TechNews

The Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine, which we all know better as ScummVM, turns 20 this week, and anyone who has ever enjoyed a classic adventure game on a modern PC (or mobile device!) over the last two decades probably owes its creators a drink or two.

Originally released in October 2001 by Ludvig Strigeus (with help from Vincent Hamm), the original plan was just to get Monkey Island 2 running in an emulator. That one game soon became two (Fate of Atlantis), and as word of ScummVM’s success grew, so too did the team size and the number of games (and engines) it supported.

Over the last 20 years ScummVM has grown from something mostly associated with playing old Lucasarts adventures into a program that can now run games from 64 different engines, from Myst to Might & Magic.

To further back that up, to celebrate the program’s birthday the team have announced ScummVM 2.5.0, with a list of additions and improvements they call “tremendous”.

First up, these games now work:

• Little Big Adventure
• Red Comrades 1: Save the Galaxy
• Red Comrades 2: For the Great Justice
• Transylvania
• Crimson Crown
• OO-Topos
• Glulx interactive fiction games
• Private Eye
• AGS Games versions 2.5+
• Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy
• The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time
• Crusader: No Remorse
• L-ZONE
• Spaceship Warlock
• Grim Fandango
• The Longest Journey
• Myst 3: Exile

Grim Fandango! Little Big Adventure! Crusader: No Remorse! This rules. But that’s not all, there are also tweaks under the good for everything from the desktop interface to the DS version of ScummVM:

Besides the new games and game versions, ScummVM 2.5.0 brings many notable improvements and new features. We have completed a major rework of the GUI: We now support Unicode characters everywhere. The GUI also adapts to high resolutions used in HiDPI screens. The Nintendo DS port has been significantly rewritten. We added GOG and Steam achievements to a large number of Wintermute games and enabled KeyMapper in more games. Thanks to the work of one of our GSoC students, we have now added an option for text-to-speech to the games Sfinx, Soltys and The Griffon Legend.

You can download the latest ScummVM release at the project’s site.

The most recent season of Apex Legends, “Emergence,” added Ranked Arenas to the mix after the previous season first added Arenas maps to the popular video game. Arenas maps are smaller than the traditional, huge battle royale maps that the base mode for Apex Legends includes, and it also changes up the loot and number of players, limiting it significantly and pitting three players versus another three. And, it would seem, big changes are on the horizon for Ranked Arenas specifically.

Apex Legends Senior Designer Robert West recently responded to criticism of Ranked Arenas over on Twitter with a thread of upcoming changes for the mode. “We have some matchmaking and AP improvements in the pipe and will of course keep updating as we go,” shared West. “I know of 1 bug at least that we’re investigating and will hopefully have a fix for soon.” You can check out the thread for yourself below:

We’re working on making the Ranked Arenas experience better! We have some matchmaking and AP improvements in the pipe and will of course keep updating as we go. I know of 1 bug at least that we’re investigating and will hopefully have a fix for soon. More in 🧵

— Robert West (@RoboB0b_) October 8, 2021

Second is if you lose to a lower rated team. Thankfully, we have some updates coming that I think will make this much better.
Lower ranked teammates usually just means their MMR is close to yours but they haven’t grinded as much AP. This should also be better after the update

— Robert West (@RoboB0b_) October 8, 2021

According to West, there are some updates in the works that should overall make Ranked Arenas a much smoother experience for folks. That includes, but is not limited to, the ways in which AP and matchmaking ratings play together to determine teams. “Lower ranked teammates usually just means their MMR is close to yours but they haven’t grinded as much AP. This should also be better after the update,” West states in the thread.

Apex Legends‘ latest season, “Emergence,” is currently available in the game. The season brought with it the new Legend Seer among many other changes. Apex Legends itself is currently available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. As of Season 9, the popular free-to-play video game appears to have dropped the number in favor of a name only with “Emergence” technically being Season 10. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the popular video game right here.

What do you think about Ranked Arenas as they currently exist in Apex Legends? What do you hope to see changed next in Apex Legends beyond that? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!

[H/T Dexerto]

Crystal Dynamics has been forced to release a statement that effectively appeals for calm in the wake of news that paid XP boosts would be introduced to the game. The company, which originally stated all items for sale in Marvel’s Avengers that cost real money would be strictly, recently reneged on that promise with the news that paid XP boosts were on the way.

This has not gone down well with players, which is to be expected. Unfortunately, some people felt the need to take things too far and have resorted to targeting, threatening, and publicly attacking the community team, according to a statement issued by the developer on the game’s subreddit.

As covered by the statement, pricing decisions like this would all take place well above the community team level, who are simply the bearers of such news when it does happen. Even then, it is not appropriate to threaten anyone in the way that appears to have led to this statement being released.

Things have been rocky for Marvel’s Avengers since the game launched. While the campaign was seen as fun, many were left cold by the lack of an endgame. The issues among the community have been brewing for a while, as an eroded player base that still considered the game fun, and more important, salvageable, has been getting more and more estranged by some developer decisions.

XP gains were already reduced, and the recent announcement of paid boosters is perceived as a way for the companies involved to milk the remaining playerbase as much as possible. Even the responses to the statement issued by the developers resulted in sympathy, but a continued assault by players on what they see as the game’s faults.

We suspect there is further drama in the future for Marvel’s Avengers, and unfortunately for the developers and the players, no superhero is going to step in to save them.

A tip from a source with a very good track record when it comes to Samsung’s future plans, TechManiacs, has filled in all the gaps we didn’t already bridge when it comes to the Galaxy S22 Ultra, S22+, and the S22.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra display specs

Record screen brightness

According to the report, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will have the most luminous mobile display ever, capable of hitting a peak of 1800 nits brightness. 

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra battery charging speeds

30-minute charging, anyone?

It will also finally be able to support fast 45W charging speeds, just as we heard before, putting it on an equal footing with the Chinese competition. Why equal given that they are already at 65W or even 120W? 

The charging speeds were the only weak point of Samsung’s flagship phones in the battle with their main competitors for Android market share, so finally resolving this issue will look very good, and not only on paper.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra camera specs

New sensor, lens, and stabilization

It will apparently also introduce a huge improvement in image stabilization, to the tune of a whopping 48% shake reduction and movement compensation compared to its predecessor. 

Galaxy S22/Plus camera, charging specs, and design

The S22+ will also get those 45W goods

Here the source is more laconic, but we do learn that the Galaxy S22+ is to gain the 45W fast charging support that the S22 Ultra will have, and for which Samsung already has a power brick on the market.

Expected S22 Ultra price

Same old is a good thing

There is no indication what type of charging or what camera changes there will be in the smaller member of the pack – the Galaxy S22 – just yet, but the source tips one very welcome pricing news for the series. 

Apparently, Samsung won’t be changing the Galaxy S22 Ultra price from its predecessor’s, so we can reasonably expect a $1200 starting tag for the base storage model. What do you think about these new S22 series revelations, anything caught your attention?

Yesterday afternoon, Amouranth received her fifth Twitch ban since 2019. She tweeted out, “banned everywhere,” and confirmed via a new YouTube video today that she has been banned on Twitch, Instagram, and TikTok.

Twitch partner and software engineer Commander Root replied to Amouranth’s ban news with a screenshot that shows her as still partnered on Twitch. Typically, if an account has been permanently banned, such data will show the banned account as no longer partnered with the platform.

The Switch exclusive Metroid Dread is very much the game of the moment, but it appears some people aren’t even playing this new release on Nintendo’s hardware. As highlighted by the folks over at PC Gamer, certain individuals are already running this title on the open-source Switch emulators – increasing the resolution to 4K and unlocking the framerate.

A YouTube channel has uploaded a 10-minute “Yuzu emulator performance test” video (which we won’t be sharing here) – showcasing Dread running on a PC powered by a 6GB GTX 1060, an Intel Core i5-8400 processor, and 16GB of DDR4 RAM.

As stunning as this admittedly looks on the PC, it will probably raise a few eyebrows over at Nintendo’s headquarters. Of course, if you want to show your support for Samus’ new game, the best way to do it is to play Metroid Dread on Switch.

Hey, real quick: If you are a Nintendo lawyer or employee, just like… don’t read this. It was a silly mistake. Ignore this blog. You can go now. Okay, everyone else…

Metroid Dread was officially released on October 8, but copies got out into the wild a few days before that. And even after such a short time, the game is now fully playable in 4K via various Nintendo Switch emulators.

Released yesterday and developed by Mercurysteam, Metroid Dread is the awaited 2D return of the Metroid series. You can read our full review here, but the short answer: It’s a solid game with some nice-looking visuals and surprisingly tricky boss fights. It is a Switch exclusive, as you might expect. But all you need is a Switch emulator and a decently powerful PC, and you can play Dread on your computer, right now. And it looks great.

Via the popular Yuzu open-source emulator, you can now play Dread with custom controls and unlimited FPS settings. Some players have reported minor issues with cutscenes and black screens, but according to the Yuzu devs, this is fixed by updating to the latest version of the free emulator.

Another popular Switch emulator, Ryujinx, is able to run the game at similarly high framerates, but can also play it at a much higher 4K resolution. Compared to the native 720/900p resolution available on the Switch in handheld or TV mode, this is a massive increase. And, the art style and visuals really shine in 4K.

Of course, it’s possible that certain areas of the game perform worse on certain PC setups, and depending on your computer’s specs and software setup, Dread via emulation could be a total shitshow. But it seems that for most folks with moderately powerful GPUs, things are looking damn good.

If you want to play the rest of the Metroid franchise and don’t want to shell out large amounts of money on old consoles and games, your best bet is also emulation. As is often the case, Nintendo (like most game publishers) is really bad about maintaining access to their past games outside of the few big sellers. Thank God for pirates, emulators, modders, and hackers.

Back 4 Blood is out in early access for folks who pre-ordered the fancy, more expensive versions of the zombie shooter. And these players have discovered that trying to play the game solo means you have to give up a lot. Specifically, you won’t be able to unlock achievements, earn valuable supply points or even track your in-game stats. As you might expect, people aren’t happy about this and the devs are promising to “address the issue.”

Back 4 Blood is the latest game from the studio that originally developed Left 4 Dead. The company’s last big shooter was the interesting but flawed flop, Evolve. Like Left 4 Dead, Back 4 Blood is a co-op-focused zombie shooter built around teams of players or bots pushing through undead-infested levels.

Back 4 Blood isn’t officially out until October 12, but players who pre-ordered either the deluxe or ultimate edition of the game were granted early access to the full game starting October 8. And when one of these early access players tried to jump into Back 4 Blood’s solo mode they were greeted with a message warning them of all the things that are blocked in that mode.

“Uses solo decks created in the Fort Hope deck menu.

Maps and objectives will be adjusted.

Matchmaking and player invites are disabled.

Earning Supply Points is disabled.

Stat tracking is disabled.

Earning progress towards Accomplishments is disabled.”

According to this message, players who choose to play alone won’t be able to earn achievements or trophies depending on their platform, they won’t be able to earn supply points and they can’t even see their solo game stats. This immediately led to some backlash from players who felt this was too restrictive and punished solo players too harshly.

In response, the devs behind Back 4 Blood issued a statement via Twitter explaining that the studio was “discussing ways to address the issue.” But the devs didn’t have any timeframe for when to expect more news on the situation.

Blocking solo players out of progression might not be so controversial if the game also didn’t require an online connection.

Back in June, Turtle Rock confirmed that the entire game (even its solo mode) would require an always-online internet connection. This understandably upset players and for good reason. Making a game that can be played solo require an always-online internet connection is just stupid. Turtle Rock did suggest they would add an offline mode after launch, but we haven’t really heard anything about that since June.

Combine that older news of an always-online connection with the recent revelation that solo mode players will be blocked from a lot of the game’s progression and stat tracking and you have a bad situation. If the servers for this game get shut down in a few years, and no offline mode has been added or changes made to solo progression, it would be a bad time and make it nearly impossible to play in the future.