump In.  Even if you aren’t good – the only way to get better is to practice.   Vehicles can turn the tide in any map on Battlefield 4.  So make sure you aren’t letting a good opportunity go to waste.
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@TwTheRedDragon

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But what do they offer that is different?

Last week, I took a look at the top PS4 features.  Now it’s time to take a look at the Top Xbox One Features.

• Controller: Impulse triggers – 4 motors inside the Xbox One controller allow developers to give feedback to your fingertips like never before.  Each motor can be programmed to respond in different ways depending on the feedback of what is happening in game.  Example: Racing  - Driving over various terrain will give corresponding feedback to the controller.  Driving over gravel will vibrate differently than driving over grass or asphalt.  FPS games would let you ‘feel’ different weapons.  If you empty the chamber, it will feel differently than when you are shooting a high powered rifle. And shooting a rifle will feel unique compared with firing a rocket launcher for example.  Each motor is controlled separately, which allows developers to cue movement in only the parts of the controller they wish to use.

• Smart Match Matchmaking:  This system allows players to search for multiplayer matches across Xbox Live. Players can search for matches based on skill, age, languages, DLC etc.

• Reputation System Revamped:  Smart matchmaking will filter the good players from the bad players.  Anytime players are reported, or muted by fellow players – Xbox is evaluating their interactions.  A player who is regularly misbehaving – or who is commonly reported or muted will lose reputation points and will be thrown in multiplayer matches with players who play similarly

• Cloud Power: The cloud is going to offer Microsoft a number of different features.  Developers can push out updates and new achievements with no delay.  Games can be updated in real-time (Example: Sports games that use real player stats could be updated as games are played in real life.)  Forza has shown that the Xbox AI can learn and adapt to human behavior. Microsoft is also giving all developers and publishers access to these servers at a very low rate.  That most games should be on dedicated servers. (See Xbox One vs PS4 Cloud)

• Devkit: Every Xbox One will also double as a developer kit.  This will give indies an opportunity to work with Xbox One, Windows 8, Kinect, the cloud, as well as apps.

• Kinect 2.0:

1) All new voice algorithms allow for natural voice communications.  Example: “Show me movies with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.”.  If you take advantage of the HDMI in with your TV box, you can also turn on your TV and control the volume with the sound of your voice without ever picking up the remote.2) Motion capture upgraded from original Kinect.  The Kinect 2.0 can see in the dark, and can be used while you are on the couch.  It can now track facial gestures, finger movements, weight balance, and more.

 VGN: Video Games and News

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Sources:
PS4 feeds into Xbox One
Playing PS4 through Xbox One won’t be a great experience
VGN: Video Games and News
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Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Watch_Dogs, and Battlefield 4 are the supported titles for this program. When you buy the Blu-ray Disc or digital version of these select PS3 games, for a limited time, you will receive an entitlement to download a PS4 digital copy of the same game from PlayStation Store when it becomes available, at the discounted price of $9.99.

Gamers who purchase a PS3 Blu-ray Disc of these four games will find a code packed into the PS3 version that they can redeem on PlayStation Store. To play the PS4 version of the game when it becomes available, you’ll need to insert the original PS3 disc in your PS4 to activate and play the PS4 version, so hang onto that PS3 disc!

Gamers who purchase the digital version of any of these four games will not need to redeem a code to receive their PS4 versions. When your PS4 arrives, just look for the PS4 version of the game on PlayStation Store – it will appear on PlayStation Store on your PS4 for the discounted price of $9.99. Just purchase it and start playing!

For those of you who purchase the PS3 disc version of the games, you do not need a PS4 system to redeem your code, so feel free to redeem it as soon as you pick up your PS3 copy — you can download your digital copy later when your PS4 arrives.

But don’t wait: This program lasts for a limited time. You’ll need to redeem your code and make the purchase before January 31st, 2014 (for Assassin’s Creed IV and Watch_Dogs), March 28th (for Battlefield 4), or March 31st (for Call of Duty: Ghosts) in order to participate.

Source:

Playstation Blog

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Source:
Xbox Live Stats
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This is a Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist video walkthrough. No Cutscenes / No Kills / In this guide, we will be going for Ghost in all of the campaign missions. That means that we will be playing stealthy with no alerts or kills. I do my best to ensure that my walkthroughs are easy to follow and I give tips and help along the way to make sure that anyone, no matter what their skill is, can follow along easily. Along the way, we will also be picking up several high value achievements / trophies for beating the game on Perfectionist difficulty and perfecting the Ghost play style.

Achievements / Trophies we will get (Note: You will get many more for completing the missions, but these are the major ones we are going for)

• 4th Echelon Officer (100 G) – Completed every single player mission on Perfectionist difficulty
• Tactical Style: Ghost (25 G) – Mastered Ghost playstyle on 7 missions
• No Kill Option Engaged (50 G) – Completed single player campaign without killing anyone as Sam Fisher
• Distraction Tactician (10 G) – Stealthily took down an enemy who has been lured by sound
• Mission Footprint Zero (10 G) – Completed single player mission undetected

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist is an action-adventure stealth game published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth installment of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series and is the direct sequel to Splinter Cell: Conviction. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and Xbox 360, in North America on August 20, 2013, Australia on August 22, 2013, Europe on August 23, 2013, and  Japan on September 5, 2013.

Following the events of Splinter Cell: Conviction, Patricia Caldwell, the President of the United States, shuts down the corrupt Third Echelon and replaces it with a new special operations and counter-terrorism unit called Fourth Echelon — a team of elite operatives drawn from different agencies, who operate in a mobile environment and perform missions assigned directly by the Commander in Chief, led by former Third Echelon agent Sam Fisher. When a group of twelve terrorists calling themselves “The Engineers” initiate a deadly countdown of escalating attacks on United States assets called “The Blacklist”, Fisher and his team are assigned to hunt them down and stop the Blacklist countdown before it reaches zero.

Watch the full Splinter Cell Blacklist Walkthrough

VGN: Video Games and News

The Red Dragon

The post Splinter Cell Blacklist Walkthrough Part 11 Site F | Ghost Gameplay | Last / Final Mission appeared first on THE RED DRAGON.

This is a Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist video walkthrough. No Cutscenes / No Kills / In this guide, we will be going for Ghost in all of the campaign missions. That means that we will be playing stealthy with no alerts or kills. I do my best to ensure that my walkthroughs are easy to follow and I give tips and help along the way to make sure that anyone, no matter what their skill is, can follow along easily. Along the way, we will also be picking up several high value achievements / trophies for beating the game on Perfectionist difficulty and perfecting the Ghost play style.

Achievements / Trophies we will get (Note: You will get many more for completing the missions, but these are the major ones we are going for)

• 4th Echelon Officer (100 G) – Completed every single player mission on Perfectionist difficulty
• Tactical Style: Ghost (25 G) – Mastered Ghost playstyle on 7 missions
• No Kill Option Engaged (50 G) – Completed single player campaign without killing anyone as Sam Fisher
• Distraction Tactician (10 G) – Stealthily took down an enemy who has been lured by sound
• Mission Footprint Zero (10 G) – Completed single player mission undetected

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist is an action-adventure stealth game published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth installment of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series and is the direct sequel to Splinter Cell: Conviction. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and Xbox 360, in North America on August 20, 2013, Australia on August 22, 2013, Europe on August 23, 2013, and  Japan on September 5, 2013.

Following the events of Splinter Cell: Conviction, Patricia Caldwell, the President of the United States, shuts down the corrupt Third Echelon and replaces it with a new special operations and counter-terrorism unit called Fourth Echelon — a team of elite operatives drawn from different agencies, who operate in a mobile environment and perform missions assigned directly by the Commander in Chief, led by former Third Echelon agent Sam Fisher. When a group of twelve terrorists calling themselves “The Engineers” initiate a deadly countdown of escalating attacks on United States assets called “The Blacklist”, Fisher and his team are assigned to hunt them down and stop the Blacklist countdown before it reaches zero.

Watch the full Splinter Cell Blacklist Walkthrough

VGN: Video Games and News

The Red Dragon

The post Splinter Cell Blacklist Walkthrough Part 10 LNG Terminal | Ghost Gameplay appeared first on THE RED DRAGON.

This is a Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist video walkthrough. No Cutscenes / No Kills / In this guide, we will be going for Ghost in all of the campaign missions. That means that we will be playing stealthy with no alerts or kills. I do my best to ensure that my walkthroughs are easy to follow and I give tips and help along the way to make sure that anyone, no matter what their skill is, can follow along easily. Along the way, we will also be picking up several high value achievements / trophies for beating the game on Perfectionist difficulty and perfecting the Ghost play style.

Achievements / Trophies we will get (Note: You will get many more for completing the missions, but these are the major ones we are going for)

• 4th Echelon Officer (100 G) – Completed every single player mission on Perfectionist difficulty
• Tactical Style: Ghost (25 G) – Mastered Ghost playstyle on 7 missions
• No Kill Option Engaged (50 G) – Completed single player campaign without killing anyone as Sam Fisher
• Distraction Tactician (10 G) – Stealthily took down an enemy who has been lured by sound
• Mission Footprint Zero (10 G) – Completed single player mission undetected

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist is an action-adventure stealth game published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth installment of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series and is the direct sequel to Splinter Cell: Conviction. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and Xbox 360, in North America on August 20, 2013, Australia on August 22, 2013, Europe on August 23, 2013, and  Japan on September 5, 2013.

Following the events of Splinter Cell: Conviction, Patricia Caldwell, the President of the United States, shuts down the corrupt Third Echelon and replaces it with a new special operations and counter-terrorism unit called Fourth Echelon — a team of elite operatives drawn from different agencies, who operate in a mobile environment and perform missions assigned directly by the Commander in Chief, led by former Third Echelon agent Sam Fisher. When a group of twelve terrorists calling themselves “The Engineers” initiate a deadly countdown of escalating attacks on United States assets called “The Blacklist”, Fisher and his team are assigned to hunt them down and stop the Blacklist countdown before it reaches zero.

Watch the full Splinter Cell Blacklist Walkthrough

VGN: Video Games and News

The Red Dragon

The post Splinter Cell Blacklist Walkthrough Part 9 Airstrip | Ghost Gameplay appeared first on THE RED DRAGON.

Every Xbox One includes a headset now: Family sharing is back to a certain extent. And new controller features are discussed, including a 20% reduction in input lag compared with the Xbox 360 Controller.

Xbox One Headset Included: CNET

Xbox One Sharing Digital Games on Xbox Live Gold: Xbox Wire

Xbox One invested $100 Million into the Xbox One Controller design: CVG

Xbox One Controller Trailer

VGN: Video Games and News

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