Infinite 1UP

Is The Price For Games Today More Expensive Than Ever?Games are a luxury. Not all of us can afford to throw $50 to $60 every time a major publisher releases a game that we like. So imagine our surprise when developers and big companies such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all started to bump the prices of their major triple-A games up to $70. That’s a big dent in other people’s pockets.While debates over this price increase are ongoing, we’d like to think is it really such an expensive time to be a gamer? Are these prices the most expensive ones we had in the entire history of the world? Well, according to Dual Shockers’ Robert Zak: not really. This is because, well, inflation exists. After some calculations, Zak pointed out that the variation in prices for major N64 and PS1 games tend to come in the $60 to $70 range, which is around $113 to $132 if adjusted to today’s prices. Back in the day, games had smaller development teams and were made on even smaller budgets. Their price range wasn’t really a bargain for fans around that time, too. If we compare prices by today’s standards, the newest triple-A games of today actually cost less than past-generation titles. However, we also need to consider while this is numerically true, there are other factors that also dictate why current game prices are a bit difficult for players today. This includes the fact that the price of regular daily essentials creeps up just in time the price hike on games did, and it feels like a knife being twisted on us. Life’s harder today, man.Image credit: Nintendo

This Company Used AR To Make The Best D&D Virtual Tabletop YetThis one is for those who can’t afford to buy all the minis and props needed to make a proper map for their next Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) session. Additionally, if you’re like us and want to make cool, elaborate maps but won’t have the time to make all of its components by hand, then you’re probably leaning into virtual tabletops.Mirrorscape is an application that aims to not just provide players with online, virtual, top-down battle maps with tokens. It is an augmented reality (AR) software that allows players to see D&D terrain and miniatures as if they were there in front of them. This allows a lot of versatile angles to see depth and distance. Also, players don’t need a lot of plastic and minis, as the app will provide it. Mirrorscape CEO Grant Anderson shared that he didn’t like how flat online maps were for D&D sessions. "I wanted to create, using augmented reality, a new way to play the game that was authentic, that felt like you were actually playing around the table with your friends," he shared. "So I rolled up my sleeves and dove into Unity and started programming this up… I was just gonna do this for a hobby."Learn more about this cool app here!Image credit: Mirrorscape

Will Smith To Star In New Massive Open World GameMove away, Keanu Reeves. We’ve got a new celebrity starring in video games. Will Smith is now starring in a brand new open-world zombie RPG. Now, one can just say this is just the spinoff of his 2007 zombie movie, I Am Legend. However, it is a bit different. The zombie part is still there, though.Made by Lightspeed Studios, Undawn is an upcoming free-to-play open-world survival RPG for mobile and PC devices that will be released in June. Smith plays as the ‘legendary survivor’ Trey Jones that will guide the players in the world of Undawn. He will be showing how players can face off against different factions of the world– Clowns, Eagles, Night Owls, and Reivers, all in the name of territory, safety, and supplies. Players will be encouraged to explore an expansive open world, filled with plains, mines, deserts, swamps, cities, and more unique ecosystems and dangers. The game states that players will need to “brave rain, heat, snow, and storms while monitoring their character’s health and well-being to stay alive against overwhelming odds.” Learn more about Undawn here.

The Worst Reviewed Game Of 2023So far, yikes. This game has gaming reviewers backing away from it too.Developed by Daedalic Entertainment, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has finally been released to the public, and honestly? It’s not doing so well. Both in terms of performance and audience reception. Compared to what the developers promised years ago, it is clear that the final product was a downgrade. We’re not even gonna talk about that screenshot we’ve included above, which has been making rounds all over the Internet. In terms of critical reception, the PC version has a total score of 43 on Metacritic and 40 for the PS5 version. These are a bad set of scores, by the way. Reviewers also call the game a bit of an eyesore. While the game follows the style of narrative done in the original source material, that nostalgic story isn’t even enough to distract players with how bad looking it is. “Characters appear flat and lifeless, vistas are murky and lacking in detail, and textures are so drab and washed out, you can easily be mistaken into waiting for them to pop in with a sharper resolution that never arrives,” Alex Avard wrote for GamesRadar+. “Gollum never feels particularly fun to play as, with many simple actions like jumping or throwing a rock feeling wooden and unwieldy to perform.”With gameplay and visuals feeling bleak and boring, it is no surprise that this game is getting bad reviews. It’s really sad to see a project that developers spent years working on looking and performing like this. Image credit: Daedalic Entertainment

Metal Gear Solid Collection To Be Released On PlatformsGet a load of this!PlayStation has released a long overdue digital showcase, showing the upcoming titles for their PlayStation 5. The presentation was certainly a mixed bag of things people cared about, and there are a few titles that garnered the attention of many – for example, Square Enix’s Foamstars got flak for looking exactly like Splatoon.There were other titles however that got good attention. These include Capcom announcing Resident Evil 4 VR mode, as well as Konami teasing the return of their critically-acclaimed Metal Gear Solid series. This confirmation came after ongoing rumors of a remake of one of the older games. The company announced a remake of the third game with a cinematic trailer, as well as the reveal for a Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, arriving in Autumn 2023. The bundle will include HD remasters of the first three games– and it seems that Capcom is planning to throw out more games in the future. This collection is in celebration of their upcoming 35th anniversary. The games are confirmed to be released not only just for the PS5 but also for other latest platforms."Currently, the development team is working together to create an environment where fans can experience and enjoy the METAL GEAR series on the latest platforms,” the company shared on its website. "...we will deliver the METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION series, the most complete compilation that celebrates the 35th anniversary of the series. The METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION allows fans to play the games as they were, as first released on the latest platforms."Image credit: Konami

This New Zelda Game Shouldn’t Be Possible On The Nintendo SwitchWe’ve finally got our hands on a copy, folks. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has finally launched on the Nintendo Switch, and dare we say it: it’s good. You can definitely see why it took six years to develop, and it is definitely not a DLC to Breath of the Wild. It stands as its own game.We were honestly just expecting Breath of the Wild but a bit different, and yet our expectations were blown out of the water with just how big this game is. No spoilers, of course as some things are better to be discovered on your own. However, we will agree to the consensus that it’s so good that, as game developer Lawrence Young stated on Twitter, it "shouldn't be possible on the Switch"."The things that Tears of the Kingdom is doing, it just shouldn't be possible on the Switch.” He stated in a TikTok video. “It would be a monumental thing to do on current next-gen consoles, and yet somehow Nintendo has managed to do it on something that amounts to a five-year-old cellphone."Link’s new abilities as shown in the short marketing release before the game launched, such as Ultrahand, which lets you combine and glue objects together are impressive. Additionally, Recall, a power that allows you to send objects back to where they were by rewinding time, is just insane in terms of coding. Young also notes the game physics on display as players go from one shrine to another, and as they interact with the world. "Each one of these systems would have been astounding if it was just it by itself,” he commented. “To have it all happening at the same time and all of it to be interconnecting and working and playing nice with each other while the entire Legend of Zelda game, the normal loop that we experience from Breath of the Wild, is just laying right on top, that doesn't seem possible."It’s so worth the $70, trust us. image credit: Nintendo