For next month’s PlayStation Plus free games, Sony will be giving PlayStation 4 owners access to Gauntlet: Slayer Edition and King’s Quest Chapter 1: A Knight to Remember. As for the other two platforms, you’ll find Freedom Wars on PlayStation Vita, SSX on PlayStation 3, and more.
Here’s everything both leaving and entering the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection next week on Tuesday, December 1 in Europe:
Leaving the Instant Game Collection
- Magicka 2 (PS4)
- The Walking Dead Season 2 (PS4)
- Dragon Fin Soup (PS4, PS3, PS Vita)
- Beyond Good and Evil (PS3)
- Mass Effect 2 (PS3)
- Invizimals (PSP)
Entering the Instant Game Collection
- Gauntlet: Slayer Edition (PS4)
- King’s Quest Chapter 1: A Knight to Remember (PS4)
- Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PS3)
- SSX (PS3)
- Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken (PS Vita)
- Freedom Wars (PS Vita)
As for the European PlayStation Store Black Friday 2015 sale, that will begin on Friday, November 27. Stay tuned for details once they’re available.
Which December 2015 PlayStation Plus free game are you most excited for?
[Source: PS Blog]
10 Game Mechanics That Need to Evolve (or Die)
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10 Game Mechanics That Need to Evolve (or Die)
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Tutorials
Recommendation: Banish them entirely. Use contextual in-game scenarios to showcase more complex tasks. Let players play! They'll figure it out or teach one another.
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Item Pickups
Recommendation: Small, manageable inventories are great. Don't design quests and games that require the player to have 37 pinecones on hand just in case.
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Fetch Quests
Recommendation: Provide a main quest that is so expansive and diverse it allows for organic tangents that feel important. Fetch quests are artificial bulk. Get rid of them. Invest the time in a main quest that satisfies for 40+ hours instead and my time will feel valued.
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Inventory Systems
Recommendation: It doesn’t take a lot of effort to find creative ways for game worlds to make sense. In The Witcher 3's case, why not add an option for the banks in Novigrad to not only exchange currency, but allow you store items in safety deposit boxes?
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Minimaps
Recommendation: Allow for maps in towns. Outside of that, no map, no icons, until you explore the area. Create a world that can help players find their way intuitively without a map using landmarks, signposts, and NPCs that can offer more than grunts and stock expressions.
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Quicksave/Quickload
Recommendation: If games insist on traditional save/load mechanics, integrate it into the control scheme. Here’s a freebie, double-tap the touchpad to save, hold it to load. I’m positive that will lead to absolutely zero accidental saves...
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Character Momentum
Recommendation: Just pay Naughty Dog for their player momentum algorithms and be done with it.
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Fast Travel
Recommendation: All killer, no filler. Don’t make me backtrack unnecessarily. Use fast travel any time it keeps a player’s progress moving forward and avoid ever making a player move backward.
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Weapon Types
Recommendation: Have fun with weapon types. If you must have an axe and a sword, make them play differently. Not just heavy swing vs light swing, let it impact the way a character is responded to, let it affect the way a character develops, etc. If your game can’t include explosive teddy bears, then do some research to find the medieval equivalent to one (there totally is one).
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Dialog Options
Recommendation: Player choice will grow and become more complex as technology (and budgets) advance. But if a game cannot (or does not) provide the foundation for meaningful dialog options, don’t include it. It weakens your story and insults the player.
