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It has been 23 years since Rockstar Games pioneered the 3D open world with Grand Theft Auto 3 and ever since that industry-shifting release the studio has remained at the very forefront of the genre. Despite there being more contenders to the throne than ever these days, Rockstar’s worlds have consistently proven themselves to be generational leaders largely thanks to the pursuit of immersive realism. The network of overlapping systems and handcrafted elements that make up places like Los Santos and Saint Denis are designed to offer such a sense of authenticity that these simulated cities truly feel alive. The craft behind such digital realities is something that Ben Hinchliffe knows well. A former Rockstar designer now working in the immersive field of virtual reality, he helped put together the worlds of L.A. Noire, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Red ***** Redemption 2 – games that each pushed the bar higher and higher. For 2011’s L.A. Noire, much of that immersion came via its groundbreaking facial capture technology that was able to recreate an actor’s every sneering lip and twitching eye. It’s the feature that liquidated developer Team Bondi will be best remembered for. But Rockstar, who acted as both publisher and co-developer on the project, offered contributions that were informed by its proven strengths in open world design. That’s something that will no doubt raise a few eyebrows, as L.A. Noire is widely considered a poor open world game due to its lack of side activities and map-populating content. “Because the focus was on Phelps and the police, you were kind of boxed in a little bit,” says Hinchliffe. “How far would Phelps go and what could he do? He couldn't do anything too outrageous. He's law enforcement. It did shape a lot of the content as to where we could take it. Let's say you were a ********* or an outlaw, you probably could have gotten away with a lot more in terms of content and what you could have done.” Despite this, L.A. Noire’s approach to a sprawling city was closer to Grand Theft Auto’s guiding philosophy than you may expect. It was all about authenticity, something that has only become increasingly important to the studio over the last decade. “[The aim was] trying to get that vibe of the 1940s era and the setting and making sure that all felt very authentic in terms of how it was portrayed throughout the game,” explains Hinchliffe. L.A. Noire’s achievements in this area are largely uncontested thanks to a recreation of the city of angels that is so *******-accurate even people who lived in LA during the 1940s praised its depiction. Even the hand scripted stuff looks like it's organic because of Rockstar's tools A reflection of that authentic, painstaking-recreated LA would later be found in Grand Theft Auto 5’s Los Santos, which features large sections of city streets that are map-accurate to the metropolis that inspired it. But realism isn’t achieved by architectural accuracy alone – people are as important as pavements. Hinchliffe worked on several of L.A. Noire’s random *******, a human element that helped bring the digital city to life. There were mobsters lurking in the backalleys that didn’t care about the main story, and you’d never know when they’d strike next. They lent some authentic everyday frustration to the job of a detective – would you focus on the case, or do your public duty and clean up another one of the city’s messes? Those random ******* would indirectly evolve into Grand Theft Auto 5’s world events, in which pedestrians would call out for help after being mugged or carjacked. They appeared as part of Rockstar’s mandate to “go ******* and better in every aspect.” “It was making the cars feel like they handled better, having better damage on the vehicles, having the tyres deflate and stuff, having everything react more realistically,” recalls Hinchliffe. “It was a grand vision of just pushing everything forward.” The key to enhancing GTA 5’s immersive qualities were the dozens and dozens of automated systems that made its simulation of city life feel truly organic. A tyre bursting was a natural reaction to a player’s driving habits rather than a scripted sequence. But Rockstar learned that sometimes it took a lie to create something that feels like the truth. Hinchliffe worked on The Meltdown, a mission in which you must help paparazzi photographer Beverly Felton score a picture of a ******** celebrity caught in a police chase. To create an authentic race through the streets of Los Santos, Hinchliffe controlled everything. “A lot of the traffic in that chase is fully hand-scripted,” he says. “It's not ambient traffic. We've made the cars follow a set route and cross over at the set time, and have a garbage truck just pull around the corner at the right time. We've hand scripted all of it to give the player the best experience and the best cinematic feel for that chase.” “Rockstar’s systems are very clever,” he adds. “The tools are very powerful for design. You can switch between hand scripted and generic behaviors very easily, and even the hand scripted stuff looks like it's organic because of the tools.” That approach really comes into its own in Red ***** Redemption 2. While the 2018 western is Rockstar’s most simulation-heavy open world to date, much of its authenticity only exists because the world is so authored. The frontier may feel alive and reactive, but behind the scenes are thousands of hand-crafted responses to the many actions players can perform. “A big aspect of Red ***** 2 was that the higher ups wanted to push forward that feeling of the NPCs feeling more real and make that world around you feel like a living, breathing world,” Hinchliffe recalls. “You've got these smaller towns and less of a population density, so you need the NPCs to feel a bit more real,” he explains. “It was a big drive to [allow players] to talk to people and be more involved in the world, to make you feel bad if you just ****** a random person. [Because of that conversation system] maybe you'd feel a bit worse about that than just mowing down 20 people in GTA 5.” Pretty much every NPC in Red ***** Redemption 2 has some kind of interior life. Even if that life is just riding a cargo wagon along the same route over and over, it’s a job with a destination that players can turn into a highway robbery opportunity. This level of detail is vital for Red ***** Redemption because of the limited population density Hinchliffe mentioned. At the modern metropolitan scale of Grand Theft Auto, though, with its streets home to thousands of pedestrians, such a sense of authentic life is much more difficult to achieve. It feels like a pipe dream to expect the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 to replicate RDR 2’s immersive achievements… but that’s not to say it’s impossible. I don't see any reason why you couldn't have that Red ***** Redemption 2 level of NPC interaction in a much larger scale game. Hinchliffe worked on Grand Theft Auto 6 until he left Rockstar in 2022, which means he both knows the scope of its ambition and is bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement to keep that scope a secret. But as a veteran designer of open world games, he has his own informed opinions about what is possible. “From a theoretical standpoint, and what you might be able to do if you had the budget and the team size, I don't see any reason why you couldn't have that [Red ***** Redemption 2] level of NPC interaction in a much larger scale game,” he says. Such interactions are not where his current priorities lie, though. Hinchliffe now works at British indie developer Just Add Water, acting as lead designer on virtual reality construction simulator Dig VR. In many ways it’s a galaxy away from his experiences at Rockstar, but there is an element that unites his past and present: immersion. “VR just adds another level of immersion by default because you're in the space,” Hinchliffe says. “But it's ******* to then make the player feel like they're immersed and that place is real because they're in it.” “Obviously VR is super tactile,” he continues. “You are using your hands in most stuff, and the challenge is making sure that the things you are doing with your hands or anything you interact with feels real. If it doesn't, you can instantly break the immersion.” Those challenges really highlight two very different approaches to immersion. Where in GTA it’s all about the detailed city-wide simulation, in VR it’s about physically turning the key in the ignition. It’s smaller, more intimate. That requires a complete reset of your expectations and ambitions when compared to traditional gaming. That goes for much more than just immersion, too. “A huge achievement for us [in Dig VR] was getting the dynamic terrain working so you can fully dig the ground and then dump it out,” he explains. “That's a first for any Meta Quest game. Now, people in the traditional flat screen world are going ‘Whoop-de-do, you've done dynamic terrain. There's like a million games with dynamic terrain. What's the big deal?’ But for us in VR, that's a huge deal because there was no reference point, no one to learn from. We just had to figure that out and make it work.” The current state of virtual reality feels like a repeat of traditional gaming’s infancy. Because the medium is so different, everything demands starting from scratch. And so Dig VR’s achievements are literally groundbreaking. Furthermore, it may inspire other VR developers to incorporate dynamic terrain in their projects. “It's those baby steps of helping each other and helping the medium go forwards,” says Hinchliffe. “As each game comes out with a new feature that hasn't been done in VR, the whole space starts iterating and moving forwards.” 23 years ago, Rockstar transformed its Scalextric-esque 2D roads into a fully three-dimensional city. It pushed the industry forwards, paving the way not just for its own games but laying the groundwork for the likes of *********’s Creed, Forza Horizon, and Cyberpunk 2077. The open world genre is now a patchwork of different developer contributions, each one having iterated and moved the concept forward. And next year, with the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, we’ll finally see what Rockstar’s next contribution to immersive worlds will be. Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor. Views expressed in this interview are the personal opinions of Ben Hinchliffe and do not represent the thoughts or opinions of Rockstar Games. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

It's Half-Life 2 week at Ars Technica! This Saturday, November 16, is the 20th anniversary of the release of Half-Life 2—a game of historical importance for the artistic medium and technology of computer games. Each day up through the 16th, we'll be running a new article looking back at the game and its impact. “Well, I just hate the idea that our games might waste people’s time. Why spend four years of your life building something that isn't innovative and is basically pointless?” Valve software founder Gabe Newell is quoted by Geoff Keighley—yes, the Game Awards guy, back then a GameSpot writer—as saying this in June 1999, six months after the original Half-Life launched. Newell gave his team no real budget or deadline, only the assignment to “follow up the best PC game of all time” and redefine the genre. Read full article Comments View the full article

Left 4 ***** 2 is still easily one of the best co-op FPS games you can play today. With the witty character banter, the invisible 'Director' AI who keeps every wave of zombies feeling fresh, and the ease at which you can jump into the action, L4D2 stands tall all these years later. So if it's been a few years and you fancy diving back in, or if you've never played a Left 4 ***** game and want to experience it for yourself, now's your chance. You can play Left 4 ***** 2 for free on Steam for a limited time, and grab it at a significant discount afterward. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The best games like Left 4 ***** on PC 2024 Former Valve writer debunks the constant Left 4 ***** 3 leaks Left 4 ***** 2 launches on mobile, but it's a scam View the full article

Two decades on from the release of Half-Life 2, Valve has shown off some of what Half-Life 2: Episode 3 could have looked like. Read more View the full article

The Game Awards is revealing all the nominees poised to take home some awards next week, and it wants you to know that could include DLC, expansions, and remakes. Read more View the full article

If you're one of the few Steam users who still doesn't own Half-Life 2, now is your chance to add Valve's blockbuster first-person shooter to your library permanently – for free – until November 18. The bundle also includes both follow-up episodes, plus the game has received a major update... Read Entire Article View the full article

Within a certain area of Baldur's Gate 3, players may stumble upon the kuo-toa, a strange group of fish folk in the middle of an even stranger ceremony. A cluster of the creatures are praising a ******* altar, upon which a powerful redcap will appear if players get close enough to trigger the cut scene. Depending on how players handle the interaction, they may end up fighting the whole group, or they could gain a powerful new ally. View the full article

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is home to numerous chests, with every region having around 20-30 chests each. Minrathous' Dock Town has one of the trickier chests to unlock, which can be found in Wharf Crossing South. To solve this puzzle and open the chest, players will need to have already recruited Taash. View the full article

Publisher Xbox Game Studios and developer Compulsion Games shared a lengthy documentary video for South of Midnight, their new southern USA action-adventure game. The new 30-minute documentary for the game provides a behind-the-scenes look at its music, inspiration, and development, as well as reveals brand-new gameplay. Here’s a rundown on the game, plus the new […] Source View the full article

Merchants are scattered around Thedas in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, but none has such a rich inventory as The ****** Emporium in Dock Town. Unfortunately, this merchant can only be unlocked later in the game, preventing players from grabbing some easy loot until they reach a certain point. Once you've reached the end of Act 2, you can unlock the quest in a few ways. View the full article

Disney Dreamlight Valley is currently one of the leading games in the simulator genre due to its endless customization options that provide its players with lots of creative freedom. Whether a player enjoys customizing their character and collecting cosmetic items, or whether they prefer to spend their time decorating their valleys, the customization gameplay is generous in Disney Dreamlight Valley. However, another reason that the game is such a success is its element of nostalgia due to its inclusion of Disney's beloved characters in the gameplay. View the full article

Intrepid World of Warcraft players may have a chance to purchase Avowed, an upcoming RPG from the developers of Fallout: New Vegas, using only their in-game gold. On consoles, Avowed is exclusive to the Xbox Series X and S, but is also available on PC through various storefronts. View the full article

World of Warcraft is continuing to release new content at speeds as fast as a goblin racecar, and recently the developers announced a massive update to The War Within that takes players into the depths of the fast-paced goblin city of Undermine, which is as dangerous as it is famous. This update, fittingly known as Undermined, will have everything from new delves and dungeons to a fast-moving vehicle that players can customize and race through the streets of the underground city. Plus, anyone who follows the lore of the game will get a thrill out of finally visiting this secret home of the goblin cartels. View the full article

Half-Life: Episode 3 ******** one of the great what-ifs in gaming history. Originally set to follow on from Episode 1 and 2, its cancellation instead left the series dangling on a cliffhanger it never directly resolved. Now, on the occasion of Half-Life 2's 20th anniversary, Valve has opened up about its development in a brand-new documentary that shows never-before-seen work-in-progress footage, a brand-new Ice ****, and a raft of new concept art. You can see the gameplay segment from the documentary in the video below. Among the details shown in the video, Episode 3 would have been set in the Arctic, and it would have focused on Alyx as a companion character. Aside from the Ice ****, the footage shows a blob-like ****** that could split into multiple parts. According to the documentary, the team had complete a "collection of playable levels in no particular order" and expected to be able to release the game within a year or two. In addition to the new gameplay footage, writer Marc Laidlaw, founder Gabe Newell, and others also talk frankly about why it was never released, ultimately chalking it up to a lack of compelling new ideas and other reasons. At one point Laidlaw jokes, "Are we allowed to cry in this documentary?" We could have shipped it. It wouldn't have been that hard The reason for Episode 3's cancellation has been the subject of much discussion over the years, not the least because Episode 2 ended on a grim cliffhanger. In an interview with IGN shortly before Alyx's release, Valve level designer Dario Casali described it partly as an issue of scope screep. Laidlaw would later reveal the plot in a story called "Epistle 3," featuring "Gertie Freemont" and "Alex Vaunt" — plays on Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance. It's possible to detect a lot of regret over the decision not to go through Episode 3. At one point Laidlaw jokes, "Are we allowed to cry in this documentary?" Others talk about how Episode 3 probably could have been released in hindsight. Newell says, "We could have shipped it. It wouldn't have been that hard. My personal ******** was being stumped. I couldn't figure out why Episode 3 was pushing anything forward." Valve finally released Half-Life Alyx in 2020, sending the story spinning off in a new direction, but many fans remain wistful about Half-Life: Episode 3 (not to mention the long lost Half-Life 3). Now, 20 years after its release, Valve is celebrating Half-Life 2 amid unconfirmed rumors that a new game is in the works. In the meantime, it's worth watching the entire documentary, which delves deep into Half-Life 2's fraught development. Image source: Half-Life 2 Documentary / Valve Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot. View the full article

The Steam Client Beta has been updated with the following changes: General Fixed some causes of rare crashes in Steam Client. Game Recording Fixed successive recording exports after the first one sometimes exporting the wrong clip. macOS Fixed Steam Client crashing on store age verification page.View the full article

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel. General Fixed some causes of rare crashes in Steam Client. Desktop Mode Fixed successive game recording exports after the first one sometimes exporting the wrong clip.View the full article

Half-Life 2's third DLC episode was never finished because Gabe Newell and company didn't just want to finish the Half-Life 2 story arc, but to do something big and innovative with the game design, and as Newell put it in a new documentary, he was "stumped.".. Read more.View the full article

Valve is honoring the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2 with a celebration that includes a brand-new two-hour documentary, a developer commentary update, and more. The studio updated fans on the festivities on its website today, revealing a gift basket full of goodies for fans new and old. While it’s not quite the Half-Life 3 announcement fans have waited two decades for, it’s still more than enough to help with the wait. Topping the list of announcements is a two-hour making-of video from the Secret Tape team behind the Half-Life 1 documentary. Valve says ****-hard fans can start watching the Half-Life 2 documentary today for a behind-the-scenes look at how the studio handled running out of money, getting hacked, building its PC storefront Steam, and more. It’s an in-depth peek behind the curtain at a pivotal moment in gaming history, but the festivities don’t stop there. Half-Life 2 owners can also now enjoy a new update that adds everything from additional content to ironed out wrinkles. This includes access to the original Episode One and Episode Two expansions, which have been bundled into to the base experience at no additional cost. Valve adds that it reassembled the original Half-Life 2 team to provide commentary tracks for the entire game. Steam Workshop support and Steam game recording are just two more bonuses that have been added to help celebrate Half-Life 2’s 20th anniversary, with even more included in the form of general touch-ups and fixes. Some of the update’s changes include rebalanced lighting, cleaner horizons, new graphics settings for things like blood and ***** effects, and an overhaul for aim-assist. “Every map in Half-Life 2 has been looked over by Valve level designers to fix longstanding bugs, restore content and features lost to time, and improve the quality of a few things like lightmap resolution and fog,” the studio explains. If you’re interested in Half-Life 2 and want to check out the 20th anniversary update, you’re in luck; Valve has made the game free to own until November 18. That means you get the entire sequel experience, including its two expansions, at no cost whatsoever – as long as you click that download button in the next few days. Half-Life 2 has long been hailed as one of Valve’s best projects and one of the most important video games ever made. In our original review, we called it a “amazing” and gave it a 9.7/10. Fans have combed over every detail of the first-person sequel since its release on November 16, 2004, and once the 20th anniversary update is live, there will be even more to uncover. While it’s true that Half-Life 3 still hasn’t been confirmed to be in the works, the goodies revealed today should help with the wait until a sequel is actually, really revealed. There’s also the VR-exclusive Half-Life: Alyx, which we gave a 10/10. For more on the world of Half-Life, you can read about Nvidia’s upcoming Half-Life 2 RTX remaster. The company released a trailer for the project just yesterday to help celebrate the 20th anniversary, revealing how its team is creating something that stays true to the original vision while giving it a fresh coat of paint. Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx. Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe. View the full article

Rumors and facts about the contents of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 and why it was never finished have circulated for years, but a new documentary released for Half-Life 2's 20th Anniversary is particularly revealing, showing us a glimpse of unfinished Episode 3 guns and enemies—including an ice ray that had "kind of like a Silver Surfer mode"—and getting a few of its developers to explain why it was never finished... Read more.View the full article

Konami has just released the Version 2.0.0 update for the console versions of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, bringing in several new features like enhanced resolution and 4K support. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 was first released in October 2023, being a compilation package of the first three Metal Gear Solid games, along with Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The collection isn't without some problems, however, as reported by its players. View the full article

Half-Life 2 has undergone a major update and is completely free for PC gamers to buy and keep, so long as they act quickly. The new game refresh comes in honor of Half-Life 2's twentieth anniversary, which will officially land on November 16. View the full article

To celebrate Half-Life 2's 20th anniversary, Valve dropped a few surprises in our lap on Friday afternoon, like putting together the original dev team to record in-game commentary for the legendary FPS, which is free for the weekend on Steam. Awesome! Valve also posted a two-hour documentary on the making of Half-Life 2 on YouTube. Also awesome—unless you had something else to watch tonight like a ridiculous boxing match... Read more.View the full article

The developers at Raven Software confirmed that they're currently investigating audio issues in Call of Duty: Warzone Season 1. Many Call of Duty: Warzone players have experienced these issues after the launch of the Season 1 update, including muffled audio and the inability to hear ****** footsteps. View the full article

Whenever I see that an old game has received a surprise update out of the blue, it immediately gets my attention. Is it preparing for some kind of revival or unexpected new content? Did a huge bug get uncovered after all these years? Is it preparing to be in a huge ***** or bundle? Whatever the reason ends up being, it's hard not to pique my interest when this situation arises - a situation that GTA-style ****** game Retro City Rampage DX just found itself in. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Retro City Rampage video shows making of the NES version Game Music Bundle 4 is worth buying for Jessica Curry's Dear Esther score alone View the full article

Valve is honoring the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2 with a celebration that includes a brand-new two-hour documentary, a developer commentary update, and more. The studio updated fans on the festivities on its website today, revealing a gift basket full of goodies for fans new and old. While it’s not quite the Half-Life 3 announcement fans have waited two decades for, it’s still more than enough to help with the wait. Topping the list of announcements is a two-hour making-of video from the Secret Tape team behind the Half-Life 1 documentary. Valve says ****-hard fans can start watching the Half-Life 2 documentary today for a behind-the-scenes look at how the studio handled running out of money, getting hacked, building its PC storefront Steam, and more. It’s an in-depth peek behind the curtain at a pivotal moment in gaming history, but the festivities don’t stop there. Half-Life 2 owners can also now enjoy a new update that adds everything from additional content to ironed out wrinkles. This includes access to the original Episode One and Episode Two expansions, which have been bundled into to the base experience at no additional cost. Valve adds that it reassembled the original Half-Life 2 team to provide commentary tracks for the entire game. Steam Workshop support and Steam game recording are just two more bonuses that have been added to help celebrate Half-Life 2’s 20th anniversary, with even more included in the form of general touch-ups and fixes. Some of the update’s changes include rebalanced lighting, cleaner horizons, new graphics settings for things like blood and ***** effects, and an overhaul for aim-assist. “Every map in Half-Life 2 has been looked over by Valve level designers to fix longstanding bugs, restore content and features lost to time, and improve the quality of a few things like lightmap resolution and fog,” the studio explains. If you’re interested in Half-Life 2 and want to check out the 20th anniversary update, you’re in luck; Valve has made the game free to own until November 18. That means you get the entire sequel experience, including its two expansions, at no cost whatsoever – as long as you click that download button in the next few days. Half-Life 2 has long been hailed as one of Valve’s best projects and one of the most important video games ever made. In our original review, we called it a “amazing” and gave it a 9.7/10. Fans have combed over every detail of the first-person sequel since its release on November 16, 2004, and once the 20th anniversary update is live, there will be even more to uncover. While it’s true that Half-Life 3 still hasn’t been confirmed to be in the works, the goodies revealed today should help with the wait until a sequel is actually, really revealed. There’s also the VR-exclusive Half-Life: Alyx, which we gave a 10/10. For more on the world of Half-Life, you can read about Nvidia’s upcoming Half-Life 2 RTX remaster. The company released a trailer for the project just yesterday to help celebrate the 20th anniversary, revealing how its team is creating something that stays true to the original vision while giving it a fresh coat of paint. Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx. Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe. View the full article