While we're on this topic, you think WMIT will become a TV series ITTL?
Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
Probably not, but if possible, I'd watch it for a season then move on.
Spring 2016 (Part 5) - The Nexus Has Epic Value
Rogue's Story VI
Rogue's Story VI is a WRPG/time management game for the Google Nexus and Android. A significant departure from previous games in the series, Rogue's Story VI features the same lighthearted and fun questing as previous games, but on a somewhat simplified and downscaled level, with time management elements added in. The player character is placed in charge of a guild of adventurers, and must recruit more and go on missions to free the world from the oppression of the Jackal's Guild, a guild of warlords and thieves that has conquered much of the world and seeks to destroy all the other guilds. The time management element of Rogue's Story VI comes from the fact that many of the game's missions are on a time limit, and it's not possible to conquer them all in a single playthrough, the player must instead decide what areas to liberate, what characters to recruit, and what missions to complete, and the choices they make effect the game's storyline. Rogue's Story VI is still a full-featured RPG, with graphics on par with previous titles in the series when you're out adventuring, it's just the missions that are scaled down, and also the world itself, with much of the recruiting done through menuing rather than being done out in the world. The game itself can also be downloaded on Android, and the Android version of the game contains all the menus of the Nexus game, along with mini-games and a Fallout Shelter-esque adventuring system. It's a full RPG in its own right, and the player can enjoy the Android version of the game without ever touching the Nexus version if they so choose, though the Nexus version is of course the full experience of the game. Being a smaller and simpler game compared to other Rogue's Story titles, the game can be purchased for $29.99, with the app on sale for $9.99. If one buys the app, they can get $10 off the console game, whereas if one buys the console game, they can get the app for free, so the $29.99 cost of the console game actually covers both the app and the game itself. Rogue's Story VI is controversial among fans of the series: Google is accused of simplifying the series for the mobile format, and that Rogue's Story VI is inadequate compared to the main games. However, it's still pretty good for its budget price, the app is quite fun, and the game itself provides a full, if somewhat downsized, Rogue's Story experience. Many fans believe that the game is fine but that it shouldn't be a mainline game in the series. The game and app are released together in May 2016, and the app does quite well, while the game itself doesn't achieve as many sales as Rouge's Story V, even with the budget price in mind. Still, the success of the app leads Google to see that there's still plenty of value in the IP, and more would be done with Rogue's Story in the future, especially in the mobile realm.
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The War For Rhyssia
A tactical RPG in the vein of a Fire Emblem or Tactics Ogre-like title, but with a somewhat simpler menu/combat system and a more newbie-friendly feel, The War For Rhyssia is an anime inspired game with a heavy focus on character arcs, which play out across the game's 36 main missions and dozens of side missions. Like Fire Emblem, the game features small squads of 8-12 fighters each, fighting across various battlefields and engaging in combat with weapons and magic. The game's plot focuses on the struggle to conquer the continent of Rhyssia, home to four nations, each with their own reason for fighting: Glamoir is the richest and most powerful nation, full of aristocratic nobles and fighters with a code of chivalry, Lachese is high in the mountains of Rhyssia and has hardened fighters used to snowy and hostile conditions, Arvardis is a grassland nation of poor farmers and humble fighters, ruled by a kind and generous king, and Shadir is a nomadic guild of thieves who are trying to prevent the conquest of a small bit of desert they've carved out for themselves. There are heroes and villains in all four nations, and each of them have numerous intriguing characters who experience triumph and tragedy over the course of the game. The player starts out controlling Arvardis and the game's protagonist, a young knight's apprentice named Gill, but as the war plays out and all four nations come into focus, the player's army will expand to include a huge variety of characters from all sides of the war. As is the case with many SRPGs, it's up to the player who they choose to recruit and who lives or dies, though in this highly noblebright game, it's possible to save just about everyone, with the exception of a few irredeemable villains. Though the game has a lot of missions, they play out quite quickly, with most being over in around 5 minutes, with only a few taking longer than 10. The game can be played on the Nexus or Android (with cross-play and cross-save for both versions), and launches at an MSRP of $39.99, 20 dollars cheaper than the typical Nexus game (it helps that the graphics are fairly simple, while the voice cast consists of anime/video game regulars). The War For Rhyssia isn't the deepest SRPG, or even the best, but its huge cast of lovable characters and its accessible style of play earns it a surprisingly strong commercial reception, becoming one of the best selling tactical RPGs of its generation, and also spawning more fanworks than just about any game in its genre.
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"Even after the launch of the new Nexus model, which is expected to be called the Nexus Pro and will be formally announced at next week's E3, Google fully intends to support the original model of the Nexus, which will remain the company's budget priced gaming solution. With the Nexus Pro aimed at the hardcore gamer crowd, and intended to compete with Nintendo's Reality and Apple's Virtua, the Nexus will still be sold in stores and will remain at $149 for the base model. Google will also ramp up their free Nexus offers, with older Android phone models expected to come with the console free of charge or at a significant discount. Meanwhile, Google will offer the Nexus Pro as a free gift with flagship Samsung phones such as the latest model Galaxy and Galaxy Note. Of course, Google has been giving out the Nexus in significant numbers since early last year, it's estimated that the company has given away as many as ten million Nexus consoles in various promotional deals, and Nexus sales figures don't count those giveaways, so when you add those to the number of Nexus units sold, Google's Nexus is still very slightly ahead of the Nintendo Reality in terms of overall number of consoles out in the wild. So Google's install base for all those new games, quite high indeed, and we're still looking forward to Nephilim, Miraculous Ladybug 2, and of course The Covenant Zero, all coming out later this year and all expected to be a big part of Google's E3 festivities."
-Adam Sessler, from the June 9, 2016 episode of G4's X-Play
Rogue's Story VI is a WRPG/time management game for the Google Nexus and Android. A significant departure from previous games in the series, Rogue's Story VI features the same lighthearted and fun questing as previous games, but on a somewhat simplified and downscaled level, with time management elements added in. The player character is placed in charge of a guild of adventurers, and must recruit more and go on missions to free the world from the oppression of the Jackal's Guild, a guild of warlords and thieves that has conquered much of the world and seeks to destroy all the other guilds. The time management element of Rogue's Story VI comes from the fact that many of the game's missions are on a time limit, and it's not possible to conquer them all in a single playthrough, the player must instead decide what areas to liberate, what characters to recruit, and what missions to complete, and the choices they make effect the game's storyline. Rogue's Story VI is still a full-featured RPG, with graphics on par with previous titles in the series when you're out adventuring, it's just the missions that are scaled down, and also the world itself, with much of the recruiting done through menuing rather than being done out in the world. The game itself can also be downloaded on Android, and the Android version of the game contains all the menus of the Nexus game, along with mini-games and a Fallout Shelter-esque adventuring system. It's a full RPG in its own right, and the player can enjoy the Android version of the game without ever touching the Nexus version if they so choose, though the Nexus version is of course the full experience of the game. Being a smaller and simpler game compared to other Rogue's Story titles, the game can be purchased for $29.99, with the app on sale for $9.99. If one buys the app, they can get $10 off the console game, whereas if one buys the console game, they can get the app for free, so the $29.99 cost of the console game actually covers both the app and the game itself. Rogue's Story VI is controversial among fans of the series: Google is accused of simplifying the series for the mobile format, and that Rogue's Story VI is inadequate compared to the main games. However, it's still pretty good for its budget price, the app is quite fun, and the game itself provides a full, if somewhat downsized, Rogue's Story experience. Many fans believe that the game is fine but that it shouldn't be a mainline game in the series. The game and app are released together in May 2016, and the app does quite well, while the game itself doesn't achieve as many sales as Rouge's Story V, even with the budget price in mind. Still, the success of the app leads Google to see that there's still plenty of value in the IP, and more would be done with Rogue's Story in the future, especially in the mobile realm.
-
The War For Rhyssia
A tactical RPG in the vein of a Fire Emblem or Tactics Ogre-like title, but with a somewhat simpler menu/combat system and a more newbie-friendly feel, The War For Rhyssia is an anime inspired game with a heavy focus on character arcs, which play out across the game's 36 main missions and dozens of side missions. Like Fire Emblem, the game features small squads of 8-12 fighters each, fighting across various battlefields and engaging in combat with weapons and magic. The game's plot focuses on the struggle to conquer the continent of Rhyssia, home to four nations, each with their own reason for fighting: Glamoir is the richest and most powerful nation, full of aristocratic nobles and fighters with a code of chivalry, Lachese is high in the mountains of Rhyssia and has hardened fighters used to snowy and hostile conditions, Arvardis is a grassland nation of poor farmers and humble fighters, ruled by a kind and generous king, and Shadir is a nomadic guild of thieves who are trying to prevent the conquest of a small bit of desert they've carved out for themselves. There are heroes and villains in all four nations, and each of them have numerous intriguing characters who experience triumph and tragedy over the course of the game. The player starts out controlling Arvardis and the game's protagonist, a young knight's apprentice named Gill, but as the war plays out and all four nations come into focus, the player's army will expand to include a huge variety of characters from all sides of the war. As is the case with many SRPGs, it's up to the player who they choose to recruit and who lives or dies, though in this highly noblebright game, it's possible to save just about everyone, with the exception of a few irredeemable villains. Though the game has a lot of missions, they play out quite quickly, with most being over in around 5 minutes, with only a few taking longer than 10. The game can be played on the Nexus or Android (with cross-play and cross-save for both versions), and launches at an MSRP of $39.99, 20 dollars cheaper than the typical Nexus game (it helps that the graphics are fairly simple, while the voice cast consists of anime/video game regulars). The War For Rhyssia isn't the deepest SRPG, or even the best, but its huge cast of lovable characters and its accessible style of play earns it a surprisingly strong commercial reception, becoming one of the best selling tactical RPGs of its generation, and also spawning more fanworks than just about any game in its genre.
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"Even after the launch of the new Nexus model, which is expected to be called the Nexus Pro and will be formally announced at next week's E3, Google fully intends to support the original model of the Nexus, which will remain the company's budget priced gaming solution. With the Nexus Pro aimed at the hardcore gamer crowd, and intended to compete with Nintendo's Reality and Apple's Virtua, the Nexus will still be sold in stores and will remain at $149 for the base model. Google will also ramp up their free Nexus offers, with older Android phone models expected to come with the console free of charge or at a significant discount. Meanwhile, Google will offer the Nexus Pro as a free gift with flagship Samsung phones such as the latest model Galaxy and Galaxy Note. Of course, Google has been giving out the Nexus in significant numbers since early last year, it's estimated that the company has given away as many as ten million Nexus consoles in various promotional deals, and Nexus sales figures don't count those giveaways, so when you add those to the number of Nexus units sold, Google's Nexus is still very slightly ahead of the Nintendo Reality in terms of overall number of consoles out in the wild. So Google's install base for all those new games, quite high indeed, and we're still looking forward to Nephilim, Miraculous Ladybug 2, and of course The Covenant Zero, all coming out later this year and all expected to be a big part of Google's E3 festivities."
-Adam Sessler, from the June 9, 2016 episode of G4's X-Play
Even though I really dislike the idea of Google making a console, I know I would have ended up with a Nexus ITTL. I have way too many friends and family who buy Android and would have got one free with a phone then given it to me not knowing what to do with it. And as much as I don’t like the machine, I wouldn’t be one to turn down a free console with an exclusive BioWare game.
That's unfortunate. Sports are the one thing in any alt that I find should butterfly the quickest and the NHL is ripe for it.
E3 2016 (Part 1)
Google Keynote - E3 2016
This year's Google keynote began with Eric Bright taking the stage to thank fans for attending, then seguing right into a segment discussing The Covenant Zero. He introduced the game's producers, Cliff Bleszinski (returning to the series for the first time since The Covenant 2) and Josh Holmes, and the two men began discussing the game, including the storyline and gameplay. The Covenant Zero is, as the name implies, a prequel to the original Covenant, following Master Chief right after earning his promotion to that rank, leading his squad in the investigation of a crashed ship belonging to an unknown alien race. As the team investigates, an armada invades the area where the ship crashed, forcing Master Chief and his team to fight their way out. The Covenant Zero features a more "pure" combat system than previous titles, as Master Chief doesn't possess any of the superhuman abilities he learned in previous games, and must instead rely on his basic weaponry and tactical skills to survive. However, that doesn't mean he'll have to fight alone. Players will need to coordinate with Master Chief's squadron to win firefights, and there are new, never before seen weapons that they can use to defeat enemies. This style of play gives The Covenant Zero less of a sci-fi feel and more of a military shooter type feel, and there's also some advanced melee combat in the game which seems to be inspired by Squad Four Betrayal (it's clear the game's development team took inspiration from that title). The game will also include a robust multiplayer mode, one of the most complex to date, and also introduces a battle royale mode to the series for the first time, an idea pushed heavily by Bleszinski. The presentation ended with a story trailer, the ending of which teased the arrival of "present day" Master Chief... raising the specter of time travel and further supporting the idea that this game isn't just a prequel to the newer Covenant games, but a sequel as well. Following the presentation for The Covenant Zero, we got a quick little teaser of what looks to be a top down action RPG in which a hapless IRS worker teams up with a beautiful woman who happens to also be the Grim Reaper. The two must work together to bring death back to the world after an afterlife accounting screw-up causes life and death to merge together, wreaking havoc in the world of the living. The game is called Death And Taxes, and looks to mix humor with exciting Diablo-style gameplay when it comes exclusively to the Nexus sometime next year. Then, we see a video, showing off the Google Nexus and the great games of the last four years, which becomes a segue into a series of videos showing the improved graphics of the Google Nexus Pro, the brand new model of the Nexus. The Pro's graphics are a major improvement over the original Nexus, and in fact are slightly better than those of the Nintendo Reality, while also boasting full compatibility with Google's top of the line model VR goggles. The Nexus Pro is slightly larger than the original Nexus console, though smaller in size still than the Reality and Virtua, and is 4K display compatible. The Nexus Pro is shown working with games such as the upcoming Nephilim, The Covenant Zero, Miraculous Ladybug 2, and A Song Of Ice And Fire: The Long Night, and also with third party games such as Steep, Call Of Duty: Altered Warfare, Blackheart: Lucky 7, Pocatello, Ultima XII: Avatar Of Skye, and Watch Dogs 2. It's also shown to improve the graphics of already released Nexus games such as Grand Theft Auto III and Futureshock, bringing them up to the same level as their Reality/Virtua counterparts. After this sizzle reel for the Nexus Pro, Eric Bright returns to the stage along with project managers from Google and Samsung to discuss the new console. We get about ten minutes of tech specs and discussion, showing the Nexus Pro's ability to upscale Nexus titles that have received compatible updates, and also to play Android titles faster and smoother. The project managers emphasize that there won't be any Pro exclusive games, that the Pro is simply for hardcore gamers who want to play their Nexus games on 4K TVs with improved graphics and VR features, and also that the original Nexus will remain in production as the most economical option in modern console gaming. The Nexus Pro will be released on November 4, 2016, at an MSRP of $299.99, or $399.99 for a model including a Nexus Companion. The Nexus Pro will be released the same day as Miraculous Ladybug 2, and there will be a special pair of limited edition Miraculous Ladybug themed Nexus Pro consoles which include a copy of the game and will come with a red and black Ladybug design or a black and green Cat Noir design for $349.99.
Speaking of Miraculous Ladybug 2, that's the next game that was discussed, and the presentation for the game was included as a part of the Nexus Pro presentation, with game producers Michel Ancel and Thomas Astruc appearing on a video screen to talk about the game and how the Nexus Pro would enhance the graphics of Paris and the game's characters. The game itself returns players to Paris and will feature a lot of locations from the original game, but will also expand the game's world to new locations and will include more extensive underground sections such as the subway, the sewers, and the catacombs, along with more indoor sections as well. In addition to Ladybug and Cat Noir, two new heroes were confirmed, with Alya revealed as the new fox-based superheroine, Rena Rouge, and Chloe revealed as the new bee-themed superheroine, Queen Bee, both of whom are controllable by the player. Rena Rouge can use illusion-themed attacks to create decoys and fool enemies, while Queen Bee moves with quickness and agility, stunning enemies to land precise blows. There is more of a combat theme to the game, though the mechanics of rescue and protection taking priority over damaging enemies still remain in place. We also were teased with the potential for a few more superheroes, so Rena Rouge and Queen Bee might not be the only newcomers. The game looks gorgeous on the Nexus Pro, and the demo booth was absolutely packed as people rushed to experience Ladybug's newest adventure on the upgraded Pro hardware. Next up, another video, this one not a part of the Nexus Pro presentation, but instead, an update on Redshift, a game we haven't heard much about since it was introduced at E3 2014. Two members of the game's production team appeared on screen to discuss the game, which takes the form of a simulated MMORPG... though not ENTIRELY simulated, since it will have a heavy online component to it, and seems to be a blend of a single player adventure and an MMO. The game puts the player in a town plagued by attacks from monsters formed out of data, and the only way to fight these monsters is by using weapons constructed from similar bits of data. The world of Redshift is a world twisted by combat and violence, as newly armed civilians fight for their lives against an endless horde of monsters sent by the mysterious and diabolical Game Master. You'll need to rescue civilians and complete missions to get stronger, gathering up clues as to the Game Master's identity, which you can utilize to de-corrupt parts of the world, stealing back territory to liberate humanity from the Game Master's grip. It's a constant struggle, but you'll team up with other fighters, both CPU controlled and those controlled by other players, and you get to determine just how much interaction with other players you want to have. The game features an Android component as well, as you're able to log onto your mobile device and send gear to either yourself, a friend, or even a random stranger. Redshift is expected to come out in 2017, and could be one of the most unique MMORPG experiences in recent memory. After the Redshift update, we got another teaser trailer, showing a strange scientific experiment gone wrong: a man and a woman working on some kind of dimensional transfer machine. It activates, and the two get a glimpse of something horrific, a world being terrorized by enormous monsters. The portal is quickly closed, only for something to pull the woman in. The man tries to save her, but ends up only getting a snapped tether as the portal and the woman disappear. The man eventually gets the portal back open, but the woman is nowhere to be seen... and the man decides to leap in after her, entering a parallel Earth where nothing is the same. The game's title is shown as Devoid, then we get a cryptic "COMING SOON".
Next up is a trailer for the upcoming A Song Of Ice And Fire: The Long Night, which, instead of being a sequel to 2013's game, is instead a prequel, based on the events of The Long Night, an entire generation of winter and darkness, taking place during the Age of Heroes. Instead of playing as a defined hero like in the last game, the player will be able to create their hero, and must carve out their own legend as they attempt to save Westeros from the invasion of the Others. This game seems a lot more open ended than the original, and quite a bit more challenging as well, with more supernatural creatures to battle and what looks to be a more action-packed storyline, if the exciting trailer and brief gameplay snippets are any indication. This game will be coming exclusively to the Nexus in October. Next, a trailer for Zombi 2, which looks quite a bit more thrilling and scary than the original game, and will utilize more of the Nexus' split-screen functionality, while the player will be able to control two survivors at once instead of one, an interesting mechanic that looks like it will be used to solve puzzles and test the player's survival skills. Zombi 2 is coming this fall. Then, we got another trailer... and this one was considerably bigger than the last two. It started with some text and fluff that gave a vague inkling of what game it might be referring to, generating an audible buzz in the crowd, especially once the Blizzard logo appeared. Then, we got some proper gameplay footage, showing off a game that appeared to be World Of Warcraft, generating a few cheers... and then indeed, we got a full confirmation: World Of Warcraft is coming to console, exclusively to Google. We didn't get a timeframe, or even the name of a console (we're assuming it's the Nexus, obviously), but the trailer, which lasted about 90 seconds, showed the full featured World Of Warcraft, and also confirmed cross-play between Google consoles and PC. We also saw the game running on an Android phone, generating gasps and cheers from the crowd. We're not quite sure how Blizzard is going to pull this off, and we're also not sure why it's not also coming to the Reality or Virtua (or if it might eventually, if this is a timed exclusive type of deal), but World Of Warcraft is coming to console, presumably the Google Nexus, at some point in the future. After the video presentation, Eric Bright returned to the stage and gave a short speech discussing World Of Warcraft coming to Google, via a major deal with Blizzard to bring the game to consoles for the first time ever. He emphasized that yes, this is the full featured World Of Warcraft, and that you'll be able to pick up on Google where your PC character left off, or vice versa. He said that in the coming months there would be more information about this exciting development and that you'd be able to play a demo version of the game at Blizzard's booth, running on the upcoming Galaxy Note 7 via a stream from Blizzard's official servers (so not natively on the device itself). After this announcement, Bright thanked attendees once more, and Google's keynote ended.
The Google keynote was somewhat light on actual game announcements, instead choosing to focus largely on the Nexus Pro segment, which doubled as a sort of sizzle reel, showing off lots of third party and small indie titles running on the new hardware to demonstrate its capabilities. The Pro is impressive (though we doubt it'll be as powerful as upcoming 4K updates from Apple and Nintendo), and will have an impressive lineup of games to flex its muscles after it's released. And then, of course, the announcement that World Of Warcraft would be coming to the Nexus is a huge one... though it'll probably be a while before we actually get to see it, as Blizzard and Google probably have a lot of kinks to work out. Google has positioned the Nexus as the most accessible piece of gaming tech ever made, and is now pushing to appeal to hardcore gamers with their new Pro model. It'll be a few months until we get to find out if that strategy is a winner, but despite a light E3 lineup, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of games in Google's future.
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World Of Warcraft Impresses On Mobile
It's still hard to believe we're saying this, but we got to play World Of Warcraft on a phone, and it was... good? Yes, World Of Warcraft will be playable on Google devices, including Android phones and home consoles, and Blizzard was running a small demo version of the game at their booth, utilizing gameplay streamed to Galaxy Note 7 phones to demonstrate how the game would run. It's been said that bringing World Of Warcraft to consoles would be a tricky proposition because of all the different commands involved, but with Google Grip controllers, we were able to control the game just fine utilizing Blizzard's control scheme (though it was confirmed that we'd be able to use a keyboard and mouse with the console version if we so chose). We could move our characters and enter commands just like on PC, with a unique mix of hotkey functions programmed in. The demo version itself was just a series of small areas chained together, including a forested area, a cave, and a castle, as we controlled level 30 characters with a pre-determined set of equipment and spells designed to show off the game's functionality. Surprisingly, the stream had few if any hiccups, and looked gorgeous on the Note 7, if a bit cramped in terms of HUD. We also got to check out the game on the new Nexus Pro Companion, a controller with a Nexus Companion built in. The Nexus Pro Companion controller will retail for $149.99, and felt quite good in our hands as we played the game on it, though again, the small screen did cause us to have some trouble seeing the game's HUD and text boxes. It's likely that most players will prefer to enjoy the game on their TV screens, though Blizzard cryptically did not mention the Nexus when discussing what devices the game would be compatible on, only that it was coming to "Google". Hinting at a possible next generation Google console, possibly? Or some other form of streaming functionality? Regardless, we had a lot of fun with World Of Warcraft on "Google", and our only regret was not getting to spend more time with the game. We don't know when World Of Warcraft is coming to Google, but it should bring a horde of new players when it finally does launch, and will likely be a killer app for whatever Google console it's released on, either the Nexus or something in the future.
-from a June 15, 2016 article on Gamespot.com
This year's Google keynote began with Eric Bright taking the stage to thank fans for attending, then seguing right into a segment discussing The Covenant Zero. He introduced the game's producers, Cliff Bleszinski (returning to the series for the first time since The Covenant 2) and Josh Holmes, and the two men began discussing the game, including the storyline and gameplay. The Covenant Zero is, as the name implies, a prequel to the original Covenant, following Master Chief right after earning his promotion to that rank, leading his squad in the investigation of a crashed ship belonging to an unknown alien race. As the team investigates, an armada invades the area where the ship crashed, forcing Master Chief and his team to fight their way out. The Covenant Zero features a more "pure" combat system than previous titles, as Master Chief doesn't possess any of the superhuman abilities he learned in previous games, and must instead rely on his basic weaponry and tactical skills to survive. However, that doesn't mean he'll have to fight alone. Players will need to coordinate with Master Chief's squadron to win firefights, and there are new, never before seen weapons that they can use to defeat enemies. This style of play gives The Covenant Zero less of a sci-fi feel and more of a military shooter type feel, and there's also some advanced melee combat in the game which seems to be inspired by Squad Four Betrayal (it's clear the game's development team took inspiration from that title). The game will also include a robust multiplayer mode, one of the most complex to date, and also introduces a battle royale mode to the series for the first time, an idea pushed heavily by Bleszinski. The presentation ended with a story trailer, the ending of which teased the arrival of "present day" Master Chief... raising the specter of time travel and further supporting the idea that this game isn't just a prequel to the newer Covenant games, but a sequel as well. Following the presentation for The Covenant Zero, we got a quick little teaser of what looks to be a top down action RPG in which a hapless IRS worker teams up with a beautiful woman who happens to also be the Grim Reaper. The two must work together to bring death back to the world after an afterlife accounting screw-up causes life and death to merge together, wreaking havoc in the world of the living. The game is called Death And Taxes, and looks to mix humor with exciting Diablo-style gameplay when it comes exclusively to the Nexus sometime next year. Then, we see a video, showing off the Google Nexus and the great games of the last four years, which becomes a segue into a series of videos showing the improved graphics of the Google Nexus Pro, the brand new model of the Nexus. The Pro's graphics are a major improvement over the original Nexus, and in fact are slightly better than those of the Nintendo Reality, while also boasting full compatibility with Google's top of the line model VR goggles. The Nexus Pro is slightly larger than the original Nexus console, though smaller in size still than the Reality and Virtua, and is 4K display compatible. The Nexus Pro is shown working with games such as the upcoming Nephilim, The Covenant Zero, Miraculous Ladybug 2, and A Song Of Ice And Fire: The Long Night, and also with third party games such as Steep, Call Of Duty: Altered Warfare, Blackheart: Lucky 7, Pocatello, Ultima XII: Avatar Of Skye, and Watch Dogs 2. It's also shown to improve the graphics of already released Nexus games such as Grand Theft Auto III and Futureshock, bringing them up to the same level as their Reality/Virtua counterparts. After this sizzle reel for the Nexus Pro, Eric Bright returns to the stage along with project managers from Google and Samsung to discuss the new console. We get about ten minutes of tech specs and discussion, showing the Nexus Pro's ability to upscale Nexus titles that have received compatible updates, and also to play Android titles faster and smoother. The project managers emphasize that there won't be any Pro exclusive games, that the Pro is simply for hardcore gamers who want to play their Nexus games on 4K TVs with improved graphics and VR features, and also that the original Nexus will remain in production as the most economical option in modern console gaming. The Nexus Pro will be released on November 4, 2016, at an MSRP of $299.99, or $399.99 for a model including a Nexus Companion. The Nexus Pro will be released the same day as Miraculous Ladybug 2, and there will be a special pair of limited edition Miraculous Ladybug themed Nexus Pro consoles which include a copy of the game and will come with a red and black Ladybug design or a black and green Cat Noir design for $349.99.
Speaking of Miraculous Ladybug 2, that's the next game that was discussed, and the presentation for the game was included as a part of the Nexus Pro presentation, with game producers Michel Ancel and Thomas Astruc appearing on a video screen to talk about the game and how the Nexus Pro would enhance the graphics of Paris and the game's characters. The game itself returns players to Paris and will feature a lot of locations from the original game, but will also expand the game's world to new locations and will include more extensive underground sections such as the subway, the sewers, and the catacombs, along with more indoor sections as well. In addition to Ladybug and Cat Noir, two new heroes were confirmed, with Alya revealed as the new fox-based superheroine, Rena Rouge, and Chloe revealed as the new bee-themed superheroine, Queen Bee, both of whom are controllable by the player. Rena Rouge can use illusion-themed attacks to create decoys and fool enemies, while Queen Bee moves with quickness and agility, stunning enemies to land precise blows. There is more of a combat theme to the game, though the mechanics of rescue and protection taking priority over damaging enemies still remain in place. We also were teased with the potential for a few more superheroes, so Rena Rouge and Queen Bee might not be the only newcomers. The game looks gorgeous on the Nexus Pro, and the demo booth was absolutely packed as people rushed to experience Ladybug's newest adventure on the upgraded Pro hardware. Next up, another video, this one not a part of the Nexus Pro presentation, but instead, an update on Redshift, a game we haven't heard much about since it was introduced at E3 2014. Two members of the game's production team appeared on screen to discuss the game, which takes the form of a simulated MMORPG... though not ENTIRELY simulated, since it will have a heavy online component to it, and seems to be a blend of a single player adventure and an MMO. The game puts the player in a town plagued by attacks from monsters formed out of data, and the only way to fight these monsters is by using weapons constructed from similar bits of data. The world of Redshift is a world twisted by combat and violence, as newly armed civilians fight for their lives against an endless horde of monsters sent by the mysterious and diabolical Game Master. You'll need to rescue civilians and complete missions to get stronger, gathering up clues as to the Game Master's identity, which you can utilize to de-corrupt parts of the world, stealing back territory to liberate humanity from the Game Master's grip. It's a constant struggle, but you'll team up with other fighters, both CPU controlled and those controlled by other players, and you get to determine just how much interaction with other players you want to have. The game features an Android component as well, as you're able to log onto your mobile device and send gear to either yourself, a friend, or even a random stranger. Redshift is expected to come out in 2017, and could be one of the most unique MMORPG experiences in recent memory. After the Redshift update, we got another teaser trailer, showing a strange scientific experiment gone wrong: a man and a woman working on some kind of dimensional transfer machine. It activates, and the two get a glimpse of something horrific, a world being terrorized by enormous monsters. The portal is quickly closed, only for something to pull the woman in. The man tries to save her, but ends up only getting a snapped tether as the portal and the woman disappear. The man eventually gets the portal back open, but the woman is nowhere to be seen... and the man decides to leap in after her, entering a parallel Earth where nothing is the same. The game's title is shown as Devoid, then we get a cryptic "COMING SOON".
Next up is a trailer for the upcoming A Song Of Ice And Fire: The Long Night, which, instead of being a sequel to 2013's game, is instead a prequel, based on the events of The Long Night, an entire generation of winter and darkness, taking place during the Age of Heroes. Instead of playing as a defined hero like in the last game, the player will be able to create their hero, and must carve out their own legend as they attempt to save Westeros from the invasion of the Others. This game seems a lot more open ended than the original, and quite a bit more challenging as well, with more supernatural creatures to battle and what looks to be a more action-packed storyline, if the exciting trailer and brief gameplay snippets are any indication. This game will be coming exclusively to the Nexus in October. Next, a trailer for Zombi 2, which looks quite a bit more thrilling and scary than the original game, and will utilize more of the Nexus' split-screen functionality, while the player will be able to control two survivors at once instead of one, an interesting mechanic that looks like it will be used to solve puzzles and test the player's survival skills. Zombi 2 is coming this fall. Then, we got another trailer... and this one was considerably bigger than the last two. It started with some text and fluff that gave a vague inkling of what game it might be referring to, generating an audible buzz in the crowd, especially once the Blizzard logo appeared. Then, we got some proper gameplay footage, showing off a game that appeared to be World Of Warcraft, generating a few cheers... and then indeed, we got a full confirmation: World Of Warcraft is coming to console, exclusively to Google. We didn't get a timeframe, or even the name of a console (we're assuming it's the Nexus, obviously), but the trailer, which lasted about 90 seconds, showed the full featured World Of Warcraft, and also confirmed cross-play between Google consoles and PC. We also saw the game running on an Android phone, generating gasps and cheers from the crowd. We're not quite sure how Blizzard is going to pull this off, and we're also not sure why it's not also coming to the Reality or Virtua (or if it might eventually, if this is a timed exclusive type of deal), but World Of Warcraft is coming to console, presumably the Google Nexus, at some point in the future. After the video presentation, Eric Bright returned to the stage and gave a short speech discussing World Of Warcraft coming to Google, via a major deal with Blizzard to bring the game to consoles for the first time ever. He emphasized that yes, this is the full featured World Of Warcraft, and that you'll be able to pick up on Google where your PC character left off, or vice versa. He said that in the coming months there would be more information about this exciting development and that you'd be able to play a demo version of the game at Blizzard's booth, running on the upcoming Galaxy Note 7 via a stream from Blizzard's official servers (so not natively on the device itself). After this announcement, Bright thanked attendees once more, and Google's keynote ended.
The Google keynote was somewhat light on actual game announcements, instead choosing to focus largely on the Nexus Pro segment, which doubled as a sort of sizzle reel, showing off lots of third party and small indie titles running on the new hardware to demonstrate its capabilities. The Pro is impressive (though we doubt it'll be as powerful as upcoming 4K updates from Apple and Nintendo), and will have an impressive lineup of games to flex its muscles after it's released. And then, of course, the announcement that World Of Warcraft would be coming to the Nexus is a huge one... though it'll probably be a while before we actually get to see it, as Blizzard and Google probably have a lot of kinks to work out. Google has positioned the Nexus as the most accessible piece of gaming tech ever made, and is now pushing to appeal to hardcore gamers with their new Pro model. It'll be a few months until we get to find out if that strategy is a winner, but despite a light E3 lineup, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of games in Google's future.
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World Of Warcraft Impresses On Mobile
It's still hard to believe we're saying this, but we got to play World Of Warcraft on a phone, and it was... good? Yes, World Of Warcraft will be playable on Google devices, including Android phones and home consoles, and Blizzard was running a small demo version of the game at their booth, utilizing gameplay streamed to Galaxy Note 7 phones to demonstrate how the game would run. It's been said that bringing World Of Warcraft to consoles would be a tricky proposition because of all the different commands involved, but with Google Grip controllers, we were able to control the game just fine utilizing Blizzard's control scheme (though it was confirmed that we'd be able to use a keyboard and mouse with the console version if we so chose). We could move our characters and enter commands just like on PC, with a unique mix of hotkey functions programmed in. The demo version itself was just a series of small areas chained together, including a forested area, a cave, and a castle, as we controlled level 30 characters with a pre-determined set of equipment and spells designed to show off the game's functionality. Surprisingly, the stream had few if any hiccups, and looked gorgeous on the Note 7, if a bit cramped in terms of HUD. We also got to check out the game on the new Nexus Pro Companion, a controller with a Nexus Companion built in. The Nexus Pro Companion controller will retail for $149.99, and felt quite good in our hands as we played the game on it, though again, the small screen did cause us to have some trouble seeing the game's HUD and text boxes. It's likely that most players will prefer to enjoy the game on their TV screens, though Blizzard cryptically did not mention the Nexus when discussing what devices the game would be compatible on, only that it was coming to "Google". Hinting at a possible next generation Google console, possibly? Or some other form of streaming functionality? Regardless, we had a lot of fun with World Of Warcraft on "Google", and our only regret was not getting to spend more time with the game. We don't know when World Of Warcraft is coming to Google, but it should bring a horde of new players when it finally does launch, and will likely be a killer app for whatever Google console it's released on, either the Nexus or something in the future.
-from a June 15, 2016 article on Gamespot.com
The prospect of WoW coming to consoles is outstanding, and most assuredly deserves all the praise it got at E3. And considering that Google is the one to announce it makes me wonder if Apple and Nintendo could keep up with that announcement. Only God knows whether they can outlast the mighty Blizzard. Pun seriously intended!
"The Others Come. The Stark Calls For Aid. YOU ARE NEEDED." -October 2016.
He still exists, born in 1995 in Texas, barely avoiding the butterflies unlike some other 1995 births.
I will say that one more Disney animated show from OTL is instead made into a game ITTL... a pretty major game too.... but stay tuned for that.
Probably on the level of a trophy, but no Quantum Break playable characters, it's not THAT major of a game for Nintendo.
Still doing acting roles, mostly like OTL. Maybe a bit more than OTL. Also doing some directing, which she also does IOTL.
He's actually struggling a bit with his Lewy body dementia that's getting a bit worse as of 2016. However, he's looking into some experimental treatments, including a stem cell treatment that's proven to be a bit promising.
Not a big hockey fan, so I don't think we'll be covering the NHL much... others are welcome to cover it if they let us know.
I don't know what that is
WMIT is What Madness Is It which is a great timeline that got quite a lot of Turtledove both Redux and Original .
You have Stalin as leader of the Republican Union, Patton and Gorilla Nuts... The title say it all
You have Stalin as leader of the Republican Union, Patton and Gorilla Nuts... The title say it all
"What Madness Is This?" Volume II: Prophecies in the Dark
I want to thank the countless readers and commenters that have fueled my imagination in the original 2013-14 WMIT and the Redux that was written from September, 2018, to present day. Without these posters, none of this would have been possible or close to as much fun. I especially wish to thank...
www.alternatehistory.com
Well, by that logic, other AH.com stories and Kaiserreich would probably get adaptations, since the latter is (probably) more well known.
I'm betting that Star vs. the Forces of Evil will get the Miraculous Ladybug treatment, being turned into a video game ITTL, and that it will be the major title that you semi-hinted at.
As for Quantum Break x Smash, at least it gets a trophy, which is still something.
As for Quantum Break x Smash, at least it gets a trophy, which is still something.
E3 2016 (Part 2)
Nintendo Keynote - E3 2016
Nintendo's E3 keynote began with a video showing an expansive world and several different environments, until we could see something off in the distance... revealed to be Mario, throwing his cap in the air and jumping on it to reach new heights. As Mario reached the top of a mountain and looked out over the world, a jazzy, upbeat, lyrical song, "Jump Up Super Star", began to play over scenes of Mario exploring an incredible world full of new environments. Two new mechanics seemed to be shown off in this trailer: the first is that Mario can now throw his cap and do tricks with it, allowing him to take out enemies and jump higher and farther than ever, and the second is that Mario seems to be able to go anywhere: no star doors or locked gates, he's free to explore the entire world from the get go. Of course, the main goal remains to rescue Peach from Bowser, who seems to have hired some anthropomorphic rabbit henchmen to help him stop Mario, and their designs are pretty interesting as well, including a fancily dressed one in a tophat, a girl who uses pigtails as a weapon, and finally, a mysterious goth rabbit girl who just flipped her hair back in an aloof manner. We also could see some first-person functionality, but mostly for mini-games and boss fights, the third person perspective remains the default for 3-D exploration. The song itself was quite jubliant, though it did have some cheesy lyrics (including the lines "Do the Reality" and "Adventure, yes sir"), though the trailer was very effective in showing off the game, and the audience clapped quite loudly at the end. The trailer was followed by Shawn Layden, Katsuya Eguchi, and Masahiro Sakurai taking the stage together to thank fans for attending and also to discuss the game, Super Mario Adventure, a bit further. As shown in the trailer, the game is the first truly open world Mario experience, allowing the player to go anywhere and do almost anything. There are a few locked doors and gated areas that can only be accessed after certain objectives are completed, but these are few and far between, and overall, it seems like the game will follow the formula of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, which allowed the player to visit the six worlds in any order... of course, this game is on a much, much larger scale. Mario has a new friend, Cappy, a sentient being that replaces his original cap and gives him the ability to throw his cap and jump on it. Mario can use his cap for all sorts of functions, giving the player untold ways to explore the game's incredible world, which contains a mix of classic Mario-esque locations and new zones based on some real world locales. We got to see a few of the sub areas of the game, which include classic platforming challenges and mini-boss battles, of which there will be plenty. The world of Super Mario Adventure is said to be bigger than that of any Mario game ever released, and there are still more surprises in store, some of which will be revealed later this week on the show floor. After the Super Mario Adventure presentation, the three men remained on stage to discuss the Reality's VR functionality, and how much technology has advanced in the three years since the console's release. This leads into a segment where Eguchi brings Ken Kutaragi to the stage to introduce a new VR headset for the Reality, the VR Super. The VR Super features improved hardware and improved compatibility with newer games, and is designed to work with both older and newer Reality titles. While the Reality's original headset will still work properly with all Reality VR games, the VR Super is an upgrade designed to enhance the sensation of immersion even further. It's expected to retail for $149.99, and will be included with the Reality VR package after it's released, replacing the VR package with the original headset, and costing the same price ($399.99 MSRP). The VR Super will launch on November 18, 2016, as will Super Mario Adventure. It's important to note that no mention was made of an upgraded Reality console itself, so it's likely that the VR Super is a sort of "stopgap" to enable the Reality to compete with the Virtua's Oculus on VR while we wait for the upgraded 4K model of the Reality to be released sometime next year.
After Eguchi, Sakurai, and Kutaragi leave, the next part of the presentation is a video focusing on Pokemon Amethyst and Topaz, coming to the Connect later this year. We got to see more of the France-inspired region of Illum, home to a wide variety of brand new Pokemon and some very beautiful sights, and while Pokemon Order and Chaos was focused on legends and myths, Pokemon Amethyst and Topaz is focused on knowledge and technology. High tech urban cities and bright suburban towns dot the Illum landscape, and the two mascot Pokemon, the legendary Psychic/Light-type Quartzark and the legendary Psychic/Steel-type Aurithia, are said to be the Golems of Enlightenment, who rise to defend Illum from threats, including the threat of the dangerous Team Jewel, who seek a series of stones said to power a weapon created by the people who lived in Illum 300 years ago. Also unlike Pokemon Order and Chaos, which gave players a clearly defined protagonist in the form of the young girl Ellie, Amethyst and Topaz allow complete character customization, with hundreds of different face, hair, and clothing styles (you still have to be an adolescent kid, but at least you can pick your kid). The graphics are better than ever, there's plenty of cutscenes and voice acting (though the game seems to have a more lighthearted and humorous tone than the previous game), and Illum has plenty of things to do, allowing the player to use their Connect's link functionality to generate random Pokemon eggs and items. After the Pokemon presentation, we saw a brief trailer for Gran Turismo Real, looking as beautiful as ever on the Reality, and advertising full 4K functionality and VR designed for the new Super VR headset. The trailer boasts that Gran Turismo Real will be the most realistic driving simulator ever, with over 2000 cars and hundreds of tracks from all over the world. We've waited a LONG time for this one, but we've still got a bit longer to wait: according to Shawn Layden, Gran Turismo Real is coming to the Reality in 2017. We next got a very brief teaser trailer for an upcoming game from Naughty Dog North... a Western-based title about a young would-be sheriff calling herself Anna Goldstar. We see some footage from the game, showing her using her lasso on some bad guys and getting into a dramatic gunfight on a runaway train, then we see the game's logo, in which the title, The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar, is revealed, along with "COMING SOON". According to Naughty Dog, this one's still early in development, and we can expect to see it sometime in late 2017. We then got another upcoming game teaser, showing off what looks to be an epic RPG involving dragons and magic, and taking place in a mythical fantasy world in the sky. This game appears to be either an action RPG or a real-time RPG in the vein of Final Fantasy XII, and the protagonist, who looks to be a white haired female witch, can capture these dragons with a magical rope, and then fly them into battle. We also got to see some anime cutscenes from the game, and what looks to be scenes from a sort of tactical-based minigame in which the player can fight a battle on a small map to capture segments of the overworld back from the enemy. We then got more dramatic anime cutscenes, followed by the game's title, Witchrider. It's coming exclusively to the Reality in 2017. Then, we got another upcoming game teaser, showing a young woman stranded on the open ocean. As sharks encirle her, and it looks like she's going to die, she hears a voice calling to her, telling her to dive under the water. She does so, and just as she's about to drown, she begins to grow gills and a mermaid's tail. She's then told to keep swimming, and barely evades the sharks. This segues into a few gameplay segments of what looks to be an underwater adventure game where the young woman has to complete tasks underwater, dodging predators to eventually find her way home. Though it would seem like it's a fun, lighthearted game (since it stars a mermaid), it's actually somewhat gritty and realistic, featuring some fantasy elements but maintaining a serious tone. The game's title is revealed as Open Ocean, and this one's also a "COMING SOON".
The next trailer is for the upcoming sequel to Fun Fair, coming this November. Like its predecessor, it's a VR based game about a group of six teens (the five from the original, plus a new girl character) who are out having fun when things go horribly wrong. This time, they visit an escape room, only to be trapped and forced into a series of life or death challenges in a game that blends survival horror with puzzle gameplay. The game, called Escape Fair, is launching on November 8th, just ten days before the new Mario. We then see a video of Keiji Inafune, discussing the upcoming sequel to Soul Sacrifice, Soul Sacrifice 2. It's coming to the Connect this October, and we got to see some footage of the new gameplay improvements and mechanics that will be featured in the sequel. Following this segment, we then saw another teaser trailer, showing a character who turned out to be Pit, battling against hordes of flying monsters, only to be brought down, falling out of the sky. He's discovered by a human girl outside a village, and then we see the game's logo: Kid Icarus: Ascension. The teaser trailer then ends, and David Jaffe, creator of the Lash Out series, appears. He's heading up the Kid Icarus: Ascension team, and says that he's been working on the game for the past two years, while others from his studio have been hard at work on Lash Out 5, coming in September. He says that he's always had a fascination with Greek mythology and that he'll finally get to properly explore that in the new Kid Icarus game, which will show a side of Pit's character that players have never seen before. He'll have more of the game to show at a future presentation, but there's a small gameplay demo that will be available on the show floor. We tried out the demo later on, and it's quite exciting: a hack and slash action RPG type adventure in which Pit has a huge variety of moves at his disposal, and can use both aerial and ground moves on enemies. We're definitely intrigued to see more of the game, especially with such a talented director at the helm. After this segment, Shawn Layden began speaking again, discussing the Reality's online community and Nintendo's upcoming plans for the future of the company's online gaming presence. We got a few quick teaser videos for some digital indie games, some new classic titles coming to the online store, and improvements to online matchmaking tools, including a brand new ranking ladder for the upcoming SOCOM: Battle Fury. We also got a look at some online community cultivating tools that will make it easier to find players of your skill level. Following this online-based segment, which did a good job of showing that Nintendo and Sony are still quite devoted to online play, we got some more third party footage, showing off Call Of Duty: Altered Warfare, Halloween: Rerisen (a sequel to the 2008 Xbox 2 exclusive, speaking of which, is no longer exclusive, since it's coming to the Reality and Virtua digital stores today with enhanced graphics for $29.99), Star Wars: Shatterpoint, and finally, Doom 4. Then, we got another trailer for a brand new Persona game, Persona 5, coming exclusively to the Reality this winter. The game will be based in cyberspace, in which the main characters are hackers who must team up with demons to break into the computer systems of the corrupt and the corrupted. It looks like a suitably epic and intense game, and it's one of our most anticipated RPGs of the year. Finally, we got a look at a new Rayman game coming in 2017, and this was followed up by a short trailer revealing Rayman as the third DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Reality (you'll be able to purchase him in August, along with some Rabbids-themed gear).
Following this segment, we got to see some footage of three major upcoming Connect titles: Mario And Wario: An Unlikely Adventure, The Legend Of Zelda: The Dungeon Fairy, and finally, Squad Four Kallista. All three look quite fun and exciting, with Mario and Wario being a sidescrolling 2-D platformer blending elements of traditional Super Mario Bros. games with the Wario Land series, The Dungeon Fairy is a fully realized 3-D Zelda title with seven dungeons and a unique fairy to rescue in each one, each with a unique special power to help Link through the dungeon, and finally, Squad Four Kallista being a fully 3-D title and a prequel to the main series, with Shad, Marcus, Rebecca, and Lane in the academy under the guidance of the heroic fighter Kallista. Kallista serves as a mentor to the four, and is fully playable, as the four work together to stop a new threat facing Lockstar. We actually got to spend the most time with Squad Four Kallista, and it's extremely impressive for a handheld game, taking some gameplay and graphical cues from Squad Four Betrayal for sure. It's the first handheld Squad Four game we've gotten since the Supernova, and Argonaut's clearly spent a lot of time on this one to get the most out of the Connect hardware. An Unlikely Adventure and The Dungeon Fairy are both coming on August 26 (what a day for Connect owners!), and Squad Four Kallista is coming in November. Then, without introduction, we got one last trailer for what looked like a Reality game. We could see a woman running through what looked like a futuristic facility, installing devices on the power pylons. We never see her face, but we do see her taking out enemies with quick punches and kicks. As all hell breaks loose and the factory seems to self-destruct, the woman flees, only to be confronted by someone... that someone is revealed to be Rebecca, of Squad Four. She's responding to a distress call from the factory... "it's you?" says Rebecca, sounding utterly shocked. We then finally see the woman's face, and at the same time, Rebecca says her name. "Raquel?" The woman is revealed to be Raquel, who we haven't seen since Squad Four Rebellion (though she's now sporting a patch over one eye). Raquel smiles and says "It's been a long time." The screen then goes black, and we see the Squad Four logo, followed by the words "Squad Four returns to the Nintendo Reality... in 2017". The crowd cheers loudly, and that ends Nintendo's presentation. The reveal of a new Squad Four game and the return of Raquel is definitely a high note to end an E3 keynote on, and it looks like the Reality and Connect both will have plenty of great games over the next couple years. We still don't know when we're getting the 4K Reality upgrade, but we are getting a new headset that looks every bit as good as the Oculus, and fifty bucks cheaper too. Nintendo's future is quite bright, and we can't wait to see more of a lot of these upcoming games.
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Bioware's Gearworld, Blizzard's New Orthodoxy Highlight PC Games
Bioware's upcoming MMORPG Gearworld is just a few months away now, and its booth was one of the biggest at the show, as Valve was eager to show the game running on the latest PC technology. The game takes place almost entirely in a massive steampunk-inspired city, and any game in which you get to be a robot hunting down and brutalizing humans (or a human scrapping hostile robots with extreme prejudice) is a winner in our book. We also got the reveal of enormous mechanical bird monsters called Raptors that wreak a terrible vengeance on anything that strays into their territory, human or robot alike, and we also got to see some amazing steampunk weapons, which players can actually invent and then sell in the game's real-world marketplace. Gearworld has been looking like the next big thing in the genre for the past three years, and now we're just a few short months away: the game launches in September. Then, there was the reveal of Blizzard's new game, New Orthodoxy. Even the reveal of the company's deal with Google to bring World Of Warcraft to home consoles couldn't overshadow this incredible game that's a blend of RPG, shooter, and RTS. New Orthodoxy is a single player title on its face, but in reality, the company hopes that players will invite the entire community into their games to help battle a religious order bent on brainwashing and conquest. The player is a rebel known as a Cloak, whose city is being taken over by a religious order known as the Clear Mind, which employs faceless assassins known as the Blanks to hunt down and kill heretics. Cloaks can transform themselves with mysterious powers stolen from ancient religious relics looted from Clear Mind churches, and squads of Cloaks can battle squads of Blanks in battles that can only be described as "real-time Starcraft with Gothic overtones". Players can rapidly deploy re-programmed machines or inspired followers to battle back waves of Blank soldiers, while the player themselves can either call the shots from high above or personally lead their mini-army into battle from the front, with other players allowed to join in with their own armies, or even taking control of Blank soldiers to wage war in fierce PvP combat. There's more to the Clear Mind than meets the eye: Blizzard says that many Clear Mind followers have "compelling reasons" for joining the order, and that the war isn't as black and white as it would seem on its surface. The game's single player story will take "20-30 hours" to complete, and more story content will be added via updates over time, which means that even though the game's single player campaign will tell a complete story, that story isn't the end the story, so to speak. New Orthodoxy is coming exclusively to PC, and when we played, we could easily see why: there's an insane amount of things going on graphically, incredible animation and detail, and the game's controls, though fairly easy to learn, are still somewhat complex, especially during the RTS segments. We could see Blizzard bringing this one to consoles down the road, like with World Of Warcraft, but for now, it's staying on PC, and Blizzard expects the game to be released sometime next year.
-from Dr. Rigmaster's PC Gaming Blog, E3 Edition, posted on June 15, 2016
Nintendo's E3 keynote began with a video showing an expansive world and several different environments, until we could see something off in the distance... revealed to be Mario, throwing his cap in the air and jumping on it to reach new heights. As Mario reached the top of a mountain and looked out over the world, a jazzy, upbeat, lyrical song, "Jump Up Super Star", began to play over scenes of Mario exploring an incredible world full of new environments. Two new mechanics seemed to be shown off in this trailer: the first is that Mario can now throw his cap and do tricks with it, allowing him to take out enemies and jump higher and farther than ever, and the second is that Mario seems to be able to go anywhere: no star doors or locked gates, he's free to explore the entire world from the get go. Of course, the main goal remains to rescue Peach from Bowser, who seems to have hired some anthropomorphic rabbit henchmen to help him stop Mario, and their designs are pretty interesting as well, including a fancily dressed one in a tophat, a girl who uses pigtails as a weapon, and finally, a mysterious goth rabbit girl who just flipped her hair back in an aloof manner. We also could see some first-person functionality, but mostly for mini-games and boss fights, the third person perspective remains the default for 3-D exploration. The song itself was quite jubliant, though it did have some cheesy lyrics (including the lines "Do the Reality" and "Adventure, yes sir"), though the trailer was very effective in showing off the game, and the audience clapped quite loudly at the end. The trailer was followed by Shawn Layden, Katsuya Eguchi, and Masahiro Sakurai taking the stage together to thank fans for attending and also to discuss the game, Super Mario Adventure, a bit further. As shown in the trailer, the game is the first truly open world Mario experience, allowing the player to go anywhere and do almost anything. There are a few locked doors and gated areas that can only be accessed after certain objectives are completed, but these are few and far between, and overall, it seems like the game will follow the formula of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, which allowed the player to visit the six worlds in any order... of course, this game is on a much, much larger scale. Mario has a new friend, Cappy, a sentient being that replaces his original cap and gives him the ability to throw his cap and jump on it. Mario can use his cap for all sorts of functions, giving the player untold ways to explore the game's incredible world, which contains a mix of classic Mario-esque locations and new zones based on some real world locales. We got to see a few of the sub areas of the game, which include classic platforming challenges and mini-boss battles, of which there will be plenty. The world of Super Mario Adventure is said to be bigger than that of any Mario game ever released, and there are still more surprises in store, some of which will be revealed later this week on the show floor. After the Super Mario Adventure presentation, the three men remained on stage to discuss the Reality's VR functionality, and how much technology has advanced in the three years since the console's release. This leads into a segment where Eguchi brings Ken Kutaragi to the stage to introduce a new VR headset for the Reality, the VR Super. The VR Super features improved hardware and improved compatibility with newer games, and is designed to work with both older and newer Reality titles. While the Reality's original headset will still work properly with all Reality VR games, the VR Super is an upgrade designed to enhance the sensation of immersion even further. It's expected to retail for $149.99, and will be included with the Reality VR package after it's released, replacing the VR package with the original headset, and costing the same price ($399.99 MSRP). The VR Super will launch on November 18, 2016, as will Super Mario Adventure. It's important to note that no mention was made of an upgraded Reality console itself, so it's likely that the VR Super is a sort of "stopgap" to enable the Reality to compete with the Virtua's Oculus on VR while we wait for the upgraded 4K model of the Reality to be released sometime next year.
After Eguchi, Sakurai, and Kutaragi leave, the next part of the presentation is a video focusing on Pokemon Amethyst and Topaz, coming to the Connect later this year. We got to see more of the France-inspired region of Illum, home to a wide variety of brand new Pokemon and some very beautiful sights, and while Pokemon Order and Chaos was focused on legends and myths, Pokemon Amethyst and Topaz is focused on knowledge and technology. High tech urban cities and bright suburban towns dot the Illum landscape, and the two mascot Pokemon, the legendary Psychic/Light-type Quartzark and the legendary Psychic/Steel-type Aurithia, are said to be the Golems of Enlightenment, who rise to defend Illum from threats, including the threat of the dangerous Team Jewel, who seek a series of stones said to power a weapon created by the people who lived in Illum 300 years ago. Also unlike Pokemon Order and Chaos, which gave players a clearly defined protagonist in the form of the young girl Ellie, Amethyst and Topaz allow complete character customization, with hundreds of different face, hair, and clothing styles (you still have to be an adolescent kid, but at least you can pick your kid). The graphics are better than ever, there's plenty of cutscenes and voice acting (though the game seems to have a more lighthearted and humorous tone than the previous game), and Illum has plenty of things to do, allowing the player to use their Connect's link functionality to generate random Pokemon eggs and items. After the Pokemon presentation, we saw a brief trailer for Gran Turismo Real, looking as beautiful as ever on the Reality, and advertising full 4K functionality and VR designed for the new Super VR headset. The trailer boasts that Gran Turismo Real will be the most realistic driving simulator ever, with over 2000 cars and hundreds of tracks from all over the world. We've waited a LONG time for this one, but we've still got a bit longer to wait: according to Shawn Layden, Gran Turismo Real is coming to the Reality in 2017. We next got a very brief teaser trailer for an upcoming game from Naughty Dog North... a Western-based title about a young would-be sheriff calling herself Anna Goldstar. We see some footage from the game, showing her using her lasso on some bad guys and getting into a dramatic gunfight on a runaway train, then we see the game's logo, in which the title, The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar, is revealed, along with "COMING SOON". According to Naughty Dog, this one's still early in development, and we can expect to see it sometime in late 2017. We then got another upcoming game teaser, showing off what looks to be an epic RPG involving dragons and magic, and taking place in a mythical fantasy world in the sky. This game appears to be either an action RPG or a real-time RPG in the vein of Final Fantasy XII, and the protagonist, who looks to be a white haired female witch, can capture these dragons with a magical rope, and then fly them into battle. We also got to see some anime cutscenes from the game, and what looks to be scenes from a sort of tactical-based minigame in which the player can fight a battle on a small map to capture segments of the overworld back from the enemy. We then got more dramatic anime cutscenes, followed by the game's title, Witchrider. It's coming exclusively to the Reality in 2017. Then, we got another upcoming game teaser, showing a young woman stranded on the open ocean. As sharks encirle her, and it looks like she's going to die, she hears a voice calling to her, telling her to dive under the water. She does so, and just as she's about to drown, she begins to grow gills and a mermaid's tail. She's then told to keep swimming, and barely evades the sharks. This segues into a few gameplay segments of what looks to be an underwater adventure game where the young woman has to complete tasks underwater, dodging predators to eventually find her way home. Though it would seem like it's a fun, lighthearted game (since it stars a mermaid), it's actually somewhat gritty and realistic, featuring some fantasy elements but maintaining a serious tone. The game's title is revealed as Open Ocean, and this one's also a "COMING SOON".
The next trailer is for the upcoming sequel to Fun Fair, coming this November. Like its predecessor, it's a VR based game about a group of six teens (the five from the original, plus a new girl character) who are out having fun when things go horribly wrong. This time, they visit an escape room, only to be trapped and forced into a series of life or death challenges in a game that blends survival horror with puzzle gameplay. The game, called Escape Fair, is launching on November 8th, just ten days before the new Mario. We then see a video of Keiji Inafune, discussing the upcoming sequel to Soul Sacrifice, Soul Sacrifice 2. It's coming to the Connect this October, and we got to see some footage of the new gameplay improvements and mechanics that will be featured in the sequel. Following this segment, we then saw another teaser trailer, showing a character who turned out to be Pit, battling against hordes of flying monsters, only to be brought down, falling out of the sky. He's discovered by a human girl outside a village, and then we see the game's logo: Kid Icarus: Ascension. The teaser trailer then ends, and David Jaffe, creator of the Lash Out series, appears. He's heading up the Kid Icarus: Ascension team, and says that he's been working on the game for the past two years, while others from his studio have been hard at work on Lash Out 5, coming in September. He says that he's always had a fascination with Greek mythology and that he'll finally get to properly explore that in the new Kid Icarus game, which will show a side of Pit's character that players have never seen before. He'll have more of the game to show at a future presentation, but there's a small gameplay demo that will be available on the show floor. We tried out the demo later on, and it's quite exciting: a hack and slash action RPG type adventure in which Pit has a huge variety of moves at his disposal, and can use both aerial and ground moves on enemies. We're definitely intrigued to see more of the game, especially with such a talented director at the helm. After this segment, Shawn Layden began speaking again, discussing the Reality's online community and Nintendo's upcoming plans for the future of the company's online gaming presence. We got a few quick teaser videos for some digital indie games, some new classic titles coming to the online store, and improvements to online matchmaking tools, including a brand new ranking ladder for the upcoming SOCOM: Battle Fury. We also got a look at some online community cultivating tools that will make it easier to find players of your skill level. Following this online-based segment, which did a good job of showing that Nintendo and Sony are still quite devoted to online play, we got some more third party footage, showing off Call Of Duty: Altered Warfare, Halloween: Rerisen (a sequel to the 2008 Xbox 2 exclusive, speaking of which, is no longer exclusive, since it's coming to the Reality and Virtua digital stores today with enhanced graphics for $29.99), Star Wars: Shatterpoint, and finally, Doom 4. Then, we got another trailer for a brand new Persona game, Persona 5, coming exclusively to the Reality this winter. The game will be based in cyberspace, in which the main characters are hackers who must team up with demons to break into the computer systems of the corrupt and the corrupted. It looks like a suitably epic and intense game, and it's one of our most anticipated RPGs of the year. Finally, we got a look at a new Rayman game coming in 2017, and this was followed up by a short trailer revealing Rayman as the third DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Reality (you'll be able to purchase him in August, along with some Rabbids-themed gear).
Following this segment, we got to see some footage of three major upcoming Connect titles: Mario And Wario: An Unlikely Adventure, The Legend Of Zelda: The Dungeon Fairy, and finally, Squad Four Kallista. All three look quite fun and exciting, with Mario and Wario being a sidescrolling 2-D platformer blending elements of traditional Super Mario Bros. games with the Wario Land series, The Dungeon Fairy is a fully realized 3-D Zelda title with seven dungeons and a unique fairy to rescue in each one, each with a unique special power to help Link through the dungeon, and finally, Squad Four Kallista being a fully 3-D title and a prequel to the main series, with Shad, Marcus, Rebecca, and Lane in the academy under the guidance of the heroic fighter Kallista. Kallista serves as a mentor to the four, and is fully playable, as the four work together to stop a new threat facing Lockstar. We actually got to spend the most time with Squad Four Kallista, and it's extremely impressive for a handheld game, taking some gameplay and graphical cues from Squad Four Betrayal for sure. It's the first handheld Squad Four game we've gotten since the Supernova, and Argonaut's clearly spent a lot of time on this one to get the most out of the Connect hardware. An Unlikely Adventure and The Dungeon Fairy are both coming on August 26 (what a day for Connect owners!), and Squad Four Kallista is coming in November. Then, without introduction, we got one last trailer for what looked like a Reality game. We could see a woman running through what looked like a futuristic facility, installing devices on the power pylons. We never see her face, but we do see her taking out enemies with quick punches and kicks. As all hell breaks loose and the factory seems to self-destruct, the woman flees, only to be confronted by someone... that someone is revealed to be Rebecca, of Squad Four. She's responding to a distress call from the factory... "it's you?" says Rebecca, sounding utterly shocked. We then finally see the woman's face, and at the same time, Rebecca says her name. "Raquel?" The woman is revealed to be Raquel, who we haven't seen since Squad Four Rebellion (though she's now sporting a patch over one eye). Raquel smiles and says "It's been a long time." The screen then goes black, and we see the Squad Four logo, followed by the words "Squad Four returns to the Nintendo Reality... in 2017". The crowd cheers loudly, and that ends Nintendo's presentation. The reveal of a new Squad Four game and the return of Raquel is definitely a high note to end an E3 keynote on, and it looks like the Reality and Connect both will have plenty of great games over the next couple years. We still don't know when we're getting the 4K Reality upgrade, but we are getting a new headset that looks every bit as good as the Oculus, and fifty bucks cheaper too. Nintendo's future is quite bright, and we can't wait to see more of a lot of these upcoming games.
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Bioware's Gearworld, Blizzard's New Orthodoxy Highlight PC Games
Bioware's upcoming MMORPG Gearworld is just a few months away now, and its booth was one of the biggest at the show, as Valve was eager to show the game running on the latest PC technology. The game takes place almost entirely in a massive steampunk-inspired city, and any game in which you get to be a robot hunting down and brutalizing humans (or a human scrapping hostile robots with extreme prejudice) is a winner in our book. We also got the reveal of enormous mechanical bird monsters called Raptors that wreak a terrible vengeance on anything that strays into their territory, human or robot alike, and we also got to see some amazing steampunk weapons, which players can actually invent and then sell in the game's real-world marketplace. Gearworld has been looking like the next big thing in the genre for the past three years, and now we're just a few short months away: the game launches in September. Then, there was the reveal of Blizzard's new game, New Orthodoxy. Even the reveal of the company's deal with Google to bring World Of Warcraft to home consoles couldn't overshadow this incredible game that's a blend of RPG, shooter, and RTS. New Orthodoxy is a single player title on its face, but in reality, the company hopes that players will invite the entire community into their games to help battle a religious order bent on brainwashing and conquest. The player is a rebel known as a Cloak, whose city is being taken over by a religious order known as the Clear Mind, which employs faceless assassins known as the Blanks to hunt down and kill heretics. Cloaks can transform themselves with mysterious powers stolen from ancient religious relics looted from Clear Mind churches, and squads of Cloaks can battle squads of Blanks in battles that can only be described as "real-time Starcraft with Gothic overtones". Players can rapidly deploy re-programmed machines or inspired followers to battle back waves of Blank soldiers, while the player themselves can either call the shots from high above or personally lead their mini-army into battle from the front, with other players allowed to join in with their own armies, or even taking control of Blank soldiers to wage war in fierce PvP combat. There's more to the Clear Mind than meets the eye: Blizzard says that many Clear Mind followers have "compelling reasons" for joining the order, and that the war isn't as black and white as it would seem on its surface. The game's single player story will take "20-30 hours" to complete, and more story content will be added via updates over time, which means that even though the game's single player campaign will tell a complete story, that story isn't the end the story, so to speak. New Orthodoxy is coming exclusively to PC, and when we played, we could easily see why: there's an insane amount of things going on graphically, incredible animation and detail, and the game's controls, though fairly easy to learn, are still somewhat complex, especially during the RTS segments. We could see Blizzard bringing this one to consoles down the road, like with World Of Warcraft, but for now, it's staying on PC, and Blizzard expects the game to be released sometime next year.
-from Dr. Rigmaster's PC Gaming Blog, E3 Edition, posted on June 15, 2016
Seems to be a mix of Odyssey and BOTW IMO. Not sure how well the Mario formula would work in a true open world though, we’ll see.
The thing that caught my eye is David Jaffe working on Kid Icarus. Wondering if this will be to God of War what Pokémon Order and Chaos were to The Last of Us.
The thing that caught my eye is David Jaffe working on Kid Icarus. Wondering if this will be to God of War what Pokémon Order and Chaos were to The Last of Us.
Coincidencially as the original concept for Zelda was Literally Adventure Mario, but yeah we're taking cues from OTL games(asthat help to give a visual image to the game and some of the games did touched what we've on mind), just wait and see how will unfold.