Month: September 2023
Starfield was intentionally made to be played for years, says Todd Howard
Starfield director Todd Howard says that Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG was “intentionally” designed to be played for a long time.
Starfield director Todd Howard says that Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG was “intentionally” designed to be played for a long time and that he expects to still be working to update the game for the next five years.
In a recent interview with The AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook Podcast (via GamesRadar) Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price asked Howard whether he thinks that games are getting too big as we’ve continued to see over the years with the rise of sprawling open-world adventure games.
Howard responds by saying that he thinks it “starts with the developers” and the technology, suggesting that studios want to utilize the latest hardware to push the boundaries of how big their games can be.
“The scale of games, I think, I’d have to go back and look,” Howard said. “How big were things before? The one thing I have noticed is, because more games are played for a long time, they’re ‘live,’ the ability to update them over time creates games that people are playing right now that have been around for a long time, gotten years and years and years of updates, and that creates an expectation.
“When I’m going into something new, how does this compare with a mature game that I’ve been playing for a while?”
Skyrim is one of Bethesda’s most-played games to this day thanks to its open-world exploration, replayability, and the dedicated fanbase and modding community. Howard uses it as an example of how, even 12 years later, the game is still doing exceedingly well for the company in terms of players.
“Even a game like Skyrim – which if you look at it at launch was still a really, really big game – if you look at it today with add-ons and mods it’s a much bigger game. It’s still a game that’s played 12 years later in large numbers for us. I think if you look at your audience, they get used to a game and they usually want to plus-one it. They want to add XYZ, and the developers, we usually do as well.”
Howard goes on to say that this was the idea for Starfield and that out of all of Bethesda’s games, this one was designed with longevity in mind, even more so than Skyrim and Fallout.
Bethesda has mentioned before, that it’s taking player feedback into account and will soon begin implementing changes with various patches, but Howard is already thinking ahead in terms of years and intends to keep evolving the game over time.
“This is a game and it’s intentionally made to be played for a long time,” he explains. “One of the things we’ve learned from our previous games, from Skyrim, from Fallout, is that people want to play them for a very long time. So Starfield, I would say, was the most intentional, going into it, that this is a game people are going to play for a long time. How do we build it such that it is allowing that in a way that feels natural – and if people have played the game and finished the main quest, you can see that.
“But it’s also one where, OK, what does Starfield look like in three months, what does it look like in six months, a year, two years, three years, four years, five years? We’ve learned that that’s going to happen so let’s be ready for it, make the most of it, and embrace it. That’s both what we do here and with our modding community. We’ve learned so much there. Giving ourselves a really, really good base of a game to build upon for everybody.”
For more, here’s our list of the best RPGs, as well as the best Xbox Series X games to play right now.
Reddit forces personalized ads, starts X-like user payment program
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Uber, Grubhub and DoorDash must pay NYC delivery workers an $18 minimum wage
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The best Ring video doorbell you can buy is $100 off right now
Ring’s flagship doorbell records in a square aspect ratio for a full porch view. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
One of the best video doorbells you can get is matching its all-time low price. The Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2, the highest-end model offered by the Amazon-owned company, is on sale for $149.99 ($100 off) at Wellbots — matching its Lightning Deal price from the most recent Prime Day. If you’re already invested in Amazon’s smart home ecosystem, or if you don’t mind allying your home with Alexa, Ring’s wired Pro 2 offers excellent video quality in a helpful square format (for seeing more of your porch) with HDR, motion detection, and package detection. That last feature requires Ring’s $3.99 per month service subscription, but it may be worth it if you often have packages landing at your front door.
And coupling nicely with this deal is a $50 discount on the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro, dropping its price to $199.99 at Wellbots. It may not be the biggest discount the floodlight has seen, but major discounts on this model are few and far between. Ring’s Floodlight Cam Wired Pro is our outright top pick among floodlights thanks to its 1080p video with 8x digital zoom and loud siren. If you’re going to subscribe to Ring’s service and also want to watch your yard or driveway, the floodlight is an easy recommendation.
If you’re in the market for an Xbox console, you can get Microsoft’s 4K-capable Xbox Series X for $449.99 ($50 off) at Dell. That’s about as good a price as the flagship Xbox gets, barring some discounts on a bundle with a game (that you may or may not want).
While there’s been lots of talk of Microsoft’s leaks showing an upcoming Xbox Series X redesign with a new controller, there’s no telling just how far off that may be (or if it’s still really happening quite as those leaks indicated). But for now, the Series X remains a great console for 4K gaming with fast load times and lots of games on offer if you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass. (And if you do, do yourself a favor and check out Lies of P, which just launched recently day-and-date on Game Pass.)
Eneba has another round of Apple gift card discounts, offering a $50 digital gift card for $42.99 ($7 off) and a $100 digital gift card for $85.49 (about $15 off) when you use code iTunesWknd until October 2nd at 7AM ET / 4AM PT. It may not seem like much, but you can stack these deals and get a bunch of credit toward either Apple devices or services — so they’re handy whether you’re essentially prepaying for months of an Apple TV / Apple One subscription or buying an iPad.
If you’re like me and you buy your phones unlocked, you can buy 10 of the $100 gift cards to use on an iPhone 15 (or other pricey Apple device) and save $145 in the process. Just be aware that Apple’s online storefront limits you to about four gift cards on a single purchase, so it’s best to redeem all the gift cards to your Apple account as a pool of credit before you make the purchase. (Yes, it works. Though also trust me when I tell you to be prepared for your credit card company to be very confused by your sudden online purchase of 10 gift cards.)
Cooking up some more Frideals:
The acclaimed tactical RPG Octopath Traveler II for PlayStation 5 is once again on sale for $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon.
Sony’s cute little SRS-XB13 Bluetooth speaker in its powder blue color is just $46.99 (about $13 off) at Amazon. The last-gen speaker from 2021 may have been usurped by the newer XB100, but it’s still a great little speaker, complete with a hand strap and USB-C charging.
Totallee is offering 25 percent off its new iPhone 15 cases on both its site and on Amazon when you use code THEVERGE25 through October 10th. Though, be aware that its iPhone 15 Pro cases seem to go the cutout route for the Action Button instead of a proper button on its case.
Woot is selling a refurbished Echo Show 15 smart display for $149.99 ($65 off). It carries a 90-day warranty from Woot, though it’s one of the better prices right now on Amazon’s larger display that can be wall-mounted (at least, until Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days arrive on October 10th and 11th).
Ring’s flagship doorbell records in a square aspect ratio for a full porch view. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
One of the best video doorbells you can get is matching its all-time low price. The Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2, the highest-end model offered by the Amazon-owned company, is on sale for $149.99 ($100 off) at Wellbots — matching its Lightning Deal price from the most recent Prime Day. If you’re already invested in Amazon’s smart home ecosystem, or if you don’t mind allying your home with Alexa, Ring’s wired Pro 2 offers excellent video quality in a helpful square format (for seeing more of your porch) with HDR, motion detection, and package detection. That last feature requires Ring’s $3.99 per month service subscription, but it may be worth it if you often have packages landing at your front door.
And coupling nicely with this deal is a $50 discount on the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro, dropping its price to $199.99 at Wellbots. It may not be the biggest discount the floodlight has seen, but major discounts on this model are few and far between. Ring’s Floodlight Cam Wired Pro is our outright top pick among floodlights thanks to its 1080p video with 8x digital zoom and loud siren. If you’re going to subscribe to Ring’s service and also want to watch your yard or driveway, the floodlight is an easy recommendation.
If you’re in the market for an Xbox console, you can get Microsoft’s 4K-capable Xbox Series X for $449.99 ($50 off) at Dell. That’s about as good a price as the flagship Xbox gets, barring some discounts on a bundle with a game (that you may or may not want).
While there’s been lots of talk of Microsoft’s leaks showing an upcoming Xbox Series X redesign with a new controller, there’s no telling just how far off that may be (or if it’s still really happening quite as those leaks indicated). But for now, the Series X remains a great console for 4K gaming with fast load times and lots of games on offer if you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass. (And if you do, do yourself a favor and check out Lies of P, which just launched recently day-and-date on Game Pass.)
Eneba has another round of Apple gift card discounts, offering a $50 digital gift card for $42.99 ($7 off) and a $100 digital gift card for $85.49 (about $15 off) when you use code iTunesWknd until October 2nd at 7AM ET / 4AM PT. It may not seem like much, but you can stack these deals and get a bunch of credit toward either Apple devices or services — so they’re handy whether you’re essentially prepaying for months of an Apple TV / Apple One subscription or buying an iPad.
If you’re like me and you buy your phones unlocked, you can buy 10 of the $100 gift cards to use on an iPhone 15 (or other pricey Apple device) and save $145 in the process. Just be aware that Apple’s online storefront limits you to about four gift cards on a single purchase, so it’s best to redeem all the gift cards to your Apple account as a pool of credit before you make the purchase. (Yes, it works. Though also trust me when I tell you to be prepared for your credit card company to be very confused by your sudden online purchase of 10 gift cards.)
Cooking up some more Frideals:
The acclaimed tactical RPG Octopath Traveler II for PlayStation 5 is once again on sale for $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon.
Sony’s cute little SRS-XB13 Bluetooth speaker in its powder blue color is just $46.99 (about $13 off) at Amazon. The last-gen speaker from 2021 may have been usurped by the newer XB100, but it’s still a great little speaker, complete with a hand strap and USB-C charging.
Totallee is offering 25 percent off its new iPhone 15 cases on both its site and on Amazon when you use code THEVERGE25 through October 10th. Though, be aware that its iPhone 15 Pro cases seem to go the cutout route for the Action Button instead of a proper button on its case.
Woot is selling a refurbished Echo Show 15 smart display for $149.99 ($65 off). It carries a 90-day warranty from Woot, though it’s one of the better prices right now on Amazon’s larger display that can be wall-mounted (at least, until Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days arrive on October 10th and 11th).