Latest No Man's Sky demo answers one question, creates ten more | GameZone

GameZone: "Following an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Sean Murray of Hello Games co-hosted a panel with New Yorker staff writer Raffi Khatchadourian. The 90-minute panel explored the history of Hello Games, their background, design ethos, and of course, No Man’s Sky. Those hoping for some megaton announcements regarding this mysterious game (like a release date) likely left disappointed, but Murray did manage to clarify one key aspect of the game -- while creating about a million more questions in the process."

[medman]

I was disappointed in the Late Show appearance because there was no new info...it was really just promotional. Nothing new for gamers. I was hoping for a release date.

[Christopher]

I think they wanted him on the show, but all the big news is likely being saved for Sony stages and not for TV appearances.

The one thing, is that being on that show did reach a lot more people about it as a whole, which is beneficial to the game, but not to us who have followed it since its announcement.

[medman]

Oh, I get it...as I said it was for promotion, and I can't fault them for that. Still, it would have been nice to get something new shown for fans who tuned in expecting something. It didn't have to be anything as big as a release date, though that would have been stellar, pun intended. At any rate, hopefully we learn more either at Paris show or PS own event.

[UltraNova]

@medman

I'm pretty sure No Mans Sky will be the headliner for PS-VR's official announcement at the PS Experience.

Mark my words dude.

[morganfell]

It will be big. Headliner? Yes. Sole headliner? Not so sure about that. Sony has a great relationship with CCP, the good people behind Eve Valkyrie. But I do agree and think it will be the final title shown on stage for the VR presentation.

As for Paris Games Week, since he and his team live and work in Paris, the time is right for a full blown stage demo of Wild from Michael Ancel. And it is often the games that are not the talk of the town which enter a show and floor everyone. Wild has been my most anticipated PS4 title since it was shown over a year ago.

EDIT: I don't think people understand the impact of PSVR from a marketing standpoint. When you start showing non-VR only titles running in VR, it will shake people up. Let the public see Battlefront and Mirrors Edge in VR and it is going to drive people to the PS4 even faster.

[XisThatKid]

A friend if mine just introduced me to elite dangerous he's a pc gamer and told me about it. Hear that's coming to ps4 but sometime after x1. Anyone who's interested with space exploration should check it out. I was trying to compare what we know of NMS to Elite. I honestly feel that the less I know about NMS the better. I just watch random short vids every couple months to running myself of what it looks like and any advancements.

[Godmars290]

The thing I'm not hearing but would to see is established star faring civilizations. Groups you make alliances with or sneak through their territory.

[thorstein]

They are in the game. In fact, if you help certain factions out, they will help you in return.

[isarai]

yup, there was an interview i think with gamespot where he talks about there being factions, and though it isn't displayed your actions are remembered and can affect how they view and act towards you.

[Christopher]

Not player-to-player, though. They've already said that it's unlikely you'd meet another player.

[3-4-5]

You can though.

[christian hour]

Yup you can meet other players, and you can grief them (as revealed in the gameinformer 70 questions thingy). The chances are increidbly slim while we're al on the outer rim, but as you get closer to the center of the universe the chance of meeting someone will naturally increase. And that's the first time you'll find out "what" you are.

In that gameinformer video i mentioned, sean was asked can you be male or female. His answer came with a smirk and a glint, "Well, we haven't told you WHAT you are. You won't find out until you see another player"

As for the factions in the game, if you destroy a fleet around a planet it's gone for good, forever. Sean confirmed this last saturday at the new yorker demo.

Another thing he confirmed is, any destruction caused on planets will not be saved server side, just locally in your own save file. Which, we've all assumed from the get go. The amount of data it would consume to keep track of everyone's destruction would be a ridiculous and costly task that would also heavily interfere with the zero loading times in the game.

However one thing I'm curious about, if another player is there to witness your destruction, will they see it and will it save to their console as well? I would imagine so, as it would be pretty wierd to just see your friend (i you ever find each other) disappear in to the ground or a mountain XD

edit* probably should have finished reading the article, they pretty much discussed and asked what I did XD

SO yeah, taking out space stations and fleets will be saved server side, making holeson planets saved locally.

As for the writers question about bringing a friend to somewhere youve dug holes, I imagine they wont see them unless they were there at the time you did them so their own console was collecting and saving the data.

This is how I assumed it would always work, it seemed pretty obvious from the day they first revealed you could cause destruction, but that news about permenantly taking out space stations etc is very exciting. COnsidering the game has a simulated economy that is efected by everyones actions from buying to selling, I'm assuming attacks on key frigates etc will also greatly effect the universes dynamic economy.

This game can't come soon enough!

[frostypants]

@3-4-5, sure, you CAN meet other players, but if the size of the universe is what they claim, and they spread out the player base accordingly, the odds of actually finding another player will likely be around the odds of finding a needle in a haystack. Especially if they don't provide a universe-wide coordinate system, which I doubt they will. In that case, you would have literally no way of communicating your location, because you'd have no relative points in common with anyone. "I'm next to planet XYZ!"..."Where's that?"..."Uh...right next to...never mind".

However, as players make their way to the middle, those odds should go up. But the devs will have a lot of time to come up with more multiplayer activities before that ever happens.

[DigitalRaptor]

Well the universe is full of unanswered questions and space exploration will always throw curveballs, and I think that is kinda the point.

Anyone expecting ANYTHING but promotion and humour from Colbert's show were kidding themselves. In regards to the whole "so what do you do?" - it's been exhausted. This information is out there. The game is either for you, or not for you.

[freshslicepizza]

this sounds like a game that would surely benefit from the cloud technology. he talks about some actions affecting everyone but some only locally on your hard drive. lots of questions remain still from that answer.

i am very excited about the scope of the game but a little apprehensive they can actually deliver. there is still no release date in sight and likely delayed for playstation vr. which also begs the question what would playstation vr add to the game and would you be able to play the whole game like anyone else but with playstation vr? or will there be limitations?

[MasterCornholio]

Well from my understanding they are using the cloud in this game to help build the universe and keep track of everything that goes on in it especially the discoveries.

[Aenea]

The Cloud huh? Like saving data on a server like so many games do?

You do know that The Cloud is a buzzword, right? And that it's just a bunch of servers processing and saving and serving data? Yes, even on MS's Xbox Cloud servers, sure they have a nice piece of additional server software that allows them to do stuff like in Crackdown, but it's still just a server processing, saving and serving data...

[christian hour]

Okay, lets put this to rest. "Cloud" technology is just server techonology with a fancy slogan, it's been around for decades and it's nothing new, what is new is allowing a lot of people to read/write on a server at once now that it is feasible, rather than just read from a server.

When any game tracks a persons locations and changes they might make in their environment and saves them to the server, thats "cloud" technology. Pretty much every device , app, game etc is using the "cloud" in some way shape or form.

So yes, no mans sky will be using the cloud by tracking player positions, by tracking what fleets you've destroyed etc etc. Nothing new or strange. Any time you've played PVP on a dedicated server you've been technically using the "cloud".

*edit*

Sorry Aenea I rushed to hit reply before reading your comment, thanks for saying it :D So many people here just regurgitate the PR and Marketing they have thrown their way without actually looking in to things, it's refreshing to see someone who actually takes the time to look in to things because they are genuinely passionate about the technology behind our hobby :)

Always reminds me of that Mitchel & Webb skit with the oral hygeine company XD

"This, this might sound nuts but... what if... what if we could convince people they have a dirty tongue?"

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[freshslicepizza]

we are moving away from the old dedicated server technology of where games are not hosted by the player. games are now being able to become dynamic which many view as calling it cloud technology. regardless of your issue with the terminology it's good to hear that it is indeed doing that to a degree.

[christian hour]

I meant no disrespect and I realise I may have come across as a total asshole there, it was nothing against you I just really really dislike marketing and PR buzzwords and all that comes with it. Turns me in to a demon XD It can spread a lot of misinformation which I also have a real beef with.

I remember one time I was walking up a crowded street and this guy was trying to sell people some sort of subscription to some bollox and I overheard him say,

"Oh well, like, you know you gotta go apple, cos they, ya know, invented the Cloud and the mp3 player, they're doing nothing but benefiting mankind and it would be in your benefit to sign up to this.".

I wanted to punch that guy, and I am anorexic and made of sticks, I can't punch anything!

[IrishSt0ner]

Please tell me more about how 'cloud compute' are a PR buzzwords, and which public dedicated servers have been sending send real-time computations back to clients (which result in orders of magnitutde greater computation ability).

Give me a more accurate term than cloud compute to describe this use powerful dedicated servers computating, sending that data back to the client, and have the client render that information into a live running system.

Xbox cloud compute technology is not 'just dedicated servers', it's gettting real annoying after all the information released, that people still can't grasp that cloud compute DEFINES a software process and not a HARDWARE device.

It's like saying DX12 is just a buzzword to describe a CPU, GPU and RAM.. that's how far off reality these claims are.

Cloud compute describes the software process in the most simple self-explanatory way.

[christian hour]

@IrishSt0ner Hey! Always happy to meet a fellow irish stoner :)

Cloud is a buzzword, coined in the 70s and recently revived. It's been around Donkeys but server technology has improved incredibly in recent years allowing for a large portion of the population to take advantage of it on a consumer end, whereas before it would have been solely used within industry.

The people above were just clarifying for someone who was wondering why no mans sky doesnt use "the cloud", when it in fact, does. As does practically anything and everything these days and has for quite some time, hell x360 and ps3 have been "cloud" computing for a long time too.

Whats changed is the capabilities and what can be done these days with servers, and it can only get better. A personal computer is far better today than a personal computer 20 years ago, but they're still called personal computers and operate under the same principles, it just doesnt need an exciting buzz word change up to get investors and the public excited if you get me? Whereas something as complicated as a vast network of servers did in order for business's and consumers to understand, adapt and take it on.

Nobody's dissing the capabilities of waht it can do, we're just trying to get people to see it for what it is, rather than something new. It's just an evolution of already existing technology, it's not something new or exclusive to anybody and isn't made of magic (as some people seem to get the impression it is.)

SmartPhone is another example, by calling them smartphones it made people think they were some crazy new thing leaps and bounds beyond previous mobile phones, when really they were just the logical next step for advancing tech in phones. Sure it was a game changer but at the end of the day they're phones. Sure its a descriptive term too but, I was happy enough just being able to make calls and play snake XD (lame joke, apologies)

I should also point out I agree with the points you made btw, I just meant the term "cloud" in general, not the process behind it.

*edit* jesus my grammar is awful... I'll try fix up my phrasing so its not an absolute mess to read.

[Summons75]

That's not really a good way to market a game though. If core gamers don't even understand the point of playing besides "explore but you don't do anything, missions and objectives don't exist" then how are the casuals and the mass market they are aiming for by going on shows like this get it? Not to mention they are going to the general public and going"hey, buy our game! It will be released....someday soon but we have no idea when that will be" again, they are handling the marketing and promotion of this game terribly and a lot of people are really skeptical about it. Not only are they a small studio promising things most massive devs with big wallets could only dream of, they don't even know how to explain the concept of the game or give us a basic reason as to why we are motivated to explore their universe. They have a lot of great ideas but they aren't explaining them well enough to anyone.

[CitizenFour]

It's frustrating still not knowing when the release date will be. I'm growing impatient.

But with that being said, I would rather wait for a polished product than something that feels rushed. So I'm glad they are taking their time.

[Rookie_Monster]

This game is sounding less and less exciting the more I hear about. Hopefully some new information is release soon as I always love a game where I can explore the Universe but it has to have something to keep me interested and so far, I just don't see it.

[isarai]

Have you bothered to actually look into what you do other than explore? there's tons of interviews and videos out there detailing the many MANY things you can do in the game

[Spotie]

Oh, stop it.

[FoxyGotGame]

I hope No Man's Sky is a 2015 game...but something tells me January 2016. Either way, I think NMS is going to be an incredibly sombre and relaxing experience as I explore the Universe "Where No Man's Gone Before" /

Regarding a certain Trolls comment, it can't "stop it"...it is insatiable. It insists it owns a PS4, yet it takes every opportunity to downplay PS4, or exalt PC versions it will never play, because it only owns Xbox and an outdated PC at best. It is at it any chance it gets, like a Dog on another Dog...Wooof! /s

[frostypants]

It's gonna be "explore for the sake of exploring" type game, I think. Kind of how like Minecraft is building for the sake of building. People who want a deep story or and "ending" will likely be disappointed. I for one can't wait. "I wonder what's over there" never gets old for me.

[MegaSackman]

There's only one question that matters: When?

[isarai]

Who expects announcements at a talk show cameo? anywho all i care about is when it's coming out, and when am i going to be able to reserve it

[medman]

You know who expects announcements? People who are smart enough to understand that the game is being presented in a forum where it will never have more eyeballs simultaneously on it as it did on Friday night. That is the very time to make a big announcement....it will have greater impact than anywhere else.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@medman-".it will have greater impact than anywhere else"..

smfh....

[MysticStrummer]

I think what you meant to say was "it will never have more eyeballs simultaneously on it that have never heard of it before…"

Big announcements are for gaming oriented trade shows and the like. That's where they have the biggest impact, which is why that's where they're normally made.

[GribbleGrunger]

Yes, but now when they do officially announce a release date, millions of people will know what it is. That was what The Late Show was all about.

[medman]

Poor edmix...he actually thinks people who attend or know about trade shows are the people who are the target of a late night show game appearance. I hate to break it to you, but the entire reason for going on late night shows is to get completely different exposure than the game gets at trade shows, where everyone knows about the game already. Wake up.

[_-EDMIX-_]

How many game announcements and releases dates have you heard announced on a late night talk show?

There is a reason why 9 people are disagreeing with you bud. That just doesn't make any sense, it will get lots of exposure...yes, nothing NEAR the amount it will get from a actual trade show where the target audience is gamers.

I didn't watch that late show, but I've never missed an E3 or TGS bud..

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

There is also a reason why the biggest announcements in gaming HISTORY mostly take place at E3.

I've yet to hear anyone literally try to refute such a thing.....ever. Do you understand just how many reporters WORLD WIDE got to E3? Soooooo how many of them where going to this late night show translating it as it happened?

Sooo you sure its a big audience bud? They are their to market No Man Sky...period.

Not to announce new features, not to announce a brand new game, not to announce a release date etc.

[frostypants]

It's the old iD Software philosophy: "It will be done when it's done."

[e3kehoe]

The one thing that I'm really courious about that I haven't really Heard anyone talking about is...
.....Is it fun to play? I mean yeah the tech and idea are really cool and i am very excited to play it, but is it boring after a few planets and space battles?

[MysticStrummer]

"Fun" is very subjective. When you consider what they've revealed about the game, does it sound fun to you? It does to me, but I like exploring worlds and this game involves exploring multiple world in multiple star systems.

[e3kehoe]

Yeah. your right "fun" is very subjective. I guess what I'm trying to say is I haven't heard anyone saying how much they have enjoyed playing it. Not saying no one has said it . But I haven't read someone ever saying that it was a joy to play and kept themselves enthralled and wanting to play more. I mean what good is a game of this size of it doesn't hold people's attention for a substantial amount of time.

[DLConspiracy]

I think that's a valid question but I think you are going to automatically get disagrees for saying it.

I have high hopes for the game. The whole naming planets and creatures first is just awesome but if its just wandering around with no real objective then it could get old for some people. Especially with how many expectations there are for the game. I could see some people being disappointed if it didn't deliver what people are hoping for.

Destiny was a game I had HUGE expectations for and it didn't quite reach the scale I had come up with in my dreams. So its possible.

[madpuppy]

Most Everything about this game I really like, The only thing that bothers me is the colour palate, is every planet going to be mainly yellow and pale red? In every screen shot and video I've seen there are very few rich colours, blues, dark greens etc.

[DragonDDark]

It depends on the planet. Some planet are dark according to sean.

[Poroz]

This game sure looks promising.

[fitfox]

This game is gunna disappoint, everybody

[neocores]

Has anyone else lost hype for this game... I was hyped at first then it just kept getting pushed back more and more into the year....