E3 2017 has come and gone, and gamers are suitably excited about the upcoming calendar year. Nintendo unveiled the release date of Super Mario Odyssey , a game that could rival Breath of the Wild in terms of how drastically it will reinvigorate its franchise, while Microsoft finally dished on its new console, the Xbox One X , previously known as Project Scorpio. Although there weren't any earth-shattering announcements made by any of the video game industry's major players, E3 2017 was largely a success based on the quality of the games that were put on display and the amount of titles that will be arriving within the next six mon

Today Rare delivered the fourth Sea of Thieves trailer in a series that has been dubbed "Short Hauls," or short developer diaries that describe aspects of the game's experience. Rare sees fit to design philosophy and goals in these Short Hauls, hoping to give potential players some perspective on what kind of game Sea of Thieves is shaping up to be . "Visual Effects" is the topic of this latest Short Haul trailer, or how Rare's focus on the details will better create a true pirate advent

Andreas goes on to describe how visual effects are all about bringing the entire experience together, a key facet of what will make Sea of Thieves more than a typical pirate game. As an online multiplayer game with a heavy reliance on character customization and progression, player investment in the character and world is an obvious priori

This isn't commentary on the fact that Skull & Bones has all the potential in the world to muscle in on Sea of Thieves ' territory, either. We went hands on with Rare's upcoming multiplayer pirate experience and came away wanting more, both in terms of gameplay (because it was good) and features (because it seemed largely the same). Sea of Thieves is still a good game, and there's some enjoyment to be had within its colorful pirate world, but it feels like it hasn't evolved since the last time we saw it, and that's cause for some disappointm

In a recent post on Reddit, user vJoeyz shared news regarding a possible Sea of Thieves open-beta. The information, obtained by digging through newly added files for the insiders-only version of the game, contains multiple references to content for an unannounced open beta. The only way the closed beta could be accessed was to either have it pre-ordered or be a member of the games insider prog

Contrary to the silence that surrounded the game after Sea of Thieves ' E3 2015 debut , Rare has made sure to hammer home the price model of the title this time to ensure no ill-conceived rumors float around Sea of Thieves this time. Microsoft has experimented with a number of free-to-play multiplayer business models with its own titles, but those have found varying levels of success, with enough commercial failures - like Project Spark and Lionhead's Fable Legends - that companies like Rare have likely taken notice and adjusted business models accordin

Whether it ends up happening or not, it doesn't seem like players are going to be forgetting about the game anytime soon. Despite much criticism pointed towards Microsoft's first party games Sea of Thieves has always proven to be a bright spot in the public eye, Seaofthievesfans.Com especially with the game set to feature cross-play between Xbox and PC , a step most gamers would agree is in the right direction. It's now all up to Microsoft and Rare to ensure smooth sail

What do you think about Sea of Thieves not being free-to-play? Is it fair for developers to still take this approach to multiplayer content, or has the era of paid multiplayer business models started to fade away? Let us know in the comments be

Azario: The first thing I wanted to yell when jumping into _ Sea of Thieves _ and seeing the DualShockers crew on our ship’s deck was, "Come on boys, we’re going on an adventure!" The game provides a unique type of immersion the moment you pick up the control and you immediately feel the need to play the role of pir

"We've done a lot of thinking around the business model...one thing I can tell you is it's not free-to-play. We didn't say anything last year and then some people made stuff up, y'know, 'it looks free to play!' But we can clear that up - we will not be free-to-pl

Azario: There’s a possibility that some players might have trouble with finding things to do, but in the case of our adventure, I thought we made a fine crew of rookie pirates on our first voyage with many more plan

Noah: Logan and I drank too much grog the moment we learned how to and Azario, completely sober, fell overboard while Tomas stared at us disappointingly. In many ways, I felt as if our experience in _ Sea of Thieves _ mirrored our collective experience at E3 2

Noah: Azario could tell you first hand Tom. I think the game has the potential to recreate a pirate experience, while also making sure you and your crew have a blast. I would’ve loved to have been able to engage in ship-to-ship combat in our demo but alas, the expansive map makes player-vs-player encounters rare, and as such, more satisfying when it does occur. I can only imagine the shenanigans that will transpire in the full g