SteemGC Gaming News #1

Welcome to today's fix of gaming news. We'll look at a new block chain gaming platform, a sneaky price drop on the PlayStation VR, and a title that the XBOX thought it would never ever see.

Treat Fighter

There's an interesting press release that came out of Los Angeles, (California) of course, announcing a new game, by Tricky Fast Studios, and a company called Chimaera, described in the release as a "leading block chain company".

These two companies have partnered to develop a game called Treat Fighter, which will vaguely be available enigmatically, and mysteriously, 'later this year'. The press release informs us that players will "come back again and again", with candy collection, recipe collection, fighter creation and trading, battling, and roster management all available to keep players busy.

Set in the post-apocalyptic fantasy world of Canedoom, the game lets players compete to cook up the greatest collection of Treat Fighters in all the land. Players take on the personas of mighty wizard Overlords who can collect resources by sending their Treats off on expeditions or earn rewards and glory by sending teams of Treats to the Coliseum to compete in the Treat Fighter Tournaments.

The game is meant to run 100% on the block chain (but which?) isn't mentioned in the release, meaning that it won't require servers. A little research into Chimaera has a page that talks about an open public presale, with this fancy graphic doing some explaining:

Further to "Treat Fighter", which sounds suspiciously like "Street Fighter" if you say it enough times quickly, there's also "Soccer Manager Crypto" in development for the platform Chimaera platform. Which looks like a Football Manager Sim, the likes of which have been popular for quite some time.

Chimaera's website makes some great claims, with compatibility across the Unreal Engine, Unity, Linux, Android, Mac OS, and of course, Windows. The Whitepaper is fairly meaty, and it actually looks like there's a solid team behind the ICO (Including the bloke behind Football Manager. Whether this will paint success upon the walls of the Treat Fighter idea, we'll just have to wait and see.

PlayStation VR Price Drop and Virtual Reality Competition

Sony have announced, conveniently, as Ready Player One enters cinemas, that their PlayStation VR and PlayStation Camera bundle will have a significant price drop. Depending on your region, it will set you back 34,980 yen, $299 USD and €299/£259.99, compared to the current pricing of 44,980 yen, $399 USD and €399/£349.99. These price drops are take effect immediately.

Reminding us that there's "approximately" 300 PS VR games, experiences and applications available on the PlayStation 4 VR platform, this indicates a strategic move by Sony in an attempt to capture more of the Virtual Reality Market.

HTC also recently announced a new and improved VR headset - with a higher resolution. At the same time, they have also completed a price drop on the first generation headset. There's a much higher cost of entry on the VIVE, with the need not only for the headset, but also a capable PC gaming rig.

All reports indicate the VIVE delivers a more in-depth, immersive, and detailed experience, due to the higher processing power available, but at its new price point, the PS VR launches some staunch competition.

I know I'm tempted.

No Man's Sky XBOX Due to Release Soon

No Man's Sky, formerly exclusive to the PlayStation 4 and PC, is due for release on the XBOX One, in retail form. There's also been another free content update, to add upon the last Eighteen Months of regular content drops from the development team.

While broadly criticized upon release No Man's Sky is a pretty incredible title on a technical basis, procedurally generating a universe in which almost everything can be interacted with. There's no release date for the XBOX One version as of yet, other than "late" 2018.

The new XBOX One version will include some surprises, that are yet to be announced, along with all the new content that has been patched into the title since release.

Be sure to stay tuned for more gaming news from SteemGC!