Here's how combat works in Dontnod's Vampyr

Use various vamp abilities, or sneak past combat entirely.

Dontnod's Vampyr is a game about being a vampire, something you probably gleaned from the old-timey title. You'll play as bloodsucking healthcare professional Doctor Reid, and unlike Max—the star of Dontnod's hit adventure game Life is Strange—he'll spend quite a lot of time beating up folks and sucking blood through a curly straw, in pox-ridden, Post-Edwardian London taaahn. (Max hardly ever does that.)

Vampyr has combat, then, and if you're wondering what that involves exactly, well, a new post on the PlayStation Blog by game director Philippe Moreau should sort you out. You can avoid combat situations entirely with the aid of your "vampire speed and agility", but if you do choose to get into scraps with your foes, there'll be a range of skills to buy and use in the third-person combat.

"Armed with an array of conventional melee and ranged weaponry," the article elaborates, "attack and dodge enemies to fill up Jonathan’s Blood Gauge, which is required to unleash powerful vampire attacks. From impaling enemies on a spike to draining them of blood at a distance, as Jonathan’s Blood Gauge fills during a combat situation, his Vampire affliction will start to overtake his more human side, unleashing destructive spells and abilities against those who try to stop him".

There's a "non-linear" skill tree, full of abilities that can be evolved in two differing ways, and if you're hoping to evolve all of 'em you'll need to fully embrace you vampiric side.

"Combat difficulty can be affected by player actions out of combat," the post goes on. "Feeding on civilians provides a huge XP boost, which will make combat situations easier—but that comes with caveats; an increased danger on the streets, and narrative consequences for the world’s citizens, to name a few."

You'll "have to investigate and determine who to feed from, and who to spare," when Vampyr arrives, sometime next year.

Blizzard is ditching the Battle.net name in favor of "Blizzard tech"

Battle.net is dead! Long live Battle.net!

Blizzard's online gaming service Battle.net debuted in 1996, a full seven years before Steam sprang to life. It was a very different era, dominated by independent online services with goofy names like Heat.net and Total Entertainment Network—an environment ripe for a platform with a macho, cool-sounding name. But 20 years later, things have changed. Blizzard has grown from a respected studio to an industry-topping behemoth, multiplayer is everywhere, and the Battle.net name doesn't ring the bell that it once did. So it's being phased out. 

“When we created Battle.net, the idea of including a tailored online-gaming service together with your game was more of a novel concept, so we put a lot of focus on explaining what the service was and how it worked, including giving it a distinct name,” Blizzard explained. “Over time, though, we’ve seen that there’s been occasional confusion and inefficiencies related to having two separate identities under which everything falls—Blizzard and Battle.net. Given that built-in multiplayer support is a well-understood concept and more of a normal expectation these days, there isn’t as much of a need to maintain a separate identity for what is essentially our networking technology.”

Practically speaking, nothing will change, and Battle.net technology “will continue to serve as the central nervous system for Blizzard games,” Blizzard said. But it will be referred to as Blizzard tech from here on, as is already the case with Blizzard Streaming and Blizzard Voice.   

The sentimentalist in me is a bit sad to see it go, but really, it's amazing this didn't happen years ago. Battle.net was an evocative name for a unique service two decades ago, but these days, with publisher-centric platforms like Steam, Origin, and Uplay dominating the landscape, it's really just a quaint reminder of how things used to be.  

Rise of the Tomb Raider: the first PS4 Pro vs PC graphics comparison

Head-to-head video highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the 4K console experience. 

 

Outside of Sony's first party wares present at last week's PlayStation Meeting, there was one third party title that stood apart as an impressive showcase for the fledgling PS4 Pro's 4K prowess - Crystal Dynamics' Rise of the Tomb Raider. Similar to its predecessor, there's an immense amount of scalability built into the engine and the core assets, meaning that the game really shines on a high-end PC with the settings and texture quality ramped up to the very high level. Indeed, there are actually insane-level presets available that actually push beyond this level. So, the real question is, just how much of the full-fat experience has Crystal's development partner Nixxes managed to cram into the PlayStation 4 Pro version?

Well, in many ways, Rise of the Tomb Raider highlights the strengths and weaknesses facing developers looking to work with Sony's new hardware. Tackling the negatives first, 60fps is - of course - off the table for a high-end title like this, with Rise of the Tomb Raider focusing on the console standard capped 30fps.

Secondly, a range of the game's higher-end presets are dialled back - inevitably, shadow quality takes a hit, while specular lighting quality appears to lack the revision made to the PC, resulting in some rougher edges to affected geometry. Meanwhile, the Flooded Archive level's escape sequence suggests that fire effects are reduced, which has an impact on the amount of dynamic light in the scene, and perhaps the level of heat haze too.

But the two most glaring differences come down to key limitations found in the PlayStation 4 Pro hardware itself - the fact that its GPU isn't capable of handling native 3840x2160 UHD resolution, along with the lack of a meaningful amount of additional memory. Developers have access to a number of upscaling strategies for PS4 Pro titles running in the 4K mode, and while Crystal Dynamics wouldn't be drawn on the technique used for this game, what's clear is that the overall presentation is somewhat soft, far more so than the Sony first-party titles we saw that are confirmed to be using the checkerboard upscaling.

                           Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration 4K PS4 Pro Footage

And secondly, it's equally clear that the PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider's very high texture preset offers a significantly higher level of quality on the core artwork. Cherry-pick key scenes from the mere two minutes of 4K footage released by the developer and it looks like a night and day difference when stacked up against the fully enabled PC version. Even if you watch our comparison video at 1080p resolution rather than the native 4K, it definitely stands out.
Should you put an SSD in your PS4? Why a new hard drive could make a big performance difference. Should you put an SSD in your PS4?

On the one hand, this highlights a fundamental weakness with PlayStation 4 Pro. Even though developers have access to another 512MB of RAM (presumably swiped for the vast 3GB system reservation), it's not enough to accommodate the 4K texture options that developers are increasingly offering with their titles. So in the case of Rise of the Tomb Raider then, it's no surprise that the PS4 Pro version offers assets in line with the existing Xbox One game, equivalent to the high texture quality setting on the PC build. It's a definite limitation - especially as Project Scorpio from Microsoft seems set to feature 12GB of memory - but on the plus side, in terms of this title at least, the downgrade is only really an issue in cut-scenes.

We've not seen the same Rise of the Tomb Raider content played out at 1080p compared to the 4K offering here, so it'll be interesting to see how the developer's quality and unlocked performance modes stack up against what we've seen here. What's clear is that this is not a native 4K experience as such, but the existing media suggests that it does offer a tangible higher resolution upgrade over the same content seen on Xbox One - which looks great in full HD. Bearing in mind what we're seeing here is coming from a £349/$399 box, it's definitely an impressive showing bearing in mind the high calibre hardware required to get an equivalent native 4K experience on PC.

We've previously been impressed with what we've seen of Rise of the Tomb Raider on PS4, and this higher resolution mode for PS4 Pro is looking good too. Factoring in the other Pro options promised by the developer, we can't wait to check it out once we get our hands on Sony's new hardware - so watch this space.

Solitaire Strategy Guide

      The game of Solitaire, sometimes known as Patience, is one of the oldest known and most popular strategy card games of all time. Almost everyone in the world knows how to play this game! It is the original "bored" game played by millions of people unable to find other activities to attend to. However, after all these years it maintains its status as one of the most difficult and frustrating games to beat. But that's where we come in!

      The variation of Solitaire we'll be looking at is called Klondike. Most of you are probably familiar with this form of the game since it has been included as the default Solitaire offering on millions of computers worldwide. Wes Cherry is responsible for writing this widely-played program, but in a strange twist was never financially rewarded for his efforts (he didn't negotiate a royalty agreement). In the standard version of Klondike, unlike the Vegas version, one card at a time is turned over from the deck and a player is allowed to go through the deck as many times as they like. A player scores based on a point system that rewards cards being played to the Solitaire board (the various upcards and downcards dealt out to start the game) and to the Ace stacks a player makes during the course of play.

Nine Step Klondike Solitaire Strategy

      The Solitaire strategy chart shown below is our contribution to the game. It is meant to be read in order from top to bottom, logically because the higher the Solitaire strategy line is the more important the tip. When the guide is followed, precise Solitaire technique is displayed and optimum winning chances are presented. While digesting the chart to follow, be sure to have your favorite Solitaire program opened up and ready to experiment as you go.

ChessandPoker.com Solitaire Strategy Guide For information on how to use the Solitaire strategy guide, see the explanation below.

1. Always play an Ace or Deuce wherever you can immediately. 2. Always make the play or transfer that frees (or allows a play that frees) a downcard, regardless of any other considerations. 3. When faced with a choice, always make the play or transfer that frees (or allows a play that frees) the downcard from the biggest pile of downcards. 4. Transfer cards from column to column only to allow a downcard to be freed or to make the columns smoother. 5. Don't clear a spot unless there's a King IMMEDIATELY waiting to occupy it. 6. Only play a King that will benefit the column(s) with the biggest pile of downcards, unless the play of another King will at least allow a transfer that frees a downcard. 7. Only build your Ace stacks (with anything other than an Ace or Deuce) when the play will: Not interfere with your Next Card Protection Allow a play or transfer that frees (or allows a play that frees) a downcard Open up a space for a same-color card pile transfer that allows a downcard to be freed Clear a spot for an IMMEDIATE waiting King (it cannot be to simply clear a spot) 8. Don't play or transfer a 5, 6, 7 or 8 anywhere unless at least one of these situations will apply after the play: It is smooth with it's next highest even/odd partner in the column It will allow a play or transfer that will IMMEDIATELY free a downcard There have not been any other cards already played to the column You have ABSOLUTELY no other choice to continue playing (this is not a good sign) 9. When you get to a point that you think all of your necessary cards are covered and you just can't get to them, IMMEDIATELY play any cards you can to their appropriate Ace stacks. You may have to rearrange existing piles to allow blocked cards freedom to be able to go to their Ace stack. Hopefully this will clear an existing pile up to the point that you can use an existing pile upcard to substitute for the necessary covered card.

      Most of the items, listed one through nine in the strategy chart, should be simple to follow for the seasoned Solitaire player. For example, strategy line one states to Always play an Ace or Deuce wherever you can immediately. Whenever and wherever you can, it is correct to immediately play an Ace to begin it's stack and to put a Deuce onto an Ace or Trey. This is something you already do without even thinking. If not, start!

      On line two (and also throughout the chart) I use the phrase "frees a downcard". The Solitaire board initially has seven upcards (face-up) on top of seven increasingly bigger stacks of downcards (face-down) for a total of 28 board cards (7 upcards, 21 downcards). When you free a downcard you are making a play or transfer that allows one of these downcards to be turned face-up, therefore putting it into play. As you can see in the Solitaire strategy guide on almost every strategy line, freeing downcards is one of the most important tools in solving the game. If you cannot do so on a consistent basis, your chances for success will be greatly decreased. Free those downcards at any cost!

      Line three also extends this logical concept with the addition that if faced with a choice you should free the downcard from the biggest pile of downcards possible. This should make sense to you immediately. If freeing downcards is so important, wouldn't it be your goal to dig into the pile that has the most of them if you can? It better be now! With these simple but highly effective strategy concepts, you now have an excellent grasp of the game and how to defeat it. But let's continue on to discover some of the finer points of this strategy guide that will help you defeat this increasingly not-so-difficult game for one and bring the win home.

Scorpion Solitaire card game

This is the Scorpion Solitaire card game.

As Yukon card game, there is no limit to the number of cards that can be moved at a time this Scorpion.

It is so easy because there is no limit to the number of cards that can be moved at a time, the game is profound.

If you want to clear the Scorpion, you must have the mental capacity to read further and thinking patient.

By all means, please play the Scorpion of this app.

Rules of Scorpion
It is clear if it can be arranged in order to A K in the soot of all: purpose.

Playing cards to be used is 52 cards in total.

The three stock piles and arrange to place bills all the rest.

The movement of playing cards of the tableau pile, what number is small one can be moved in the same suit.

There is no limit to the number of cards that can be moved at a time when you move.

In addition, Undo to revert to the one before the hand can be done indefinitely.

If you do not expect to be able to clear, please retry from the menu bar at the top of the screen....

How to Play Classic Windows XP Solitaire in Windows 10

Microsoft Solitaire (solitaire games) was the ultimate time waster. Included with every copy of Windows from Windows 3.0 in 1990 to Windows 7 in 2009, Solitaire provided a reliable outlet for honing card skills and killing time. But Microsoft retired “Classic Solitaire” in Windows 8 and Windows 10, opting for a new universal app called the Microsoft Solitaire Collection. While the app is free and offers more game modes than Classic Solitaire, it also includes ads which require a monthly subscription to hide. If you don’t like the new Microsoft Solitaire Collection and prefer the simple approach of Classic Solitaire, here’s how you can run the original Windows XP version of Solitaire on your Windows 10 PC.

Before we get to the steps on how to play Classic Solitaire in Windows 10, it’s important to note that you’ll need access to a Windows XP installation for this to work, as we’ll be copying the Solitaire files from that version. It’s also important to note that, despite their similar appearance, only the Windows XP version of Solitaire will work in Windows 10; the versions of Solitaire for Vista and Windows 7 are not compatible and won’t run in Windows 10.

Once you have access to a Windows XP PC or virtual machine, launch Windows Explorer and navigate to C: > Windows > System32. We need to copy the two Solitaire files from this directory, so prepare a USB flash drive or set up a network transfer and then find and copy the following files:

cards.dll

sol.exe

Next, transfer these files via your preferred method to your Windows 10 PC and copy them to your local drive. You can place the files anywhere, but make sure that you place them both in the same directory. For example, on our Windows 10 PC we created a new folder on the C: drive called “Games” and placed both cards.dll and sol.exe in that directory.

Finally, just double-click sol.exe and you’ll see the Classic Solitaire window appear on your Windows 10 desktop.

In our testing, the game is fully functional just as you remember, with the ability to change rules, scoring, and the design of your Solitaire deck. The only limitation is that the built-in Help features fail to load as they rely on the Windows XP Help platform which is no longer present in Windows 10.

If Classic Solitaire proves to be all that you remember and you want to keep it around, just right-click on sol.exe to create a shortcut which you can place anywhere, or right-click and choose to pin the game to your Windows 10 Start Menu or Taskbar.

If you ever want to remove Classic Solitaire from your Windows 10 PC, just delete both cards.dlland sol.exe. There’s no need to officially uninstall the game as it is contained entirely within those two files.

Classic Solitaire Rules

Classic Solitaire (known only as simply “Solitaire” by some, and “Klondike Solitaire” by others) is a crazy popular card game that is won by moving all cards in a single deck from the tableau to the foundation piles.

So how do you play this game?

The layout of the card game table is fairly straightforward. Though you might not have heard these terms before, a game of classic is composed of the following items:

the tableau

the foundations

the stock pile

the discard pile (also known as the talon)

Initially, the foundation piles and the discard pile will be empty.

If you are playing by hand, you start by shuffling your deck of cards fully, then start building the tableau. For the tableau, begin by dealing the first card up then place 6 more cards face down (for a grand total of 7 stacks on the main playing area (the tableau)). On the next go round, you place a face-up card on tableau stack #2, then 5 more face down cards on the remaining stacks. You repeat this process until you’ve placed your last face up card on the 7th tableau stack. Of course, if you’re playing on the Classic Solitaire site, all of this is taken care of for you automatically when you start a new game.

If you are playing by hand, after you have placed the appropriate number of cards on the tableau piles, you will have cards left over. These cards will be used for the stock pile. The traditional rules of classic solitaire generally have you deal 3 cards at a time from the stock, where only the top most card is playable at any given time. However, many (and possibly even most) online solitaire games let you deal 1 card at a time, making the game friendlier and easier to win. On the Classic Solitaire site, you can choose to deal 1 card at a time or 3, whatever you want. Also, in some versions of classic/klondike, the number of times you can go through the stock pile is limited. Most games give you an unlimited number of redeals which is the default in this game, though you can configure the number of redeals in the game preferences.

So now that everything is laid out on the game board appropriately, you can begin playing.

In Classic Solitaire, there are 2 main sets of rules:

the rules for the foundations

the rules for the tableau

On the tableau, cards are arranged in descending order (meaning King, Queen, Jack, 10, etc) in alternating color (e.g. a black 7 can be placed on a red 8).

There are 4 foundation piles (initially empty), one for each suit of Ace. As soon as you find an Ace, you immediately move it to a foundation pile. Unlike the tableau, foundation piles are built in ascending order (i.e., Ace, 2, 3, etc) and by the same suit (so for example, only diamonds are allowed in one of the 4 foundation piles).

The basic strategy in this classic card game is to uncover your turned over cards as soon as possible. If you have the option of using a card from the tableau or a card form the stock pile, you will almost always want to use the tableau card.

One additional strategy that is often overlooked is that you can strategically move cards from the foundation piles back to the tableau. However, some online games do not allow this. Basically, for those versions of the game, once a card is in one of the foundation piles, it is locked into place. But assuming you’re playing a game that allows this type of move, let me give you a simple scenario where this move could come in handy. You’ve got a black 4 and a black 2, both on the tableau. The black 2 has facedown cards underneath it, so obviously, it would be advantageous if you were able to move the black 2. You’ve already been through the stock pile and you know that there’s no red 3 in sight. But wait! There’s a shiny red 3 in one of the foundation piles. So you move that red 3 onto the black 4 et voilà , you can now move that black 2 onto the red 3, thus uncovering whatever was underneath the black 2.

Sometimes moves like these are the difference between winning and losing a game.

When you are able to empty a tableau pile, you have a few options. The classic rules for Klondike say that only Kings can be placed in empty tableau spots. So this means you can either transfer an individual King card to the empty spot or a valid sequence of cards starting with a King to the empty spot (e.g. black King, red Queen, black Jack, etc). On the Solitaire Classic site, the default option is that only Kings can be placed in empty tableau piles. But you can choose this option or the option of allowing any card to go on a blank spot. Feel free to play however you want. Or hey, if you run into a dead end in a game, and your only option is to move a non-King card onto an empty space, feel free to change the rules on the fly. Is this cheating? That’s up to you. We feel you should have the freedom to play solitaire in whatever way makes it the most fun.