travo said:

There's some confusion here.  Does this mean you need to be online to play?  Or is it like the Wii, always online, even when the machine is turned off?  Then the Wii  gets very hot, plus the blue light comes on at 5am, wakes you up, only to see that it's some crappy message from Reggie.

I love the ridiculousness of a low quality scan of the new HD FFX release being news. So much so that:

robio said:

I'll make an early prediction. If Microsoft waits to announce the always online feature for their E3 conference, there will be boo'ing in the crowd.

Sounds like they have a case of PS2-Era Sony Hubris.  If rumors true, then LOL.  I'll stick with their other gaming device that requires internet and a massive HDD; Windows.

Eurogamer said:

The Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut is real and, yes, the people behind it have fixed the boss battles.

The game is due out exclusively on Wii U (for now - more on that later) soon, although US shop Amazon has it down for 7th May, and it includes a raft of improvements, changes and additional features developer Eidos Montreal hopes will convince those who played Deus Ex when it came out in 2011 for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to fork out their hard-earned cash once again.

Director's Cut is, according to Eidos Montreal, more than a port. The developer describes it as the "ultimate edition of the game". It is a co-production between the huge Canadian studio and Australian developer Straight Right, which has form when it comes to working with the Wii U: Straight Right made the Wii U version of Mass Effect 3.

So, what changes have been made? Top of everyone's list, Deus Ex executive game director Jean-Francois Dugas and game designer Emile Pedneault tell Eurogamer, were the boss battles.

Deus Ex's boss battles are considered by many to be the weakest part of the game. They were frustrating, combat heavy fights that broke Deus Ex's sneaky heart, forcing players to pathetically fire guns ater they'd popped all their upgrade points into stealth and hacking. In short, the boss battles were a bit crap, and it came as no surprise when it was revealed that their development had, in fact, been outsourced.

"We went through all the boss battles and said, 'let's just start from the beginning,'" Pedneault says. "So that's exactly what we did."

Each of the game's three boss fights have had their map layouts reworked to provide players with alternative potential strategies. New hacking challenges are available to players who focus on hacking, and stealth options are available to those who focus on stealth.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS removed- GG:

Understandably Eidos Montreal wasn't able to provide players with the option to not kill the bosses, although it sounds like it would have liked to, because the game's story couldn't be altered.

"They have to die," Dugas says, "but the fact is you're not forced to go full-frontal with them. You can just use some of the devices or tricks in the rooms to eventually kill them without having to spend your own bullets."

If Deus Ex's boss battles topped the list of complaints, its energy system came a close second. The vanilla version limits Jensen's recharge to one cell only - irrespective of how many cells are unlocked. This limited the use of augmentation use - perhaps the game's coolest feature. "One of the criticisms we received back with the original release was, it's cool you have all those augmentations, but it's like at the same time we balanced it in such a way that we don't want you to use them!" Dugas says with a chuckle.

On Wii U the energy system has been made more forgiving by allowing for two energy cells to recharge by default on all but the hardest difficulty. This should mean players use Jensen's augmentation powers more freely.

"It's not balancing it to make it super easy," Dugas insists. "It's still Deus Ex. You still have to make your choices. But we wanted to give you more opportunities to have fun with all the augmentations you acquire."

Elsewhere, the AI governing Deus Ex's enemies has been improved to include the tweaks made for The Missing Link downloadable expansion. Dugas says Human Revolution's programmers continued to work on the game's AI as it was in submission with Microsoft and Sony, and were able to make improvements that made it into The Missing Link DLC. Enemy cone of vision, which governs when guards detect Jensen, was made more consistent. These improvements have been retrofitted into the entire game for the Wii U version.  

Eidos Montreal was keen to improve the graphics for the Wii U version, too. The visuals seen in The Missing Link DLC had more of an impact, Dugas says, than those in the main game, because the developers were more comfortable with their tools when they came to create them. And so, The Missing Link benefited from work done to the game's shaders, which had the knock on effect of making environmental reflections on textures were better. And the lighting system was revamped to be based on an interpretation of a formula used by real world architects during the building planning stage to simulate how light will bounce around an environment. All the visual effects seen in The Missing Link were applied to the main game for the Director's Cut.

"It's much sharper," Dugas says. "There are more nuances between the light and dark places."

You might also notice a new fog system that, according to Pedneault, "makes the atmosphere really stand out". Shadows that were choppy have been smoothed, Dugas says. "It makes a big difference."

Pedneault insists these improvements wouldn't be possible on Xbox 360 simply because there's not enough disc space available. Neither, Dugas says, would the anti-aliasing, which wasn't present in the other console versions but is in the Wii U version.

"It's more powerful on the Wii U," Dugas says. "Even some of the graphics that were improved already on the 360 for The Missing Link, we were able to go a little bit farther with the Wii U, just because of the hardware. In terms of the shadows, which are smoothed out, it's much different than the Xbox version." From a more functional perspective, Eidos Montreal used the Wii U GamePad to create a brand new augmentation, what it calls the Neural Hub. Apparently one criticism the developers heard was players wanted to know how much health enemies had and what loot they carried before taking them on. The game's Smart Vision augmentation, which allows players to see enemies through walls, was extended and fused with the GamePad, resulting in the Neural Hub.

"We used the GamePad to improve the immersion of the game. We found that this touch-screen, the GamePad and everything, is closer to the vision of Deus Ex, where you are someone who is augmented and you have systems implemented in you that give you the edge in combat in all situations."

You can also use the GamePad to navigate the menus, to display the map, the augmentation system, the inventory and all the rest. "All the systems are now linked to the Neural Hub," Dugas continues. "All your maps, your inventory, your augmentation menu, your mission log, are now systems in Adam Jensen.

"You have the impression when playing that the Wii U GamePad is part of Adam Jensen and one of his useful augmentations. It doesn't break the pace."  

There are swipe controls, too. One new feature, called grenade throwback, allows Jensen to equip a proximity detector that alerts him to a nearby grenade. So, if an enemy chucks a grenade at you, the GamePad will vibrate, and you can swipe the touch-screen to pick it up and lob it back.

By default the touch-screen is Jensen's radar, a sort of hybrid between the main radar and the 2D map. You can open the 2D map on the GamePad and use the stylus to scribble notes, which are then reflected on your main screen radar. Eidos Montreal hopes players will use the feature to draw out approaches in particularly tricky areas.

You can also use the touch-screen for the hacking mini-game, using your fingers to progress, and to punch in codes. Meanwhile, for weapons that have a scope, such as the sniper rifle, you can use your telly to centre on your target, then enter a precision mode using the touch-screen, which displays the cross-hair.

Eurogamer on Deus Ex Wii U:

ome may wonder why Eidos Montreal is even bothering creating a Wii U version of Deus Ex in the first place. After all previous ports of games that released on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, such as Mass Effect 3 and Batman: Arkham City, hardly set the world on fire. According to Dugas, though, the development team saw the Wii U as an opportunity to create this "ultimate edition" of the game.

"It's a new console," he says. "It has a lot of new interesting features in terms of the controller.

"But also in terms of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, we had been talking for a long time about creating this ultimate edition where there would be new content and we would have a chance to revisit some of the aspects of the game. We thought with the release of the Wii U it was a great opportunity to do that, to take advantage of this new console but also create the ultimate package for the game."

Included in this "ultimate package" is all of the DLC, but it has been retrofitted to slot seamlessly into the main game. The Missing Link DLC is now included in the main story rather than separated out, and the pre-order bonus mission to rescue Tong's son is popped in, too.

  
There's Half-Life 2-style director's commentary, what amounts to some eight hours of chat from Eidos Montreal developers. Icons dotted around the world can activate this voice over, and you're free to continue playing as you listen.

"We really did quite a lot to make this package very unique," Dugas says, "and give the old fans who already enjoyed Human Revolution a new purpose to enjoy it again."

"Eidos Montreal says it was able to improve Deus Ex's graphics significantly for the Wii U version." They say they took the improved shaders from The Missing Link DLC and applied it to the whole game then went a bit further, added fog effects, better shadows, better textures, reflections and a sharper look. And the lighting system was revamped based on a formula to simulate how real life light will bounce around an environment.

I haven't played it. Graphics look decent. TBH I passed on the 2011 version because I hadn't played the original and literally did not read one preview/review for the game. I probably wont touch this either, but a good review might sell me on it. Seemed a tad too complicated from a very basic surface skim of information. What kind of game is it most like?

Its the best stealth game of the generation man. Think of something like Splinter Cell with RPG elements and talking and roleplaying. Ummm yeah just like that lol. Watch some of it on youtube I dunno ffs it's awesome though.

aspro said:

Sounds like they have a case of PS2-Era Sony Hubris.  If rumors true, then LOL.  I'll stick with their other gaming device that requires internet and a massive HDD; Windows.

I fully expect them to make a power move on the consumer next gen. Sony did it. Nintendo did it. Now its MS' turn.

Dvader said:

The Xbox wont be online only. That document never says anything like that. It just says it will always be connected even when off.

Reading the articles on it, it suggests it has to be online all the time but I guess it could be something like WC24 on Wii.  

• An "always on, always connected design" which will allow users to "quickly and easily enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates".
• Xbox Live "integral" to its next-gen console
• "Ultimately, Microsoft has asked itself a simple question: who wants to play games on a next-generation Xbox and yet doesn't have access to the internet? The answer: not enough to make a considerable difference."