Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga
- Thread starter RySenkari
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Ie you've to read the October or end of the year update to learn who won it each respectively year, is not an easy stat or number come at times, you've to read it, like reading the newspaper
March 2020 - Direct To The Next Generation
Console games have tended to eschew gacha-like systems despite their growing popularity in the mobile sphere, in favor of offering cosmetic and gameplay perks via direct purchase DLC. At one point, publishers did consider adding these mechanics to games: notably, back in 2015, Activision considered a gacha-like system to distribute skaters and costumes in Thrillseekers 3, but the idea was shot down by no less than Avril Lavigne, who compared the mechanic to gambling and who used her influence to have the system shelved and replaced with the game's microtransaction mechanic instead. Apple also considered adding a gacha system for cosmetics to their 2016 Virtua MOBA title Strikeback, but they too chose to distribute cosmetics via direct purchase or in-game rewards. Few if any console developers have considered adding these mechanics to their games since then, but mobile titles have embraced them whole-heartedly, and gacha is the predominant way that DLC is distributed in many of the hottest mobile games on the market, especially in China, Japan, and Korea. Japanese publisher Keiken grew so rich from gacha games that the company was able to purchase RPG giant Enix with their enormous profits, and now, many mobile games based on Enix properties, including the recent iPhone G game Dragon Quest: Luminaries Of Legend, centers around this random mechanic.
Genshin Impact, which was released on March 2nd for Apple G devices including the iPhone G, also features such a system, though the game itself (which sells for $19.99 before any microtransactions) also stands on its own as a massive action-RPG with an enormous world and a wide variety of different characters and activities. The game, which was hyped massively by Apple in the months leading up to its worldwide release, has been the most successful Apple G title since the launch hit Sonic Forever, already selling more than a million copies in just its first two weeks of release. Though participation in the game's gacha system is not required for play, and thus far, the game's developer, a Chinese company called miHoYo, has been fairly generous in giving out free bonuses and characters to new players, much of the game's content is indeed locked behind the gacha system, with Wishes, the currency required to essentially "spin the wheel" to purchase new characters, distributed on a drip-feed basis. This leads many players to purchase this currency with real money, and indeed, Genshin Impact has recorded more DLC purchases than any other Apple G game thus far save for Dragon Quest: Luminaries Of Legend. Though the game seems to have already cultivated a large fandom centered on the game's cast of characters, and has also helped the iPhone G to gain market share against the surging Game Boy Zero for the first time since last August, the gacha system has received heavy criticism, with many accusing Apple of suckering young players into buying DLC. Apple G titles have particularly leaned on DLC and gacha content, with many of the top selling games in Japan utilizing the gacha system. The recent announcement that Infinity Labyrinth, the follow-up to the Infinity Blade series, will also feature gacha, has stirred up new waves of irate players, though it is important to note that so far, Sonic: Quest For The Chaos Emeralds and Panzer Dragoon Delta are both expected to remain gacha free, while Strikeback: The Cloying Pod will keep the direct purchase DLC system of its Virtua predecessor.
For now, gacha remains a growing and controversial element of mobile gaming, and as long as players continue to buy in, it's not likely to go anywhere any time soon.
-from a March 20, 2020 article on Games Over Matter
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South Carolina Republican primary results (February 4, 2020):
Marco Rubio: 28.7%
Rick Santorum: 26.0%
Nick Freitas: 20.4%
Lindsey Graham: 11.4%
John James: 7.1%
Cindy McCain: 4.9%
Stacey Dash: 1.0%
Nevada Republican caucus results (February 4, 2020):
Cindy McCain: 29.3%
Marco Rubio: 27.1%
Nick Freitas: 20.6%
John James: 11.4%
Stacey Dash: 7.8%
Rick Santorum: 1.7%
Lindsey Graham: 0.9%
After a dismal South Carolina showing, Cindy McCain kept her hopes of securing the Republican nomination alive with a narrow win in Nevada, breaking Marco Rubio's winning streak and stealing some of his momentum. South Carolina was a must-win for Rick Santorum, and coupled with his crushing defeat in Nevada, he pulled out of the race, suspending his campaign the day after the February 4th votes. Stacey Dash and Lindsey Graham did the same: though Dash did decently in Nevada, she knew she had no chance if she couldn't win the state she'd campaigned so hard in, and Lindsey Graham had done far worse than Santorum in South Carolina and was barely a blip in Nevada. At this point, it was a four person race. Rubio was still the heavy favorite, and Michigan was a must-win.
Michigan Republican primary results (February 11, 2020):
John James: 38.4%
Marco Rubio: 30.2%
Nick Freitas: 23.6%
Cindy McCain: 7.7%
Michigan was the end of Cindy McCain's hopes to go to the White House, as she found herself pushed out of the race by the three front-runners. John James won a must-win primary in his home state, and while it wasn't by as much as he'd have liked over his rivals, it gave him crucial momentum going into Super Tuesday (he knew he'd have no shot in Rubio's home state of Florida). Meanwhile, Nick Freitas was also concentrating all his energy on Super Tuesday. Though he'd done well in almost every state, finishing second or third, he had yet to win a contest, and with many of these early primaries and caucuses being winner-take-all, he'd failed to make much headway in the delegate count. He'd need a big win on Super Tuesday to have any shot of catching up to Rubio's big lead.
Florida Republican primary results (February 25, 2020):
Marco Rubio: 68.8%
Nick Freitas: 21.5%
John James: 7.0%
Marco Rubio, as expected, notched a dominant win in Florida, and stretched out his lead in the overall delegate count. Unlike Freitas and James, he didn't need a big win on Super Tuesday, or even a win at all. Nevertheless, he continued to campaign relentlessly, and hoped that the Super Tuesday results would cinch him as the winner of the race so he could focus his energy on defeating President Kennedy in the general.
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Marco Rubio Wins Big On Super Tuesday, Takes 8 Out Of 14 States
Marco Rubio looks to be the presumptive Republican nominee after taking eight out of the fourteen possible state primaries last night, as well as American Samoa's Republican caucus. Among the eight states won by Rubio were the two biggest prizes on the map, California and Texas, both of which Rubio won by substantial margins, along with Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. The second biggest winner last night was Nick Freitas, who won the primaries in Colorado, Massachusetts, Vermont, and his home state of Virginia, while Michigan's John James notched wins in Alabama and Arkansas. James finished a very close second to Rubio in North Carolina and Tennessee, states that were vital to his path to electoral victory, which at this point has nearly closed off entirely. While Nick Freitas did slightly better for himself last night, collecting his first four states, his losses in California and Texas may prove crushing to his hopes of securing the Republican nomination, and he remains a distant second to Rubio, who collected a significant fraction of the delegates he'll need to secure the Republican nomination. Sources close to John James say that he may suspend his campaign as early as this afternoon, though Freitas is expected to remain in the race until at least March 17th, which is considered "Super Tuesday II" as 12 primaries will be conducted that day. Freitas will need to sweep nearly all of them to close the gap with Rubio, who celebrated his Super Tuesday wins last night in a speech to an assembled crowd of supporters in Irvine, California.
-from an article on Yahoo! News on March 4, 2020
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Julie Ivers: But many parents say that Apple's new game is a way to push gambling mechanics on children.
*Paimon is shown congratulating the player after a hard fought battle.*
Ivers: Genshin Impact has already generated more than $100 million in digital content sales since its release, more than even the game itself has made at retail. Many players are spending hundreds of dollars at a time, and these players, a minority of the overall sales base but who generate a majority of its profits, are known as "whales" by software developers. Seeking out these whales and getting them to spend cash on in-game content-
*The story is interrupted by a live video of Nick Freitas about to talk to his supporters.*
Wolf Blitzer: We're cutting in to bring you live footage from Virginia, this is at Montpelier, the former home of the 4th president James Madison, and we're cutting in because we've just received word that Nick Freitas is going to be announcing the suspension of his campaign after last night's primaries. As you know, Marco Rubio won nine of those primaries, and Freitas won only three, and with Rubio's delegate lead nearly insurmountable at this point, Nick Freitas will be suspending his campaign, making Marco Rubio the presumptive Republican nominee. Let's listen in.
Nick Freitas: Everyone... everyone, thank you, thank you everyone... I just want to say that I truly appreciate how supportive everyone has been these past few months, out on the campaign trail and all over the United States of America. *the crowd cheers, though not as enthusiastically as they have been at his previous rallies, as they know what's coming* I... It's been an amazing ride. To go from serving two campaigns in Afghanistan to campaigning for the Republican nomination for president of the United States, and... *he looks quite disappointed and sad, especially to see all his supporters looking the same way* Thank you all so much for making this possible. We've come so far, and.... you know, it wasn't quite... it just didn't happen this time around but we got closer than even I thought we could, thanks to the hard work and support of so many people. I just want to say that I just got off the phone with Senator Rubio *the crowd boos* No, no, no, no. No. Senator Rubio is a good man... we disagree on a few things, but I think he is going to make a great 46th President of the United States, and that's why... that's why, with a heavy heart, I called him up to let him know that we're suspending the campaign. *the crowd gives a mixed reaction, some disappointment but also some people trying to get some enthusiasm for Rubio going* I just want to say that I couldn't be prouder of all the people who worked on this campaign, tirelessly working late nights, calling people into the wee hours, hitting the campaign trail, knocking on doors... we got out there and we got close, we really did, but... it just didn't happen this time and I just want everyone to know that despite our differences, I will be endorsing Marco Rubio for president of the United States. *Rubio gets a much more positive reaction with many more cheers now* And I think that Senator Rubio will win this election, because the American people believe in freedom and they're tired of the big government spending of the last four years! We don't need President Kennedy from Taxachusetts telling the American people where they're going to get their health care! We don't need another four years of socialism! I'm disappointed to have lost the nomination, but let's look at the big picture, Senator Rubio is the right choice for America and I'm hoping everyone here can get behind him!
Blitzer: And there you have it, Congressman Freitas in Virginia, announcing the suspension of his campaign and at the same time his endorsement of Senator Rubio for president, and now let's go to Miami, where the presumptive Republican nominee, the new presumptive Republican nominee Marco Rubio is talking to his supporters about the news we just received.
Marco Rubio: -because we can't let what happened to Cuba happen to America. *the crowd cheers loudly* I know President Kennedy means well. I know he thinks that by giving out money, giving out cheap healthcare, he's doing the right thing. *the crowd boos* But he's running up our national debt, and he's making people dependent on the government, and that's not where you want to be as a nation. I'm all for deregulating health care, I'm all for giving people options and letting competition drive prices down, but what I'm not for is the government printing unlimited money and private business having to compete with that. There's no competition with that and then the government just owns everything. It didn't work for Cuba and it won't work here. Already we're seeing millions of people on the public option and they're dependent on it now. We can't just get rid of it now. I will get rid of it if I'm elected president but it's going to take time, but in the meantime we're still going to cut taxes and we're still going to cut spending elsewhere. We're going to bring freedom back to this country. We're going to create a new health care system in which private businesses compete with each other to provide the best care at the best prices. No more state boundaries, you'll be able to buy your health insurance from any company in America. We'll provide reasonable subsidies to those who truly need them, but we're not going to keep printing money to do it because that drives up debt and it drives up inflation. ...I want to thank the American people for making me their Republican nominee, and I truly believe that in November they're going to make me the 46th President of the United States. *the crowd cheers loudly with approval* I am humbled, I am honored, and I am ready to get back on the campaign trail. Let's go out there and take back the White House and bring freedom back to this country, God bless all of you and God bless the United States of America! *waves to the cheering crowd as they begin chanting "MARCO! MARCO! MARCO!"*
Blitzer: Marco Rubio and his supporters, clearly fired up, and they have every reason to be as Marco Rubio is now the presumptive nominee for the Republican candidacy for president of the United States. There's a lot to break down here and let's go to our political team...
-from a breaking news report on CNN on March 18, 2020 at 5:41 PM EDT
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Game Spotlight: Mega Man Destiny
Mega Man Destiny is an action-RPG developed and published by Capcom as a timed exclusive for the Nintendo Reality. While the game features much of the same wide open exploration and adventure gameplay as the OTL and TTL Mega Man Legends games, it functions much more like a true action RPG similar to games in the Mana series, with leveling up, stat points, crafting, and damage numbers in combat, a true Mega Man RPG and a series first outside of a few turn-based RPG handheld and mobile games. Focusing on the characters from the original Mega Man timeline, the game features Mega Man, as well as his canine pal Rush, his companion Roll, and his creator/father Dr. Light, as they all team up with a cast of brave new allies and a few other surprising characters to battle a terrifying new force that threatens their world. Mega Man Destiny contains all the modern action-RPG trappings, including a somewhat open world design (areas are gated off, but you have plenty of room to explore from the get-go, and your world steadily expands the more you progress through the story), the ability to take on many different side-quests and find loot, and the ability to customize Mega Man's weapon with parts gathered from scrapped foes. Just like in the games, defeating certain enemies gives players the ability to allow Mega Man to fire an entirely different projectile that has different effects on different enemies, but it's also possible to mix and match, customizing Mega Man's weapon to the player's liking. While shots with the standard weapon are free, shots with special weapons drain Energy, which is similar to the MP points found in a typical RPG, and these points can be restored via usage of items or simply by fighting in battle. Many weapons, including Mega Man's classic arm cannon, can be charged up to deal more damage, with combat resembling a cross between classic Mega Man shooter mechanics and those of a fast-paced action RPG, with players able to flit about the stage, roll, jump, dodge, and fire from all different angles. Enemies can take on a variety of forms but are all robotic in nature, ranging from small, easily scrapped robots to massive multi-part monstrosities that players will need to calibrate their strategies for. Enemies can drop loot and currency when defeated, and Mega Man and his allies will gain XP from defeating them, and also from discovering new areas and completing quests. You can have up to two allies at a time in combat, and each ally has their own special abilities, with eight total allies in all, including four characters already in the series (Rush, Roll, Protoman, and Tron Bonne) and four brand new characters, including two human characters and two robots, each of whom have their own unique character arcs, powers, and traits. Mega Man Destiny features some of the best production values to date in a Capcom title, with some gorgeous graphics that look slightly better than those in The Boiling Isles (due to Destiny having a smaller world overall), and fully symphonic music that does an excellent job of conveying various moods. The game's English dub voice cast is also quite strong, with Maile Flanagan as Mega Man/Rock and Cristina Vee voicing Tron Bonne.
The game's plot is fairly standard action-RPG fare, apart from the game being centered on robots and Mega Man. Mega Man is tasked with collecting some parts from an old scrapyard to help Dr. Light construct a new machine that can help people around the city, but one of these parts becomes infected with a mysterious dark energy, turning the machine into a dangerous killer robot that Mega Man is forced to defeat. The initial thought is that this is Dr. Wily's doing, but it's soon discovered that Dr. Wily has been having problems of his own, and has in fact disappeared, while the dark energy continues to infect machines, turning seemingly friendly robots hostile toward humans. Mega Man, Rush, and Roll embark on a quest to get to the bottom of things, soon enlisting the help of a young mechanic named Arnold who has admired Mega Man for quite some time and who has always wanted to work with him. They also enlist the aid of a morose cyborg named Natale, who seems to have some kind of connection with the dark energy and who has the ability to absorb it into herself without being controlled. They'll later be joined by a friendly walrus robot, Tusker, and a flying bee robot, Rose, who has the ability to squeeze into small spaces and gather treasure. The eight heroes venture around the world, learning more about this dangerous dark energy, a corrupted force that is causing more and more disaster throughout the world. The corrupted energy soon finds a host in Protoman, who becomes the game's primary protagonist during the second third of the quest, though eventually, a way to extract this energy is found, as well as Dr. Wily, who clues Mega Man and the others into the energy's true source. He was attempting to create the ultimate robot as a way to finally defeat Dr. Light once and for all, and in the process, meddled with dark forces that coalesced into some type of "machine soul" which identified itself as Solace and which began corrupting all of Wily's tech. As Wily attempted to destroy Solace, it destroyed nearly everything in his lab and escaped, and now seeks to find the perfect robotic host. Solace eventually finds a host in a hidden project of Dr. Light's, something referred to as Project X (a clear reference to Mega Man X). It takes over X's body and becomes Solace-X, gaining a voice for the first time and pretty much acting like Ultron in the body of Mega Man X, seeking to eradicate humans and dominate all robots for the sake of universal peace. The last part of the game is spent reaching Solace-X's fortress and taking him down in a grand, multistage battle. The defeat of Solace-X causes Light to scrap "Project X" entirely, though it's seen later in the game that some of his research into X remains, and it's implied that this game can be considered a pseudo-prequel to the Mega Man X series, an interesting twist revealed during the credits and post-credit scenes.
Mega Man Destiny is released on March 13, 2020, to extremely positive critical reviews. The game is compared by many to The Boiling Isles, though critics generally consider that game superior due to its greater freedom and non-linearity and its more creative storyline, while Mega Man Destiny is merely just a very, very, very good action-RPG and Mega Man game. The great reviews and word of mouth, along with considerable hype from Nintendo and Capcom, lead to very good sales for the game, some of the fastest sales for any Mega Man title, and somewhat of a surprise considering the game's genre. It's the start of what becomes known as the "Mega Man Renaissance", consisting of numerous excellent and highly successful Mega Man games released throughout the decade in a variety of genres, along with things like a new TV show and an eventual theatrical film. The 2020s would see the Blue Bomber finally getting his due, and though many would credit Destiny with this, a few trace it back slightly further, to the character's Super Smash Bros. Reality reveal. Mega Man Destiny would eventually be released on the Game Boy Zero and Apple G devices, as well as the Stadia, Quest, and the Reality's eventual successor, though the Reality's exclusivity on the game would last until 2021.
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Other Significant Titles for March 2020:
Prankworld: There Goes The Neighborhood: A 3-D adventure title that takes place in a town populated with lots of bratty kids and far-out characters, Prankworld: There Goes the Neighborhood is a Virtua game that focuses on two best friends who start out by pranking those in their town and at their school with various pranking implements, but who later must team up with the same kids they once pranked to save the town from a slew of dangerous creatures, including aliens, mutants, and even a dragon. The gameplay is somewhat inspired by that of the Commander Keen series, though it can also be described as Zombies Ate My Neighbors if it was a 3-D platformer. The game has a somewhat strange artstyle featuring pencil-like graphics meant to resemble a hand-drawn comic book, and it also features an online battle royale mode in which players can go online and prank each other. Though somewhat hyped before its release, reviews are a bit disappointing, with the gameplay criticized for being somewhat repetitive, the characters not being very likable, and the online being somewhat bare-bones. Sales ultimately aren't as good as what Apple expected, making this one a "can't win 'em all" for the Virtua after the success of Bloodlust and Mercurun.
Castlevania: The Awakened Symphony: Published by Ubisoft, this Castlevania game is a pseudo-sequel to Symphony of the Night, taking place in the Cold War era and seeing a descendent of the Belmont clan named Wayne team up with a Soviet femme fatale, Anya to prevent an awakened Dracula from escaping and triggering World War III between the West and the East. The two end up trapped together on opposite sides of a massive castle and must explore their way through a series of deadly trials to reach and stop Dracula's diabolical plan. Despite the Cold War intrigue, this is at heart a pure 2-D Castlevania, with modern 3-D graphics (think a much prettier Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night). It's a Metroidvania with RPG mechanics and a ton of frightening enemies and bosses, and when you finish up the main quest with Wayne, you unlock an entirely new quest with Anya, making this in many ways two games for the price of one. Released on pretty much everything, including mobile phones, this is a brilliant Castlevania title, easily one of the best of the series, and rivals The Boiling Isles as a potential Game of the Year candidate. Sales aren't stellar, but with all the platforms this game hits, it's able to make a sizable profit.
The Sin Of Wrath: A first-person shooter title published by Electronic Arts, in which you play as a police officer who goes rogue after his partner is brutally murdered before his eyes. He takes matters into his own hands to clean up crime in the city, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. The game has an "anger" mechanic in which you can fire faster and your bullets do more damage the angrier you get, which can be caused by taking a lot of damage or by witnessing a crime (the worse the crime, the more anger you build up). This, like Bloodlust, is another very edgy game, and though it has good graphics and some very good shooting mechanics, the game does generate a lot of controversy, with the protagonist not being particularly likable. The campaign is too short, and the multiplayer is fairly lackluster as well, and this game ends up being a critical and commercial disappointment.
Celestial Storm II: The sequel to Team Ninja and Tecmo's 2017 collaboration, this is essentially TTL's equivalent to the Nioh series, and like the original game, this sequel gets some fairly high marks for its combination of excellent hack and slash action and brutal challenge. Released on the Reality, Virtua, and Stadia, it would prove to be only slightly less successful than Mega Man Destiny, making it a success overall, albeit not a major one, while reviews would be comparable to that game. Like the original, it's quite tough, and definitely far tougher than the Mega Man, making it the preferred choice for older players.
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The Nintendo Direct for March 26, 2020 covered only two stories, but one of them proved to be extremely significant, as it was the long-awaited reveal of Nintendo's next generation console, setting the tone for the company in the years to come. The first thing covered, however, was another update on Mario's 35th anniversary celebration. It came a week after the release of Super Mario 3-D All-Stars for the Reality and Super Mario Bros. 35 for both the Reality and the Zero, and would see new details revealed for Super Mario All-Stars Zero, which will be coming to the Game Boy Zero in June. Like Super Mario 3-D All-Stars, it includes three games: Super Mario Dimensions 2, Super Mario Flip, and Super Mario World 4, which came out in 2007, 2008, and 2009 respectively (Dimensions 2 and World 4 on the Supernova, and Flip on the Nintendo Sapphire). The three games will include graphical enhancements and new gallery and musical features, and the release of Flip on a handheld system is a first for the game, as Nintendo Sapphire games aren't available on the Zero's digital download store. The compilation represents three of the series' most successful games, and should sell quite well after its release. We also got the announcement of Mario Kart Zero, which will be coming to the Zero in the fall, and will feature tracks both new and old, while also bringing a campaign/adventure mode to the series for the very first time. Katsuya Eguchi, the presenter of the Direct, told us to expect more details on Zero and a few more 35th anniversary surprises at a later date (most likely at this year's E3).
Then, we got a preview for another game, which turned out to be for Super Mario Adventure 2. As Mario was seen running through all new environments, many watchers would've noticed that the graphics looked significantly better, and the action moved somewhat smoother... and we soon found out why, as the camera eventually panned back to reveal the game being played on a brand new Nintendo console, revealed to be called the Hyper Nintendo Entertainment System. Eguchi announced that the Hyper Nintendo would be the successor to the Nintendo Reality. Super Mario Adventure 2 will be exclusive to the new system, though most of Nintendo's other upcoming games, including Metroid: Samus Awakens, will have versions for both consoles. The Hyper Nintendo will allow for VR, and be compatible with the Reality VR headsets, but Eguchi stresses that with the Hyper Nintendo, Nintendo wants to return to making the best games possible, for the widest audience of people, and that virtual reality will be "phased out" with this new generation. The Hyper Nintendo's controller is even slightly old-school in design, looking almost like a Super Nintendo controller, though with all the modern buttons and ergonomic enhancements that modern controllers have developed over the past decades. Eguchi introduced a few of the controller's features, including enhanced rumble functions and even "reactive triggers" that can adjust their firmness to the action on screen, allowing for more immersive gameplay, though ultimately, Eguchi says that he believes players will get plenty of enjoyment from the Hyper Nintendo's games even without the new controller functionality. More games were shown off, including a new action-RPG/loot-based title called Godfall, and a monster capturing adventure game called Bugsnax, but the final reveal was saved for the end of the presentation, when we saw a trailer for what at first appeared to be a new Squad Four game, with Raquel joining up with the team to battle a new foe, but when it was defeated, its body revealed an emblem of the Super Smash Bros. logo... and Raquel was revealed to be the first character of a brand new Smash Bros. game that would be coming to the Hyper Nintendo... at launch. That's right, we're getting a new Super Smash Bros. as a launch title for the Hyper Nintendo alongside Super Mario Adventure 2, and it, like the new Mario game, will be exclusive to the Hyper Nintendo. The hype is already building for the Hyper Nintendo, though we don't yet have a launch date or price for the new system, which will compete with the Apple Quest and Google's Stadia for next generation supremacy.
-from a March 26, 2020 post on Super Nintendo CD Chalmers' Nintendo blog
Genshin Impact, which was released on March 2nd for Apple G devices including the iPhone G, also features such a system, though the game itself (which sells for $19.99 before any microtransactions) also stands on its own as a massive action-RPG with an enormous world and a wide variety of different characters and activities. The game, which was hyped massively by Apple in the months leading up to its worldwide release, has been the most successful Apple G title since the launch hit Sonic Forever, already selling more than a million copies in just its first two weeks of release. Though participation in the game's gacha system is not required for play, and thus far, the game's developer, a Chinese company called miHoYo, has been fairly generous in giving out free bonuses and characters to new players, much of the game's content is indeed locked behind the gacha system, with Wishes, the currency required to essentially "spin the wheel" to purchase new characters, distributed on a drip-feed basis. This leads many players to purchase this currency with real money, and indeed, Genshin Impact has recorded more DLC purchases than any other Apple G game thus far save for Dragon Quest: Luminaries Of Legend. Though the game seems to have already cultivated a large fandom centered on the game's cast of characters, and has also helped the iPhone G to gain market share against the surging Game Boy Zero for the first time since last August, the gacha system has received heavy criticism, with many accusing Apple of suckering young players into buying DLC. Apple G titles have particularly leaned on DLC and gacha content, with many of the top selling games in Japan utilizing the gacha system. The recent announcement that Infinity Labyrinth, the follow-up to the Infinity Blade series, will also feature gacha, has stirred up new waves of irate players, though it is important to note that so far, Sonic: Quest For The Chaos Emeralds and Panzer Dragoon Delta are both expected to remain gacha free, while Strikeback: The Cloying Pod will keep the direct purchase DLC system of its Virtua predecessor.
For now, gacha remains a growing and controversial element of mobile gaming, and as long as players continue to buy in, it's not likely to go anywhere any time soon.
-from a March 20, 2020 article on Games Over Matter
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South Carolina Republican primary results (February 4, 2020):
Marco Rubio: 28.7%
Rick Santorum: 26.0%
Nick Freitas: 20.4%
Lindsey Graham: 11.4%
John James: 7.1%
Cindy McCain: 4.9%
Stacey Dash: 1.0%
Nevada Republican caucus results (February 4, 2020):
Cindy McCain: 29.3%
Marco Rubio: 27.1%
Nick Freitas: 20.6%
John James: 11.4%
Stacey Dash: 7.8%
Rick Santorum: 1.7%
Lindsey Graham: 0.9%
After a dismal South Carolina showing, Cindy McCain kept her hopes of securing the Republican nomination alive with a narrow win in Nevada, breaking Marco Rubio's winning streak and stealing some of his momentum. South Carolina was a must-win for Rick Santorum, and coupled with his crushing defeat in Nevada, he pulled out of the race, suspending his campaign the day after the February 4th votes. Stacey Dash and Lindsey Graham did the same: though Dash did decently in Nevada, she knew she had no chance if she couldn't win the state she'd campaigned so hard in, and Lindsey Graham had done far worse than Santorum in South Carolina and was barely a blip in Nevada. At this point, it was a four person race. Rubio was still the heavy favorite, and Michigan was a must-win.
Michigan Republican primary results (February 11, 2020):
John James: 38.4%
Marco Rubio: 30.2%
Nick Freitas: 23.6%
Cindy McCain: 7.7%
Michigan was the end of Cindy McCain's hopes to go to the White House, as she found herself pushed out of the race by the three front-runners. John James won a must-win primary in his home state, and while it wasn't by as much as he'd have liked over his rivals, it gave him crucial momentum going into Super Tuesday (he knew he'd have no shot in Rubio's home state of Florida). Meanwhile, Nick Freitas was also concentrating all his energy on Super Tuesday. Though he'd done well in almost every state, finishing second or third, he had yet to win a contest, and with many of these early primaries and caucuses being winner-take-all, he'd failed to make much headway in the delegate count. He'd need a big win on Super Tuesday to have any shot of catching up to Rubio's big lead.
Florida Republican primary results (February 25, 2020):
Marco Rubio: 68.8%
Nick Freitas: 21.5%
John James: 7.0%
Marco Rubio, as expected, notched a dominant win in Florida, and stretched out his lead in the overall delegate count. Unlike Freitas and James, he didn't need a big win on Super Tuesday, or even a win at all. Nevertheless, he continued to campaign relentlessly, and hoped that the Super Tuesday results would cinch him as the winner of the race so he could focus his energy on defeating President Kennedy in the general.
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Marco Rubio Wins Big On Super Tuesday, Takes 8 Out Of 14 States
Marco Rubio looks to be the presumptive Republican nominee after taking eight out of the fourteen possible state primaries last night, as well as American Samoa's Republican caucus. Among the eight states won by Rubio were the two biggest prizes on the map, California and Texas, both of which Rubio won by substantial margins, along with Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. The second biggest winner last night was Nick Freitas, who won the primaries in Colorado, Massachusetts, Vermont, and his home state of Virginia, while Michigan's John James notched wins in Alabama and Arkansas. James finished a very close second to Rubio in North Carolina and Tennessee, states that were vital to his path to electoral victory, which at this point has nearly closed off entirely. While Nick Freitas did slightly better for himself last night, collecting his first four states, his losses in California and Texas may prove crushing to his hopes of securing the Republican nomination, and he remains a distant second to Rubio, who collected a significant fraction of the delegates he'll need to secure the Republican nomination. Sources close to John James say that he may suspend his campaign as early as this afternoon, though Freitas is expected to remain in the race until at least March 17th, which is considered "Super Tuesday II" as 12 primaries will be conducted that day. Freitas will need to sweep nearly all of them to close the gap with Rubio, who celebrated his Super Tuesday wins last night in a speech to an assembled crowd of supporters in Irvine, California.
-from an article on Yahoo! News on March 4, 2020
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Julie Ivers: But many parents say that Apple's new game is a way to push gambling mechanics on children.
*Paimon is shown congratulating the player after a hard fought battle.*
Ivers: Genshin Impact has already generated more than $100 million in digital content sales since its release, more than even the game itself has made at retail. Many players are spending hundreds of dollars at a time, and these players, a minority of the overall sales base but who generate a majority of its profits, are known as "whales" by software developers. Seeking out these whales and getting them to spend cash on in-game content-
*The story is interrupted by a live video of Nick Freitas about to talk to his supporters.*
Wolf Blitzer: We're cutting in to bring you live footage from Virginia, this is at Montpelier, the former home of the 4th president James Madison, and we're cutting in because we've just received word that Nick Freitas is going to be announcing the suspension of his campaign after last night's primaries. As you know, Marco Rubio won nine of those primaries, and Freitas won only three, and with Rubio's delegate lead nearly insurmountable at this point, Nick Freitas will be suspending his campaign, making Marco Rubio the presumptive Republican nominee. Let's listen in.
Nick Freitas: Everyone... everyone, thank you, thank you everyone... I just want to say that I truly appreciate how supportive everyone has been these past few months, out on the campaign trail and all over the United States of America. *the crowd cheers, though not as enthusiastically as they have been at his previous rallies, as they know what's coming* I... It's been an amazing ride. To go from serving two campaigns in Afghanistan to campaigning for the Republican nomination for president of the United States, and... *he looks quite disappointed and sad, especially to see all his supporters looking the same way* Thank you all so much for making this possible. We've come so far, and.... you know, it wasn't quite... it just didn't happen this time around but we got closer than even I thought we could, thanks to the hard work and support of so many people. I just want to say that I just got off the phone with Senator Rubio *the crowd boos* No, no, no, no. No. Senator Rubio is a good man... we disagree on a few things, but I think he is going to make a great 46th President of the United States, and that's why... that's why, with a heavy heart, I called him up to let him know that we're suspending the campaign. *the crowd gives a mixed reaction, some disappointment but also some people trying to get some enthusiasm for Rubio going* I just want to say that I couldn't be prouder of all the people who worked on this campaign, tirelessly working late nights, calling people into the wee hours, hitting the campaign trail, knocking on doors... we got out there and we got close, we really did, but... it just didn't happen this time and I just want everyone to know that despite our differences, I will be endorsing Marco Rubio for president of the United States. *Rubio gets a much more positive reaction with many more cheers now* And I think that Senator Rubio will win this election, because the American people believe in freedom and they're tired of the big government spending of the last four years! We don't need President Kennedy from Taxachusetts telling the American people where they're going to get their health care! We don't need another four years of socialism! I'm disappointed to have lost the nomination, but let's look at the big picture, Senator Rubio is the right choice for America and I'm hoping everyone here can get behind him!
Blitzer: And there you have it, Congressman Freitas in Virginia, announcing the suspension of his campaign and at the same time his endorsement of Senator Rubio for president, and now let's go to Miami, where the presumptive Republican nominee, the new presumptive Republican nominee Marco Rubio is talking to his supporters about the news we just received.
Marco Rubio: -because we can't let what happened to Cuba happen to America. *the crowd cheers loudly* I know President Kennedy means well. I know he thinks that by giving out money, giving out cheap healthcare, he's doing the right thing. *the crowd boos* But he's running up our national debt, and he's making people dependent on the government, and that's not where you want to be as a nation. I'm all for deregulating health care, I'm all for giving people options and letting competition drive prices down, but what I'm not for is the government printing unlimited money and private business having to compete with that. There's no competition with that and then the government just owns everything. It didn't work for Cuba and it won't work here. Already we're seeing millions of people on the public option and they're dependent on it now. We can't just get rid of it now. I will get rid of it if I'm elected president but it's going to take time, but in the meantime we're still going to cut taxes and we're still going to cut spending elsewhere. We're going to bring freedom back to this country. We're going to create a new health care system in which private businesses compete with each other to provide the best care at the best prices. No more state boundaries, you'll be able to buy your health insurance from any company in America. We'll provide reasonable subsidies to those who truly need them, but we're not going to keep printing money to do it because that drives up debt and it drives up inflation. ...I want to thank the American people for making me their Republican nominee, and I truly believe that in November they're going to make me the 46th President of the United States. *the crowd cheers loudly with approval* I am humbled, I am honored, and I am ready to get back on the campaign trail. Let's go out there and take back the White House and bring freedom back to this country, God bless all of you and God bless the United States of America! *waves to the cheering crowd as they begin chanting "MARCO! MARCO! MARCO!"*
Blitzer: Marco Rubio and his supporters, clearly fired up, and they have every reason to be as Marco Rubio is now the presumptive nominee for the Republican candidacy for president of the United States. There's a lot to break down here and let's go to our political team...
-from a breaking news report on CNN on March 18, 2020 at 5:41 PM EDT
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Game Spotlight: Mega Man Destiny
Mega Man Destiny is an action-RPG developed and published by Capcom as a timed exclusive for the Nintendo Reality. While the game features much of the same wide open exploration and adventure gameplay as the OTL and TTL Mega Man Legends games, it functions much more like a true action RPG similar to games in the Mana series, with leveling up, stat points, crafting, and damage numbers in combat, a true Mega Man RPG and a series first outside of a few turn-based RPG handheld and mobile games. Focusing on the characters from the original Mega Man timeline, the game features Mega Man, as well as his canine pal Rush, his companion Roll, and his creator/father Dr. Light, as they all team up with a cast of brave new allies and a few other surprising characters to battle a terrifying new force that threatens their world. Mega Man Destiny contains all the modern action-RPG trappings, including a somewhat open world design (areas are gated off, but you have plenty of room to explore from the get-go, and your world steadily expands the more you progress through the story), the ability to take on many different side-quests and find loot, and the ability to customize Mega Man's weapon with parts gathered from scrapped foes. Just like in the games, defeating certain enemies gives players the ability to allow Mega Man to fire an entirely different projectile that has different effects on different enemies, but it's also possible to mix and match, customizing Mega Man's weapon to the player's liking. While shots with the standard weapon are free, shots with special weapons drain Energy, which is similar to the MP points found in a typical RPG, and these points can be restored via usage of items or simply by fighting in battle. Many weapons, including Mega Man's classic arm cannon, can be charged up to deal more damage, with combat resembling a cross between classic Mega Man shooter mechanics and those of a fast-paced action RPG, with players able to flit about the stage, roll, jump, dodge, and fire from all different angles. Enemies can take on a variety of forms but are all robotic in nature, ranging from small, easily scrapped robots to massive multi-part monstrosities that players will need to calibrate their strategies for. Enemies can drop loot and currency when defeated, and Mega Man and his allies will gain XP from defeating them, and also from discovering new areas and completing quests. You can have up to two allies at a time in combat, and each ally has their own special abilities, with eight total allies in all, including four characters already in the series (Rush, Roll, Protoman, and Tron Bonne) and four brand new characters, including two human characters and two robots, each of whom have their own unique character arcs, powers, and traits. Mega Man Destiny features some of the best production values to date in a Capcom title, with some gorgeous graphics that look slightly better than those in The Boiling Isles (due to Destiny having a smaller world overall), and fully symphonic music that does an excellent job of conveying various moods. The game's English dub voice cast is also quite strong, with Maile Flanagan as Mega Man/Rock and Cristina Vee voicing Tron Bonne.
The game's plot is fairly standard action-RPG fare, apart from the game being centered on robots and Mega Man. Mega Man is tasked with collecting some parts from an old scrapyard to help Dr. Light construct a new machine that can help people around the city, but one of these parts becomes infected with a mysterious dark energy, turning the machine into a dangerous killer robot that Mega Man is forced to defeat. The initial thought is that this is Dr. Wily's doing, but it's soon discovered that Dr. Wily has been having problems of his own, and has in fact disappeared, while the dark energy continues to infect machines, turning seemingly friendly robots hostile toward humans. Mega Man, Rush, and Roll embark on a quest to get to the bottom of things, soon enlisting the help of a young mechanic named Arnold who has admired Mega Man for quite some time and who has always wanted to work with him. They also enlist the aid of a morose cyborg named Natale, who seems to have some kind of connection with the dark energy and who has the ability to absorb it into herself without being controlled. They'll later be joined by a friendly walrus robot, Tusker, and a flying bee robot, Rose, who has the ability to squeeze into small spaces and gather treasure. The eight heroes venture around the world, learning more about this dangerous dark energy, a corrupted force that is causing more and more disaster throughout the world. The corrupted energy soon finds a host in Protoman, who becomes the game's primary protagonist during the second third of the quest, though eventually, a way to extract this energy is found, as well as Dr. Wily, who clues Mega Man and the others into the energy's true source. He was attempting to create the ultimate robot as a way to finally defeat Dr. Light once and for all, and in the process, meddled with dark forces that coalesced into some type of "machine soul" which identified itself as Solace and which began corrupting all of Wily's tech. As Wily attempted to destroy Solace, it destroyed nearly everything in his lab and escaped, and now seeks to find the perfect robotic host. Solace eventually finds a host in a hidden project of Dr. Light's, something referred to as Project X (a clear reference to Mega Man X). It takes over X's body and becomes Solace-X, gaining a voice for the first time and pretty much acting like Ultron in the body of Mega Man X, seeking to eradicate humans and dominate all robots for the sake of universal peace. The last part of the game is spent reaching Solace-X's fortress and taking him down in a grand, multistage battle. The defeat of Solace-X causes Light to scrap "Project X" entirely, though it's seen later in the game that some of his research into X remains, and it's implied that this game can be considered a pseudo-prequel to the Mega Man X series, an interesting twist revealed during the credits and post-credit scenes.
Mega Man Destiny is released on March 13, 2020, to extremely positive critical reviews. The game is compared by many to The Boiling Isles, though critics generally consider that game superior due to its greater freedom and non-linearity and its more creative storyline, while Mega Man Destiny is merely just a very, very, very good action-RPG and Mega Man game. The great reviews and word of mouth, along with considerable hype from Nintendo and Capcom, lead to very good sales for the game, some of the fastest sales for any Mega Man title, and somewhat of a surprise considering the game's genre. It's the start of what becomes known as the "Mega Man Renaissance", consisting of numerous excellent and highly successful Mega Man games released throughout the decade in a variety of genres, along with things like a new TV show and an eventual theatrical film. The 2020s would see the Blue Bomber finally getting his due, and though many would credit Destiny with this, a few trace it back slightly further, to the character's Super Smash Bros. Reality reveal. Mega Man Destiny would eventually be released on the Game Boy Zero and Apple G devices, as well as the Stadia, Quest, and the Reality's eventual successor, though the Reality's exclusivity on the game would last until 2021.
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Other Significant Titles for March 2020:
Prankworld: There Goes The Neighborhood: A 3-D adventure title that takes place in a town populated with lots of bratty kids and far-out characters, Prankworld: There Goes the Neighborhood is a Virtua game that focuses on two best friends who start out by pranking those in their town and at their school with various pranking implements, but who later must team up with the same kids they once pranked to save the town from a slew of dangerous creatures, including aliens, mutants, and even a dragon. The gameplay is somewhat inspired by that of the Commander Keen series, though it can also be described as Zombies Ate My Neighbors if it was a 3-D platformer. The game has a somewhat strange artstyle featuring pencil-like graphics meant to resemble a hand-drawn comic book, and it also features an online battle royale mode in which players can go online and prank each other. Though somewhat hyped before its release, reviews are a bit disappointing, with the gameplay criticized for being somewhat repetitive, the characters not being very likable, and the online being somewhat bare-bones. Sales ultimately aren't as good as what Apple expected, making this one a "can't win 'em all" for the Virtua after the success of Bloodlust and Mercurun.
Castlevania: The Awakened Symphony: Published by Ubisoft, this Castlevania game is a pseudo-sequel to Symphony of the Night, taking place in the Cold War era and seeing a descendent of the Belmont clan named Wayne team up with a Soviet femme fatale, Anya to prevent an awakened Dracula from escaping and triggering World War III between the West and the East. The two end up trapped together on opposite sides of a massive castle and must explore their way through a series of deadly trials to reach and stop Dracula's diabolical plan. Despite the Cold War intrigue, this is at heart a pure 2-D Castlevania, with modern 3-D graphics (think a much prettier Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night). It's a Metroidvania with RPG mechanics and a ton of frightening enemies and bosses, and when you finish up the main quest with Wayne, you unlock an entirely new quest with Anya, making this in many ways two games for the price of one. Released on pretty much everything, including mobile phones, this is a brilliant Castlevania title, easily one of the best of the series, and rivals The Boiling Isles as a potential Game of the Year candidate. Sales aren't stellar, but with all the platforms this game hits, it's able to make a sizable profit.
The Sin Of Wrath: A first-person shooter title published by Electronic Arts, in which you play as a police officer who goes rogue after his partner is brutally murdered before his eyes. He takes matters into his own hands to clean up crime in the city, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. The game has an "anger" mechanic in which you can fire faster and your bullets do more damage the angrier you get, which can be caused by taking a lot of damage or by witnessing a crime (the worse the crime, the more anger you build up). This, like Bloodlust, is another very edgy game, and though it has good graphics and some very good shooting mechanics, the game does generate a lot of controversy, with the protagonist not being particularly likable. The campaign is too short, and the multiplayer is fairly lackluster as well, and this game ends up being a critical and commercial disappointment.
Celestial Storm II: The sequel to Team Ninja and Tecmo's 2017 collaboration, this is essentially TTL's equivalent to the Nioh series, and like the original game, this sequel gets some fairly high marks for its combination of excellent hack and slash action and brutal challenge. Released on the Reality, Virtua, and Stadia, it would prove to be only slightly less successful than Mega Man Destiny, making it a success overall, albeit not a major one, while reviews would be comparable to that game. Like the original, it's quite tough, and definitely far tougher than the Mega Man, making it the preferred choice for older players.
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The Nintendo Direct for March 26, 2020 covered only two stories, but one of them proved to be extremely significant, as it was the long-awaited reveal of Nintendo's next generation console, setting the tone for the company in the years to come. The first thing covered, however, was another update on Mario's 35th anniversary celebration. It came a week after the release of Super Mario 3-D All-Stars for the Reality and Super Mario Bros. 35 for both the Reality and the Zero, and would see new details revealed for Super Mario All-Stars Zero, which will be coming to the Game Boy Zero in June. Like Super Mario 3-D All-Stars, it includes three games: Super Mario Dimensions 2, Super Mario Flip, and Super Mario World 4, which came out in 2007, 2008, and 2009 respectively (Dimensions 2 and World 4 on the Supernova, and Flip on the Nintendo Sapphire). The three games will include graphical enhancements and new gallery and musical features, and the release of Flip on a handheld system is a first for the game, as Nintendo Sapphire games aren't available on the Zero's digital download store. The compilation represents three of the series' most successful games, and should sell quite well after its release. We also got the announcement of Mario Kart Zero, which will be coming to the Zero in the fall, and will feature tracks both new and old, while also bringing a campaign/adventure mode to the series for the very first time. Katsuya Eguchi, the presenter of the Direct, told us to expect more details on Zero and a few more 35th anniversary surprises at a later date (most likely at this year's E3).
Then, we got a preview for another game, which turned out to be for Super Mario Adventure 2. As Mario was seen running through all new environments, many watchers would've noticed that the graphics looked significantly better, and the action moved somewhat smoother... and we soon found out why, as the camera eventually panned back to reveal the game being played on a brand new Nintendo console, revealed to be called the Hyper Nintendo Entertainment System. Eguchi announced that the Hyper Nintendo would be the successor to the Nintendo Reality. Super Mario Adventure 2 will be exclusive to the new system, though most of Nintendo's other upcoming games, including Metroid: Samus Awakens, will have versions for both consoles. The Hyper Nintendo will allow for VR, and be compatible with the Reality VR headsets, but Eguchi stresses that with the Hyper Nintendo, Nintendo wants to return to making the best games possible, for the widest audience of people, and that virtual reality will be "phased out" with this new generation. The Hyper Nintendo's controller is even slightly old-school in design, looking almost like a Super Nintendo controller, though with all the modern buttons and ergonomic enhancements that modern controllers have developed over the past decades. Eguchi introduced a few of the controller's features, including enhanced rumble functions and even "reactive triggers" that can adjust their firmness to the action on screen, allowing for more immersive gameplay, though ultimately, Eguchi says that he believes players will get plenty of enjoyment from the Hyper Nintendo's games even without the new controller functionality. More games were shown off, including a new action-RPG/loot-based title called Godfall, and a monster capturing adventure game called Bugsnax, but the final reveal was saved for the end of the presentation, when we saw a trailer for what at first appeared to be a new Squad Four game, with Raquel joining up with the team to battle a new foe, but when it was defeated, its body revealed an emblem of the Super Smash Bros. logo... and Raquel was revealed to be the first character of a brand new Smash Bros. game that would be coming to the Hyper Nintendo... at launch. That's right, we're getting a new Super Smash Bros. as a launch title for the Hyper Nintendo alongside Super Mario Adventure 2, and it, like the new Mario game, will be exclusive to the Hyper Nintendo. The hype is already building for the Hyper Nintendo, though we don't yet have a launch date or price for the new system, which will compete with the Apple Quest and Google's Stadia for next generation supremacy.
-from a March 26, 2020 post on Super Nintendo CD Chalmers' Nintendo blog
You know, about Super Mario Adventure 2, here’s an idea of mine.: Remember in Player Two Start where in GameTV has that bit about Super Mario RPG where one of the characters think Kamek should have been the main villain of Super Mario RPG? Well, maybe you should make Kamek the main villain of Super Mario Adventure 2 while Bowser will end up becoming one of the playable characters. How does that idea sound?
Of course gacha would be relatively popular in recent memory. At least it isn't too bad for now.
At least we know that Mega Man is in good hands when we disembark past this timeline.
I think Prankworld and Castlevania are my favorites among the smaller offerings this month.
This is a lot of good stuff for Mario's anniversary. In particular, my favorite announcement for this is Super Mario All-Stars Zero.
If the HyNES is Nintendo's first non-Sony console in decades, then they tried their hardest to make sure it was a good impression. Not only would we get a new 3D Mario that looks very crisp, but we also get Godfall and Bugsnax for the system, and best of all...
Wait. A new Smash game as a LAUNCH TITLE? I can barely contain my excitement!
At least we know that Mega Man is in good hands when we disembark past this timeline.
I think Prankworld and Castlevania are my favorites among the smaller offerings this month.
This is a lot of good stuff for Mario's anniversary. In particular, my favorite announcement for this is Super Mario All-Stars Zero.
If the HyNES is Nintendo's first non-Sony console in decades, then they tried their hardest to make sure it was a good impression. Not only would we get a new 3D Mario that looks very crisp, but we also get Godfall and Bugsnax for the system, and best of all...
Wait. A new Smash game as a LAUNCH TITLE? I can barely contain my excitement!
Interesting Nintendo's phasing out VR rather than not emphasizing it as heavily. Between this and the Gameboy Zero their approach seems to be very back to basics. Interested to see how it'll do with how out there Stadia and Quest look to be.
IIRC, the HNES is going to be the last console with Sony, not the first one without them in decades. Wondering if they'll try to make it last longer than the others because of that.
Ok, please tell me the gacha rates are at least somewhat better and/or the free story characters are stronger ITTL vs IOTL to account for the fact that ITTL version is a paid console game. I wonder if Enix-Keiken doing the same thing with Sword of Elfsbane was what made miHoYo bold enough to attach an 'entry fee'. Even pre-Keiken Enix, which was first criticised for 'gacha mechanics in paid console game' only used a 'pseduo-gacha' using only in-game currency.
Nice, even the name is old-school/back-to-basics. Super -> Ultra ->->-> Hyper, and 'Nintendo Entertainment System'. By any chance, is it called 'Hyper Famicom' in Japan to further the connection?
Well, too bad the timeline is going to end in 2021 Spring; we won't be able to see the full lifespan of the HNES, or what Nintendo's first console without Sony in 30 years will be.
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To me, that just says that Ninty doesn't think they can keep up with the VR tech without Sony co-developing the hardware...
Calling it now, they're gonna call it Hyper Smash Bros.; if they don't, it's a huge missed opportunity.
Hyper hype? 😛
Yeah, you mentioned this in an earlier update that Sakurai was working on a new Smash, so I'll just reiterate my prediction of this being TTL's Ultimate.
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
I sorta want to predict that the world will end before all ballots are counted here, but I remembered that this isn't that kind of TL
Either way, my favorite part of this update? The world going on as normal, almost everyone not realizing in an alternate universe that they dodged a massive bullet in the form of OTL's ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. A small glimpse of what could have been, even after nearly thirty years of changes making much of it unrecognizable from an observer from our world.
Hyper Hype!
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Speaking for smash.
I find it funny how a few stuff like Hyrule as a world in KH in this TL would techaally later happen in the future OTL.
I find it funny how a few stuff like Hyrule as a world in KH in this TL would techaally later happen in the future OTL.
April 2020 - RPGs Are In Bloom
Stunt Race VR, while obviously not as complex and realistic as its contemporary counterparts such as Gran Turismo and Forza, is a far cry more content-rich than the 1994 cartridge original, which was little more than a tech demo. Players can now choose from more than two dozen different cars, and with 24 different tracks, each with their own hazards and quirks, this is finally the fully-realized cartoon racer it was always meant to be. The fun soundtrack punctuates all the exciting action, while the game finally hums at 60 FPS, something that, when held against the original (which boasted a framerate in the single digits) isn't just an improvement, it's a miracle. This is essentially Pixar: The Racing Game, only it's significantly better than any of the Cars tie-ins could ever hope to be. Despite its relatively slow pace (none of the game's cars ever exceed 200 miles per hour) when compared with other racing games, it never ceases to be thrilling, as a result of the creativity of the stage design and its exceptional production values. With homages to Squad Four and even the Zeppelin Age games sprinkled throughout, Stunt Race VR is Argonaut's love letter to much of its old work, with every modern quality of life upgrade imaginable.
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"So yeah, I'm glad we got to go back and revisit Stunt Race FX, the old game had everything going against it but now with the Reality it's a real chance for our true vision for this game to be realized, so I just hope people enjoy it."
Even though Cuthbert's nearly 30-year tenure as Argonaut's lead designer is nearing its end, he doesn't seem to be a man with many regrets, which is quite understandable considering everything he's accomplished: not only is he the brainchild of one of the most successful game franchises in history, his keen eye for detail and virtuoso programming skills made him a pioneer of gaming tech, pushing the limits of consoles and influencing so many other software creators by revealing what was truly possible. His legacy remains one of relentless innovation and creativity, and now, as he looks back at his career, he knows he's leaving his team in the best possible place.
"I got to work a little bit on the next Squad Four game, but for the most part, it's all been the new team. I can't wait to see how everyone responds to what they've come up with, but I can't say much more or I'll get in trouble."
Cuthbert has gradually been reducing his role in the development of Squad Four games ever since Upheaval. He took an almost completely hands-off approach to Protectors, though he did slightly more of the work on Betrayal. It wasn't because of the disappointing reaction to Protectors from critics and fans that he returned, rather, he wanted to mentor and coach the new developers that had come to work at the company since development on Protectors ended.
"You know, back when I first got started, I was the guy who needed mentoring, so I felt like mentoring the new team would bring it all full circle."
Cuthbert's approach to Betrayal's development paid off: the game remains one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles of its generation, and was named the best game of the past decade in numerous rankings (and #3 on our own list, which can be found here). He thought about stepping away after Betrayal's release, but decided to stay on for one last game, Squad Four Apocalypse, while helming the development of Stunt Race VR, an idea he conceived back in 2015. Now, the Argonaut legend is ready to leave the company he helped build, but even though he claims this is a "retirement", he's left the door open to return to the industry in some capacity.
"I'm always looking for the next big thing in gaming tech, but I'll try to take at least a few years off to spend time with my family and see the world. Hopefully by the time my kids are all grown up, VR will have advanced even more than it already has."
Cuthbert says that Apple's Quest has shown promise, but he'd have to get some time with the glove controllers to know if it might be something he'd be interested in working on. He says that the Hyper Nintendo looks great, especially the adaptive triggers, and that even though he and his team have had the Hyper Nintendo development kit for nearly three years, the reveal still surprised him.
"The new controller, I'm really impressed. Between the Hyper Nintendo's reactive triggers, the Google Glass, and the Apple Quest's advanced VR, I think the big story of the ninth console generation could be all about how we interact with games rather than how good they look graphically."
-from IGN's 8.4/10 review of Stunt Race VR, and their interview with Dylan Cuthbert the day after he announced that he'd be stepping down from Argonaut, both articles were posted together on April 8, 2020
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Christina Grimmie: And Gloria plays a lot like the old-school Zelda games, with a bit of an anime twist which is a whole lot of fun. Game Arts shows with this one that they can still make proper retro-styled RPGs, and I also appreciate the budget price.
Austin Watson: I'm not so sure I'd really call $39.99 a "budget price", but you do get a lot of game for your buck, there's eight dungeons to explore and a pretty rich world with all sorts of towns, treasures, and secret caves. Plus, you know, there's this.
*A scene plays of the protagonist Gloria talking to a spider demon lady who is blocking her entrance to a dungeon.*
Gloria: What d'ya mean I can't go in? Who do you think you are, spider queen?
Spider Queen: Ah, so you have heard of me.
Gloria: Wait, you really are the Spider Queen?
Spider Queen: Mmm, and you have something in your head besides rocks,...
Gloria: I won't be insulted like this!
Spider Queen: And yet you're still standing there taking my insults...
Christina: Can they just kiss already and get it over with? Anyway, the voice acting is pretty solid, Erica Mendez is always great and she gives Gloria a real punch of bravery and toughness, while that Spider Queen you just heard... well, no spoilers, but Cristina Vee is the voice of the Spider Queen and you know they're not going to waste her on just a few quick scenes.
Austin: If you love games like The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Dreams, Terranigma, and even Popful Mail, you'll have a lot of fun with Gloria and I'm giving this game a 4 out of 5 for its clever combat, deep dungeon diving, great voice acting and cute anime stylings.
Christina: I'm not going to be QUITE so nice to it, I'm giving this game a 3.5 out of 5. It's a good game, and you'll definitely enjoy it, especially if, like me, you enjoy old school adventure games and fun anime wackiness, but I have to go back to the fact that the dungeons just aren't as memorable as they are in pretty much every game I just mentioned, there's no real puzzles to speak of, everything is a bit too linear once you get into a dungeon and that just won't fly. Still, it's a great little action-RPG and it's available on the Reality, Virtua, Stadia, Zero, iPhone G and even the Nexus, so I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.
(...)
Rose Alvarez: Where Fairytale Imperia falls a bit short compared to Octopath Traveler is in the size of its world, and that's a shame because I loved the time I had in this gorgeous new realm, but there just wasn't enough of it to explore, and I felt like a lot of that is because they needed an excuse to keep you from going back and exploring the old world.
Christina Grimmie: Right! Just when I got all excited and thought "hey, we're going to get to see some of the locations from the old game"... nope, the game makes up some BS and throws up a barricade in your way. And no, it's not a spoiler that you can't go back and see any of the locations from the old game, the advertising for this one has been drilling it into everyone's head that you're going into an undiscovered country, so yeah... you don't get to revisit any of the old locations, BUT I did like this new realm, I just wish it was a little bit bigger!
Rose: And the reason we wish that is out of LOVE. The combat is great, the music is great, the graphics are beautiful...
Christina: Ashlyn has never been more badass, and I'm so happy that Moira Quirk came back to voice her.
Rose: Austin keeps talking about how she was on Guts but that show's just a smidge before our time, isn't it?
Christina: Yeah, I only know Moira from her voiceover work, and she's absolutely amazing here. Although, shameless plug, you can catch old Guts reruns on Paramount+, so if you want to see her being a ref or whatever, go watch that show, because I heard she's awesome.
Rose: And this game is MOSTLY awesome, I just wish it was a bit bigger and that they let you explore more. It's still one of the best portable RPGs you can get, and I've got no problem giving it a 4.5 out of 5. If it was a big bigger, it'd be a 5, but what can you do?
Christina: I'll tell you what you can do. New Game Plus! Which is what I'm going to be doing as soon as I leave today because I really did like this game and I'm also giving it a 4.5 out of 5.
Rose: I'm going to go watch some Guts to see what all the hype's about.
(...)
*The six GameTV hosts, including Austin and Christina, are all gathered around the couch at the end of the show, Christina looks a bit sad but the mood seems to be celebratory.*
Austin: And we're going to be saying goodbye to Christina for the last time, as she leaves GameTV to fulfill one of her all time biggest dreams...
Christina: Which is the only reason I'm not crying right now, you guys!
Avan Jogia: She'll be going to start filming on the Legend Of Zelda movie, which is coming out next year and you all need to go see it when it does.
Christina: *shaking excitedly* I can't wait but I'm so sad to go!
*The hosts all hug her tightly.*
Rose: And then there were two, just Austin and Avan left from the start of the revival... I hope you guys aren't going anywhere!
Austin: No worries, I'm stayin' right here....
Christina: You know if you got cast as Link or something you'd leave in a heartbeat.
Austin: No, no way, I love all the fans!
Christina: *whispering* He'd leave in a heartbeat.
-from the April 23, 2020 episode of GameTV
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President Kennedy Congratulates Sir Richard Branson On First Spaceflight, Stresses Importance Of Private Sector In Space Innovation
President Kennedy has called Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson to congratulate him on his first successful spaceflight earlier today, according to a statement issued by the White House this evening. Branson's spaceflight, which reached the edge of space as defined by NASA, though not the internationally recognized Karman Line, represents a crucial step forward for private space travel, while also helping to emphasize the importance of NASA's space initiatives for the coming decade, which will hinge on the success of the recently completed next generation Orion spacecraft that will make its first manned flights next year, including a mission to launch a new space telescope into orbit. The Orion craft will also deliver a crew of American astronauts to the Moon in 2024, in a mission that has seen support from both sides of the aisle and to which Senator Marco Rubio has already committed to launching if he defeats the president in November's upcoming election. At a press conference held last week, in which Kennedy discussed a variety of topics, the subject of spaceflight came up several times, with reporters asking the president about both NASA's upcoming space missions and the private missions announced by several entrepreneurs, including Branson and tech tycoon Mark Cuban, who doesn't plan to go into space himself but who does plan to fund a series of space missions, including a possible mission to the Moon sometime around 2030, which would be the first ever private space mission to another celestial body. Kennedy expressed enthusiasm for both NASA and the private sector, and emphasized that when it comes to space, every mission deserves the public's support.
"You know, we're all in this together when it comes to stepping off this planet and exploring the vast frontier of space. I've committed this government not only to funding future NASA missions, but supporting private space endeavors as well. As proud as it makes me when NASA is able to accomplish a first in space, and they've accomplished so many, I'd be glad to see the private sector cross these new thresholds as well, because, and I've said it time and time again, we all benefit when humanity touches the stars. I'm looking forward to seeing Richard Branson's flight next week, and I'm looking forward to seeing what some of our great innovators can accomplish as well," said Kennedy, who then fielded a few more questions about spaceflight, most of them pertaining to the upcoming NASA missions scheduled for the next few years.
The Center for Technological Outreach, which continues to fund accessibility in information technology, has also announced that it will be looking into launching a space initiative as well, as it was one of the last things that late founder Mitsuko Ariyama expressed a desire to achieve before she was tragically killed back in 2018. Ariyama herself had wanted to go to space, though she told those close to her that she wanted to wait until it became cheaper to do so, as she felt the money would be put to better use to help people here on Earth. The Center's research will primarily focus on bringing down the cost of spaceflight, and it will also fund research into the creation of the first space elevator, which would make it far cheaper to bring people and materials up into space. Though the construction of such a device is currently beyond the capability of materials engineering, the Center is hoping to fund research into cutting-edge materials that could make a space elevator possible by the end of the century.
-from an article on Techbiz.net, posted on April 25, 2020
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Game Spotlight: Beyond The Rainbow
Beyond The Rainbow is an open world action-RPG exclusive to Google Stadia, created by a studio comprised of both American and Japanese developers. The game is intended as a fantasy adventure in which players can freely explore as they help a young boy named Rider find his lost mother, who has transformed into a dove and has disappeared into this vast world. Rider must team up with six other kids, each of whom has their own special powers, to find his mother and save the realm. Players will control only Rider over the course of the adventure, while his six companions can all accompany Rider one at a time, with the player able to switch between the six companions at the game's checkpoints. Each companion has a special skill that augments Rider's abilities, while Rider will also gain the ability to traverse the world more freely as the game progresses, allowing him to clear more obstacles and find more treasure. In contrast with The Boiling Isles, in which character development and personality traits play a major role in quests and progression, Beyond The Rainbow takes a more JRPG-like approach, with a linear main quest and a wide variety of side quests, and gameplay that more closely resembles Secret Of Mana than it does any Western RPG. Rider has the ability to transform into a variety of different beasts in battle, each one with its own combat tricks and abilities, with Rider eventually gaining access to up to 20 different transformations. Some of these are more helpful outside of battle, while others help Rider become faster, stronger, or sturdier in battle. Players can utilize Rider's normal human form as well, and in this form he's more easily able to cast magic, which gets progressively stronger over the course of the game. Loot is found all over the place, lying on the ground, held in treasure chests, and of course, dropped by enemies, and players can use the game's extensive crafting system to make stronger weapons and armor, while other loot is required for side quest completion. The game also has plenty of puzzles, which will challenge players to use Rider and his abilities (fortunately, players won't be required to switch between companions to complete puzzles, it's all Rider). The world is enormous and beautiful, littered with towns, dungeons, and things to do, and it's one of those games with huge draw distances where players will be able to visit any location they can see. Beyond The Rainbow plays a lot like OTL's Breath of The Wild combined with OTL's Ni No Kuni, and draws influence from some of the best games of its genre. It features a beautiful stylized graphical style inspired by modern cartoons, and it features a soundtrack composed by Nobuo Uematsu, which most closely resembles his OTL Final Fantasy IX soundtrack, full of sweeping melodies, quirky beats, and some truly poignant songs as well, including four different lyrical themes. The English dub soundtrack features a pretty strong voice cast, with Rider and his six young companions all voiced by young actors (no one from OTL, since all OTL's kid actors have been butterflied away, but the kids would be recognizable to anyone who follows TTL cartoon voices), and actors such as David Tennant (voicing Professor Wail, who starts the game as a mentor and friend to Rider but who eventually betrays him and becomes the primary antagonist), Sumalee Montano (voicing Rider's mother), Matthew Mercer (the voice of a friendly dwarf lord and powerful blacksmith), and Emily Rose (the voice of Queen Eyrie, another ally to Rider, though she remains an ally throughout the game) among the game's cast. It's easily one of the most expensive games Google has ever produced, and the company hopes it can be a strong competitor to games such as the Secret of Mana remake and The Boiling Isles.
Beyond The Rainbow begins by briefly introducing the player to Rider and his mother, who live together after the mysterious disappearance of Rider's father just after he was born. The two have a close relationship (think Hilda and Johanna from OTL's Hilda comic and cartoon), though Rider sometimes worries his mother by venturing off to dangerous places around town. One day, Rider's mother disappears, and when he finally tracks her down, he sees her transform involuntarily into a dove before flying off through a magical portal. He finds a way to open the portal and goes in after her, though when he arrives, he's been transformed into a cat and has to figure out how to undo the spell with the help of a friendly young girl named Edie. Once Rider turns back into a human after meeting Professor Wail, the adventure begins in earnest, with Rider pursuing clues to try and get closer to his mother, meeting new friends and going on adventures all the while. The game's heavy bird theming is soon revealed, with the initial antagonists revealed to be a flock of ravens who can transform into cruel human soldiers, their gang is known as the Dark Flock and they're the villains for about the first 40 percent of the game, as Rider and friends seek to prevent them from conquering the kingdom inhabited by Queen Eyrie, a beautiful queen who can transform into a majestic eagle. As Rider explores, he learns more about his mother, as well as his father. His father is revealed to have been a werewolf, the king of all the werewolves, who was exiled from his realm after having been defeated by a group of hunters. His mother, who is revealed to just be a normal human, seems to have been teaching herself magic in order to accomplish some task that Rider believes is related to his father. After the defeat of the Dark Flock, the game's second act sees Rider and his friends separated temporarily as the werewolves that Rider's father once led now make their presence known and are the primary antagonists of the game's second act, though the second act is somewhat shorter than the first and mostly involves Rider traveling the world to reunite with his companions and meet the new werewolf leader at his palace, a huge tower known as the Moon's Hollow. At Moon's Hollow, there's a series of climactic scenes, including Rider learning that his father wasn't exiled, but was instead killed after leaving Rider and his mother behind to protect them, Rider's mother temporarily reuniting with him after transforming into a human, and finally, the werewolves' new leader revealing that the werewolves haven't been evil at all, but have merely been protecting the world from a dark force known as the Bloodmoon, which appears in the sky as a terrible harbinger of evil. Rider's mother learned about the Bloodmoon from his father, though she was prevented from going with him to help stop it, and Rider learns that his mother is actually the latest of an ancient line of princesses who are tasked with purifying the moon to prevent the destruction of all worlds, including both this one and Rider's own. Finally, the biggest twist of all is revealed, as Professor Wail strikes down Rider's mother as she attempts to purify the Bloodmoon, and in doing so, absorbs its power for himself. Though there have been a few hints dropped that the professor may not be entirely what he seems, this still comes as a huge shock to the player, but the player barely has time to absorb all of this before Wail uses his newly acquired power to slaughter the remaining werewolves, then turns the power on Rider. One of Rider's friends, a boy named Bradley, makes a seemingly fatal sacrifice to cover Rider's escape, while his seemingly fatally wounded mother is also nowhere to be found. In the aftermath of all of this, the world is badly damaged, and new areas are opened up to explore. The third act, consisting of the last 33 percent or so of the game, sees Rider and his friends working together to seal the Bloodmoon Conduits to open up a way to confront Professor Wail. Bradley eventually returns, returning and also saving Rider and his friends from certain doom in an epic scene, and Rider also learns a few more things about his mother and father. Eventually, in the game's penultimate mission, Rider goes to a place called Purefeather Vale, and there, he reunites with his mother again, though she's barely hanging on, sustained only by a magical energy font and rendered unable to leave, lest she die from her wounds. A series of poignant scenes follow, with Rider's mother explaining the last of the game's plot as the two of them enjoy one final day together... but even though Rider has gotten to be with his mother one last time, it's still agonizing for him to let her go, though he needs the power of Purefeather Vale to confront the evil professor. Finally, Rider absorbs his the vale's power and his mother turns into a dove one more time before fading away, giving Rider access to a majestic phoenix transformation and opening the way to the professor's castle/laboratory. After one final dungeon crawl and epic final boss battle, Professor Wail is defeated and sealed away in a cosmic dungeon, imprisoning him forever. Rider, though still grieving his mother, decides to live in this new world with his new friends (and Queen Eyrie, who adopts him), and with the world at peace, there's hope for a better future.
Beyond The Rainbow is released on April 27, 2020, to outstanding critical reviews praising it as one of the best RPGs of the past several years, and another worthy competitor to The Boiling Isles as the year's top RPG and top game overall. It breaks new ground for production values in an RPG, and the Uematsu score is considered one of his best. Though available as a free download for premium Stadia members, the game sells more than a million copies to non-premium members, as most RPG fans who use the Stadia want to own and play the game, and it becomes one of the Stadia's most successful titles of 2020. April 2020, with no less than four major RPG titles, is considered one of the best months for RPGs ever, and 2020 is beginning to establish itself as another "Year Of The RPG", much in the same way that Nintendo pushed 1996 under the same title for its series of SNES-CD RPG hits.
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Other Significant Titles for April 2020:
Quixsters Arena: In many ways, this game can best be described as OTL's Fall Guys: it's developed by the same studio, and features a wacky array of mini-games and Takeshi's Castle-esque stunts, though instead of featureless lumps as the game's characters, it's the wacky Quixsters kids, both old and new, enjoying the action. The online battle royale mode, which ultimately becomes the game's lasting legacy, plays almost identically to Fall Guys, with 100 players starting out and gradually being eliminated in a series of challenges. The single player campaign mode, however, is also quite fun, with the Quixsters battling out in both mini-games and large areas, with more of an emphasis on playful combat. It's a wild and crazy title for sure, and though critical reviews are a bit tepid, averaging in the high 7s, sales are extremely good, comparable to OTL's Fall Guys, making this one of the most successful games in the series and a major hit for Activision on all the major consoles.
Pigman: Developed by a small studio and published by Take-Two for the Reality, Virtua, and Stadia, Pigman is a superhero game about an anthropomorphic pig who becomes a Batman-esque superhero in a world full of humans. Discriminated against because he's, well, an anthropomorphic pig, Pigman hopes to prove himself by saving people and risking his life, but even then, he often doesn't get the respect he deserves, and this is somewhat of a sad game, with a bit of comedy but also some serious undertones. Reviews are decent, praising the storyline and voice acting, but criticizing the short campaign and simplistic combat, and it would ultimately become more of a cult classic than anything else.
Dragon Quest XI: Steel Of The Ancient Knights: TTL's Dragon Quest XI, developed by Enix-Keiken as a single player RPG on the Reality and Stadia, is a big RPG title similar to OTL's game, though this one features an entirely different plot centered on an ancient order of knights who have risen from the dead to take control of the world, as they feel the present day rulers have strayed from their virtue. The hero and his allies must become the new order of knights and do battle with this ancient order, though there is a deeper evil lying beneath the surface that both groups will eventually have to unite to face. While a strong old-school RPG, it lacks the epic feel and cohesion of its OTL counterpart, and reviews reflect this, averaging around an 8/10 (about a full point below OTL's game). It still sees good sales, especially in Japan, though ultimately would prove slightly less profitable than some of the company's gacha games (it's rumored that resources were diverted away from this game toward the gacha games), and also suffers from comparisons to some of the year's other excellent RPGs.
(...)
"So yeah, I'm glad we got to go back and revisit Stunt Race FX, the old game had everything going against it but now with the Reality it's a real chance for our true vision for this game to be realized, so I just hope people enjoy it."
Even though Cuthbert's nearly 30-year tenure as Argonaut's lead designer is nearing its end, he doesn't seem to be a man with many regrets, which is quite understandable considering everything he's accomplished: not only is he the brainchild of one of the most successful game franchises in history, his keen eye for detail and virtuoso programming skills made him a pioneer of gaming tech, pushing the limits of consoles and influencing so many other software creators by revealing what was truly possible. His legacy remains one of relentless innovation and creativity, and now, as he looks back at his career, he knows he's leaving his team in the best possible place.
"I got to work a little bit on the next Squad Four game, but for the most part, it's all been the new team. I can't wait to see how everyone responds to what they've come up with, but I can't say much more or I'll get in trouble."
Cuthbert has gradually been reducing his role in the development of Squad Four games ever since Upheaval. He took an almost completely hands-off approach to Protectors, though he did slightly more of the work on Betrayal. It wasn't because of the disappointing reaction to Protectors from critics and fans that he returned, rather, he wanted to mentor and coach the new developers that had come to work at the company since development on Protectors ended.
"You know, back when I first got started, I was the guy who needed mentoring, so I felt like mentoring the new team would bring it all full circle."
Cuthbert's approach to Betrayal's development paid off: the game remains one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles of its generation, and was named the best game of the past decade in numerous rankings (and #3 on our own list, which can be found here). He thought about stepping away after Betrayal's release, but decided to stay on for one last game, Squad Four Apocalypse, while helming the development of Stunt Race VR, an idea he conceived back in 2015. Now, the Argonaut legend is ready to leave the company he helped build, but even though he claims this is a "retirement", he's left the door open to return to the industry in some capacity.
"I'm always looking for the next big thing in gaming tech, but I'll try to take at least a few years off to spend time with my family and see the world. Hopefully by the time my kids are all grown up, VR will have advanced even more than it already has."
Cuthbert says that Apple's Quest has shown promise, but he'd have to get some time with the glove controllers to know if it might be something he'd be interested in working on. He says that the Hyper Nintendo looks great, especially the adaptive triggers, and that even though he and his team have had the Hyper Nintendo development kit for nearly three years, the reveal still surprised him.
"The new controller, I'm really impressed. Between the Hyper Nintendo's reactive triggers, the Google Glass, and the Apple Quest's advanced VR, I think the big story of the ninth console generation could be all about how we interact with games rather than how good they look graphically."
-from IGN's 8.4/10 review of Stunt Race VR, and their interview with Dylan Cuthbert the day after he announced that he'd be stepping down from Argonaut, both articles were posted together on April 8, 2020
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Christina Grimmie: And Gloria plays a lot like the old-school Zelda games, with a bit of an anime twist which is a whole lot of fun. Game Arts shows with this one that they can still make proper retro-styled RPGs, and I also appreciate the budget price.
Austin Watson: I'm not so sure I'd really call $39.99 a "budget price", but you do get a lot of game for your buck, there's eight dungeons to explore and a pretty rich world with all sorts of towns, treasures, and secret caves. Plus, you know, there's this.
*A scene plays of the protagonist Gloria talking to a spider demon lady who is blocking her entrance to a dungeon.*
Gloria: What d'ya mean I can't go in? Who do you think you are, spider queen?
Spider Queen: Ah, so you have heard of me.
Gloria: Wait, you really are the Spider Queen?
Spider Queen: Mmm, and you have something in your head besides rocks,...
Gloria: I won't be insulted like this!
Spider Queen: And yet you're still standing there taking my insults...
Christina: Can they just kiss already and get it over with? Anyway, the voice acting is pretty solid, Erica Mendez is always great and she gives Gloria a real punch of bravery and toughness, while that Spider Queen you just heard... well, no spoilers, but Cristina Vee is the voice of the Spider Queen and you know they're not going to waste her on just a few quick scenes.
Austin: If you love games like The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Dreams, Terranigma, and even Popful Mail, you'll have a lot of fun with Gloria and I'm giving this game a 4 out of 5 for its clever combat, deep dungeon diving, great voice acting and cute anime stylings.
Christina: I'm not going to be QUITE so nice to it, I'm giving this game a 3.5 out of 5. It's a good game, and you'll definitely enjoy it, especially if, like me, you enjoy old school adventure games and fun anime wackiness, but I have to go back to the fact that the dungeons just aren't as memorable as they are in pretty much every game I just mentioned, there's no real puzzles to speak of, everything is a bit too linear once you get into a dungeon and that just won't fly. Still, it's a great little action-RPG and it's available on the Reality, Virtua, Stadia, Zero, iPhone G and even the Nexus, so I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.
(...)
Rose Alvarez: Where Fairytale Imperia falls a bit short compared to Octopath Traveler is in the size of its world, and that's a shame because I loved the time I had in this gorgeous new realm, but there just wasn't enough of it to explore, and I felt like a lot of that is because they needed an excuse to keep you from going back and exploring the old world.
Christina Grimmie: Right! Just when I got all excited and thought "hey, we're going to get to see some of the locations from the old game"... nope, the game makes up some BS and throws up a barricade in your way. And no, it's not a spoiler that you can't go back and see any of the locations from the old game, the advertising for this one has been drilling it into everyone's head that you're going into an undiscovered country, so yeah... you don't get to revisit any of the old locations, BUT I did like this new realm, I just wish it was a little bit bigger!
Rose: And the reason we wish that is out of LOVE. The combat is great, the music is great, the graphics are beautiful...
Christina: Ashlyn has never been more badass, and I'm so happy that Moira Quirk came back to voice her.
Rose: Austin keeps talking about how she was on Guts but that show's just a smidge before our time, isn't it?
Christina: Yeah, I only know Moira from her voiceover work, and she's absolutely amazing here. Although, shameless plug, you can catch old Guts reruns on Paramount+, so if you want to see her being a ref or whatever, go watch that show, because I heard she's awesome.
Rose: And this game is MOSTLY awesome, I just wish it was a bit bigger and that they let you explore more. It's still one of the best portable RPGs you can get, and I've got no problem giving it a 4.5 out of 5. If it was a big bigger, it'd be a 5, but what can you do?
Christina: I'll tell you what you can do. New Game Plus! Which is what I'm going to be doing as soon as I leave today because I really did like this game and I'm also giving it a 4.5 out of 5.
Rose: I'm going to go watch some Guts to see what all the hype's about.
(...)
*The six GameTV hosts, including Austin and Christina, are all gathered around the couch at the end of the show, Christina looks a bit sad but the mood seems to be celebratory.*
Austin: And we're going to be saying goodbye to Christina for the last time, as she leaves GameTV to fulfill one of her all time biggest dreams...
Christina: Which is the only reason I'm not crying right now, you guys!
Avan Jogia: She'll be going to start filming on the Legend Of Zelda movie, which is coming out next year and you all need to go see it when it does.
Christina: *shaking excitedly* I can't wait but I'm so sad to go!
*The hosts all hug her tightly.*
Rose: And then there were two, just Austin and Avan left from the start of the revival... I hope you guys aren't going anywhere!
Austin: No worries, I'm stayin' right here....
Christina: You know if you got cast as Link or something you'd leave in a heartbeat.
Austin: No, no way, I love all the fans!
Christina: *whispering* He'd leave in a heartbeat.
-from the April 23, 2020 episode of GameTV
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President Kennedy Congratulates Sir Richard Branson On First Spaceflight, Stresses Importance Of Private Sector In Space Innovation
President Kennedy has called Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson to congratulate him on his first successful spaceflight earlier today, according to a statement issued by the White House this evening. Branson's spaceflight, which reached the edge of space as defined by NASA, though not the internationally recognized Karman Line, represents a crucial step forward for private space travel, while also helping to emphasize the importance of NASA's space initiatives for the coming decade, which will hinge on the success of the recently completed next generation Orion spacecraft that will make its first manned flights next year, including a mission to launch a new space telescope into orbit. The Orion craft will also deliver a crew of American astronauts to the Moon in 2024, in a mission that has seen support from both sides of the aisle and to which Senator Marco Rubio has already committed to launching if he defeats the president in November's upcoming election. At a press conference held last week, in which Kennedy discussed a variety of topics, the subject of spaceflight came up several times, with reporters asking the president about both NASA's upcoming space missions and the private missions announced by several entrepreneurs, including Branson and tech tycoon Mark Cuban, who doesn't plan to go into space himself but who does plan to fund a series of space missions, including a possible mission to the Moon sometime around 2030, which would be the first ever private space mission to another celestial body. Kennedy expressed enthusiasm for both NASA and the private sector, and emphasized that when it comes to space, every mission deserves the public's support.
"You know, we're all in this together when it comes to stepping off this planet and exploring the vast frontier of space. I've committed this government not only to funding future NASA missions, but supporting private space endeavors as well. As proud as it makes me when NASA is able to accomplish a first in space, and they've accomplished so many, I'd be glad to see the private sector cross these new thresholds as well, because, and I've said it time and time again, we all benefit when humanity touches the stars. I'm looking forward to seeing Richard Branson's flight next week, and I'm looking forward to seeing what some of our great innovators can accomplish as well," said Kennedy, who then fielded a few more questions about spaceflight, most of them pertaining to the upcoming NASA missions scheduled for the next few years.
The Center for Technological Outreach, which continues to fund accessibility in information technology, has also announced that it will be looking into launching a space initiative as well, as it was one of the last things that late founder Mitsuko Ariyama expressed a desire to achieve before she was tragically killed back in 2018. Ariyama herself had wanted to go to space, though she told those close to her that she wanted to wait until it became cheaper to do so, as she felt the money would be put to better use to help people here on Earth. The Center's research will primarily focus on bringing down the cost of spaceflight, and it will also fund research into the creation of the first space elevator, which would make it far cheaper to bring people and materials up into space. Though the construction of such a device is currently beyond the capability of materials engineering, the Center is hoping to fund research into cutting-edge materials that could make a space elevator possible by the end of the century.
-from an article on Techbiz.net, posted on April 25, 2020
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Game Spotlight: Beyond The Rainbow
Beyond The Rainbow is an open world action-RPG exclusive to Google Stadia, created by a studio comprised of both American and Japanese developers. The game is intended as a fantasy adventure in which players can freely explore as they help a young boy named Rider find his lost mother, who has transformed into a dove and has disappeared into this vast world. Rider must team up with six other kids, each of whom has their own special powers, to find his mother and save the realm. Players will control only Rider over the course of the adventure, while his six companions can all accompany Rider one at a time, with the player able to switch between the six companions at the game's checkpoints. Each companion has a special skill that augments Rider's abilities, while Rider will also gain the ability to traverse the world more freely as the game progresses, allowing him to clear more obstacles and find more treasure. In contrast with The Boiling Isles, in which character development and personality traits play a major role in quests and progression, Beyond The Rainbow takes a more JRPG-like approach, with a linear main quest and a wide variety of side quests, and gameplay that more closely resembles Secret Of Mana than it does any Western RPG. Rider has the ability to transform into a variety of different beasts in battle, each one with its own combat tricks and abilities, with Rider eventually gaining access to up to 20 different transformations. Some of these are more helpful outside of battle, while others help Rider become faster, stronger, or sturdier in battle. Players can utilize Rider's normal human form as well, and in this form he's more easily able to cast magic, which gets progressively stronger over the course of the game. Loot is found all over the place, lying on the ground, held in treasure chests, and of course, dropped by enemies, and players can use the game's extensive crafting system to make stronger weapons and armor, while other loot is required for side quest completion. The game also has plenty of puzzles, which will challenge players to use Rider and his abilities (fortunately, players won't be required to switch between companions to complete puzzles, it's all Rider). The world is enormous and beautiful, littered with towns, dungeons, and things to do, and it's one of those games with huge draw distances where players will be able to visit any location they can see. Beyond The Rainbow plays a lot like OTL's Breath of The Wild combined with OTL's Ni No Kuni, and draws influence from some of the best games of its genre. It features a beautiful stylized graphical style inspired by modern cartoons, and it features a soundtrack composed by Nobuo Uematsu, which most closely resembles his OTL Final Fantasy IX soundtrack, full of sweeping melodies, quirky beats, and some truly poignant songs as well, including four different lyrical themes. The English dub soundtrack features a pretty strong voice cast, with Rider and his six young companions all voiced by young actors (no one from OTL, since all OTL's kid actors have been butterflied away, but the kids would be recognizable to anyone who follows TTL cartoon voices), and actors such as David Tennant (voicing Professor Wail, who starts the game as a mentor and friend to Rider but who eventually betrays him and becomes the primary antagonist), Sumalee Montano (voicing Rider's mother), Matthew Mercer (the voice of a friendly dwarf lord and powerful blacksmith), and Emily Rose (the voice of Queen Eyrie, another ally to Rider, though she remains an ally throughout the game) among the game's cast. It's easily one of the most expensive games Google has ever produced, and the company hopes it can be a strong competitor to games such as the Secret of Mana remake and The Boiling Isles.
Beyond The Rainbow begins by briefly introducing the player to Rider and his mother, who live together after the mysterious disappearance of Rider's father just after he was born. The two have a close relationship (think Hilda and Johanna from OTL's Hilda comic and cartoon), though Rider sometimes worries his mother by venturing off to dangerous places around town. One day, Rider's mother disappears, and when he finally tracks her down, he sees her transform involuntarily into a dove before flying off through a magical portal. He finds a way to open the portal and goes in after her, though when he arrives, he's been transformed into a cat and has to figure out how to undo the spell with the help of a friendly young girl named Edie. Once Rider turns back into a human after meeting Professor Wail, the adventure begins in earnest, with Rider pursuing clues to try and get closer to his mother, meeting new friends and going on adventures all the while. The game's heavy bird theming is soon revealed, with the initial antagonists revealed to be a flock of ravens who can transform into cruel human soldiers, their gang is known as the Dark Flock and they're the villains for about the first 40 percent of the game, as Rider and friends seek to prevent them from conquering the kingdom inhabited by Queen Eyrie, a beautiful queen who can transform into a majestic eagle. As Rider explores, he learns more about his mother, as well as his father. His father is revealed to have been a werewolf, the king of all the werewolves, who was exiled from his realm after having been defeated by a group of hunters. His mother, who is revealed to just be a normal human, seems to have been teaching herself magic in order to accomplish some task that Rider believes is related to his father. After the defeat of the Dark Flock, the game's second act sees Rider and his friends separated temporarily as the werewolves that Rider's father once led now make their presence known and are the primary antagonists of the game's second act, though the second act is somewhat shorter than the first and mostly involves Rider traveling the world to reunite with his companions and meet the new werewolf leader at his palace, a huge tower known as the Moon's Hollow. At Moon's Hollow, there's a series of climactic scenes, including Rider learning that his father wasn't exiled, but was instead killed after leaving Rider and his mother behind to protect them, Rider's mother temporarily reuniting with him after transforming into a human, and finally, the werewolves' new leader revealing that the werewolves haven't been evil at all, but have merely been protecting the world from a dark force known as the Bloodmoon, which appears in the sky as a terrible harbinger of evil. Rider's mother learned about the Bloodmoon from his father, though she was prevented from going with him to help stop it, and Rider learns that his mother is actually the latest of an ancient line of princesses who are tasked with purifying the moon to prevent the destruction of all worlds, including both this one and Rider's own. Finally, the biggest twist of all is revealed, as Professor Wail strikes down Rider's mother as she attempts to purify the Bloodmoon, and in doing so, absorbs its power for himself. Though there have been a few hints dropped that the professor may not be entirely what he seems, this still comes as a huge shock to the player, but the player barely has time to absorb all of this before Wail uses his newly acquired power to slaughter the remaining werewolves, then turns the power on Rider. One of Rider's friends, a boy named Bradley, makes a seemingly fatal sacrifice to cover Rider's escape, while his seemingly fatally wounded mother is also nowhere to be found. In the aftermath of all of this, the world is badly damaged, and new areas are opened up to explore. The third act, consisting of the last 33 percent or so of the game, sees Rider and his friends working together to seal the Bloodmoon Conduits to open up a way to confront Professor Wail. Bradley eventually returns, returning and also saving Rider and his friends from certain doom in an epic scene, and Rider also learns a few more things about his mother and father. Eventually, in the game's penultimate mission, Rider goes to a place called Purefeather Vale, and there, he reunites with his mother again, though she's barely hanging on, sustained only by a magical energy font and rendered unable to leave, lest she die from her wounds. A series of poignant scenes follow, with Rider's mother explaining the last of the game's plot as the two of them enjoy one final day together... but even though Rider has gotten to be with his mother one last time, it's still agonizing for him to let her go, though he needs the power of Purefeather Vale to confront the evil professor. Finally, Rider absorbs his the vale's power and his mother turns into a dove one more time before fading away, giving Rider access to a majestic phoenix transformation and opening the way to the professor's castle/laboratory. After one final dungeon crawl and epic final boss battle, Professor Wail is defeated and sealed away in a cosmic dungeon, imprisoning him forever. Rider, though still grieving his mother, decides to live in this new world with his new friends (and Queen Eyrie, who adopts him), and with the world at peace, there's hope for a better future.
Beyond The Rainbow is released on April 27, 2020, to outstanding critical reviews praising it as one of the best RPGs of the past several years, and another worthy competitor to The Boiling Isles as the year's top RPG and top game overall. It breaks new ground for production values in an RPG, and the Uematsu score is considered one of his best. Though available as a free download for premium Stadia members, the game sells more than a million copies to non-premium members, as most RPG fans who use the Stadia want to own and play the game, and it becomes one of the Stadia's most successful titles of 2020. April 2020, with no less than four major RPG titles, is considered one of the best months for RPGs ever, and 2020 is beginning to establish itself as another "Year Of The RPG", much in the same way that Nintendo pushed 1996 under the same title for its series of SNES-CD RPG hits.
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Other Significant Titles for April 2020:
Quixsters Arena: In many ways, this game can best be described as OTL's Fall Guys: it's developed by the same studio, and features a wacky array of mini-games and Takeshi's Castle-esque stunts, though instead of featureless lumps as the game's characters, it's the wacky Quixsters kids, both old and new, enjoying the action. The online battle royale mode, which ultimately becomes the game's lasting legacy, plays almost identically to Fall Guys, with 100 players starting out and gradually being eliminated in a series of challenges. The single player campaign mode, however, is also quite fun, with the Quixsters battling out in both mini-games and large areas, with more of an emphasis on playful combat. It's a wild and crazy title for sure, and though critical reviews are a bit tepid, averaging in the high 7s, sales are extremely good, comparable to OTL's Fall Guys, making this one of the most successful games in the series and a major hit for Activision on all the major consoles.
Pigman: Developed by a small studio and published by Take-Two for the Reality, Virtua, and Stadia, Pigman is a superhero game about an anthropomorphic pig who becomes a Batman-esque superhero in a world full of humans. Discriminated against because he's, well, an anthropomorphic pig, Pigman hopes to prove himself by saving people and risking his life, but even then, he often doesn't get the respect he deserves, and this is somewhat of a sad game, with a bit of comedy but also some serious undertones. Reviews are decent, praising the storyline and voice acting, but criticizing the short campaign and simplistic combat, and it would ultimately become more of a cult classic than anything else.
Dragon Quest XI: Steel Of The Ancient Knights: TTL's Dragon Quest XI, developed by Enix-Keiken as a single player RPG on the Reality and Stadia, is a big RPG title similar to OTL's game, though this one features an entirely different plot centered on an ancient order of knights who have risen from the dead to take control of the world, as they feel the present day rulers have strayed from their virtue. The hero and his allies must become the new order of knights and do battle with this ancient order, though there is a deeper evil lying beneath the surface that both groups will eventually have to unite to face. While a strong old-school RPG, it lacks the epic feel and cohesion of its OTL counterpart, and reviews reflect this, averaging around an 8/10 (about a full point below OTL's game). It still sees good sales, especially in Japan, though ultimately would prove slightly less profitable than some of the company's gacha games (it's rumored that resources were diverted away from this game toward the gacha games), and also suffers from comparisons to some of the year's other excellent RPGs.
Nice to see Argonaut still doing well. Especially how they collapsed in the sixth generation IOTL. It's always intriguing seeing companies that died IOTL still operating ITTL.
...ouch? I know that's still a positive rating, but I hope that's not a slippery slope for the Keiken side of the merged company to justify continuing diverting even more resources away from the Enix side, which at some point will likely cause Enix console games to become bad. P.S. No gacha in this title at least?
I know that their is probably not enough time for an dragon quest game to be released but I what I think would be a good idea for the ttl Dragon 12 on the offchange teaser game a year after the dragon quest 11 was released. I call it Dragon Quest 12 the Demon,s Deal or Dragon Quest 12 the Dark Gambit. The game is headed by an enix exuicte who hates the company new diertion and his way of protesting enix turning into a gacha factory. The hero of dragon quest would be the prince of a kingdom called Ixen (It's an anangram of Enix). Like dragon quest 5 the hero grows during the various stages of the game. Ixne is a prosperious during the act . In the second act Ixen is in decline outshine by the kingdoms of Rhombusia (It Rhombusia is jab at Squaresoft. A square is a speical kind of rhoumbus) and Myijai (Muijai is a anygram or miyaji which is the last name of the founder of game arts). The hero sends the second part of the game try to bring glory by adventureing back to Ixen but fails. While the prince is adventuring in attmept to find a way to resotre Ixen to porspaarity his father starts making wagers with gambling obessed deamon king to bring . At first the king makes little bets and winns some and losses. At the end of part 2 the king of ixen bets his soul . n The demon king ocourse riggs the bet and take over the kingdom t . In Part 3 the king of Ixen now of puppet of the demon king is trickign his subject in gambling theier souls. The prince ofcourse goes on a quest to over his his possed father and free all the soul that lost to the deomon kings wicked gambling games. There is also a possiable that instead of being Dragon quest 12 n the Demons Deal or the Dark Gambit is an indie game made a company found by enix employees disguist with how enix has gone gacha crazzy
You said that april 2020 had no less then 4 major rpgs. I assume they were Beyond the rainbow, Gloria Fairytale Imperia and dragon quest 12. I also given the imperison that their are more big rpgs games on the way for 2020 because you said "2020 is beginning to establish itself as another "Year Of The RPG", much in the same way that Nintendo pushed 1996 under the same title for its series of SNES-CD RPG hit". I love rpgs so I am glad that I more ficitnal rpgs to look foward to. I up this year of the rpg will be even biger then 996 .I just reived the 1996 section of player 2 start and i belive that atleast 19rpgs in 96 but only were major . So 2020 will need atleast 10 major rpgs to outshine 96. Beside the 4 games of april there was also mega man desinty in march and boiling islands in febuary. So I hope there will be 6 more major rpgs. Also Stadia had a major exculise rpg in the form of Beyond the rainbow and the reality had megaman desintiy, and the gameboy zero had fairytalei. I hope the the virtua will have a major excuisle rpg this year. Invisable empire and spaced out were apple exculise. Seaguele to either of games would make a good 2020 exucisle rpg for the vitura. IF you find slef needing an extra game to flessh out a month game forecast I hope you will use either invisable empire 3 or Spaced out 2. If you have forgoet my ideas invisable empire 3 and spaced out 3 just ask and I will give you a refesher. Also you getting anoyed with bring my ideas up just tell me to stop and I will
May 2020 - A Capcom Convoy
Russian cryptocurrency continues to surge, with the price of a single RusCoin topping 400 dollars in trading as of last week, and other Russian cryptocurrencies, such as BreadCoin and PissCoin, reaching 160 dollars and 90 dollars respectively. RusCoin, which started its life as an inflationary cryptocurrency which rarely traded higher than five dollars, has seen its value soar in the past two years as it's become progressively more difficult to mine, while BreadCoin and PissCoin are deflationary cryptocurrencies by design, and could theoretically surpass RusCoin at some point in the future. The success of the crudely named PissCoin in particular shows the irreverent attitude that many crypto traders continue to have in the wake of ongoing lawsuits and international scrutiny from Veritsu, the company that owns the patent on blockchain technology and which has managed to keep cryptocurrency heavily restricted in North America and Europe since its successful Supreme Court battle. Various trade agreements between North Korea and most European and East Asian nations also keep cryptocurrencies nominally prohibited in those countries, but Russia continues to openly flout the restrictions, with premier Vladimir Putin even stating in a 2019 meeting with president John F. Kennedy, Jr. that his country will not move to prosecute those who are trading and mining such currencies. Despite Russian's open defiance of international patent law when it comes to blockchain, Veritsu continues to corner the market on blockchain-based security and authentication tools, and the company now controls about 8 percent of the North American tech security market, with blockchain verification having become a staple of online security over the past decade, with applications in banking, home security, and encryption tech. Veritsu's latest successful product is known as Blocksign, an authentication technology that allows users to create and digitally sign unique art pieces, which can then be collected and sold. All Blocksign trading is done through Veritsu, which allows the company to mitigate art theft and take down any pieces that are uploaded and digitally signed without permission. Though Blocksign has been in the works for the past four years, it was launched very recently, in November of last year. Veritsu's reason for delaying the launch of Blocksign was so that the company could work on a more environmentally friendly method of blockchain authentication, building on its "proof of stake" technology that has been used since 2018 on all blockchain transactions. Through "proof of stake", the environmental impact of blockchain has been reduced by 99.6% from its original level of energy usage, with Blocksign a further 95% reduction from that. It's still far from carbon neutral, but the environmental impact of Blocksign is now comparable to the use of a large appliance for a few minutes, rather than the entire energy consumption of a household for a year, which would have been the amount of energy required under the original "proof of work" process. Blockchain co-creator Michelle Patenaude, who remains at Veritsu, says that the company will continue to refine the blockchain process to use even less energy, and that the company hopes to reduce the collective environmental impact of blockchain by 90% over the next five years. Unfortunately for environmentalists, Russian crypto mining continues to have a massive environmental impact, which is, according to Patenaude, one of the main reasons Veritsu continues to aggressively pursue legal action against them.
-from a May 4, 2020 article on the technology-related news blog Innovation Chronicles
"Mitsuko (Ariyama) and I did not create blockchain to wreck the planet, we created it to help make people's lives better and safer. It would be stain on her legacy if the lasting impact of this technology was to exacerbate the growing problem of climate change. I hope that international courts will continue to put pressure on non-compliant nations, to protect our patents and protect our planet for future generations."- Michelle Patenaude, in an April 2020 interview with Fortune magazine
"KEEP MINING PISSCOIN, BOYS! WE'LL GROW ORANGES IN SIBERIA"- an anonymous Russian hacker on a dark web forum, May 15, 2020
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Capcom To Establish North American Development Studio, Will Work On Future Resident Evil And Mega Man Titles, As Well As New IPs
Capcom has seen its fortunes surge in recent years, with the release of numerous hit games, including the highly successful Mega Man Destiny and the recent Mega Man NX and Resident Evil: Zone Of Alienation, as well as the highly-anticipated Marvel vs. Capcom vs. DC. The company just announced in a press release that it will launch a new North American studio known as Capcom West, in San Francisco. The studio will be comprised primarily of American developers, and will work on games in both the Mega Man and Resident Evil franchises, as well as at least two "new" IPs that are already in the works. Many of the developers at the studio also have experience working on this month's Dead Midnight reboot, as well as the aforementioned Marvel vs. Capcom vs. DC. Though Capcom has worked with Western developers before on a variety of games, this studio marks a major expansion for the company, and an acknowledgement that most major game development studios are truly international operations, with branches located all over the world. Many Japanese companies in particular contract development of numerous major titles to Western studios, and fellow Japanese software company Game Arts, which has had a studio in San Francisco ever since absorbing Working Designs, has seen tremendous success with their own Western studio, which has worked on titles such as Volare and the Ithiel series, all of which have been million-unit sellers and have won numerous awards from a variety of publications.
Capcom West will be headed by Dave Cox, who previously worked at Konami before that company sold off its game division to Ubisoft. Cox moved on to Apple for a time, helping to develop the 2016 Vectorman title and later working on Commander Keen: All Heck Breaks Loose. Since joining Capcom, he's been primarily working on Mega Man titles including Mega Man NX and will be the executive producer of next year's upcoming Mega Man game which is said to be a "renewal" of sorts for the series.
-from a May 20, 2020 article on Games Over Matter
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Anderson Cooper: And now out of Minnesota, an incredible story of heroism as an alert truck driver helped to save the life of a kidnapped woman. Here's ABC's Donnie Williams with the story.
*A stock video of an 18-wheeler going down the road is seen as a snippet from a 911 call is played.*
Operator: 911, what's your emergency?
Man: Hello, yes, 911? I'm driving down Interstate 35, at the... just past exit 76, and um, I saw a red... Chevy, Chevy Malibu, and there was a woman sticking her head out of the trunk.
Operator: A woman in the trunk?
Man: There was tape all on her face, I think she's being kidnapped. I'm still following the car, she's just... I can see her head inside the trunk, she looked real scared.
Operator: And what's your name, sir?
Man: George Floyd, ma'am.
Donnie Williams: That 911 call, which was made late last Thursday night, was from the cab of an 18-wheeler truck driven by George Floyd, a 46-year-old truck driver from Minneapolis, and he was one of the first witnesses to a harrowing crime. Less than an hour before, 29-year-old Misty Valdez had been driving her 2017 Chevy Malibu home from work, when she says a man jumped into her car while she was stopped at a stop sign. Pointing a gun at her, he forced her to drive to a deserted parking lot, where she was restrained and forced into the trunk of her car. Her assailant, 31-year-old Darrell Flecks, then drove Valdez's car onto Interstate 35.
*An ABC News reporter is seen talking to Valdez, who looks quite scared as she relates her harrowing tale.*
Valdez: I was... my hands were all taped up, I couldn't reach the trunk release, I had to kick... I had to kick the trunk open, and that took... maybe a half hour, I don't know.
Williams: Valdez showed us the cast on her ankle, which sustained a hairline fracture in her efforts to open up the trunk. She did so, and attempted to signal to nearby traffic, but it was dark and there were few cars on the road, and she didn't want to risk alerting her kidnapper.
Valdez: I could see cars and trucks going by, but no one stopped... all I could do was poke my head out and hope someone saw me and called 911.
Williams: It was just before midnight that Valdez's prayers were answered by George Floyd, who says that he noticed Valdez when the glint from his headlights reflected off the duct tape that had been wrapped around her mouth.
*George Floyd is shown talking to the reporter now.*
Floyd: And I look in the trunk, and you know, I can see this lady with duct tape all over her face, and I'm like 'that's not normal, that's not normal', and she's looking scared and in that trunk and I'm like, damn, I gotta call 911.
Williams: Floyd followed the car and remained on the line with the 911 operator the entire time, hoping the driver of the stolen car wouldn't notice him and drive away.
Floyd: And this whole time I'm thinking, 'please don't drive off the road, please don't speed up', because I'm still trying to give the lady on the phone my information so the cops can get this guy, and, I mean, I can see her, and she can see me, and she looks like she's crying, and all I can think about is, what if it was my daughter, man? I got a daughter pretty close to this woman's age, and I imagine she has a dad worried about her, so I gotta make sure she's okay.
Williams: At one point, Floyd says, he even thought about running the car off the road and attempting a rescue himself.
Floyd: I told the 911 operator, you know, I got a big truck, I could ram this dude off the road and, you know, I'm a pretty big dude, I could take him, but she said not to do that, I could hurt the lady in the trunk, and... yeah she's probably right, but... at that point I think I would've done anything to save this person, but fortunately pretty soon after the cops came and, I mean, they took over.
Williams: The entire time Valdez was in the trunk, she was thinking about her mother. As she heard the police sirens, she says, she felt a wave of relief, but also a wave of fear.
Valdez: When I heard those sirens, I remember thinking, 'oh, thank god', but also, 'I'm totally helpless in here, if he crashes, I can't brace myself, I'm not belted in, I'm in trouble'.
Williams: Valdez says that she curled up into a ball inside the trunk and prayed that she'd be all right during those terrifying moments when the officers were pursuing the stolen vehicle. She expected her captor to lead the officers on a high speed chase, which she knew could end very badly for her.
Valdez: I am... I know that at this point, he's stolen my car, he's kidnapped me, he has a gun... he has literally nothing to lose by trying to get away. I thought for sure that he would run.
Williams: And run he did... for about a minute before pulling over and surrendering peacefully to the arresting officers.
Valdez: When I felt the car coming to a stop, I felt... such an overwhelming relief. When that trunk opened, and those officers showed up to rescue me, I... I just... I couldn't believe it, honestly. I broke down and cried. I think I was shaking the whole time they were cutting the tape off me. I was so glad to be okay.
Williams: George Floyd found out about the rescue a short time later. He'd pulled into a truck stop after hanging up with the 911 operator, and shortly after, he was contacted by police, who let him know just how important his call had been.
Floyd: The moment they told me she was safe, man, I thanked the good lord and then I just... you know, I was so glad she ended up being okay.
Williams: As for the alleged kidnapper, Darrell Flecks, he was taken into custody and charged with numerous crimes, including kidnapping, grand theft auto, and assault with a deadly weapon. A career criminal with a long rapsheet dating back to his teens, he was at one point sentenced to six years for attempted murder, after a meth deal went south. Floyd himself recalls that his own life could have gone in such a direction.
Floyd: I made some real bad decisions at one time too. I've done time, you know, I've been there, but I got a real wake-up call in prison and God pulled me out of it.
Williams: Floyd has indeed turned his life around. He's been a truck driver for the past eight years, while he also serves part-time as a "hip hop minister", preaching to underprivileged youth in Minneapolis.
*A brief snippet is shown from one of Floyd's ministries, rapping on the pulpit and delivering life lessons to a group of young worshippers who are dancing to the music.*
Floyd: I'm just paying it forward to the Lord, I owe him everything.
Williams: And as for the young woman, whose life was saved on that fateful Thursday night?
Valdez: I owe George Floyd my life. If he hadn't seen me in that trunk, who knows what might've happened?
Williams: Though the two have yet to meet, they have gotten the chance to talk on the phone, and says that their families are already working toward arranging a get-together. To Misty Valdez, George Floyd is a hero, and to those who have brought up his past as a reason to doubt that heroism, she has a few words.
Valdez: It's all about the decisions we make, and that night, he made the decision to save my life, while my kidnapper made the decision to stuff me into the trunk of my own car and drive me to who knows where to do who knows what. You can't judge a person by their past, only by the decisions they make in the present.
*Valdez is then shown being hugged by her mother, much happier and calmer after the comfort she's received from her friends and family.*
Williams: For ABC News, I'm Donnie Williams.
Anderson Cooper: Thank you, Donnie, for that reporting. A truly remarkable story, and whatever one makes of George Floyd's past, that certainly was an act of heroism that no doubt saved that young woman's life. Coming up next, as the NBA playoffs continue and the New York Knicks prepare for their game tonight against the Indiana Pacers, one superstar's remarks about the ongoing situation in Hong Kong are stirring up controversy.
-from the May 25, 2020 broadcast of ABC World News Tonight with Anderson Cooper
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Game Spotlight: Leyline
Leyline is an action/adventure game exclusive to the Apple Virtua. The game features a wide-open sandbox world design mixed with hack and slash gameplay, and though it can be somewhat described as TTL's equivalent of Ghost Of Tsushima, it takes a much more fantastical approach to its story, not attempting to present a historically accurate tale, but instead weaving an elaborate fantasy about a young ninja named Kage who has been disgraced and isolated from his clan, and who must venture throughout feudal Japan, absorbing power from various leylines before his brother Etsuko is able to do so. The game plays a lot like The Legend Of Zelda meets Ninja Gaiden, with Kage able to embark on a variety of quests as he roams the world, gathering power from the leylines in any order that the player chooses. The game's big unique gimmick is that while Kage ventures the world, so does Etsuko, and as the player completes the storyline by gathering power from the leylines, the game will automatically close off a path to them as Etsuko activates leylines along with Kage. The player is forewarned of this, told at each story junction what Etsuko will gain (and thus, what the player will be closed off from) if they choose to embark on a certain quest, so the player has full knowledge of how to chart their pathway through the game and won't be blocked off from any powers or quests unless they agree to push forward. Combat gameplay is designed around stealth and swordsmanship, though much like in OTL's Tsushima, the player is free to choose how to approach a certain situation. Kage is fairly fragile, so charging in from the front usually isn't the best approach to combat, but with his agility, the player can take on pretty much anyone straight-up if they so choose and if they have the skill to do so. Stealth can be accomplished by sneaking up on enemies and stabbing them, using projectile weapons, and even affecting the environment to take enemies down. As the player progresses, the leylines (of which there are 9 in all: four will be gathered by Kage, four by Etsuko, and the two brothers will then fight over the ninth) each grant a set of skills to Kage, represented by another branch opening up on his skill tree. Certain leylines can be combined, and because of the game's open world system, a combination path is rarely, if ever, closed off to the player. If the player notices that they want to combine two leylines, and that Etsuko will get one of the leylines if Kage activates the other one, the player can simply branch off into a different set of missions in the hopes that Etsuko's path will be altered and the player will be able to gather both leylines at a time. Even if one leyline is completely closed, there are ways to cross over into a branch to gain certain powers and skills (though this does require great effort on the player's part). From time to time, Etsuko will show up to battle Kage and show off some of his newly acquired skills, and defeating Etsuko in these battles can also grant rewards from certain leylines, though losing to him will allow Etsuko to gain power (it's optional whether to engage in these fights, and they can be save scummed if the player loses). Kage can gain a variety of companions throughout his mission, including animals such as a dog or even a snake, though some battles and missions require Kage to go it alone. As a major first-party Apple Virtua title, Leyline is one of the best looking games on the system, with gorgeous environments and beautiful weather effects and animations. The game features a stellar voiceover cast as well, consisting of talented actors who are relatively unknown in the voiceover scene but who provide some of the year's best performances, along with a few voiceover veterans.
Leyline's storyline focuses heavily on the relationship between Kage and Etsuko, who were at one point extremely close, but who drifted apart due to Etsuko's ambitions and Kage blaming his brother for the death of their parents, who were executed by a lord in retaliation for an act supposedly committed by Etsuko. Kage's attempt to get revenge for this killing leads him to become disgraced, and he now wanders the land as a drifter, performing jobs in exchange for food and shelter. It's on a job that he learns about the ancient leylines, which are said to grant incredible power to those who activate them. Kage begins his quest to activate these leylines, at first to complete his mission of revenge against the lord who murdered his parents, but later he comes to desire these powers to take down Etsuko, who seeks to rule all of Japan. Kage happens upon a village slaughtered by Etsuko, and realizing the threat his brother poses, turns against him, seeking to prevent him from taking the leylines' power. To these ends, Kage ventures to find the leylines before his brother can do so, gathering allies along the way. Though Etsuko is the game's main antagonist, the lord responsible for murdering his and Kage's parents is also a major enemy in the game, as well as an aristocratic matron of the arts named Ibumi, who rules a town near the coast and who has been hiring ninjas to do her dirty work, with Etsuko being one of them. Leyline allows the player a great deal of freedom in how they want to progress the story, with the leylines being obtainable in pretty much any order. The lord and Ibumi can be defeated fairly early on, or much later, though their manner of defeat is largely the same: the lord is killed by Etsuko before Kage can directly confront him, while Ibumi turns out to be a somewhat tragic figure, and is defeated by Kage in a moonlight katana duel, where it's ultimately revealed that she was attempting to reform the political system of the country and gives the player their first hint that Etsuko may not be the enemy the player believes him to be. Ultimately, however, Kage and Etsuko both gather the powers of four of the leylines, and meet at an ancient battlefield over the final leyline to engage in a fateful duel. By now, Kage has learned the truth about his brother: Etsuko has been protecting Kage by covering for the actions of a third brother of theirs, while Kage is not actually Etsuko's biological brother, but his adopted one, after the third brother renounced the family to declare war on the high shogun lord. Etsuko has been seeking the leylines' power to defend the family's last few allies from the shogun's assaults, but the power of the leylines has been driving him mad, and he cannot even commit seppuku, as doing so would destroy a vessel for the leylines' power, allowing the power to manifest in the world as spirits of destruction. The leylines' power must be contained within one person, who must then become a living vessel, watching over and protecting their allies as a guardian spirit while giving up their own autonomy. Kage refuses to let Etsuko burden himself with that terrible job, while Etsuko is resolved to protect Kage, calling him his true brother. As the two brothers duel, their leyline power manifests and they transform into living gods, clashing with incredible strength and power. Eventually, Kage defeats Etsuko, who begs him not to take up the burden of the leylines' power, but Kage does so, and Etsuko stays behind to battle the shogun's army. Etsuko, though he has killed hundreds of the shogun's soldiers, is eventually overcome, and dies a warrior's death. Kage returns to the village where his family's allies have gathered, and prepares to give up his life to become a guardian spirit, but in the end, is surprised to realize that he still has his autonomy, as he does not bear the cursed blood of the family that raised him. He remains a living spirit with the powers of all nine leylines, and tasks himself with a new goal, to fight for all those who cannot fight for themselves.
Leyline is released on May 18, 2020, to tremendous critical praise for its graphics, storyline, and combat system. It's considered one of the best open world games of its generation, living up to the tremendous hype it generated at E3 2019 and cementing itself as one of the year's best games and another major hit for the Virtua. Though Virtua sales aren't stirred too much by the game's release (many are waiting for the Quest to come out), it does move the needle a small bit. Ultimately, Leyline would see a release on the Apple Quest in 2021, an enhanced version of the game with all the DLC and improved graphics, as well as being designed to work with the Quest's controller. Leyline would see excellent sales on both the Virtua and the Quest, and the game's legacy as a cross-gen classic would be secured. A sequel would already be in development by the time of the game's release, and would be released in 2023 as a Quest exclusive, continuing Kage's story.
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Other Significant Titles for May 2020:
Quintessence Zero: Argonaut releases this third game in its critically acclaimed rail shooter series and first for the Game Boy Zero in May of 2020, a month after the release of their Stunt Race VR. The game would mostly be developed by the younger team of developers at the company, and would try out some highly experimental things for a space shooter, including RPG-like progression and loot, as well as procedurally generated enemies in certain stages. It's a fun game, and of course, looks absolutely gorgeous on the Zero, but isn't quite as tightly plotted as the first two games, and ultimately the experimental stuff is considered a bit of a negative. Only a bit, though, this game still scores reviews in the low to mid 8s and achieves solid sales.
Space Harrier: Universe Breaker: The month's other major rail shooter would hit the Virtua a couple weeks before Leyline. Hyped quite a bit after a dazzling E3 trailer in 2019, this game is a much more traditional rail shooter than Quintessence Zero, though it would feature some dazzling graphics, memorable bosses, and compelling, albeit short, cutscenes that give the game's plot and characters a bit more heft. It also features a wide array of different weapons, greatly enhancing the game's replay value, in which players can even compete online for high scores in various levels. It's not quite an epic, but for what it is, it's extremely good, with Yu Suzuki and Hideki Kamiya contributing heavily to the plot and gameplay. Review scores average in the mid to high 8s, and though it would be overshadowed by Leyline, it still manages to sell well, especially in Japan.
Space Harrier G: A companion game to Universe Breaker released on the iPhone G and other Apple G devices, this is a different game utilizing much of Universe Breaker's mechanics, but featuring a different plot and even different weapons, designed to be a more old-school type of game with modern graphics and quality of life. It's quite addictive and fun, and also comes in at a budget price of $29.99, compared to Universe Breaker's full-priced release. It accomplishes only slightly worse reviews than Universe Breaker and is an overall sales success.
Sonic: Quest For The Chaos Emeralds: A turn-based Sonic the Hedgehog RPG for Apple G devices, Quest For The Chaos Emeralds is another non-traditional Sonic game making its way to the system, and has some similarities to SoniQuest, the last Sonic RPG. Not quite as deep or as epic as the Mario RPG titles, but also a decent game in its own right, it achieves decent reviews but does get raked across the coals a bit for being rather generic and an attempt to rip off the success of the Mario RPG games.
(Author's Note: The idea for a Google platformer based off Lucky was given to us by the reader Goldwind2!)
Lucky Champ: Intended for younger players, and also a bit of an effort to launch a Google mascot, this game takes Lucky (the cat mascot who IOTL appeared to help Google promote the Olympic Games) and transforms her into a platforming ninja hero, using her athletic ninja skills to venture around the world and rescue her friends. While definitely meant to be for the kiddies, and suffering a bit in the difficulty department because of it, this is still a pretty deep platformer, with lots of things to find, a huge world to explore, and some truly fun mini-games blending the best aspects of platformers and sports titles. Boasts some of the best controls EVER for a platforming game, and despite being somewhat of an old school throwback and too easy, is also a lot of fun. Good reviews and promotion by Google help this game become a hit for the Stadia, and helps, along with Miraculous Ladybug 3, to lure a lot of families to the service.
Cold Kingdom: A fantasy adventure game published by E3 about a girl named Irena who lives in a kingdom in the far north and who must defend her home from an invading werewolf army. Though the game boasts some truly beautiful visuals and also some excellent voice acting, the repetitive (and sometimes glitchy) gameplay and the disappointing storyline makes this one of the year's bigger disappointments.
Dead Midnight: A remake of the classic 1999 third person shooter title, re-imagining the game's storyline and focusing heavily on Steve and Raya as they work together to take down a team of terrorists. With excellent shooting mechanics, solid quality of life upgrades, and a modern coat of graphical paint, this turns out to be an excellent remake that successfully revives the series for a wave of new titles... though instead of remaking each individual game as Capcom plans to do with Resident Evil, the company instead chooses to embark on a new storyline all together, an approach that alienates some fans of the original games but helps keep the series fresh for a new generation of players. The Dead Midnight remake is a critical and commercial hit for Capcom, their latest in what is turning out to be an extremely good year for the company.
Mega Man NX: This isn't the upcoming "revamped" Mega Man game (that's coming in 2021), but is instead a modern take on the Mega Man X series, with the classic 2-D gameplay, fully 3-D graphics, major quality of life upgrades, and a brand new storyline featuring all new Mavericks and powers, 16 total stages (12 bosses and four Sigma stages), and fully voice acted cutscenes. Think of OTL's Mega Man 11, if it was a Mega Man X game, and you have NX. The response: overwhelmingly positive, not quite as positive as the response for Mega Man Destiny but still very good and a crucial early part of the series' 2020s renaissance.
Resident Evil: Zone Of Alienation: This team battle royale game sees players dumped into a quarantine zone sealed off by the government after a deadly virus outbreak, forced to battle it out to gather what little supplies they can. While the game does feature a full campaign (intended for completion by teams of four players, but can be taken on by single players with AI), it's mostly known for its battle royale in which up to 20 teams of four can compete in a variety of modes, including supply gathering, king of the hill, and deathmatch. It's a fun concept, though it ends up being a bit disappointing, as Resident Evil mechanics aren't terribly conducive to the deathmatch format, and ultimately the player base fades after the first few months. One of Capcom's few stumbles in 2020, albeit only a slight one, and the game does enjoy a dedicated fanbase years after its release.
-from a May 4, 2020 article on the technology-related news blog Innovation Chronicles
"Mitsuko (Ariyama) and I did not create blockchain to wreck the planet, we created it to help make people's lives better and safer. It would be stain on her legacy if the lasting impact of this technology was to exacerbate the growing problem of climate change. I hope that international courts will continue to put pressure on non-compliant nations, to protect our patents and protect our planet for future generations."- Michelle Patenaude, in an April 2020 interview with Fortune magazine
"KEEP MINING PISSCOIN, BOYS! WE'LL GROW ORANGES IN SIBERIA"- an anonymous Russian hacker on a dark web forum, May 15, 2020
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Capcom To Establish North American Development Studio, Will Work On Future Resident Evil And Mega Man Titles, As Well As New IPs
Capcom has seen its fortunes surge in recent years, with the release of numerous hit games, including the highly successful Mega Man Destiny and the recent Mega Man NX and Resident Evil: Zone Of Alienation, as well as the highly-anticipated Marvel vs. Capcom vs. DC. The company just announced in a press release that it will launch a new North American studio known as Capcom West, in San Francisco. The studio will be comprised primarily of American developers, and will work on games in both the Mega Man and Resident Evil franchises, as well as at least two "new" IPs that are already in the works. Many of the developers at the studio also have experience working on this month's Dead Midnight reboot, as well as the aforementioned Marvel vs. Capcom vs. DC. Though Capcom has worked with Western developers before on a variety of games, this studio marks a major expansion for the company, and an acknowledgement that most major game development studios are truly international operations, with branches located all over the world. Many Japanese companies in particular contract development of numerous major titles to Western studios, and fellow Japanese software company Game Arts, which has had a studio in San Francisco ever since absorbing Working Designs, has seen tremendous success with their own Western studio, which has worked on titles such as Volare and the Ithiel series, all of which have been million-unit sellers and have won numerous awards from a variety of publications.
Capcom West will be headed by Dave Cox, who previously worked at Konami before that company sold off its game division to Ubisoft. Cox moved on to Apple for a time, helping to develop the 2016 Vectorman title and later working on Commander Keen: All Heck Breaks Loose. Since joining Capcom, he's been primarily working on Mega Man titles including Mega Man NX and will be the executive producer of next year's upcoming Mega Man game which is said to be a "renewal" of sorts for the series.
-from a May 20, 2020 article on Games Over Matter
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Anderson Cooper: And now out of Minnesota, an incredible story of heroism as an alert truck driver helped to save the life of a kidnapped woman. Here's ABC's Donnie Williams with the story.
*A stock video of an 18-wheeler going down the road is seen as a snippet from a 911 call is played.*
Operator: 911, what's your emergency?
Man: Hello, yes, 911? I'm driving down Interstate 35, at the... just past exit 76, and um, I saw a red... Chevy, Chevy Malibu, and there was a woman sticking her head out of the trunk.
Operator: A woman in the trunk?
Man: There was tape all on her face, I think she's being kidnapped. I'm still following the car, she's just... I can see her head inside the trunk, she looked real scared.
Operator: And what's your name, sir?
Man: George Floyd, ma'am.
Donnie Williams: That 911 call, which was made late last Thursday night, was from the cab of an 18-wheeler truck driven by George Floyd, a 46-year-old truck driver from Minneapolis, and he was one of the first witnesses to a harrowing crime. Less than an hour before, 29-year-old Misty Valdez had been driving her 2017 Chevy Malibu home from work, when she says a man jumped into her car while she was stopped at a stop sign. Pointing a gun at her, he forced her to drive to a deserted parking lot, where she was restrained and forced into the trunk of her car. Her assailant, 31-year-old Darrell Flecks, then drove Valdez's car onto Interstate 35.
*An ABC News reporter is seen talking to Valdez, who looks quite scared as she relates her harrowing tale.*
Valdez: I was... my hands were all taped up, I couldn't reach the trunk release, I had to kick... I had to kick the trunk open, and that took... maybe a half hour, I don't know.
Williams: Valdez showed us the cast on her ankle, which sustained a hairline fracture in her efforts to open up the trunk. She did so, and attempted to signal to nearby traffic, but it was dark and there were few cars on the road, and she didn't want to risk alerting her kidnapper.
Valdez: I could see cars and trucks going by, but no one stopped... all I could do was poke my head out and hope someone saw me and called 911.
Williams: It was just before midnight that Valdez's prayers were answered by George Floyd, who says that he noticed Valdez when the glint from his headlights reflected off the duct tape that had been wrapped around her mouth.
*George Floyd is shown talking to the reporter now.*
Floyd: And I look in the trunk, and you know, I can see this lady with duct tape all over her face, and I'm like 'that's not normal, that's not normal', and she's looking scared and in that trunk and I'm like, damn, I gotta call 911.
Williams: Floyd followed the car and remained on the line with the 911 operator the entire time, hoping the driver of the stolen car wouldn't notice him and drive away.
Floyd: And this whole time I'm thinking, 'please don't drive off the road, please don't speed up', because I'm still trying to give the lady on the phone my information so the cops can get this guy, and, I mean, I can see her, and she can see me, and she looks like she's crying, and all I can think about is, what if it was my daughter, man? I got a daughter pretty close to this woman's age, and I imagine she has a dad worried about her, so I gotta make sure she's okay.
Williams: At one point, Floyd says, he even thought about running the car off the road and attempting a rescue himself.
Floyd: I told the 911 operator, you know, I got a big truck, I could ram this dude off the road and, you know, I'm a pretty big dude, I could take him, but she said not to do that, I could hurt the lady in the trunk, and... yeah she's probably right, but... at that point I think I would've done anything to save this person, but fortunately pretty soon after the cops came and, I mean, they took over.
Williams: The entire time Valdez was in the trunk, she was thinking about her mother. As she heard the police sirens, she says, she felt a wave of relief, but also a wave of fear.
Valdez: When I heard those sirens, I remember thinking, 'oh, thank god', but also, 'I'm totally helpless in here, if he crashes, I can't brace myself, I'm not belted in, I'm in trouble'.
Williams: Valdez says that she curled up into a ball inside the trunk and prayed that she'd be all right during those terrifying moments when the officers were pursuing the stolen vehicle. She expected her captor to lead the officers on a high speed chase, which she knew could end very badly for her.
Valdez: I am... I know that at this point, he's stolen my car, he's kidnapped me, he has a gun... he has literally nothing to lose by trying to get away. I thought for sure that he would run.
Williams: And run he did... for about a minute before pulling over and surrendering peacefully to the arresting officers.
Valdez: When I felt the car coming to a stop, I felt... such an overwhelming relief. When that trunk opened, and those officers showed up to rescue me, I... I just... I couldn't believe it, honestly. I broke down and cried. I think I was shaking the whole time they were cutting the tape off me. I was so glad to be okay.
Williams: George Floyd found out about the rescue a short time later. He'd pulled into a truck stop after hanging up with the 911 operator, and shortly after, he was contacted by police, who let him know just how important his call had been.
Floyd: The moment they told me she was safe, man, I thanked the good lord and then I just... you know, I was so glad she ended up being okay.
Williams: As for the alleged kidnapper, Darrell Flecks, he was taken into custody and charged with numerous crimes, including kidnapping, grand theft auto, and assault with a deadly weapon. A career criminal with a long rapsheet dating back to his teens, he was at one point sentenced to six years for attempted murder, after a meth deal went south. Floyd himself recalls that his own life could have gone in such a direction.
Floyd: I made some real bad decisions at one time too. I've done time, you know, I've been there, but I got a real wake-up call in prison and God pulled me out of it.
Williams: Floyd has indeed turned his life around. He's been a truck driver for the past eight years, while he also serves part-time as a "hip hop minister", preaching to underprivileged youth in Minneapolis.
*A brief snippet is shown from one of Floyd's ministries, rapping on the pulpit and delivering life lessons to a group of young worshippers who are dancing to the music.*
Floyd: I'm just paying it forward to the Lord, I owe him everything.
Williams: And as for the young woman, whose life was saved on that fateful Thursday night?
Valdez: I owe George Floyd my life. If he hadn't seen me in that trunk, who knows what might've happened?
Williams: Though the two have yet to meet, they have gotten the chance to talk on the phone, and says that their families are already working toward arranging a get-together. To Misty Valdez, George Floyd is a hero, and to those who have brought up his past as a reason to doubt that heroism, she has a few words.
Valdez: It's all about the decisions we make, and that night, he made the decision to save my life, while my kidnapper made the decision to stuff me into the trunk of my own car and drive me to who knows where to do who knows what. You can't judge a person by their past, only by the decisions they make in the present.
*Valdez is then shown being hugged by her mother, much happier and calmer after the comfort she's received from her friends and family.*
Williams: For ABC News, I'm Donnie Williams.
Anderson Cooper: Thank you, Donnie, for that reporting. A truly remarkable story, and whatever one makes of George Floyd's past, that certainly was an act of heroism that no doubt saved that young woman's life. Coming up next, as the NBA playoffs continue and the New York Knicks prepare for their game tonight against the Indiana Pacers, one superstar's remarks about the ongoing situation in Hong Kong are stirring up controversy.
-from the May 25, 2020 broadcast of ABC World News Tonight with Anderson Cooper
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Game Spotlight: Leyline
Leyline is an action/adventure game exclusive to the Apple Virtua. The game features a wide-open sandbox world design mixed with hack and slash gameplay, and though it can be somewhat described as TTL's equivalent of Ghost Of Tsushima, it takes a much more fantastical approach to its story, not attempting to present a historically accurate tale, but instead weaving an elaborate fantasy about a young ninja named Kage who has been disgraced and isolated from his clan, and who must venture throughout feudal Japan, absorbing power from various leylines before his brother Etsuko is able to do so. The game plays a lot like The Legend Of Zelda meets Ninja Gaiden, with Kage able to embark on a variety of quests as he roams the world, gathering power from the leylines in any order that the player chooses. The game's big unique gimmick is that while Kage ventures the world, so does Etsuko, and as the player completes the storyline by gathering power from the leylines, the game will automatically close off a path to them as Etsuko activates leylines along with Kage. The player is forewarned of this, told at each story junction what Etsuko will gain (and thus, what the player will be closed off from) if they choose to embark on a certain quest, so the player has full knowledge of how to chart their pathway through the game and won't be blocked off from any powers or quests unless they agree to push forward. Combat gameplay is designed around stealth and swordsmanship, though much like in OTL's Tsushima, the player is free to choose how to approach a certain situation. Kage is fairly fragile, so charging in from the front usually isn't the best approach to combat, but with his agility, the player can take on pretty much anyone straight-up if they so choose and if they have the skill to do so. Stealth can be accomplished by sneaking up on enemies and stabbing them, using projectile weapons, and even affecting the environment to take enemies down. As the player progresses, the leylines (of which there are 9 in all: four will be gathered by Kage, four by Etsuko, and the two brothers will then fight over the ninth) each grant a set of skills to Kage, represented by another branch opening up on his skill tree. Certain leylines can be combined, and because of the game's open world system, a combination path is rarely, if ever, closed off to the player. If the player notices that they want to combine two leylines, and that Etsuko will get one of the leylines if Kage activates the other one, the player can simply branch off into a different set of missions in the hopes that Etsuko's path will be altered and the player will be able to gather both leylines at a time. Even if one leyline is completely closed, there are ways to cross over into a branch to gain certain powers and skills (though this does require great effort on the player's part). From time to time, Etsuko will show up to battle Kage and show off some of his newly acquired skills, and defeating Etsuko in these battles can also grant rewards from certain leylines, though losing to him will allow Etsuko to gain power (it's optional whether to engage in these fights, and they can be save scummed if the player loses). Kage can gain a variety of companions throughout his mission, including animals such as a dog or even a snake, though some battles and missions require Kage to go it alone. As a major first-party Apple Virtua title, Leyline is one of the best looking games on the system, with gorgeous environments and beautiful weather effects and animations. The game features a stellar voiceover cast as well, consisting of talented actors who are relatively unknown in the voiceover scene but who provide some of the year's best performances, along with a few voiceover veterans.
Leyline's storyline focuses heavily on the relationship between Kage and Etsuko, who were at one point extremely close, but who drifted apart due to Etsuko's ambitions and Kage blaming his brother for the death of their parents, who were executed by a lord in retaliation for an act supposedly committed by Etsuko. Kage's attempt to get revenge for this killing leads him to become disgraced, and he now wanders the land as a drifter, performing jobs in exchange for food and shelter. It's on a job that he learns about the ancient leylines, which are said to grant incredible power to those who activate them. Kage begins his quest to activate these leylines, at first to complete his mission of revenge against the lord who murdered his parents, but later he comes to desire these powers to take down Etsuko, who seeks to rule all of Japan. Kage happens upon a village slaughtered by Etsuko, and realizing the threat his brother poses, turns against him, seeking to prevent him from taking the leylines' power. To these ends, Kage ventures to find the leylines before his brother can do so, gathering allies along the way. Though Etsuko is the game's main antagonist, the lord responsible for murdering his and Kage's parents is also a major enemy in the game, as well as an aristocratic matron of the arts named Ibumi, who rules a town near the coast and who has been hiring ninjas to do her dirty work, with Etsuko being one of them. Leyline allows the player a great deal of freedom in how they want to progress the story, with the leylines being obtainable in pretty much any order. The lord and Ibumi can be defeated fairly early on, or much later, though their manner of defeat is largely the same: the lord is killed by Etsuko before Kage can directly confront him, while Ibumi turns out to be a somewhat tragic figure, and is defeated by Kage in a moonlight katana duel, where it's ultimately revealed that she was attempting to reform the political system of the country and gives the player their first hint that Etsuko may not be the enemy the player believes him to be. Ultimately, however, Kage and Etsuko both gather the powers of four of the leylines, and meet at an ancient battlefield over the final leyline to engage in a fateful duel. By now, Kage has learned the truth about his brother: Etsuko has been protecting Kage by covering for the actions of a third brother of theirs, while Kage is not actually Etsuko's biological brother, but his adopted one, after the third brother renounced the family to declare war on the high shogun lord. Etsuko has been seeking the leylines' power to defend the family's last few allies from the shogun's assaults, but the power of the leylines has been driving him mad, and he cannot even commit seppuku, as doing so would destroy a vessel for the leylines' power, allowing the power to manifest in the world as spirits of destruction. The leylines' power must be contained within one person, who must then become a living vessel, watching over and protecting their allies as a guardian spirit while giving up their own autonomy. Kage refuses to let Etsuko burden himself with that terrible job, while Etsuko is resolved to protect Kage, calling him his true brother. As the two brothers duel, their leyline power manifests and they transform into living gods, clashing with incredible strength and power. Eventually, Kage defeats Etsuko, who begs him not to take up the burden of the leylines' power, but Kage does so, and Etsuko stays behind to battle the shogun's army. Etsuko, though he has killed hundreds of the shogun's soldiers, is eventually overcome, and dies a warrior's death. Kage returns to the village where his family's allies have gathered, and prepares to give up his life to become a guardian spirit, but in the end, is surprised to realize that he still has his autonomy, as he does not bear the cursed blood of the family that raised him. He remains a living spirit with the powers of all nine leylines, and tasks himself with a new goal, to fight for all those who cannot fight for themselves.
Leyline is released on May 18, 2020, to tremendous critical praise for its graphics, storyline, and combat system. It's considered one of the best open world games of its generation, living up to the tremendous hype it generated at E3 2019 and cementing itself as one of the year's best games and another major hit for the Virtua. Though Virtua sales aren't stirred too much by the game's release (many are waiting for the Quest to come out), it does move the needle a small bit. Ultimately, Leyline would see a release on the Apple Quest in 2021, an enhanced version of the game with all the DLC and improved graphics, as well as being designed to work with the Quest's controller. Leyline would see excellent sales on both the Virtua and the Quest, and the game's legacy as a cross-gen classic would be secured. A sequel would already be in development by the time of the game's release, and would be released in 2023 as a Quest exclusive, continuing Kage's story.
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Other Significant Titles for May 2020:
Quintessence Zero: Argonaut releases this third game in its critically acclaimed rail shooter series and first for the Game Boy Zero in May of 2020, a month after the release of their Stunt Race VR. The game would mostly be developed by the younger team of developers at the company, and would try out some highly experimental things for a space shooter, including RPG-like progression and loot, as well as procedurally generated enemies in certain stages. It's a fun game, and of course, looks absolutely gorgeous on the Zero, but isn't quite as tightly plotted as the first two games, and ultimately the experimental stuff is considered a bit of a negative. Only a bit, though, this game still scores reviews in the low to mid 8s and achieves solid sales.
Space Harrier: Universe Breaker: The month's other major rail shooter would hit the Virtua a couple weeks before Leyline. Hyped quite a bit after a dazzling E3 trailer in 2019, this game is a much more traditional rail shooter than Quintessence Zero, though it would feature some dazzling graphics, memorable bosses, and compelling, albeit short, cutscenes that give the game's plot and characters a bit more heft. It also features a wide array of different weapons, greatly enhancing the game's replay value, in which players can even compete online for high scores in various levels. It's not quite an epic, but for what it is, it's extremely good, with Yu Suzuki and Hideki Kamiya contributing heavily to the plot and gameplay. Review scores average in the mid to high 8s, and though it would be overshadowed by Leyline, it still manages to sell well, especially in Japan.
Space Harrier G: A companion game to Universe Breaker released on the iPhone G and other Apple G devices, this is a different game utilizing much of Universe Breaker's mechanics, but featuring a different plot and even different weapons, designed to be a more old-school type of game with modern graphics and quality of life. It's quite addictive and fun, and also comes in at a budget price of $29.99, compared to Universe Breaker's full-priced release. It accomplishes only slightly worse reviews than Universe Breaker and is an overall sales success.
Sonic: Quest For The Chaos Emeralds: A turn-based Sonic the Hedgehog RPG for Apple G devices, Quest For The Chaos Emeralds is another non-traditional Sonic game making its way to the system, and has some similarities to SoniQuest, the last Sonic RPG. Not quite as deep or as epic as the Mario RPG titles, but also a decent game in its own right, it achieves decent reviews but does get raked across the coals a bit for being rather generic and an attempt to rip off the success of the Mario RPG games.
(Author's Note: The idea for a Google platformer based off Lucky was given to us by the reader Goldwind2!)
Lucky Champ: Intended for younger players, and also a bit of an effort to launch a Google mascot, this game takes Lucky (the cat mascot who IOTL appeared to help Google promote the Olympic Games) and transforms her into a platforming ninja hero, using her athletic ninja skills to venture around the world and rescue her friends. While definitely meant to be for the kiddies, and suffering a bit in the difficulty department because of it, this is still a pretty deep platformer, with lots of things to find, a huge world to explore, and some truly fun mini-games blending the best aspects of platformers and sports titles. Boasts some of the best controls EVER for a platforming game, and despite being somewhat of an old school throwback and too easy, is also a lot of fun. Good reviews and promotion by Google help this game become a hit for the Stadia, and helps, along with Miraculous Ladybug 3, to lure a lot of families to the service.
Cold Kingdom: A fantasy adventure game published by E3 about a girl named Irena who lives in a kingdom in the far north and who must defend her home from an invading werewolf army. Though the game boasts some truly beautiful visuals and also some excellent voice acting, the repetitive (and sometimes glitchy) gameplay and the disappointing storyline makes this one of the year's bigger disappointments.
Dead Midnight: A remake of the classic 1999 third person shooter title, re-imagining the game's storyline and focusing heavily on Steve and Raya as they work together to take down a team of terrorists. With excellent shooting mechanics, solid quality of life upgrades, and a modern coat of graphical paint, this turns out to be an excellent remake that successfully revives the series for a wave of new titles... though instead of remaking each individual game as Capcom plans to do with Resident Evil, the company instead chooses to embark on a new storyline all together, an approach that alienates some fans of the original games but helps keep the series fresh for a new generation of players. The Dead Midnight remake is a critical and commercial hit for Capcom, their latest in what is turning out to be an extremely good year for the company.
Mega Man NX: This isn't the upcoming "revamped" Mega Man game (that's coming in 2021), but is instead a modern take on the Mega Man X series, with the classic 2-D gameplay, fully 3-D graphics, major quality of life upgrades, and a brand new storyline featuring all new Mavericks and powers, 16 total stages (12 bosses and four Sigma stages), and fully voice acted cutscenes. Think of OTL's Mega Man 11, if it was a Mega Man X game, and you have NX. The response: overwhelmingly positive, not quite as positive as the response for Mega Man Destiny but still very good and a crucial early part of the series' 2020s renaissance.
Resident Evil: Zone Of Alienation: This team battle royale game sees players dumped into a quarantine zone sealed off by the government after a deadly virus outbreak, forced to battle it out to gather what little supplies they can. While the game does feature a full campaign (intended for completion by teams of four players, but can be taken on by single players with AI), it's mostly known for its battle royale in which up to 20 teams of four can compete in a variety of modes, including supply gathering, king of the hill, and deathmatch. It's a fun concept, though it ends up being a bit disappointing, as Resident Evil mechanics aren't terribly conducive to the deathmatch format, and ultimately the player base fades after the first few months. One of Capcom's few stumbles in 2020, albeit only a slight one, and the game does enjoy a dedicated fanbase years after its release.