@Decoy77: I was thinking the same... but in the sea of made-up names, why using Pinkerton. If "Creative works about the American West are permitted as a matter of law to include such real historical events, figures, and businesses"... can it not include items which symbolize that era, too?
Why "Colt" cannot be used - but "Mauser" can? Mauser is also still active company and still does guns. Colt is much more part of Wild West mythos, though. Mauser C96 was already available in 1899 (was released couple of years earlier, if memory serves), so in theory it could have existed in American West - but common it surely wasn't :)
Mysterio was one of my favorite silver age Spidey villain... looking forward to this one. Hydro man is not a bad choice for city of canals, though he was always "small fry" in Speder-man's portfolio... and... Molten Man? Looks a bit too elemental for comics' Molten Man, if that's him.
Only one concern - 3 villains in single move didn't work for Spider-Man 3... movie is too short media to give enough time to all 3 (previously undeveloped) characters. I'm guessing Hydro and Molten will be just a supports for Mysterio... unless they are his illusions, in a first place.
Pinkerton still being around is the biggest surprise here :)
That said... it is a bit odd that most other historical names have been changed... except for Pinkerton. That Cattleman revolver is obvious Colt Single Action Army revolver, a.k.a. Peacemaker. .44 revolver is Smith Wesson Model 3, a.k.a. Russian (as majority of production has been exported to Russia, after lucrative contract with Russian imperial army). Lever-action rifles are based on Winchesters and Henry rifles, etc. Springfield and Mauser are based on real weapons carrying same names/brands.
Locations are also made up. Might be to avoid having to do historically accurate recreations of these towns, and having more freedom to play with the setup... though I don't think many would complain if Saint Dennis was named New Orleans. Even if inaccurate.
Still... it does feel unnecessary inconsistent. Considering all, Pinkerton could have been Parkerton or Pasterton or Parston or. Anything remotely similar. Colt Single Action and Winchester are much more Wild West than Pinkerton, imho.
@Mogan: They shouldn't have joined with Activision in a first place. They also might have negotiated more creative freedom.
They have lost a lot of talent during this Activision alliance, due to "creative differences"... and I would be surprised if they can win many/any of them back.
Besides - splitting from Activision doesn't guarantee they will change approach much. We don't even know how much did they fight to split, and how much has Activision decided to cut them loose because Destiny 2 was not returning expected results.
Of course I am hoping that D3 will be the game they have advertising from the beginning - but I will definitely not rush into early purchase. I'll let D3 be released and initial euphoria (paid reviews?) settle downa bit, before deciding to give it a go. Or not.
@yeezer: Joining MS would see them lose PS4 gamers - which is the most lucrative bunch, at the moment.
But they could work with one of more benign publishers - basically anyone but Activision and EA. I think they could work with MS and Sony directly as well - without selling their soul (and exclusivity) to either one.
@dudebropartyyo: No worries, slow day in the office ;)
Isn't that the curse of every game with strong narrative - key missions are heavily scripted and with only one outcome. True, some of them at least give you different ways to reach that one outcome - RDR2 seems to be on heavy side of tight scripting (and limiting any freedom in execution to almost-rail-shooter experience). Still, for me - all the side activities give enough of content and choice what to do (and what not to do) to make this game highly enjoyable, even if it maybe shouldn't be. I haven't even touched hunting, fishing, gambling and some other sides, and I am 50% into the story. I also haven't done yet any fossil searching, treasure hunting, and have skipped a few homestead and coach robberies (trying to keep my character on good side of the scale, though I don't expect that to make difference at the end). Just because there were other, more enjoyable things for me to do. I'm considering those key missions as an interactive cut scenes which open new chapters and new lists of sides to get involved in - or not.
Essentially, I agree with what you are saying - but, to my surprise, I'm finding this game much more enjoyable than I should, judging from execution shortcomings.
@HalcyonScarlet: Not to mention that PS5 and Xbox in 2020/21 are likely to be backward compatible with PS4/Pro/Slim and current X1/X1s/X1X, respectively. That is hundreds of quality games quickly patched to run at higher res/framerate, to keep gamers warm before new games made for that generation are out.
MadBox will have... how many games can it hope to have on release? Unless it is just another custom gaming PC.
Like I said - I hope they can make it, but I doubt it.
@pjosephson: Exactly my thoughts. Seeing what X1X does often, I cannot but expect that in 2020/2021, PS5 and whatever Xbox is top of the line at that time, will both have PhD in 4K@60FPS. They should more than double X1X GPU performance, and if they really get proper Ryzen cores in, they will be easily pushing CPU performance 3 - 4x.
And then, contracts (and special pricing) they can get from AMD, will be much better than whatever deal SMS can get; just based on existing cooperation and sales expectations. The best SMS can expect is to get same hardware as these two big guys - I cannot see how can they afford to develop different/better hardware just for them, and remain price competitive - very important factor in consoles.
@ronaldmcreagan: Personally, I'm finding locked 30fps perfectly acceptable. Problem is when lock cannot be achieved. RDR2 easily drops into mid or even low 20 and man is it jarring... but traversing and shooting at 30fps is perfectly acceptable - for me. I am still enjoying heck of that game.
Speaking of which - DriveClub was cemented into 30fps and I still remember it as one of smoothest racing experiences I had. I have preferred rock solid 30fps to, say, PS4 Project Cars 60fps with drops to 40-something in rain or some mayhem incidents. Frame rate change and screen tear was more distracting than unyielding 30fps.
@alterzero: Valve has already tried with Steam machine, which was a PC... and they probably have much more $$$ and much stronger ties with independent developers.
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