My Dev Days

Steam Store gets ‘Steam Tagging’ and updates

Steam has had some updates which makes the process of finding games easier.

With Valve trying to update Steam making it as user friendly as possible, they recently announced the new 'Steam Tags'. This is a user-defined categorizing feature.

With this new feature the community can now tag games via their themes, genre and attributes. This is a long awaited yet cool feature from the team behind Steam, since it will come very much in handy.

Another feature to this is that once you've tagged a game, it will then get promoted to it's steam page. This will allow other users to find the game via your tags or similar ones. To begin with, each game shall have a default set of tags that were set by the Developers.

Of course, this is Steam we're on about so it doesn't just stop there. It was also announced that the Steam store was getting an update, so now you have the ability to browse by popular tags, you can also filter out for specific tags. There will also be options for recommended tags, that are relevant to you because of previous searches.

GOLD-PLATED XBOX ONE

Thinking about buying an Xbox One? Don’t like the standard two-tone version? Looking for something a little more… Garish? Then look no further, here is an Xbox One on sale in London’s legendary boutique, Harrods!

I’m not talking about some dodgy gold-spray job here, oh no. This is a proper 24-carat gold case send down from the heavens. Yes it truly is a pleasure to look at, it’s simply beautiful. But before you head on over, you might want to gather up those savings you’ve been keeping as it comes at a hefty price.

At a cost of £6000 there is a slight premium on the price compared to the standard version of the console. Better still, you have to agree that it would be a price worth paying to see the look on everyone’s face when they whimper with jealousy over your golden wonder.

The only slight downside is that your console will be covered in conductive metal. Which isn’t good for keeping cool. Then, when it does overheat you’ll have to send it back to Microsoft and be sent back a bog-standard replacement.

OR, if you don’t have a spare £6000 knocking about, you could just buy a gold sticker and live in the shadow of glory with your cheap looking Xbox.

Double OR, you could spend your money wisely and get a Playstation 4. Now that’s one hell of an investment!

BROKEN SCREEN = BROKEN HEART

So… I have a not-so-funny story to tell.

My friend Ryan was over at my house and we were playing some BF4 on my PS3. Pre-game, I wanted to browse the interwebs on my laptop, which was on the table out of reach from me. So I asked Ryan to get pass it to me…

What came next was the most devastating and heartbreaking thing I have ever felt in my intire life. I heard a faint ‘cracking’ noise and looked up at him. I saw his thumb pressing against the screen and the screen going all fuzzy.

At that moment, my heart sunk.
I realised straight away that the worst had happened. My precious laptop screen… had been cracked.

Immediately he showed remorse and was apologising a lot. I freaked out at him a little which isn’t surprising. Who the hell grabs a laptop by its screen?

Anyhow, after about 10 minutes of freaking out, we eventually got around to looking for a replacement. Which was not easy. But we found one.

The price was around £35 GBP. He gave me the money straight up to pay for it, including postage. So we ordered it. But it was still a pretty traumatic experience, and a lesson to anyone with a laptop.

Do not pick a laptop up by its screen!

WHITE XBOX ONE ON ITS WAY AND MORE

With the new year just getting started, a user over at NeoGAF is leaking information about Microsoft’s upcoming plans for 2014 including a cheaper model of the Xbox One. Although nothing has been confirmed, it pretty much matches rumours we have been hearing on the web.

Most of the information that has been leaked is game-related, other than the Xbox One without and optical drive for $399. A drive-less Xbox One has appeared before, but again, nothing has been confirmed as of yet. Here’s some of the details below:

Forza Horizon: “Fall 2014, probably September. Super sexy weather system and… lots of co-op/social stuff. 1080P and open-world, so you can road trip with your bros.”
White Xbox One is inbound.
Why all the leaks? Scared you might get caught? “I am incapable of fear. Plus, this is such exciting stuff, and me talking about it ahead of time isn’t going to hurt anything, truthfully. We’re all chomping at the bit for it to come out. This is not bad. “
Halo Anniversary 2 will be 1080p, iffy on the 60fps, maybe not.
Quantum Break is Holiday 2014
Multiplayer confirmed for HA2, same devs as Halo Anniversary.
Sunset Overdrive is Fall 2014
Black Tusk cancelled project was called “Shangheist.” May have involved stealing stuff from the Chinese (though I think that may have been a reference to the name and maybe not the gameplay? Not sure…)
Fable Legends is Summer 2015
Halo 2 Anniversary includes beta for Halo 5
Gears of War will probably need a 2.5 year dev time.
First Titanfall DLC is 45 days from release, then another one 120 days from release.
No Crackdown 3 news this year most likely, since it’s a 2016 title.
$399 XB1 this year? “Maybe one without an Optical Disc Drive.”
1TB XB1 in November (Limited Edition)

What are your thoughts on this?