Cits and Civs, Captains and Commanders, you’re tuned to episode 487 of Guard Frequency — the best damn space game podcast ever! This episode was recorded on Friday, May 3 and released for streaming and download on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at GuardFrequency.com
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This Week’s Schedule
- Flight Deck
- Elite: Dangerous
- Star Citizen
- Homeworld 3
- Kerbal Space Program
- Helldivers 2
- Guard Frequency Origins, where discretion is the better part of valor, and so all witnesses need to be valiantly locked in the supply closet.
- Feedback Loop
Links & The Like
Elite: Dangerous
Elite Dangerous let the new Python out of its cage just a little bit this week, giving their PR Partners access to the ships for streaming and testing. The stats are impressive, the paint job is red and the forums are on fire. But they’re not burning down because everyone is impressed by the hardpoint placement or the great handling in Supercruise Overcharge mode. No, that would be too easy. That’s because Frontier once again forgot how to make a Bad News Sandwich. The one piece of bad news is supposed to go between two pieces of good news. But here’s what Frontier did. Good News: The Python Mark Two is the first new ship in five years. Bad news: we’re monetizing ships and early access to them. Bad News: we’re also raising the prices of all the old cosmetics, sometimes by double or triple. See how that doesn’t make a very nice sandwich?
Star Citizen
Star Citizen released Early Access Pre-Alpha Release Candidate Prototype Experimental Test Build 3.23.0-EPTU.9165930 to all backers on the PTU. The Epic Month of May is upon us, for real this time, but CIG is going to delay the actual delivery of the epicness for a little longer. According to the chief community guy, we are going to see QUOTE a few bumps in the road END QUOTE upon the release of 3.23. This comment has reignited an age-old debate – does CIG management release buggy patches on purpose. The answer is yes. QUOTE While issues are often found in earlier phases, root causes and solutions are often best discovered in the wide stress testing of the full Live Alpha resource. END QUOTE. But don’t worry, we have it on good authority, from Game Director Richard Tyrer himself, that while CIG isn’t going to wait for a patch to be perfect, they would never release something that was totally broken. Thanks for narrowing that range down for us, Richard.
The Rest of the Gang
Helldivers 2 is releasing a new Polar Patriotism warbond on May 9th, but nobody cares. That’s because Sony just lit 3 months of goodwill and universal praise on fire. This incredible feat was accomplished by announcing that as of June 4th, all Helldivers 2 players on Steam must link those accounts with Playstation Network accounts. While technically, this was a requirement of the EULA from day one, QUOTE due to technical issues at the launch END QUOTE, it was QUOTE temporarily optional END QUOTE. Well, now that option is going away, and if a Helldivers 2 player doesn’t link accounts, then they won’t be a Helldivers 2 player as of June 4. But, in less incendiary news, Homeworld 3 is releasing on May 13, with preorder customers getting a ship skin and three days’ worth of head start if you’re willing to bet Gearbox actually meets this deadline. Finally, we may be breaking out the bugle and playing Taps for Kerbal Space Program 2.
Community Questions
- What should Sony do to make everyone forget about their huge gaffe with the Playstation Network kerfuffle?
- Did Frontier make the right move to bring their cosmetic prices in line with other online games? Or have they fundamentally misread their customer base?
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